Introducing...Stuarts London

My pics from Stuarts current collection - Oliver Spencer Surveillance jacket, Edwin Nimes shirt, Red Wing Moc Toe boots, Levi's Made & Crafted Zig-Zag tee, Universal Works Brisbane jacket, Penfield Lansdale shirt,

 Pendleton blanket, Farah Vintage tailored shorts.

I'd like to introduce my new blog sponsors, Stuarts London. Stuarts was established in the late 1960s as a traditional tailors and outfitters for city gents, throughout the 70s & 80s they began to stock more casual european brands and formed a very popular following with the terrace casuals. Nowadays Stuarts offers such an extensive list of brands it's hard to place it in one category, let's call it an emporium for menswear.

With over 100 brands on their list it's hard to narrow it down but some of my favourite pieces are coming from Barbour, Carhartt, Clarks, Edwin, Farah Vintage, Grenson, Levi's Vintage Clothing, Norse Projects, Oliver Spencer, Paul Smith, YMC....the list goes on. Over the next couple of months I will be working with Stuarts to bring you some exciting stuff including giveaways, offers and brand exclusives. We'll be starting with a giveaway very soon so be sure to look out for that.

I hope you all enjoy your long Easter Weekend guys, hopefully you can spend some quality time with your loved ones. I'll be working but hopefully I'll squeeze in a few hours of fun somewhere. Take it easy.

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Beans For Victory

(Image source)

I get a real buzz when I come across student projects like this one by Joao Brandao. The brief was to create a range of commemorative packaging for a commercial product. Beans for Victory was inspired by the Second World War, times of rationing and the role Heinz played in distributing food to those in need.

Really love this concept. (First blog post mentioning baked beans....)

Urban Outfitters S/S 13

 Last week I went for a nose around Urban Outfitters in Manchester to check out their latest offerings for this coming Spring/Summer (will it ever come, it sure doesn't feel like it. Snowing again) season. As always UO let me have free reign of shop to look around the new brands, take photos, try a ton of stuff on and ask too many questions. Here's some things that caught my eye;

Along with Farah and Shore Leave, Carharrt was one of the most dominant brands across the menswear levels. Last season I recall them having one table but now it's grown to a couple of tables, a rail as well as being interspersed across key areas of the store. Camo still dominates here, mixed in with florals, classic work and streetwear and the usual solid basics. 

Suit has made a comeback for S/S, they're generally known for their outerwear but I was more interested in their other clothing. Loads of hula prints, polka dots and florals in muted colours. It's hard to shop for shorts when it's still so cold outside but I'm off on holiday in June so it's nice to plan ahead.

Fred Perry was another dominant brand, which gets carried over from season to season. This time round they've bought more of the tailored stuff as less of the sports. You can't go wrong really, their shirting looked spot on, with paisleys and fading polka dots standing out for me. They also had a shirt with a pique polo shirt collar but the jury is still out on that one.

Lacoste Live was another newcomer, they're hadn't been a big hit of it yet but it was hard to miss the Hawaiian shirts and multicoloured knitwear. More to follow over the next few weeks.

UO regulars such as Shore Leave, Worland, Cheap Monday, Farah, Penfield and Levi's can be found doing their thing along side a few new brands in Nike Clothing, Nudie Jeans Co and Blood Brother. It's really good to hear they have taken on lots online exclusives too. Garbstore, Common People, Vanishing Elephant, Rascals and Sandqvist are all now available.

 Each time I visit the store they seems to be adding to their footwear section, this time they've thrown in loads more styles from Nike, New Balance and Grenson making an appearance. I was very taken by these navy and cream Nike Free Powerlines.

And that's your lot for this time. As I said I had some time to try some stuff on, plenty of really nice stuff in fact. It seems Shore Leave have improved some of their fits and I was also very impressed with the Farah Vintage range, which included some UO exclusive pieces. I was lucky enough to be offered a couple of pieces too, I chose a pair of Nudie Thinn Finn jeans and a navy Farah Vintage work jacket. 

I'll be sure to pop by over the next few months to check out some of new brands coming through for the rest of the season. Enjoy your weekend guys, hopefully you're not snowed in like many of us are!

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Human Made x Coca Cola

Always Coca-Cola. You can find this very small and collection (5 pieces in total) of original Coca-Cola printed t shirts at Present. They've been created by Human Made on premium cotton Beams white t-shirts, really limited numbers so when they're gone they're gone. These are definitely for advertising collectors out there but I'm sure most people can appreciate how powerful a bit of branding is.

Human Made x Coca-Cola at Present.

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Japanese Toys

I spotted these really sweet Japanese play sets in Selfridges yesterday while we were ring shopping. There's a small "Toys from Japan" section which has set up shop next to Muji in the Trafford Centre branch, it's clearly for kids but there's some cracking designs in there. Above was a range of sets which all had magnetic pieces on the on the underside, like a modern tech version of Lego but without the clipable bits. All the cars were wind and go, plus there was loads of pieces to collect.

Clearly not just for kids...

What's the haps this weekend? I'm all set for a bike ride.

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How To Wear...Checks

Wearing - Asos wool jacket, vtg army jacket, Levi's sweatshirt, Levi's Commuter 511, Clarks Desert Legend,

 Universal Works socks, Dents scarf

Wearing - Gap blazer, Albam Simple shirt, Levi's Commuter chinos, Clarks Desert Trek, Burlington Socks, M&S scarf

 Wearing - Albam Alpine Harrington, Carhartt check shirt, Lee jeans, New Balance 420, Uniqlo socks, Timex Weekender 

I was contacted a few weeks ago by Voucher Codes's Most Wanted magazine to take part in their latest consumer research challenge, "How To Wear...". Each participant was assigned one of this Spring's trends and was given the instruction to have a nosey around to highstreet to see what they could muster up. I was given Checks as my trend so I promptly headed into Manchester town centre to see what the highstreet had to offer. I knew I didn't just want to go for a load of check shirts so I searched for variants in the pattern. Along with items already in my wardrobe the 3 looks about is what I came up with. Three different looks with four different check.

The Dents scarf is a piece from last Christmas, picked up in TKMaxx, the second is a pair of Burlington Argyle Socks from Oi Polloi, which was worn with an old M&S check scarf and the third the Bangor Check Shirt picked up in the Carharrt store.

There's plenty of interesting checks out there on the highstreet, you just need to have a good search for them. Thanks to Voucher Codes for asking me to be apart of the challenge.

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The Superior Labor @ Slowdownjoe

One of my longtime favourite home + lifestyle stores slowdownjoe has recently taken delivery from Japanese brand The Superior Labor. The store has been carrying SL for a couple of seasons now and the more new releases I see the more I want in. You can see by the images that the brand uses the finest materials and a high level of craftsmanship to construct their products, with things like this though they tend to look even better in person. One of their strap lines is "No Uselessness" which seems to amount the highest in quality products with no unnecessary frills thrown in. This stuff isn't cheap but it's all build to last, well worth a few extra pennies.

slowdownjoe has had a bit of a makeover since I last visited, they've made the store easier to navigate and are adding new brands and products on a more regular basis.

Anything taking your fancy?

See more of The Superior Labor @ slowdownjoe

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Ella Masters' Bearded Men

I really dig these illustrations by blogger/illustrator extraordinaire Ella Masters. I've been following Ella's work for some years now in various capacities, in fact her work was some of the first I came across when I started my blog all those years ago. A little while back she released a series of Bearded Men in various forms over on her Etsy store. In total there is 15 hairy characters each lending their look to several different products, with each design coming in a limited run.

Worth checking out if you like a bit of rough. Ella Masters draws loads more than just the Bearded men, to see her extensive full collection visit her store here.

Thank you so much for all your comments on our engagement. It was definitely one of the most surreal feeling moments in my life and certainly one of the happiest.

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