Topic
Wardrobe Essentials
Almost every piece in a good wardrobe started as something else. The Oxford cloth button-down was a sporting shirt before it was an office shirt. Raw selvedge denim comes off narrow shuttle looms, which leave a clean finished edge, and some of the most respected comes from mills in Okayama, Japan. A heavyweight hoodie, a Barbour wax jacket, a Patagonia Synchilla fleece, an MA-1 bomber and a pair of white Air Force 1s cover more ground than any capsule list suggests. Wardrobe Essentials takes those pieces one at a time, with the fabric weights, the construction points and the fit problems to watch for. Some of the advice is unglamorous. Raw denim should be bought a little snug because it gives with wear. An MA-1 should be sized for the sweater you plan to wear under it. Where to spend first matters too, and the answer is usually shoes and outerwear, since those get seen and handled most. A Barbour should go back for rewaxing at the end of each winter instead of being replaced.
Stories
Style5 min read
The Chore Coat Was Built for Men Who Worked
French laborers wore it boxy, blue and patched at the elbow. Menswear adopted it as the jacket you reach for once you're done with blazers.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Style4 min read
The Hoodie Started on a Rochester Sideline
A 1938 patent turned a sweatshirt sideways. Eighty years later MoMA collected it and Authentic Brands paid $1.2 billion for the company.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Style4 min read
The Oxford Button-Down: From Polo Collar to Ivy Canon
How a collar borrowed from English polo players became the most democratic shirt in menswear, and why the details still matter.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Style5 min read
The Penny Loafer Started in a Norwegian Village
A fjord shoemaker, a Maine bootmaker with a pun for a product name, and a coin in the strap that nobody has ever fully explained.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Grooming5 min read
How to Ask for a Haircut and Actually Get It
Taper or fade, a two or a four, blocked or rounded. Learn the vocabulary and the cut in the mirror finally matches the one in your head.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Style4 min read
The White T-Shirt Was Navy Underwear First
Issued to sailors in 1913, worn as an entire outfit by Brando in 1951. The plainest thing in your closet has the busiest résumé.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Watches5 min read
How to Buy Your First Mechanical Watch Without Getting Burned
Any quartz will keep better time than your first automatic. How to choose one anyway, size it properly and buy it from someone honest.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Style4 min read
Raw Denim, Selvedge and the Loom That Started It All
Raw is about finishing. Selvedge is about the loom. A Reno tailor, a closed North Carolina mill and Okayama's makers explain why it matters.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Sneakers4 min read
Converse Chuck Taylor and the Salesman Behind the Signature
The All Star came first, in 1917. The name on the ankle patch belonged to a salesman whose playing career was mostly a story he never corrected.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Grooming4 min read
How to Build a Fragrance Wardrobe That Actually Works
Forget the signature scent. Five bottles with clear jobs will do more for you than one bottle doing everything badly.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
Style4 min read
Patagonia Synchilla and the Long Road to Gorpcore
A climber who forged his own pitons, a Massachusetts mill and a polyester pullover with four snaps. Then fashion noticed.
By Quiet Menace Editors /
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