2024 is drawing to it’s end - it marks the end of another slightly frustrating year for me, but no matter that frustrations, we must inevitably keep looking at lovely new clothes to buy, sick flicks to watch and vibes to vibe out to over the festivities.
This little outlet of mine has become a real highlight, so I will once again endeavour to get a good schedule going for posting, as those of you here are showing some lovely support, and I want to make sure I’m living up to that.
The Bits
This mfpen dark brown polo that I saw Daniel Craig wearing on the Queer press tour, it’s a great chocolate brown colour and that more rugby shirt leaning collar is a really underrated one. mfpen do phenomenal knitwear (I am wearing a big polo of theirs as I type this so you can trust me).
Levi’s x Satisfy STONER jeans - I’m a big Satisfy fan, I pretty much exclusively wear their stuff when running, and when I act on my new years resolution of getting properly into climbing, I’ll be hard pressed to resist wearing their Stoner collection then too. These jeans are wild. They were limited to 200 pairs of vintage 501’s that were climb-a-fied to make them rock face worthy.
Auralee x New Balance 990v4’s. These sneakers made me put my GR pair of 990v4s on this week for the first time in maybe a year? I’ve been living in loafers and boots all year long so think that’s a testament to Auralee’s power of persuasion based on their brand vibe alone.
Our Legacy Sling Bag - I got this recently for my new work bag as I wanted something a bit more hard-wearing and roomy. It’s great, feels like it can take a bit of a beating and can fit a lot more than it first seems.
How Directors Dress - Got this book for my birthday recently and it’s now a must recommend to anyone who sits in the middle of the ‘into clothes’ and ‘into movies’ Venn diagram. It’s a great pick up and flick through kind of coffee table book that doesn’t take up much space and is really beautifully designed. It’s also got a murderers row of good writers contributing to it so buy buy buy.
The Bobs
au CONCOURS ‘The Cervert Fabricators Coat’
This is a slightly biased one as Chris, one half of the brains behind au CONCOURS is part of my online menswear heads group chat, and aside from being a gem, I know how much genuine joy and thought goes into the designs that he’s putting out. The Jacky Western Shirt is rightly getting its dues right now, being shared across lots of newsletters and wish lists - but my god this leather. The shape is inspired by early 20th century welders which gives it a workwear lean, but delivered in a very luxurious package. au CONCOURS details are where the real wins are for me, the V-shaped coat hooks are a particularly lovely one. It’s coming soon, made to order, and I’m awfully tempted.
There’s a couple of people I truly look up to in terms of their output in the menswear sphere - topping that list is Aaron Levine. The guru of menswear, Aaron has occupied a slightly nomadic place in the industry since his tenure at Abercrombie ended - a tenure that completely revolutionised the brand. It’s impossible to really undersell his impact on the current overall vibe of how men dress, but if anyone will, it’s Levine himself who maintains the attitude of humility and genuine excitement about getting to be involved in making cool stuff. He’s finally put out his own line, and it’s just as good as you’d expect - I particularly like the brown polo cardigan (a favourite silhouette of mine in general), and his 1950s inspired hoodie. All made in the USA, it’s good clothes made by good people from good material. Good stuff.
Our Legacy Workshop Holiday Market
My regular OL shill section. Look, I get it. At this point it’s a bit of a meme how much I love this brand - but I truly can’t help it. They make the clothes I want and create a universe I want to be a part of. Even as they begin to get bigger than ever before, I’m along for the ride and won’t jump off just because they’ve gone big time. The holiday market is a yearly output of very lovely items for the coldest time of the year, and this collection is no different. Howlin’ knits (they’re great I have one from a couple of years ago), blankets, hats, stoneware and even chairs. Dear reader, if I had all the money in the world I’d still go broke buying everything from this collection. If anyone wants to send me £300 so I can be swaddled in an Our Legacy blanket, wearing Our Legacy pjs and writing about Our Legacy online you know where to reach me.
Bob Dylan’s Style
So, Bob Dylan might be my favourite musician of all time. Ever since I was about 14 and I first listened to Blood On The Tracks, I’ve kind of been obsessed with him as a songwriter. My TikTok is in a full Dylan swing right now as we gear up to see Timmy C take on a portrayal of him in A Complete Unknown, which has also meant that I keep looking up cool old images of him - and I’ve been finding ones I’ve never seen before. Everyone knows the Dylancore inspiring small jackets and blue jeans, and the black sunglasses clad, epitome of skinny jean Dylan, but these images of the more interesting and wearable stuff have really been inspiring me lately. Even Dylan loves a cool weird hat.
Hope you all continue to dress well in the coming year - thank you as always for taking the time to listen to what I have to say.
If anyone is interested in reading more of my output, you can find me recently chatting about jewellery over on GQ Recommends.
TTFN.
Great post! Director book is a cop for sure
I also want to start climbing next year! Maybe a post on climbing fits is in order 🫡