The New York Times Fashion & Style section featured an article on Wednesday entitled "When No One Wants to Look Like a Banker". Of course, this is ground we covered back in October here, but perhaps it just hadn't sunk in yet. 

So agreeing with the main premise of the article, and have admitted to my own unease while wearing a brash navy pinstripe suit, I clicked into the 11 photo slideshow of "looks" that can replace pinstripes, and can only say that not a single outfit in there would be deemed appropriate office attire in a NY financial firm. One can wear a suit & tie without "looking like a banker". I actually love some of the looks they put together, but also know you might not get past security in 85 Broad Street, let alone be taken seriously once you did.

Instead, outfits like those just open one's self up for attack from the likes of LOLfed, who took a whack at the same article with a post entitled "Bearish on Pinstripes". Since they asked for caption suggestions, I submitted one. We'll see if I win...

I'm not sure if this story makes me jealous or sick. Forbes.com has announced that the world's most expensive suit was recently purchased by a "phantom" clotheshorse. The price? $100,000.00!

Aspects of the story that made me jealous:

• Suit was made of "rare materials such as Vicuna wool, which can only be shorn once every three years from the South American camelid, and Qiviuk wool, gathered from the Arctic muskox";
  
• It's being delivered in an armored Range Rover;
  
• I wish I had $100,000 to blow on a suit right about now. And don't think I wouldn't.
  

Aspects of the story that made me sick:

• $100K for a suit and it doesn't come with a vest?
• The "designer" made his fortune selling cleaning services and ringtones?
  
• There's gotta be more to it than the materials. 80 hours of handwork is impressive, but it's not an order of magnitude more than what you would get with Brioni, Kiton, or your best Savile Row tailor. What else can justify that kind of price? Are the buttons on the sleeves made of platinum? Or the lining made of Kevlar to protect you from the pitchfork-wielding masses that discover you're the guy that spent $100K on a suit during the worst economic downturn in 70 years? Or maybe the fabric changes colors depending on your mood? 

I'll admit, I can't wait for the day that I can spend $100K on a suit, but I assure you, I'll get more for my money. At the very least, a shark with a frickin' laser beam on its head. You can read the full article here. 

With the Obama Administration recently loosening travel restrictions to Cuba, the timing could not be better for the arrival of Ike Behar's new Havana Collection. 

The Ike Behar story begins in pre-revolutionary Cuba where Ike, the youngest of three brothers, learned the fine art of custom-tailoring at the shop owned by his father, Samuel Behar. At the age of 20, Ike, with fifty dollars in his wallet, left Havana, Cuba for New York City to pursuit the American Dream.  He took his first job on a trial basis, offering a custom shirt-maker his services for free in order to prove his skills.  By the end of the week, the shirt-maker was so impressed  that he paid him his wages and offered him a permanent position. Eventually, Ike bought the company and, over the next decade continued to perfect his craft with his patented shirt-making innovations.

In 1970, a young tie-maker named Ralph Lauren, interested in expanding his business in men's apparel, approached Ike Behar. Impressed by the quality and care of Ike's workmanship, Ralph Lauren wanted Ike to make shirts for the Ralph Lauren line.  In 1982, as more American companies, including Polo, turned to overseas manufacturing, the Ike Behar/ Ralph Lauren affiliation came to an end.  

The Havana32 Collection is an homage to the inimitable style of 1930's Cuba. The collection includes the Bogart, which is a Guayabera-like white, linen shirt, the short-sleeve, linen Victor, the Ernesto which is similar and available in White, Cream (pictured), and a beautiful Blue, the Alberto in Chocolate Brown or Navy Blue with small white polka dots, and the banded collar Enrique. Each shirt comes in Ike Behar's black gift box.

As with every Spring & Fall, Bills Khakis introduced some beautiful Limited Edition items: poplin pants in yellow, drawstring linen pants, gingham seersucker shirts, patchwork madras shorts, and yet another Vintage Denim shirt that they have done the last 3 seasons in a row. 

The item that has flown off the shelves in the store is the Cotton/Chambray Work Shirt. The success of the shirt has been a little surprising to me only because many men seem to fear linen. It's not easy to care for (requires dry cleaning) and of course it wrinkles easy. But this particular shirt has something going for it that causes customers to throw caution to the wind. Perhaps it's the unique pockets - both patch pockets, but one flapped, the other open. Whatever it is, the online sales have not kept pace with sales out of the store, making it this week's candidate for "Gotta See It".

For those of you in the Bay Area, the San Francisco store is hosting some folks from Bills Khakis for a Trunk Show on Friday, April 10th all day long. In addition to the year-round items and Spring 2009 Limited Edition, they will also be previewing Fall 2009 and taking pre-orders. And they even have some surprise goodies for attendees.

I feel bad blogging about this since 95% of our customer base lives outside of the Greater Bay Area, but it is worth announcing our first in-store Bills Khakis Trunk Show on Friday, April 10th. Several folks from Bills Khakis will be here to show off Spring 2009 and to preview Fall 2009 for pre-orders.

As always, nips of bourbon and shots of espresso are on hand to lubricate the shopping experience.You can also RSVP for the event on Facebook!

For those that won't have a chance to make it into the store, you are not forgotten. If you have yet to visit www.billskhakispub.com, you should do so, stat. If you are a hardcore Bills Khakis fan (as I am), there is one incredible feature of the site: pre-ordering Limited Edition products in the model, size, & color of your choice.

Why is that important? Well, every season, retailers like On The Fly have dozens of fabrics to choose from for our Limited Edition purchases, and waist sizes go from 30-46, and many pants or shorts come in models 1, 2, and 3, and then plain fronts and pleats. If money were no object, we'd buy everything, but until the Men's Retail lobby gets us some TARP money, we have to make choices. And sometimes, that means our loyal customers can't order their M1 Pleated Seersucker Pants in Pink & Cream because we didn't buy it at all, or we didn't buy it in M1, or we didn't buy it with pleats, or we sold out in their size. It's a crime, we know. At Bills Khakis Pub, those same loyal customers can choose On The Fly as their Preferred Retailer and pre-order pants from the upcoming season exactly the way they want them and they're guaranteed to get them. Brilliant!

One of the primary tenets of our "Shop by Lifestyle" feature is that no gentleman is 100% any single lifestyle; we all have tendencies influenced by the other lifestyles. While I am pre-dominantly "Old School" with a "Wall Street" streak and a vicarious "Sportsman" disposition, it is safe to say that I have 0% "Rock Star" in me (a lifestyle soon to be added to our list). So it is rare that a product like this would not only catch my eye, but compel me to spend money on bringing it into the store. 

Last Fall, when previewing Martin Dingman's line for Spring 2009, they pulled out a shoe unlike any I've seen from them in the 5 years we've carried their products: the Arlo Inlay shoe and matching Bala Belt. The Arlo model has been around for years in various incarnations of leather, deerskin, and of course, Alligator. It is a popular model because it is sufficiently comfortable: plenty wide to fit those that don't like their shoes tight with a healthy rubber bottom to provide support.

The Arlo Inlay and Bala Belt feature a cracked black leather over a deep burgundy lizard inlay in a very cool damask-like pattern. For the gentleman that wants to show his "edgy" side without having to shell out for a Harley, I can assure you that this shoe & belt combo is more stunning in person than the photo can ever do justice.

How cool is it? The shoes were delayed about 2 weeks, but we had an in-store customer buy the shoes sight unseen based solely on seeing the belt.