To get the ball rolling again, take a look at the latest thing I’m working on:
The Great Twitter Secret Santa

The idea came from a brainstorm about what cool things we could do online to spin the holiday season a new way. It works by bringing digital friends together in a real world way. Kind of a cool idea, hopefully you think so too. I’m going to lift some language from one of my co-conspirators since someone has always said it better:

“When we set out to make this, none of us really had any idea what it would all mean and still, we’re pretty convinced that its just a fun little blip in internet land. But as things progress and sign ups continue to grow, we’re also excited by the fact that this little machine is helping networks out there make their connections mean something a little bit more, a secret santa exchange has always been a bit trivial, but when you strip away the trivial nature, it’s a wonderful, exciting way to recognize someone you respect, learn something new about someone you only slightly know or strengthen a bond with someone you hold dear.

However way you slice it and however way you choose to participate is up to you. I know there are probably a million more questions to be answered and we’ll do our best, so keep them coming. In the meantime, we just hope you enjoy it as much as we have. ”
- full text: Available Here

The last sentence says it all. If nothing more it’s been a fun thing to work on.

Came across these today, thought they were pretty wild. The Portland-based company is called Shwood and they hand-make sunglasses out of wood drawn from locally sourced and sustainable lumber yards.

The glasses look very similar in design to Raybans, the Canby design more or less mirroring Wayfarers, while the Govy takes a squarer approach to the classic style. Not outlandishly expensive (about $95-125 a pair), Shwood glasses are a unique way to shade those eyes. I especially like the stain treatment on the wood…it’s sort of like tortoise-shell but somehow more authentic. I don’t know. Wooden Sunglasses….who’d a thunk.

Last weekend I was in Miami and forgot my jeans in the hotel…so I endeavored to find a new pair for the summer. I was walking down Broadway south of 8th St. and passed one of those storefronts with the windows entirely covered in ’sale’ ads for jeans. I always thought these places were a little sketchy or for tourists, so I never went in. This time, I said ‘what the hell’ and popped in to see what it was all about. This particular place was called ‘O.M.G. Jeans’ which in and of itself should sum up the shopping experience. It was like shopping for sunglasses on St Marks and 3rd Ave. Too many people asking if you needed help and everytime you even looked at one of the racks someone had three pairs in their arms pushing you towards the fitting room. It was really something else.

Shopping experience aside, I ended up with a pair of Levi’s 511s. Skinny, lightweight but firm denim, very stiff upon first trial but the hope was they’d stretch. I also thought I’d do something different. I went with the washed out gray. Really not my traditional style at all, I’ve always shied away from ‘alternative’ wash jeans and stuck to solid, dark blue. But lately I’ve been drawn to white jeans….and in lieu of making a REALLY bold statement, I went with the gray.

I love them. I think they are going to be a big hit this summer and become a ‘thing.’ So today, I came across the June/July Esquire laying around in my office. Flipping through, I was looking at all the recommendations for summer styles. And guess what was prominently listed as a must have for summer 2010?

Yep. Gray Skinny Levis. Now, I’m not trying to toot my own horn, but it’s always nice to feel like your weird urges and impulse buys aren’t that crazy. So check out the new issue of Esquire for some good style tips, and if you want to try something new, grab a pair of gray skinnys.

First and foremost is the Aviator style of sunglasses. Popular history says that during WWII pilots needed tinted lens goggles to protect their eyes from sun glare and the smoke of combat. Ray Ban developed the first model of these goggles, then called ‘pilot’s glasses,’ and sold them to the US Military. They were large enough to shade the whole eye and built to be rugged and long lasting. The bulging lens rather than flat lens blocks light from more angles and helps with peripheral vision.

America’s love affair with aviators began when Douglas MacArthur landed on the beach in the Philippines and was photographed wearing them. This picture circulated around newspapers and magazines, and became iconic both of the war and MacArthur. Prominently featuring these pilot’s glasses, and looking cool doing, propelled the style to stardom. Ray Ban released the consumer version in 1938 and they’ve been made and remade popular many times since by movies stars, musicians, and trend setters everywhere.

Look forward to posts upcoming about more trends and styles drawn from our men in arms.

Introducing: Blank Label. A website that runs a lot like Nike ID or any other custom design site on the webs. Myriad choices make a wide range of combinations possible, and it’s really easy to make unique shirts. Choose every bit of your shirt, from the design to the fabric to the accents.

Whether you like wide collars with french cuffs, narrow button down collars with epaulets, two breast pockets with red buttons, or covered buttons and no pockets, the variations are endless. Add an embroidered initial and you’ve got one of a kind dress shirts. Starting out at $45 a shirt plus incremental costs for custom elements isn’t too bad, especially compared to the cost of flying around the world to find cheaper vendors or seeking bespoke garments in brick and mortar establishments. The story of the site is the classic start up: two friends look for something, don’t find it, start it themselves, and make it a reality. Classic story, classic style, modern presentation. All in all, a very cool company.

So for Friday I want to talk about something that’s been around for awhile but I never realized how cool it is, and that’s Nike ID. I’m slowly coming around to the custom sneaker world, and I guess this is my first foray in. Growing up I always associated Nike with track and field or sport specific shoes like cleats. I was a skateboarder and for us at the time Nike skate shoes had very little street cred and were seen as a big mean mega brand trying to cut into the underground culture of skaters. But now Nike owns a huge portion of the custom sneaker world and has permanently ingrained themselves in the skate culture.

I won’t bore you with the details of Nike ID, it’s really intuitive and fun to play with. I was inspired to try and design my own pair both for the interest of the blog but also because my beloved pair of purple/black/white Onitsuke Tigers are finally worn out to the point of retirement (a sad, sad, day) and I haven’t really found them for sale anywhere in the same style. So I thought to myself, “self, let’s try and recreate these.”

Starting from scratch with a blank Nike 6.0 skate shoe, I juiced up the colors and materials to make a cool replica mirroring the great colors of my Tigers.

And for just a bit of hilarity, check out the Custom ID. HAHA!

I haven’t decided if I would actually wear sneakers with the blog rep’d so blatantly on there…but maybe. The real question is are they worth $110….Maybe in a moment of weakness. Let’s stew on it over and weekend and check back with you on Monday.

Have a great weekend!

I saw this via trendhunter and I’m not sure if it’s real or just a concept, or perhaps a concept that will soon become real. I hope the latter because this is a wildly cool piece of technology. It’s called the Stick Pin Tie Iron and its a dual purpose tie clip. Yes, it holds your tie to your shirt and keeps you looking put together, but it has some sort of ceramic plate on the back that can heat up to a certain degree and then be used as an on the fly tie iron. Drag it up and down along your tie and the heated plate flattens out the wrinkles. It can also be used to dry a damp tie, so when you spill ketchup on your new Thomas Pink cravatte and then pour water on it (because that always works!) you can dry that damp tie and press it at the same time. Again, I don’t know if this is real or even possible, but it is a great idea and a cool mixing of technology and fashion.

]]> http://theosoares.com/archives/264/feed 0 http://theosoares.com/archives/256 http://theosoares.com/archives/256#comments Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:57:12 +0000 Theo http://theosoares.com/?p=256

So today the first round of entries went up on the Original Penguin website for their Be Our Model contest. The gist of it is: you send in two headshots and two body shots in your best outfit and they put their favorites up on the site for people to vote on. The winner get photo’d for the next print campaign.

I have to admit the rules were pretty vaguely set out, so people have taken a lot of liberties with what they consider a head shot versus a body shot, but I guess that’s part of the deal. The pictures on here range from seemingly professional models on runways to one guy who just grabbed some pictures off his Facebook account. Anyway, I just sent in my entries so we’ll see if I make the final cut. If so, I will surely let you know!

Wish me luck.

]]> http://theosoares.com/archives/256/feed 0 http://theosoares.com/archives/254 http://theosoares.com/archives/254#comments Thu, 18 Mar 2010 17:01:20 +0000 Theo http://theosoares.com/?p=254 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.

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