Will Boehlke of A Suitable Wardrobe recently wrote of the "Return of the Boutonniere". As with many men's fashion articles, I cringe when I hear about "The Return of Fill-in-the-Blank" since, for many gentlemen, the Fill-in-the-Blank never left. (Every Spring, GQ writes about "The Return of Seersucker", but for many in the South, seersucker never left. Or read articles about "The Return of the 2-Button Jacket"; I know 3-Button Jackets have been the predominant model for the past decade or so, but it's not like the 2-Button was banished from Earth.) No doubt Will has gone to the boutonniere at least a handful of times every year for as long as he's been dressing himself since he knows it's a unique and beautiful accent to a suit or coat. So I assume he's just trying to nudge those that "Fear the Boutonniere" to give one a try every once a while, as you should.

Having one of the City's finest florists 10 yards from our store, I have frequently grabbed a flower to dress up my suit, and I can safely say that you will be amazed at the looks -- especially smiles -- you'll get from passersby for having the guts to wear a flower on your suit. Multiply that reaction by 10 if you don a seersucker suit with a giant magenta daisy (as I did last Friday). 

Me, declaring a War of the Boutonnieres with Will, would be like Luxembourg declaring war on the United States. I'm small, under-armed for the fight, and ultimately we're allies in the same cause. But if he continues to provoke me with photos of boutonnieres -- or, escalates to a boutonniere and a pocket square -- I will be forced to retaliate. 

Before I started On The Fly, if there was one thing my clothing or cigar salespeople knew about me, it's that I'm a sucker for anything that's "Limited Edition". If I can own some boots that only 999 other people on the planet can also own, well sign me up. "Oh, they're only $900? I'll take two pair!" So you can imagine my excitement when Wolverine announced a new, limited edition boot they will be releasing this Fall that will be sold through a very select group of retailers...

This Fall, they will be releasing a shell cordovan boot under the imprint 721LTD (in a nod to the style number of the original 1000 Mile Boot). One thousand of them will be made, and we plan on taking our fair share on behalf of our customers.

To generate some enthusiasm around the launch, Wolverine is releasing a series of short videos (3-4 minutes) that chronicle the making of the boots. The first in the series is about Horween Leather Tannery who is producing the shell cordovan for the boot (and who produces the leather for the current 1000 Mile Boots). Enjoy. 

Wolverine 1000 Mile | 721LTD | Horween from Wolverine on Vimeo.

Late night last night; early morning this morning. Leaving town for the weekend and hadn't packed, or checked the weather. Pulled my duffel bag out of the closet and opened the door to the Bills Khakis closet (yes, I have a whole section dedicated to the 30+ pair I own), and just started pulling out khaki-colored khakis. A pair of 10.2oz Bullard Twills in case it's cold, a pair of 8.5oz Classic Twills in case it's moderate, and a pair of "fly-weight" 4.1oz Limited Edition Cypress Cloth pants in case it's hot.   

Picked out some shirts and I was packed and ready to go in less than 4 minutes in a way that I am feel prepared for whatever weather we're heading into. Thank goodness for a diversified khaki portfolio.

Anyone that knows me well can attest to my ignorance when it comes to matters of math & science. I passed Calculus in high school only thanks to the mercy of Mr. Statum, and to this day I don't understand how a supertanker can float carrying all those containers, or how an airplane can fly. Might as well tell me it's magic. 

So several years ago, when On The Fly was sponsoring a party in LA, I thought it would be a good idea to take one of Laguiole's Champagne Sabres and open bottles with it to amaze the guests. Having never done it before, but having read instructions on multiple websites, I stopped in a liquor store and bought 6 or 8 bottles of really cheap champagne off the shelf (note: I did not say out of the fridge). 

I proceeded to a dark corner of the parking lot across the street from the party, and one by one, failed impotently at opening a single bottle before the pressure would pop the cork off prematurely. It would be years before I would ever try it again.

Realize that we sell dozens of the Champagne Sabers as gifts, especially around the holidays, and yet I had no idea how to use it properly (or so I thought). I did do some more reading, and discovered that the bottles must be chilled, but given my complete lack of scientific knowledge, I did not understand how that might help get a glass top off a bottle. How ignorant I was.

With the opening of WINGTIP, I am putting a lot of emphasis on presentation. That means that if a guest is willing to lose a few drops of champagne to the pageantry of having the bottle opened with a sabre, we should oblige. So last week, a member's guest asked for champagne, and since we had some bottles in the fridge -- chilled, as they alledgedly are supposed to be for sabreage -- I pulled out my sabre, found the seam of the bottle, and quickly thrust the blunt edge of the blade up the bottle until the top popped off cleanly and splattered some champagne on my laptop which clearly should have been moved prior to the experiment.

I plan to post video soon so the world can see how easy it is...

...and make no mistake, someday, I will, I would probably borrow some of the ideas from Brift H in Tokyo. One of San Francisco's best shoe shiners brought the place to my attention, but since my Japanese is a little rusty, I read about it at CNN's website. According to Yuya Hasegawa, the Founder: 

"Overseas, shoe shining is just part of manners. But in Japan, it's more like a hobby for shoe-obsessives. So we want to create a culture of going to get your shoes polished in Japan," explains Hasegawa, which starts to make sense of the shop's grand pageantry. This is not just a functional shoe repair shop but a total aesthetic experience. Brift H feels like the cross between a 19th century British haberdashery and a speakeasy. The shoe shiners are immaculately dressed, the bar counter is leather and the furniture is all wooden and antique. As you sit at the bar and chat with your shoe shiner, you are given a champagne flute of either apple juice or green tea. The subsequent half-hour (or longer if there is a queue, as there was in my case) is a relaxing escape from both work life and hectic Tokyo shopping, a place to go where men can be gentlemen.

The opening shine, which takes about 20 minutes, is about $18 (as of the conversion rate on July 25th), while the best shine, in which they keep your shoes for 3 days, goes for $72! 

What would I add to a place like that? Not much, really. I do remember an article in GQ about 5+ years ago about a shoe shiner in New York's Grand Central Station that puts some oil on the shoe and then burns it off with a match. While most shoe shiners either think it does nothing, or worse, harms the shoes, nobody does it. But for a showman like me, the idea of lighting a customer's shoes on fire while an oil burns itself off is too compelling. 

I'd make sure there was a TV, wi-fi, plenty of newspapers & magazines, and I'd sell the world's best horsehair brushes, polishes, shoe trees, shoe bags, and shoe horns. And I'd also keep my own shoe collection onsite in the Shoe-midor that I someday hope to build. But more on that later.

Read the full story about Brift H here...

While not a fan of Donald Rumsfeld, I always loved the press conference where he explained his philosophy on "Known Unknowns" -- things you know you do not know -- and "Unknown Unknowns" -- things you do not know you don't know. The speed with which we opened WINGTIP -- a unique extension to our downtown store -- meant that there would be many surprises: some we knew would happen, some that we could predict might happen, and some that we could not even imagine might happen.

In retrospect, we should have predicted something like this, but I'd be lying if I said we did: yesterday, we had our busiest day yet in terms of members visiting and bringing guests, and while I did my best to facilitate introductions and be a good host, members started opening some of the bottles of fine spirits that they store at the club since we do not have -- or want -- a full liquor license. Members have already brought in some Willet and Pappy van Winkle bourbon, single malts like Oban 14, Hibiki, Duncan Taylor, Yamakazi, Lagavulin 16, and a couple ports including '85 Graham. As members started meeting each other casually, all of them started offering some of their prized booze to each other (and to me). Nothing organized, nothing encouraged by anyone. Just a brand new, spontaneous camaraderie taking shape amongst people that were complete strangers just minutes before.

It's what I would have done (and have done with my own stash), but I didn't expect others to do it so quickly. It was hard not to feel an immense amount of pride in what we've started...adding community to what has, heretofore, been commerce...