Not the Shoes! » Thoughts

Genesis of ‘Not the Shoes’

Theo — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:01:20 +0000

Thanks for the comment Frank. To answer your question, the title of the blog came about last summer. I spent way too much money on a pair of tan suede shoes from Cole Haan (pictured in the header banner of this site.) I loved them. They were super lightweight and cool on hot days, and the ‘dirty buck’ material with the green soles always drew comments. The problem was I was deathly afraid of ruining them. Everyday was the fear of some cab driving by splashing through a puddle, or a freak rainstorm, or a careless pedestrian’s melting Mr Softee cone, etc. I found myself always thinking ‘Not the shoes!’ as I scurry away from whatever hazard presented itself.

Sounds ridiculous but I’m sure you all have had the experience of getting something you’ve just bought and are super excited about stained/ripped/ruined in some way. ‘Not the shoes’ was top of mind at the time and it stuck.

As for the shoes, they survived the summer and are sleeping tightly in the original bag and box they came in. Now that I think of it….it’s getting just about warm enough out to dust off the warm weather stuff. Think I’ll do that tonight.

To be a kid again…

Theo — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:29:42 +0000

I’ve been having this thought lately….that I feel like I have no influence on the physical world anymore. I get up, stumble around in my apartment getting ready for the day, walk downstairs and out into the street. I wait for the bus, or I wait for the train, or I walk somewhere. Enter a building, wait for the elevator. Walk to my desk. Wait for emails and telephone calls. Wait for the day to be over so I can wait for a train or a cab or walk home. I feel like my effect on the physical world is negligible. If I didn’t get up and leave my apartment all the buses and trains and elevators would still run filled by other people moving throughout their lives. Don’t get me wrong, I still feel MENTALLY and SOCIALLY connected and active, just not physically. The only time I feel connected and aware of the physicality of existence is the hour spent playing indoor soccer on the weekends, bumping into walls and against other players as we scramble around NYC high school gyms, chasing an giant tennis ball.

So this spring and summer I am going to reconnect with both my roots and my grounding in this city. I am going to feel the concrete under my feet and probably under my jeans when I’m sprawled out on the sidewalk somewhere. My new method of transportation:

OK well, I probably won’t be doing anything like that rad dude, but I am committed to getting some exercise and ripping up some curbs on the way to work in the AM. I ordered a complete from CCS and it’ll be here in 8-10 business days….and I cannot wait, especially with the next 5 days being sunny and in the high 50s, promising spring to arrive soon. I got the Zero Safari deck:

…which I think elicits a new pair of sneakers and some new colorful summer wear. Maybe a new pair of DC Pure’s…

…or classic Van’s Chukkas.

And just to prove I’m not crazy, skateboarding as a reliable means of transportation is nothing new. Check out this article about Matthew Settle, the all-American dad-rocker on Gossip Girl, who is crazy enough to skate through traffic in Times Square, and look good doing it! So think about how you move in the world and how, if at all, you connect with the tangible world around you, and if you’re feeling disconnected, try skateboarding!

Maybe Next Year

Theo — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:32:51 +0000

Well, the warm weather has begun teasing we New Yorkers about the coming Spring, and with these warm mornings and bright sunny afternoons comes the shedding of winter mentality and layers. I refuse to wear another warm coat. If I freeze so be it, I am willing it to be warm out. Winter is almost over…

…and with the passing of this season makes the second winter that has come and gone without the bowler hat becoming popular again.

I bought one at Lord and Taylor in the fall of ‘08 dedicated to bringing it back, or if that doesn’t work, making it ‘my thing.’ As I’m sure you all know, they haven’t come back. And despite trying as best I could to wear it in public, it just never became my thing. I always felt kind of clowny wearing it…like it was just screaming ‘hey everyone; look! I’m wearing an unnecessarily silly hat!’ I’m beginning to think these have been relegated to costume/period pieces and aren’t ever going to be popular again. But why? I start looking at the perception of bowler hats in popular culture and realize they have become ’silly.’

The trademark of the most famous goofball/slap stick comedian of our time….

Iconic of the faceless, soulless business man….

Stuffy article reserved for royalty….

Are there any others? Needless to say, this is a healthy list of stereotyping bowler hats. The conception of bowlers and people who wear them has been forever tarnished. They’ll never really come back. It’s too bad too…they are very comfortable and warm hats. But one cannot change history. On to the next trend!

Olympic Jeans

Theo — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:19:03 +0000

If you’ve read any of my previous posts you know I am not a big proponent of jeans. I’ve already ranted about this before, so I won’t go through it all again, but you can imagine my disappointment with the US Snowboarding teams uniforms.

Designed by Burton, they are relatively plain and straightforward. A plaid ski jacket with a large crest on the front and jean look-a-like snowpants. Snowboard fashion often is highlighted by bright patterns and flashy designs, plaid is huge right now on the slopes and in the streets, and let’s not forget how popular tartan patterns are this winter. The choice makes total sense, it’s topical, trendy, reserved but still flashy. It reflects current styles, especially the large logo crest which is reminiscent of the large crests Ralph Lauren has all over his latest stuff.

I get it. But shouldn’t snowboard fashion, which is often outlandish and convention-breaking, lead the charge into some new stylish area instead of simply reflect the common trends of the day? This is the Olympics, where the best in the world come together to represent our country and pioneer new feats of strength and skill. Burton decided to clad our snowboarders, a sport where the US is way out in front of everyone else, in drab tartan plaid jackets with Ralph Lauren rip off crests? Unfortunate.

What is even MORE unfortunate is the jean pants. Jeans are bad enough already (look back to old posts for more anti-denim ranting), one thing that was always differentiating about snowsport fashion was the loud patterns and colors of the snowpants. To cover our most elite athletes in denim look-a-like is a sad reflection of our nation’s gradual slide into ‘casual’ homogeneity.

Articles abound about how young men are shifting back to the dressed up styles of the past and breaking with our parents generations feeling that success was the opportunity to dress down. We young men are embracing style and saying to the world that we can be gentlemen, look good, and live well in the world. Perhaps Burton could have played off this feeling rather than paint the blank canvas of snowpants with something as quotidian as denim.

What will people laugh about 20 years from now?

Theo — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 16:09:18 +0000

This past summer I had the realization that we are all slaves to trends. Not all, of course, some people wear the same cargo khakis and t-shirts their whole lives, and if they are comfortable with that, then carry on, god speed. But most people at least to some degree follow trends, and there’s nothing wrong with that. We all want to fit in, or stand out, or be different, or whatever. Often, standing out and being different turns into trends and then what once was eye catching becomes common, and trend setters have to keep pushing the bounds. This is the natural cycle of style. So this past summer I remember showing up to meet some friends in Hell’s Kitchen and I was wearing the ubiquitous heather grey deep neck V t-shirt and jeans…similar to this fellow:

The first few times I wore this sort of shirt it elicited comments or laughs…which is the point of wearing what we wear right? To be noticed? To stand out? By the third or forth time, it became common place, people expected everyone to be wearing such shirts. They were everywhere. So the V’s started getting deeper, and the pants started getting shorter…and I thought to myself, ’self, this is a ridiculous trend. This may be the first trend I’ve followed that I’ll look back on and laugh in 20 years.’

In the 60s, it was tie die ponchos and birkenstocks, the 70s polyester suits, the 80s….well we all know what the 80s were all about. I imagine that back in those days people saw these trends developing, dabbled in some new outfits, and received laughs and comments. But then after awhile it became common place, everyone was doing it. So it got bigger and better, bell bottoms got wider, neon vests got shinier, hair got first longer, then bigger. And it was 100% serious in the moment, just like we are 100% serious right about about hipster moustaches, skinny high-water jeans, and ray ban sunglasses. (maybe not 100% serious…websites like www.latfh.com parody at least the hipster movement. Surely there were similar sentiments during all the previous trend decades, but there wasn’t an easy universal outlet like we have today with the interwebs). So I’ll leave you with this picture…surely our fathers looked like this one day. And one day, our children will look at pictures of us and laugh just as much.

Theo — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 21:29:59 +0000

Winter is the season of black and white. Dark nights, snowy mornings, black coats, pasty white skin. All one sees in these dreary months are the extremes, the harsh colors of the winter wardrobe repelling the harsher winds of January. In NYC, it’s even worse. The tall buildings block out what little sun there is in the afternoon, and the wind funnels down the avenues creating tunnels of misery. So we respond with layers upon layers of black jackets, gloves, scarves, and hats. Perhaps it’s because black absorbs the sun and keeps us warm? No, that can’t be it…there’s no sun on the streets of Manhattan. Perhaps it’s because we are morning for the passing of the lovelier months and the love they bring to us, be it sunny summer afternoon, runs through the park, or rooftop drinks with good friends. Or perhaps it’s because we think we look good in black. It’s ’slimming’ and hides a lot of our wintery selves, which we inevitably ‘let go’ due to the desire to hibernate instead of track to the gym.

A good friend of mine says that all girls in NYC are, at any one time in the day, wearing two of the following three things:
1. Boots
2. Jeans
3. Something black
I would say that it’s more like all of those things at all points of the day. And it’s not just true of females here, I myself don’t own a black jacket, but I do wear boots and jeans very often. So does everyone, it only makes sense.

But a look at this article may sway you. Apparently, 4 out of 5 of us look old and sad in our black outfits, not slim and sexy like we thought. I’ve been saying since the beginning that breaking up the monotony and depression of winter with brightly colored clothes is not only good style sense but also good for your psyche. Throw on a camel coat and a tartan scarf! Mix some patterned scarves and red gloves in with that dark coat! Wear those white pants with your heavy jacket!

You’ll feel better and add a little bit of pizzazz to the world.

Oh, and Happy New Year.

Alexander McQueen + Puma = Strange Partnership

Theo — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:14:22 +0000

I was surfing around some websites for indoor soccer shoes for the upcoming Zog Winter League, and I came across this new partnership on the PUMA website. I understand and appreciate McQueen’s long history of success and inspirational work in fashion, but I just don’t get this new ‘Crane vs. Tiger’ thing.

The underlying concept of the line is ‘Power’, or physical and mental strength as the core of all sports….obviously. It’s represented with the “iconic brand image” of the Crane vs. Tiger shown above. The website has all these photos of athletic looking people in poses somehow reminiscent of either a crane or a tiger, and a video to the same effect. I just don’t get the animal thing; why are they against each other? Why are both animals anthropomorphized with human legs? I’m not usually negative about people’s creative work, as it’s totally subjective and creative people work hard both to realize their creative vision and appease their clients, but this really doesn’t do it for me.

As for the actual line, there are some stylish pieces, like this decent bomber jacket and stylish gym bag.

Both some of the other things are just too over done, with the whole flapping wing, crane feather deal. Reminds me of the weird drug induced hallucinogenic thing that happened to Markie Mark in Max Payne.

I’ll stick to the old school PUMA soccer shoes, thanks.

Stylish’ Vids

Theo — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:27:30 +0000

Style is not all about clothes but also about who and what you fill your life with. It’s a full time committment, but something that becomes second nature the more you aware you are of yourself and the world around you.

I’d like to talk about two facets of a stylish life and how the clothes are just one part of the whole. This first video is a very cool music video by a british metal band called Enter Shikari. I love this band because they mix my two favorite styles of music, metal and house. And they do it in a way that feels totally natural. But check out the cool factor of both the guys in the band and the crowd. The clothes and attitudes seem unplanned and almost an afterthought, yet there are tons of little details that stand out. A military shirt with epaulets, a vintage ‘cheerios’ T-shirt, a room full of emo haircuts and weird bracelets and old hats. Cool in that underground punk scene sort of way, and man, does that look like a fun time.

Here is the advertising video for the Triumph Scrambler retro-styled motorcycle. Different from the Harley Iron 883 which tries to be more of a gritty city, bikers bike (the all black, strip model), the Scrambler is more of a fun loving country bike, great for the dusty trails or the sandy California sidewalks. It’s portrayed as the ride of choice for two distinct retro archetypes, the first being the free spirit with leather jackets and biker boots (a great pair around 1:45 by the way) and the other being the fun loving beach boy with the cute bikini clad girlfriend, tooling around on the boardwalk between surf outings. Both portray a life of freedom and motion, of travel and yet of comfort in the simple joys of life. Perhaps the two characters aren’t so different after all, it takes something as simple as a retro Triumph to bring out the drifter in all of us.

Belts

Theo — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:01:12 +0000

I was discussing the ‘no-belt’ look with a friend yesterday, and he was skeptical about it. I am 100% pro ‘no-belt.’ As a general rule, I think that just wearing a button down shirt tucked into pants never looks right. On models, they tailor the shirts to be skin tight and can prepare each shot to look perfect. This doesn’t happen in real life, even if your shirts are perfectly tailored. The shirts bunch, they billow, they get twisted. Even with a nice belt, after a few minutes it just doesn’t look good. Therefore, I try to always cover the belt area with a vest, a sweater, a blazer, something so that you look put together by having your shirt tucked in, but you don’t have to worry about keeping it straight. That said, a man’s pants should fit tightly around the waist. If this is the case, no belt is needed. They are a relatively new piece of fashion anyway. Men wore braces (suspenders) for generations before belts came onto the scene. According to this site, the belt was invented in 1812 by Sam Browne, who needed a place to hang his sword after losing his arm in battle. Another history says that belts became functional only in the 1920s, when men’s trouser waist lines began to drop below the natural waist. Before that time belts were generally only used by the military as a decorative uniform accent. Either way, a tailored pant is much more necessary than a belt, and if you aren’t sure, cover it with a sweater! Problem solved.