The Hill is coming

If you’ve been following me, first a big thanks. Second, you know I’ve been working for Style on the Hill on some 9-5 hustle, without the salary. We’ve been working to provide online content, but we’re branching out with our first published edition set to drop May 1. Below you can see a slight smattering of the type of work we've been up to.

That said, we’re currently in the hunt for some advertisers. I'm no marketing whiz, but what I can tell you is that this opportunity affords any advertiser a chance to directly reach a huge market. KU averages nearly 30,000 students a year; our demographic includes college students and young adults on the Lawrence campus, and our alumni network across the country. For more information, check out some of the pictorials above. Did you know we have half a million Facebook users? Shit, even I didn't know that. 

This isn't just a straight struggle plea for money. We're looking to build long-term relationships with brands to foster mutual growth. Our current partnerships include Lawrence and Kansas City-based stores, but we're always looking for more. If this opportunity speaks to your company/brand/dot-com startup, contact me or any other member of the Style on the Hill team. We'd love to show you how we can help your company meet its goals.

-NL

The Future

My level of posting has dropped off significantly, and while I can attribute this to a majority of forces in my life, the biggest one is Style on the Hill. We’re coming out with a printed edition, dropping this May. I won’t release all the full details yet, but be prepared for a 64 page, full glossy edition. Ya boy’s about to be in full color on some next level Glamour-type shit. 

While this is an awesome and exciting experience, subsequently my workload has exploded tenfold. I’m writing a lot more editorial content, some of it even journalistic and semi-respectable . I’ve been in constant contact with a multitude of clothing stores, from department giants to small brick-and-mortars, working to arrange brand partnerships, advertising, and product supply for photoshoots. And photoshoots have yet to begin, which is a whole new array of headaches. I gripe, but it’s been fun and will pay off. I hope. You can bet I’ll be telling girls at bars that I’m a model.

Outside of that though, I’ve also been ruminating on the continued viability of Midwest-Dressed. From my reading of #menswear sites, there’s only so much that can be said about the basic guidelines of dressing before things get rehashed over and over. Granted the fashunz side of things is continually evolving, but my blog’s focus is/was “to offer a stepping stone for young men looking to change what they wear.” Frankly, I think there are several other good, highly knowledgeable menswear writers on the web that can and have offered exactly what I claim to offer. Chances are, they do it a lot better than me too. Writing product reviews, copping free gear, and working with other bloggers is a fun experience, but I’m not a fan of continuing to write here if just for the purpose of hearing myself think. It’s been a year, but I’ll have to see where this site goes in 2013, and whether it will go at all. For now, I will leave you with these #menswear animals from Yago Partal. Apparently animals doing weird shit is what gets the kids hyped these days.

-MD

#Menswear #Movement

Last week there was a bit of heated discussion over the current state of #menswear. Is it a circle-jerk of “top lists” and coppable gear, or has this become the evolution of the subculture, dictated by media demand and web platform?

Perhaps it is just a circle-jerk where we’re all redefining what jawnz are. It could be just that, and there’s a rational explanation for it. Any small group of similarly interested people will inevitably reinforce their own beliefs. The more you surround yourself with extremists, the more compounded your own views become. #Menswear nerds like clothes, and a lot of us like the same ones.We pay attention to fashion, we follow what we like, and we become involved in those worlds. But I like to think I started reading Four Pins because I liked their content, not because their content dictated what was “cool.” 

There’s tons of blogs out there, and I can only read so much in a day. Four Pins made the list. At some point though, my relationship to the site probably became less based on my interests (I like rap and clothes, Four Pins caters to that, I’ll read them), and more based on cyclical, self-fulfilling prophecies (I read Four Pins, they know what’s tight, I’ll like THIS rap and THOSE clothes). 

I do think there’s credence in the idea the #menswear is a circle-jerk. But circle-jerks can be fun, and eventually everyone embodies one in a way. My father eventually had to stop partying, grow up, and get a real job. Now he hangs out with other boring old farts who like fishing and C-SPAN. If that’s what he likes, he’ll hang out with others like him, and eventually that’s all they’ll talk about. 

The same has happened to us, but it likely can’t be avoided. My point is, so what? Yes so we all like the same things and we all congratulate ourselves over Twitter on snagging a pair of 1947 LVCs at huge discount on Vente Privee. There’s still a healthy amount of comment, criticism, sarcasm and snark that keeps us grounded in reality (or at least enough that our heads aren’t totally up our own asses). We’re nerds, but we know it. 

As for the point about slideshows and lists, that’s a reflection of the business, bro. I now write for a magazine (that hopefully makes it to print). They want lists. Under 500 words.  Original content still exists, and it exists on the web. It’s just hard to find, because you have to search past those major websites (that admittedly most people visit, and most people rehash their content because it seems “cool.” See above). Tons of small bloggers still write when they’re passionate or angry or any other adjective-ed enough to type out a longform missive. Major media chanced on a gold mine when they discovered #mensear nerds wanting to buy the $1000 sport coats and $600 shoes that most average joes found to be too expensive. And so major media took advantage of that. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t those nerds of us still out there, chatting on StyleForum or commenting on blogs, keeping the #movement alive.

StyleSeek Review Series - Herschel Supply Little America

Missed posting about this last week, but I wrote a product review of Herschel Supply’s Little America backpack as a part of StyleSeek's Review Series (which I've partnered with). It was pretty dope, for the time I had it. Read more at Style on the Hill.

Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and while no girl is interested in giving me love, it so happens that some people out there are picking up what I’m putting down. As a part of the ongoing StyleSeek Review Series, I will be reviewing items that SOTH received for free. Ball so hard, muthafuckas wanna wine and dine me with menswear swag. For the first installment, I was sent for review the Herschel Supply Little America backpack. I used the backpack for a week on campus, putting it through a multitude of stress tests to determine its quality and durability...Read on here

Also if you've never checked out StyleSeek, you should. In a world where we're constantly bombarded by information (even in the microcosm of #menswear), StleSeek looks to nail it all down in one place. Determine your "StyleDNA" by taking a test to start out, then the site provides you with like-minded blog posts, product reviews, etc. (they even link to sites where you can buy said pieces, which is primo). 

-Nick 

Barney's is Launching a Discount Outlet Site

Barneys Launches Massive Discount Outlet Site

Gant Rugger Pullover

Any self-righteous, half-baked #menswear blogger is probably going to be incredibly dismissive about this post, but that's okay. Style is a personal journey, and frankly I've never cared much about what people think of me anyways. That said, on to the review!

I purchased this Gant Rugger twill check pullover with some money I got from Christmas. I realize $125 (I did not get it on sale unfortunately, but you can benefit from my mistake) is a bit much to spend on a casual shirt, especially for a sartorial novice. But frankly I'm beginning to find that I have enough clothes (read, more than enough). So from now on, I'm either going to spend what would've gone towards clothes on either A. more expensive, quality pieces, or B. experimental pieces that stray a bit from my norm. This shirt is a bit of both, and while readers from more cultural metropolises may not find a pullover to be too experimental, they're none too common in the Midwest.

Pros:

The color is great, a very saturated red and blue (the pictures don't do it justice). The twill cotton is soft (felt almost like flannel before the first wash), and a bit thick. The fit is slim, and a medium fit my skinnier frame quite nicely. It fact it seems slightly tapered, as it appears to narrow towards the tails, such that there's no extra fabric that would billow were you to tuck it in (although the shirt is too short to be tucked in, and I'm not sure why you'd want to anyway). The construction and stitching seem quality enough, although admittedly I probably can't differentiate decent stitching from a truly great job. More time and wear will be a better judge. 

Cons:

As my personal style evolved, I moved away from t-shirts and more towards button-up sport shirts. Part of this was because I felt my look needed to mature as I did, but the other part was also because I tend to get hot fairly easily. Blame it on my ancestors who lived on a rainy, 50 degree island, but I found that button-up shirts tended to breathe just as easily, if not more so, as t-shirts. 

In regards to this post, I found the pullover to be hot. Frankly it just didn’t breathe as well as I would have liked. Now to be clear, that’s no knock on this shirt itself. The construction was great, the fit perfect, and I found it to be plenty warm on its own. In fact I doubt any change to the shirt itself would’ve remedied my issue. The lack of full-frontal buttons make pullovers too hot for me (Hell I’m uncomfortable in those cheap long sleeve t-shirts). 

That’s me being picky though. After all, you should only wear things you actually want to wear, and despite it being a bit warm, this shirt is still appealing in its color and uniqueness. 

Matching Suits & Shoes, by Janete Chun and from Put This On

This picture is 100% from Put This On (created by Janete Chun) but I think it's so helpful, and visually appealing in its simplicity, that it's worth re-posting across the web.

It's a guide to what color shoes go with what color suit, taken from Season 2 Episode 5 of Put This On. Definitely helpful. (To see a bigger version, right click and open in a new tab or window). Also check out Put This On's video series if you haven't. It's informative, interesting, and host Jesse Thorn is quite funny.

Best,

MD

Men's Wearhouse is the Natty Light of Suiting

Just read THIS article, and boy was it piss poor. To sum it up, the author is lauding Men's Wearhouse as a one-stop destination for men's suiting. Though it seems like an almost flipping the bird to Dave Mustaine, who I have never heard of but who seems pretty ignorant, the article jumps too quickly onto the Men's Wearhouse bandwagon. I tried reading the whole thing, but I could barely finish, which hasn't happened to me since college when a guy in my class asked me to edit his term paper, and it was so...fucking awful that I had to stop and hand it back to him. This article isn't quite that bad, but it was disturbing enough that it made me sit down and bang out a quick piece before going out on a Friday night. 

This is a stupid picture from the article.

See, things like this upset me. They upset me because I find it particularly aggravating when people follow the lowest common denominator because it is cheap or easy. I could jump straight into a diatribe on how many Americans are intensely hypocritical when it comes to the economics of manufacturing, and how consumers demand a product at the lowest possible cost without regard to its production location, material or method, thereby reinforcing an economic model that flies directly in the face of what most claim to believe in. I could do that. And I still might. But probably not. I’m going to sit on this, let it stew, and come back.  Right now though, I’ll tear this article apart quickly, because it’s Friday night and I’m trying to go out.

Men’s Wearhouse is NOT the end-all, be-all of mens suiting in the same way Natural Light isn’t the end-all, be-all of beers. Have you ever had Natty Light? It sucks. It sucks hard. BUT, it’s cheap, right? And you know why it’s cheap? I’m not exactly sure of their production process, but I’m willing to guess it involves using the dregs of what would’ve been Bud Light, canning them, and selling them for $15 a case. 

Natty Light is cheap because it costs next to nothing to make. And because so little is invested in its production, it is shitty (which only further reduces its value).

Men’s Wearhouse is like the Natty Light of the suiting world. Again, I’m not 100% on their production or sales structures (and I’ve got half a mind to get off my ass and research in-depth), but again I’m willing to guess that the suits at Men’s Warehouse cost very little to make. Cheap fabrics, with cheap production methods (I’m looking overseas, East to be specific), lead to a cheap cost. That savings is passed on to YOU, the consumer! So hooorraaaaayyy! Walls of ill-fitting suits! Ties upon ties! $20 pocket squares! (Which, by the way, isn’t a bargain, as higher-quality pocket squares can be found elsewhere for cheaper). 

This author is as in love with Men’s Wearhouse as a suburban mom of 4 is in love with Old Navy. Prices are low. Consumer satisfaction is high (because most people can distinguish good beer from bad beer easier than they can good clothes from bad clothes). And, most of all, it makes shopping easy. One-stop, no muss, no fuss from men, who just hate hate HATE shopping (if we’re to learn anything from most sitcoms). If Ms. West does have a friend who is a fashion designer……..I have nothing nice to say about him, because I can’t see a legitimate designer recommending Men’s Warehouse. But that’s presumptuous of me, and a bit ass-holish. Fuck that Dave Mustaine guy, he seems like he sucks. But so does Men’s Wearhouse.

PEACE OUT,

MD

Planning Ahead

I haven’t posted in awhile, so I thought I’d do a quick recap of what I actually have been doing, and where things are going in 2013.

First, after school let out I essentially went on sabbatical (read: booze-fueled sex romp). Then the holidays came full force, and now I’m doing some work for Justin over at Tucked before he heads abroad for the FW 2013 shows, and before I go on vacation myself (though to a much less exotic locale). That being said, don’t expect a new post for a week or two.

However, I will be back. I plan on doing a write-up of the stuff I got for Christmas, which included some much-touted menswear reading material that was released this year, as well as some interesting pieces and new purchases. I recently decided that I had enough wardrobe “basics,” and so I would be experimenting with my own sense of style; I used some Christmas money and holiday sales to grab some new stuff that’s slightly outside my typical comfort zone (though it may not be for you). Plan on the usual stuff (sizing, pricing, quality/construction, etc.), but also be prepped for some new stuff from Style on the Hill. We have a sponsored event Jan. 17 (more details to come), and we’ve teamed up with the University of Kansas’s spring career fair to offer helpful advice on the spectrum of wearable wardrobes in an office environment. 

*Another thing I will be posting on is a nice guide on how to buy sneakers. The Air Jordan I's are being rereleased this Saturday, so I'll try to do a comprehensive post on the best way to go about snagging a new pair of sneakers at a big release, which I am currently in the midst of trying to figure out how to do myself.

Anyway, just a quick recap so people didn't think I had died or anything. Nearly did on NYE, but I've got too much respect in the hood (What's a #menswear post without the obligatory hip-hop cultural reference?).

More news as it develops,

MD

*Edit - I slept in accidentally on the day of the Jordan release, so I missed the initial sale. They were later offerings, albeit at higher prices than I wanted to pay. I figured if I slept in, I didn't deserve a pair. Waiting until May now for the next new thing.