Style’s Week #23: Shopping for something to wear tonight in Brooklyn.
Bergdorfs, band t-shirts, Savas from Memphis, and the King Cole bar.
Dear readers,
It’s the last weekend of summer.
I’ve spent some time this week scoping out New York à nouveau. I lived here almost a decade ago and find that little has changed since then; there are new restaurants, a few new places to shop, and Gen Z bars that feel ‘welcoming’ (Do Not Feed Alligators).
But the street blocks look the same, people are authentic, and the fashion is casually dressed up.
Saunter onto the second floor of the sporty and suiting menswear department of Bergdorf Goodman and you’ll find sumptuous sports jackets, custom suiting, and buttery suedes from Savas that retail at a whopping $3,100 for an overshirt.
The neckline and button-work was everywhere.
Savas is a Memphis leather brand that taps into the musical soul of the city and American craftsmanship. The brand burst into the fashion scene in 2015 by peering into the “amazing rock and roll punks in Camden, London.”
Savannah Yarborough, designer of Savas, studied in Central Saint Martins, the fashion school in London responsible for fashion designers amongst the likes of John Galliano and Wales Bonner.
She got her design chops in Paris, where she learned proper tailoring, and was able to see fashion from an international perspective.
Making each jacket is about a 8 to 16 sewing process, and the Legend boot, which comes in men’s and women’s sizing, is handmade in Italy in a workshop that has 3 people in it.
The quality and craftsmanship is loved by celebrities and Memphis locals, and as far as Elvis lamb leather over shirts are concerned, Paris has nothing on this brand. It’s just come to New York. The designer, Savannah Yarborough, will be at Bergdorf Goodman next week to talk to clients personally about the collection. It’s an appointment that’s not be missed.
Dressing for tonight
I went shopping for an outfit to wear to Brooklyn, and found a Kith band-style Monarch butterfly t-shirt on the 3rd floor of Bergdorfs that was reasonably priced ($70). I’ll wear it tonight with jeans, black loafers, a couple bracelets, and a silver pinky ring.
The sales clerk at Bergdorf’s said to me about band t-shirts, “they’re always a good way to save on laundry” since the t-shirt already looks like it’s been worn a few times. Perfect for when you’re shopping for something easy to wear to a bar (or an appointment) that’s comfortable and edgy.
Consider band tees and slim leather shoes (like Gucci loafers, Tod’s car shoes, or playful Margiela Tabi’s) a good balance between the quiet and loud fashion that seems to be percolating through the New York fashion system. And a style point that street style in this city does best.
Yet, I’ve found that on the same token where New York feels the same a decade later, that the fashion can sometimes verge into the old, same old, same old.
When I stopped by J.Crew today, after Substack blew its lid off in recent weeks due to the return of the catalogue, I found some great denim shirts with double front pockets retailing at $98. Double-front pockets became my North Star of this trip. A little punk edge.
The style of the J.Crew shirts was great (Alex Mill had a flattering Santa Fe women’s number in charcoal hung on the entrance of the SoHo store, $155), the J.Crew shirt cuts were too lengthy.
Bode seems to have the menswear antidote to such long shirting with raised-cut front shirts.
There were flattering chinos with flap pockets on the back at J.Crew, but the pant was too wide legged. If you’re tall, they’d likely look great on you, but the cuts seemed a little too streamlined.
The brand merchandised the store in low quantities, and everything was perfectly folded, the roll-neck sweaters seemed cozy. I tried to find a Henley but wasn’t lucky.
If you need a solid classic dress shirt or want to save on a sports jacket, I would consider popping into J.Crew, but I wouldn’t miss out on a stroll through Bergdorf’s as part of your shopping adventure.
Maybe you wont find 20 different barn jackets at Bergdorf Goodman, but you’ll pick into a classical tenor of New York that’s everlasting. And worth the trip.
The New New York
I popped into Khaite to browse the buzzy quiet luxury brand. I had to wait 10 minutes in line in front of the SoHo boutique to enter. The construction of the clothes was great and the brand works calfskin leathers well. They had sumptuous suede skirts and hard leather trenches.
A sales clerk described the brand as a balance of “harsh and soft, constructed, and feminine”. One leather jacket was the New York antidote to new-Celine, but the soul of the design was old-Celine.
The bags were functional and brand less, which seems to be the direction in which fashion is going: construction over consumer advertising, which can make clients look like walking billboards. It was nice to see.
There was a belt that had nods to Schiaparelli, the French 1920s brand helmed by Daniel Roseberry, that has been making waves on the catwalk.
Still, although Rhode has nods to French fashion, and although brands borrow from each other, one couldn’t help but feel that the brand was in a spinoff universe of its own.
After all, that’s what originality is all about.
To end my afternoon, I stopped by the King Cole bar which just reopened for a refreshment.
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Welcome back to New York!