The Dapper B:

There was a time when I wore a watch on my wrist every day. I was thankful enough to have an option for when hanging with friends in a casual setting, a night out on the town, or at the gym, but a few things changed over the years and I found my wrist more naked than not. The pandemic was a key factor, where I didn’t really have anywhere to go and be on time for and I so became more reliant on using my mobile phone for the time. 

As the days go on, I realize more and more the one thing we can’t get back is time. This concept of managing, tracking and trying to catch up on time, has drawn me back to the idea of going back to analog and wearing a watch again. 

In a previous life, I worked at a PR agency and had the opportunity of working with Breitling. There I came to understand what goes into making premium watch and why watches like Breitling, Rolex and Patek Philippe are not only highly regarded but also, worth every dollar. 

NAVITIMER B01 CHRONOGRAPH 41 | Breiting.com/ca

Watches can be expensive for several reasons, including the use of high-quality materials, advanced technology, and skilled craftsmanship. The cost of a watch can also depend on the brand, the level of complexity, and the exclusivity of the design.

One important factor that affects the price of a watch is the movement, or the mechanism that powers the watch. Automatic movement watches are often more expensive because they require more complex mechanisms than quartz watches. Automatic movements are also known as self-winding movements, and they use the natural motion of the wearer's wrist to power the watch. This mechanism is complex and requires skilled craftsmanship to assemble, also resulting in a higher cost.

The Oyster Perpetual Submariner | rolex.com

The materials used in a watch can also affect its price. High-end watches often use precious metals, such as gold or platinum, which are expensive due to their rarity and difficulty in sourcing. The quality of the materials used can also impact the accuracy and durability of the watch.

Accuracy is another crucial factor in determining the value of a watch. Highly accurate watches are often more expensive because they require advanced technology and precise calibration. Accuracy can be affected by several factors, including the quality of the movement, the materials used, and the expertise of the watchmaker.

Golden Ellipse 5738R-001 | Patek.com

In conclusion, the cost of a watch can be influenced by several factors, though I find the most important to be the reasons you actually wear the watch: 

Performance: A watch that can keep up with you 200 feet under the water will be more valuable than one with a 3ft limit.

Aesthetic: The inlays and mechanics under and around the face most can barely see – except for the watches’ owner. 

Identity: It’s unlikely many others will have an expensive watch, let alone the same expensive watch and so it sets the wearer apart of the rest of the crowd. 

So, if you’re looking for a practical piece of art you can take with you most places a human can go, a watch that checks all of the above, will surely bring you delight. 

-BSM

Workwear is all the rage right now, though you may not see it if you’re like me and stuck inside for most hours of the day. One of the more popular pieces are the Dickies 874 original fit pants. Usually coming in under $50 (CAD), this price makes them much more attainable versus some of the higher end workwear pieces. What’s great about these pants is that they are durable. I have no fear wearing them, roughing them up or getting some marks. In fact, they look all the better if they do take some wear -- that’s the point!

You may have seen my previous post where I customized a pair of Carhartt RO1s, tapering the legs and trimming the hem. I did something similar to these 874s. While I love the look and feel of the 874s, they aren’t as flattering on my body shape. Usually a slimmer silhouette works best for me so I decided to pull out my sewing machine and go to work tapering the pant legs in a little.

 However, I didn’t want to just taper them and that be it, otherwise Dickie has a slew of other pant options I could’ve opted for. I had seen a photo where someone was rocking a pair of 874s but on the knee, had a patch. I loved this approach and decided to create my own version -- with my own little twist. 

It wasn’t easy trying to find a patch that worked both in size and that was authentic to me. I found this Star Wars themed path on Etsy. It was the right size and wasn’t going to cost a lot either. 

I had to hand stitch the patch onto the knee, which took some time but it did allow me a chance to work on honing my sewing skills of which I have non lol I was quite pleaded with the final results. The knee is a little stiff but as long as I’m not planning on running in them, they should work themselves in nicely. 

I remember the first time I saw the Converse X Comme des Garçons PLAY Chuck 70. I was walking along Queen Street West in Toronto and passing a group of people standing on the corner about to cross the street, one of these was wearing the cream coloured Converse X Comme des Garçons PLAY hi-tops. I instantly thought, I WANT. At the time, I was still new to the city and struggling to make ends meat so while the price tag isn’t unreasonable compared to sneaker releases today, back then it may as well have been. Then, for awhile it seemed to disappear –whether it was out of stock or just out of sight, I had forgot about it and really only stumbled upon it again by happenstance.

  I was working out at the gym quite consistently and found my footwear wasn’t giving me the support I wanted while squatting or deadlifting. I needed something with a flat sole but also wasn’t going to cost me an arm and a leg. I knew lots of gym goers and old school lifters liked OG Chuck hi-tops for their ankle support, price and comfortable and bounce while lifting.

  So, when I was in a store trying on the OG hi-tops, my eye caught the eyes of the infamous heart emblem peaking out amongst the midsole and that WANT the first time I laid eyes on them, was back. This time, I was a little older and a little more grounded and so that price tag wasn’t as intimidating as once before.   My plan to buy shoes for the gym went out the window at that point. Yes, I was going to purchase the shoes but wasn’t about to run them through deadlifting. Not these babies lol.

I like to think there’s a certain level of appreciation between wearers of the Converse X Comme des Garçons PLAY Chuck 70. I remember being at an event (pre-pandemic), walking through the gallery floor and noticing someone else wearing their C X CG PLAYs. When we passed each other, we both looked down, looked up, made eye contact, smiled and continued on our way…

To start this post off, I wanted to share my buying experience during the pandemic which made this process much harder than I had hoped. Usually for my birthday, I’ll splurge on an item I wouldn’t normally buy myself. For my latest birthday, this was a leather biker jacket. After spending countless hours online, looking at Pinterest boards, scanning brand websites and reading blogs just like this, I found a jacket that seemed to check all the boxes – right look, right price and most importantly in stock. After receiving in the mail, I tried it on and it just didn’t sit right. Wrong size. This is the trouble with buying online when stores are closed. I had the option to return it via the mail but while I was debating whether to do so or not, things started to open up and in-store stock was now an option. I was able to hunt down a smaller size in store and returned the larger size – with no extra cost except time. Now I was happy with the smaller size, but it just didn’t sit the way I was hoping. Something I hadn’t considered along with price, availability and style, was material. The jacket was made from a very soft leather and while that may work for some, I wanted a stiff leather that had shape. So after a few months of battling what to do, I began the hunt again, online. I knew if I didn’t find a jacket I loved, it would just sit in the closet and then what’s the point. Since investing a fair amount of time and energy into the first jacket, I was looking to take a more risk-adverse and cost-effective option – hence limiting my research to fast fashion websites. Took me about a week to do more research but I finally found an option that I liked, was within my budget and it was in stock. The only issue I struggled with was that it wasn’t the exact style I was originally looking for however, I did like the minimalist approach as it was unique. Plus, this was for fashion, not practical application lol I clicked the order now button and it arrived a few days later. I put it on and immediately knew it was what I had been looking for. The size was right, the leather was stiff and I realized all the bells and whistles on the first jacket, for me, was more of a distraction than integral fashion or style elements. This is the jacket you see below. It took some time and I didn’t get it right the first time but I learned from the initial experience and so in my mind, the time and financial investment, was well worth it.

That all said, once you have a leather biker jacket that you like, how can you style it? Check out three options that can take you from the office, to the bar to the weekend warrior.

-BSM

The Office:

In my experience, it’s only been since David Beckham was featured on the cover of GQ with a leather biker jacket and shirt and tie that this style option became a thing. It’s the ultimate juxtaposition - the rebel unwilling to conform and the corporate worker unwilling to change. It was a new age for men’s fashion and gave the rebel in all of us a chance to show some edge. Styled with a white shirt and tie, you’ll be turning heads as you walk off the elevator and into your cubicle office.

 Out on the Town:

I’m a big Nirvana fan but only got into them a few years after Kurt passed. While their music lives on, so does their fashion in the resurgence of grunge fashion/the early 90’s. There are a few key elements that you need to make this look work:

The leather jacket – During the heyday of 90’s fashion, the leather jacket was a more oversized, boxy and if you had a tear or some fading, that made it all the better. Styled for todays world, I like to think we can still get away with a slimmed down silhouette.

The plaid – Without the plaid, one resembles more of a character from The Outsiders rather than Airheads. Side note: if you haven’t seen either of those movies, you are missing out.

Ripped or faded jeans – While today’s leather jackets are more slim and sleek looking, to get that grunge look and feel, we still need that worn in look. Something that says, “I’ve worn the same thing for a month because why not”. If that’s not coming from the jacket, it should come from the pants. Worn in denim is also more comfortable which is great if you’re commuting from one place to the next, sitting down and standing up and maybe even dancing around a little.

The Weekend Warrior:

This is really about being comfortable. Wearing relaxed clothing that isn’t restricting, lets your body breathe and is light weight, offers the perfect goto for running errands. However by adding a leather biker jacket, it becomes more street style idol versus what you’d wear binging the last season of ‘Thrones’ on your couch. The key or trick to this look, is finding that right balance between street style and having just rolled off your couch.

If you’ve ever Googled, “How to cuff our pants?”, I’m sure you’ve seen plenty of ways that work and probably have worked for you.  For example, there’s the simple roll and cuff where you just roll the bottom of the pants up, or the pinch and roll, this is usually for lighter weight fabrics when you need them to stay taunt. But have you ever run into issues where your cuff comes undone or just wont stay in place?

I came across this simple way of cuffing your pants that pretty much involves both options above, but if you’re like me and sometimes after moving around these cuff techniques become loose or undone, then this hack should help. 

What you’ll need? A stapler. Just a common school or office desk version should work. What you’re going to do is on that first roll, whether the simple cuff or pinch and cuff, staple the rolled up part of the fabric together. This will create an anchor in the cuff so that it keeps its shape and ensuring that your next few rolls are consistent and the same size - which I’ve found can sometimes be tricky to do. Once stapled, proceed to roll your pant to the desired cuff and the cuff should stay in place. I found this also helpful when my pant length is shorter than normal and I don’t have as much fabric to roll and hold the cuff in place. Check out the video below.

Of note: I’ve found that this technique usually requires three rolls to fully hide the staple but if you’re like me and like a higher cuff, then you’ll have no issues. I also found that it’s hard to see the bottom side of the staple on the second roll so depending on the fabric, denim for instance, you could get away with only two rolls as the silver of the staple usually blends in to the underside of the denim.

Like many of you, I’ve succumb to the workwear trend that’s been sweeping the streetstyle world over the last few years. We’ve seen clothing, normally considered “blue collar fashion” hit the runways of some of the most popular couture fashion houses. Now, workwear brands like Dickies, Stan Ray and Carhartt are gaining huge traction in the market and I don’t see this stopping anytime soon.  

This effect is both good and bad for the common fashion enthusiast. On one hand, workwear's loose and durable style offers a more comfortable fit though on the other hand, it’s almost impossible to get your hands on some of the best pieces like Carhartt's street style brands’ Carhartt WIP overalls. Coming in at about double the price of a regular pair of Carhartt's overalls (R01s), the WIP version offers a slimmer silhouette and from what I’ve read, also includes light weight flexible material — great for the more social and comminuting aspects of life. 

For me, in Canada and especially during a pandemic, I found that my options were quite limited in terms of getting my hands on a pair of Carhartt WIP overalls. So after some research, I decided my best option was to purchase a pair of regular duck bib R01 Carhartt overalls, a sewing machine, and take on the task of tailoring the overalls into a slimmer silhouette - which is the look I like and was going for. 

The process wasn’t easy as I had to navigate around the heavy and triple stitching that lined the inner thigh of the overalls. I decided it was better to taper the inseam instead of the outer seam as the outer seam had pockets and other various stitching that if I had removed or interfered with, would actually lose some of the features of the overalls I enjoyed in the first place. Targeting the inseam, I only had to worry about the triple stich lines. 

The whole process probably took me 3 hours which is likely a little long for this type of sewing. It was the first time I was doing this so there was a lot of trial and error as well as broken sewing needles. By the time I was done, I had bent 3 needles, broken 1 and was on my last one so was definitely cutting it close. 

Not only did I taper the width of the pants but I decided to hem them as well. I usually wear a 32L but to make these a little more unique and because I wanted to roll them up, I cropped off about 3 inches from the bottom removing the heavy ankle fabric. If on a construction site, this fabric would provide copious ankle/shin protection but also would’ve made rolling up the hem difficult as it was quite stiff.  

Once complete, I threw the overalls in the wash to help soften the fabric and ensure the stitching held. The result is what you see below. Style them with your favorite hoody, band tee or keep it simple with a plain white tee. After wearing non-stop for a few days, they began to conform to my body and were extremely comfortable. I have a feeling these overalls will be my go-to choice come spring and look forward to styling them in various ways. The only thing I am considering changing is once I get better at using a sewing machine, I’d like to redo the hem stitching as it’s a bit all over the place lol though unless you’re looking at it closely, it would be hard to tell. 

Let me know what you think of these custom Carhartt overalls and if you have any sewing tips?

The white oxford shirt should be a staple piece in any mans clothing arsenal. Originally popularized in the 19th century when it was worn during polo matches, it eventually hit the Ivy League campuses amongst the “sporty”, and now is considered a universal shirt worn by a CEO or for weekend drinks with friends. The main attraction of the white oxford is that it goes with every and anything; blazers, vests, sweaters or on its own, the solid white colour works as a neutralizing shade that won’t wash out your other colours and in turn even make them pop. Finding the perfect one is always tricky but here are a few ways of styling it.

-BSM.