Morris Stockholm: Spring 2010 Collection

In this cold weather, what better to look at then Spring clothing?  Morris Stockholm released their Spring 2010 Collection, which is below.

I enjoy the bright colors and color combinations that Morris Stockholm present.  The pastel color pattern is full use.  I admire the bright pastel F' 'em pants, they are slim straight and modern cut.  I also like the lavender tennis sweater.  I always enjoy tennis sweaters and this one is a great representation of the sweater.

The tan cotton suit has a modern silhouette.  The addition of the green driving moccasins is a nice addition to the slim silhouette one button suit.  I personally do not enjoy the dark shirt paired with the suit.

More of the same, high contrast colors.  Rolled pants and sockless shoes, seems to be consistent heading into the new season.  I enjoy the red fabric belt used in this outfit.  The mix of orange, red, pink, pastel green and kelly green in one outfit is very inspiring.  The reasons those colors work, is because the greens are in the same family and the orange, pink and red are in the same family, which means it is essentially only a mix of two color families.

More brightly colored F' 'em pants, which look great.  The pink shirt balances the fuchsia pants well.  The blue tie with pink and white stripes is a classic color combination.  For a sprezzatura flair to the outfit, the green belt is a great addition to this preppy outfit.  This is a look that I can see Chuck Bass rocking, for sure.

Well, at least the girl in this picture is pretty.  Not much more to say about the it.

Jack Olive - British Menswear in New York City

British Menswear brand inspired by sport of Cricket.  That's the tag line for the men's store on Mercer near Broome in the SoHo neighborhood of NYC.  It is a small boutique with a great store feeling and nice looking clothes.

Jack Olive clothes are made mainly in Italy, which hopefully eludes to high quality clothing.  The clothes are inspired by the game of Cricket, so it is all very preppy and haughty, just way I like it.

They have some fantastic silk ties, some around the 3" wide mark, as we know that is the appropriate tie width.  The ties have the feel of British prep school ties, single, double and triple stripes as well as checks.  My favorite item at Jack Olive is the navy linen blazer with beautiful pewter buttons that have crests on them.  I enjoyed the use of pewter instead of brass, as the buttons still felt quite classic while not be as flashy as brass buttons.
 

Jack Olive unfortunately is not selling clothes via eCommerce yet, but they do have plans to do so in the, hopefully, near future.  They do have a website that shows off the clothes a little, frankly it is a good song and a nice idea, but the clothes are represented poorly.

Look out for Jack Olive, we may be seeing more from this brand in the future.

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.