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Here’s What’s Great about Made to Measure Shirts
Stile Latino Fall '16
Fedeli's Verso Cashmere Sweaters
Look Series #4 | The Montana Shearling Vest
Fall is a great time to favor casually rugged looks—thick flannels, well-worn jeans, luxuriant shearlings…they radiate character and complexity in an elegant, welcoming style. For the fourth installment of our ongoing Look Series, we’ve chosen a selection of recent arrivals that we envision as go-to pieces for any man’s fall wardrobe.
Comstock Heritage: The Tribal Longhorn Belt Buckle
When James Stegman asked for his father’s blessing to branch off from the family-owned Comstock Silversmiths and re-christen the Comstock Heritage brand, he had one thing in mind.
Or rather he had several things in mind, and one goal—giving form to the swarm of creative visions in his head. The way he tells it, he landed on silversmithing as his medium simply because it was accessible. His family has worked in the trade for generations, so he had access to the tools and materials of a silversmith. Simple as that.
The Gimo's Side Zip Moto Jacket
The Hemingway & Spitfire Leather Jackets
The Boglioli Sport Coat
Spotlighting the K-Jacket that made Boglioli an icon of modern sport coat style
The Boglioli family earned their reputation for innovative, stylish design more than 100 years ago as tailors in Gambara, Italy. It was not long before they gained quite a following, and the Bogliolis soon found great success producing clothing—especially their flagship sport coats—on a wider scale.
The drive for innovation is a family trait, and in the 1990s the Bogliolis rededicated their focus exclusively to their own brand. They established a signature style of deconstructed elegance and meticulous tailoring that is now synonymous with the family name.
The now-iconic Boglioli K-Jacket represented a watershed moment for not just the brand, but also for men’s fashion in general. It was the first time anyone had perfected the two characteristics that would become Boglioli’s signature: the unstructured design and the garment washing process.
Prior to the Boglioli K-Jacket, the unstructured sport coat—now a hallmark of men’s fashion—had been attempted but never mastered. With no padding or lining to hide tailoring mistakes, the production process allows no room for error. The K-Jacket is a testament to Boglioli’s technical mastery, and its natural fit made possible a stylishly at-ease look that is as appealing now as it was then.
Boglioli’s other signature trait, the garment washing process, was an innovative way to relax a fabric and give it a vintage effect—the perfect complement for the K-Jacket’s decadently easygoing style. In some sense, the garment washing process itself is an act of blithely louche style; there’s a wonderfully Gatsby-esque sort of decadence in taking the world’s finest materials and running them through the wash to relax them a bit. It’s a nice reminder not to take things too seriously.
The Boglioli Umberto Pashmina K-Jacket in Navy exemplifies all of the characteristics that make Boglioli sport coats some of our favorites. It’s made from 100% pashmina, one of the finest cashmeres to be found. Pashmina translates to “soft gold” in the language of Kashmir, where it originated in the 15th century. In a nice touch of rakishly unpretentious luxury, Boglioli used this fabric in an understated wide-herringbone navy. Unassuming from a distance, its subtle depth and natural silhouette reward those who pay attention to the little things.
5 Pocket Jeans – The New-Classic Necessity
For comfort, quality, and classic style, 5-Pockets are hard to beat. Their versatility shouldn’t be overlooked either. A good pair of 5-Pocket jeans will complement virtually any pairing—from polo shirt to double-breasted coat—with subtle distinction.
History of an Icon
Jeans are the iconic American clothing. Since Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis first patented their riveted denim pants in 1873, jeans have become a defining feature of the clothing world, from work pants to high fashion. Strauss and Davis, who both immigrated from Europe to the U.S. as young men, made their mark by mass-producing rivet-reinforced denim work pants with the quality and durability demanded by Western prospectors, miners, and cowboys.
Quality, functionality, and unpretentiousness define Western clothing. Perhaps the world is becoming a more casual place, but the West has always been so. From Hemingway’s habit of wearing hunting clothes to dinner, to Kerouac’s blue-collar bohemianism, to the affectionately named “Colorado Tuxedo” (jeans with a sport coat), Western dress is an expression of self-confidence and casual grace.
American Tradition, Old World Interpretation
The West’s romanticism and easy elegance lend themselves to a natural affinity with a distinctly European appreciation of the artfulness of life. Often the best renderings of a tradition come from an outside perspective—Sergio Leone and Ennio Morricone’s iconic Spaghetti Western films and scores are an example.
American blue jeans are no exception. Not only were Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis both European-born, but even the word ‘denim’ originated from the American pronunciation of de Nimes, French for “from Nimes”, the town that popularized the fabric we now call denim.
Like Western cinema, blue jeans are an American classic, yet their modern legacy has been shaped positively by European interpretation. Some of our favorite 5-Pocket jeans incorporate traditional Continental craftsmanship into the iconic Western look.
The Three Jeans to Own
In our own day-to-day lives, we’re wearing 5-Pocket jeans more and more. Stonewashed blues and classic white denims are longtime mainstays, but we’ve also begun to favor subtle shades of cream and beige denim over 4-Pocket chinos. Don’t get us wrong—we like color. But we’ve found that washed, reserved shades such as red wine and deep olive project a favorably casual tone and pair nicely with a greater variety of shirts and coats.
For more than a decade, we’ve considered 5-Pocket jeans the building block for a man’s wardrobe. It’s not a question of whether to wear them, but how to find the right jeans for you. That’s what we’re here to do.
A Tale of Two Cities
Our sport coat collection could be a tale of two cities—virtually all of our jackets come from Naples and Milan.
Perhaps in some ways that isn’t so surprising. Italy’s twin cities of fashion are leading figures in the international fashion industry. But what makes their stories interesting is how they are at once so different and so similar.
