Hot Jackets and Random Thoughts!

I had recently been given a quizzical look when I used a term that I had never heard until my arrival in Los Angeles and attendance at a Ralph Lauren RRL party, "Nouveau Appalachian".  I enjoyed the perplexed raised eyebrow and moved on.  This of course is now in my lexicon.  Over my years of subcultural styles I participated in multitudes of "looks". We all have, all you have to do is go back into your year book in high school and through the window of time you will discover that you too had a "look".  With vintage dealing I am routinely selling articles of clothing to clothing nerds of all types, mainstream, sidestream and extreme!  There are many emergent styles for guys between the ages of 25 and 50 that are typical for my clients.  There are Bobber motorcyclists, military fetishists, surfer nuts, car club junkies and these new style of "Appalachianists" lol.  I fall into all those categories due to my huge closet and propensity to live inside factories with heavy equipment.  Since starting my blog there is now a dirge of bloggers out there celebrating every component of the cultural tapestry.  Blogging seems to be the last open free space where people reuse and recycle culture without fear of the "G" men coming down and whisking us away to prison.   Most of the blogs dont bother writing a whole lot but they sure dig up beautiful images from early 20th century North America and celebrate the "working man".  Perhaps we have a nostalgia for this simpler time, perhaps the longing is for a lost set of morals and ethics, or maybe it is some long ago sense of purpose.  Whatever the reason, this backward looking fetishistic obsession has translated itself nicely into both vintage and new clothing.  I too get a tear whenever I go to  Michael Williams A Continuous Lean or Rivethead and see scenes from the past and memories.  I'm really glad that there is a space where bloggers can share both their personal and public bricollage of style and imagery to create the future.  Im superbly happy when people send me pictures and stories of their own families, parents and uncles and their old leather jackets!

This jacket appears to be a Levis work jacket from the 1890s its incredible!  Carters was a Famous workwear and denim brand and this is clearly an early piece from the 1930s.  And the horsehide is one of the finest condition ones I've seen from my own city of Toronto from the 1930s.