School Supplies: My Denim

-Here's a look at the jeans that I own. Not much to say, I just thought it would be interesting to compare them via their patch. Given my current hectic schedule, many of my posts for the foreseeable future will be mainly photographic. more

School Supplies: Levi's for J.Crew Rinsed Indigo 511

-If you've been a reader for any length of time you probably know that I'm a big fan of Levi's 511 cut. Though I love my raw denim, lately I've been looking for a pair of clean, dark jeans that I can wear on occasions that are casual enough that denim will suffice, but nice enough that I want to wear something without a faded back pocket and noticeable whiskering. I haven't been buying a ton of clothes lately, my wardrobe is pretty solid for this juncture in my life, but I had a J. Crew gift card so I was perusing the site and stumbled upon, and bought, this pair. They're dark indigo so they look clean, but they're a washed denim, a phrase which LAS insightfully pointed out awhile back  has become unfairly stigmatized amidst the raw denim resurgence. I still love my Baldwins, but the 511 remains the best cut I've found from any jean, and these will make a nice back-up to my go-to denim. more

School Supplies: Levi's 511 Trouser

-Slim khakis are an essential part of any wardrobe upgrade. I recently bought J. Crew's Ubran Slim-Fit chino, their slimmest cut khaki, and found that they were fuller than I'd hoped. Lawrence beat me to the punch espousing the merits of the Levi's 511 trouser, but I thought I'd throw up a hands on look at my new favorite non-denim pant. Since I 'graduated' from the 514 to the 511 about 2.5 years ago, I've acquired four pairs of the jeans and a pair of the corduroy version. A few weeks ago I came across the 511 trouser at Urban in Portland. I grabbed a pair (the khaki colored pair below) and didn't even bother to try them on because I knew that the 511 in a 32 would fit me perfectly.

-After about two weeks I realized that the 511 trouser was just the pant my wardrobe had been missing: A casual, slim and surprisingly solid feeling chino. I hit up the Levi's site and ordered the blue pair and I think I like them even better than the khaki joints. At $54, I really don't think there's a better go-to khaki out there right now.

-There seems to be a recurring debate between style-types about the cut of the 511 vs. the 514. I was pumped on 514s when I was in high school, but back then I was still wearing skate shoes regularly, so the larger 514 leg opening didn't really bother me. To me, upping your style game begins at the feet. When you slim down your shoes, the next thing you notice is the ratio of leg opening to shoe. As the Top-Sider became my go-to shoe, the awkward 514 leg opening didn't look or fall right, so I moved on to the 511 and have been satisfied ever since.

-One of the commenters over at Sart-Inc points out that the jean pocket makes these more of a chino-jean than a true trouser, which is definitely a valid point, they're not really office appropriate. But, as I rarely find myself  in the types of places where such distinction are important, I'm keeping my Hill-Side pocket square in the jean pocket and digging that these pants cant be dressed up (relatively) or down with ease. These pants have given my denim a much needed rest this spring. more

Dress Code: Dirty Your Denim

-This post from Hypebeast about a new A.P.C. line, first rumored in July, in which the jeans have actually been worn in by real people before they're sold, got me thinking about a number of denim related things. As genius or ignorant you might think the idea of wearing already worn jeans is, I think it's a better approach to distressing jeans than sanding with power tools, at least the lines will be authentic. And you get half off if you trade in your old A.P.Cs which is a good gimmick.
-It seems like I've bean seeing a lot of talk lately about how to wash your denim. A Continous Lean recently offered his once yearly method for washing his A.P.C. New Standards. In a feature in the September GQ in which top denim designers were interviewed, Carl Chiara, lead designer for Levi's Capital E and Red lines advocated never washing your jeans. In the same article Rogan Gregory of Rogan said the only way he'll wash his jean is by jumping in the ocean and letting them sun dry. The article also featured Jean Touitou, badass creator of the aforementioned New Standard, which have become increasingly popular in the last few years. Then in the October GQ (you know, the Megan Fox one) there was a question to The Style Guy about whether or not dry cleaning was an option for denim, to which Glenn O'Brien replied that simply airing out your jeans is the best way to keep them fresh, but if they start to smell or you spill something on them, dry cleaning won't fade them too much .
-The essential truth here is that, whether you're wearing the rarest raw Japanese selvedge or 511s (see previous post,) washing your jeans fades the color and kills that character. And drying is just out of the question. My boy N. Fenn is doing good with his first pair of raws (by Manik, $120,) he hasn't washed them yet and it's been about two months.
-So here is my method (I learned it from Seb,) which I use for my one pair of raws and for the 511s that I wear almost every day. I take my jeans and put them on a chair outside and blast them with the hose at pretty high pressure. I focus my spray on stains. Then I let them hang dry outside. I never do this more than once a month (I know ACL says once a year, but it's the northwest, we get our jeans dirty.)
-I like the hose approach because it removes large particles but leaves a ghost of what was there before. In the 511s I'm wearing right now I can see mattes of bicycle grease, blood from a skating injury from last week, mustard from my El Capitan polish dog. But because of the hose it's nicely blended, but the character, the story told in the denim, remains.
-And just a note, I heard about Naked & Famous jeans a little while back and I think they're going to be my second pair of raws. The denim comes from the rarest Japanese producers and straight to a wearhouse in Canada and on to the customer, sans any of the embroidery or gimmickery the drives up the price of premium denim. They've got a blend of 70% raw denim and 30% silk that I'm interested in feeling.
-That was pretty long but, you know, spray your jeans with the hose.
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PowerPoint: Effective Streetwear

-I've mentioned a couple times that Levi's 514s are my favorite jean, but that was before Jesse persuaded me to try the 511 skinny. The 511 is the ultimate fit, seen here in red (I was going to get these but they were out of my size.) I've got two pairs of 511 jeans now and a pair of the Dickies-esque 511 khaki.
-Another thing I like about this look is the use a printed scarf that isn't the terribly overdone terrorist scarf. Also the clean, simple Blazers. As always, click to enlarge. Word. more