The Choosy Beggar

In a column of compliments, NY Times writer Mike Albo condemns Brooklyn boutique Smith + Butler for stumbling on the critical issue of fit. If you subscribe to the popular notion that clothing should fit your body — rather than billow, bunch, and swell — then the rugged work-wear that Smith + Butler carries just doesn’t fit. “With every garment, I was confronted with the boxy proportions of yesteryear,” Albo writes. “Smith & Butler’s selection was either disappointingly untailored, or the beginning of a new trend arc, when the men’s silhouette will fill out again.” Being the Steven Alan diehards that we are, we pray not.

Friendly Fires ‘Skeleton Boy’ by Clemens Habicht from Nexus Productions on Vimeo.
[Kitsune Noir via The Pursuit Aesthetic]

In case you thought you were missing something at the Milan men’s shows, here’s one look from Gamme Blue — designer Thom Browne’s new collaboration with high-end sportswear brand Moncler. [The Fashionisto]

Now, once some guidelines are established, it’s healthy for every man to enhance their dress with personal twists, accents, and even some rule breaking here and there. Ever the mad provocateur, Browne consistently takes this concept to an absurd level where extreme restraint and excessive flourishes paradoxically coexist. The result? A few are challenged and inspired, while the rest of us are left scratching our heads… which is all Browne might expect. Who knows?

As usual, however, we’re much more fond of what they’re wearing in the streets of Milan and Florence than on the runways. These images, captured by The Sartorialist, portray men far more subtly (intelligently?) pushing boundaries –