ATL Essentials: Spring 2013

As the weather warms up and the days start getting longer, I am beginning to put away the raw denim and heavyweight merino wool and reaching for shirts and vests.  For the 2nd quarter of 2013, I present the ATL Essentials: Spring 2013 Edition.

1) Prana Mojo Shorts - These are some of my favorite shorts.  They are perfect for the gym, casual trips to the grocery store, or lounging around  the house.  Not too expensive.  I am no yogi, but I am sure it would be good for yoga, if you are so inclined.

2) Tera'swhey - Favorite whey, mix as you please.

3) New Balance Minimus - The model that is pictured here is the MX20BK3, the most recent iteration of the cross training focused lined from N.B.  Flat foot, to mimic barefoot walking with a minimal 4mm drop from heel to toe.  These look great and are super light.

4) Auto Detailing - Gotta get the wip fresh for summer, check your local Groupon site for bargains.

5) Olive Chinos - These are not particular summery, but I have been sweating olive chinos pretty hard lightly.  The pictured pair is the NYCO slim from Outlier, but I also dig the Unis Gio, and Apolis Activism joints.

6) Red Sox - The Red Sox have been fairly dreadful the past two years, but seeing as today as opening day for the Boston team, I had to add them to the list.  A number of new names including young Jackie Bradley JR, pictured above, will hopefully breathe some new life into this team.

Until the summer, feel free to check out the ATL: Essentials archives.

Trad Shopping List

I guess my style can be somewhat "trad" at times, but even if I am not full-time blue blooded trad, I borrow from the style and am influenced by the styling and details tremendously. With that said, I have put together a list of trad items that are on my long term wants list. All of these items are high-quality and intended to last many years and are somewhat "fancy" to the uninitiated, which lines up quite nicely with my personal philosophy of only buying quality items and not caring what the general populace thinks. So without further ado I present my Trad Shopping List.

1) Alden or Allen Edmonds (MacNeil) or Florsheim Imperial (Kenmoor) Longwing Bluchers (referred to by trads as LWBs) respectively




2) Southwick Douglas, available either off the rack (OTR) or made to measure, (MTM) is a three button sack center vented with flap pocket coat, like the rest of this list, a classic.



3) Smathers and Branson Needlepoint Belt, these belts are so detailed, its amazing. Pictured here are two possibilities for me, the "Dark and Stormy" and "Beers on Black." These are available through O'Connell's of Buffalo, which happens to stock a number of other trad items as well if anyone is interested.



4) More oxford cloth button downs, If there was one item that defined the trad look it could very well be the OCBD. Two choices are the J.Press model, which can be had with button down pockets as well or O'Connell's delivers again with their Heavyweight OCBD.


5) Bill's Khakis go with your navy sack blazer, madras jacket or tweed jacket. I will go with the flat front variety as I avoid pleats on principle, the model is M1 which is based on World War 2 original chinos, always go with the classics when it comes to trad.


Of course a true trad wardrobe includes tweeds, a number of suits, repp stripe and regimental and knit ties, bowties, plaids, tattersalls, Bass Weejuns, Lacoste Polos and a million more things, these are just five pieces that I would like to borrow from "trad-dom" for my wardrobe, by no means an exhaustive list!