Thursday, September 01, 2011

field jacket

do a google search on "field jacket".  these have been beyond trendy (in fact the sort of trendy that boring mainstream people accept as "fashionable" because those people are good at following directions and doing what they're told) for about four or five years now; before that they were an edgy but well-known couture staple in some exclusive style cult communities (what's that you say??  can you, uh, give me an example of...one of those?  heh heh heh.)  and before that, they were virtually unknown or unthought of unless you went back to the 80's, when emporio armani had a very nice one.  they've come and gone in european fashion circles since the 60's and can be seen in advertising copy and film from that era.  the first ones we know of appeared in the "Great War" and were subsequently imitated in the sort of "country gentleman's weekend wear" one found on hoity-toity types on the continent.  (if you were a gatsby era american you might go for that edwardian look but usually you'd just wear good old fashioned hunting gear that actual hunters used.)  during the postwar era beatniks and outcasts adopted cast-off military garb as a statement of their rejection of ordinary, polite society; and of course, no hippie worth his salt would be caught OD'd without his alpha m65 (with or without the peace sign badge).  those were a bit naff for the mod and punk crowds though, who (especially during their crosspollinating/interbreeding period) would tend to prefer the standard "service uniform" blazer, usually seen with chevrons, medals, and a marksmanship braid over the shoulder.  the m65 remained the provenance of drug dealers and Grateful Dead fans until that, uh...whole sad business in the 90's we shan't discuss because...well....flannel.

so don't worry pet.  find a field jacket if you want to, buy it, wear it, love it.  you can't go and take them off the bankers and the frat boys and the trust fund hipoisie.  shoplift it and tailor it yourself if it makes you feel better.  or do like i do and get one off the back of a deer hunter and never wear it in public, just on long walks in the woods.

when i come out with mine, that's the one you'll want.  i'd stake someone's startup capital on it.

Monday, August 29, 2011

"Retro Blues" label, striped LS knit shirt

This is one of those labels about which it is next to impossible to find anything out about online, except for an occasional random website posting.  I forget what I got this for @ VV -- I think it was under $5 US.