Oct 31, 2010
Peter peeks into Barney's dressing room: the shocking photos -- and prices!
Wise and frugal readers, you know I'm not much of a shopper. Yes, I practically grew up in Gimbels and spent more of my adolescence at Bloomingdale's than I care to remember, but now that I sew, I no longer shop for clothes. (The Salvation Army doesn't count, of course.)
Labels:
mens fashion,
shopping
Oct 30, 2010
Oct 29, 2010
Cathy Wants Clothes
Friends, it should come as no surprise that I hear from my identical cousin Cathy about as often as I hear from Elaine (The Selfish Seamstress), which is to say, not very often.
Labels:
Cathy,
project planning
Oct 28, 2010
Kwik Sew Men's Western Jacket - DONE!
Friends, the jacket is finished! I'm still a bit bleary-eyed this morning but the jacket is ready to roll.
Labels:
completed projects,
mens western jacket
Oct 27, 2010
Men's Western Jacket - THE FINAL FRONTIER
Western jacket, final frontier -- get it?
Good grief, I am still working on this jacket. Apparently even Kwik Sew patterns are not that kwik but I can definitely see the lite at the end of the tunnel.
Labels:
mens western jacket
Oct 26, 2010
Oct 25, 2010
Men's Western Jacket - FABRIC, THREAD, ETC.
Guys, I'm starting to get excited -- always a good sign. Yesterday I managed to find a fabric I like, along with jeans buttons and thread, and I think I'm good to go. I also dug around my stash and came up with some cool scraps I could add for embellishment/total-pimp-out.
Labels:
mens western jacket,
video,
works in progress
Oct 24, 2010
Kwik Sew Men's Western Jacket -- MUSLIN
Yesterday I gave myself permission to put my unfinished cranberry corduroy jacket project away and move on. One day I'll return to it, but right now I want to sew something quick and fun. What better choice than my recently acquired vintage Kwik Sew Men's Western Jacket pattern?
Labels:
mens western jacket,
works in progress
Oct 23, 2010
Whither the Wig?
What is it about wigs?
Some people love them. Some people hate them. But few people think of them as fashion accessories on par with, say, designer sunglasses. This despite the fact that a wig can totally change a person's look.
Labels:
clothing and culture
Oct 22, 2010
Shopping with Mom at Lord & Taylor
Readers, do you like department stores?
I practically grew up in them. When I was a kid, we generally went to Gimbels -- well known as Macy's closest competitor (remember Miracle on 34th Street?) and now defunct. Then when I was older, in the mid-Seventies, the place to go was Bloomingdales. I'd meet friends at Bloomingdales, eat frozen yogurt at Bloomingdales, shoplift at Bloomingdales -- it really was like no other store in the world.
Oct 21, 2010
Spreading the home-sewing meme
Friends, do you ever feel like you spend a disproportionate amount of your day talking/thinking/writing about sewing?
Do you ever catch friends or colleagues, when you mention sewing, rolling their eyes, glancing at their watches, and suddenly having to catch the 5:15 train -- and they drive to work? Do you yourself retreat daily to the comforting, marshmallow, everybody-sews-here worlds of Pattern Review, BurdaStyle, and Male Pattern Boldness?
Labels:
sewing and culture
Oct 20, 2010
Meta-blogging for an October morning
Friends, occasionally I like to perform a little blog housekeeping. Like a fast-paced summer action movie, plot lines here at Male Pattern Boldness can get convoluted or dropped entirely, characters may appear out of nowhere and then just as suddenly disappear, or key scenes get left on the cutting room floor, leaving audiences disoriented.
Or perhaps you've missed a few days -- the metaphorical trip to get popcorn or use the bathroom -- and you no longer know what's going on.
Labels:
my life
Oct 19, 2010
Oct 18, 2010
I'm not just a celebrity, I'm a fashion designer!
Madonna. Sarah Jessica Parker. Lindsay Lohan. Jessica Simpson. Jennifer Lopez. Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen. Sean Diddy Combs. Justin Timberlake. Beyonce Knowles. Britney Spears. The list goes on and on.
Do you realize how many of our most popular young (and not so young) celebrities are also talented clothing designers?
Labels:
clothing and culture
Oct 17, 2010
Mom Style
Good morning Gothic Lolita fans and others! Friends, today I want to talk about another provocative and potentially explosive topic: Mom style.
Labels:
clothing and culture,
mothers
Oct 16, 2010
Fashion, Affluence, and Aspiration
Friends, be honest: when you dress up, do you aspire to look affluent? Do you (ever) take your fashion cues from the rich and famous?
Labels:
clothing and culture
Oct 15, 2010
WHAT is up with Japanese fashion????
Friends, you know I don't follow fashion. I couldn't tell a Don Loper from a Vogue sloper.
I am but a style cipher -- a blank screen onto which my readers project their ideas -- some might say fantasies -- of how a short, middle-aged man should dress. True, I have a passing interest in Lana Turner's Jean Louis wardrobes from Fifties-era Ross Hunter movies but that is it.
BUT I do know when something is wrong. And friends, what is going on in Japan today is very, very wrong.
Oct 14, 2010
Beards -- yea or nay?
Facial hair is one of those things that go in and out of mainstream and alternative fashion regularly. (When it's "out" in the former it's usually "in" in the latter. )
Labels:
mens fashion,
mens grooming,
YEA or NAY?
Oct 13, 2010
All Quiet on the Jacket Front
Readers, the cranberry corduroy suit saga continues. Slowly. And look, I'm tailoring -- by hand! Do you believe it?
Labels:
mens suit,
works in progress
Oct 12, 2010
The Second Opinion
Friends, when you put an outfit together -- be it for work or for play, using clothing you've sewn yourself or just fished out of the local dumpster -- who do you turn to for an objective (i.e. honest) opinion about how you look?
Labels:
clothing and culture,
mens fashion
Oct 11, 2010
Sick-Week Synopsis
Readers, I'm stunned. Yesterday I attempted to plant the seed of prosperity in your lives with some timeless New Age wisdom and you responded with a shopping list worthy of a wedding registry at Bed, Bath & Beyond.
Labels:
my life,
pattern drafting
Oct 10, 2010
Sewing and "The Secret"
Giggle, gasp, or gag, you've probably heard of The Secret.
This is the internationally best-selling book that explains that hidden-for-centuries-and-suddenly-revealed -- Today on Oprah! -- ancient truth, the "law of attraction." The law of attraction says, in essence, visualize it and it will be yours (or, what you think about is what will come true).
Labels:
sewing and culture
Oct 9, 2010
Oct 8, 2010
Tattoo, YOU?
OK, guys, I know I'm treading on thin ice here. But I must ask. When did tattoos become the new pierced ear?
Labels:
body art,
clothing and culture
Oct 7, 2010
Requisite Halloween Post
I don't think it's too early, do you?
I recognize Halloween is a subject of relevance only to Americans (or so I believe); my apologies to all others and don't be too smug: you have your embarrassing holidays too!
Sewists of America, what's your take on Halloween? As the owner of at least one sewing machine, does it have special relevance?
Labels:
clothing and culture,
my life
Oct 6, 2010
Cathy Get Your Gun!
Friends, thank you so much for the warm -- some might even say excessive -- welcome you gave Michael yesterday. We definitely will have him back.
Labels:
Cathy,
project planning
Oct 5, 2010
Michael responds! "A well-made, but one-dimensional hit piece."
To the misled minions of MPB (Misleading Propagandist Blathering):
As guest blogger, I decided to use as today's title an eerily appropriate phrase from a review of the recent blockbuster, The Social Network.
As guest blogger, I decided to use as today's title an eerily appropriate phrase from a review of the recent blockbuster, The Social Network.
Still reeling from yesterday's inaccurate portrayal of my corduroy jacket purchase, not to mention the slanderous representation of my persona as well as of my domestic relationship with your regular host, I have decided to use this rare opportunity to address you all as a means of setting the record straight.
Labels:
my life
Oct 4, 2010
When Loved Ones Insist on Ready-to-wear
Friends, you know my partner Michael has been, and continues to be, a tremendous support throughout my short but dramatic sewing career.
Labels:
my life,
project planning
Oct 3, 2010
Peter's Reunion Wrap-up
Gentle readers, I am so very tired this morning and oh, so very hoarse. But I really had a blast last night at my 30th high school reunion.
Labels:
my life
Oct 2, 2010
How should a man smell?
Wise readers, how do you like your man to smell? If you are a man or man-identified, how do you like to smell?
Labels:
mens fashion,
mens grooming,
YEA or NAY?
Oct 1, 2010
Replacing a mens shirt collar -- it CAN be done!
Friends, I've always liked this white shirt I stitched for myself in November 2009 and planned to wear to the dreaded event you know where -- now tomorrow, OMG!
Labels:
mens shirt
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