To Pop or Not To Pop

The men behind Gilt MANual answer your most pressing style questions.

-By Josh Peskowitz, Monday March 28th, 2011 at 4:47 pm

Collar

Cool Hand Luke

FLipped

Paul Newman

Pea Coat

Is this not a "functional purpose"?

Aside from the functional purposes, i.e. blocking the sun/for sports/cold, is it ever okay wear your collar turned up?

As I write this, dear reader, my collar is popped. I am sitting at my desk, indoors, and yet it is completely okay for my collar to be turned up—because this collar calls for popping. Now before people start calling for my head (and my neck is protected, so remember to swing the axe extra hard) let me say that collar popping should be mostly relegated to jackets; any overcoat is fair game, as is a blazer provided it’s of a sturdy material. While a suit jacket is a no-no, a jean jacket or a field coat are without question poppable, and don’t make me even talk about pea coats. A turned collar on a jacket seems more natural than on a shirt, so focus your flipping there—unless the shirt you’re considering the pop on is made of a sturdy material; heavy flannel or a rugby shirt come to mind. The truth is, popping one’s collar on anything other than a polo (which you should never do, that’s been ruined) comes down to personal preference, and you must carry it with absolute confidence. Ask yourself, “can I pull this off?” And if the there is doubt in your heart, it’s probably best to avoid it. Unless it’s a pea coat, then there’s no excuse.

TAGS: Collar, Cool Hand Luke, FLipped, Paul Newman, Pea Coat, Polo



This article is from GiltMANual.

I'd just like to say; how many years have I been popping my pea coat collar? Since my black Gap pea coat I bought for a Christmas Banquet at Bethel to my DKNY off-brown pea coat to my newer brown Timberland pea coat and my exquisite black Ralp Lauren pea coat with military influences I've been popping my pea coat collar for years!

Bedroom and Office Painting

Katy painted our bedroom last weekend while I was at work and we both painted our office in the middle of the week.

We debated on two gray colors one a lighter gray and one a more middle gray. I liked the darker, elephant skin color, and that is what we went with.























































































BONUS!
Here are a couple pictures of the yard and the house as Katy and I have shoveled around the foundation of the house. We did it to try and prevent the snow from melting and seeping into our basement as it did a little bit when it was 50+ degrees in February.

Cuisinart Coffee

I got a new Cuisinart coffeemaker. It'll do 12 cups, has a setting to brew just 1-4 cups, can heat the carafe to keep coffee warm if I make more than a couple cups, can be programmed, has a gold tone filter to keep bad flavors out. It also has a hot water feature. Katy and I used it last night to heat our water for hot chocolate but I'd guess you can also use it for instant oatmeal or tea.

I like it so far!

30 Shirts

I needed to do some laundry for this week so I pushed through a few loads. However, it looked like dress shirts were going to need two cycles. They weren't that dirty, I just had that many.
































My favorite shirts are the two gingham navy and white shirts. The bigger gingham is Ralph Lauren with a spread collar. It looks great with navy, gray or black. You can't mess it up. The smaller gingham shirt is Tommy Hilfiger with a spread collar as well. I also like the light blue houndstooth shirt with a spread collar and made by Ralph Lauren. They were all cut to fit me better by my tailor, Altug. (Well, he's really not mine but I support his local business on occasion.)

Why do I wear spread collar? Because it helps widen my neck and face since I have a skinny neck and thin face.

Surprisingly it didn't seem like it took forever to iron everything. I think I did 13 or 14 on Monday night and then finished the next 16 on Tuesday morning while I watched "Run for your Life." It's a documentary on the founder of the NYC Marathon.

Mom, thanks for buying me my Rowenta and for teaching me how to iron!

What I Wore

Well, I didn't wear this today but the idea was given to me from Mr. Porter, a new website as a high end shopping website for men. It's outfitted with Burberry, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, John Lobb, Paul Smith and more. It offers style advice, style icons and more. It's a place that offers alot of what a very good blog does in terms of content but will also sell you the items. It's self promoting in the sense they'll place the products under the answer like the question below. They offered what high end items they had underneath the answer.

My friends dress very casually and it would be odd to wear a jacket and tie when I see them, but I cannot bring myself to go out for dinner in a T-shirt and hooded sweater. Is there a halfway house?

Yes: slim chinos, desert boots, a colourful belt (either woven or in canvas), a button-down shirt, a fitted cotton jacket, and perhaps a knitted tie. It will be smart enough to set you apart, but casual enough for you not to feel odd.

This is what I came up with.

DKNY navy striped three button sports coat
Club Room navy cashmere v neck sweater
Banana Republic long sleeve brown plaid woven
Ralph Lauren chocolate brown knit tie
Ralph Lauren navy and white striped nautical nylon belt
J. Crew classic fit chinos (actually J. Crew's slimmer cut)
Banana Republic gray and brown argyle socks
Clark's Desert Boots

What would you name/title a men's style blog?

I Don't Blog Enough

See how the words on my previous post are next to the picture and not underneath? That drives me nuts and I can't figure out how to fix it. I need a blogging job so I can have someone teach me or take a class where I can get some answers. I haven't found them on my own yet. Though, that's not a surprise to many. Is it?

Closet Redo

Well, I guess I didn't realize I hadn't taken the closet redo pictures off of the camera so here are some before and after pictures.




















Katy's closet beforehand.



















My closet beforehand.













Everything's down, ready to paint.













Everything's down, ready to paint.



















A coat of paint, white, to brighten it up.













A coat of paint, white, to brighten it up.













This was the work, measure, measure, cut.













This was the work, measure, measure, cut.



















Some of the installation.



















My closet installed; just missing the shelving.



















Katy's closet has two levels of hanging on the left with shelves above each.



















Katy's right side of the closet has half shelving and a place for dresses.



















Katy's result filled with clothes.



















She liked how she did. She passed.



















Most of my results, though I am missing my shelving.


It was a fun and rewarding first fix in our house. We did just a little demo and built up and empty closet to be pretty close to what we designed.

The challenges were the time consumption of not having enough tools or not getting as accurate of a cut that you want. There was alot of pieces to measure and cut. It wasn't bad, but it was time consuming. It went from a weekend to a week.

Ultimately, I think they both turned out very well. They are good looking, functional and being done with them gives you a sense of accomplishment.

I would have thought out a little more of the design if I did it again. I wish I had a place for my ties and a better place for my shoes but you only have so much space.