This week I thought I’d throw it back to old school days of trad online. I am talking about the peak of the online menswear community. I am taking it back to the forums (shoutout to Ask Andy Trad!), the blogs (big ups to HeavyTweedJacket!), all the tumblrs, and the early days of IG with this post. With that being said here is some good ole’ collar, cuff, and unadulterated sweater porn. Enjoy!
The Late 70s Prep Checklist post generated a lot of question about one of my favorite topics which is sneakers. I’ve been into sneakers since as long as I can remember. Actually I can remember. It was 1989, I was in the 5th grade, and the Jordan IV came out. It has been a wrap since then, but back to the topic of at hand. Here are my top 5 picks for late 70s/early 80s vibed sneakers that are currently available.
1. Nike LD-1000 – $100
5. Adidas Samba Long Tongue – $90
I tried to keep the list short, but solid and most importantly available. However if you don’t love the above there are lots of other sneakers out there that can match the vibe. Adidas’s line up in particular has a ton of options that would work such as the Gazelle Indoor, SL72, and Handball Spezial to name a few. The same is true with Nike. They currently have the Blazer, Field General 82, and the Mac Attack plus a plethora of others. Whatever your favorite brand I am sure you can find a sneaker to fit the mold.
For those that find this topic interesting I suggest picking up the Lightning Nike Chronicle (1971-1980) book. It has a ton of great images of 70s-80s Nikes as well as running shirts. I dropped some images below. I’ve seen it available a few places in the past, but there are a few currently up on Ebay and Amazon Japan. Another cool resource for sneakers and how to rock sneakers that I recommend is the Trainer Spotting Instagram page.
I am going to leave you with one piece of advice before I head out. It’s actually the same advice I find myself giving about clothes. That advice is to wear your sneakers. As with clothes well worn sneakers almost always look better than clean sneakers. I am off to break in my new Nike LD-1000s!
We have a lot to unpack here in a short amount of time. We have to cover time and perception, the power of a crease, pants, and more pants stuff. Let’s get right to it.
I used to think that the chinos above were a nice balance between slim and wide. However, I feel like they look a bit too tapered these days. This is interesting to me for a few reasons, but the most interesting is that I am now gaining the ability to see how trends from the 2010’s influenced my style. It takes a little bit of time in between the past and the present to be able to recognize these trends. It’s really interesting when it becomes apparent.
Let’s move on to the power of the crease. I was going to show the image above and let it speak for itself, but to clarify these are the exact same pair of pants. I think they look too tapered on the left, but don’t look bad on the right. The Wallabees are effecting the drape, but I also think that they are highlighting the leg opening issue. Now I am not going to throw these chinos out. They aren’t that bad. I will probably just wear them casually with no crease, but I am on the hunt for new work chinos.
The hunt for new work chinos has been going on for a short while. Not too long ago I posted about J.Crew’s classic fit. While I liked these I found them a touch too voluminous. The crease did help clean this up a bit, but I knew they weren’t the ones. I recently picked up a pair of the new J.Crew straight fit (see here). They are a little trimmer than the classic fit, but they still have a decent rise (J.Crew says a size 32 has a 12.25″ rise), and leg width (8″). These run closer to tts unlike the classic fit which run a full size large. I have only worn them twice, but these might be the ones for me. I will probably size up from these 29″ waist that I am wearing here which have a 11″ rise to a 30″ waist to get another 1/2 inch of rise. Before I go all in on these I need to wear them out a few more times and then try out some JD M1’s soon
Before I hear it in the comment section let me set the record straight. I actually think that the classic fit looks a touch better than the straight fit in these pics above. However, I think it’s more to do with the photography and you guessed it, the crease. I should have done a non-creased classic fit pic to show just how wide they really are and a creased pic of the straight fit, but I ran out of time. Also, don’t be fooled. The rise is almost identical in both pairs. I will have to follow up with more pics.
Before I head out there is one last thing I wanted to touch on which is body shape. Body shape is going to play a major role in what pants works for you. Your torso to leg ratio, height, weight, and for me my bowed legs will all inform what rise, inseam, and leg width work best. For example my bowed legs can make pants looks slimmer than they are by the way they cause my pants to drape. Especially if I am standing with my knees locked and then I have to factor in my larger than normal calves too. All that to be say that pants fit is very personal on multiple levels. That’s it for now, but I am sure there will be more pants talk in the near future.
Yes last week I was telling you to get out there and enjoy the last days of summer. Now here I am this week talking about fall. This is a good thing. It shows that I have confidence that we can walk and chew gum at the same time. Speaking of walking when I think of fall I think of ranger mocs.
When I say ranger mocs what I mean are the chukka version of blucher mocs. While blucher mocs are camp mocs cooler weather cousins, ranger mocs are blucher mocs big brother. They are a little bigger, taller, and tougher than blucher mocs. When you need to walk through some wet leaves without getting them in your shoes these guys come in handy. Plus they keep your ankles a touch warmer as the temps dip and they just work well with fall fabrics like corduroy and flannel. Perfect for running around town or casual Friday at the office or honestly probably any day at the office these days.
Ranger mocs used to be easy to find. All you had to do was go to LL Bean, but then they stopped making them. They did resurface last year, but they already look to be on their way out again (see here). Like many of our trad staples ranger mocs are getting harder and harder to find, but I did manage to turn up a few pair.
Hands down the best looking pair that I saw is the Easymoc Camp Chukka. I spotted these last year and have been thinking about them ever since. The shape is great and they have the correct sole. The sole has been the hardest part to find lately. A lugged sole may be more practical, but for better or worse we often find ourselves in the form over function camp here at the OCBD Blog. Priced at $295 these are a pretty big step up in price from the Bean mocs. They are also made in the USA so the price isn’t surprising.
The Eastland Seneca Camp Chukka is another good contender. I am not in love with the shape of the uppers, but it’s still a nice classic design for a great price. You don’t hear a lot about Eastland these days. I tried a pair of their camp mocs out 5 plus years ago and while they ultimately didn’t work out, I would try them again.
That’s a good start for now. I will be talking more fall over the few weeks. Now get out there and enjoy the weather, but don’t forget to plan ahead so that you don’t get left behind.
This week I wanted to highlight one of my favorite Instagram pages, The Scene In Between. This page checks a lot of boxes for me. It has cool music, cool clothes, and it’s heavy on vibes. It focuses on early and obscure band pics with an emphasis on unknown1960’s garage bands. I almost said that it’s not clothing related, but it’s almost impossible to separate music from fashion and this my kind of music fashion.
Below are a sampling of pics to give you a taste of what Sam Knee is cooking over there. If these glimpses into rock’s past don’t wet your whistle I don’t know what will. I love seeing the ivy look bleed into psychedelic scene, the clean cut all-American boys of the 1950’s morphing into punk rockers right before our very eyes, or even more simply just kids having fun with their friends making music.
Even those post is about clothes it’s not all about clothes. Sometimes it’s nice not to think about clothes. Sometimes, I feel like I gotta get away. And I know if I don’t, I’ll go out of my mind. Better leave it behind with the kids, they’re alright. The kids are alright.
Packing light is not my forte. While I like to think of myself as a minimalist of sorts I also like to be prepared for anything which requires options. My wife on the other hand is a living legend when it comes to packing. We were headed to Myrtle Beach with the fam for a few days and this trip I really tried to cut back.
In order for this to work for me I needed almost all of my clothes to be interchangeable. Now this is where trad typically excels. I mean khakis, OCBDs, shetlands, polos, etc. are ideal for this, but things like swimsuits and madras can add a degree of difficulty due to their colors and patterns. Polo shirts will almost always work with swim trunks and even though this is a look I do a lot I wanted something different for this trip. I wanted some classic 1960’s Americana beach party surf fun or as I titled this post, surf board trad.
My inspiration was this picture of Peter Kaplan. I’ve always loved this picture and while he is not on the beach (he does have a skateboard) it captures the west coast ivy vibes that I was after perfectly. It was decided. This was my look. Time to pack.
I threw on a surf playlist from Spotify and began. Now 99% of all my t-shirts are simple grey pocket-t’s, but I do have two striped t-shirts from Ralph Lauren because I have tried this look before. Because of this I already knew that the striped t-shirts worked well with my yellow Patagonia baggies which I occasionally use as swim trunks. The t-shirts will also work with khaki shorts and pants. The striped shirts and baggies also work with an OCBD in case it gets cool at the beach. I threw in a purple pair of baggies as well to mix it up. The shoes were New Balance 996’s for walking, Sperry Boat shoes for the beach, and flip flops for the pool. I brought two ball caps.
So how did I do? If you want to know the truth I overpacked. Not mentioned above was a J.Press Madras, a J.Press Broadcloth shirt, and a white sweatshirt. None of these items were worn. To be fair I did have some work stuff which I had to anticipate, but if I am being honest with myself I could have cut back. I give myself a C+.
Execution wise I think that I did pretty well. The t-shirts played their role to a tee. The yellow baggies were a great choice. I felt like I was in my Endless Summer bag. My purple baggies were a bit of a miss. They didn’t look quite as good as I thought they would in my head with the green and blue shirt and I didn’t have the chance to to try them with the blue and white shirt. I also brought my default swimsuit which I love and deserves a post of their own. I wore these trunks to the beach with my favorite navy polo that I also wore on the airplane. I give myself a B.
The trip was a success. The fam had fun. I had fun. This was a good packing exercise and I think that I learned a thing or two. Enjoy the bonus pics below!
