Deckard's Guide: It's all in the details: Manhattan 2014

Ignacio Quiles, Dandy Wellington, Matt Deckard

I’m continuously neglecting putting pen to paper or even fingers to keyboard. Something I’ve shied away from for the last few years… just a lot of trauma I guess. Best hopes dashed on some fronts and losing both my parents in quick succession… Just not the recipe for taking time to sit and concentrate in the ways I’ve done in the past.

To the blog (We still use that word? It’s quite groggy).

I went to Manhattan to work out some hats and attend MRket menswear show with my fellow chaps from Stetson. That may be the important part, and bits on hats and hat care and hat creation are often my strong suit, but that information will come with future posts and videos. What I want to talk about is the sharing of knowledge and the fun that was had after all those hours pounding the pavement while wearing various pairs of shoes.

I met and hung out with many interesting and captivating New Yorkers…

Me and Gibson Frazier

Let’s start with Gibson Frazier. I didn’t expect to be surprised by the intellect, but you’re always going to be taken a back when you meet in person, someone that just has that “it” quality that used to be often talked about, but is rarely defined. He’s a playwright that often does cameos on the big screen and television, but primarily has worked at the keyboard writing breakthrough artistic pieces… newer ones having strong online kickstarter backing. I first learned of him through a movie he put together in 1999 called Man of the Century where his character lived his affinity for the past and was a man of the 1920s from hat to spats, living in the world of the 90s. You need to see it. That’s acting chops put to their test.

We met at the Norwood, a classic social club that looked exactly like what you’d imagine Manhattan would have, with a ledger to sign in at the door to boot.

Great art on the walls, small tables with conversations happening and someone to come by offering a cocktail every time your glass looked as though the ice were all you had left. We sat, talked sartorial past and future, art and acting, and just had a very good conversation. It was (to use my California wording) awesome.

That was one of the greater highlights of the visit, but there were many others, like meeting with Rose Callihan and Kellfire Bray. Rose is the photographer that catalogued the nuances of the dandy set of today in the new book I am Dandy. A book that is in a way the culmination of the well-dressed movement that’s been coming back to this world, a world that has had a serious bout with being lackadaisical toward dressing in general, and this is the book showcasing the generals leading the resistance. We met at The Rum House where luckily enough Jesse Gelber and Michael Arenella had already setup shop owning the place with some intoxicating swing and jazz music. The talk was intellectual and humorous, going from adventures to see some of these fellows, to tales of the nightlife in New York. Kellfire was a man with great gravitas with a tight grasp on fit and detail when the conversation went to suits. You two were fun, and Rose… I need my book signed!

Rose Calahan sporting a prototype Stetson

I don’t want to fill this blog with too much to read about, as most people expect a video nowadays… but I absolutely must say meeting DandyWellington … well, when it comes to getting the classics perfect, he’s an expert. Not just in dress, but also in playing the period music he’s mastered. His mode of dress is as suave as his voice, and his skill on the dance floor… well he looked just as at home there as well.

Ignacio Quiles (Sartorial Pairings); It takes a lifetime of riffing on classics to make those classics look balanced and acceptable to many that just have an eye for now. He’s perfect at it. As we walked one of the halls of the latest New York menswear trade shows I lost a suspender button somewhere along the way… he replaced it using a pin from one of the venders tables. Not just quick thinking, quick styling. The look after made me wonder why I had a button sewn on there in the first place. Later that Monday we had a profound conversation on how clubs featuring bands should turn down their ambient music between sets so that patrons can take a breather from focusing on the entertainment to talk.

What else to say… Had a lovely conversation with CharleyMarcuse and Rory Duffy, an amazing tailor and winner of the Savile Row Golden Sheers award. Much about cutting jacket to be open or cutting them to be closed, At the time we were getting more and more tired as we went to a local Irish pub to continue talking about the slightest minutiae on fitting the hardest to fit individuals when it comes to bespoke tailoring.

Me swinging with Gin Minsky

Thank you for all the dances Gin Minsky. Meeting Bernard Delgado and Jack Newcastle is always captivating conversation about the best of what is New Yorks Nightlife. And to Laura, our Archivist at Stetson. I don't know how many hours we dug through the history and talked the state of clothing in general, but it was all smashing to see and learn and know.