AUGUST IN SPRING.

I keep an inspirations file on my laptop. It contains ideas for future shoots, stylish people of all sorts, inspirations for my own way of getting dressed, and just things that catch my eye. Right now it’s burgeoning with the work of AUGUST SANDER (1876-1964), a photographer I came across thanks to my friend Mr. ROSS TREVAIL.

An inspiration on RICHARD CHAI A/W 09/10 and THE SARTORIALIST, Sander’s photographs are shocking in how they look so current. So much seems to have been inspired by them, reminds me of the first time I watched Liquid Sky and realized where Agyness might’ve got her look (and hairstyles) from.

Sander’s project, People of the 20th Century, was conducted whilst he lived in Nazi Germany and intended as a profile of the nation; so there is a heart of darkness, pictures of soldiers and uniforms amongst the well-dressed everyday man.

They’re overly nostalgic, but there’s no harm in looking at a major source of inspiration for the way I dress now. In fact, they feel like the missing part of a style jigsaw, explaining or suggesting the missing links in why I want to dress like how I do; the root of the inspiration.

The felt look of some of the blazers- the casual, almost ‘traditional sportswear’ feel of the looks… You can’t help but think of LUCAS OSSENDRIJVER’S work for Lanvin here, especially in the jacquard, pyjama-like suit above. In a recent 10 interview, Ossendrijver noted that one of his aims at that house was to make the clothes ‘disappear’, which is what I can’t help but think of the clothes in these pictures.  I want to wear matching blazers, waistcoats, knitted bow ties and thick white shirts… that’s tomorrow’s outfit sorted.

SAMPLE SALIVATING, PERSONAL ORDERING.

IT’S SAMPLE SALE/PERSONAL ORDER SEASON! Whilst not a proper ‘season’ in itself, it seems this time of the year as people start to show their A/W 09 collections and offer up personal orders. Style Salvage has already talked about his purchases from CAROLA EULER and OMAR KASHOURA, who held their joint sale on Friday. After a few glasses of ‘VINO COLLAPSO’, yours truly also purchased CAROLA‘s white shirt with a detachable armour-like shoulder, plus the pleated trousers below. From OMAR’s range I could have bought everything; but emerged with a double-breasted jacket with a detachable shearling/leather collar.

This week it’s CAROLYN MASSEY‘s turn. My love for her A/W 09 collection is now widely known; hopefully everything will be up for order, and it’s these that I’ve got a beady eye on (below right).

If all this PERSONAL ORDERING seems a bit elitist and insider-ish, then why not contact the designers yourself? As Style Salvage mentions, designers are happy to alter things, change colours and even, as CAROLA mentioned, reproduce archive pieces if they still have the patterns (this was a response to her ‘ten tees for b Store‘- below- where I first came across her work. I still kick myself for not buying one first time around).

PRESS DAYS also began this week and beyond. They’re a chance for PR’s to show off next season’s wares, but I honestly find some of these more amazing than the shows themselves, as they’re clothing labels I’m more likely to buy (smaller designers,’mid-range’, etc). There’s also a fantastic SAMPLE SALE on this week if you live in London; it’s for STANSFIELD (mentioned previously) and FOLK, two excellent labels that are well worth anyone’s money:

BASICS: SOME CHEAP IDEAS. PART 1 OF A SERIES

Today I got lots of positive comments on two things I was wearing; one was a £5 satchel, the other a pair of £10 boots, both from a military surplus store. All whilst wearing the priciest jacket I own on the top.

It reminded me of that shot in the current FANTASTIC MAN I wrote about below. A picture of the stylist Elgar Johnson looking mighty damn fine in nothing but a cheap boiler suit, UNIQLO tee and battered REEBOK shoots.

In THE CRUNCH, re-appropriating clothes like this is a clever way of getting dressed and buying quality on the cheap. Instead of automatically reaching for the high street as I usually do, I’ve found a wealth of excellent ‘classics’ (or what I think are modern classics, useful in any gentleman’s wardrobe) on the cheap from unexpected sources. Labels like DICKIES, producers of excellent value functional clothing with an intrinsic stylishness, sold on badly-designed but bargainous websites. It’s time for a revival of these refreshing labels and under-explored avenues in what I’m tentatively calling ‘MENSWEAR’S guide to the basics’, part one in an occasional series.

AN ALL-IN-ONE?

Perhaps it’s not on everyone’s ‘classics’ list, but MENSWEAR urges you to stop, consider, re-asses. A jumpsuit is a practical, versatile and flattering option for men, and DICKIES versions come in at under twenty quid. UNDER TWENTY QUID! Check the functional details and choice of colourways:

A BAG.

Left: an unbranded polyester bag with excellent BONDAGE-STYLE STRAPS. ‘Maximum safe loading capacity 20kg.’ £7.15, including VAT from Screwfix.com.

Right: an even cheaper canvas option for those who prefer natural fibres (very military surplus), coming in at £2.49 from 1st-Harrison

An excellent, if unglamorous website I am now addicted to for buying all this is the lovely SURPLUS AND OUTDOORS. They sell military surplus online, plus every colour and style of all-in-one you could hope for. Better still, checking out your local military surplus store… something I’ll be doing tomorrow on nearby Walworth Road.

A DESERT BOOT.

Intrinsically a cheap type of shoe, they’ve become hugely popular again and I’m desperate for a pair. Clarks Originals are an eye-watering £70; but let me introduce you to a little friend called ROAMERS. Priced around £15-£25 depending where you go; a solid-looking sole, nice colours and you could always put white/contrast laces on if you wanted them to look really luxey.

Generally, shopping out of London and avoiding buying these ‘classics’ from the big stores is the best idea; a bit like buying your Kellog’s-branded cornflakes from Lidl instead of Fortnum’s. Whilst Loake etc might produce fashion ranges sold in Selfridges, they also do big business in everyday shoes that are made in the same way; it’s worth catching up, choosing the economy tin, as it were, and using the money to buy highly expensive designer blazers that nobody notices (though I’m happy having Lanvin on my inside jacket pocket).

NEAT TEES, SNEAK PEEK.

What’s amazing about TOPMAN is their constant ability to surprise. Sometimes you’ll think of a good idea, then kick yourself when you realise that GORDON RICHARDSON and his team are already doing it, times ten. So following the WHITE SHIRT PROJECT and its brothers the CLASSIC SUNGLASSES and BLACK TROUSERS, comes the white t-shirt.First things first: it’s the most successful of the designer hookups TOPMAN have done. The selection of designers is a clever roundup of some of the best menswear designers right now; and yes, that list includes HENRY HOLLAND. His Pantone-panelled suits? Genuinely some of the best things I saw this London Fashion Week.

The full-line up also includes J.W. ANDERSON’s first work for the store, plus RICHARD CHAI, PHILLIP LIM and CHRISTOPHER SHANNON. How ace is SHANNON’S t-shirt (left)? His work as a printmaker is underrated, and this looks like one of his s/s 09 catwalk pieces. I bet it’s about half the price too.

It’s also canny getting LIM on board- a man who designs luxe, slightly older and subtler clothes than most of the headling-grabbing, shock-and-awe youngsters asked to collaborate with the store. It’s out on the 30th of May, but I’ll be putting the full collection very soon on buckstyle.com.

AMERICAN, RETRO.

Clothing that combines function and beauty is a hard task, made easier when the beauty stems from the function. I think it’s one of the appeals behind the WORKWEAR trend at the moment, but there are loads of factors- the rise to prominence of certain designers who are skilled at digging up archives to produce new garments, plus partly a Japanese obsession with Americana, brought back to the West. If you see what I mean.

But for me the biggest thing is how fresh it feels, and how detailed it is. It feels like good value for money, masculine and full of integrity. It directly grapples with the challenges of what men must wear for different occasions, but in a totally different way to formalwear. It’s those obsessive button details, thread count and shoulder finishing that should direct us to what we wear, especially in these lean times.

What better way to indulge my WORKWEAR obsession than this website, WORKERS (a find via Steve Monaghan’s blog for Selectism). What’s shocking is how modern the ancient clothes on this Japanese site look- it’s actually exhilarating because so often we’re told that, pre 1960, to be well dressed a man had to be dapper, or a dandy. Suit jackets, pocket squares, pleated trousers. MAD MEN.

Mad, indeed. The stuff on this site is ace, and there’s a mind-bending selection to inspire. They’ve also styled the clothes up, and provided some pretty amazing advertising imagery of train-driver’s jackets. Blimey. ‘Speshly of note are the pictures of train drivers; their unlined, soft and contrast-seamed jackets are, bizarrely, all that I want to wear for Spring in the year 2009. Blame Junya Watanabe.

It’s all intriguingly-made, intrinsically stylish stuff from a truly simpler age when the codes and meanings of fashion were clearer… there’s a clarity to some of these pieces which I can’t help but welcome after what feels like a young lifetime of misguided vintage and dodgy postmodernism on my part (I used to dress all 20′s Waughvian meets 90′s house. It didn’t fool anyone). I also love the shaved-off lapels and cropped shape on some of the jackets. All feels like a Raf Simons future echo… kinda…

ON ANOTHER NOTE… Inspired by the latest FANTASTIC MAN I’ve been hunting down workwear boiler suits/overalls online. My current obsession, DICKIES, sells some spiffing versions; as do the more mundane contemporary workwear outfitters. AS MY OBSESSION WITH ALL-IN-ONES BECOMES ALL-CONSUMING, and I find it impossible to find one flattering or well-cut enough, I think this is the key. UPDATES TO FOLLOW, and all that.

SLEEP WALKING.

Sometimes a label comes along where the clothing, styling, lookbook and tone is JUST RIGHT but try as you might you can’t find any more deets on the damn thing. SLEEP WALKER is that label. Discovered via… a blog I can’t quite remember now, but bear with me… It’s a Korean label that produces rather stunning, Patrik Ervell style pieces with a focus on outerwear for S/S 09.

You can buy online, but also get a great look at some of the actual details- sculptural pockets, flaps and thingums that add a cutesyness and 3D feel to the silhouette, hats that turn inside out, loop fastenings on the necks of jackets and shawl collar blazer/bomber hybrids that have give just the right minimalism to preppiness. I’d prefer the former though- not that I want to look like a stone relief or anything, but I’ve got a bit of a fetish for jackets with all those lumps, bumps, pulleys and levers right now…