Stop that man! He stole my wardrobe!

I'm loving this outfit by Shipley & Halmos. Why? Because I have pretty much the exact same outfit in my closet right now; it was my uniform on a trip to Scotland. Why Didn't I put it on for a pic? Because it's friggin' 97 degrees. Use your imagination, and I promise I'll make it up to you come autumn!

"It's the circle of life! And it rules us all! Ahzen-wanya, bugga-beets a-bo-bor..."

My apologies to any Swahili speakers out there, but I don't own a copy of The Lion King with subtitles.

Onwards!
Barney's sent me an email with the headline "Dudes: new kicks from LANVIN" so, Lanvin being one of my faves, I of course tapped that (with my touch screen sillies).

What followed was the recurrence of an awkward memory (not painful, since no one else likely remembers). The trigger? These:

When i was 14, as a costume for my sister's birthday party, I decided to dress in skater-grunge: flannel shirt, jeans, spray-painted hair and a glorious pair of maroon shimmery patent Sketchers almost exactly like the Lanvins above. So this is where Simba and his pals come in: it's interesting to see how some relatively small some fashion cycles are; this one began in the early nineties, continued into my Dorkier Age, and has resurfaced again! I must say I don't always mind when history repeats itself but I will be admiring this style from afar.

Also this is my first blog attempt from my new iPad; forgive, ignore, and/or keep to yourself any grammar errors. This took me forever.

style after sixty

Tonight I came across Ari Seth Cohen's blog Advanced Style--a focus on the "silver-haired set" and their strikingly elegant, and often outrageous, style.  Hell, if I live to be sixty or seventy I'm doing it up big every day.  We're talking gloves, hat, the works.

I especially loved his snaps of dapper gentlemen--bold ambassadors of a golden age who take great care in every aspect of their dress (notice this man matched shoes with both pants and shirt), much like the HipsterDandies I've met so far!

It reminds me of an extremely stylish older gentleman I passed today; unfortunately he had no time to pose for a pic (but let me give you a hint: large blue bowtie, blazer, belted slacks, suspenders, perfection) but I have a serious soft spot for the sharp-dressed elderly man!

I feel I must add my love of the snow in this pic--holy hades it's hot out there.

In which I borrow from the boys

One of the great things about fashion is its fluidity: women borrow (or sometimes steal) from men, and men do the same (although they're less likely to admit it, stubborn things).  One more theft (um, I mean loan) from the boys: the bowtie.  It's a slow-growing fad...a few of my coworkers gave me the odd look or two!

HipsterDaddy

A guy can't beat a classic pair of aviators for eyewear.  Especially mirrored ones with which to check my hair.
My awesome Pa at the harbor in Baltimore!

historical hipsterdandies

July 4th is a great day to look back on history, even if it's your family history.  So I thought I'd bring out one of my favorite shots of my Great-Great-Uncle Chris Wright (left) and his friend Doc Pee in their 1940s sartorial splendor.  Hammy poses aside (this one was one of Doc's faves; I've found it at least 2 pics so far and it's raised a couple questions, but that's a separate issue) several trends we see today on the streets are right there in the photo: oxfords with patterned socks peeking out from under shorter pants, and a focus on tailoring balanced with casual.  If they were walking down the street today I'd cross traffic to take their pic!

DC men support their milliners

Walking from Dupont to Georgetown today I saw more men with hats than without.  And I am loving it!  Old men, young men, teens, dads, boyfriends, sons, everyone!  The winner?  Banded straw trilbies and fedoras.  Not a frayed baseball cap or trucker hat in sight.  Thank the lordie.  

HipsterDandy stealth mode.

Forgive the weird angle and all of this pic; it was my first semi-successful attempt at a stealth shot.  As inspiring as the photographs are on blogs like STREETFSN and The Sartorialist, I found I prefer to actually go up to my subjects and say hi.  After all, I have over 250 business cards that need to pull their own weight.

Ruddy; check out his website, http://www.ruddywashere.com/!

I also met Ruddy, who, after letting me record his crisply-tailored look for posterity, schooled me a bit on the world of men's fashion in DC and made me feel like a right noob.  But he did it so politely!  I loved his multi-striped newsboy cap as well; the newsboy ran a close second to the fedora in popularity today, but none of them were quite so well-patterned as this!

All in all a very successful study of Saturday sartorialism (and alliteration); there are more pix, but I'm not going to dole them out all at once!  Be patient!