Big Night Out - Rock N' Roll Chic

 Recently, we discussed the best night out jackets and that research came in handy today. I am going to the Grammy Awards Nominations Concert, tonight, and I needed a jacket for the occasion.

I spent a while debating with myself on what the outfit for tonight should be. Considering this is a Grammy's crowd, not the Oscars crowd, there was no need for black tie attire. The Grammy's is the Rock N' Roll or Hip Hop Awards show. It is a modern, young, hip crowd. Trendy, fashionable clothes
are everywhere. A well tailored suit is never out of style, but I felt like be a little trendier tonight. Especially since the suit I have in mind I am wearing this weekend to the Company Holiday Party.

That left me with deciding to go for a jacket, jeans and button down shirt. I went with the gray velvet jacket from Express. It was on sale for $115  and came in a tailored and slim fit and in my size is quite well fitting. It has slim arms and narrow lapels, both are great details that make the jacket feel modern. I am especially impressed with the slim arms, as they make the entire jacket look trimmer and are a detail that is often forgotten with most retailers.

With the velvet jacket I am going with plain dark blue jeans. No fading, no distressing, just classic denim in a modern trim fit. As we have preached, the best modern cut is the slim straight fit. Not too skinny and definitely not too baggy.

For the shirt I am going with a 7 Diamonds black shirt, with French Cuffs.  It is a slim fit shirt and has a simple and nice stripes on the shirt. The buttons are gray iridescent, which is also a nice touch. I am wearing Gold Knot cuff links with the shirt.

To finish off the outfit are plain cap toe oxford black oxford boots. I should look appropriate for the event while not looking super trendy.  Classic lines and simple designs. This outfit is not flashy, or try hard, which I am sure will be a popular combination among the crowd.

Evening & Weekend Blazer

Every well dressed man should have a few items that really make him stand out in a crowd...

Most men's wardrobes consist of suits and other more formal clothing for work and more casual clothing for weekends. The very well prepared also have some clothing for black tie affairs. Then on weekends and evenings when he needs to dress nice, the outfit will consist of a mix between the work items and weekend items. Most of the time, this is acceptable and actually encouraged. As a well rounded wardrobe should allow for such versatility.

But what happens when a man wants to stand out from the crowd? Wear something daring, with style and character. The evenings and weekends a man is allowed and often expected to show off his peacock feathers. This of course does not mean he should wear embroided and studded jacket with "Attitude" or "Dangerous" across the back. Any man with an Affliction or Ed Hardy jacket needs to stop reading this blog... I'll wait for you.

So how does a man appropriately strut his personal style without looking like a douchebag or a baffoon, or worse? He invests in a few stand out jackets.

Take this Tallia blazer for example. This is sold at Macys for $275, is classically designed but has bold colors, a modern slim fit and is not commonly seen adorned. Wear it with a crisp white shirt, raw denim jeans and a pair of well polished black boots and every woman in the room will notice you, and not because your jacket declares you as "Badass".
 
A few other options that will make heads turn, in a good way:
 

Indochino Metallic Suits - $369 full suit - Comes in either Midnight Blue or Silver
 

J.Crew Velvet Jacket - $275 - Slim "Ludlow" fit
 

Plaid Jacket - Top photo: Ashton Kutcher in charcoal plaid (a similar jacket sold at Express for around $100).  Bottom photo: John Varvatos light gray plaid
 

Express Satin Shawl Collar Blazer - $148 - Shawl Collar jackets are a great look.  Vintage, modern and fresh all at the same time.  Get one for nights out, you will not regret it.
 

Velvet Satin Trimmed Jacket by 2am - This jacket is available at Nordstroms for around $275.  I am cautious with satin trimmed jackets, they are becoming "fashionable" and not in a good way.  I like the look on this jacket, but if your are fearful of looking too fashionable, stay away from this jacket and opt for something less "in".

Uniqlo - A Visit to New York

The New York trip is finally done and I am finally posting again.  You'll just have to get over the little break I had (I am sorry).  But I am back with a vengence.

The store is 3 stories - the main floor is men and women, the upstairs is for men and cellar is for women.  Every wall was lined with colorful and folded clothing from floor to ceiling.  It is almost a daunting amount of clothing, quite impressive.

In the front of the store Uniqlo is pushing their Heat Tech clothing.  The water wicking under clothing that is also meant to keep you warm.  Very similar to the same stuff that Nike & Under Armor promote.

Past that display the store opened up to a main show room showing off the cashmere sweaters, wool peacoats and outerwear.  The cashmere sweaters were ultra soft available in every color imaginable and only $99 for the V-neck and $129 for the cardigan.  The Peacoats, which came in gray, black, navy and light gray glen check were only $99 and a great way to supplement a winter coat collection.  I wouldn't use Unqilo coats for the coldest weather, but they certain will keep you warm on cold and snowy days.

Upstairs I went to the plethora of clothing upstairs.  More cashmere sweaters, more Peacoats as well as plenty of essentials and non-essentials a like.  The essentials collection was great and something I would utilize more if I lived in NYC.  They were selling a great collection of socks, 4 for $9.  The socks were in the best colors: gray, navy & khaki.  The boxer briefs were 2 for $9 and a nice selection of patterns and colors.  They also were not covered in half naked men staring at you, which was a very pleasant change when shopping for under garments.  The under shirts were in every color and were $4 a shirt.  I went with light heather gray shirts, as they are less visible under plain white dress shirts.

They also had a jeans in various colors, washes, fits and prices.  The jeans ranged from skinny to relaxed and ranged in price from $39 to $79.  The selvedge denim was the more expensive jeans while the normal denim was only $39.  I would have opted for the regular denim in slim straight cut.  I would buy my selvedge from a top manufacturer like APC or Stronghold.

I was very impressed by the Lambswool sweaters in V-Neck, Crew neck & Cardigan at $19.99 to $29.99 for the latter.  They had the basic selection of colors for the sweaters and they were good weight, not too bulky or too fine.  I would highly recommend the sweaters as a way to supplement your closet with colors that you might not otherwise purchase, like purple & yellow.

I also highly enjoyed the collection of oxford shirts.  They had white, light blue, dark blue, light red and a gray all for only $19.99 a shirt.  A great deal.

The flannels were also nice.  They came in either heavy weight or light weight and in a bunch of nice color combinations including red and black buffalo check.  The off white with window pane navy blue check was very appealing and reminded me of my favorite shirt from high school.

As for pants, they had a nice collection of chinos, both washed and dressier versions; $29 and $39, respectively.  All of the pants in the entire store came in either 32 or 34 inch inseam.  The good news Uniqlo would tailor them free of charge, the bad news it would take a minimum of a week for them to complete the job.  I do like the idea and would encourage the practice for more stores.

The selection of wool pants was slim pickings but I found a pair I loved in light gray brushed wool for only $49.  They are slim straight and will have to be hemmed.

Uniqlo also had an encouragingly large selection of non-iron dress shirts and a disappointingly small selection of suit coats.  When I was there, the only coats were tuxedo trimmed velvet jackets in burgundy, black, olive and navy.  I am still deciding if they are cool for a night out or just plain cheesy.

The store also offered a bag to carry all of the goodies, which means that more people than just make a large purchase of clothing at the store.  Next time you are in NYC check out Uniqlo and let me know if you have the same experience or not. 

An Art Gallery Trip

I went to an art gallery show last night. Quite interesting artist: Tomory Dodge and Jennifer Steinkamp. It was at ACME gallery in Los Angeles.

The art was not spectacular but good, in my opinion nothing was that memorable, but the people were great. As always they were hot and sexy; hip and interesting. Most of the women had a good fashion sense, albeit quite trendy. But the guys were anywhere from slobbish to unremarkable. One guy looked great in his jeans and black button down with gold rimmed glasses. The glasses were quite stylish and classic looking and leapt off his face as they contrasted nicely against his dark skin.  His glasses made the outfit.

I wore a velvet black jacket, cotton black striped vest, a white washed (not wrinkled) shirt and an un-done tie. The tie was skinnier than I would wear for business as the event called for a trendier look. I wore slim fit light wash ripped jeans and black oxfords, which were on the chunkier side. I also topped it off with a white pocket square.

Since the event was at night I kept the colors basic and let the textures do the work for me. Pairing the silk tie, cotton vest, velvet jacket and washed shirt together made everything had a different texture and look making it visually interesting and inviting.  The texture kept the outfit interesting to the eye in lue of interesting color combinations.
 
The projection work is done by Jennifer Steinkamp.  They are all computer generated artwork that are on loops of 2 to 4 minutes long.  Tomory Dodge's pieces were all done on paper, they were either watercolors or collage pieces.  He is more known for his large scale oil paintings, which in my opinion are much more spectacular.