The Wolverine 1000 Mile collection officially launches tonight at the Scoop store in the Meatpacking district. Everyone is welcome to stop by for a drink and check out the new 1000 Mile Boots (the tasty numbers pictured below). I’ll be there all evening (because I’m working with Wolverine), so be sure to introduce yourself. It is always good to meet everyone, even the ones that talk smack all the time! ha

Scoop NYC Men’s Store
430 West 14th Street (at Washington)
6-9PM (Food & drink will be served.)

There is a serious dose of Tom Wolfe in today’s Thursday Styles. Mr. David Colman weighs in on the ultimate summer shoe, the white buck. My good buddy Mark McNairy’s collection even got some attention.

“And Mark McNairy, the creative director at J. Press, has just introduced a shoe line of his own, made in the shoemaking capital of Northampton in England. The first models, hitting stores this week, are white bucks and their more rockabilly cousins, saddle shoes.

“It started because I had so much trouble finding a really good pair,” said Mr. McNairy, who grew up wearing white bucks in Greensboro, N.C. “They’re a little more all-American than they are preppy. You can wear them really dressy with a suit, or you can wear them with jeans or shorts. They look great pristine and new, and they look good all beat to kingdom come — and the same goes for saddle shoes.” Plus, he said, “it takes a little cockiness to wear them.”

Read the entire article here.

No really, that’s the name of the brand and the goods are far from the worst I have seen. In fact, the oxfords look like the perfect shirt. I absolutely live in oxford cloth, so that isn’t something I throw around lightly. The Wurst story is far from conventional in terms of how most clothing lines are launched, but that is something that intrigued me. Not to mention the fact that the goods are made domestically, so I approached Wurst with an open mind and took a few minutes to catch up with  the brand’s founder Roy Dank  (ed note: amazing name sir!) about the debut S/S10 collection. Read our Q&A after the jump.

ACL: How did this all get started? You wanted to start a clothing line after you got your record label going? I’m confused, please explain.

Roy Dank: Wurst kicked off at the tail end of 2006 as a limited edition, vinyl-only 12″ record label. I released a series of Wurst Edits, all of which were radical reworkings of obscure disco and punk funk gems from the early 80s, with the odd Chicago house jam thrown in for good measure. I did a couple of records, and also reeled in my friends from around town, including Runaway (now on DFA), Lee Douglas (of Rong and now TBD fame – with Justin V formerly of !!!), and Eamon Harkin (who does the ace Sunday Best party at the Brooklyn Yard). While I initially started putting these records out for fun, they quickly got attention – and club play – from folks like Lindstrøm & Prins Thomas, James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem, and 2 Many DJs, amongst others. Needless to say, I was simultaneously shocked and stoked at the support my tiny little label got, and figured I must be onto something. My friends and I also did a slew of parties under the Wurst banner, including The Wurst Boat Party series, which we just held the third annual edition this past July 1st.

DFA recording artist Jacques Renault in the Wurst S/S10 range.

ACL: So how did the menswear thing come about?

RD: Last summer I started slowly but surely developing the first Wurst menswear collection. I was inspired by the level of craftsmanship and attention to detail on vintage YSL and Dior; the irreverent sense of humor of Vivienne Westwood’s Anglomania line; the definitively downtown antics of Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party; the respite from the city weekends in upstate New York offered; and – much like the record label – the heritage of classic American manufacturing. (We proudly press our records in Dallas!)

ACL: When did you guys start working on Wurst? And where is everything made?

RD: It wasn’t until a few months ago, however, that Wurst really started coming together. I had hit a wall sourcing the right fabrics for the wovens, the right yarn for our knits, and the right production facilities. I wanted the best materials, impeccable construction, and to make everything right here in New York, if possible. The goal was to produce a tightly edited selection of classic garments, boasting premium European materials, but with a distinctly Americana look. A friend of mine and former Bergdorf buyer happened to be out of work, and together we re-tooled the entire collection, working closely with the pattern makers at a few amazing manufacturing facilities in and around the city. And so the inaugural Wurst collection came together. We’re offering long- and half-sleeve wovens in a bevy of different, high thread-count shirting fabrics, all sourced from Italian and Spanish mills. To complement the wovens, we’ve got a luxurious, lightweight v-neck sweater, knitted from Italian merino and cotton yarns, perfect for those cooler Spring and Summer nights.

Tying everything together is a distinct visual identity which I’ve developed with my design partners, Josh Clancy and Travis Stearns. I had the pleasure of meeting these two fine gents in Minneapolis last year, when I was in town for a DJ gig at First Avenue (the club from Purple Rain!). We hit it off immediately, I loved their respective work, they loved the label, and I needed help taking it to the proverbial next level. It really was one of those magical moments. At this point, I had already commissioned the aforementioned Lee Douglas aka the incredibly talented illustrator and designer Doug Lee for the Wurst logo, so we had a pretty amazing design foundation to start with. Josh, Trav and I subsequently spent the next few months hashing out ideas via email and video chat, developing the new look and feel for Wurst – including the nascent menswear line and the new iteration of the record label, The Wurst Music Co. Much like the original Wurst Edits series, the approach to both the clothing and the music is a curatorial endeavor, and the design as well as the pieces and releases themselves reflect this attention to detail, as well as this American sense of irreverence. Who else would spend so much time and effort in 2009 creating a brand whose products consist of high-end menswear and vinyl records, of all things? The Wurst Has Yet To Come…

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Honestly, stranger things have happened for a clothing line to start. It will be interesting to see how things progress and what happens with Wurst. Prices, while not completely solidified, are expected to be in the Band of Outsiders range with the line hitting stores next spring. -ACL

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Posted in New York City, Style ]]> http://acontinuouslean.com/2009/07/09/the-wurst-clothing-line/feed/ 8 ACL thewurst worst4 wurst6 wurstii http://acontinuouslean.com/2009/07/08/obsession-abbotts-lobster-in-the-rough/ http://acontinuouslean.com/2009/07/08/obsession-abbotts-lobster-in-the-rough/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:00:17 +0000 Michael Williams http://acontinuouslean.com/?p=9493 ]]>

When I think of the summertime I think of New England. Growing up my family spent a lot of time on Cape Cod and in Eastern Connecticut, close to Mystic / New London where my mother grew up. I have fond memories of those times, the music, the sun, the smells and the food. Especially the lobster. Without a doubt my all time favorite lobster place is Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough in Noank, CT. The picturesque little shack of a restaurant sits in the most beautiful little corner of New England, facing a quaint harbor of wooden sail boats. The whole thing just makes me want to buy up some land and start painting pictures.

Instead what I end up doing is getting off I-95 anytime I’m near Noank and stopping by Abbott’s for a lobster roll. I generally tend to avoid the lobster roll (the lazy man’s lobster dinner), unless I’m in sight of an ocean and Manhattan’s ocean doesn’t count. The roll at Abbott’s is simple (no mayonnaise or celery are involved which delivers a delicious roll where you can really savor the lobster), served on a perfectly toasted round-bun with cole slaw and a side of drawn butter thrown in for good measure. If there is any doubt about a roll sans mayo rest assured, the butter really does good-work and keeps the needle on tasty. If you do make it out to my pick for the world’s best lobster roll, expect a bit of a wait and the restaurant doesn’t take reservations (which I prefer anyway; planning sucks), but the line moves quick. If you are a true professional you will know to bring your beer and wine in a cooler as they don’t serve booze at Abbott’s and a man feels more like a man if he can have a bottle of suds with his lobster roll.

Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough // 117 Pearl Street Noank, Conn.  // 860-536-7719

LP by Discovery (the side project of Vampire Weekend’s Rostam Batmanglij and Wes Miles of Ra Ra Riot) is to summer what Bon Iver’s Blood Bank was to winter, on repeat. I thought for sure Passion Pit’s Manners was going to make it all the way through the sunny months, but here we are barely past July 4th and I might have over done it. Discovery is a nice mix of electronic and pop that strikes me enjoyably, especially if I am on a beach or en-route to a beach. In addition to lots of great vocals from Wes, the album features collaborations with Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig and The Dirty Projectors singer Angel Deradoorian. LP by Discovery officially drops tomorrow (July 7th), but is available now at Amie Street (see link and preview tracks below).

It’s Not My Fault (It’s My Fault)

So Insane

Discovery //on MySpace // Buy the music here

It’s hot. Really hot. Thousands of years ago you would have been swimming in a lake, but climate changes dried it completely up and left behind a 159 square mile expanse of densely packed salt up to six feet deep. This bizarre landscape exists right outside the small casino town of Wendover, Nevada, 115 miles from Salt Lake City. The land is completely inhospitable to plants and is so flat that it’s almost perfectly aligned with the curvature of the Earth. Once a year men and women come from all over the planet to test their mechanical creations against this barren expanse of densely packed salt. This place is known as The Bonneville Salt Flats, also dubbed “The Fastest Place on Earth.”

One particularly hot morning, on Sept 13, 1948, a man known as Roland “Rollie” Free hopped on his Mobil Oil sponsored Vincent HRD Lightning, determined to break the world record of 136.18mph. A record that had been unbroken for the past 11 years. His first attempt shattered the record with a speed of 148.6mph. Rollie wasn’t satisfied. Convinced his safety leathers were creating unnecessary drag, he stripped down to nothing but a pair of swim trunks and a goggles. His trademark style of lying flat across the motorcycle instead of a traditional riding stance added to the insanity, hurtling Rollie to a record of 150.313mph and into the books for the next twenty years. It was a run that resulted not only in the record, but also in the creation of motorcycling’s most famous photo ever (the shot above of Free piloting the bike horizontally), taken from a speeding car racing alongside. —SEAN SULLIVAN

A special contributor to ACL, Mr. Sean Sullivan is the man behind The Impossible Cool.

You see that? That’s “a man’s world” there. Guys out on the town drinking suds and smoking butts in a wood paneled room. Never mind the fact that a few years later our pal Bob (on the left there), probably had a run-in with the old heart disease. At least he has all of those memories of after-work drinking with his good buddy Jack, who seems to be busy chugging that frosty mug. Eventually I bet the fellas loaded into Bob’s 1986 Chrysler station wagon and headed home before their wives got angry.

It is always amusing to look at advertising from days past. The below vintage ads from the 1950s and a few gems from the eighties are interesting. Call me crazy, but I sort of think that the preppy / working 1980s aesthetic (think Sierra Designs meets Mr. Mom) is pretty cool right now. All that aside, check out these ads from my most loved Milwaukee brew and feel free to disagree with me in the comments.

At the Women of Fashion party a little while back I spotted none other than Mr. Chambray, Mr. RRL, Mr. Kicks, director, blogger extraordinaire, one Jake Davis doing his thing per usual. Check out those glasses!

The first ever A Continuous Goldberg Pop Up Flea (known in some circles for better or worse as the Man Flea) was by all measures (including High life consumption) a rousing success. Thanks to all of the vendors who participated and everyone that stopped by. On top of all the tasty merch, we had a lot of my favorite bloggers in the house, guys like (and I’m probably missing a few) Sean from The Impossible Cool, Tom from The Scout Mag, Sasha from The Pint Imperial, Russell from Kempt, Andrew from Covenger + Kester, Jeff from Cold Splinters, Morty from Mister Mort, The Trad, Brandon from Drinkin’ and Dronin’, plus the good folks from Racked and Men.Style.com.

A big thanks from Randy and I to all that came to shop, hang out and support. Look forward to more good things from A Continuous Goldberg.