Working to look sharp for a rare evening out on the town can actually be easy. The tough job is trying to look sharp on a daily, casual basis. Yeah, you might have your Friday night suit at your beck and call, but what does it matter if you spend the rest of your time in target t-shirts and jeans? Every Friday, I'd like to offer up some style inspiration for tightening up your casual look, because let's face it... sometimes you just don't feel like wearing a tie, but still want to keep it sharp.
Ah yes... finally, the clouds have come back to San Francisco after a week's worth of too much sun! In honor of this, let's get into some nice casual stylings for a cool, crisp day. Check out this great shot of The Rolling Stones, skirting a fine line between casual and formal:
This is my type of casual Friday wear! With the exception of Charlie Watts, looking dapped-out in long coat and tie, everyone else is playing it mellow with no neck wear. But, look at those tab-collar shirts all done up!
(Okay, side note: I made a total Mod fashion faux-pas a couple of weeks back. I wore a tab-collar shirt to dinner but thanks to the heavy San Diego humidity, I left the tab and top button undone. Didn't want to get that collar all dirty before putting on a tie for the evening, y'know? Well, I saw the photos afterwards and learned something valuable: TAB-COLLARS SHOULD ALWAYS BEEN DONE UP, EVEN WITHOUT A TIE! Otherwise, you're just looking sloppy.)
Anyways, what this photo shows is that you can totally rock a suit jacket, slim trousers, and a nice dress shirt and still look good without going the extra distance with a tie, pocket square, etc. No athletic wear here... no polo shirts... no desert boots, but still a relaxed casual cool look, especially during cool weather.
Of course, the final touch on their clothing choices: the leather coats... especially Brian Jones's 3/4-length! Today's Mod enthusiasts should take note: leather coats trump parkas every time!
Okay, let's end the post and start the weekend off with another great photo from this session:
The holidays are over, but for me, the gift-giving continues into a month of January family birthdays (including my wife's birthday, which usually lasts about the entire month itself). But it's also the time when I get to start becoming selfish again and think about things I'd like to get for myself! And I've come up with my want list for January 2012. Good thing I'm saving up!
First up, some new records. After a long DJ hiatus, I think I'm ready to start again, but I'd like to add some new things to my collection. My first purchase? This new 45 by the Bay Area's The Incredible Say Whats!, featuring Chris Lujan of Lugnut Brand Records & The Pacesetters and Nick Rossi, of the The Pacesetters, Nick Rossi Trio, The Monarchs, and more! Here, they pay tribute to one of my favorite funky soul instrumentals, Bag of Goodies by the Soul Machine! I've never been familiar with the Twitchie Feet side so am very much looking forward to hittin' this up.
Next up, a DNA Groove shirt which I've been itchin' for for quite some time now. Since starting this blog, I've been wanting to do a write up on DNA, but how could I when I haven't worn their clothes yet? Still, I think this company has been doing some great things with pushing Mod styling away from targets & parkas and into a more fashion-forward direction. Plus, I think it's fantastic that Claudio is working to get Mod males (and other style-fixated guys) to think more about their clothing choices with clips like this:
The shirt I have my eye on? This nicely striped number:
Better place my order quick!
Now I'm ALWAYS on the hunt for good shoes. Sure, I probably don't have any more room in the closet, but no matter! I've been wanting a pair of dark brown, simple shoes for daily work wear. I found these online, which seem to have a nice winklepicker point (but not too pointy!) along with lace-ups. I had a similar pair in black that were actually vintage but, believe it or not, I like the shape of these much more! Anyone familiar with this UK brand? Knowing my luck, they'll last me about a week at most before falling apart.
With the above DNA Groove item, my shirt quota should be filled. Still, I think this is the year I invest in a couple of new, bespoke tab-collar shirts. You can always use more white shirts and I've been yearning (yes, yearning) for tab-collars for a while! I cleaned out one of our closets recently and found an old, beat-down and worn-out tab shirt that I kept over the years, thinking that some day I'd be able to afford a tailor-made one. Friends, that day has hit and I'm goin' for it! Going to go for a couple of plain, white shirts with French cuffs and a short, tight pointed collar like this:
And last but not least, some new Levis. No, not jeans! I heard this week that the Levis store in San Francisco has started selling sta-prest again in various colors. So, this weekend, I'm going to go out and explore, and I'll let you know what I find.
Unfortunately, looks like this month won't leave me with much money for food, but hey... after the holiday eating, I can make that sacrifice!
Oh yeah, and before I forget, if you're in the Bay Area and looking for a good happy hour tonight, why don't you come by and visit us as we'll be djing Mod stuff from all around. (Yes, even power-pop, just for the fun of it.) Info here:
