Winter Quarter: Authentic Upgrades

-This quarter I've had to cycle more than ever, and it being winter in the rainiest part of the country, the commute usually involves a good deal of precipitation. I decided to take a cue from Ryan of YHBTI and wax my Authentics. I was about to apply some Martexin wax that I purchased from the Archival Clothing store, when I realized it would be pretty pointless to wax my sneakers given that they had holes in the toes. I've got a big pair of Carhartt pants I bought at a thrift shop specifically for use as a patching fabric, so I just cut out a couple squares, superglued them beneath the holes, and then applied the wax. I've been wearing these exclusively while commuting for about a  month now and they've held up pretty well. I expect the wax will have mostly worn off by the time summer rolls around.

-In related news, I picked up my second pair of Authentics, though I probably won't break them out until the weather warms up so they don't get needlessly muddied. Follow me after the jump for a few more photos of both pairs and some info about my choice of laces.





-I I bought these red laces at J.Crew. I'm not ashamed to admit I was straight copying what they've been doing in their catalog with colored laces in desert boots. I don't have desert boots but I have Wallabees and I planned on putting these laces in them. I was disappointed when I brought them home to find that the laces were way too long for the Wallows. I wasn't really feeling the white laces that came with the new pair, something about true white against off-white was amiss, so I decided to put my forgotten red laces to use.

-This post was a little dry. Sorry. I'm busier than ever, so upcoming posts will probably be more photographic than textual. Check back soon.
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School Supplies: Parra x Vans

-A sneaker collab worth mentioning: Vans and Parra. Great colors, I'm tryna get those Chuks.

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School Supplies: Vans Peacoat Chukka

-Although pea coats are probably the most overdone staple of guys who claim to be fashionable, I really love this chukka from the Vans vault series. A great use of material for the fall/winter season, and nice inclusion of the iconic pea coat anchor button. 

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Field Trip: ICONoclasts

-The second Class Act Field Trip has officially begun, and after the obligatory trip to Disneyland I decided it was time to get to work. My first stop was Downtown Los Angeles, where I was surprised to find the L.A. branch of Upper Playground, which happened to be right next door to Estevan Oriol's Vans-sponsored "ICONoclasts" exhibition. Though the seedy surroundings initially seemed less than optimal, one glimpse at Oriol's work proved that it would be out of place anywhere else. His gritty black and white renderings of L.A. life have made him a local legend, and the ICONoclast series examines the legacy of alternative icons like Henry Rollins and Stacy Peralta. Coincidentally, Oriol has also collaborated extensively with Upper Playground, producing the above shirt and several others that can be found here.

*Pictures courtesy of Hypebeast

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Podiatry: Kicks of the Week

-It's been awhile since I've done one of these so let's see what we have: Firstly, Nike SB gives its most iconic design, the Tre A.D., a McFly colorway makeover. Next we've got the Pony Randy Moss line which includes both on/off field kicks. Then yet another Supra Skytop colorway, this time in blue and tigerstripe. Lastly some classic Vans slip-ons. There you go. more

Design Major: Carhartt Collabs

-Similar to the 686 x Levi's collab I posted about in August, Burton has now teamed up with legendary workwear purveyors Carhartt. The collection is yet another in a slew of recent well-chosen Carhartt collaborations, like this Carhartt x Vans Chukka Boot.
-In addition to these projects, Carhartt Streetwear actually has a very respectable (and massive) collection available. The minds behind Carhartt's urban sector have been earning a lot of respect in the past few years with forward thinking projects like these, but I'm still haunted by the time last year when there were perfectly worn Carhartt pants in my exact size at Val Villy, but I didn't have the $10 they cost. I came back the next day, they were gone:(
-Photos from the Burton collection after the jump, and be sure to click the link to the streetwear site there's some ill stuff there.





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Podiatry: This Week in Kicks

-In trying to avoid becoming just another regurgitating streetwear blog, I've decided to limit kick coverage to a once weekly rundown of the shoes that caught my eye. Extremely notable collaborations and real (see: non-sneaker) shoe news may be exempt from this feature.
-The four shoes I picked this week are somewhat contextually linked - it goes like this:
-Junya Watanabe has been going nuts this year, and he does it again here with his collaborative boot for Vans. Notice the wingtip, a classic form reinvented in an innovative boot. Speaking of innovative use of the wingtip, we see these Clae sneakers, which meld a classic sneaker form with the even more classic wingtip, bringing a touch of maturity to the sneaker. We continue with these clean red sneaks, also from Clae's 2008 fall/winter line. And we bring it full circle by coming back Vans, and the Sk8-LX Hi. It's always good to have a place to stash something.
-photos via hypebeast more

Extracurriculars: Capitol Hill Block Party

-We spent the weekend at Seattle's annual Capitol Hill Block Party, where performances by Vampire Weekend, Girl Talk and others brought the hipster set out in full force. The festival's artistic, stylistic, and musical offerings ranged from contrived (customized Vans and Juno's obnoxiously lo-fi Kimya Dawson) to totally awesome (Seattle's Cave Singers), and made for a pretty interesting weekend.

-Below: Kimya Dawson, Urban Outfitters/Vera Project custom slip-ons, steezy painting.
-Dewey Cox and his friend have the whole Yin and Yang thing going on, from the colors to the hair to the tie/lackthereof.
-I spotted the gold rope in front of Laced Up on Pike Street, so the shirt was an added bonus. Laced Up may be the best streetwear spot in the city, and we'll have more on them later this week.


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