Not much of a recap, as last week I only went to two of the smaller shows. Designer Forum, which I’ve covered here several times before, suffered a breakaway faction that met in suites at the Park Lane Hotel. Here are a few of the things I saw at both shows, and stay tuned for a follow up on a new series of trad sportcoats coming to a store near you.
First off, above are some new shoes from Allen Edmonds, including pebble grains at left, denim-friendly “distressed” leather at right, and in the middle a new premium shoe at a higher price point (sorry no further info as I can’t find my notes).
R. Hanauer had its usual plentiful selection of bow ties:
A kaleidoscope of stripes:
And some lovely wool ties:
They’re also branching out into other accessories, such as ascots and patchwork-silk wine coolers:
Castaway Clothing had some great madras shirts and swatches:
Plus shorts with surfboards strapped to woodies and a capitalist pig sample swatch:
Bruce Boyer and I were both very impressed with these US-made wool ties by Edward Armah, the innovator who introduced the pocket circle instead of square. Now he’s offering ties lined with a wool and silk blend for extra spring and recovery. Gorgeous fabrics, three inches wide, with a retail of about $175:
Smathers & Branson showed their ever-expanding range of needlepoint accessories. The third from the bottom in this photo is a big seller:
A growing roster of college belts:
Flasks:
And key fobs:
Below, ties from Peter Blair:
Finally, there were plenty of British heritage clothing and accessories from Smart Turnout:
If you can find the right occasion for wearing them. — CC
The Hanauer bow ties are to die for.
Those AE tassels are great looking, very much in the spirit of the old tasseled Weejuns. And the wool ties, from both makers — fantastic.
Those flasks and key fobs are tacky. In my opinion they don’t have anything in common with a good sense of style. But I really like that summer colors.
-Korbinian
I think the ghost of George Plimpton’s evil doppelgänger just vomited all over your home page.
Will definitely be adding some of the Hannauer wools…
I could do with a wool tie or two.
Nice to see my alma mater (FSU) in there along with the inevitable glut of SEC schools.
Disappointing news for those who were hoping to jump on those Hanauer wool ties when the summer’s over. Randall Jr. just sent me this:
“We expected the wool ties to sell well based on their performance last year,
but they did even better than we thought. They sold out in the first show
of the season! We can’t get anymore fabric, so we aren’t offering them
anymore this year. We will significantly expand that part of the line next
year.”