Street look : Tutto a mano

Today's look is a perfectly typical "me"-look. 

Coming summer I tend to wear the coolest pieces I own, today with a cotton sport blazer, thin cotton shirt and linen trousers. Everything is sown by hand, even the shirt I believe. This prevents unnecessary fabrics, which also prevents the pieces from being thick and heavy. This season's keyword is "lightweight".

The shoes are also the most versatile shoes I own and I use them as much as I allow myself to, both with or without socks. I try to not use a belt as much as I can (because it looks nicer), but it's difficult as a lot of the trousers grow bigger after usage. A trick is to let them rest on a hanger before you use them again, though I've got in mind that everyone has their favorite trousers. Never the less; try to let them stay in the closet a day or two.

The bag is my one and only week end bag, which my girlfriend gave me as a birthday gift last year. I can see myself using it even more in close future, as the amount of week end getaways and trips to the beach increases from here on out. 

I hope you enjoy it and as always: look for links under the pictures to see similar pieces. 

See similar trousers here

See the bag here

Jacket, trousers and shirt: Flanella Grigia, Albertelli
Week end bag: Mulberry
Pocket square: Morris Stockholm (Heritage collection)
Tassel loafers: Moreschi

Street look : Summer in the city

The summer is kicking the door in and I know the need of elegant, yet cool, outfits grows bigger inside many of us. 

What do you wear when it's too casual with shorts and too hot with a sport jacket?

Today I wore a lightweight wool suit with fabric from the italian house of Vitale Barberis Canonico. The suit has absolutely no inner lining materials, which makes it light and cool. Together with the soft shoulders it feels like wearing nothing. Wide lapels and high cuffs are the key notes of the suit, as it looks just as nice with what I am wearing now as with polished dress shoes. 

I do enjoy the casual and laid back look the polo creates when combined with a suit or a sport jacket. I would choose a polo over a shirt any day of the week. Buy one if you don't have one already! Start with a navy blue or moss green if you're not sure about when to wear it or how. 

What is special about this look is my choice of footwear. I believe that I've never displayed such casual footwear on the blog ever before. Even so I do not regret the purchase at all. I can wear them like this as well as with linen/cotton trousers, shorts or jeans. Shortly: I can wear it with anything. This is the "got to have" piece of today's post and the price is also fairly low.

I'm sorry about the poor quality of the photo, I will post something similar later on with more shots of details and such.

Anyways... Look for links under the photo to see similar pieces and enjoy!

See similar polo

See similar shoes

See similar shades

See similar pocket square

The look

Suit and pouchette: Morris Stockholm (Heritage collection)

Polo: Della Ciana

Shoes: Gregers

Sunglasses: EPOS

How to : Clean your suede shoes

Have you ever stepped in a mud pit with your nice suede shoes? Did it result in you thinking to yourself that it was bad day to choose suede?
Don't worry! I will show you have to fix them fast and even without any products - just water.

Background

A lot of people think that suede is a terrible garment for rainy days. This is completely wrong. The truth is that suede can be more durable than original leather as long as it is treated right. One inevitable fact is that it has to be real suede. So...
In general there are two types of garments we should worry about; split leather and genuine suede. They can look quite the same, but they are actually completely different. The tips I am about to give you should only be used on genuine suede. 

Unsure of what kind your shoes are? Click here.

This is what you do

STEP 1

Find a cup of water and a cloth. The cloth can be cotton, but I like to use a microfiber cloth because it prevents unnecessary soaking. Be careful with paper, as it can peel of and attach itself to the leather. If you have one - throw in a suede brush as well.

STEP 2

Soak the leather lightly and sweep off the water and dirt spots. Use straight movements until it is nicely divided. Repeat. Stop when the leather contains a moderate amount of water and the spots are gone. Turn the cloth and dry any excess water off with the same movements, until it turns out like on the photo. Remember to be gentle!

STEP 3

To prevent the leather from falling in on itself when wet you should now stuff it with something. The best fabric to use here is silk paper, but original wipes or cotton cloths is also a fair candidate. Stuff it until it causes a small amount of pressure on the leather. 

IMPORTANT: let the shoe dry completely before you use it! 

STEP 4

After the leather is dry, the color may look a little solid. Now you can use the brush to gently loosen up the leather. Use calm circular motions and be very careful if the brush has metal in it. 

Result

This is a poor before and after picture, as the shoe looks a lot darker on the left, but you can see that the toe cap is much cleaner on the right. 

KEEP IN MIND: You should not repeat this routine on a daily basis. 

I hope this makes itself useful!

Street look : Spring suspends

I finally got to attach some suspender buttons for my pleated Incotex trousers. I'm quite happy with the result, though I'm sad about the fact that it is nearly impossible to get hands on a decent pair of suspenders around town. Honestly; this is the only pair of suspenders I own.

Anyways. A week ago I got my hands on a pair of Lottusse single monkstraps. I've been looking at them for some time, when I was wondering how versatile they could be with my wardrobe, as the style is quite different from the other items I own. I do not regret the purchase at all, it turns out that the shoes are perfect with almost everything. They are even good suit shoes, which is something I have been looking for a while.

When I have time I will start posting more about how to wear different pieces/colors/textures together and how to fit a decent suit. So stay tuned!

Press the links under the photos to see similar pieces.

See similar jacket here.

See similar pocket square here.

See similar shoes here.

The look

Jacket: Boglioli

Shirt: Morris Stockholm

Trousers: Incotex (Slowear)

Shoes: Lottusse

Suspenders: Profuomo

Tie: Tiger of Sweden

Pouchette: Edsor

Street look : Rain coat

Today's look is all about texture.

In this look I do believe that the pant is the main piece. As you can see in the last photo, it is tailored with waistband tighteners and two pleats. In the past, pants with tighteners have been preoccupied sartorial pieces (made to measure). This is no such thing, but a ready to wear piece from the italian brand Incotex. The distributer of the brand is called Slowear, which also delivers an other brand that I am particularly satisfied with; Zanone. Though the pieces are high in cost, they are really worth the money. The fabrics are amazing and the cuts are perfect. 

What has to be mentioned is the rain coat I am wearing today. 

The brand has revolutionized the weather jackets and taken it to a whole new level. What is special about the jackets in general is that some of them is constructed with membrane, instead of a gore-tex fabric, that has a waterproofness of 20.000 mm, compared to gore-tex with approximately 10.000. Inside there is used PrimaLoft which, combined with the membrane, also allows the jacket to breathe. 

The one I am wearing in these pictures is only resistant to water, where the rain just pours off. The amazing thing about this particular piece is that it has a warmth reflecting inside, which makes the jacket go down to 0 degrees, with just a total weight of 120 grams! It is actually a norwegian brand and you can visit their website here. Get one!

The sport jacket has been displayed in an other post just some few days ago as well. Click here to read more about it.

The look

Rain coat: Uber Function

Sport jacket: Morris Stockholm

Vest: Grimas

Trousers: Incotex (Slowear)

Shirt: Eton

Tie: Tiger of Sweden

Loafers: Moreschi

The story about the watch and the cuff...

People are floating a lot of stories about why some men chose to wear the watch over their cuff. 
This sounds like one of the most believable ones I have heard.

People believe it to be the need of showing accessories. This is not true. By doing this one hides the watch even more when the watch lies too high upwards the wrist (assuming you have the right shirt length of course). There is also a practical factor behind it, which is that long cuffed shirts are prevented to slide down by the hold of the watch. Again not the reason behind. 

As a friend told me; it all origins back to the italians, surprisingly,
and it is really simple. When the italians got their made to measure shirts sown, the cuff was so tight that there was no room for the watch underneath. This resulted in wearing the watch outside the shirt instead and they made a new trend. 

So now you know! 
Personally I do not have any problem with the small watch I wear at the moment, so I solely use it for the looks of it.

This is taken from my Instagram feed (link on the home page).

The watch is a Seiko Connaisseur from the early 80s.

Vestiti per la settimana

Today I have chosen to display a look I typically could wear any day of the week. It suits as much my line of work as well as parties and dinner with friends. 

I really think that the knitted tie and the jacket texture works perfectly with the cargo pants and an ordinary color combination is prevented from boring by the subtle color splash of the pouchette.

Look for links under the photo to see similar garments.

Enjoy! 

See similar jackets here.

See similar pants here.

See the loafers here.

See the sunglasses here.

wiwt : Sport herringbone

Today the grey flannels were put on again. I must say that they are one of the most versatile garments I own. The color and the texture works with basically everything, as together it gives that little extra lightness to otherwise dark looks. 

This time I put them together with a new sport jacket from the same brand. Its soft shoulders, bright color and light weight is pushing it up on the list of top garments for summer. I'm looking forward to using it as the weather is heating up. By now I'm quite satisfied putting a cashmere vest underneath.

Look for links under the photos to see similar garments from Mr. Porter.

See similar jackets here 

See similar trousers here

Today's look

Jacket: Morris Stockholm

Vest: Flanella Grigia

Shirt: Eton

Tie: AD56 Milano

Flannel trousers: Morris Stockholm

Shoes: Moreschi

Like these kinds of posts, is it something else you miss on the blog?

Let me know. 

Vestiti per la primavera

Street look: Polo casual

The look

Sport blazer: Boglioli
Polo: Della Ciana
Trousers: Morris Stockholm
Pouchette: Edsor
Timepiece: Seiko Connaisseur