Thursday, January 22, 2009

Short stories

Hi, I'm alive and well(well..). This time I have a few interesting tidbits to share.

Samurai wallet progress
Some of you might remember that I won a very nice wallet from Samurai a year or two ago. It was produced in a very limited number, 3 for customers of Samurai and one for the boss of Samurai(his name escapes me).
The interesting thing is that it has a denim in-lay, something which I hadn't and still haven't seen before.
Mine is still completely untouched but Mr. Samurai has given it infinitely more wear-time than I have.
Here is a photo of his wallet from Lightning Magazine no.1 2009.


Edwin Vintage Collection
Do you remember the new Edwin Vintage Collection that debuted this fall? Did anyone get a pair? How do you like them?

In the Meiji jingumae(Harajuku) station there is a poster showing off the collection. I found that to be a little amusing. If you happen to see the poster you should also visit the Edwin store since it's very close by. They also carry Lee Originals and Wrangler Blue Bell, which are both made by Edwin.


Cuff
I found an interesting post on The Fedora Lounge regarding trends and cuffs in the 1950s.
Here's what the user Warbaby said;
As someone who was in high school in the mid to late 50's, I can give you the straight skinny on what was cool in jeans style - at least for one particular region and culture. It wasn't a hip place like L.A. or N'Yawk, but a small town in Arizona (which should give it a certain cachet for jeans style authenticity).

New, dark blue jeans were definitely not cool, nor were deep turned-up cuffs (only the dorkiest of dorks wore them that way).
The usual treatment for breaking in new jeans was to wash them every time your mom did a dark wash and when they were dry, lay them on the bed and beat them soundly with a baseball bat or big stick til they softend up. Hanging them out in the Arizona sun certainly helped the fading.
As for the cuffs, some kids wore them plain and uncuffed, but the really cool guys, the ones with DA haircuts and their cigarettes rolled up in their t-shirt sleeves, reverse-rolled their cuffs like dress trousers. You bought them with legs a lot longer than your own, turned a deep cuff under, then turned the cuff up on the outside about 1" to produce a narrow cuff that matched the rest of the jeans. The first few times you had to iron them that way, but eventually they'd stay. Being unwilling to take unnecessary chances with my coolness, I sewed mine...
Don't know how it was elsewhere, but this was the style in that one place and time.
It made me think of this post at ethandesu. I may try it one day.

Reading material
One of my treasured readers, The Buzzard, was kind enough to post a link to an interesting article vintage hunter Brit Eaton. A kindred spirit.

Vintage blog
Another dear reader, Dana, has a great vintage blog herself. Check out her leather jackets.

6 comments:

Michael said...

That wallet is awesome. I wonder how many years it will last before it falls apart. Ages beautifully.

Colin Flora said...

Hi,
I am a habitual visitor to your blog. You do a great job of providing interesting visual and editorial material. Your instincts are great at achieving a balcance between them, too.

One note, and I don't know if anyone else feels this way, but in compaing Warbaby's comments to the visual stuff provided by Levi's, I just can't help but feel that Levi's has gotten it wrong. I live in Los Angeles, and the hipsters they have chosen for models are a doime a dozen there. Incurious by nature, they do not in any way reflect those whom I know and are fans of vintage dinim and clothing. Our fascination is not with 'fashion', but rather with a certain lasting style that clearly escapes the fools in those photographs. They don't have it in them.

Anyway, keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

XOX

Anonymous said...

Hi again!

Another delicate subject indeed. And some good information over at The Fedora Lounge. Thanks!

In my humble opinion the width of the cuffs - if any - depends on:

a) the leg opening (and of course the inseam and affluence of denim),
b) what kind of boots or shoes you want to wear,
c) stature, personal style and / or what we can call 'historical' considerations (i.e. if you're in the nostalgia business).

Btw, the cuff of a shirt meassures ≈ 2.5 inches (6 cm). So if you're suffering of metrical obsession, lack of creativity or just don't care, you can stick to the same width on your pants as well. Generally it looks kind of balanced ;-) Last year I turned a double 2.5" cuff (exactly) on a pair of Lee 101B WWII model and that was suitable.

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I think the photographs from the collection gives us a clear indication of how the market handles this type of clothing
you just have to be more attentive to pay more attention to detail and quality in these and so we get the best for us

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It can't have effect in fact, that is exactly what I suppose.