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

Summer School: Giving my first pair of raw denim their first wash

-My first videos were relatively well-received mainly on the basis that they were marginally funny. You know what's a hard subject to make funny? Washing your jeans. A few people, upon seeing the great still-shot a few posts down, expressed excitement about the coming video, and to them, I am sorry. A combination of lack of forethought, planning, vision, concept, skill, etc. has left me with a video that I think is kind of bad. Sorry. BUT! The jeans did come out of the Pacific looking great, so maybe it's still worth sharing, even if it does wander about not knowing if it should be funny, artsy or neither.

eyefivestyle.com | Naked & Famous Ocean Soak from angelo spagnolo on Vimeo.
-Early on I committed to a kind of dumb and tedious editing decision about the split screen, which I realized about halfway through was a terrible idea, but lacked the motivation to go back and fix. Like everything, this was definitely a learning experience, which taught me that even on non-consequential videoblog posts a plan of action is terribly necessary. I've had quite a bit of video experience, but mostly in the realm of editing, and since I'm planning on upgrading my camera and doing some more video posts in the future, I definitely need some more content/shooting practice.
-In other denim news, I did just get a new pair of Baldwin 77s, so I'll be posting some more coherent denim-related content on DenimDebate in the next couple weeks. more

Art School: Charcoal Patina

-Summer weather has finally arrived in the Evergreen State, so today I'm finally going to get to something I've been needing to do for awhile; put on my 10-month old Naked & Famous denim and hop in the frigid (but oil-free!) Pacific Ocean and give them their first wash. I bought these jeans last August and wore them pretty much daily through the fall/winter season. Aside from getting caught in a killer downpour, and being covered by a spilled pitcher of Pabst, they've never had any sort of liquid contact. As much as the stink is demanding a wash, I'll be a little sad to let go of all that acquired grimyness.
-This summer I've been in a drawing class. I'd never worked with charcoal before, but soon found out that the shit gets all over your hands and clothes. I wore these to the first class and then, not wanting to subject any of my finer threads to the constant smear of black gunk¹, continued to wear them to the 4-hour class for the remainder of the quarter. Every time I've habitually wiped my blackened hands on my hips, the charcoal has gotten a bit more engrained in the fibers and has left the thighs of my Skinny Guys with a pretty cool matte look².
-Hit the jump for a few more photos of the jeans pre-oceanwash.
1-I know that charcoal washes out of fabric easily, but come on, I only do laundry like once a month.
2-Also, I know it's a bit a douchy to blog about a somewhat artificially acquired artistic accent³, but I am washing them, right?
3-That absurd use of alliteration was completely accidental.















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Dress Code: Cloudy Day Shopping

-Yesterday the weather kept alternating between sunbreak and light sprinkles, but Grace and I headed to Portland to do some shopping before we head back to school. I'm posting this just to propose the idea of chambray (or any casual BD) over a light sweater as an early-spring (or early-fall) option. As far as a concept goes with this, I guess the main idea is protecting the refined shirt/tie/sweater with a more rugged piece. You might ask "Protecting from what?" and I might reply "a hobo's shiv." But really there's no concept, I just think it looks kind of cool, and I liked the three depths of blue in the complete look. I've done this before over a grey crewneck sweatshirt, but this was the first time I threw the chambray on as a shirt-jacket over a tie-combo. A bit unconventional, but I think this is something I'll try again when I'm in need of one more light layer.
-Chambray, Gap $40
-Sweater, J. Crew $40
-Gnar face, No sleep, priceless. more

Home Ec: You're Gonna Need Stitches

-The left pocket of all my jeans gets worn out. I walk with my left hand in my pocket usually, because my right is constantly busy fiddling with my iPhone (and before I had the phone, my iPod.) The left pocket on my favorite pair of Levi's is completely destroyed, so when the pocket of my Naked & Famous started to come unstitched, I decided to stop the destruction in its tracks with a bit of heavy-gauge thread.
-There are two reasons for this pretty insubstantial post. Firstly, I'm using this denim related item to tell people to check out Denim Debate. My column isn't live yet, but it should be this weekend. If you've not yet heard about the debate, go check it out, it's an inventive site that should become a great resource for style-minded folk.
-Secondly, I'm posting to say that the wireless network I've been stealing at my apartment has disappeared, and while I figure out what to do about that, insubstantial posts like this may be numerous. Bear with me, and be well.
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Dress Code: Grey and Pink Early Spring

-This spring, I'm rocking suspenders. I'll be sure to keep a smug grin on my face to let any potential haters know I'm serious about my steeze.
-I felt a little naked not wearing my belt, but I think the suspenders will actually do a better job at keeping my pants up. I've got thicker-band red pair I'm looking to pull out in addition to this pair. more

Dress Code: The Early Spring Field Guide

-I'm the first to admit that spring isn't my strongest season. I've always been more inspired stylistically by the layering possibilities of fall and winter.  But right now the magazines and blogs are all buzzing at the arrival of spring collections. I've got no money for any big time spring acquisitions. So I've put together a couple early-spring (meaning NW early-spring, aka still cold) looks with the hopes of discovering some new takes on a few of the items already in my closet. This was mainly just for me to not feel bad about not getting anything new for spring, but hopefully it can inspire some of you to think about how you can effectively ride the seasonal transition. I'll be posting the rest of what I came up with in the coming days.

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Dress Code: Sideways Rain High/Low Philosophy

-Recently eyefive got a comment about my tastes being too expensive for the average college student. This struck me as funny because, a: I am the average college student and b: I've been of a very modest economic standing most of my life and, despite my affinity for clothes, have never been accused of being rich.
-So I started posting some high/low looks to show the most basic tenet of my attire, a mixture of cheap/thrift items and well-chosen higher end pieces. When done correctly, a high/low approach ends up costing the average college student about as much as less-informed student spends on mall clothes every year.
-The weather this week has been ridiculous:
-High: Olch x Inventory bow tie, $100
-Low: Cardigan form Express, 2005, $50? A lot of my things are from in high school when I had a consistent job and less expenses, I sell things I don't want anymore on eBay and I try to go through and rethink how I could re-use older items.
-High: Naked and Famous 'skinny guy' jeans $165, here the price might not be high for some readers, but for jeans for me that's a lot. The high/low philosophy is always relative to a person's individual spending values.
-Low: Vintage belt, Value Village, $2.50 in 2005
-Med: Lark & Wolff by Steven Alan short trench, Urban Outfitters, $140, nice medium priced piece to get me through until I can afford a more expensive trench.
-Low: Calfskin wingtips, DKNY, $80 after tax/shipping on Gilt. Discount sites are a blessing and a curse, but they've definitely helped me in my quest to adultify my wardrobe.
-Med: Purple gingham, J.Crew, $51 after J.Crew's ballin college student discount.
-Med: Laptop bag, Wilson Leather, $100 on sale from $200.
-So before you try to question my tastes, know that a lot of things influence my choices, primarily my love of the Northwest and my cognizance of my own limited economic means. I probably spend less than the Zumiez clad post-skater college guy and certainly less than the True Religion/Ed Hardy homies. more

Dress Code: High/low Hitchhiker

-This photo was taken right as I returned home from a quick 500 mile hitchhiking trip around my beautiful home state. Deciding what I'd wear to a: maybe be able to survive getting caught on a snowy pass, and b: not look so rugged that I'm unapproachable but not so well kept that people wonder why I'm on the road, was pretty simple.
-Low: The Greatest Coat Ever Made
-High: Rogues Gallery flannel
-Low: Gap henley
-High: Pashmina scarf
-Low: Gas station one-size glove
-High: Naked and Famous jeans
-High: Sperry x Band of Outsiders boots + NIKWAX waterproofing wax for leather
-It will be a little while till I know which photos from the trip are going to be published in print so I can't get any up on our Flickr yet, but as soon as I know I will through some up. more

Dress Code: High/low Cowboy Dandy

-High: Engineered Garments flannel bow tie
-Low: Shitty Urban sweater
-Low: Gap chambray
-High: Naked & Famous jeans
-Low: DKNY calfskin wingtips
-High/Low determination based on my relative poverty. For some reason blogger is rendering these photos in super shitty quality, so check our Flickr for better/more. more

Fall Quarter: First Cold-ish Day

-Today was the first day since school started that the temp dropped below 60.

-$5 Urban glasses

-J.Crew linen oxford

-J.Crew repp tie

-French Connection sweater vest

-Naked & Famous jeans

-Top-Siders

-Wilson Leather laptop bag

-And even though I just spent more than anyone should have to on Polaroid film on eBay, I took Foster's advice and snagged the Camerabag app for iPhone so now I can take semi-douchey faux-Polaroids whenever I please.

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School Supplies: Raw Choice

-Through research and consultation, my decision on which raw jeans to buy for fall came down to two well-known choices: The A.P.C. Petite Standard, and the Naked and Famous Skinny Guy in natural indigo revival selvedge. Both are similarly priced, but I finally pulled the trigger on the Naked and Famous. The biggest bargaining chip for me was A.P.C.'s growing ubiquity and a desire to rock something slightly less well known. I'm wearing the Skinny Guys right now and the fit is great, the 12.5oz is not too stiff and I can't wait to see how they wear in. I got mine online from Revolveclothing, who shipped my order the same day that I placed it which was great, and I once again used retailmenot.com (if you're not aware of this site, look into it) and saved 20%.

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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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