New York Awaits...

My free time in New York City is limited, but I am still determined to make a few spots at retail havens. I have Saturday free, and will make the most of it. Here is my itinerary, but email me suggestions, if you have them (mdignified@gmail.com).

Stop one: Uniqlo - the only store in the USA and a masterpiece from what I understand.

Stop two: J Crew - while I am in the area I want to stop by the Tribeca flagship store for JCrew. It looks like a creative use of the retail space.

Hopefully, there will be a few small stops along the way as NYC is filled with fun shops of all kinds.

Stop three: Delicatessen - the lunch here has come highly recommended. It was also cool enough for Madonna's spawn's birthday party, it has to be good, right?

Stop four: Berluti - I have to stop by the Berluti store in Manhattan and get a feel for their representation of style in a retail location. I am also curious to see which styles they are pushing as the best representations of the Berluti line.

Again, I will try out a bunch of different stores around this area, how bad can the luxe get? It is Madison avenue after all.

In New York

I will be traveling on business for the next week.  New York & New Jersey.  So unfortunately I will not be posting on a regular basis during that time.  Hopefully I will be able to post a couple of times, but who knows.  I will be back to regular posting by Wednesday of next week, if all goes as planned.

Before I head off to New York, I wanted to leave you with a cool tie I found the other day.  It is from Rugby.com, a Ralph Lauren brand.  It is a tweed tie and would look great this winter with a Navy suit.  It is 3 1/4 inches wide (I prefer 3", but its close) and a classic pattern that can really stand out in the right outfit.  Please do not wear it with a tweed jacket or black shoes.

Talk with you all soon.

Shopping with Megan Fox

This weekend I wandered over to American Rag.  A vintage store in Los Angeles, on La Brea just south of Beverly.  The store is a big vintage store, with a nice variety of styles and pieces.  As well as a furniture store, a cafe and a denim bar.  American Rag also had a section of over-priced clothes sold at luxury retail prices.  This combination of offerings along with the friendly staff and good music make it quite popular, for good reason.

The store had some fantastic finds, especially in the denim bar and vintage shop.  The denim bar had a wide variety of jeans, but my favorites were the raw denim.  They carried at least 7 different brands of raw denim jeans including, APC, RRL, Nudie, Stronghold and others.  Each company making the denim in their own weight and cut, my favorite after trying them on were Naked & Famous.  Well cut jeans, pure raw Japanese Selvedge Denim and no embroidering or stitching or washes or gimmicks to take away from the jeans.  These jeans are just that, jeans.

I also enjoyed the collection of clothing at the vintage shop.  A nice selection of jackets, suits, oxford shirts and flannels.  The variety and size of the hat collection was stunning and belts were very cool, all naturally distressed.  Some of the shoes, especially the boots were quite memorable.  The jackets were the items that stole the show.  They had a great collection of velvet jackets and tuxedo jackets.  They also had some beautiful peacoats and overcoats.

My favorite was a wool peacoat in a black and white herringbone, just my size for $300.  It was magnificent and a show stopper for sure.  It was lined with dark fur had leather covered buttons and fit like a tailored coat.  Quite a special piece and something that would be worn maybe twice a year, if your lucky, living in LA.  But for traveling, the coat would be immensely useful.

As for the title of this blog, I saw said Megan Fox while I was shopping their.  She seemed hurried and frustrated, but conspicuously alone.  I am sure she was with someone, but when I saw her headed to the changing rooms, she did not seem to be with anyone.  I gave her an unrequited smile and hello and left it at that.  I think my ego is better off for it.

Benjamin Bixby

Andre Benjamin, aka Andre 3000, has his own clothing line that he designs.  Said clothing like is named Benjamin Bixby, sold in Bloomingdales & at the flagship store in Atlanta.  It would make the most sense that the ATL would be home of the flagship store, since it is Andre Benjamin's home town.

Benjamin Bixby is a line with it roots in Southern Gentlemen style mixed with old fashioned classics.  The Bixby line has beautiful Linen suits, cardigans, and polos.  Some of the other pieces are more inspirational, but it certainly is a well thought out line of clothing.  It has a very unique and definite voice.  The clothing channels Andre Benjamin's own personal style.

I look forward to the release of the Fall 2009 line of clothing.  I would like to see how the line progresses.  I hope the line continues to look good.

Style Profile - Andre Benjamin

Andre Benjamin is someone to be admired for his accomplishments, a successful music career (Andre 3000 one half of Outkast), a successful career as an actor (13 movies) and his own fashion line (the fall 2009 line is being released under lock and password).  Andre Benjamin also has separated himself from the crowd dramatically with his great personal style.

His personal style is exactly that, personal.  He walks to the beat of his own stylist.  He mixes vintage suits & hats with preppy school boy clothing or modernize a vintage farmer.  He plays with colors and hats marvelously.  He will try almost anything in his style and most of it actually works.  Style is often in how you wear it, not what you are wearing.  Andre Benjamin proves this every time he leaves the house.

Another aspect of his style that I admire his he always keeps it fresh.  While some outfits may have similar trends or feel, the next few are completely out of left field.  This consistent change is something many of us forget.  It is quite hard to keep your style personal and fresh, but Andre Benjamin accomplishes this.

A measuring stick I use for most men as a style barometer is the tuxedo.  How do they dress at a black tie affair.  While in today's society the range of acceptable fashion fluctuates depending on the event, moving more to informal style with every passing day.  The black tie event, in my opinion, is the exception.  This is the one area where the range of acceptable style is very limited, meaning that a well dressed man needs focus more on fit and classic choices than going off course and paving their own path.  Andre Benjamin, does just that.  He incorporates hi own personal style into the acceptable black tie attire.  Well done.

Overall, his style while not in my own range of possibilities, it certainly can be inspirational.  The colors, mix of patterns and boldness of the outfits are certainly worth learning from.

Tomorrow, I will be featuring Andre Benjamin's clothing line: Benjamin Bixby.  It may be a lot more stylish than you expect.