Tagged : Fashion

in Alt Work Life

What Colour Shoes to Wear with a Grey Suit?

Every now and again I do something that makes me realize that men are fundamentally lacking in some pretty basic skills. For example, I had to google what colour shoes to wear with which suit. You’d think I’d be able to coordinate well enough by this point, but really I can’t, and need a second opinion, and as a single male, my second opinion is Google. Ahh, c’est la vie.

Thankfully the good folks at the blog Well Groomed had this fantastic infographic and advice.

In a nutshell, if you can only own one pair of shoes, buy black. I believe in buying good quality and keeping them forever, but also know that I may need to break into an all out sprint at any given time, so I prefer shoes by Cole Haan with their hidden Nike Air technology, and in particular these ones.

in Misc Bin

Knockaround Custom Sunglasses

Have you seen these? Following along the lines of Nike ID and other custom “made-to-order” products comes Knockaround. Sporting the classic Wayfarer style frame, these are a totally inexpensive fun pair of shades. You can order a pair for $14 or customize your own for $34. Two weeks later you’ve got your own custom shades. They’re cheap, cheerful, and custom. What a great idea.

Knockaround.com

in Misc Bin

Electric Eyewear Sunglasses

I stumbled on Electric last summer when it came time to protect the lookers and quite liked the style. Unfortunately my Ohm III’s made it to the bottom of the lake after only a few days, so when it came time for this year I sought out another pair from the same brand — this time a more classic styled frame the HardKnox. On my hunt it became quite obvious that Electric’s are far less ubiquitous than some of the other skate & board shop brands like Von Zipper, Spy, or Dragon. While I found a pair in Vancouver at Pacific Boarder, my backup plan was to order them from Amazon as they seemed to have plenty. In any case, check them out at ElectricVisual.com or on Amazon.

As a mini-review I’ll say that the price on Electric is about right. While they carry all of the necessary protection credentials for sunglasses, they don’t have the same technology invested as, say Oakley, and from a functional standpoint they are definitely more of a fashion piece than something you’d go bombing down a mountain on your bike with; however, they are comfy and pretty dang cool. My OHM III’s fit great and felt like a high end sunglass, but my HardKnox do feel a bit cheaper in quality and the optics took a bit to get used to as they very minimally skewed my vision. Otherwise I have enjoyed them, and for the price they have been great.

The Electric OHM III

The Electric HardKnox

The Electric Knoxville

 

in Snapshots
Vintage-Montreal-Mannequins 8

Mannequins Are Creepy #3: Montreal Vintage Edition

I took these snapshots in the Fall of 2010 while wandering around the streets of Montreal in a jet lagged stupor looking for a midnight snack. After hitting up Schwartz’s Deli for a quick Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich I stumbled on this interesting bunch. Creepy!

in Alt Work Life

The One Shoe Project Spring/Summer 2011

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This season's one shoe The Adidas Original

Those who know me are well aware of my recent divorce from fashion, and my preaching of the simple ways of the plain black t-shirt. While some would call me boring, I merely see it as a simplification of life, and to me, fashion is not something that I base any of my interests around. I believe that much like the suit was in the 50′s, the denim/plain black t-shirt is the modern equivalent for the creative class.

I have also applied this model to my shoes, and now try to buy only one shoe per season. It is a bit tough, because I do still have running shoes, and biking specific shoes, but for my day-to-day, I try to limit myself to only one shoe.

I started this myopic thinking when I began trying to travel for extended periods of time with only a European sized carry-on suitcase. Shoes take up the most space, so I needed a shoe that I could both jog and dine in without looking like a dorky American tourist. Not an easy feat! While I have kind of resolved that it is nearly impossible I have carried over the concept as much as possible to my home life to eliminate both style and closet clutter.

For me waking up in the morning without having to decide what to wear is one of my great personal liberations from the consumerist world that otherwise forced me to fill my closet with crap that I barely wore. My mornings are simple. I wear the clean version of basically what I wore yesterday. No favouritism, no indecision — just one choice.

So for this season my OneShoe is an Adidas Original purchased from Livestock in Gastown.

They’re simple, comfy, and sporty enough to perform manic sprint-jaywalks through traffic and possibly evade capture. The Adidas Original succeeds several other successful OneShoes including a pair of Nike Zoom TRs, Onatsuka Tigers, and Cole Haan Air Everett Slip-Ons. Not so successful were the Tretorn Strala rubber galoshes — they offered the support of a 1973 Yugo with about the same level of waterproofing given their poor sidecut design.

Mostly, however, the OneShoe has been a success and I’ve gained back time on my life. Time that used to be spent wondering which shoes to wear.

What do you think? Boring or smart? Please feel free to comment/argue with me below.

in Misc Bin

Native Shoes Review

Native Shoes JeffersonNative Shoes aka. “The Hipster Croc” caught my eye prior to their release when a friend of mine at a trendy Vancouver wine bar was sporting them.

“What the hell are those?” I believe was the first thing I said.

They appeared to be a hybrid of the contentious Crocs holey shoe and some kind of old school Keds or Converse sneaker. I’m not sure if Sneakerheads will find this a bastardization of sneaker culture, or if they will find them cool and functional, but either way I couldn’t help but want a pair.

There aren’t too many totally original choices for footwear, and when the summer temperatures hit I was in need of some cool cool footwear. Flip flops are great, but wreak havoc on my aging body, so the Natives seem to fit the bill with a little more support, but still adequate ventilation.

Amazon.com seems to be the best source for a pair, with some good deals from a range of retailers. My shoes arrived promptly, and I’ve been wearing them around the beaches of the Okanagan for a little while now.

So how are they? Well, let me start by saying that they have definitely raised some eyebrows and turned a few heads. It’s nice to be on the leading edge for a change. In terms of fit, I ordered mine a size down on advice from Natives as I am normally a 9.5 and they only come in full sizes. My question to them was “what size Natives should I wear — do Natives shoes fit small or fit big?”

The advice I received for me was to order them on the slightly snugger size and let them stretch out as they break in.

Now that I have them I can say that erring on the smaller side actually worked fine. They appear to fit a little long, but the model I ordered, The Jefferson, also fit on the narrow side which fit my feet perfectly. So going down a half-size was actually fine. If you are ordering these shoes online, also keep in mind that you’ll likely wear them without socks, which changes the sizing a little bit too.

They are fairly stretchy which should accommodate wider feet, but if I had wide feet I would likely order the loafer styled Corrado, which seems a bit boxier judging by the photos.

So what’s the verdict? These shoes are pretty damn comfortable, and are certainly way easier to walk around in than flip flop sandals. I like the style, and the price was reasonable. They are well vented, but because they are plastic my feet feel mildly clammy in them after a while. I like the breeze through effect of all the vent holes though.

I think overall I would consider these my sport utility shoe for summer activity. They’re perfect for walking around town and look cool enough to pass for dinner on a summer patio, but are breezy enough for a trip to the beach. I’m going to say I’m still into flip flops for direct to beach travel, and for short walks, but for those extended meandering summer outings I’m going with the Natives. At $60 Canadian they aren’t overly expensive, and they’re still obscure enough to be a bit of a fashion statement.

I like them.

Check out Native Shoes at Amazon.com