Tag / friday read

by Beau H.

The Friday Read: Pantone Colors, Denim Jackets & Start-up Watches

Editor’s note: Expect these posts once a week on Fridays — consider this a jumpstart on reading for your weekend downtime. Expect a mix of style and non-style content. For more entries, click here.

Before kicking off our regularly scheduled content on The Style Guide, I’d like to offer my thanks and gratitude to the brave men and women who serve this country, as well as those who made the ultimate sacrifice in saving lives and protecting our freedom on this day and in the days & years thereafter. When you think about it that way, writing about clothing seems somewhat silly. And yet, life goes on. With that, I leave you with a few articles to peruse in your spare time in the coming days.

  • The New York Times pores over the world of start-up watches in a really well-done trend piece — and you might recognize one of the brands quoted in there from a VOUCH Mag piece penned by yours truly earlier this summer.
  • From Women’s Wear Daily comes yesterday’s news that Pantone announced its Spring 2016 colors. A very pink-like Rose Quartz (no. 1) might be a no-go for most of us, but Iced Coffee is one among them that seems to present more menswear opportunities — like this Garment-Dyed Shirt from Frank & Oak).
  • Lastly as far as style goes, GQ tells you exactly how to layer a denim jacket this fall — note that Daniel Craig looks outstanding, in my humble opinion.

That’s all for this week’s edition of the Friday Read. Stay stylish, and check back here Monday for more from the world of menswear.

Greats

 

by Beau H.

The Friday Read: Labor Day, Brooklyn Tailors and Fall Florals

Editor’s note: Expect these posts once a week on Fridays — consider this a jumpstart on reading for your weekend downtime. Expect a mix of style and non-style content. For more entries, click here.

With Labor Day weekend upon us, the question is: How will you be spending your final days of summer? And what will you be wearing? For more on what gear to grab, head here. A nice Grayers polo or a great pair of sweatshorts wouldn’t go amiss, I’m sure. On a personal front, it’s set to be a busy weekend for me — I’m heading out to Coney Island Brewing this afternoon to catch up with co-founder Chris Adams for a piece on my friend Pat Evans’ blog Grand Conversations before catching the season opener of my beloved Michigan State Spartans! Always an exciting way to start fall. And then I’m heading back to my favorite state — that would be Michigan — for a family wedding on Saturday (likely including a stop in East Lansing). So it’s set to be a busy one for sure — do you know what you’re style essentials you’re packing in that bag of yours yet? If not, best hop to it. Meanwhile, peruse some weekend reading picks below — wherever you head this week, stay safe and stylish!

    • Gear Patrol caught up recently with Brooklyn Tailors, who received high praise from the likes of GQ as part of that publication’s 2014 Best New Menswear Designers in America class.
    • Common Projects, of the legendary and minimal white sneakers you might covet but likely can’t afford, is making an excellent pair of dress shoes — yes, dress shoes — fit for the fall.
    • If you haven’t swung by Style Girlfriend in a while, or if you haven’t checked out the site at all, it’s worth a look — editor Megan Collins and her team show you how to rock those floral prints into fall.
    • Style Read of the Week: As you may or may not be aware, I’m a big watch fan — with affordability and versatility in mind, of course. We move away from the typical Long Read and instead direct your attention to five watches every guy should own, as picked by my buddy Barron at Effortless Gent.

Ernest Alexander
That’s about the best of the world of writing + style this week — for more, head here:

Greats

by Beau H.

The Friday Read: Cuffed Pants, Trend Evolution and James Bond’s Cookbook

Editor’s note: Expect these posts once a week on Fridays — consider this a jumpstart on reading for your weekend downtime. Expect a mix of style and non-style content. For more entries, click here.

We’ve rolled right through another week here at The Style Guide HQ (AKA a rather small Brookyn apartment), and it’s crazy to think that there’s not that much real “summer” left. It’s been a great one though, especially with travels to Greece and Italy. And I’m just as excited about the fall — this here site will have a Fall Wish List in the next few weeks, new product reviews and brand profiles, and a few travel features in the works (a trip to  Los Angeles among them!). But there’s still plenty of time to soak up some rays (got your sunglasses on-point?) and hit the beach, pool or just your local watering hole — which I’ll certainly be doing this weekend. Before you dive in though, a heads-up — I’ll be running a special Instagram giveaway on Monday and Tuesday of next week featuring the chance to win some grooming gear from the organic gurus at Kent & Bond. Details will be outlined in a Monday post, but make sure you’re following me on Instagram (please?) and check back Monday for more details!

      • Gear Patrol quite literally shows you, in GIFs plus text, some sharp ways to cuff or roll pants — try it out with some dark denim in particular.
      • In the way of trends, Esquire spotlights exactly how a trend starts, focusing specifically on the pocket square and its rise to prominence (and purported downfall?) in the #menswear world.
      • Fast Company gives you the scoop on what exactly James Bond ate in the iconic Ian Fleming novels — new book “Dying to Eat” chronicles recipes and photos in a fascinating and in-depth manner.
      • Long Read of the Week: If you haven’t been following this series, it’s high time to catch up — Narratively chronicled the end of a 5,000-mile cross country bike ride undertaken by a daring team of friends.

Can’t get enough of The Style Guide?

Ben Sherman US
Greats

by Beau H.

The Friday Read: Men’s Swimsuits, GQ Suiting and Frank & Oak

Editor’s note: Expect these posts once a week on Fridays — consider this a jumpstart on reading for your weekend downtime. Expect a mix of style and non-style content. For more entries, click here.

Although it’s always outstanding to be on vacation (particularly a trip to Greece), it can be just as nice to get back into the swing of work — and of course, the regularly scheduled Friday Read! Fighting off jet lag was a tall order after a particularly adventurous travel day back to the States, followed by a full week of work — but it’s almost in the books now, with what should be a lovely NYC weekend coming up. I’m excited to kick things off by heading to Blind Barber in the East Village this evening for a custom suit fitting courtesy of my friends at Combatant Gentleman — the brand’s chinos and blazers provide great style for the price, so a full suit (in addition to the one I brought on my Mediterranean trip) should be a great treat! I’m planning on checking out ABC Beer Co. nearby after, too. What’s on your plate? I’d suggest kicking things off with the lineup below, for starters.

  • The Men’s Style section of the New York Times runs through the new world of men’s swimwear — one that’s more tailored, less baggy and much better-looking — in this neat feature and infographic.
  • GQ’s editorial squad is on-point with a selection of small suiting tweaks that can elevate your A-game even further when dressing up in the coming months.
  • Frank & Oak, they of the affordable and highly covetable monthly menswear collections, serves up a very cool primer on how to see London in a weekend  — that city’s on The Style Guide’s list of spots to travel in 2016!
  • Long Read of the Week: So this one is more of a hybrid photo story than a true long read, but it’s pretty mind-blowing — Popular Mechanics covers the world’s 25 most impressive megaprojects, most of which are simply staggering in scale.

Florsheim
Got style on your mind?

Ernest Alexander

by Beau H.

The Friday Read: Lucio Castro, Band of Outsiders and Lollapalooza

Editor’s note: Expect these posts once a week on Fridays — consider this a jumpstart on reading for your weekend downtime. Expect a mix of style and non-style content. For more entries, click here.

This  past week has, for me, been a whirlwind to say the least. What with putting in some time on the clock planning for a big Timberland Boots event in September (excited about that one!), hanging out with my friends from Made PR at the lovely Self Edge Denim store on Thursday night and of course, planning for my upcoming trip to Greece, time has really sailed by! (See what I did there?). Stateside, who among us is heading to Lollapalooza? The Friday line-up in particular looks great! On the style side of things however, some pretty big news hit this past week-and-a-half or so on all fronts, from the release of the new Converse Chuck Taylor II late last week to the debut of Everlane’s Slim Pant earlier this week —  more on that tomorrow on this very site. And in the meantime, the latest and greatest across the rest of style media follows  below. Stay tuned for dispatches from abroad and if you aren’t already, follow me on Instagram for more.

  • The always on-point crew over at Dappered runs through the style essentials you need in an always-essential color — deep, dark navy. A great list (although I have to argue for a great chambray shirt).
  • Up-and-coming menswear designer Lucio Castro, who recently showed his SS16 collection at #NYFWM, talks to Get Kempt about the inspiration behind his collection and his (very) unconventional journey to designing clothes.
  • Complex offers up some more information on the mysterious — or rather, financially-focused — closure of cult brand Band of Outsiders and what the future does (or doesn’t) hold for the brand.
  • Long(ish) Read of the Week: Excellent lifestyle site A Continuous Lean gives us a glimpse into the sights and soul-stirring music of Eaux Claires, the newly launched Wisconsin festival hosted in part by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.

While we’re still at things on the style front, have you glimpsed the latest release from Brooklyn’s own GREATS? Its much-loved Royale silhouette gets a fresh update in time for the last half of summer, featuring canvas and a gum rubber sole. Check ’em out here.

Need something else to peruse at work?

      • Kick your feet back and throw on a pair of slick loafers — like those sold by Andre Coton — and while you relax, learn more about them in my latest VOUCH Mag post.
      • Throw on a henley when you hit the beach or the pool this weekend, too – but not before checking out this handy shopping guide.

Florsheim

Ernest Alexander

by Beau H.

The Friday Read: New SPECTRE Trailer, Italian Fashion and Jake Gyllenhaal

Editor’s note: Expect these posts once a week on Fridays — consider this a jumpstart on reading for your weekend downtime. Expect a mix of style and non-style content. For more entries, click here.

What a week it’s been, to say the least! I kicked things off by attending the excellent Capsule Show, an international fashion and lifestyle brand exhibition  — I snapped a nice photo montage of the best brands I saw here. I also had the chance to attend a preview for a new industrial design project by Apolis launching later this year. The brand is partnering with Chivas Regal to turn excess glassware from the spirits company’s massive factories into sets of glass tumblers – very cool stuff. You can read more about the preview and catch a glimpse of yours truly (hint: navy floral shirt) in the brand’s blog post on the event. And now, I’m heading back to Michigan for the weekend to catch up with college friends. But enough about all that — onto this week’s reading (and watching).

  • We start things off not with an article, but with a video. If you haven’t seen the trailer for the new James Bond film SPECTRE yet, stop what you’re doing and go watch. Suffice to say — it looks stunning.  And the #menswear contained therein looks stunning as well. The classic cream dinner jacket. The chunky turtleneck. And those Tom Ford shades. Wow. While opinions on  Mr. Craig have been divisive sometimes, you’ll find no such talk about that from this writer.
  • On a bit calmer front, Cool Material thinks your phone is missing some apps, and they rounded up the eight best apps you don’t know (or do you?)
  • The New York  Times reports that Italy is planning to use its significant fashion industry clout by investing in the U.S. as a major future fashion market, to the tune of more than $20 million in investments.
  • GQ.com has the scoop on what Jake Gyllenhaal has been wearing to promote his latest movie, Southpaw (hint: the dude likes the air tie a lot).
  • Long Read of the Week: This week’s Friday Read, like last week’s post, eschews the Long Read portion — giving you more time to go back and watch that SPECTRE trailer.

That’s all on the Friday Read front here — but if you insist on reading something else…

Ernest Alexander

Ben Sherman US

by Beau H.

The Friday Read: New York Fashion Week: Men’s, J. Crew Mercantile and Rob Gronkowski

Ben Sherman US

Editor’s note: Expect these posts once a week on Fridays — consider this a jumpstart on reading for your weekend downtime. Expect a mix of style and non-style content. For more entries, click here.

First of all — based on that headline, this Friday Read should  be pretty good, eh? And with the arrival of  this post comes the end of a pretty momentous week around these parts (these parts being NYC). The first-ever New York Fashion Week: Men’s rolled right on through, bringing with it some stellar shows and epic street style. I myself had the chance to go to Todd Snyder’s outstanding SS16 collection preview as well as spend time with industry contacts at GQ’s The Gent Lounge. This was, as always, on top of other writing pursuits – definitely no better way to experience parts of fashion week than by doing a little bit of everything! Check out a recap of most of my activities over at my Twitter account, if you’re so inclined. And as always, start your weekend off right with some style reads.

  • As part of its partnership with #NYFWM, East Dane (the #menswear arm of Amazon Fashion) caught up with a few key style influencers ahead of the shows.
  • Near the middle of the week, industry publication Business of Fashion reported that J. Crew is set to launch J. Crew Mercantile, a lower-priced line of shops targeted toward budget-conscious consumers
  • Ever wondered what it’s like to party with notoriously wild Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski? No? Esquire shares an excerpt from what should be an, um, insightful memoir?
  • Long Read of the Week: Bloomberg Businessweek explores the many cultural and media-driven factors that shaped the rise of the modern political campaign logo – including a certain very recognizable letter logo

Still got your eyes peeled for more style reads?

    • Check out five great swimsuits that would be best to hit the water with during this big beach month
    • Read up on a brand you should be pretty familiar with if you check out this site – United By Blue, the latest company I profiled for VOUCH Mag (for a full Q&A) with the company’s founder, head here).

Ernest Alexander

by Beau H.

The Friday Read: The Apple Watch, Brunello Cucinelli and Tictail

Ben Sherman US

Editor’s note: Expect these posts once a week on Fridays — consider this a jumpstart on reading for your weekend downtime. Expect a mix of style and non-style content. For more entries, click here.

We’ve reached another Friday and summer’s starting to hit its stride – it’s getting pretty hot and muggy out there, too (by the way, did you catch this post earlier this week covering how to beat the heat?).  I’ve got an exciting weekend planned after a  busy time last weekend — I was fortunate enough to have my parents in town for the 4th, whereby we promptly set out on a Brooklyn beer tour. And my college friend (and extremely talented photographer) Khoa Nguyen is coming to town this weekend — so expect more of the same (plus some photos most likely, if we get around to it!). Now please, crack open a brew yourself (or just grab an iced tea), kick back and check out this week’s Friday Read post.

        • MarketWatch reports and surmises as to the how and why behind a dramatic plummet in sales of the Apple Watch.
        • Esquire Fashion Director Nick Sullivan explains his ultra-stylish wardrobe choice for an ultra-stylish Milan Fashion Week dinner hosted late last month by the ultra-stylish Brunello Cucinelli.
        • And for more on that stylish evening (because why not, while we’re at it?), the New York Times takes a deeper dive into other fashionable choices made by some of the party’s noted industry luminaries.
        • Style Read of the Week: Switching things up from the typical long read that normally populates this last bullet, Get Kempt brings everyone’s attention to Tictail, a site that recently upped its menswear game incrementally.

Still got a hankering for more style content?

  • Read up on the shades you should purchase this summer – the Randolph Engineering Concorde series, as written about by yours truly on GearHungry.
  • Take a gander at an extremely interesting crowdfunded #menswear concept, the Vincero Collective, over at VOUCH Mag – had the good fortune to connect with co-founder Sean Agatep earlier this week on the company.

Ernest Alexander

Florsheim

by Beau H.

The Friday Read: Fourth of July, Shake Shack and Paris Fashion Week

Ernest Alexander

Editor’s note: Expect these posts once a week on Fridays — consider this a jumpstart on reading for your weekend downtime. Expect a mix of style and non-style content. For more entries, click here.

With one day left ’til the Fourth of July, have you made it where you’re going for the weekend yet? Know what you’re going to wear? If you still haven’t picked out an outfit, look here. And if you’re just throwing together a bag last-minute — hold your horses, partner, best to pack in style with these tips. It’s a shortened week at my office, but yet another busy one. Thankfully, we’ve got the weekend here — and some stylish reads with which to kick it off. Check out the below picks this week, featuring a double dose of Esquire style content and the best burgers around. And if you do happen  to be in the Hamptons on the East Coast this weekend or anytime before July 11th, be sure to swing by the Steven Alan x GREATS Pop-up Shop at 75 Main Street; the two brands will be offering up a specially-curated selection of GREATS kicks in a truly lux environment. Now, onto this week’s reading picks.

  • As tomorrow is everyone’s favorite patriotic holiday, Thrillist put together its list of the most American … Americans. Yep, you read that right. A fun little list, though.
  • For those watch nerds out there,Esquire examines whether a vintage Patek Phillipe actually inspired the pricey, futuristic-leaning Apple Watch — it seems likely the more you read that piece, although design inspiration certainly comes from many different places.
  • And continuing to roll right through the esteemed publication’s digital offerings, Esquire made note of an important trend throughout Paris Fashion Week — that of slim suits. While silhouettes have run the gamut from baggy to severe across past seasons, that’s still good news for those of us who prefer a trimmer-cut suit.
  • Long Read of the Week: As the “better burger” explosion continues, Fast Company takes a look inside the success — and commitment to detail and quality — that’s made Shake Shack such a fast-growing (and delicious) success.

Shopping for some new summer gear anytime soon?

    • Check out five excellent T-shirts to get you through the hot weeks ahead as part of my latest post for VOUCH Mag.
    • If you’re also in need of some stylish slip-ons, check out a quick-hit spotlight I wrote up for GearHungry on the outstanding GREATS Leather Wooster Slip-on (full TSG review coming in mid-July!)

Ben Sherman US

Florsheim

by Beau H.

The Friday Read: Epaulet Sneakers, GAP Closings and the Most Stylish Men Alive

Florsheim

Editor’s note: Expect these posts once a week on Fridays — consider this a jumpstart on reading for your weekend downtime. Expect a mix of style and non-style content. For more entries, click here.

Can you believe it’s almost July? Unbelievable, truly! Have you done any traveling yet this summer? I’ve been in the midst of starting a new job this past month while mixing in a family wedding and a music festival; both have made it a great summer to date. Now, we’re almost on the Fourth of July, and on that note, we’ll have a style suggestion coming up for your reading pleasure next Monday. In the meantime, I suggest you check out my weekly roundup below of only the best pieces fit for weekend reading — and let me know what you’ve been reading yourself on Twitter or via the Contact page!

  • Design and style website Selectism details Epaulet’s stunning new line of made-in-America unfinished leather trainers (sneakers, to us common folk)
  • My buddy Joe over at the always-stylish Dappered reflects on the news earlier this week that GAP will close a quarter of its stores by recapping 10 of the best pieces from the brand in recent years (including one item that also appeared in this site’s Style Pick of the Week series)
  • NBA superstar LeBron James made GQ’s list of the 20 Most Stylish Men Alive and talked to the menswear magazine briefly about his style choices and inspiration (on that note, anyone else have some qualms about that list?
  • Long Read of the Week: In a fascinating set of entries, 10 New Yorkers share their most memorable “dusk to dawn” nighttime memories of the city that never sleeps

Need more of The Style Guide?

  • My latest piece for Effortless Gent, covering five ways to wear slim shorts this summer, was published on Thursday; check it out here!
  • Might I also suggest an earlier Style Guide entry this week detailing stylish men’s dress shoes on a budget?
  • Lastly:  If you’re shopping for some new denim, you might want to give Mott & Bow jeans a whirl after you check out this product review

 

Ernest Alexander