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A lovely timepiece, our friends Hypebeast summarized it better than we could…
-“Aligning itself with Wallpaper*, premier Swiss watchmakers Maurice Lacroix present this special new partnership project, allowing three of the world’s most prolific designers to take their own spin with Lacroix’s Pontos Decentrique GMT Watch. This first design we see was created by fashion designer Neil Barrett, who developed a watch that was fully wrapped in black leather, offering a degree of contemporary sophistication while still enabling the high end timepiece to retain its signature aesthetic. A video explaining the process is shown below, with further information on the entire one-off project is available here.”
Supra EE Avenger is definitely one clean sneaker. This particular model comes in 2 colorways, with a black and red also in the mix showing off some nice variation. Check out more info on this and see the other colorways here.
A strong wrist accessory for the man looking for such a charm, the John Varvatos Black Onyx beads design are definitely a go to, with stylish, functional and bold pieces this year. Check out more here.
Watches that feature a racing inspired design have always fascinated me. This watch from Edox has a ridiculous amount of features, including a carefully crafted band that draws its design from that of the modern day race car tire, but the overall construct and design of the watch in general is really breathtaking. More photos and information available here.
Common Projects has released a two-tone selection from this seasons line up provide a nice throwback of previous basic, single colored offerings while keeping the luxurious feel of Italian Nappa leather albeit with black nubuck inserts. Though you’ll find a canvas version from Van’s at a cut rate, there’s no finer shoe to go sockless this summer than one from CP. Available here.
So some of you may or may not know, but The Elegant Scoundrel was founded as a clothing brand. This blog was originally created to chronicle the life of an up and coming company trying to make it in an increasingly difficult industry to make it in.
But somewhere along the line, things got scary. It’s sometimes pretty hard to admit that the times are hard, and it’s not pretty out there. The scene for a fledgling company is pretty grimey. That’s the only word I can use to describe it.
But that doesn’t quite describe the full scope of it. So I’ll kind of explain The Elegant Scoundrel story, and give you guys kind of a behind the scenes look at where it all started and where we see it going.
The beginning of 2008, I had an idea. I was working in graphic design as a intern for a company called IFDA. Basically, an advertising agency for niche marketing, I spent 30 hours a week honing my graphic design skills, and under the tutelage of who I consider to be one of my greatest friends, Jimmy Wardlaw, I was able to learn a great deal about not only design, but about business, and the economics of it all.
Eight months into the job, I was laid off. During that time, I had been experimenting with Adobe Illustrator, and had gotten pretty good at it by my own admission. So testing my abilities, I entered several tee shirt competitions like Threadless and Design by Humans, confident in my abilities to blow the competition away.
Fail.
I quickly realized that there was a certain style to each competition that frankly, I wasn’t driven or motivated enough to imitate. So I decided to try my hand at something a little more safe. A site called Redbubble, which is basically a print on demand service, was referred to me by a friend. I submitted a design, one which I called E=MC Bananas, not really expecting much. Well within an hour, I got an email that someone had purchased a shirt. I was so excited that I jumped up from my desk in a victory pose, simultaneously breaking a lamp with my outstretched arm.
After that, my Redbubble shirt quickly became one of the best all time sellers on their site, and earned me a pretty good amount of money. I decided that I wanted to create a tee shirt brand, but really didn’t know what it would be called or what it would be about. I came up with the name Villain, but was quickly met with a large quantity of problems as the name was far too similar to a couple already existing companies. So with that, I took my brainstorming to a site of like minded tee enthusiasts named Emptees, and a user by the name of Quakerninja gave me a few synonyms for ‘Villain’, and one of those happened to be “Elegant Scoundrel”.
I immediately love it, and spent an entire day coming up with brand, backstory, pretty much everything I thought a good company needed.
From that point, it was a bit of a stalemate for a while, as i have many ideas for what tees I would print, but honestly no money to do so, as well as no real confidence in my work. So I sat on several designs for a while, until finally I came up with about 2 designs that I felt were strong enough to send to print.
So, using a referral from another artist, I used a printing company who shall remain nameless in Atlanta, where I resided at the time. I cannot properly express in words how much crap I went through. Looking back on it, I can now honestly say that part of the blame lay in my own hands, but the company I used was all too quick to sell me the dream of a perfect print job but were not able to meet those lofty goals in any sense of the word. So after printing 2 separate designs, I called it quits with them, having lost nearly a grand in the scheme.
I kicked around for quite some time, not sure of what I really wanted to do with the whole thing, as I hadn’t had much success thus far, and not many sales either, and then I made the very blog you read now, which by some stretch of the imagination was actually pretty well received. Surprised by any measure of success, I continued to post new articles, pictures, really anything that interested me, and a steadily a fan base grew.
Then I came into contact with a few great people. Firstly, Alval, the creative mastermind behind Homeroom Clothing, offered me encouragement and tips in ways that I can never properly thank him. He really gave me an insiders look at making a fledgling company work, and even though I am still in the process of applying all of his great advice, I know that most of it is going to be extremely helpful when put into practice.
Another person who has inspired me is none other than Benny Gold, who I have steadily watch grow from making a few hats and shirts to now having a boutique line and a full lineup. It shows that it is possible with the right connections and determination to make it happen, even in this in-climate economic conditions.
So now I sit, with a new gameplan, and a new resolve to get things up and going and make my mark on the already saturated clothing industry. Will it work? I haven’t the foggiest. But I know that its gonna be worth all the effort, time, and resolve I have to make it succeed.
I hope this story can one day be read as the beginning of the ES success story. But until then, this is my story. Hope you enjoy watching it unfold.
- Julian Cooper
The Elegant Scoundrel
High class shoes and sneakers are always a given, but sometimes you need something that’s just plain comfortable. The issue is however, that most shoes that are comfy also tend to be ugly as hell (Case in Point:Crocs). That’s why these fresh kicks from Bagua are such a fortunate find. They provide the comfort of slippers, and style without making it look too overly casual or formal. And they breath like Egyptian cotton. More information on their site.
“Top Grade finishing with a Glucydor balance wheel and Incabloc shock protection.” I believe thats code for, “This watch is sexy as hell, and probably out of your tax bracket, but its okay to drool.” Salivate some more after the jump.
I don’t know much about this watch, and I honestly don’t care much about the details. What I do know is that this watch is sexy as hell, and I want it. If you want it too, then check out the link.
Lee Harkins Shirt Co. is a throwback to an era when a man’s staple was a good oxford shirt. They however, have a unique approach to the traditional style, by allowing for interchangeable collars that do everything from making the shirt seem entirely different to simply dishing your not-as-clean-as-it-was-in-the-morning collar for a fresh one. Check out more at their site.
Many old concepts are best left in the past, but not the barbershop. Brendan Murdock believed this statement so strongly that in May 2006, he opened Murdock, an upscale, traditional barbershop on Old Street in the funky design district of Shoreditch in East London. Murdock was right, of course, and two more of his “male grooming nirvanas” have opened since — in September 2007 in Liberty’s department store and in August 2009 among the high-fashion boutiques on Stafford Street in Mayfair. Still in his mid-thirties, Murdock has taken the scenic route to barbershopping — ambling from financial studies to a career as a lawyer, and then opening the CRU restaurant in Shoreditch in 2002. He now focuses solely on all aspects of his shaving emporiums that offer the traditional wet shave, haircuts, manicures and facials. It seems men are in for some serious pampering as Murdock has said he wants his stores in every major city around the globe, and we have noticed old-style barber stores with a modern design touch opening everywhere from Milan to Sydney and NY. - Quoted from The Cool Hunter
Ive been in a very musical mood lately, really vibing with the culture of music as a whole, whether that be hip hop, or jazz, or any other of the countless genres. So upon seeing ACRYLICK’s 2010 lineup, I couldnt help but be impressed. Smooth subtle styling really give the whole collection a nice clean, crisp look, and it does so without making it look like a fad. Me likes.