I’m lucky enough to work in a place where I get to determine the dress code, and while it’s tempting to insist that everyone wear purple, ribbons in their hair, or tuxedos, the knob is permanently set to whatever. Squeezing into suits and heels is necessary for most client work (none of ours being particularly boho) but around the office? Wear what you feel like. That being said, there are others present, so looking like a total slob is not particularly desirable.

Personally, I have always had a thing for collared shirts and a certain level of rumpled formality, which probably stems from doing time at a private school. Instead of uniform-appropriate tennis shirts and turtlenecks, I always opted for a tie and slightly wrinkly white Ralph Lauren button-downed shirt. There’s something about old-fashioned men’s casual wear I have always liked, and if it wasn’t considered campy and Liza Minelli-ish for women to wear ties, I’d be in one right now.

Shirts
Finding the perfect cotton collared shirt has been something I’ve been working on for quite some time. This desire was unrequited until about a year ago, when I stumbled upon a store called Steven Alan in New York. The outpost I found is on Elizabeth Street, and very nearly a literal hole in the wall (as well as being right beside a Cuban diner that is endlessly packed, no matter what time of day you walk by). At first it looked like men’s shirts only, stack upon stack of them. But lo, upon further investigation, they offered women’s apparel as well.

The moment I tried on my first shirt, in red gingham (what’s not to love about red gingham? So what if I look like a picnic table, or Mary Ann from Gilligan’s Island? It’s cheerful, damn you!) I was hooked. I knew that Steven Alan was making shirts just for me. With button seams that are stitched just so to lay the collar perfectly open at the neck, they at first actually appear to be straight-up Brooks Brothers fare, until you get close. The subversion is in the details, including seams on the outside and pockets on the inside (Note: if you are at all broad-shouldered, these shirts are not for you. They’re very much crafted with skinny geeks in mind). I have since bought four shirts from Mr. Alan and am dangerously close to creating a uniform for myself. But that’s another issue altogether.

Pants
So now, what say you of pants? I am a jeans sort of person, and while I was assured a number of years ago that pencil-legged jeans were out, out, OUT, to be replaced by wide-legged pants of all sorts, I note with humour that this trend has taken a little longer than expected to land, with mainstream ads touting the shift only really starting to be plentiful this year. Of course that didn’t stop me from snapping up those wide-legged jeans ages ago. However, my personal preference is for flared-leg (”boot cut”) jeans that are not too low-rise (all that does is show the world your underwear when you’re least expecting it).

I was always a Gap girl, and convinced that anyone who spent more than $80 on denim was a total moron. Until I tried on my first pair of designer jeans at the venerable Henry Lehr, one of Manhattans’ finest dungaree purveyors. That changed everything. I’m now a total designer jean convert (it’s about cut, colour fastness, and, shall we say, “support”), and have again been lucky enough to find a brand that wears like it was made just for me.

Earnest Sewn jeans are made my crazy people that say things like,

Our concept lies in the idea of mixing the Japanese beauty aesthetic of Wabi-Sabi, with denim’s Americana past. In staying true to this we incorporate pride in workmanship and commitment to authenticity.

I pretty much have no idea what that means, but damn, I love your jeans, Earnest Sewn!

This universe of high-end denim features a manufacturing process that’s more like what you might expect from a master craftsperson, not a clothier, and the ES routine includes,

The Sewer who sews the entire garment from start to finish (instead of a factory assembly line) without any guides on the sewing machine (further adding to the hand made feel of the garment), the hand sander who sands down the jean with sand paper (after completing months of charcoal drawing training before he is ready to work on our garment), and the wet process technician, who washes the jean, resin coats it, and oven bakes it.

The three people who have worked on the pants then hand stamp it and sign their names. The Gap, this ain’t, on so many levels.

As usual, this post has more to do with stuff I like to buy than it does with geekiness in general; this is mostly because I am a bad person who forgot to bring my camera to SXSWi and I have a quota to fill.

DFOF has heard something he probably shouldn’t have.  He was recently in the UK at a dinner party, where he was lucky enough to sit next to  Arabella de Havalah, a producer from the ITV. After too much Wolf Blass Shiraz, she let slip that they have  a pilot episode makeover series in the works. It will be hosted by Trinny and Susanna, of what not to wear fame. DFOF was mildly interested. Swopping non trendy viscose for trendy viscose is not really his focus.

But there is more to this. Now this new show won’t be standard TV It will be an experimental hybrid show, with a simultaneous web presence. The ITV  are doing the web channel together with Seesmic. Also there may be some sort of second life type simulation. Arrabella mailed me this an early mockup.

A major mobile phone firm will be providing prototypes of a new phone, and these will be used for the filming, apparently the phone is capable of filming and live streaming in HDTV quality.

ITV are also hoping that there will be a lot of blog back channel traffic, and have already set up several twitter users. They are hoping to get the Sartorialist to photo blog the series. Viewers will be encouraged to comment and Arabella mentioned that there would be a voting thing involved too.

The show will also experiment with a new form of advertising placement. ITV have been working with Seesmic to pilot video object tagging. (VOT)  This allows objects, for instance, shoes or shirts, to carry virtual tags. when watching via the seesmic player you can actually click on the image real time and it will take you to an online Amazon shop. If this is successful, VOT is likely to find its way into movies and TV shows.  The application was built in Israel,  I emailed Ur havimeon,  the guy who has written the VOT software, and he promised to send me a demo link.

The UK designer Paul Smith will be sponsoring the men’s suits and clothes, with Oliver Sweeney providing shoes. They have also lined up top hairdresser from Tony and Guy.

Because the ITV were working closely with Seesmic, the ITV producers asked if they could look through footage of prominent bloggers, so that they could pick one to use in the pilot show. They were keen to pick someone from  Europe.The show will expand to the style desert of Silicon Valley in a second series.  After looking through lots of clips, Dennis Howlett is one of the finalists for the pilot series. ITV secretly filmed Dennis and the other contestants on the conference circuit. You can view clips of the pre-takes, and you will be able vote between Dennis, Simon, and Paul. Only one will make it on the show. You can see the clips here. -

(from DFOF’s own collection)

Manolo, one of DFOF’s favourite fashion bloggers, has a fine piece on the dastardly evil that is the pre-tied bow tie.

Pre-Tied Bowties: Why Not Just Wear Sweatpants?

He picks up on the Oscars, and gives John Travolta a basting and grilling

It is indeed sad state of affairs, then, when the same knot used for your shoelaces cannot be successfully duplicated on the necks of dozens of grown men at an event known for its clothing and televised for millions of viewers.

Dear John Travolta, I ask you. I ask your stylists. I ask the designer who probably gave you that tuxedo. How did you decide on a pre-tied bowtie? And how did you decide on the most awful, symetrical, perfect, bowtie the world has ever seen?

Tying a bow-tie takes a little practice, but thanks to youtube, you too can learn how. This alone justifies youtube’s existence.

For those that would prefer words and diagrams, Barrybrake does a fine job here.

DFOF agrees wholeheartedly with Barry’s point.

Disheveled formal clothes tell an entire story, compacted into a single and powerful image. So the act of disheveling them becomes a ritual itself, and it produces a frisson that is irreplaceable.

With one key proviso.

Important notice.

The untied bow-tie only works late, very late of an evening, typically as the birds tweeting in the trees signals dawn. As another fine fashion blog, go fug yourself, notes.

I’m probably supposed to think it’s charming to show up with the bow tie undone, hanging languidly against your popped-open shirt which reveals just enough of what looks like a freshly waxed and/or lubed-up chest; I’m sure you expect me to think it’s all just effortlessly cool, suave, and macho. But here’s the thing: I don’t. I find it pretentious, John Legend.

That’s right. I said it. You’re trying very hard not to try, and it shows. Your paradox bores and annoys me. I feel like you’re standing there quietly urging me to think you delicious and sex-on-legs because you couldn’t be bothered to do up the tie, and yet, all I can think of is how smarmy you were in your red-carpet interview and how much thought I suspect you put into this, and how many man-hours you spent staring at yourself in the mirror cocking your finger guns at your own reflection before you decided that leaving your second-storey barn door halfway open (with the deadbolt undone to boot) was really tantalizing.

Arriving with the bow-tie undone may also leave you in the potentially embarrassing position of having someone ask you to do it up

Here at dfof, while your present author may go on long sojourns and not post, we’re always looking for a way to signal that (a.) we’re dressing nicely, and deserve your attention and high pay, but, (b.) we’re not just another ‘burbs zombie in a pale blue dress shirt and kahkis.

I always feel like women have an unfair advantage here. Maybe it’s just because I’m an admirer of women, as it were, but they look good wearing just about anything. Men are left with pants and jackets. Boring.

So, it was with much excitement that I looked over at lunch today and saw friend of RedMonk James Ward rockin’ the below:

“Golly, Johnson! Who invited this Slim Shady fella into tell us how to up our business productivity?! Send him out! Detroit doesn’t know anything about widget line optimization!”

So, our hood-popped friend leaves, and walks back in thus:

“Sweet paradign re-alignment, Johnson! I had no idea. This guy looks like he knows ‘what up,’ and he has his ear to the - uh…uh…what’s it called?” “I believe you mean ‘the street,’ sir.” “That’s it Johnson. Tell the boy to put the PowerPoint up. Let’s synergize!”

I neglected to ask Mme Ward where he picked up this gem, but I shall enquire later tonight so’s I may acquire one of my own.

Synergize ho!

DFOF would not dare to discuss women’s shoes. He leaves that to either his co-editor or she who must be obeyed. But on topic of men’s shoes, he is intrepid.

It is not often that one reads a post from graphics geek at Adobe on shoe etiquette.  (Thanks James)

But, gosh, Chet’s post is a gem  

In Corporate War-drobe, it’s all about the shoes.

• The shoes are what your minions see when, awestruck by your power, they look down at the floor as you walk forcefully by.
• The shoes are the only article of clothing you wear that sounds with each step (apart from the chain mail girdle), announcing to everyone around that You Are Walking.
• The shoes, when shined appropriately, can reflect your visage enough for you to be able to tell in an after-lunch meeting whether you have any of that chili verde burrito left on your face.

Profoundly sound advice for any person attempting to climb the greasy corporate pole. It is maternal in its wisdom, only funnier. Chet’s whole post is a must peruse, more than that, it is a clarion call.

It has inspired DFOF to do two things.

1. Commit to write more about the importance of the shoe, yes, we have discussed  Converse, the Doc,  and  New Balance, and we briefly touched on the Oxford, but it is high time, dear reader, that we introduce  you to some serious shoe theory. Crockett and Jones, John Lobb (one day, when DFOF is rich), Church’s, Paraboot, Loakes, Oliver Sweeney’s.  For the geek readers out there,a Lobb brogue is like an Apple MacBook Air, only more elegant, and without the design flaws. Oh, and  DFOF requires an Australian guest to write on Australia’s national treasure, R.M.Williams. You have been warned.

2. Pause while he polishes his favourite shoes; a pair of Jeffrey West brogues. They are about 10 years old, and have had 3 sets of new soles and heels. He guesses that they have been worn roughly 1500 times (3×52x10) and have probably walked at least 2000 kilometres.

DFOF has one point of dissent with Chet.

He suggests

Now that you have the shoes in your hands, take them. It’s not good enough to just copy what they wear - you need to wear their exact shoes. The Corporate Warrior’s version of the old saying goes, “You can never be the boss until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes.” It’s not a metaphor.

DFOF suggests that one’s shoes should be better than the  manager wears. This will ensure that one day, the manager will be reporting to you instead. Forget polishing the résumé, polish one’s shoes.

(photo from the CC of Christian et Cie. merci!)

DFOF didn’t attend the Crunchies, so he is relying on flickr  and blogs for his coverage.  The folks from Zivity sponsored the photo shoot.

It was, by many accounts, an excellent bash. For those that don’t know, the Crunchies are the

The Internet Startup world’s equivalent of the Oscars

Across the vast expanse of chinos, dull blazers, and blue shirts, the occasional glimpse of something resembling an interesting outfit could be seen, but the dirty tide of business casual overwhelmingly dominated.

The dress sense of the award winners is grim.  Nothing hip, nothing radical, nothing innovative, perhaps one here or there vaguely smart, but really just oceans of drab dullness. A payroll conference would be more fashionable and edgy.

An honourable exception mention should go to Matt from WordPress.  He, at least, wore a tie. And it matched.  DFOF would have avoided the button down shirt with a tie, but compared to the other winners,  Matt was Jude Law.

Fewer men than try it can do stubble though.

Before next year’s awards, DFOF hopes that the nominees and attendees visit The Sartorialist Blog.   DFOF would prefer to write something upbeat.

As a Dedicated Follower of Fashion, you cringe when handed another stupid T-shirt at a tech conference, you adjust your New Media glasses, glance at your iPhone, and move on. But what if that T-shirt embodied the hipness you so desire and that is your hallmark? Well, Atlassian is having a T-shirt design competition. You no longer can sit idle. This is your opportunity…

Disclaimer: We have not formed a judging committee, I have no idea whether or not I will be on the committee, and the decision could be made by a couple of engineers over a lot of beer in Sydney. These facts do not prevent me from giving you, Dear Reader some valuable insights into this hotly contested competition.

As an employee I am officially disqualified from Atlassian’s T-Shirt competition, which irks me to no end as I would whip everyone’s ass in this competition. Nevertheless, I am compelled to dispense potentially useful information on how you might stand out from the crowd pounding down our doors with spectacular designs and ideas. Here are some possible strategies for you Closet T-Shirt Designers:

Strategy #1: Design something a woman might wear. Being engineers and being men generally, we have a terrible habit of designing things that are questionable when written across a woman’s chest. The original clean, simply designed Confluence T-shirt is one of my favs but as you can see…

This is a risky, breakout strategy as our founders are 28 year-old Australian men and of course, engineers and opinionated at times. But I think the timing is right to do the right thing by women, as Kathy Sierra pointed out a long time ago.

Strategy #2: It’s all about a clever, funny tagline. With this strategy, the design is irrelevant. Take our most coveted JIRA T-shirt. To this day, people love the tagline:

Strategy #3: Get edgy. This is risky as you might go too far. Here’s an example of one of our more recent T-shirts which may have gone too far:

This one may say something about engineers who spend too much time in front of their monitors, but I’ll let you draw your own conclusion.

Strategy #4: Make something retro and timeless. The problem with retro is it is in the eye of the beholder, and I’m not sure there’s anything retro about a 5-year old software company. My favorite example but a really sweet T-shirt is this beauty I got from Ted Leung:

[Disclosure: I used a Newton for 18 months. I still own it.]

Strategy #5: Sex. That’s right. Sex would be a cheap trick but Hey, stooping to the lowest common denominator works often. Here’s Yelp who in a lot of their branding uses some of the same tricks as American Apparel:

Yelp can get a bit frisky with their marketing of their apparel:

Would this cheap tactic work with a bunch of young engineers in Sydney? You decide.

[as blogged on www.radiowalker.com]

If you travel a lot and like technology a lot, chances are you have put some serious thought into how to house all the gadgets you end up carrying around to ensure both your productivity and entertainment.

What’s your laptop wearing?
Item of importance #1 is a quality bag for your laptop. There’s been some talk in the past about the merits of Crumpler carry-alls, but for the girls among us, carrying a bag that big just isn’t practical. I never check my luggage, which means the most I can have is a purse and a roller case. My secret trick is to go with laptop cases that are flat and can fit inside the roller, keeping me (technically) well within the 2-item limit for carry ons.

Earlier this year, I was working with this Crumpler 13″ School Hymn for the Macbook:

I liked it because it was bright green, padded, and with enough use one side was squeezed small enough for me to be able to wield the case one-handed. Downside? No storage for the necessary Macbook accoutrements. Stuff like, uh, the powercord. It also got smudged easily, which bugged me.

A short time later, I was minding my own business in New York, when I passed by a store called Highway in Nolita. Through the plate glass, I locked eyes with this bag:

It was love at first sight. Note the pockets on the front - one for business cards, the other a little deeper and perfect for the powercord for my Crackberry and/or an iPod. What you don’t see in this shot is perhaps the best feature of all; on the other side is a 2″ deep padded rectangular pocket that offers a glove-like fit for my Mac powercord. Inside the bag itself are pockets and dividers for magazines and other stuff. The ultimate cool thing? The over-the-shoulder strap looks like a seatbelt. Basically, this bag is perfect. Needless to say, my mono-functional Crumpler and I broke up a short time later.

Is your iPod as well dressed as it could be?
Okay, so we’ve covered meta carrying devices - what about the stuff you use to carry the technology inside the bag you use to carry your technology? My iPod is starting to look like a nesting doll. I fixate on this particular gadget because it is such a good friend.

A while back I recognized the ass-ness of the standard issue iPod earbuds, especially when deployed against the deafening white noise of the average airplane in flight. So I invested in a pair of Harmon-Kardon EP 710 earphones.

I opted against the various noise-canceling versions available, figuring it was not beyond the realm of possibility that someone, someday, would issue a press release saying, “Whoops! They do make you deaf. Our bad!” (aspartame, anyone?) So I got this kind, which basically act like earplugs. However, I did discover a downside: on the street, where there are usually no jet engines, these “natural noise isolating earphones” work a little too well. Basically, I almost stepped in front of a car. So now I have two sets of earbuds - the regular ass kind and the really good kind. Which means that I am actually using the rather lame black nylon case that came with the Harmon-Kardons to hold it all.

Inside that case, my iPod is further enrobed in something called a Gelaskin:

I discovered the existence of these magical, paper-thin protective coatings in an email from a gallery/store in Toronto called Magic Pony, which is filled with a plethora of wonderful and bizarre items, not least of which is Fancy Action Now: The Art of Team Macho. But I digress. Gelaskins are an absolutely perfect blend of form and function. Incredibly amazing designs on a material that protects your iPod from scratches and all manner of trouble - without adding a bit of bulk.

More awesome news? They’re now available for your laptop.

So I leave you with this question: what’s your technology wearing?

But I need to tell you about a pair of John Fluevog shoes I bought in New York in November.

Now, out of our five or six readers, I expect that about 1.4 of you are not aware that I am Canadian. Did you know that John Fluevog is also Canadian? No? Well, then you are stupid. Just kidding. But seriously - do you live under a rock?

Actually, the reason I’m sharing this with you is, as I mentioned, I bought these fair shoes in NYC. Not T-dot, not Van, but south of the border. Which seems odd, doesn’t it? Well, what with taxes, import duties and the phases of the moon, buying even Canadian goods is cheaper in the good old U-S-of-A. So that’s what I did. Sorry, Canadian GDP - you can’t argue with a 30% price difference.

Anyway. I’m also highly aware that if I post too much about shoes, we may attract, how shall I put it? The wrong sorts of people. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but, um, it makes me slightly uncomfortable. So I’m going to imagine now that you are reading this because you appreciate the incredible Fluevog quality, the boho-meets-Les Liasons Dangereux styling, leather-wrapped heel, stamped and antiqued cordova leather and ribbon tie-up (also a big trend that I’m all over).

These babies are also a full 4″ which has taken a little getting used to. I had originally hoped to get them in red…

(everyone should have a pair of red shoes, period.) but I love, love LOVE the brown I had to settle for. They’ve become everyday for me, though if I don’t concentrate fully while wearing them, I tend to totter a little.

So there you go, Dear Readers - more fascinating insight into my shoes. I know you live for nothing else. Happy holidays!

photo from Leweb flickr

Robert Scoble talks with Philippe Starck, design überguru. wow. DFOF wishes he had been there.

In the meantime, let’s have a caption competition. 

DFOF’s caption attempt.

“Is that your Motorbike over there?”

“Yes,  I’m going to drive over your Kindle with it.”