Here's a few tips to check out when in NYC next time:
(If you're into american pre-depression lighting design like O.C White Co and such)

www.oldegoodthings.com
www.strongarm.jp
www.b4itwascool.com

I missed the polo game by the way, but, I had a breakfast meeting in the Hamptons with Scott Schuman.
Did you have breakfast with Scott Schuman last week?
Didn't think so.

Spring footstool at B4 it was cool.

By the way, the same friend I mention below also refers to Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria Syndrome as:
"That disease where you age prematurely, wear a large cap and get to meet Michael Jackson"

Jonas Cramby could very well be one of the funniest people alive.

I'll be back saturday with a report from the polo game in hamptons.
I think there might be some old people with large caps there, we'll see.

A friend of a friend quoted Nick Tosches on his blog.
It kind of sums up a wild youth in a fantastic way, with no regrets.
And it doesn't hurt that he (Nick Toshes that is) looks hard enough to kill a large mammal by just looking at it.


"YOUTH"

For many years, I felt that my youth had been wasted. I spent my adolescence drinking, taking dope, robbing, and fucking around, when I could have been learning to fluently read Sappho and Thomas Mann in the original.

My youth, as I see it now, was spent as it should have been spent. I am alive, and as I write this, the pleasant morning of the vast blessing of another day, another breath, flows through me. I want now to learn to do the tango, so that I can dance in style on the graves of those of my peers, dropping dead around me like flies, who lived their youths, and their lives, properly and salubriously.

Mens sana in corpore sano, they say. But a sound mind in a sound body is but a plain and pretty flower in a plain and pretty vase. The world is full of such parlour pieces. Fuck them, and prepare thy dancing shoes, for, having survived my youth, and all that followed, I now enjoy the gentler madness to whose shore I have been delivered, and I look forward to tangoing in the graveyard, with you, my darling, or over you."

Just had to show you this really cool Rubber boot tote from +-0.
They also do a toaster for one slice only. (?)
Speaking of good japanese design, next time in NYC, pop in to Tricofield. Coolest kids clothing store
in the world, without comparison. Houston & Wooster crossing.

God damn it!
I've been looking all over town for short, snug white tennis-shorts to wear at Hanbury Tennisclub in Alassio.
Didn't find any, so I will never look as good as McEnroe back in the bad old days.
I'll mostly be sippin' Gin & Tonics anyway. I suck at Tennis, but I do great by the bar.
(McEnroe did great at both, now that's genuine talent)

I bought a couple of year books from Rhode Island School of design from 1965-67.
They're filled of amazingly beautiful B&W pictures capturing the students in their everyday life. In the studio, discussing models etc etc.
They're all constantly smoking, which looks really fabulous in a very film noir kind of way.
Sometimes a cigarette can be the best accessorie in the world, and you can quote me on that one.

Also bought a very coveted book called Take Ivy from my favourite vintage dealer in NYC.

If you love american sportswear the way it should look, you will not be dissapointed.
Will post pictures in the near future!

Valextra.
Everyone who's seen their items up close want one. Very few can afford it.
I see myself getting off the plane in Nice, casually placing my cream white overnight bag in the trunk of the
car taking us to Alassio. Sweet Jesus on a popcicle, it does not get any better.

Attention shoppers!!
I got my first link at www.trendora.com last week!
I can only say thank you to Piero e Jinnie who has confidence enough to put a sometimes not very politically correct blog like mine on their "life style" list. (My only hopes now is that enough people find it and I make a gazillion pesetas on my adsense so I can buy a Valextra bag before going to Alassio next summer)

With that I bid you a fantastic evening. 6 days and counting til we board our private jet and head for the ligurian riviera for three consecutive weeks. How bout them apples?

Long time since there where a gem like these on ebay. Starting at 4500 USD it's not exactly a steal.
But hey, it's like the ultimate collectors item.

Concidering khaki is the new indigo, how about these 1940's Union Made?
If I where a pair of pants (with low moral standards) I would have paid for sex with these.

The signature "Y-stitch" in the back yoke.
Taken from vintage reverse weave varsity sweaters, where it appear in the front neck as a re-inforcement stitch.
A small hommage to great detailing of the past.
(By the way, madras checks like these are a bitch to design, but when they come out nice, they totally rock.)

Mixing fabrics is always (well almost) a good idea. In this case a fine two ply 100's broadcloth with a much rougher oxford weave. The color muted down to creamy bone, the look of old, yellowed table top linen wear.
Or, yellowed newspapers for that matter.

I will start raving about shirts for a while, bare with me cause it's been my life for the past 3 odd years.
Gotta get it out of my system. (That's what blogging's for, right?)
Now, the cool thing about shirts are that you can look rock'n roll and still feel savvy as hell.
For instance, a pale pink pinstripe roughed with some nice detailing, slightly cropped and you're in business.
If you thought you where getting off cheap, forget it. This is a double 120's long staple fabric.
I said savvy, not shabby, fool.
Most important, wear your shirt with the same attitude as your favourite Tee,
Put on, worn in & washed out!

Attention to details!!
Such as hand mended button holes, randomly printed size-marking and a mother of pearl button so expensive it'll blow you head off.
Vintage dress shirts rock, and you know it.
(Salut to Ariane, Bob and the rest of the team, you guys rock!!)

I'll just let some sneak previews speak for themselves..

Not exactly a treasure, but really nice indigo.
Lee Jelt denims, mid 50's.

Last pic of vintage from home, rather tedious to show your own stuff.
(Anybody who want's more, just ask, I'm easy to persuade)
A 1940's (late 30's?) PAY DAY koverall.
"Post Depression-brands" like Pay Day and Hercules stand for some of the most fantastic designs and indigo fabrics ever made.
And check out the label, a wonderful example of the labelling style in those days.

Just had to get this one published as well, then we'll get back to all-american vintage.
Albeit very rescent (and ugly), it's still a nice contribution to "modern vintage" concidering the international hype.
This is the first washed out denim jacket Acne made.
Has the logo-flame applique in back.
It never hit the stores as it became "Too fucking expensive".
It would have been like 170 USD retail, not exactly off the charts.
But then again, around the same time Diesels "Old Glory" (amazing) was around 200 USD and that was astronomical figures for a pair of jeans.
This is the prototype.
Made in southern Italy, must have been around -98 I think.
I went alone to the factory and had Dom Perignon Grappa (fantastic) with a local mafioso who owned the only hotel. (that was empty except for me)
Now I'm a tired dad with two kids, what the hell happend?!

Moving from proper vintage americana, a true piece of Swedish denim history!
This is a pair of Gul & Blå ("Yellow & Blue"), the first real swedish denim brand ever to hit the streets, 1966.
They created total chaos and the line of people waiting was three blocks long outside the store. 1973 they sold 600-700 per DAY!
This is the "TT" model, one of the first lot's produced, in mint condition.
Got it from one of their sales guys like 14 years ago when he realized I was a complete nut for vintage.
This is pristine and it's in a way the foundation on which all swedish denim brands today stand on.
I cherish them as much as any of the Levi's and Lee's I have.
Almost.
By the way, no, it's not even close when I think about it.
But still kinda cool.
And, the founders daughter started Filippa K, great swedish brand where my buddy Rasmus design the mens line.

Moving on with another nice piece.
A pair of 701 XX a.k.a "Womens Levis".
This pair is from early 1950's. Lot of nice details on these.
They got a pink selvadge for starters!
A rather bold (yet subtle) take on women's denim. Back in those days at least.
This is exactly the model Marilyn Monroe wore in "Bus Stop".
These are smoking, high waist, tapered leg. Very "Brook Shields"