You May Not Be Able To Afford Jordan’s Game 7 Jersey, But You Can Probably Afford The Equivalent
November 28, 2022
First, before we go any further, here’s the link. Click it, it is going to open another tab. Keep that tab open and if you don’t get back here, I am fine with that.
Much to my amazement, G. Bruce Boyer is a friend of mine. It started when I reached out to him just to let him know I have the gig now, and we exchanged emails. That is how I discovered the best thing about G. Bruce Boyer –
He cares more about people than the clothes they wear. (And trust me, that is not universal.)
We got along well, and it kind of freaked me out. In this game, Boyer is Jordan and LeBron, and here I was getting emails from him. Encouraging ones, too. He made introductions for me, we shared personal information, and he taught me a ton, without ever assuming the position of authority, even though he is THE authority. Here’s the biggest lesson I got from him and his work.
When writing about fashion, focus on the WRITING. That’s how he does it. That’s why, when he writes, people who don’t care about clothes buy whatever he has written.
He invited me to lunch in town (Manhattan). Out of nowhere. First thing I thought was the first thing you would think – what in God’s good name do you wear to lunch with G. Bruce Boyer. There is only one person in the world who can answer that question: G. Bruce Boyer. Here’s what he said, and this is the second best thing about G. Bruce Boyer:
“Wear whatever the hell you want.”
And that taught me the biggest lesson I have ever learned about style:
Anybody who isn’t culturally dialed out or colorblind, can with the help of a few pictures, put together something decent. Style isn’t that. Style is when your artistic and creative side is driven by your own self-assurance and almost flagrant disregard for public reaction to what you have on.
Since then, G. Bruce Boyer and I have shared family medical news, personal updates, congratulations, and he generously contributed a few pieces to this site which helped me WWWAAAYYY more than it helped him.
So the other day Trish is in chemo and Gramercy and I are with her. And I am checking my email and I get one from Boyer that at the end says please send my warmest wishes. So I look up and say, “Trish, G. Bruce Boyer sends you his warmest wishes.” And my daughter says to the nurse, “Mr. Boyer is famous.”
Which is why this is an opportunity. Mr. Boyer has agreed to sell some of his wardrobe. His collection is coming out in stages, the next big release is this Thursday.
I am going to add some pictures to the end of this post so that you see the variety. These prices are nuts and by nuts I mean WWWAAAYYY low (in comedy that’s named a callback). This is a chance to buy something that has been vetted by the best there ever was. Go there now, send the people you love there, send the people who love you there.
Mr. Boyer and Mr Press frequently compliment each other.
They also complement each other:
There’s little if any overlapping in what they say.
(I was going to say “no overlapping”, but somebody would immediately correct me).
Thanks, JB, for allowing me to use “compliment” and “complement”
Mr.Boyer is a true style icon,but,alas too small for me. Please let us know when some equally stylish gentleman is parting with his 42 longs and 11.5 footwear. I’ll
be waiting. Best wishes for there holiday season.
“Mr.Boyer is a true style icon,but,alas too small for me. Please let us know when some equally stylish gentleman is parting with his 42 longs and 11.5 footwear.”
Ha ha, ditto. And make that in EU, too, ‘cos the shipping and taxes are killing me. I’d gladly pay the 100 or so USD/EUR for one of those ties, but shipping plus tax nearly doubles that.
I’d wager the ties and scarves would fit you both. Both ties and scarves are beautiful. LuxeSwap seems to have the high quality mens clothing market cornered on eBay.
Mr. Boyer has been a figure I’ve admired from my first encounter with his personal style via photographs, and especially with his thoughtful, clever, and entirely unpretentious writing style via several sites including this one. The anecdotes you relate here further prove that he is a genuinely outstanding human being. Now he’s providing some of the best preowned menswear that’s ever been available on eBay. Alas, the pandemic, along with my official entry into the nebulous “middle age” demographic have both added just enough to my overall build that I would no longer fit into the fine garments he has made available.
With gratitude and all my best to your family amid the trials of chemotherapy.
“Style is when your artistic and creative side is driven by your own self-assurance and almost flagrant disregard for public reaction to what you have on.”
YES, John.
Yes.
Also: Style happens when you stop giving a damn what people think about you and your choices, and, buoyed by a strong, healthy ego*, engage the world creatively and imaginatively.
“The Bruce Boyer Collection”? Seems a little over the top for essentially a digital yard sale of things he no longer wants or never wore. I wish him well though!
Bruce Boyer is the northern star of men’s fashion. Do you have any idea of the money this man could have made if he put his name to a line anywhere during his career? This IS a collection, Boyer CURATES. Also, that is a mighty negative assumption. I am chalking it up to a bad day. Sorry you had a bad day.
The inevitable drawback to one-owner auctions/sales is that you are mostly out of luck or you’ve hit the jackpot, at least as far as sizing goes. Usually the former rather than the latter. Best of luck to anyone here who is the same size as Mr. Boyer.
The “in chemo” got to me a bit. It reminded me of when my mother was in chemo during the Thanksgiving holidays about a thousand years ago. Or was it yesterday?
One of the highlights of my life: meeting Bruce Boyer at an event at a men’s store a few years ago, when and where he was signing his recently published book. Gracious and generous in spirit, he praised an older tweed jacket I inherited from my Dad — lightweight Shetland cloth by Gardiner of Selkirk, tailoring by Norman Hilton.
I asked for a bit of sartorial wisdom. He smiled, “Dress for yourself— to please yourself. It’s your own perception and evaluation of yourself that matters. Others will notice that.” He added something like ‘Look good because you take pleasure in looking good.’
Damn.
This changed everything. Dressing well for the same reason people play and listen to lovely music, read and write beautiful poetry, cook great food, sip good whiskey, drive well-engineered cars, climb mighty mountains: the pleasure of doing it. For oneself.
There were days during the pandemic years when, calling Boyer to mind, I wore Donegal tweed, flannel pants and Alden tassel mocs while roaming around my house —all alone.
Look good because you find pleasure in looking (at yourself) looking good. To hell with anybody who claims this is narcissism in action. Actually, it’s taking pride in oneself. Giving a damn.
Interesting…the bidding has been relatively low in these auction listings. Boyer’s ownership isn’t adding much, if any, monetary value to these items. If there’s any cachet, it isn’t leading to extra dollars.
Not so fast. First, you have to have a control group, right? So you have to have the same items, but without Boyer’s name on them, and see what price they command. When you say bidding is “relatively low” you have to answer the question “relative to what?” – then you have to sort through the sizing thing, for the items that pertains to. Then you have to sort out the escalation of bidding for the last hour of any eBay auction. Without these benchmarks it is impossible to measure the impact of the Boyer name.
Mr. Boyer and Mr Press frequently compliment each other.
They also complement each other:
There’s little if any overlapping in what they say.
(I was going to say “no overlapping”, but somebody would immediately correct me).
Thanks, JB, for allowing me to use “compliment” and “complement”
Mr.Boyer is a true style icon,but,alas too small for me. Please let us know when some equally stylish gentleman is parting with his 42 longs and 11.5 footwear. I’ll
be waiting. Best wishes for there holiday season.
“Mr.Boyer is a true style icon,but,alas too small for me. Please let us know when some equally stylish gentleman is parting with his 42 longs and 11.5 footwear.”
Ha ha, ditto. And make that in EU, too, ‘cos the shipping and taxes are killing me. I’d gladly pay the 100 or so USD/EUR for one of those ties, but shipping plus tax nearly doubles that.
I’m with you, Robert: none of this will fit me.
I’d wager the ties and scarves would fit you both. Both ties and scarves are beautiful. LuxeSwap seems to have the high quality mens clothing market cornered on eBay.
This is the motherlode. Wish it was in my size.
I am with Robert also, but make the shoes 12D.
Mr. Boyer has been a figure I’ve admired from my first encounter with his personal style via photographs, and especially with his thoughtful, clever, and entirely unpretentious writing style via several sites including this one. The anecdotes you relate here further prove that he is a genuinely outstanding human being. Now he’s providing some of the best preowned menswear that’s ever been available on eBay. Alas, the pandemic, along with my official entry into the nebulous “middle age” demographic have both added just enough to my overall build that I would no longer fit into the fine garments he has made available.
With gratitude and all my best to your family amid the trials of chemotherapy.
Thank you so much, that is very kind.
“Style is when your artistic and creative side is driven by your own self-assurance and almost flagrant disregard for public reaction to what you have on.”
YES, John.
Yes.
Also: Style happens when you stop giving a damn what people think about you and your choices, and, buoyed by a strong, healthy ego*, engage the world creatively and imaginatively.
* sense of self
YES back atcha 🙂
Must resist temptation to bid. Must resist temptation to bid. Must resist temp…
Apparently, some of the people who’ve posted above are too large to fit into Bruce Boyer’s neckties and scarves.
Some gorgeous pieces here! However, my own wardrobe is well-stocked at this point. Sigh.
Kind Regards,
H-U
Mr. Boyer’s wit, humility, and gracious civility can be seen here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0y7RMa-Uw0
Watch starting 1:12:15
Note: He’s not talking about clothes, just being a model of humanity and gratitude.
“The Bruce Boyer Collection”? Seems a little over the top for essentially a digital yard sale of things he no longer wants or never wore. I wish him well though!
Bruce Boyer is the northern star of men’s fashion. Do you have any idea of the money this man could have made if he put his name to a line anywhere during his career? This IS a collection, Boyer CURATES. Also, that is a mighty negative assumption. I am chalking it up to a bad day. Sorry you had a bad day.
The inevitable drawback to one-owner auctions/sales is that you are mostly out of luck or you’ve hit the jackpot, at least as far as sizing goes. Usually the former rather than the latter. Best of luck to anyone here who is the same size as Mr. Boyer.
The “in chemo” got to me a bit. It reminded me of when my mother was in chemo during the Thanksgiving holidays about a thousand years ago. Or was it yesterday?
Hang in there and hang on to each other.
God bless man, thanks.
One of the highlights of my life: meeting Bruce Boyer at an event at a men’s store a few years ago, when and where he was signing his recently published book. Gracious and generous in spirit, he praised an older tweed jacket I inherited from my Dad — lightweight Shetland cloth by Gardiner of Selkirk, tailoring by Norman Hilton.
I asked for a bit of sartorial wisdom. He smiled, “Dress for yourself— to please yourself. It’s your own perception and evaluation of yourself that matters. Others will notice that.” He added something like ‘Look good because you take pleasure in looking good.’
Damn.
This changed everything. Dressing well for the same reason people play and listen to lovely music, read and write beautiful poetry, cook great food, sip good whiskey, drive well-engineered cars, climb mighty mountains: the pleasure of doing it. For oneself.
There were days during the pandemic years when, calling Boyer to mind, I wore Donegal tweed, flannel pants and Alden tassel mocs while roaming around my house —all alone.
Look good because you find pleasure in looking (at yourself) looking good. To hell with anybody who claims this is narcissism in action. Actually, it’s taking pride in oneself. Giving a damn.
Interesting…the bidding has been relatively low in these auction listings. Boyer’s ownership isn’t adding much, if any, monetary value to these items. If there’s any cachet, it isn’t leading to extra dollars.
Not so fast. First, you have to have a control group, right? So you have to have the same items, but without Boyer’s name on them, and see what price they command. When you say bidding is “relatively low” you have to answer the question “relative to what?” – then you have to sort through the sizing thing, for the items that pertains to. Then you have to sort out the escalation of bidding for the last hour of any eBay auction. Without these benchmarks it is impossible to measure the impact of the Boyer name.
Shame this stuff is not in my size!