Walk Off: h(y)r vs. Black Lodges

I've been going back and forth with Steven at Black Lodges for a couple months on a lot of things, but one of the ideas we are doing on Black Lodges is "It's a walk off!" I have to fully give Steven credit for the title. It definitely keeps the tone casual and pretty funny, which is really the vibe at BL. This is the outfit I came up with as my Winter to Spring look. It's layered enough to keep you warm, but incorporates some of the lighter tones and shades that you should be wearing this spring. What I found pretty funny was that both of our looks we're pretty similar, and both of them are more or less what we are wearing on any given day. Anyways, the intro is worth a read and it should be fun to see the website develop over at BL in the next little while. Walk off - Round 1

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Engineered Garments @ Odin

I promise that I will give it a bit of a break after this post but if I didn't post it, somebody else might have, or you just might not have known where to get some of the best spring pieces out there. Odin is probably the biggest EG supporter in North America as far as I know. They go deep into the collection and went as far to feature the brand in the Den last fall. This spring I don't see why they wouldn't carry a large portion of the line, although a lot of it will never been seen here in North America. This spring they did the currently blog popular parka in a great navy blue with all of the best details perfectly laid out; leather tabs, back slit pocket, four front pockets, waist drawstring - basically I'm getting this. Although I've said it for a lot of pieces this spring, and I'd like to say it again for the Baker coat, I will have to be picky about which items I actually do get, EG is just making it hard this year. Anyways, Odin's first shipments of the spring collection look great and whats also worth noting is the fairly reasonable prices as the baker coat only comes in at $289 while the parka is at $425. Check the link for a couple of the best accessories; leather D ring and madras scarves. All at Odin now.

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The Bedford Coat by Engineered Garments

I tried to vary the title since every other post starts with Engineered Garments these days. Anyways, the bedford coat is probably one of my favorite items season after season by Engineered Garments for plenty of good reasons. It's perfect for the anit-fit look, it has lots of exterior pockets, a great casual collar, comes in a variety of EG's best materials and comes in perfect colors. I was hunting for this coat fairly hard in the last few months with no luck. Then I finally found one in my size for a good price and it was almost the exact some color of grey wool I'd bought a different blazer in a few weeks before, so I couldn't do it. This spring however my sights are set on the 7 oz. twill in either of these two colors. They aren't that cheap at around $400-450 so I am going to be putting in work to get the lowest price I can as I usually do. Good luck to anybody else on the hunt for these. Oh ya, the hats are cool too if you can pull them off.

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Little Things; Styling

One of the better things about Japanese retail besides having a more educated market, getting better products and being years ahead of us, is the attention to little things. Even at Musem Ark, a retail location well outside the city center of Tokyo, they take the time with almost every shipment to put together a look or two, style is very nicely and post the pictures up. If you're shopping online, just looking at a coat or shirt on a white background is awesome for blogging, but it's not the best if you are trying to understand how it will fit or look on. People need the picture painted for them, it has to help the selling point if you are a retailer. I remember Nomad did a great job of it last spring but I just don't see it in North America. So if things are slow these days and you have some new stock, I would recommend putting in some effort and sepeating yourself from the pack. Make people want to buy the clothes. I want this Comme des Garcons coat now, but it would have looked a bit weird just laying there.

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Engineered Garments Bird Shooter

Well, since nobody seems to have a problem with the onslaught of Engineered Garments spring items being featured one at a time, here's another gem. The 'Bird Shooter' coat is another model I haven't really seen too much of, and in this military green, I want to hit the woods and find some quails asap. I am much more in love with buttons than zippers. I think they look better, feel better and wear better. A worn button hole or even missing button has a lot more character then a broken zipper, which is just a pain in the ass. Back to the coat, it's great. The layered pockets look very nice, the button pockets, sleeve holes and collar are perfect. Although I really do like a lot of the EG spring collection, I don't have the money to buy every piece, but it's safe to say this coat jumped to the forefront for me. Only available at Nepenthes as far as I've seen so far.

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Engineered Garments Chambray Ground Jacket

I know, more Engineered Garments. I hope you readers don't get too tired of it this spring but it's one of the few lines that has me particularly excited. This chambray ground jacket is yet another reason why. It's also a piece I haven't seen from the EG collection before. The hood actually comes off as well turning it into a bit of a coach jacket, which looks great for spring in the material. I think the tone of the chambray is pretty much perfect along with the silver hardware the the obvious attention to historical details Engineered Garments pride themselves on. I was pretty stoked on the collection before I visited New York, but after looking through the fall collection and hearing about all of the care and though that goes into each detail and material, and how they hunt down dead stock wools, cottons and denims, it definitely got me even more excited. I also find their prices are generally pretty reasonable, especially at Hejfina. It's a bit of an odd online shop out of Chicago, but they actually have one of the best brand lists I've seen for men, as well as some of the lowest US retail prices.

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Printed Matter; Floral

Prints on clothing might be one of the most 'trendy' elements to the fashion world. Whether it's chains and skulls or the opposite - flowers - it comes and gos (or should go) every season. With a lot of buffalo and flannel patterns in the last couple seasons, I guess designers were looking for something a bit more fresh this spring to bring some life into their pieces. Floral prints seem to be the answer for spring/summer 2009. We saw a fair bit of prints in Peter Jensen's creep show, Steve Allan and Engineered Garments also have some 'fresh' flowers in their upcoming collections. I personally find the patterns quite difficult to wear but if the right pair of pants, tie or coat came along, I'm definitely not opposed to the season's pattern.

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Want: Engineered Garments Workaday Oxford

I think having a couple different styles of oxford shirts is pretty important. You want something well fitted for daily wear with trousers, denim and ties but it's nice to have something a little more loose fitting for those anti-fit looks. I've been wearing a pair of EG ripcord pants quite a bit since I got them and could use one of their shirts to compliment it in terms of styling and proportions. After viewing the Fall 09 collection and talking to the people involved in the collection, I have to say I love it even more. Hearing the passion about every detail, the materials and the button placement on their 19th Century BD was pretty exciting - believe it or not. I would also have no problem purchasing this blue color by Engineered Garments since the color isn't in the range of oxfords coming in THE collection...

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