Now and again you just need to let go and hang out with your pals and tell all the odd tales and happy experiences of the year. I'm happy this is turning into such an occasion.
There were around 25 people, including members of Ask Andy's Fashion Forum and The Fedora lounge that attended. I give a hearty thanks to all that participated.
I know I had an amazing, and semi drunken, time that spanned the blocks of Los Angeles in a way only a native can do (even if the next location on the list was the best recommendation from the person next to me). I hope to see you all next year.
There comes a time in life when friends, a cocktail and tweed are the only things between you and a night of being cold and alone.
The Second Annual Los Angeles Tweed Pub Crawl
Thursday November 10, 2011
Starting at 8:00pm
Wear your tweed. Whether it be a suit, a sport jacket, a cap, a scarf a skirt or a tie, put it on and let’s go out!
We’ll meet at the bar at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and stroll to downtown’s finest purveyors of cocktails and ales. From 8pm ‘til we’re through.
With the low waist on the trousers and the bunching at the ankles, it just makes his legs look shorter than they are.
There are other issues like the skinny tie and wide lapel imbalance, or the long bunching sleeves, but the critically awkward elements that stand out the most are the pants and the vest. They destroy any anatomical harmony that the eye can enjoy.
He's a slim man; the long vest trying to go over the low wasted trousers gives it a saggy belly look. If he's going to wear a vest, he needs higher wasted trousers. The vest would have to be shorter giving focus to his trim waist.... Also, he should get those trousers hemmed, he's gonna get his heel caught in the leg and trip.
Good thing is he's wearing a suit. I've had worse fitting things, but I try not to wear them to red carpet functions.
This one's for the locals. I hear tell Andy Gilchrest (Ask Andy About Clothes) and Richard Torregrossa (author of Cary Grant: A Celebration of Style) may be meeting us along the way.
We meet at Brooks Brothers, head to Ralph Lauren, then to Leather Soul, then Carroll and Co. and to the the various shops around the blocks.
2pm at Brooks Brothers, I'll probably be going through shirts downstairs. Wear a suit and bring conversation.
Willie's in Hollywood under the helm of Raul Ojeda is beginning to establish itself as a a top of the line bespoke shoemaker for more than just the studio circuit. The shop for years has been making custom lasts for the stars and has been working directly with Hollywood to design some of the most iconic footwear seen on screen. From Captain Kirks boots to to Wonder Woman's... well, boots, Willies has been in the business of making the stars walk like stars for over 50 years.
Raul's Custom Don Ville shoes promise to help your gate, as well as your looks. The baseline price for a first pair of shoes is around $1,600.00, then drops substantially after the last is made and your foot's needs are nailed. Yes... A high price, but when compared to the number of cheaper shoes you can go through, wouldn't it be nice to buy at least a pair a year that can be resoled and repaired to perfection to 17 years, than to have a three pairs of not quite right pairs a year that you may not even want repaired due to fickle fits and styling?
From my conversation with Raul yesterday, he's always studying the other shoemakers around the world and building on what he sees. I appreciate the fact that he's an encyclopedia on what everyone in the market is making in general.
Timeless, and you decide what you want.
Someday... someday. Best part is that they are local and I can stop by anytime I like just to watch the leather being sewn.
I received a new pair of shoes yesterday, something I've been waiting a few years to see. The new Allen Edmonds Strawfut. Back in 2009, the only pair I'd seen were vintage and falling apart, yet I loved them just the same.
There were three main reasons I felt they were a fantastic shoe.
#1 The foot shape was just right for me. The shoes had a foot shape that was common for the day with a wide forefoot and narrow heel... this was a big plus that gave me lots of toe room; something which always made me regret my rack full of modern dress shoes that tend to be designed with a small toe box (my Hobbit-like feet require Hobbit-like shoes).
#2 They breathed. The shoes had a mesh that allowed air to flow freely around the foot. Being a Californian and a dancer who spends a lot of time on the floor, having shoes that breathe is a great bonus. They are shoes from the 1940s, and the construction is completely vintage, so when the mention of the mesh being nylon came up, the heads at Allen Edmonds thought it odd material to be used, even in the conversation with Paul Grangaard, the CEO of Allen Edmonds, I think he and their head designer thought nylon was a bit taboo when it came to shoes made for business. But being a material from the 1930s, it was a time when something like a nylon mesh to keep shoes air cooled was very innovative.
#3 They flexed and needed no break in time. With nylon mesh on much of the upper, there is no leather to break in on top of your foot. This makes them lighter and more maneuverable when it comes to... well, doing anything. They move and feel like leather soled sneakers.
A perfect off the shelf shoe when it came to my foot, yet the only way to get a pair was to hunt through vintage shops, or build a time machine, and with current science saying that you can't time travel back into the past unless you'd built your time machine there already -- well I guess I had to choose my own route.
I posted the shoes everywhere and wrote about how much I loved them. Because of this, I eventually received a call from the CEO of the still-existing Allen Edmonds company and we discussed the styles of the past.
It's a little over two years later, I still keep in contact with the company through emails now and again. And I also think it's high time I finished writing and showed you the new addition to the Allen Edmonds Spring shoe collection...
I received them in the mail yesterday. They are a veritable duplicate of the 1940s shoes made by Allen Edmonds.
Before I get to them, I have to say this,
I want to thank Paul Grangaard and Jim Kass and the whole Allen Edmonds company for returning the Strawfut to the their line of shoes. I hope you sell a million, and know that a good dress shoe that is flexible and really breathes is back on the market to fill a sartorial hole that has been very empty.
Thank you!
I do have to say that the ones I received are not the production model, but a special make. The production model is done on the #5 last that has a narrower toe.
Now to the shoes.
This pair made for me is done on the #1 last that has a wide toe-box like the originals. The footbed is Poron which is a space age dense memory foam wrapped in a layer of leather; very comfortable. The soles are Rendenbach leather that is a denser leather that can take more of a beating over time than the standard Allen Edmonds soles, and the heels are combination rubber leather, and I just like the look.
