Although the polo shirt is discussed here as a strictly Summer item, it can also be transitioned into a great Fall layering piece by throwing a nice tweed blazer on top, giving it a touch of casual with class.  The selection of polo shirts can vary from sleeve length to material, tucked in or out (but you can wear it however you feel comfortable doing so). Once again, here we have an item that, as years have passed, has been taken out of it’s traditional function of being worn solely by polo players as sporting attire in the 1800s and has morphed into a current American prep staple.

Banana Republic Pima cotton Polo – GAP Selvedge Straight Jeans (Tailored) - Sebago Black Tasseled Loafers – Vintage YSL Briefcase – Kente Cloth bracelets (Self Made)

Fit Description : On one of the hottest days in New York City a pima cotton polo was probably the best choice to go with because of its breathable cotton and soft feel.  In this weather it’s very difficult to wear 14 oz. raw denim jeans without passing out after walking a two block radius. In general, the mission would be to actually wear in one of my raw denim jeans to the fading stages of these jeans. Since that wasn’t possible, these GAP Selvedge Jeans were found and bought for under $20. They are a nice light wash which has allowed me to make a change versus the current denim selection in my wardrobe.

Location : Harlem , NY -(Hamilton Heights) Sugar Hill section ( West 135th-155th ) Not only am I a fan of the brownstone architecture, but the history that runs rampant in this particular area of Harlem. During the Harlem Renaissance influential individuals from W.E.B Du Bois to Langston Hughes called this area home.

Friends : No stranger to this site and a good friend of ours, fellow Bronx resident, photographer/stylist and master of ‘accessories are a necessity’, here is Kadeem – another 20-something-year-old of our generation looking to express his artistic view on the world. If you happen to follow our tumblr you have definitely seen his pictures pop up from time to time.

Photography : Pictures taken by photographer Rog Walker, part of the great site Culture of Creativity. Special thanks to Suhaly, Raleigh and Carl.

Pictured above are players playing polo.

The first pique tennis shirt that was mass produced was created by French tennis champion Rene Lacoste in the 1920s after being fed up with tennis attire that was not comfortable. In 1927, Lacoste sewed a small crocodile logo on the left breast of the shirt. After retiring from tennis in 1933, Lacoste joined with Andre Gillier to market his tennis shirts with the well-known crocodile logo in Europe and North America. The term “polo shirt” dates back to the late 1800s at the Hurlingham Club in Buenos Aires. – Kayla Layne Crawford

Vintage DB Blazer – J.crew madras shirt – TM Jeans – Dexter Hand-sewn  – Vintage YSL Briefcase

Videography/Photography : Due to my own camera ( Canon Rebel XTI ) being out of commission presently, I called on a friend to help me with our new post , Adam Kerchman. A graduating photo/video student,  he pretty much sold me on my next camera purchase with everything from the photos to the video shot with a Canon 7d w/50 mm 1.4 lens . The video was an experimental project that I came up with to change the pace slightly, at the same time bringing life to still images with some personality. There’s a possibility that we may continue to incorporate visuals other than photos to accompany our post. A special thanks to blogger/friend James Jean, no stranger to this blog and one of our ‘Sewn From the Soul’ contributors, for making a brief cameo in the video. Check out his blog.

Location : New York City

Neighborhood : Tribeca

Fit Details : I scored this lovely 4-button double-row double-breasted blazer off the Internet. I knew I wanted a double breasted blazer but for the first time around wanted to stray away from the typical navy blue, 5 -6 gold button blazer I see so often. The double-breasted jacket is really known for its formality, but here I avoid any neck accessories/pocket squares to give it a more casual look, therefore putting my own spin on the jacket.   Ebay can be a mans best friend for thrifting if you have some semblance of patience, and it definitely delivered in this instance.

A great image via LIFE Archives showing the double-breasted blazer being worn by a young gentleman in the 1930s. The blazer has its broad shoulders and overlapping lapels and, of course, one row of functional buttons with the rest being simply decorative.

My good friend  Antonio Centeno from A Tailored Suit and writer for Art of Manliness gives a nice run-down on the double-breasted jacket.

“The original double-breasted jacket has six buttons, with three to close. This originated from the naval reefer jacket. Because shorter men may find that six buttons overwhelms their shorter torso, a four or six button configuration in which only the bottom one fastens may be a better option. The four-button double-breasted jacket that buttons at the lower button is often called the “Kent”, after the man who made it popular – the Duke of Kent”

Rugby Madras Blazer – Uniqlo Oxford – TM Trousers - Bostonian Saddle shoe

Fit Details : As many of you may know from the previous summer the lightweight fabric madras is a favorite of mine. Last time around I dedicated an ode to madras where I wore a pair of J. Crew madras classic fit pants. Now 9 months later they have been tailored and I can’t wait to wear them this Spring/Summer.  A slightly misfitting blazer  purchased from a friend has been transformed into my own liking with a bit of tailoring.

Photography : This time around we chose a slightly different path by working with San Diego native photographer Chaz Cruz . In this day where many can grab the label of being a Photographer, this gentleman actually embodies the hard work , vision and clarity of one. We decided to change up the scenery from our familiar background to the world famous Central Park: 843 acres of green, asphalt and concrete for all to roam through.

Vintage Ralph Lauren ‘Vertical Stripe’ shirt – Uniqlo pants – J. Crew Saddle shoes

Left image – 1953 ||| Right image – 2010

Searching for saddle shoe images I stumbled across this image, apparently an Iowa resident by the name of Tom Alex back in 1953 on his first day of kindergarten and around the same age as my nephew Jeremiah. Intriguing to see 57 years later and 4 years late of their 100-year anniversary the saddles are still being worn. Simply a perfect example on how history repeats itself time and time again.

Here are some behind the scenes footage from the shoot. The shoot was done by Colin Leaman and the interview was done by Bobby Whigham, two very cool guys. Check out their blogs!

Genesis of Style –  Coming JAN 2010.. (Full Video)

Location in picture  - Harlem

Check out the video teaser below

Michael Andrew, a good friend of ours residing in Harlem by way of Austin, Texas, goes into detail on what the word ‘style’ means to him. What I most admire about the video is that he gives his definition of style effortlessly, as if we rehearsed previously. The internet is one of the most powerful engines ever created giving us the ability to link to individuals all around the world simply because we posses  something in relation.  The fact that in the early stages large companies chose to ignore the might and impressionable power of the web displays why many of them are now looking for  ways to get inside a loop that, at this point, is almost closed.

Genesis of Style - Genesis –  ’a coming into being’ or ‘the beginning of’ and when you think of it in relation to style –  ’a way of expressing something that is characteristic of a particular group or period of time’. This “genesis”, so to speak, is not about convincing different individuals to dress similar to us; from the video you can see the variation in style from person to person, but more about a revival of awareness of personal style. This multi-borough video project, starting out in the Bronx, should change the face of Street Etiquette and everyone involved.

*From the Bronx to Harlem  to Lower Manhattan to final destination of Brooklyn*

Fit Description – 3sixteen duffel coat & Billy Kirk Bag - Everyone seems to love this duffel coat it definitely a nice camel wool that is well constructed. The leather bag made my the brothers of Billy Kirk gives off a sleek masculine look and is a great travel bag to compact items inside but at the same time look comfortable.

“There’s a sense that this return to style, or to a consciousness of how you look, is an attempt by young men to recover a set of values that were at one point very much present in American society and then lost.”

- Professor Samuel Rascoff of NYU

Taken from the New York Times article “Dressing for Success, Again.” This is an article I think everyone should read as it talks about the return of gentlemen into style.

Fit Details – Shuron Ronsir Zyl – Uniqlo – A.P.C NC – Clarks

The classic American eye wear company Shuron has been manufacturing glasses to the public ever since 1865 . This alone attracted me to the brand even more knowing that quality products played a important role in their longevity. The specific style that caught my eye were the Browline glasses which aren’t made by a lot of companies today, but Shuron still produces them.  Brow line glasses were invented in 1947 by Jack Rohrbach, then vice-president of Shuron Ltd. The Ronsirs are one of the more significant frame designs of the 20th century, totalling up half of the sales sold during the 1950s. The company Shuron provided me with great customer service answering all of my sometimes tedious questions. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for great quality eye wear from a company that has been producing glasses for decades now.

It’s great that we can still grab what was considered a trend in the 1950s and still wear it today. This style of glasses probably looks a bit familiar to some with recognizable people such as Malcolm X to JFK wearing Browline style frames.   This will not be the last time you will  see me wearing a pair of Shuron glasses.

Special thanks to Chris Watchhorn and It’s Bongo Boy for helping me capture the first two pictures.

Even though my sense of style has changed, there is still multiple stacks of sneaker boxes in my room.  I still love sneakers, but as cliche as this sounds I’m not in love with them. I recently did a post titled “Losing My ‘Sole’” which was kind of a farewell to the sneaker game, and everything involved. This post is not relaying the message that everyone needs to alter their style at one point, but it would be a good idea!

I personally feel like so many people could relate to us, and that’s why the site attracts people of all demographics from all over the world. The site has seemed to be on the same parallel as our style,  it has changed dramatically from when Travis and I first started. We tried to increase the importance of content and presentation of the site in general , and it seems to be working. Working, something we won’t stop doing definitely more to come the table.

Pictured below are images from us through 2007 – 2009

Fit details – Uniqlo – TM Denim Tie – J.Crew Patchwork Madras pants – Clarks Wallabees

The madras print is used on all kind of different styles from blazers to bowties mostly spotted in the more warmer days of course.  The most frequent style I see the madras print sported in are shorts obviously because of the weather. The style that caught my eyes were the madras patchwork pants style by J.Crew , which are on sale on their site.  I felt it could bring a different style and give you different possibilities on how to wear them instead of being limited by shorts.  This is a summer print that could never fade into oblivion , but reoccur yearly when ever the temperature rises and designers begin to look for ways they could bring it back.

– Images taken from The Sartorialist , Ralph Lauren and the New York Times –

This was ideally suppose to be our new About Us portrait, but we chose not use it.

Here are some images that explain my B/W affection.

Sammy Davis Jr. reading up on photography

Muhammad Ali picture courtesey of Peter Angelo Simmons