DIY is everything

Here’s a funny thing. Over the past 6 months or so, a subtle DIY element has found it’s way into my wardrobe- to the point where the other night my whole outfit was pimped (or modded, or updated, or remixed). The boots were re-laced, the jeans cropped, the sweater dyed black, the blazer buttons moved about, the bag had a leather wallet and charms attached by me.

It’s a lack of money, and websites like the phenomenal Stylelikeu that have inspired all this. Previously, I had this idea that the designer’s hand should not be messed about with, but when it’s crazy old lady clothes from a charity shop or boot sale I couldn’t care less. The best thing about DIY is, even if you’re clumsy as fuck (like I am) it’s a lot easier than you think; and the more you do it, the more it comes, influences your wardrobe. So some ideas or suggestions of things I’ve discovered recently, so you can P.I.M.P your own wardrobe:

-Cropping trousers- by hand, this takes about 20 minutes in front of the TV and is unnoticeable if you use a similar coloured thread.

-Turn a jacket upside down and put your arms through the sleeves (this works especially well with a big or long, lightweight jacket like a long blazer or overshirt). Voila- you have a deconstructed, draped jacket that’s slightly reminiscent of something like this Damir Doma one. Another tip from the fantastic Stylelikeu.

-Re-lace old shoes: amazing if you, for example, put flat cotton trainer laces on a pair of suede bucks or smart suede shoes, or ribbons in DM’s (courtesy of Carolyn Massey AW 08).

-Use the old laces as a bracelet or, again, Damir-Doma style, thread through jackets and trouser waistbands and leave hanging.

-Paint-splash your shoes or cut-off denim jeans for that Alexander McQueen SS 10 look. Even better, create an action painting at the same time.

-Obsessed with Lanvin’s zip-off sleeve trench from their recent AW 10 show, I’m taking my own vintage trench to the tailor’s to get the sleeves hacked off and zips added around the shoulders.

-On a similar note, I’m dying to mix-up the sleeves on an old bomber jacket by finding knitted sleeves from an old jumper and sewing them on.

-Cropping and re-working t-shirts is an excellent starting point (especially if, like me, you prefer your t-shirts oversized). Buying some much larger than your size and cutting them to make a cropped shape is easy; making them into a custom, raw-edge vest is hardly breaking into a sweat. Then there’s shredding them, picking out holes, and cutting fine lines into them for a ‘ribcage’ cutaway effect. Buy two similarly-coloured tees (ideally one mesh), cut one in half and layer over the other to emulate Tim Hamilton’s rather lovely SS 10 show.

-Cut out sections of a pair of old loafers to create a Prada SS 08 effect, as shown by Alex Chapman on Stylelikeu (no, I’m not on their payroll)…

-Sew (or fabric tape) some nice fabric like velvet, polka-dot, denim or corduroy to the collar of a shirt for a contrast effect.

-Dyeing clothes. It’s much, much easier than it sounds, a TON of fun and can make things look like new. Dylon are, of course, the best dye-makers and it’s worth getting the one that you put in the washing machine. For about £5-6 you get 10 or so items in bold new colours. Works especially well with denim (I recently did a sleeveless, very stonewash denim jacket), cotton knits, and slightly past-it t-shirts and vests. The boring old clothes go in and, as if by magic, emerge as something heart-stoppingly exciting.

-Cut the arms off an old jumper and throw it over your neck as a snood; replace the buttons on a jacket or cardigan (a classic, but always worth it), cut the sleeves off a blazer and add a zip fastening; use a bow tie as a lapel brooch; belt a coat using a piece of rope or even a tassel (for the daring); wear cardigans and sweaters inside-out for a raw edge deconstructed look.

-And one for summer- tying pom-poms, straw and ribbons to rope sandals, a la Telfar SS 10.

Today listening to: Broadcast, Corporeal from Tender Buttons

Today’s outfit:
military surplus boots re-lace with green laces
generic black socks
pleated navy trousers borrowed from flatmate
primark striped navy vest and grey marl t-shirt, extra large, cut cropped
vintage hand-knit blue and white wide stripe cardigan
necklace made from shoestring and my door key
vintage alexon grey astrakhan-effect long coat with shawl lapel
DIY fingerless primark gloves
vintage grey felt scarf
large green nylon satchel, found on the street at an office clearance in Covent Garden

Gloves in gloves: another suggestion

There’s a lot of oversized, monastically simple grey coats, skinny trousers and buttoned-up shirts going round London at the moment. It’s a nice, subtle outfit and one that’s easy to do, difficult to master. The upgrades come in how you accessorise.

One guy around Oxford Street today had used a striking pair of gloves to add  on- a pair of grey knitted, underneath tan leather fingerless driving gloves. They grey fingers show through the tan leather, creating an unexpectedly boxer-ish effect that gave a toughness to the ensemble.

Raf Simons dropped this idea with his Autumn/Winter ’09 gloves, an astonishing double pair of full and fingerless gloves that fitted into each other to create a colour-blocked, glorious effect. They sold out pretty much instantly, but who knew it was so easy (and so effective) to get the look? Fingerless leather gloves have suddenly risen right to the top of my wishlist.

Carpet bags: a quick suggestion

Actually, a suggestion and a dilemma. Are they acceptable? I uhmmed and aahed last week whilst on a charity shop reconnaissance mission. Balham- uncharted territory, adorable cafes, rumours of vast swathes of charity shop nirvana tucked away in the forgotten corner of Clapham Common. At the lonelier end of an empty-handed day that hadn’t yielded much, the last shop I wheeled into boasted a sign that makes all charity-shoppers light up with glee: BAGS £1. A quid! And at the top, the bag equivalent of a McDonald’s, i.e. everything that a man’s bag shouldn’t be. Pleather, patterned, floral, beaten-up to within an inch of it’s life and a POUND. A carpet bag worthy of M&S in the seventies, a carpet bag from the lonelier end of the carpet bag spectrum. Plastic lining, faded tapestry and loose white stitching.

I left the store, shaking my head and thinking of all those Monocle-approved chambray shopper totes and Japanese-made leather backpacks- the menswear equivalent of Borough Market basically. Wholesome, sourced, sustainable and subtly masculine- and walked back in and bought the thing. On the bag weight-per-pound scale, you’d be an idiot not to.

I’m a sucker for patterns and textures and the carpet bag has both, with a nod towards old person cool. The best is really a Kilim weave bag, the kind of thing you’ll find in a Moroccan souk. They’re harder to get hold of here in Blighty but certain websites do these wholesale, and eBay is always a good resource. There’s a neatly-titled place called Bohemia that sells nice leather ones, a lot cheaper for the quality than any of those silly chambray tote shoppers.

Today listening to: Laurie Anderson- Big Science, from Talk Normal: The Laurie Anderson Anthology (opens in Spotify)

Re-introduction

So apologies. I know I was supposed to finish the rest of a ‘top 100′ for a/w 09, and whaddayaknow, we’re already on SS 10.

SO IT’S TIME FOR A CHANGE. I’ve planned this for aaages and was very hesitant, and I hope you’ll continue to read and enjoy.

I’ve been doing this blog for almost a year, and blogging for… cripes… almost three years about men’s fashion.

From now on, the blog will have no pictures or images (at least for the time being).

Thinking about why I never updated, the reason was always how arduous, pointless and time-consuming handling those images is. Constant tweeting, blogging, tumblr’ing (actually tumblr is something MENSWEAR is yet to dip a toe into) and a huge, huge amount of fashion blogs, images, rehashed press releases and diluted photos have muddied my idea of what a blog is. I don’t really want to read more than one blogger’s opinion on show a. or show b., campaign c. or event d.- I think too much emphasis has been lost on the words themselves.

It’s important, in my opinion, for writers to take a risk and do something different (in this case, more traditional). It’s just what I’d want to read. So MENSWEAR will be exploring as many facets of men’s style as physically possible- past, present, future, looking at the thing from all angles- by not neccessarily even looking at men’s fashion.

A blog: a diary, an account, a web log. Personally I think it’s original intent might have been a little forgotten; like everything, hijacked by brands and marketing and all kinds of jokily ominous forces. Ta da! The new MENSWEAR is here. That was easy.