The Best in Affordable Style from the Month that Was

A wise man once asked: “What the hell just happened?” And for good reason. There is value in looking back. It gives us all a good gauge as to what is good, and more importantly, what is not good, going forward. Sure, the “clip show” is mostly a cheap (affordable?) device to create new content out of already published stuff. But it’s also a good way to catch up in case you missed something. So cue the flashback music. Here’s the very best from the month that was…

Best Sale: President’s Day Sales (all of em’)

Exclusion free at Banana Republic. J. Crew extra 30% off, and then an additional 10% off a solid selection. A few desirable AE factory 2nds models for $195. Even Brooks Brothers got in on the act with an extra 25% off some fall and winter gear that had already gone on sale. Frankly, I don’t remember President’s Day sales being this good in the past. Seemed extra good this year.

Best Ind. Item Deal: Brooks Brothers AE Strands for $223.50 (exp)

Strands are now going for $425 at full retail. And that’s WITHOUT a slim, partial rubber sole for grip. You want a slim, V-tread sole on your Strands via AE? That’ll be $465 please. Yet a similar sole comes standard with Brooks Brothers models, and for a bit there BB AE Strands were down under $225 during an extra 25% off select “accessories” promo. That, my friends, was very kind of them.

Most Useful Post: Up your Style in College (w/out trying too hard)

Good for the younger fellas, or, for the guys who work in super-dressed down environments and want to look decent, yet don’t want to look like they’re trying to show everyone else up. Thanks to all of you who shared this post with your college pals. Word of mouth is seriously one of the best ways we get new readers, even with the explosion of SEO and Social Targeting and all that junk. We really value (and prefer) the old-school referral method. Hope we can continue to earn those shares from you guys with solid, useful content.

Most Shopping Voodoo/Convincing Retailer: Massdrop

Y’know what feels really dumb? Waiting a month or more for a product, especially in this day and age of 2-day shipping. Also, when that product arrives, it feels really dumb that you can’t return it. Yet Massdrop, somehow, someway, keeps coming up with stuff that is really damn tempting despite the final sale and waiting due to the pre-order nature of the site. I don’t understand how they do this.

Most Tempting, New Spring Arrival: J. Crew’s “Unsuit” – $266

I fully admit that a totally unconstructed, hyper-lightweight suit like this will NOT be attractive to traditionalists. At all. But with tailoring getting more loose and less constructed, and the desire to wear a traditional suit being shared by fewer and fewer people, J. Crew just might have a real win with these separates. I’m usually not the type to like the sneakers/t-shirt with a suit look. But it just might work here. Or, a polo instead of a tee on a blistering hot day.

Best use of profanity: Why “The Customer is Always Right” is Bullshit

Frequent swearing is, in fact, a sure sign of someone lacking creativity and a solid vocabulary. But sometimes, a well placed cuss word is: A. unavoidable, and B. too precise to pass up. And some over-entitled types in this day and age… man… sometimes you just want to tell people to go fuck a cheese grater.

Most Easily Irritated Reader: Brogan T. on FB

Brogan T. via FB, commenting about our Skimp or Spend “Featured” post (again, Featured Posts are “Evergreen” advice posts that are re-runs, yet might unfortunately contain the occasional out of stock product… but being that we’ve published 5,318* posts to date, we can’t constantly be updating everything)

“Uggghh. See a pair of shoes in the article that I’d love to have for casual wear: broken link. Or… the article is five years old and Dappered is just reusing shit, not even updating a damn thing.”

Please tell me you own a cheese grater.

Most Wheelhouse Post: The Top 10 Men’s Dress Shirts to Own

One shirt, two shirts, white shirts, blue shirts! Boring? Yes! Correct? Yes! Variety for the sake of variety can bite me!

Best Annual Romantic Advice: Rollin’ Solo on Valentine’s

We’re hardly Sages around here, but “Smartly single > Stupidly attached” is a reminder that seems to be appreciated by some.

Best new Watch: Orient Small Seconds Automatic

Hot damn Orient. Well done. The latest addition to their Orient line up. Hacks, hand winds, domed crystal, the works. Full review here.

Most Serial Killer Sounding Brand Name: George

UPDATE: Big thanks to reader Rick F. who points out that this “George” house brand has been available in England for awhile now. Also, according to stateside reader Adam McE., George has been used as a brand name at Walmart in the past. Looks like they’re trying to make it more contemporary it though?

Big thanks to reader Blaine R. for the tip on this story. Looks like the Bonobos buy is having an impact. Walmart is launching a new Menswear house brand to try and compete with Target’s Goodfellow & Co., and whatever house brands Amazon will almost certainly expand. The name of that new brand at Walmart? It’s called… “George.”

“What are you wearing?”
“George.”