Thanksgiven
Gratitude for Tête du Moine, Vintage YSL, Paul Blart, Father John Misty, and Ancestral Art
I. The Eternal Return
It is 5:45 in the morning on American Thanksgiving. I am 15 minutes into the new episode of Til Death Do Us Blart (the eternal Paul Blart Mall Cop 2 podcast, which is produced/distributed at the pace of one episode a year). My review and introductory guide to that series is available here. As I mentioned previously, I look forward to the annual episode of this podcast more than Thanksgiving with family and friends. This year’s run time comes in at 1 hour, 41 minutes, so I’ll update this line with how far I was able to get before my children find me (it was a great 34 minutes).
II. The Man for Our Times
“…because sometimes there's a man... I won't say a hero, 'cause, what's a hero? But sometimes, there's a man…well, he's the man for his time and place. He fits right in there.”
-The Stranger, The Big Lebowski
![The Stranger” and “The Dude” Selfie on the set of “The Big Lebowski.” [1998] : r/pics](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!AoB5!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F708a3db7-025a-425a-87db-bd3f92b67ea0_640x262.jpeg "The Stranger” and “The Dude” Selfie on the set of “The Big Lebowski.” [1998] : r/pics")
The man for our times is Father John Misty.
Here’s his interview in Blackbird Spyplane (it’s a publication I hate, but I can certainly admire what they’ve built for themselves). Turns out FJM is gardening in J Crew giant fit khakis and wearing these super minimalist/grounding shoes. This all tracks.
His new album Mahashmashana is one of the year’s best (even in a crowded field).
From the review in Pitchfork: “Listening to Mahashmashana, the image that recurs for me is the orchestra playing on the deck of the sinking Titanic. It’s brave to choose art, even when—especially when—you don’t have another choice.”
A perfect fit for circumstance. From the same review: “The scene’s bleak but it sounds fantastic—luxe, over the top.” I’ve been wondering what the vibe shift underway for a few years really portends, and now we have an answer.
III. ‘Plaid’itudes
After looking for a few years, I’ve finally gone plaid.
I’ve been trying to find a fall/winter sport coat in a heavier fabric (being in LA, most of my sport coats are linen and cotton, which are the true 3 season fabrics here—nothing makes me despair faster than someone trying to sell me on tropical wool). Really finely textured plaid or checked jackets in soothing color ways are also expensive, in part, I think, because they are made of exquisitely fine/technically woven cloth. I’ve perused the fabric swatches of J Mueser a few times trying to find a fabric I like, but I could never quite pick one (I also have problems visualizing an entire checked jacket from just a small sample square). But great examples of these jackets are out there, and they are expensive.
In a recent video from The Armoury, you can see half of the panel (convened to discuss watches) has opted for a plaid sport coat.
Unable to commit to commissioning a new jacket and likewise unwilling to pay retail for a jacket I’ll mostly wear while traveling to colder places, I turned to eBay. Most of the really nice, expensive things I own are sources from eBay. If I own something from a designer (e.g., Hermes, Cucinelli or Tom Ford), you can be assured I bought it used/at a considerable discount.
A few eBay session quickly yielded pay dirt. I picked up this cashmere sport coat from YSL’s ready to wear Rive Gauche line (this is also why I can’t seem to stop writing about Rive Gauche lately. Three hundred dollars is not for the faint of heart when you can’t try it on first, but nothing ventured nothing gained, and I have another vintage YSL jacket (a crushed velvet number I wore for my wedding) so I had a good sense of sizing. On pricing, one could also consider that a comparable jacket in cashmere (100% cashmere, no blend) runs a few thousand dollars today—the fabric alone will put you over a grand before you take into account who is making it and where. For something made in Italy, executed in this fabric, we’re in the money here.
I lack the technical finesse to describe this pattern accurately, but it has three tones of interwoven brown houndstooth, placed within a larger windowpane pattern of royal/brilliant blue. The fact this is all executed in cashmere is even more impressive. I dont know which mill produced this, but it’s beautiful in the hand.
The jacket is fully lined in Bemberg cuprammonium (which is made from wood pulp and adds a level of breathability to what is an otherwise very warm jacket). It features a double vent and is in a more generous (correct) length since it predates shrunken jacket styling by a few decades. It has also suitably wide lapels. Compared to modern jackets, I’d say it only disappoints in two areas. First, there are no working cuffs here, which isn’t unusual for ready to wear back then (advances in machine finishing have allowed SuitSupply and others to provide functional surgeon cuffs on jackets at an affordable price point). Notably, where the jacket has working buttons, the buttonholes appear to be hand finished. The second downside is the light padding in the shoulders, which is frowned upon these days in certain sets. In this iteration I think it gives more of a roped sleevehead impression than anything else. It has considerably less shoulder padding than something Tom Ford was making for Gucci in the same era.
I relied on some online label enthusiasts to help guess at the jacket’s date of production. The style of tag suggests this is from the 1990s (as much as I was holding out hope it was from much earlier).
On balance, it’s a beautiful jacket, and something of a surprise to have come into my life when it did. It’s on deck for Thanksgiving dinner, and will be on hand for my wife’s company holiday dinner in Chicago (where the warmth will really be tested).
Took about 2 years to fill this gap. Sometimes it’s worth it to not pull the trigger too soon.
IV. Internet Bycatch
Some items of interest from the week.
An interesting talk on the philosophical aspects of interpreting Paleolithic cave art. Also made me aware of an interesting tidbit—the presence of ancient sewing needles in some early human caves have researchers thinking we prevailed over other hominids in part from our ability to clothe ourselves in response to climate change.
Lili Pulitzer is back with its line for men. I don’t think I’m in the right headspace to engage with it, but something feels un-fun/dour about it. Has the short term effect of making me like Mr. Turk even more.
Menswear luminary Aaron Levine, the man who got a lot of us to shop at A&F again, has launched his own line. Very interested to see where things go for warmer weather. GQ has the interview.
Some friends told me recently that mosquitos are pollinators. That’s partially true. Smithsonian with an explanation.
In Tête du Moine we trust.