Rugby Ralph Lauren Video Campaigns

One of my favourite labels of all is Rugby, part of the famous Ralph Lauren Empire.Following you will find their video campaigns, which are always original and very appealing, in reverse chronological order.

Spring/Summer 2010

Holiday 2009

Fall 2009

Spring/Summer 2009

Holiday 2008

Fall 2008

Holiday 2007

Clip-on Flip-up

These new glasses from Oliver Peoples, part of their Spring/Summer 2010 collection, function both as sunglasses and as prescription glasses by means of flipping the sunglass lens up or down depending on your needs.

While I am not entirely convinced of their intrinsic practicality, I do think the concept is a little cheeky and quite novel.

What I liked most about Oliver Peoples was their Spring/Summer 2010 campaign video, featuring Elijah Wood and Shirley Manson. I think their choice of interpretation and integration of the glasses was enticing and original which combined with a great musical choice added up to the following:

The glasses can be purchased here.

Vintage Menswear

This 1927 ( my grandmother was born then so quite an old video by my standards ) clip allows a glimpse into what would soon become a dying fashion (capes and hats and bastons oh my)

This 1954 Menswear video is an interesting look at the world of Men's Fashion in the 50s. You can all see that mostly no accent was put on the models' looks (or is it our perception of male beauty that has changed? ) and the fit was mostly loose, especially for pants (I'm sure the dreadful pleat was present).

The shorts/office look curiously portends to some of the modern takes on men's formal-wear (see my previous post on Engineered Garments )

CFW - FTW

The weekend is over and I have had almost no rest, but all the energy was indeed well spent. This last week witnessed the first edition of the Cluj Fashion Week (CFW - Cluj is my hometown), an event born out of the previous organizational failure of the Romanian Fashion Week

CFW meant art exhibits, workshops, lots of great parties and obviously a great fashion show. The runway saw creations of many talented Romanian Designers (Iris Serban and Raluca Coman) and also quite a few foreign designers (Kavathas Vangelos - Greece and Choi Boko - South Korea were my favourites).  My only major disappointment was that the Fashion show featured absolutely no designs for men, all designers focusing exclusively on Women's Fashion. While it is true that in Eastern Europe an even lower number of men are interested in fashion and the trappings of style, there is no excuse for omitting this niche completely.

I am not going to claim I know as much about Women's fashion than Men's, however there were quite a few designs that I enjoyed very much. Even "A Shaded View on Fashion" 's Diane Pernet was present at the show and her presence meant a lot for an event that is only just taking form.

My friend Jenya, visiting from the States on the left and myself on the right, on the last night of the CFW

CFW, great job and I'm looking forward to next year's edition, hopefully, bigger, better and definitely "manlier"!

Will You Add to My Baggage?

Will you add to my baggage?

Will you help me unpack?

Or will you just look at my things and take me right back?

Do you have the time to help me unpack?

To put away my baggage,

To never repack?

Evelyn Colbath (excerpt)

One of the great things that I have learned from my father is that smart people buy once while others live a lifetime buying. What my father wanted to have me understand is that quality should be one of the most important things I look out for throughout a life of purchases. One of the things that every respectable young man should own is a good piece of luggage. We are young, we travel a lot and we are more interested in adventure rather than comfort, which means our luggage should be there to withstand the most arduous of challenges.

Nik Palmer

Jack Palmer

When I first discovered Palmer & Sons, the first thought that went through my mind was, this looks like refined quality, I should look into purchasing one of their items. For good reason, Palmer & Sons, a Vancouver based, family-owned business is a great investment. All their items are hand-crafted by the Palmer men using traditional methods, heritage materials and vintage tools, turning into some of sturdiest and most fashionable pieces of luggage I have seen, They also allow for quite some freedom of customization, without the bill having to jump exponentially.

Examples of different finishing touches

1. For all of you who prefer a messenger bag to a backpack, me included, I recommend their Leather Suitcase No. 3 (Prices start from $435 - shipping included for the XXS model and go up to $545 for the M version)

- the XXS model can also be worn as a backpack or carried as a suitcase

2. For light to medium travelling I would recommend one of their Gladstone No. 10 pieces which also comes in different sizes (from XS - $450 to L - $700)

Notice the exquisite build and attention to detail. That's what will last you a lifetime!

3. Last but not least, there is an option for all you MacBook users out there, although I would not exclude other similarly sized computers from being carried in P&S's Leather Macbook Sleeve No. 14

Lightweight and quite manly thanks to the over-sized lock 

Whatever you might purchase in your lives, remember that quality lasts you longer than quantity and will always be much better appreciated by your peers!

Keep it in Style!

Give In Style

As it has become Rugby.com's custom to support different humanitarian causes, just like a good Prep should do,  Rugby is hosting a 6 day event in which all of you can help the victims of the Haiti and Chile earthquakes. 

On top of receiving a 25% discount (Enter the discount code GIVERL) on any Rugby item you can feel even better about your purchase knowing that 10% of what you pay goes to support the cause. Get out your credit cards and shop for a cause, I'm sure your Spring and Summer wardrobes could use some new additions! Rugby.com is also great about shipping: free if your purchase is over $150 or a flat $5 fee otherwise.

Here's a few of my favourite Rugby Items, which I would definitely wear and wholeheartedly recommend:

Top Left: GRAPHIC PRINTED CHINO SHORT - $79.50
Bottom Left: BLACK SKINNY JEAN - $89.99 and ENGLISH ROSE STRIPED BOW TIE - $49.50
Center: COTTON CABLED ARM STRIPED CREW - $89.50 and CANVAS MESSENGER BAG - $99.99
Top Right: SCOUT DECK JACKET - $198
Bottom Right: WADHAM GINGHAM OXFORD - $69.50
Note: Prices are before the special Give in Style discount!

Keep it in style!

It-Must-Be-Hard-On-You

As one site that I can't recall right now wrote, you should walk out the door every day with the same excitement that could get you...well you know, excited !

Shipley & Halmos jacket and pants, Original Penguin shirt and tie, Burberry belt, Nooka watch, Fred Flare cup

I can't comment much on this except how much I like this take on male fashion. While Women's fashion is always edgy and sometimes bordering the pg-18 zone, the same is not true for Men's as well. Why is it that breasts are always flaunted, meekly covered or behind wet white clothes and men are almost always kept fully clothed, god forbid someone might find out they have a penis?! This Vice-Magazine photoshoot does exactly that, and brings the MAN back into Men's Fashion.

Enjoy the Pictures!

Shipley & Halmos suit, Loden Dager shirt, Original Penguin tie, vintage pocket square from Screaming Mimi’s, Incase iPhone cover

agnès b. jacket, Sisley shirt, Topman pants and bow tie, Ben Sherman shoes

agnès b. jacket, Sisley shirt, Topman pants and bow tie, Ben Sherman shoes

The rest of the photos from the shoot can be viewed here.

Nautical Articulations Of The Being

What lies in names of furtive random faces,

That often hint at meaning just right before the future coalesces?

Is it the souls of waves that are now fleeing

From Nautical Articulations of the Being?

The sea has always been part of human nature and even nowadays it is still part of quite a few people's lives. Sailing and Yachting are often exclusively taken up by civilization's privileged, the few who can afford the time for his expensive hobby.

Perusing through my copy of The Official Preppy Handbook has brought something I had forgotten about, back into view, something that has to do with both sailing and a privileged lifestyle: Nautical Monograms.

Nautical Monograms have been and probably still are one of the few secret alphabets that are not that well known and could be easily overlooked by the uninitiated. The Nautical Alphabet consists of 26 distinct flags that each have a letter and a meaning associated with it. This particularity of "Vexillolinguistics" as it might be called, affords for easily creating one's monogram and then using it for anything ranging from signing a message, displaying membership into an elite sailing club to discovering other Preps that are passionate about sailing.

Here are the Alphabet and Numbers Chart in the Nautical System, useful for quick reference:

My Nautical Monogram for example would be the following:

One website that offers notecards with Nautical Monograms is Polygraphics.com

Enjoy being creative with your monograms in a new way!

Triangle of Fashion: Duke-UNC-NCSU

Rivalry is often the igniter of a social, cultural and most importantly educational perpetuum mobile, and few inter-university rivalries are as heated and spread as those between North Carolina's three best universities.

While still in its bud, rivalry in the realm of fashion is yet to unfold and each university has some assets that might help them gain the upper hand. UNC has its School of Journalism and a student body of more privileged origins, compared to NCSU, Duke has the most diverse body of students and plenty of material and intellectual resources.and NCSU has its feet anchored through their Schools of Fashion & Textiles Management and Design.

In terms of publications pertaining to fashion, NCSU is the only one so far that does not have (to the extent of my knowledge) a student-run Fashion Magazine. I've reviewed Duke's new publication DMAG (renamed DFaQ or Duke Fashion Quarterly as of recently) before and I would like to spend a few moments looking at UNC's own Fashion Magazine, Kaleidoscope.

From the two numbers that were available online I quickly gathered that this was a 99% for-girls-only magazine. Taking a peek at the staff roster that was available confirmed it (the only male involved with this creationary process was the photographer O_o)!

Fashion, at least in college, is a predominantly feminine issue/fancy and I could understand why the Kaleidoscope team chose to focus more on their female readers. This however, is completely antipodal to eliminating the male part all together. Even taking into consideration the fact that UNC's female population is slightly larger than its male counterpart does not explain this choice. I am by no means trying to disprove the magazine solely because it's written by Tar Heels and I am a Blue Devil, but I know quite a few UNC guys who would probably be interested in reading your magazine. The content in itself is quite nice and I commend you for your efforts, my only problem with it being as I stated, the unisexist approach.

Sadly even when a male was present at a photoshoot, the focus was clearly put on the girl. Honestly how can he show up in a fashion magazine wearing that!

Events to look out for if you're in the RDU/Triangle area are:

1. DFaQ's Launch Party at the Doris Duke Center on April 26th. Event details here

2. NCSU's "Art To Wear" Fashion Show, April 14th. Event details here.