Slowly but surely, over the past few months, we have noticed a trend that had its last moment in the sun in the late 1980's/early 1990's: the contrast-collar dress shirt.

The contrast-collar dress shirt experienced a popular renaissance shortly after Wall Street was released in 1987, when Gordon Gekko epitomized the corporate raider in a contrast-collar shirt, braces, and tie. It wasn't long before every major shirt manufacturer produced shirts with white collars and white French cuffs. The look lasted well into the mid-1990s before falling out of favor.

Recently, the look has been revived, with everyone from APC to Zegna re-interpreting the style. Ike Behar has released one of the most brash & beautiful contrast-collar shirts I have ever seen: one in Pink and one in Light Blue. The photography does not do them justice yet (we're working on that), but the collars & cuffs actually have a razor thin blue stripe on them, and the body fabrics are an extremely fine cotton with a little sheen to them.

Even more recently, in the movie Iron Man, military industrialist and villain -- is that redundant? -- Obadiah Stane reinforces the contrast-collar shirt's reputation as the look for the evil businessman, or those that want to act like one.

Perhaps global warming will cause the fashion industry to rethink its seasons. The way things are now, probably only because "it's the way they've always been", we receive overcoats, gloves, and scarves in September, when it's still nice enough to do without any of those items. By the time it's cold enough to need them (January), it's time to start making room for Spring's arrivals. Trust us, seersucker shorts are a tough sell in February!

With Fall merchandise scheduled to start arriving in late July and early August, we are asking your help in making room for Fall. Ironically, from our vantage point in San Francisco, the weather is just now perfect for madras shorts, sun washed Polos, and sandals (high-60's today, mid-70's tomorrow). And while the old Mark Twain canard about "the coldest winter I ever spent was summer in San Francisco" -- which happens to have never been uttered by Twain -- means that San Franciscans might really want corduroy and cashmere in July, the rest of the country would rather wait.

At the end of the day, it just means now is a great time to pick up those seersucker pants, madras shorts, sun-washed polos, sun-drenched twills, and poplin sportcoats. Our Spring sale showcases some great savings on Bills Khakis Spring Limited Edition pants, sportcoats, and sport shirts, Ike Behar casual shirts, Michael Toschi shoes, Hommage razor sets, and much, much more.

 

You sure can. More and more men are finding that French cuffs are a wise way to distinguish themselves from the increasing number of well-dressed gents in the workplace and on the social scene. But are they for you?

Known as double cuffs in Britain, French cuffs were once the exclusive province of boardroom swells, international financiers, and powerful attorneys, but now they’re turning up on college kids and entry-level professionals.

The trend kicked off about six years ago when Lehman Brothers became the first bank to nix its business casual dress code and insisted on more professional attire. Other firms quickly followed.

Brad Pitt gave the trend a big boost in last year’s Ocean’s 13 by wearing French cuffs in a non-traditional way—the cuffs fully opened instead of folded back, sans tie, and the shirt collar not just merely unbuttoned but splayed across his jacket lapels.

Some stylish gents prefer not to go that far. They pair French cuffs and cuff links with jeans and a blazer—a marriage of classic style to a modern trend.

Others modern gentleman like the opportunity French cuffs affords them to add a little bling—i.e., cuff links—to their wardrobe without resorting to gaudy chains or ear rings. Jazzy or snazzy, elegant or low-key, cuff links help a modern gentleman ratchet up his personal style. If only there were an online store with a wide selection of French Cuff Shirts and Cufflinks...

Yes, we know they’re back (and for some of us they never went away). It seems everybody from college grads to corporate swells have discovered this nifty accessory. Although we’re all for smart dressing, we cannot endorse this trend wholeheartedly for one simple reason: pocket square abuse is rampant, especially in the media, where anchors like Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly commit the most heinous of sartorial crimes: they match their pocket squares with their ties, a tell-tale sign of the amateur.

It is our informed opinion that the pattern of your pocket square should not replicate the pattern in your tie. It should serve instead as a complement to it.

This of course is not easy to do and there are no simple tips to help you achieve sartorial harmony in this area, except for maybe one: when you’re contrasting patterns in your shirt, tie, and pocket square, make sure they are all in the same tonal range—i.e., they should all be of more or less the same color intensity.

But even this dictate can be tweaked to good effect. Andre Benjamin and Cedric The Entertainer do it all the time. But one must know the ground rules before one can venture beyond them or else you end up looking like all those TV anchors—children set loose in a fancy menswear store. 

Obviously, the General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker testimony on Iraq is dominating the news today. Any self-respecting, troop-supporting citizen would probably find the actual testimony most interesting. Unfortunately, the first thing I noticed was that Ambassador Crocker seems to be wearing products that could have been bought at On The Fly.

Specifically, his button down shirt looks very similar to one of our best-selling Ike Behar shirts: the Pinpoint Oxford Behar Buttondown Shirt. Personally, I am not a fan of the Buttondown Shirt & Tie combination. In my worldview, buttondown shirts are best worn with the top button unfastened under a sportcoat or blazer (is there a more classic look than creased khaki pants, a white or blue buttondown Oxford, a navy blazer, and penny loafers?). But considering the sacrifices Ambassador Crocker has made serving his country, we will reserve judgment (on his wardrobe, that is).

The tie also looks eerily similar to Lee Allison's Classic Stripe Tie (to appear on the site tomorrow). The tie -- in the typical politician's color scheme of red, white, and blue -- shows a thin white stripe surrounded by two equal width blue stripes on a red background.

Is Ambassador Crocker an On The Fly customer? If we told you, we'd have to kill you.