No "Gilt" in Shopping Luxury Brands

Recently, I stumbled across Gilt Groupe an online fashion website that sells luxury brands at steep discounts.  It is true overstocks, sold often for more than half off the sticker price.  Originally the brand started with high-end women's clothes and then branched off into men's (Gilt Man), children's and home decor.  Currently, they are even featuring sales on sunglasses, shoes, Visconti pens and even luxury hotel rooms.

Each sale only lasts for a few days at a time, with limited numbers available at each size.  This means that the items are sold out fast and the most popular sizes are gone quickly.  Gilt Groupe will send an email to members (membership is free) signaling that a sale has started, this means first come better selection.

Logging on for the first time Modern Dignified found a sale for Tommy Hilfiger.  This featured Tommy Hilfiger suits, sport coats and slacks.

The wool pinstripe charcoal suit, which retails for $600 is being sold for only $218.  It is a beautiful suit, slim fit and at a price tag of only $218, well less than half the cost, it is a steal of a deal.  Absolutely worth the price for anyone in need of a great basic suit.  Charcoal pinstripe suits are nearly the most versatile suit a man can own, aside from a plain charcoal suit.

The wool birdseye brown suit is another solid suit.  The suits color makes it right as an extension to the basic suiting options.  Once again, the price is too strong to pass up at $218, discounted from the $600 retail tag.

The Tommy Hilfiger navy plaid double breasted suit is also selling for $218.  The suit has a classic 6x4 button closure in front.  We would recommend leaving the bottom button in the front undone, all of the other buttons should be secured.  For a man that has been reluctant to add a double breasted suit, but still wanted to have one in the collection, this suit is a great compromise.  It is has a good cut, good lines, classic look and a price that can't be beat.  Too bad our size was already taken.  It is certainly a modern day version of the DB suit.

The sport coats and blazers are selling for $138 discounted from $350.  The slacks originally are $125 and are now selling for $58.  The wool herringbone check blazer in brown is a classic look with a modern fit and style.  It is a reasonable price to pay for a well designed wool jacket.

Gilt Groupe and in turn Gilt Man provides three or four photos of each item and allow for zooming, to further examine the garment.  Quite useful for a website with no store locations.

Gilt Groupe provides "Gilt"-free shopping of the top luxury brands.  Enjoy.

Sprezzatura At Its Finest

Lapo Elkann exudes style. He makes bold statements with his outfits and always seems to own the looks with a cool confidence. I love the outfit captured here by the Sartorialist. Lapo wears a bold colored odd jacket that is impeccably tailored with a even bolder pink shirt. He adds a dark pink knit tie and linen pocket square for good measure. Elkann also adds some sprezzatura to the outfit by unbuttoning the cuffs on his sleeve, twisting his tie slightly and haphazardly wearing the pocket linen.

My favorite element of the outfit is the sartorial contradiction of the chunky motorcycle boots. The boots balance and ground the bright pink worn on top. They are interesting, have vintage appeal and anchor the look. It is the addition of the boots that really make the outfit memorable and manly.


This is an outfit that not all men have the confidence to pull off, but Lapo does it with a rebellious cool that makes us all wish we could.

J. Crew 2010 Spring Collection

J. Crew in my opinion is the one of the best brands for presenting Sprezzatura style.  Thanks to Frank Muytjens, J. Crew has created a very uniform style over the last few years.  Especially in the last year or so.  I feel that the brand represents the modern male fashion, preppy, tailored, sprezzatura, elegant, classic, cool while not being try hard.  They seem to be blazing the trail, while the other brands are trying to keep up with their brand representation.  I personally love the look and find quite a bit of inspiration in it.

Here is how J. Crew sees the 2010 Spring/Summer.

Navy Suit - The most classic suit in the classic American wardrobe, a navy suit.  This is a lighter navy, which makes it stand-out from the crowd.  It also prevents it from being misdiagnosed as a black suit.  It has a modern slim fit without looking ridiculous.  It also has the appropriate level of Sprezzatura: no socks, chambray shirt, slightly rolled cuff.  It also has the appropriate level of classic elements: rounded toe wingtips, pocket square and navy suit.  A great outfit.

This outfit looks like something worn by a Kennedy on Holiday in Cape Cod.  Classic sunglasses, Sperry Topsiders, chinos and a button-down.  A very casual cool weekend uniform.

The best part of this outfit is the tan shoes.  I prefer the shoes to be oxfords and not bluchers, but I do like the bulk of the blucher, especially for a casual outfit.  I also like the tie for this outfit is light colored and almost gets lost in the outfit.  It is very Sprezzatura to wear the tie lose with a tie bar, very cool.

Tan suede desert boots, slim straight destructed jeans and a red chambray shirt.  It doesn't get much more casual than this outfit, yet due to the color and textures it is still stylish.  This outfit is appropriate for errands on a Sunday, but can still be worn on a casual date.

This is my favorite outfit of the J. Crew collection.  This outfit would be cool in 50s or 60s or today.  The outfit is a great representation of the American style while not looking cliche or overplayed.  The green jacket with red plaid lining is a standout piece, without being over whelming.  The blue shirt, gray sweater and chinos is classic and stylish and cool.  The washed chinos make it sprezzatura and the slim lines make it modern.  Also, the outfit is much more casual with the shoes, a more formal.

Chino suits are great for the summer, so are topsiders.  The combination is classic and contradictory, a good thing for any outfit.  I would lose the bow tie though.

Nice weekender bag, it looks like his father owned it, exactly the right look.  A denim shirt and denim jeans can look horrible and the epitome of style, but due to the shoes, the Sprezzatura way the shirt is haphazardly worn and tucked in and the slim fit jeans, the outfit looks modern.

Who doesn't like a sweater with shorts?  I always love a gray undershirt, that look never gets old.  Throw on topsiders and the outfit is complete.  I would lose the ugly ass big bag though.  For the love of all that is manly, leave the purse carrying to the women.

Shawl collar cardigan fantastically classic and modern.  It is a look that never leaves the closet of the stylish but is now being added to the closet of the fashionable.  I still think you should wear it, I know Steve McQueen did.  The chambray shirt adds depth to the outfit.  Also, shorts with desert boots is the sartorial contradiction that is both modern and Sprezzatura, it is completely unexpected and appropriate.

In this photo I really dig the white blazer.  It is a look that is perfect for the Spring/Summer.  Make the blazer a shawl collar, slim fit and washed, and no one will think you just walked out of Saturday Night Fever.  I also appreciate the chino suit jacket paired with the navy suit pants, it is a nice color combination.

The blue chino slim fit pants in this picture (on the left) are great.  The color and the fit make them enormously useful.  They go with almost any color in a closet and make an outfit standout.  All that while still being classic and not standing out and making you look like a jackass.

Here is a close-up of the chambray shirt.  It is an interesting shirt a good color and has depth since it has multiple levels of blue in the fabric.  The tab color also makes it more interesting than the standard shirt.  The military green belt is also a great touch.  It is rugged and aggressive but also very stylish, especially when worn with a nice pair of chinos.

Could you add any more colors or patterns?  Probably not, but the outfit still works.  This is the ultimate Sprezzatura, it looks like he dressed himself in the dark, yet still "luckily" got it right.  This is modern fashion at its best, unexpected, daring, classic and incredibly interesting.

J. Crew inpires me.  Good job Frank Muytjens.  By the way, Frank Muytjens personal style is also quite interesting.  The shoes and purple socks are fantastic.  I love that the socks match nothing on the outfit.

Paddock outfits

What a great blue jacket, it was done in an impeccable way. In the top picture, I love both outfits, the seersucker and khakis as well as the plaid shorts with white driving shoes. The shorts are slim enough that the length, which normally would bother me, looks appropriate. I also think the slim fit all black suit stands out beautifully with so many colors, I would not have felt the look was appropriate, but it works for him, maybe its his youth.