Odd Jacket & Corduroy

I enjoy wearing odd jackets, they are slightly more casual so for my business that works well.  Don't get me wrong I love a great suit, but I don't have the occasion as much as some.  The other benefit of odd jackets is the range of acceptable colors.  Odd jackets can be in colors that would just look obnoxious in a full suit, but they look great in an odd jacket.

As was the case with the jacket I wore the other day.  It is a microhoundstooth and in a great color that falls somewhere between: yellow, orange & tan.  It also has fine pinstripe checks in blue & red.  The jacket goes with a lot of color pairings and is one of my favorites, even though I have had it for at least 5 years.

In the outfit pictured I am wearing it with navy blue corduroy slacks & brown wingtips.  I added a light blue shirt with a faint tan check, a gray tie with yellow & blue college stripes and a navy pocketsquare with small white dots.

The Unmatched Vest

 

Commonly vests are seen as part of a three piece suit.  The vest matches the suit jacket and pants, which has always been a great look.  Recently I have been a big fan of the odd vest, a vest that does not match the suit jacket or pants, but instead is a complimentary piece to the outfit.  The origins of utilizing an odd vest in an outfit are quite traditional; as represented in this Lawrence Fellows Esquire illustration.  The cream vest with window pane blue/gray suit is quite dignified.

A striking use of the odd vest is with a cream colored vest and a dark suit, navy or gray.  That makes the vest really pop with the suit.  The picture above from the Sartorialist shows how a cream vest with an otherwise conservative navy suit, tie & shirt really make the outfit both modern and anything but conservative.

The cream vest and striped suit is a fun pairing.  The suit, pocket square & tie combo are great and would stand out on their own, but add in a cream vest and the outfit is taken to the next level.  As with three piece suits, odd vests help out your figure as well.  Vests help by making you look similar, which most of us can always use.

The same look can be accomplished with a V neck sweater or cardigan.  The mannequins at Al Bazar show how a complimentary colored cardigan adds depth to an outfit.  The off white/light gray cardigan and olive jacket is a nice pairing, but I prefer the light blue cardigan and jacket.  The Al Bazar pairing is with a charcoal jacket, but I would opt to try it with a deep Navy jacket.  The light blue cardigan would bring out the blue in the Navy and make the outfit colors pop.

The other sweater and jacket combo is from Boggi.  The charcoal striped jacket, light gray sweater, medium gray tie and white shirt go from mundane to dignified and memorable just by adding the sweater.  The textures of each item are varied and interesting to the eye as well as the colors.  This adds depth and interest to a very conservative color combination.  Once again the odd vest/sweater updates an outfit making it look modern and stylish.

Odd vests can also be done with darker vests, as represented in the J Crew photo when paired with the light gray tweed jacket.  This is a more casual look, but could be dressed up as needed.  Notice the Sprezzatura buttoning of the vest, the top button and the bottom two buttons are all undone.  If wearing it casually as I did with my Art Gallery outfit, keep the buttons of the vest undone in an artfully disheveled way.  For casual attire wear jeans and keep the shirt washed that will help keep the outfit relaxed.  Vests can help add formality to an outfit, so you have to be careful how it is pulled off in a casual way so that it exudes the feel you want to promote.

Make sure you add an odd vest to the collection.  They are especially great to add to your closet from a sale, as most have lost their jacket pairings already which has caused the prices to be slashed dramatically.

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.

Ben Sherman vs. Target

Discount stores get a bad rap on fashion and most of the time for good reason.  Most of the time the big box retailers lack the buyers to actual have good style on the racks, but Target is a different experience.

While I would never use target for my entire wardrobe, it can certainly help supplement the closet.  Next time your in there to grab a vacuum, new plates or giant box of condoms, check out the men's clothes.

This summer they had great linen shirts.  Right now they have some nice ties and vests.  They also have a good stock of inexpensive dress socks, pocket squares and underwear.  I have also had good luck with the shorts and polos.

If you are selective at a store like Target, there are plenty of good deals to be had.  Check out the tie I got at target and the Ben Sherman tie at Macys.  Ben Sherman tie is close to $40, the target tie was under $20.  Really quite a good deal for a similar tie.  Sure the Ben Sherman is more colorful, but they certainly similar.

Ben Sherman

Target

Check it out, be selective and you might just be pleasantly surprised.