Monday, August 3, 2009

Earn Your Stripes

Recently, I saw these two photos on a couple of different street style blogs.



This was on Scott Schuman's The Sartorialist, the mack daddy of all street style blogs. I just love this photo, and I just love what this guy is wearing. I recognize him -- I've seen him on other fashion blogs, I think he works for Vogue or one of the other big magazines or is a stylist or something. The exuberance of this really lifts my spirits, especially when we've been suffering from a long & utterly enervating heat wave here in Austin. And of course the color combination makes me happyhappyhappy.


The next photo was on Jak & Jil Blog, photographed by Tommy Ton.



I love this blog as well -- the photography is consistently gorgeous. Ton's work is slightly more stylized than Schuman's -- you'll find more photos of specific parts of a look, like a shoe -- and his subjects are primarily people who work in fashion, as opposed to Schuman's regular-people take. I adore this jacket, but I doubt that will surprise anyone. I also adore this guy's commitment to his look -- he's not going to tone things down with a solid tie, oh, hell no! Advanced fashion, for sure, and I applaud him heartily. I find this jacket witty and wonderful, and if I could find one like it I'd scoop it up in a snap.

So I went looking... (Click photos for links.)




This is pretty darned close. Really love this.




Not the bright primaries I was looking for, but still pretty cheerful, and fashion is all about the shoulder right now.


SMYTHE Equestrian Blazer

If you can't quit commit to the tent stripe but like the idea, this is lovely. Great neutral -- it would go with more colors than you might expect at first. Would love to see this over a bright coral with some gold shoes -- wouldn't that be gorgeous?





I have a wool jacket in a similar stripe, but this one is cotton and yes, the wrinkles are intentional.




Love the trim.





Surprisingly neutral for such a bold stripe.





This is adorable, I just love those big blue buttons.

The jacket in question from The Sartorialist photo is said, in one of the comments on the post, to be vintage H&M. (By which he no doubt means "previous season," because I'm sorry, I don't think H&M has been around long enough to have anything designated as "vintage.") I can't get any love at all on the multicolor one -- that picture is in Paris and the jacket looks Kenzo-esque to me, but I really can't say for sure. (J'adore Kenzo -- if you ever go to Paris you MUST stop in a Kenzo boutique. The future Mr. Style Spy will be heavily outfitted in this label, the clothes are amazing and the menswear is positively inspirational. Click on the link and watch the fashion show videos -- they're kinda spectacular.)

I don't think I'm seriously shopping for a blazer, though. It's too hot to think about jackets. Although, of course, the irony is that the hotter it gets outside the colder everyone cranks the a/c inside, the consequence of which being it's 104º and yet I have to take a cardigan with me wherever I go. Crazy. But I'll keep an eye peeled for a good striped jacket, because someday it will be cool again. Right? RIGHT?????

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6 comments:

Frances said...

Wow, right on time!

I just bought a black and white silk striped blazer, something like the one you said was 'surprisingly subdued'. Any suggestions on what to wear it with? (Please suggest red)

Frances said...

Wait, no no no. 'Surprisingly neutral'.

Belle de Ville said...

I'm not young or thin enough to pull off the english school boy stripes, but I love the look. Especially in the summer with white jeans or white linen trousers....very yacht club and polo ponies.

StyleSpy said...

Francis -- I always suggest red. ;-)
Seriously, to my way of thinking, you can wear black & white stripes with pretty much anything you'd wear black or white or gray or any neutral with. If the stripes are subtle, it might as well be a solid. If the stripes are bold, I'd say go with a solid color underneath, unless you're Fashion Adventurous and thank you could pull off the pattern-on-pattern. (I like stripes with argyle or another geometric in a similar color scheme.)

Duchesse said...

Somehow the jacket is so different on a man. On a woman it is very menswear and on a man, idiosyncratic. But then I rarely am in love with mens' styled womens' jackets.

Anonymous said...

Love the first jacket pictured--the others look a little "early 90s" to me. Since I was about thirteen then and we don't make our best sartorial choices then, I'm not into that era. :)

JCrew has a whole selection of schoolboy blazers right now...I always feel so stuffy in a jacket, like I'm playing dress-up or my mom made me wear it. I think it's because I look about thirteen because of my freckles and curly hair. (I'm 27.)

And Frances, I suggest hot pink. :)