Category: Look of the Day

Summer has just begun yet it is entirely too hot to do anything.  Way too hot to sit in the sun for tea with your grandmother at her country club but you only have to do it once a year and so you find yourself scurrying through your closet for the perfect thing to wear.  If you wear shorts, she’ll chastise you for being too old to show your legs in public during  business hours.  If you wear jeans, she’ll raise her eyes at your career as a writer and question how you’re paying the bills.  Instead, you settle for an outfit that will surely be fitting for your grandmother, although, you were sure, she would say you looked exactly like a modern day Atticus Finch resurrected from Maycomb.  And then…she would recite the opening of To Kill a Mockingbird, her favorite book. And as you listen, the heat excited sweat all over your body, the taste of the mint tea soothing your throat, soft tone of your grandmother’s voice takes you back to summers you spent with her in the South…not so long ago.

“Maycomb was an old town, but it was a tired old town when I first knew it.  In rainy weather the streets turned to red slop; grass grew on sidewalks, the courthouse sagged in the square.  Somehow, it was hotter then: a black dog suffered on a summer’s day; bony mules hitched to Hoover carts flicked flies in the sweltering shade of the live oaks on the square.  Men’s stiff collars wilted by nine in the morning.  Ladies bathed before noon, after their three-o’clock naps, and by nightfall were like soft teacakes with frostings of sweat and sweet talcum.” Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird

Out of Our Closet Today 5-31-12: Mint Tea

Shirt: Paul Smith Blue/White Small Checked Shirt/Paul Smith $155

Pants: Paul Smith Slim Fit Green Jeans/Paul Smith $255

Shoes: Harris Wingtip Balmoral/Barneys $625

Watch: Vestel Plexi Brown Leather Watch/PacSun $280

Bow Tie: Dotted Bow Tie/ rag-bone.com $105

 

How do you define your individual style?

Be Yourself.  Be Fearless.  Be Your Own Unexpected Luxury!

See all of our looks from Out of Our Closet in our daily Out of the Closet Section!

 

 

You’re not really one of those types who sits at home but tells everyone else you’re in meetings…just to seem busy! Nope, you’re really not that busy.  You manage your affairs well and your business always banks revenue, so you sleep in late, grab lunch with a friend, maybe a late dinner and a movie.  Naps are always part of your schedule.  You’re not conventionally smart…maybe…you’ve just played your cards well.  Every once in awhile you have to meet up with one of your investors for a “lunch meeting”, which typically consists of 45 minutes talking about their lives, 5 minutes talking about yours and 2 minutes writing the check.  The believe in you…they always have, which is why you never compromise.  In your company there is no such thing as “business casual”, there’s just business as usual.  Why should you dress differently than you ever would normally? Your success has been built on being real and why would you change that now…doing you works!

Out of Our Closet Today: 5-21-12: Summer Business

Shirt: Michael Kors/Nordstrom

Shorts: Hollister Co.

Shoes: Aldo

Watch: Michael Kors/Nordstrom

Bracelets: Niche Boutique

 

Style Tip: Always remember that individual style is exactly that…individual style.  Don’t feel that you have to apologize or compromise.  Some people can spend $10,000 on an outfit while others can spend only $10 on an outfit, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get the same effect.  Essentially, the look above could be bought at any thrift store for approximately $10.  When we first began wearing wingtips, one of us bought a pair online for over $100 while the other bought a pair for 90cents! There really wasn’t much difference in the shoes.  Today, we would much rather always wear $300-$400 shoes…but that doesn’t always fit our budget.  Peter adores thrift store shopping and will never stop…ever in search of the greatest vintage concert tee! Make sure you know what you want your style to say and then breath it from your soul!

Be Yourself.  Be Fearless.  Be Your Own Unexpected Luxury!

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Image: raannt

You try your best to keep your head off of the desk but all your mind can think about is laying out by the pool and catching up on all of the great books you weren’t able to read during the school year…The Hunger Games…Fifty Shades of Grey…The Fault in Our Stars. The professor calls your name and you shuffle your papers together and stand up…its the last presentation you have to give this semester…and then it’s pool time!

Out of Our Closet Today 5-18-12: Last Days of School:

Shoes: Robert Wayne

Shirt: Calvin Klein

Pants: Calvin Klein

Sweater: H & M

Bracelet: Velvet Messiah

Rings: Tiffany & Company

 

Be Yourself.  Be Fearless.  Be Your Own Unexpected Luxury!

 

 

 

So you didn’t get that job…who cares.  You’ll find something else to do this summer.  But for now, all you can seem to do is lay around in bed watching old episodes of Revenge and Glee on television, praying for some job to fall into your lap.  Your best friend calls and asks you to go shopping and out to dinner with her.  You casually throw together some stuff laying around your floor(your favorite cut off shorts and your roommates tank; she won’t care) and toss on a hat because your hair looks ridiculous.  Who cares.  It’s not like you’re going to run into anyone you have to impress…until dinner turns into drinks which turns into you flirting with a manager of this new, artsy bar which just opened.  He grabs your hat and twirls it around on his finger…You leave with his number…and the job as the new bartender. Being yourself pays off, doesn’t it?!

Out of Our Closet Today 5-10-12: Laid Back Cool Style

Shorts: Your favorite pair of old Levis beyond repair…cut off to fit perfectly.

Cheaper Alternative: What’s cheaper than your own closet?

Tank: $62 Dimepiece Clothing Tank…Femme Symbol/Moxsie.com

Cheaper Alternative: $20-32 Tanks/Urban Outfitters

Sweater/Hoodie: $72 Allsaints/Allsaints

Cheaper Alternative: $24.95 H&M Hooded Sweatshirt Jacket/H&M

Shoes: $57 Superdry Riva Boat Shoes/Bank Fashion

Cheaper Althernative: We think this is a pretty good buy.  Cheaper? Flip Flops.

Hat: $9.95Wide Variety of Hats/H&M

Cheaper Alternative: Cheaper than $9.95?

Bracelets: $325 M. Cohen Black Deer Skin Leather Wrap Bracelet/Endless

Cheaper Alternative: We just bought some bracelets like this at Niche Boutique in Indianapolis. $25 or at Urban Outfitters for $12.

 

Style Tips: Dig deep into your closet and bring out those things you haven’t worn in awhile.  Don’t be afraid to cross genders.  Clothes are clothes and we’re the ones who dictate how we feel in them.  Know a good buy and know when you’re getting screwed.  Unless you have money to throw around, getting $300 bracelets when you can buy similar ones for $20 is not a good buy.  But, like us, have certain favorites that you will spend money.  In our house, shoes, watches, tee shirts and jewelry are rampant.  We don’t know when to say no! Style is about having fun and creating what makes you feel your best!

Be Yourself.  Be Fearless.  Be Your Own Unexpected Luxury!

 

It’s 11:30 am and your phone is ringing, waking you from sleep.  You pick up the phone while stretching and begin smiling…it’s him! After answering the call, you hear him asking you to a spontaneous lunch date…at 12! 30 minutes…not much time to look sexy enough to make this lunch date last all the way into dinner.  You walk into your closet and begin grabbing stuff here and there…

Out of Our Closet Today 5-9-12: Sexy Lunch Date

Shorts:$65 J.Crew Stanton Slim Fit Cotton Short

Cheaper Alternative: $25 Old Navy Belted Plain Front Twill Shorts

Shirt: $235 Paul Smith London Grey Gingham Button Down Shirt/Liberty London

Cheaper Alternative: $64.50 J.Crew Secret Wash Shirt in Faded Gingham

Shoes: $290 BARKER Johnny Oxford Shoe/Harrods

Cheaper Alternative: $69.95 Giorgio Brutini Medallion Cap Toe Oxford/DSW

Bracelets: $930 Astley Clarke Juliette Pearl Bracelet/Astley Clarke

$68 Roarke Extender Pomp Bracelet/Charm and Chain

$9.97 Cara Accessories Leather and Metal Stud Bracelet/Nordstrom

Cheaper Alternative: Von Maur, American Eagle or any local or vintage jewelry store.  As men, we typically look for bracelets in women’s stores and usually find unique stuff!

Sunglasses: $200 Ray-Ban Folding Wayfarer Sunglasses/Ray-Ban

Cheaper Alternative: $5 Any gas station.

 

Style Tips: $70 shorts and $200 shirts can become expensive.  Utilize consignment shops or develop a keen eye as a clearance shopper, realizing that in one month, what is actually $200 will probably be reduced by half.  Most of us don’t have millions of dollars sitting in the bank…but that doesn’t mean we can’t look that way.  Spend money on items that can go the distance or will be able to transfer to many different looks.  A good pair of Oxfords for less than $80 is probably well worth the money, especially since they look better with age anyway.  A brand new pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers can run as low as $100 or $125, but will last forever and are timeless. Make sure you’re buying staple items that become the foundation for your closet and then spend the rest on items which will help you develop your own individual style!

Be Yourself.  Be Fearless.  Be Your Own Unexpected Luxury!

Check out all of our other looks in our Out of Our Closet section!

 

When picking out what we’re going to wear for the day…comfort usually rules.  Our closet is so eclectic that we like to pull opposites together, which indicates our inner personality dictating our individual style.  Alex definitely puts more thought in his outfits, but is always true to himself, whether what he is wearing is trendy or not.  Neither one of us is ruled by magazine articles or runway shows, although we’re obsessed with both, but we find our style happiness more in what makes us feel attractive.

Since we’re constantly asked what we’re wearing or where we shop, we thought it would be fun to begin highlighting one of our outfits daily.  You will probably find that Alex tends to lean more towards colored pants and tighter, button down colored shirts and wingtips, while Peter sways toward the vintage, with 70’s Western shirts and old concert tees.  We both have a love for accessories; jewelry and watches, shoes and underwear…and luckily, we share all of it!

Out of Our Closet Today 5-4-12:

Black Sport Coat: H & M

Black Graphic Tee: We made these at a local t-shirt shop for awareness of disaster in Japan

True Religion Jeans: Saks Fifth Avenue

PEACE Bracelet(also comes in LOVE) Gift shop at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas

Cartier Santos Galbee Men’s Watch: Cartier

Black Converse Low-Top Slides(We’re addicted and have them in several colors): Converse or Nordstrom

 

Be Yourself.  Be Fearless.  Be Your Own Unexpected Luxury!