speaking of H&M...

These slim-fit suits from the Conscious Exclusive collection look pretty good.

Apparently H&M now has e-commerce in the UK? But if you're in the good old US of A you'll have to line up on April 4.

This is a Public Service Announcement

Don't believe me? Go watch some Mad Men.

Porcelaine Project + Edith Valle via 100LC

A custom suit for under $500

Grand Street Suit has finally answered the "Where can I get a badass, slim-fit suit that won't cost me a KAJILLION DOLLARS?" question.

If the catbirds recommend em, I have no qualms.

Suits may be purchased online (hallelujah!) or private fittings can be arranged for customers in NYC.

Update: Whoopsy. So the suits aren't actually custom. But I just got this email from Andrew of Grand Street, which makes me even more excited...

So to be clear the suits are off the rack and extra slim fit. They are full canvased non-fused garments. This means that the lining and body work of the jacket is sewn in by hand and gives a structure to the suit. A fused uses glue on the lining and is a very cheap way to make clothing. Also I saw that a person said they were not small enough -- we specialize in extra small sizes. The smallest size you can get in a store is usually 38. We go down to 34. (The number 34 indicates the chest size not the pant.) Hope this clears up some stuff for you!

I like the idea of wedding parties. I would even be willing to cut the price if a groom and best men wanted suits. I could set it up like a wholesale account and charge about 40% less the retail price...

Andrew's girlfriend Martha added:

I have seen these suits on many fine young men, including the gentlemen of Panic at the Disco and most recently a Brooklyn groom, and no one has required alterations other than a shortened pant leg.

R + D go suit shopping

If you're shopping for a wedding suit,* you HAVE TO read Rachel's suit saga, which includes a pretty harsh review of Indochino, a decent review of Bonobos, and (spoiler alert) a rave for Opening Ceremony, which she describes as "terrifyingly hipster."

I don't know which suit D tried on at Opening Ceremony, so I had to give you this Phillipe Alvergne with the uber-hipster styling.
______________________________

*Or thinking about shopping for a wedding suit, or avoiding shopping for a wedding suit....

What should my officiant wear??

Hi ESB,

My best friend M is marrying my FH and me in October and we are trying to decide what he should wear to perform the ceremony. FH is wearing a gray suit and I am wearing an off-white vintage dress. What do you think of M wearing a light blue suit (like a vintage blue color)? Or maybe dress pants, vest, tie and sneaks? The wedding is cocktail casual, I think light blue and gray and off white would look nice all together.

You have any ideas on where I should look? We are on a budget too, of course.

Thanks!!
xo

*****

NO VEST + TIE WITHOUT A JACKET. Not a fan. Never been a fan.

It'll just make M look like a) he forgot his jacket or b) he was too cheap to buy one.

Focus on finding a great suit that fits. Who gives a sh*t what color it is?

I highly recommend Wasteland for second-hand suit shopping. (We bought H's Jil Sander there for about $200.)

The Flashdance, who is always well turned-out, swears by Jake Vintage: "like an episode of mad men. the main dude there, jonathan, is a fucking gem."

Photo of Jon Hamm courtesy of Best Life Magazine

pssst.

There's a new Dear ESB up on 100 Layer Cake for you. Guess what it's about?



No, not True Blood. Silly Buttons.

Photo of Alexander Skarsgård by Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Styling by Michael Philouze for VMAN via Charles Hall + Will is Crazy

Portland is coming to San Francisco

ESB sponsor and all-around cool lady Elizabeth Dye will be in San Francisco on March 26th, along with her entire 2011 dress collection for you to try on and order.

Duchess will be there too, so why not drag your man [or your lady who wears suits]* along to try on a suit or two?

(More info here.) 

*I already felt uncomfortable about the heterosexism of my language when A Bicycle Built for Two pointed out that Duchess makes terrific suits for women "who prefer a masculine or androgynous look."

How to help a guy who wants to look dapper

Hi ESB,

I have a friend who has historically not been very *into* fashion. Or clothing beyond jeans and a t-shirt (bonus points if it references Transformers, TMNT or X-Men). Recently, however, he's begun to get a little more comfortable in his skin and experimenting with clothes and he is debuting somewhat of a new look at a wedding of a mutual friend. Now normally I'd say "Who gives an eff what you wear to someone else's wedding? You're a guest" but I really want him to feel like he looks f*cking awesome for once. The way that only new clothes can make you feel. The way that boys so rarely get to feel when they're stuffed into uncomfortable suits. So the question is: He's bought a yellow and blue plaid bow tie and literally talked about nothing else for the past two weeks. He wants to marry it with a casual fedora and sport coat for a sort of Jason Mraz meets Dr. Who look. How does one pull this off without looking like Christopher Lloyd in "Back to the Future?"

Thanks,

M

P.S. Back story. This kid's been in the closet a LONG time. He's a huge Ghostbusters & Ninja Turtles nerd (and my husband's best friend). It's kind of a HUGE deal for him to care about this. Like the bow tie is his way of coming out without actually saying the words. If that makes sense...

*****

Dude is jumping straight into the deep end here.

The best advice I can give him/you is to MAKE SURE EVERYTHING FITS. Guys who live in jeans and t-shirts always buy their dress clothes too big.

Photo of MGMT (a couple of guys who rarely wear shirts, let alone suits) by Richard Burbridge courtesy of GQ.

Where can a cool kid from Minnesota find a suit?

Dear ESB,

We're 7 weeks away from the wedding, and my dearest darling fiance doesn't have his outfit picked out yet. He hasn't figured out what the groomsmen will be wearing either, and they're starting to bug him about it (we are fortunate enough to have five very-on-top-of-it-groomsmen who actually want to be prepared, and not naked, at our wedding!)

Ideally, he wants to wear a three piece Donegal wool/tweed suit, or a coat-vest-pants combo that are (classily) mismatched (this Billy Reid suit, on the left, is a perfect example). And we'd like the groomsmen to wear a pants-vest combo but no jacket. Taupe or gray preferred. But... We live in a small Minnesota town (Duluth) and don't have the luxury of shopping at awesome vintage shops or boutiques. We have been scouring Google, to no avail.

Do you have anything up your sleeve?

Love,
Naked in Duluth

***** 

NID,

I emailed my lady Kat from Pierrepont Hicks and she asked her style guru Samuel Fehrenbach, the proprietor of Martin Patrick3, a men's accessories shop in Minneapolis.

Here's what Sam had to say:

Well, I can’t speak for Duluth, but Heimie’s Haberdashery in St. Paul is for sure the best bet in the Twin Cities - and they do all their tailoring in house, which is convenient for wedding things, I’m sure. Otherwise Twill out in Edina Galleria may be a good bet as well. They’ve got kind of a tweedy Hickey Freeman vibe (but they also sell Vineyard Vines ties – which is totally the opposite). I think both shops do custom, though seven weeks is pressing your luck in that regard. You might have some luck at Judd Frost in Wayzata, but I’ve never actually been there, so I can’t give you a full endorsement. Wish I could give you a little more to go on, but unfortunately in Minnesota suits for cool kids can be tough to find.

Side note, I don’t think I’d call Duluth a small town, but that must just mean that I’m really really from the Midwest.

When I was linking over to Hickey Freeman just now (thank you Sam!) I noticed that this tan plaid suit is 50% off. It's lighter weight than what you're looking for, but how cold will it be in Duluth at the end of September?

I'm asking. I have no idea what the weather is like in Duluth. 

xoxo,

ESB 

(Image courtesy of Kanye New Yorker Tweets.  I trust you have all been following Kanye on Twitter?)

Sauvie Island Resort Wedding (who needs a disco ball?)

Okay, so I lovelovelove to feature weddings by near and dear blogfriends and of course people who have written in to ask for advice... But it is also pretty amazing to receive a zipfile out of the blue of wedding photos like this.

Holgas taken by talented family and friends. A wild vintage dress. Some serious motherf*cking groom style. And FEATHERED INVITATIONS? I think this lady might actually be more east side bride than I am. I mean, she does practically live my neighborhood.

Here's what Joanna had to say about her wedding:

I always imagined I'd have a Fall wedding. When we got engaged on a Friday in June, I accepted what would turn out to be a very demanding 50+ hour/week job the next week. But we decided it would be the same amount of stress whether we compressed it into a few months as it would if we dragged it out over a year, so we decided to go for it. My husband is a freelance commercial producer and I'm an art director, so we had confidence that our combined talents could make it work.

My dream was to get married outside on a farm, have a reception in a barn and have a giant bonfire. I got 2 out of 3. We live in Los Angeles and our family is the Bay Area and New England. LA was never an option, neither of us feel a very strong connection to the city, plus it would just be too expensive. Next we thought New England, but mid-Oct is already too cold. The Bay Area? Again too expensive and weather is iffy. My husband used to live in Portland and we go up there a lot for fun and work. He'd shot a commercial on this farm on Sauvie Island just north of Portland last Spring and we thought the location and the setting would be perfect, plus mid-October in Portland can be really nice.

We went to visit the farm in July and let's just say, one of us had a vision....and it wasn't me. It was all overgrown and there was a lot of random junk laying around, but my husband had confidence in the location, so I trusted him. There was a Black Locust tree with a dozen trunks that would be perfect for the ceremony and there was a giant Cottonwood that created a sprawling canopy, that he envisioned being lit with china lanterns where we would have the bar. The ceremony and reception would take place on a clearing that sat about 20 feet above the riverbank. The only problem was, how do we get the guests from the reception to the beach for the bonfire? My solution was to move the reception a little north, where it was flat and we could just walk onto the beach. My husband's solution was to build some permanent stairs on the slope. He was passionate about the Cottonwood being a key element (he was right) and he had confidence that he could build the stairs in a few days with the help of our fathers (both master craftsmen) and our brothers (five between the two of us). They ended up building the stairs out of massive timbers that had drifted up on the beach as well and the stone that was already on the site. My father finished it off with handrails on both sides that were straight out of Lord of the Rings. So, while the men were busy with that and other site related chores, so I took care of the details, like dress!, shoes, invites, flowers, food, drinks, etc.

Being a graphic designer, I'd had an idea in my head for invites before I was even close to getting engaged. I wanted a really pretty poster. What we ended up with was more beautiful than I could have imagined. The overall idea was to create something that felt hand-made and delicate, both natural and wedding-y. (Which was our concept for the wedding itself.) We had a friend give us a crash course on silk screening and we made all the invites/correspondence cards in one afternoon. The posters were printed on large pieces of tracing paper that I bought in pads, which made printing on such delicate material go a lot more smoothly. I work a lot with feathers in my art, there was no question about including them in some way. I wanted to complete the package with pretty calligraphy, so I scoured the internet for a calligrapher that I could afford until I found Robyn Love, who happened to be having a sale on one style of lettering. Perfect!

For the decor, I envisioned strings of lights everywhere, a la Chanel Resort 2010, and a disco ball hanging from a tree. But a few weeks before the wedding I realized, that there was a lot I would just have to let go. Because of rain, we needed tents and because of money/resources we opted for China Balls instead of strings of lights. The result was beautiful. It rained really hard the morning of the wedding but the clouds broke and the sun came out just in time for our guests to enjoy the dramatic setting as the arrived on Sauvie Island in the late afternoon.

I found my dress at The Way We Wore. It's a 1920's cotton gauze sheath dress with white opaque seed beading and it was the very first one I tried on. The silk slip was from Hidden Treasures in Topanga Canyon, also from the 20's. The shoes were a gift from my godmother, silver glitter Louboutins. I wore a strand of feathers I made around my neck. The dress has a drop waist and I wanted something that was more fitted, so I bought a couple yards of acid yellow silk that I tied around my waist to hide the seam. The acid yellow was apart of my multi-color palette that was loosely referenced throughout to tie everything together, but not overtly seen. I also sent the palette off to my close friends and family and suggested they dress within it if they felt like it.

(Editor's Note: Are you noting that the guests do in fact match the invitations? This is an advanced move. Unless your friends are stylists/art directors/costume designers, I don't recommend that you attempt it.)

Since my dress was so delicate, I decided to change into an 80's sequin and beaded dress and black oxford booties after the ceremony. My husband wore a black suit from J. Lindeberg, a custom shirt from Brooks Brothers, Rachel Comey canvas oxfords and his tie was a family heirloom. We both brought our ponchos to the farm for when it got chilly, but only he managed to wear his.

For the reception, we decided that the three key factors were hot food, lots of alcohol and a really great DJ. We'd heard that Cindy the Bar-B-Q queen was amazing, so we hired her. Even though she was a little unprepared for cooking in the woods, the food was so great, even some vegetarians indulged. For drinks, my brother's girlfriend is a bartender in San Francisco and offered to order the booze through her connections and they drove most of it up. She convinced her friends at House Spirits to donate some gin and vodka to use for cocktails that she created. One of the bartenders drank a few too many of them and was sent home after hitting on a some guests and face planting in the field.  For desert my husband's mother made about 300 miniature cream-puffs. As for the music, our friend Heather Thompson did an amazing job. We asked her to DJ for a few hours, and then we would switch to a play list. But everyone was having such  a good time, that she happily played all night (she literally DJ'd over 7 hours). The three of us were the last ones there at 3 in the morning.

(Photos by Danielle Levitt, Shaniqwa Jarvis and Kevan Bean)

Hey Jesse, thumbs up on the Band of Outsiders suit.

Groom Style: Craig Robinson

(Paul Banks of Interpol in 3-Piece Shetland Wool Herringbone Suit, and Nuutti Kataja of Dead Combo in Fox Hunt 2-Piece Suit w/ Velvet Collar)

Not only does Craig Robinson make some of the more slammin men's suits I've seen in a while...but this is a screaming hot ensemble for a best (wo)man.

Or a bride who might not be planning to get married in a suit.

(Sharin Foo of The Raveonettes in Calvary Vest & Box Pleat Skirt)

Currently for sale in five cities.

Via PAPERMAG

I watch too much TV

Way too much TV. Especially when there are other more important things I should be doing.

But I won't lie, I'm pretty stoked that Jason Schwarztman's new HBO series, Bored to Death, premieres this Sunday.

Here he is rocking Band of Outsiders (via Vain and Vapid)

Cooler alternatives to Mr. Tux?

Alison emailed me with this dilemma, and I'm reaching out to all of you for help:

Love your blog, esp the groom fashion - and I have a groom outfit dilemma! My fiancee (who definitely has his own style) is completely adverse to renting a tux, and butting heads with my mother, who is hyperventilating over not having everyone match in the pictures (to be fair, my parents are paying for most of the wedding, including the photographer). We were thinking grey suits and buying everyone's shirts, ties and cufflinks, but turns out not everyone has grey suits and no one (including us) is really in the financial state to buy new suits. We were wondering, are there cooler alternatives to Mr. Tux where the boy can satisfy his sartorial dreams, but my mother gets everyone matching?

My dress is ivory with champagne embroidery and a sweetheart neckline, the girls are wearing plum gowns with the same neckline, and we'd like the guys in relaxed, classic but modern lines. We live in NYC, though my family's in the Boston area and the wedding is in NH (though we're happy to transport across state lines to fix the issue). I would appreciate any ideas - thanks!

Alison, when you say you'd like the guys in "relaxed, classic but modern lines" you're describing three different things. This is classic. This is modern. And "relaxed" just makes me think of a suit that's not tailored properly.

My first thought is, "DON'T RENT. They will never fit properly, and why would you want to put the guys in the exact same suit?!" But okay. The bridesmaids are wearing matching dresses, and your mom wants the guys to match.*

But here's what I will insist on. Don't dress the groom exactly like the groomsmen. You're wearing a different dress than your bridesmaids, obv. So why can't the groom wear a different suit than the groomsmen? (See photo above.**) And please buy a suit for the groom so you can have it tailored properly. Forgive me if this sounds cornball, but it's his day too.

So... can anyone recommend cool spots to rent suits in the nyc area? What about vintage/used/consignment stores where Alison's groom might find a suit that fits their budget?

(Photo by John Rozier via Brooklyn Bride)

*I'm trying to wrap my mind around this. I know you don't all tell your moms to eff off the way I do. I think my poor mom has been afraid of me since I was about five.

**And please focus on the suits, not the hair.

Groom Style: the light suit

I am generally not a fan of light suits. I am definitely not a fan of the chino version from J. Crew, ever popular for hot-weather weddings.

But these two are slammin.*

(Photos by The Sartorialist via A CUP OF JO; Tec Petaja via Once Wed)

*And Mick, of course, knocks it out of the park.

Upstaged by the groom?

Tony is just a wee bit of a diva, isn't he?

I mean, the pinstripe suit. The feather in his fedora. And the spectators. Oh the spectators.*

I would also like to point out that Tony's suit is well-tailored. And his pants break where they should (ie. they are hemmed to the proper length).

It kills me when the bride goes to five dress fittings or whatever but the groom doesn't even hem his pants.**

Photos by Adi Nevo. Designed/planned by Alison Events. See more on Snippet & Ink.

*I'm referring to his shoes. Thank you, plaidout, for giving us the correct lingo.

**Did that come off like a rant? It kind of was.

Groom Style: Nouveau Prepster

Thom Browne made the suit cool again.

Don't argue with me. I read it in New York Magazine.

(Image courtesy of style.com)

Band of Outsiders has taken it one step further. I totally dig the window pane check with the contrasting striped shirt. And this light suit photographed in Paris by The Sartorialist would be fabulous for a summer wedding. (I'm also a fan of seersucker, if done right.)

I must admit, I'm still on the fence about boat shoes, but man are they everywhere. If you rock 'em at your wedding, will you send me pictures? I'm serious.

(Band of Outsiders courtesy of GQ; The Sartorialist)

Groom Style: A beach wedding

I love the idea of a barefoot groom in a well-cut linen suit. Much sexier than flip-flops. (Image from British Wedding via Nibs.)

And The Sartorialist has actually sold me on shorts with this photo from Milan. As he put it, "A shorts suit? Doesn't work for me. Shorts and a sportscoat? Just right."

Groom Style: What the f* do I wear?

The key to finding your style is to be yourself. Don't try to change who you are, just improve on the personal style you've already got.

Don't let the bride dress you up like a Ken doll if you're not a tuxedo guy. But if you've always dreamed of getting married in Armani, speak up! It's your day too.

You might be surprised what you can find on ebay or at a vintage store. My husband was fixated on a Jil Sander suit he saw in Wallpaper, and I managed to find it used for $200.

I recommend GQ's Style Guy column for the basics on suits and blazers, plus formalwear advice that will keep you from looking like a waiter or a Whiffenpoof. Janie Bryant also has some great, no-nonsense advice.

(Photos by Stephanie Land)

Nordstrom gets prepped?

Their bad pun, not mine. But Kathryn sent this to me, and I have to admit I'm kinda digging it.

Thoughts?

(Broletto Two Button Cotton Sportcoat and Psycho Bunny Woven Silk Tie from nordstrom.com)