Put This On

Real People: Derby Day

I love The Thrifty Gent’s Derby Day outfit. All thrifted, by the way. Note the horse motif on the tie. If ever there was a day where a ridiculous seersucker costume was appropriate, it’s Derby Day. Especially if you’re a mild-mannered southern minister, which Thrifty Gent is.

Real People: Tassel Loafers and Layers

Over the past few months I’ve really enjoyed the outfits from Jeremy in Philadelphia. His style is fun but not too eccentric. I’d even argue some of his style is a bit conservative in nature, however, with a modern fit. 

After looking through his photos, I noticed two common things he wears quite often: suede tassel loafers and a layer underneath his jacket.

I like suede tassel loafers a lot. They pair nicely with more sporty clothing and fabrics. And if you’re a person who likes to go sockless in the summer, they are, in my experience, more comfortable to wear. Jeremy’s worn them with chinos, a khaki suit and denim and I think that demonstrates how versatile a pair (or two) can be. 

In regards to his extra layer, often in the form of a v-neck or a waistcoat, I first thought it was more a function of the cooler weather recently. But I really liked his three-piece suit and realized it’s a bit of a distinguishing characteristic of his and it’s nice to see someone make it regularly a part of their style. 

-Kiyoshi

Real People: Braces

For a while now I’ve been thinking about trouser fit. As a consequence, the idea of braces (a.k.a.: suspenders) has crossed my mind as well. Looking at these photos from Edvard from Armenia, I’m convinced that if I do look to purchase a custom suit in the future, the trousers will not have belt loops — instead: braces buttons and side-adjusters. 

Braces can keep your trousers up better than a belt can, especially if you’re like me and have developed a slight beer gut that pushes the waistband of your trousers down. The suspension keeps them at the proper height throughout the day without the need to restrict the waist and rumple the waistline as you would when tightening a belt. Or so goes the theory. I haven’t tried it yet myself, but I see enough guys praise braces to make me very interested in giving them a shot. 

Going with braces makes even more sense on a double-breasted suit, as it allows them to stay hidden and out of view. Traditionally, some will refer to braces as a form of underwear that should never be seen and concealed by a jacket or waistcoat at all times. That view probably isn’t widely held today — nor are braces widely worn — but I think it’s a fair point and worth considering. 

-Kiyoshi

Real People: Patch pocket suit

We’ve featured Nii Ayikwi from Atlanta (a.k.a. the Adabraka Sartorialist) several times on this site before and he’s consistently one of the best-dressed people I’ve seen. 

I wanted to point out this particular grey checked suit of his because of one certain detail: patch pockets. With jetted pockets being the most formal (as you would see on black-tie jackets), patch pockets represent the other end of the spectrum and you’d typically find them on blazers or sport coats. In the context of a suit, however, they can work quite well if they’re surrounded by other casual elements. The checked pattern on the suit certainly helps, but so does the striped shirt, the knit tie and the suede shoes. Quite well done.

-Kiyoshi

Real People: Sockless & Stripes

I’m a bit jealous of Mark in Atlanta. While we’re in galoshes and winter-boot weather in Chicago, he’s been able to go sockless while wearing loafers. I’ll admit to being drawn toward the sockless (or no-show sock) trend for a while, but I’ve come to find it really only looks best with loafers or casual mocc-toed shoes (like boat shoes) because of its informality. 

I also enjoy his striped silk knit tie. While Derek has written in the past about the versatility of the black silk knit tie, I think a good second or third silk knit purchase might be ones with stripes or sewn dots. The added pattern allows you to have a casual piece of neckwear that can take an ensemble that’s composed of solids and break the plainness of the look. 

-Kiyoshi

Real People: Nearly Solid Shirt

One of the things I’ve noticed about my wardrobe is that all my solid shirts are absolutely solid and all the patterned ones are noticeably patterned. There is no subtlety.

And that’s what brings me to what I really like in this photo from Pelle in Sweden. While his blue shirt appears solid from a distance, there is texture and pattern to the shirt when you get up close. 

If you zoom in really close, you’ll notice it’s a blue and white micro-houndstooth pattern, which I think works exceptionally well with this three-piece suit.

It seems the current trend is to pair boldly-patterned shirts with suits if you take a look at fashion magazines or retailer lookbooks, but I think solids and subtle patterns work much better against a conservative suit, especially when partnered with an equally conservative accessories. 

-Kiyoshi

Real People: Casual cold colors

After seeing this outfit from Malford in London I realized that I didn’t truly own any cool-weather clothing to wear casually — or at least as much as I thought I did. Sure, there’s the thick sweaters in my cedar chest, but my wardrobe contains not much beyond that. This fit pointed to two huge deficiencies of mine: no flannel shirts and no corduroy trousers. 

Of course, the colors combined here work wonderfully in shades of browns and greens with a variety of textures for each — and all seasonally appropriate, too. It’s a simple outfit, but well done. 

-Kiyoshi

Real People: Details at close range

This particular fit from Cantabrigian in London was brought to my attention by Derek, who particularly liked the blazer’s silhouette. I’ve lightened the main photo a bit as the original made it tougher to make out the lines among the shadows. The more I look at it, the more I realize it’s the kind of fit I’d like to have for a jacket of mine if I ever travel down the road toward bespoke. 

But it’s also worth looking at the detail shots of the outfit as well. At a distance, it appears to be all solids. That’s mostly true, until you get up close and see the tiny fine stripes on the shirt. I think it plays well against the hopsack fabric of the blazer and the silk twill on the tie. Perhaps a bit boring at a distance, but upon close range where you can see the textures and details, it’s much less so. 

-Kiyoshi

This weekend, our photographer Noe Montes and I visited the annual vintage menswear show Inspiration LA. Held in the Spruce Goose Dome, a huge, futuristic building on the water in Long Beach, it’s an extravaganza of Americana. The whole operation is run by Rin Tanaka, the king of Japanese fans of American vintage, and the editor of a whole series of books called My Freedamn!.

There were motorcycle guys, surf dudes, hot rodders, workwear nuts, old-school mid-century lifestylers, outdoorsy types and everything in between. There was tons of vintage at premium prices (the t-shirt I wanted was $65), plus tons of vintage recreationists, both Japanese and American.The show is held on a Saturday, the day before Japanese vintage dealers descend on the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena, filling huge green canvas Army duffels with clothes to take back over the Pacific.

We couldn’t afford to buy much (though I did buy a sweatshirt from the Japanese repro brand Real McCoy’s), but we did have a grand time. We ran into a number of Put This On fans, and even a few subjects - our friend Mike Hodis from Rising Sun was there, along with our pal Raul Ojeda from Don Ville Shoes. We finally met Kiya, the owner of Self Edge, and a guy named Mustache Mike who owns a vintage shop slash barbershop in Minneapolis. Everyone with a great outfit got shot.

This week, we’ll share selections with you every day here at Put This On.

(All photos by Noe Montes)

Real People: Covering your rear

As the trend for men’s jacket length on suits and sport coats has raised the hems higher, it’s a bit rare right now to find guys who wear suits with a more traditional length that covers their rear. 

And that’s what I noticed about Paul from Luxembourg’s grey windowpane suit. I’ll admit to being a bit too drawn to shorter jacket lengths, but it’s fits like Paul’s that are urging me to consider future purchases be of a more classic length. 

(Of course, if you missed Derek’s post on jacket length last week, I encourage you to read it.)

There’s other things I like about Paul’s look, particularly the monochromatism presented by the greys and dark blues, however, some might say adding some more color would be preferable. I think that there’s enough variation here in the patterns between the shirt and jacket to add visual interest — though a geometric or dotted tie could also have worked, too. 

-Kiyoshi