I discovered Palmer and Sons through Hypebeast, which is surprising, since they are a Vancouver brand. But I’ve started to learn that most of the best things in Vancouver are secrets… Palmer and Sons is definitely a well-kept secret.

Palmer and Sons is a bespoke leather and luggage company, who make handmade, to-order items out of their studio in Vancouver’s Eastside. I met with Nik Palmer (the father, who is English), who has a background in computer games, but opened a large space for painters so that they could access affordable studio space. He then began making bags and luggage, and two years after the first piece was made, he says the business is now “full on.”

What is interesting about this business, is that it is far from typical. There is no stock (aside from three samples I saw) as everything is made to order. They don’t wholesale (the product would be too expensive) so they only sell online. Most of their customers are in the US, but there are a lot outside of North America (and a few Canadian ones, but Nik says it is so bothersome to deal with the Canadian taxes, he prefers international customers.)

The company has two rules: they try not to be too digital (which Nik admits is hypocritical since they only sell online) and they try and source locally. This means that most of their leather comes from the US (there aren’t many tanneries around Vancouver.)

He showed me a few skins in the studio, the leather is extremely thick and beautifully finished. They source their finishings almost like found objects, using pieces that are made for other industries. The hardware on the bags are mostly equestrian and marine hardware, like panic clasps (which are used in riding, so when you fall off your horse and are being dragged, the clasp will open when it is under pressure) and marine shackles. The wood handles are handmade.

Palmer and Sons describe their bags as “Contemporary Workmen Gear,” which sums it up perfectly. There is something effortless and almost rough about their product, despite it being precious and handmade.

The best laptop bag ever, made for the MacBook.

For more information, or to place an order, check out the Palmer and Sons website.

Balmain Spring Summer 2009, the $2,000 ripped jeans.

This is my first guest post, written by Chris Low, a friend from London. Chris is Scottish, and is not a fashion person, but his opinionated rants never fail to make me laugh. He keeps emailing me about my blog posts, and I always tell him he needs to 1- post it as a comment so that others can share the joy, and 2- start his own blog. He does neither, so I told him to write me a post. Here it is.

(By the way, for my North American readers…the term footballer refers to a soccer player! Not one of those overgrown NFL muscle heads that are too wimpy to play rugby, so they opt for the pussy’s version instead.)

Rip It Up & Start Again by Chris Low

If there is one rule in men’s fashion to adhere to it must surely be  ‘if a footballer would wear it – avoid it’. Just as in olden times miners would carry a budgerigar on the end of a stick, extended before them to detect any incipient gas leaks, as soon as footballers enter clothes stores one can only conclude their staff ensure only the most tasteless of garments are on display.

One such accoutrement, which always features highly amongst the wardrobes of footballers, reality show contestants and members of boy bands, is ‘designer distress’. An almost ‘extreme sports’ league up from the ‘faux-faded look’ of yesteryear where denim manufacturers got their interns to lie in the middle of roads till the roadworks lorry trundled along and painted over them with five inch wide white stripes, designer distress is where areas of a garment will be cut, slashed or otherwise left to resemble something Freddie Kruger has lost his temper with.

Balmain long sleeve t-shirt, $282 (Canadian dollars.)

A case in point being this striped top from Balmain. Like Archimedes discovering the theory of displacement, I thought my perennial search for the perfect striped top may have been at an end. I could stitch up & live with the nonsense round the collar (which incidentally, looks like it was ’sandpapered’; a trick favored by street cred crazed crusty punks since the early ’80s) but checking on the back view and OH, THE HORROR! - ’designer’ rips on the arms. In literal terms: a few deft slashes transforming a perfectly attractive top into something only to be worn by footballers, reality show contestants and members of boy bands.

I understand Balmain is famous for such foolishness. Witness the ‘Lindsay Lohan’ jeans which, apart from having a top right thigh that looks like it’s been used to distract the tiger that mauled Siegfried & Roy, has ugly big holes of crudely contrived ‘wear’ in an area that would probably only get worn down if one spent a lot of time bent over and in receipt of vigorous, friction causing propulsion. Probably not a look Ms Lohan should aspire to with such candor.

Lindsay Lohan in ripped jeans from Balmain.

However, those are beacons of taste & restraint when compared to these monstrosities below. Might they even have been a well tailored pair of jeans before death by a thousand cuts? Who can tell? Now they look like they’ve been taken off someone who was run over by a train. And WTF’s with the BROWN STAINS on the back pockets??? Perhaps when the original wearer was thrown to the lions he was wearing a colostomy bag and that got clawed as well? There’s Manhattan ‘Hobo-chic’ and there’s just looking like a drunk who’s lost control of their bodily functions. If the jeans were light blue – and sans the brown stain – one could just about get away with wearing them if one’s occupation was dancing in a cage in a club called The Manhole. But other than that I am lost as to just whom they could appeal to. In fact what they remind me of is the end result of a cartoon character lighting up a stick of dynamite thinking it was a cigar. A look whoever would wear these jeans may wish to accentuate by spiking their hair horizontal, covering their face in soot and sporting a perpetually startled expression.

Balmain Jeans, $848 (Canadian Dollars.)

And I’m not going to even START on the unlaced army boots look as evidenced on the models. Looking like a footballer is bad enough; looking like a roadie for The Levellers is simply beyond the pale.

So, my hunt goes on for the perfect striped top. A shame Balmain felt the need to ruin this one or they’d have had a sale and I could have moved on to devoting my energies to finding the perfect pair of jeans. A search I doubt would ever find me calling at Balmain’s door.

Balmain images from Luisa Via Roma.
Lindsay Lohan image source.
Catwalk image from Style.com.

All images are complexgeometries Fall Winter 2010

I just don’t understand how certain Canadian fashion brands manage to stay out of my radar. I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what is going on in the fashion world, and I always pay extra attention to Canadian brands, but sometimes I just miss some completely. Complexgeometries is one those brands, and I’m guessing I didn’t catch on to it because they don’t exactly advertise the fact that they are Canadian. Which brings me to an interesting point, what does being “Canadian” do to a fashion brand? I imagine in Canada, it is a good thing, as people like to buy locally. But on the other hand, there are a lot of people here who prefer to buy European brands (in fact, there seems to be a major issue in Vancouver when it comes to the arts, people only seem to support Canadians that have made it big somewhere else first. Not very nice at all.) What about internationally? How does “Canadian” resonate amongst other countries when it comes to fashion.

When I think French fashion brand, I think luxury and classic. Italian means sexy. British means edgy. American means luxury sportswear. Japanese and Korean mean intellectual and angular. So does Belgian fashion. Spanish means colours. Brazilian means brighter colours and bikinis. Australian means summery and effortless. So where does Canadian fashion fit in? And please don’t say activewear, because Canadians and especially the West Coast needs to get away from this image of fashion=activewear.

Anyway, back to complexgeometries. This brand has been founded by a self-taught fashion designer, Glayton Evans, who was born in Northern Canada (Fairview, Alberta to be exact.) The brand is based in Montreal, and the clothes are sold in some pretty amazing boutiques around the world, including B Store in London and Revolve Clothing (of course, no stockists in Vancouver.) Here are some pictures from the Fall Winter 2010 collection, entitled “in search of truth.” The collection was inspired by “the shrouded garb of religious ceremony” and keeps with the brand’s “continued fascination with the dissembling that is intrinsic to fashion.” I call it gorgeous draped jerseys and if this is the kind of thing we can call representative of “Canadian fashion,” then I am satisfied.

All images and quotes courtesy of complexgeometries.

Here are two pairs of brown booties I spotted whilst skimming Hypebeast, the latest addition to the Searching for Style Reading List. (Hypebeast is an amazing streetwear product blog, with a lot of amazing running shoes and other cool stuff. The problem is that they publish at least 15 new posts a day, and so it can pile up, and there is no condensed version. Sometimes I erase 50 posts at a time without reading them because it becomes overwhelming.)

Anyway, the two booties are nothing like each other, but I felt they merited a joint post, as they are clearly two opposites on the brown bootie spectrum.

I love…

these incredible brogue-style booties by Makato Taguchi, a recent graduate from London College of Fashion. The details are fantastic, the tone of blue coming out from the perforated leather, the knotted leather strip holding the lower and upper part of the bootie together, and the rope trim between the sole and the boot. Click here to see more pieces from his graduate collection.

I loathe…

this Gucci mountaineering runner. It is so tacky, and it is exactly this type of product that resulted in Gucci being associated with WAGs and blatant logos, rather than fantastic, equestrian-inspired luxury goods.

Both images taken from Hypebeast.

I am really trying to limit my menswear coverage because I am not supposed to be working on holiday, but I wanted to cover Kim Jones’ collection for Dunhill because we went to school together and I have a huge amount of respect for the guy. He was the one that was always making things happen. Although he is a great designer, I wouldn’t count him as one of the most talented St. Martins‘ alumni, but he is successful because he gets shit done. This collection, despite a few really nice parkas and outerwear, is a lot of quite simple tailoring, which is very classic, but still manages to look fresh and young.

I love…

hidden placket cardigans.

cool, casual parkas.

a new, classy baseball jacket, with a set in sleeve and piping.

bow ties that make men's tailoring look fun.

I loathe…

Dunhill's new jacket shape. The widened lapel and the flared hem looks odd, as do the two lone buttons.

See the rest of my menswear spring summer 2011 coverage here.

All images from Style.com.

Anyone who says menswear is boring should look at John Galliano’s catwalk shows. He is the only one who consistently puts on a real show, with crazy styling and unbelievable sets. But despite all the weirdness (this season, inspired by Charlie Chaplin), there are always some great commercial pieces in the collections. Which goes to show, menswear can be exciting AND wearable.

I love…

check-lined jackets. Galliano is not the only one doing it for next spring summer.

that men too can wear statement pieces, like this amazing trenchcoat.

classic tailoring with fun details, like this sleeve embellishment.

I loathe…

when the crotch is at the knees.

flared shorts with floral inserts.

See the rest of my menswear spring summer 2011 coverage here.

All images from Style.com.

Balenciaga’s spring summer 2011’s menswear collection feels very modern and space age. The models are unusual, but they really suit the collection. The collection features some very cool parkas and puffas, which is nice to see because not many brands do that sort of thing well. (I don’t consider The North Face to be doing anything “well.”)

I love…

an amazing "sparkly" coat, space age white shoes, and a very interesting model.

those glasses. I want them!

Balenciaga puffas.

I loathe…

the shape of the trousers, which are too wide and have too much volume at the waist. It reminds me of what ravers used to wear in the 90's.

unflattering banana-yellow trousers.

See the rest of my menswear spring summer 2011 coverage here.

All images from Style.com.

I love Paul Smith’s castings. He uses a strange mix of guys on his catwalk, not always models, but men he thinks are pretty cool. That can mean anything, but for this season it is a lot of long-haired rocker types, but not the boring skinny versions, but real men. I also love the styling of the show, everything looks thrown on and effortless (there’s that word again…)

I love…

that Paul Smith can put pussy bow shirts and ridiculous sunglasses on his models, without making them look like girly men.

a great mix of textures. The shiny jacket, the discreetly patterned shirt, and the grey acid washed jeans with interesting seaming.

forcing men to experience a day-in-the-life of a woman: carrying around a giant shoulder bag AND a handbag.

I loathe…

when the floral pattern is worn with the pussy bow shirt and then its gets to be too much.

See the rest of my menswear spring summer 2011 coverage here.

All images from Style.com.

This Yves Saint Laurent menswear collection is a bit scary. If I ever catch my husband in high waisted, flared, polka dot shorts, he will be in big trouble. I guess if you remove some of the styling, you can find a few interesting pieces, but it is hard to ignore the hats and the defined waists.

I love…

a cummerbund worn over a jacket.

I loathe…

stupid hats and socks worn with sandals.

cleavage on men.

defined waists on menswear.

gathered waistlines.

high-waisted, flared, polka dot hot pants. I know a hundred women who would look great in these shorts, and not a single man.

See the rest of my menswear spring summer 2011 coverage here.

All images from Style.com.

I really like this Dries Van Noten collection. It has got all the elements of Dries, the strange colours, interesting patterns, and unusual shapes, but he has kept it grounded and very masculine.

I love…

that Dries can do acid wash in a discreet way, and make it look modern.

paint splatter prints.

when patterned trousers look eccentric and classy, rather than tacky and over-the-top.

masculine pastels.

I loathe…

bowl cuts and buttoned up shirts. It look way too Dr. Evil for me.

See the rest of my menswear spring summer 2011 coverage here.

All images from Style.com.