Head Case

What with all the old styles making such a comeback it's no wonder that hats are too! A couple years ago I was permanently in a paperboy cap I bought from H&M, and then of course the 'Beanie' as we call it here in South Africa, is a staple in my wardrobe.
But I started to wonder about wearing Hats as part of more formal attire- keeping in mind once again that Cape Town is hardly suit culture as it is, although it really hasn't stopped anyone before.

Hats are certainly making their rounds as far as the runway is concerned, especially for Autumn and Winter months for obvious reasons. You'll find them trickling down to the shops soon enough if you're not already living in say, London or New York where it's already out of style a week after a release :)







BASEBALL CAPS

As far as peak caps/Baseball caps are concerned, I don't know if they fit in the statement-maker section but I'm all for them. I have a friend who is very fashionable and works in a store where she is often encouraged to wear a peak cap, and it is in fact possible to find a medium of fashionable and relaxed. I have a few baseball caps but they tend to be used more for Gym at the moment. Dolce and Gabanna show that you can in fact make something casual, look part of a hot look.



BEANIES
As I mentioned I've been doing this for years now. I still have the Abercrombie and Fitch Beanie I got as a birthday gift for my 19th. I just pull it back a little so that my forehead is open.






And here are a whole bunch of other examples I love. I think it's fantastic that we are able to bring old and new to a healthy medium. Men aren't as scared to try things as they used to be:

HEAR THIS

BON IVOR delivers a very haunting and personal album 'For Emma, forever ago'. I've been listening to it non-stop all weekend and when you read the lyrics to 'Re: Stacks' it brings it new meaning. As a writer I tend to listen to a certain type of music while I'm stabbing away at the keyboard- and this is a perfect example. So do yourself a favor and check it out on Youtube or iTunes. Very soothing in an Iron and Wine sort of fashion, hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I do!

Plaid and Simple

Every season there is a trend that seems to hop from one designer to another. Whether this is intentional or deliberate who knows, but at least said "trend" comes in different forms allowing the public to choose for themselves.

This season it seems to be Plaid and Tartan prints. The latter of which has been spotted on Design genius Marc Jacobs in the form of, no not a dress, but a kilt!



Now, I'm not suggesting you wear a kilt, after all we're not all in New York City, but the print itself is a key piece for men in 08. In Cape Town we're slightly behind when it comes to trends, so we can expect the masses to follow suit by NEXT year, although to be fair I have seen some youngin's wearing Lumberjack prints with skinny denims. You can buy them for R200 at Jay Jays!

Here are a few versions of the above mentioned look from this and last season:












Note that Paul Smith mixes his use of the print with various other colours to get that old-worldly feel! Layering people- layering!

Movember!

Are you joining your fellow man in the M-ovember fun?

Men all over the world, George Clooney included are donning Moustache's to bring awareness to diseases of the male kind like Testicular cancer. I have a beared... does that count?

What I wore, today

I've seen this done in a few other blogs so I thought it might be nice to show you what I wear to work and play occasionally.




This is a fitted fish-tail mens blazer in black, with an incredible lining of a coin design.


These shoes are my pride and joy and I wear them only sporadically so that each time it's like seeing an old friend and that way they keep like new! They're Paul Smith Brogues from the mainline and they were a pretty penny but so worth the wait.

Whenever I wear a statement piece I think it's important to be tonally concious with the rest of your outfit. Otherwise you're running around like Agyness Deyn, who we all love but girlfriend can overdo it sometimes... and she's a supermodel, so what are your chances like?

Informally-Formal

This is a look I'm loving right now. This is of course Paul Smith above. What's so fantastic about Paul Smith's designs is he is able to take incredibly well tailored and sophisticated attire and match it with not only skinny red jeans, but a leopard print belt. In his newest AW08 collection he (re)introduced us to these bow-ties that have a western resemblance. It's more of a fabric tie that you could easily recreate with any fabric you fancy.

And as for the casual-tux infusion, I see a lot of women are doing it too. First seen on Kate Moss some time ago and now tweeked by rock star designers Dean and Dan for DSquared. Dolce and Gabbana also introduced us to a sort of Hit-man Hotness with their own use of Bow-ties which are making a great sweep across Europe as well as America. I'm hoping this doesn't get as over-done as the waist-coat has for men. Which I loved but only wear open with a funky t-shirt these days! Here are a few of my favorites from various designers and random fashionisto's:







Polo, following the trend of mixing prints (much like Sir Paul Smith) is playing with the Preppy look with a twist. I know Gant likes to play with University Jersey prints as Polo has done directly below, adding a bow-tie which is unconventional in such an outfit but works quite well.



Here are a few more images for your salivation!

Making it harder for the rest of us...

Not only has he been dubbed 'Mc Dreamy' on his hit tv show, but in addition to such an honor he also has perfect hair-- and gets to be the face of VERSACE. I guess of anyone he certainly deserves it, but men like this make it that much harder for us in the world! His world-wide appeal most definitely comes from his likeability and in the way he can be one of the guys, yet be swooned over by the entire female and gay population and not come off arrogant. He's like the guy next door-- but 40! There's a guy in my gym who has the same essence about him and looks like he's already been photoshopped and lit up to look so good lookin'!

From the neck up!

I'm a fan of accessories in general. I like that a man can wear something that looks good, even though technically it has no purpose. Women have had this luxury for eons because they can steal looks from men and make it their own. Androgyny is all the rage right now! :)

Last December I wore, almost daily some sort of Neckerchief, Cravat, scarf, tshirt around my neck! Right now in Europe it might actually help keep you warm! Plus it looks great. A lot of designers have dug out looks from the early 1900's and adapted it to modern style- we've seen the full return of a more formally dressed man (Justin Timberlake helped make the waist-coat a huge trend in 2007/8).

Here are a few versions of the Neck accessory!




DEFINITELY NOT THIS:


These Afghan scarf thingies were cool when no one was doing them. In fact I quite liked it years ago when I lived in London. But If it's sold and worn everywhere then I want no part of it. Sorry, the Emo look is sooo out of here. Why not be a little original?