A Touch, a Smell, a Smile

Let’s say, for a minute, that you walk into the new Band of Outsiders store blind. You reach out toward the racks to feel the clothes, to find out if the fabrics melt in your hands or hang there gruffly, indifferent to touch.

Over there — that’s a varsity jacket, right? Wow, that wool is hearty. Feels like a war cloak. And these suits: That suede on the elbows is convincing and durable, for when you really get serious about leaning your head on your fist and listening intently. The leather on that round-neck jacket ($1,595) is strikingly supple, a slinky second skin. And is that Harrington jacket made of... fine-wale corduroy ($795)? Will wonders never cease?

While you’re there, don’t forget to smell. Your nose will invariably lead you to some waterproof sheaths made in collaboration with Mackintosh. You’d know that scent anywhere. Inhale it deeply. Know that the rain will never do you harm.

For about a decade, Band of Outsiders has been making mildly polished clothes for men who ordinarily reject polish. (It is, needless to say, popular with actors who probably don’t want to admit they have stylists.) The suits look expensive — also, they are expensive — but they are not rigid. The ties are the right width, thin but not too thin. The button-down shirts don’t look like office shirts that you wear untucked. They’re designed to hang loose but not look sloppy.

And there is that darned box pleat running down the center of the rear of those shirts, a Band of Outsiders signature and one that indicates a weak compromise between tailored and casual mentalities. Is it a mark of flamboyance? Is it a wink that communicates structure even when the shirt is untucked? It’s maddening, frankly.

Nevertheless, Band captures an authentic streak in men’s dressing: medium aspiration. It’s an update on more refined American classics, diminishing the rigor but maintaining an air of exclusivity.

Of course, in matters of the American classics, the gold standard is Polo Ralph Lauren, a brand that has found ways to make refinement scalable and affordable.

This ain’t Ralph, though. In fact, Band’s men’s wear looks, sometimes, like Polo’s boys collection, a blunter take on familiar forms, in obvious colors. The clothes have an almost French restraint, never straying very far from elegance but also never straying far from a comfort zone.

Take the red hunting shirt with quilted navy patches ($295), which feels lovely but looks naïve. Or the sweater with wide Crayola-bold stripes: navy, powder blue, green, red, yellow ($325). It’s striking but also slightly juvenile. (Also, while we’re here, the collar isn’t quite boat neck, but it is definitely a little too far from crew neck.)

This is the label’s first stand-alone store in this country, occupying a well-lit space on a quiet stretch of Wooster Street. It’s filled with competent, accessible, not particularly adventurous semi-luxury at ambitious prices. (For what it’s worth, women generally have better options than men here.)

And there’s humor in the clothes. Maybe this is Band’s differentiator, the thing that could become a worthy point of distinction. The great ties ($155) all arrive with a wink, as expressed in slightly unexpected patterns: a gull-wing car, or the names of newspaper sections. Look at the zip-up cardigans with big, goofy polka dots ($475) and the appealing sweater with a Fair Isle print down around the waist, as if it had trickled down from the shoulders ($375). Or the hoodie covered in lorem ipsum dummy text, the Latinesque words used to fill space on a page before the real stuff shows up.

That visual effect recurs in the Mackintosh collaboration, which on the whole constitutes some of the strongest pieces in the store. There’s a long coat, solid at the top and mutating into plaid at the bottom, that’s winningly clever ($1,995), some two-toned trenches and anoraks, and a hoodie and coat covered in more of that dummy text. The hoodie ($1,595) in particular, with its slightly recessed cuffs and inverted zippers at the sides, is forceful and unexpected, like a garment from Supreme that went off to get a degree from Amherst.

Mostly, though, the tweaks are gentler and less intriguing. Take the polo shirt with a split two-tone collar, red and blue ($125), or the current roundup of oxford shoes on which the rear of the heel is set slightly behind the rear of the sole, with a tiny bit of color peeking out in the gap. (An improvement on colored soles, but only slightly.) It is, as footwear goes, handsome enough, but cheeky rather than subversive. It draws attention to its quirk rather than to its more conventional, and better, qualities. It is easy idiosyncrasy you can see — and feel.

Read more:http://www.queeniebridesmaid.co.uk/junior-bridesmaid-dresses

Life consists not in holding good cards, but in playing well those you hold. keep your friends close,but your enemies closer.