Striped Pendleton Blanket: Things I Have

Yesterday I made my first foray into the San Francisco location of Unionmade Goods. They stock a huge selection of apparel, footwear, accessories: Levi's Made & Crafted, Alden, Unis, Folk, Aesop there is a long list of quality (and quite often made in the U.S.) goods on offer.

While there were quite a few items that caught my eye (these Made & Crafted chinos with the wooden buttons?!), I couldn't resist this fantastic wool blanket from Pendleton. I loved the stripes and the color palette, but also loved how thick and warm it will be when the weather in NYC turns to full-on winter blast.

You'll see on top of the blanket I also picked up the latest Free & Easy, one of my favorite Japanese menswear magazines. I've been missing Tokyo, and missing my days of flying through Narita and loading up on 30 lbs. of fashion goodness.

If you can't get to a Unionmade store (SF, Marin, Los Angeles) then get on their website and do some perusing there.

Tweed Coat by Billy Reid: Things I Want

I guess I'm going to be on a Billy Reid kick this week. It is all because of the shop Bloomingdale's created for his wares... everything appealed to me!

I've already written about the Levi's x Billy Reid wool coat I bought. What I didn't tell you was that I was equally tempted by this awesome tweed sports coat.

I tried it on over and over, finally putting it on hold. But alas, I did not go back to make it mine. Yet.

The coat had great construction, fit me perfectly through the shoulders and wasn't too boxy (a dilemma I often face). I loved the warmth and roughness of the tweed. And for an added bonus, I loved the colorful striped lining. This is a piece I could easily put into frequent rotation!

You can also check it out on the Billy Reid website, along with the rest of his F/W collection. Oh and I wouldn't say no to some of his bowties either!

Levi's x Billy Reid Coat: Things I Have

There has been a lot of talk lately about Billy Reid. He won GQ Designer of the Year and then just recently was named the winner of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. Those are some pretty big nods!

Coming out of his GQ win, Reid did a collaboration with Levi's. I hadn't actually seen any of it in store yet (I pretty much shop for a living, how did this escape me?), until I was at Bloomingdale's this week (more on that later -- I was impressed with the array of labels they offered).

Today I went back and tried on a piece from the Levi's x Billy Reid collection that had caught my eye, a thick black wool coat. It was amazing.

It's a short coat, hitting at the waist, and has great structure around the shoulders so fits perfectly. I tried it on with just my t-shirt, with a hoodie, and with a sweater and it looked great with each.

Needless to say I grabbed it and ran, and am now super excited to wear it as the weather gets colder. All in all, there were some really great pieces from both the Levi's collab and Reid's signature line. And I will now keep checking into Bloomingdale's to make sure I see the next arrival!

Go to Reid's website and see this and the rest of his great work. And congrats Billy on all of the recent accolades!

Things I Love: GQ's Trends for Men

This morning I read Jim Moore's top trends for men, over at GQ.com. He pulled out some great stuff from the recent men's shows in NY (a lot of Michael Bastian's work, yeah!).

What made me smile was how many of the items are things I've been rockin' lately (or hoping to rock)... I'm just saying!

One trend was tuxedo jackets. Now this is possibly the blurriest photo ever, but I took it while I was in Miami for Art Basel, on my way out to some parties. I threw on my navy Patrik Ervell tuxedo jacket, with a tailored white shirt and dark Uniqlo jeans. Plus my favorite yellow Nixon watch.

Another trend was dark khakis, which is something I just picked up when I was in Shanghai last week (in a sort of washed olive color). Wore them to work this week with a white shirt.

He also mentioned waxed jackets, which I bought last year (J. Lindberg jacket) and have been using in colder climates ever since.

And then there was the corduroy suit. This is something I have been wanting for a while, most recently when Opening Ceremony collaborated with Levi's. So fun!

Now you better go read the whole article to find out what Jim calls out, so you can start shopping: http://www.gq.com/style/wear-it-now/201003/trend-report#slide=1.

Things I Want: Opening Ceremony x Levi's Corduroy Suit

Hot off the fashion presses! From the collaboration between Opening Ceremony (which I have to admit has dethroned Barney's as my favorite retail experience) and Levi's... a 3 piece corduroy suit. Amazing! I love corduroy (my Bonobos pants are the most comfortable things ever) and to have shirt, pants, and jacket would be so fantastic. And all in tone-on-tone! And it comes in 7 colorways! I can't wait!

Here's a sneak peak but I am sure we'll get more photos shortly... stay tuned.

More details and photos about the suit here: http://www.selectism.com/news/2010/02/03/levis-cords-for-opening-ceremony/