The morning after…

To dinner with the wife…

Sport coat: Vineyard Vines cotton (tailored)

Shirt: Brooks Brothers

Tie: Brooks Brothers

Pants: Brooks Brothers

Shoes: Alden long wings

Pocket square: The Tie Bar

Tie clip: J. Crew

WIWT-(weekend): I wore this weekend before last. It was a nice sunny crisp day. This was pretty much my last taste of winter clothing. After this I packed all my winter clothes away. I love this sweater and I wish I would’ve gotten a chance to wear it more. Also, I love where my desert boots are right now—they are broken in perfectly but not beat to death. These boots have been a real staple for me over the past two years. Anyways, bring on spring/summer!!!! Details below..

Sweater: J. Crew lambs wool fair isle
OCBD: RL Rugby
Pants: J. Crew
Shoes: Clark’s desert boots
Watch: Concord Mariner automatic
Sunglasses: Ray Ban x Brooks Brothers wayfarers

WIWT: The weather was great this weekend so I decided to break out my new quilted jacket. A quilted jacket is perfect for this time of year. They are decent in the rain, can be dressed up or dressed down and lightweight yet still warm in early spring. You can find them on eBay or watch for sales that will be coming up soon. You won’t be disappointed.

Shirt: LL Bean OCBD
Jacket: Polo Ralph Lauren
Jeans: Levi’s 501
Shoes: LL Bean bluchers
Watch: Concord Mariner automatic

WIWT (Easter):

Cardigan-Rugby (RIP),
OCBD-Brooks Brothers extra slim fit,
Knit Tie-The Knottery,
Pants-Polo Ralph Lauren,
Shoes-LL Bean,
Watch-Longines Hydro-conquest

WIWT-(a couple of weeks ago)-coat: vintage Pendleton made in the USA, shirt: RL Polo, pants: RL Polo cords, shoes: Banana Republic suede driving loafers, watch: Concord Mariner automatic, scarf: Johnston’s of Elgin.. As it gets warmer, I’ll be posting more WIWTs. Sorry for slacking. Have a great weekend everyone! -Rob

WIWT (from a couple of weeks ago)-Lands End Harris Tweed sport coat, Polo Ralph Lauren shirt, vintage navy and gold Brooks Brothers tie, The Tie Bar pocket square, Polo RL navy trousers (not pictured), Allen Edmonds Williams wing tips (not pictured)..

evolutionofagentleman:

The Evolution of a Gentleman reviews a pair of (free) chinos from Frank and Oak:

The good folks at Frank and Oak gave me a pair of their Newport chinos to try out and review. When they contacted me, their chinos were the thing that I was most curious about. They were the item that i was most eager to try out. I am ALWAYS on the hunt for nice, well fitting chinos due to the fact that I don’t really wear jeans. Also, the question that I get the most from my followers is: “where can i find a quality, nice slim, well fitting pair of chinos? And oh by the way, I don’t want them to break the bank. I’m broke”. I usually answer that question by recommending RL Rugby university chinos just like every other menswear blogger, but with that brand going out of business, we now need to explore other options. I’ve never seen any of my peers recommend Frank and Oak’s chinos before and I am pretty sure that is because none of us have any experience with them. I was willing to give these Newport chinos a run for their money.

Fit: On the website, the Newport chinos looked like they had a nice slim (not skinny) fit to them and that interested me because that is exactly the look that I go for. When I received the pants I was surprised to see that the fit was pretty much exactly what I expected. I hate when I see chinos advertised as slim fit and then they are still too baggy. That was not the case for me here. I sized down one and the waist was a bit snug but I did that because I plan to continue losing weight as I have been. As you wear these and break them in, they become more comfortable. I’m not a skinny guy so my experience may be different from some of you skinny guys out there lol. I would recommend that you buy your size in these or if you want an even slimmer fit, size down one. Again, I only sized down one because i am in the process of losing weight and i lost weight between receiving these chinos and writing this review. I expect this trend to continue. The leg opening is nice and slim but it still fit over my bean boots perfectly. It would’ve been a deal breaker for me if the leg opening was so slim that I would’ve had to tuck my pants into my boots. That’s TOO slim for my taste. I had to cuff the pants because I have not been able to make it to my tailor yet. The pants are way too long for me so there is much more bunching at the bottom than I would normally prefer. This will be rectified once I am able to bring these to the tailor.

Material/details: My first impression was that I was impressed with the feel of the material on these pants. I expected to be disappointed for some reason. I’m not sure why. Maybe because the price is so low. But let’s not over think this. They are still just a pair of 100% cotton chinos. These pants don’t have many extra bells and whistles but thats how it should be. They are simple but effective. The cotton is soft and comfortable yet it still seems pretty sturdy. They are pretty much exactly what a pair of casual khakis is supposed to be. A decent pair of chinos should be able to take tons of abuse and still look presentable while doing do. I am really interested to see how these will hold up over time. They have been solid so far. For me, chinos are not for the office (although they can be), they are for the weekends and after work while running errands, doing chores and generally just living life in. These will pretty much and abused be worn year round so I’ll follow up in in a future post to show how these are holding up.

Price: So these are a well fitting pair of chinos, with material that is pretty nice (so far), they come in useful, staple colors and they cost $50.00? That’s cheaper than J. Crew, Rubgy (RIP), Polo, and Brooks Brothers and the quality is similar to all of these. At $50.00, these are even cheaper than Land’s End Canvas chinos (before they go on sale) and I personally like these better than LEC chinos. The LEC chinos just didn’t work for me. I know there are better and more high end chinos out there but I just don’t believe in spending $200 or more on a pair of cotton chinos. If you believe the same, and are looking at chinos in the $100 or less price point, you should definitely give these a look. You might be surprised with what you get for $50.00.

In case you missed it..

        The Evolution of a Gentleman reviews a shirt from Frank and Oak:

When Frank and Oak contacted me and asked me to try out some pieces from their December collection for review, I was intrigued. I have always been a member of their site and I always browsed the selection of products but I have never made a purchase. They have some great looking products, but I was always apprehensive because all of their shirts and chinos are under $50 retail price and I was worried about the quality. I’m sure I’m not the only one that was wondering about their quality. I figured this would be a great opportunity to get the low down on Frank and Oak’s goods and share that info with you guys. I accepted their offer to try out some things, and what follows is my review of the shirt. They also sent me a pair of Chinos which I will be reviewing next week. 

Material/pattern: So when a shirt costs under $50 dollars at retail, you would think that the material would be lacking right? Well that is not the case here. The shirt that I have is a flannel shirt and the material is impressive. It is 100% cotton. It is thick but at the same time it is still smooth, soft and comfortable. I am also very impressed with how the colors and the pattern look. The navy blue is very dark, with allows the other colors to contrast and pop out. My pictures don’t really do justice to how nice this pattern looks in person. I received compliments left and right the day that I wore this. I must admit that I was surprised when I opened the box and saw the shirt for the first time. I didn’t expect it to look this good. 

Fit: To me, (and I’m sure to many of you also) fit is the most important element of a shirt. This shirt fits pretty trim. I was very happy with the fit when I tried this shirt on. I can’t stand when I buy a nice shirt and there is all of that extra fabric billowing in the back. (I included a picture from the side to show that there is no billowing) That is not the case here. I would say that these shirts are slightly trimmer than Brooks Brothers extra slim fit and I would recommend that you buy your size. There is no need to size down. The shirt is not really long at all so I felt slightly uncomfortable at times and I had to tuck parts of my shirt back in a couple of times. If you like to wear your shirt un-tucked, this shirt will probably look really good. The sleeves are really trim also. The collar is also a more small and compact collar. It is similar to the clifford collar on the ESF Brooks Brothers shirts. I love the fact that it has a button down collar. I also love the fact that this shirt actually has a chest pocket. I get annoyed when shirts don’t have a chest pocket.

Overall: Overall, I am happy with this shirt. I can honestly say that I would recommend Frank and Oak’s shirting because for the money, it’s worth it. The shirt has some cool details and it fits well. That is very hard to find nowadays for under $50. I can’t speak for the longevity of the shirt because I have only had it for a couple of weeks but having handled my fair share of shirts in my day, I believe that this shirt will hold up over time. 

The rest of the details of my fit: Shirt-Frank and Oak, Pants: RL Polo cords, RL Polo belt, LL bean signature ranger moccs, 

WIWT (12/22/12): So the world didn’t end. That meant that I had to finish my Christmas shopping. I wore this to do some last minute shopping with the wife. I wanted to be as comfortable and laid back as possible to deal with the clutter and confusion that I was about to face at the shopping mall. Also, this was my first time wearing my new waxed cotton jacket. I like it so far.

Waxed cotton jacket-Polo Ralph Lauren

Striped OCBD: Polo Ralph Lauren

Chinos: J. crew

Loden green suede blucher moccs-LL Bean Signature

Watch: Omega Seamaster professional 2254

WIWT (saturday): Went out to do a little bit of shopping today. It was freezing! The cold weather gave me the perfect opportunity to break out my new vintage camel colored Pendleton 100% wool coat. It is made in the USA and fit me like a glove right off of the rack. It cost me $8.00 and it looks like it was never even worn. Score. Here’s the rest of the details:

Coat: Vintage Pendleton (made in the USA)

Shirt: Facconable (made in the USA)

Jeans: Levi’s 501’s

socks: J. Crew

Shoes: LL Bean signature blucher moccs

watch: Concord