Faconnable

I'm a bit Facc'd up me...

Thrifty Shopper

I love a bargain. Here's a few purchases I've amassed in past few months via cheap but not always tasteful means...

GANT - Brand new, in my size and all for the low low price of £3.50 from the local hospice charity shop. Quality find that proves visiting your local thrift shop, despite leaving hundreds of times empty handed, eventually leaves you quids in...

CC Sweat - Had this since the summer actually, but now we've got to autumn it'll get a bit of wear. Full Metal Jacket inspired Viet conflict sweatshirt that says 'Yeah I support the boys overseas, but I'll do it whilst lounging round at home in a quality sweat. Deal with it". £12 from fleabay.

Decent Denim - Lost a fair bit of weight (two stone to be precise) so needed some new jeans as my arse was slipping off in the old ones. A lot of spoken about Japanese selvedge and the like, but I've headed West for the heritage brands of the US in Levi and Lee. By west I mean I went to the local TKM.

Woolrich - You can't beat a bit of Wooly. Got this vintage shirt from bay of despair for a few bob. Not sure what the design pattern is, but provides a bit of welcome relief from all checks in the wardrobe - Smart chambray with fossils. An added bonus is that it's a large. Get in there you formerly fat bastard.

Minster Moors - Love a shoe that looks like a burnt asymmetrical cornish pasty. So just as well I snapped these prime Minsters from the Connoisseur forum for a price of similar worth to fifteen of the Cornwall delicacies...

Faconnable - My favourite shirt brand of all time, but now available as a cap. Wow. Admittedly I'm not a cap wearer (my basey and Air Max days are about a fifth of a century behind me) but this was going for free on above said CC forum. Will name and shame the kind member - Hax. A true Gent who gave me holiday headwear for the price of a fart (only nice)...

Loaded - I only bought it for the articles. No really. Back in 1995 there were no semi nipped lasses in Loaded. Anyway a Great and Straight (Yeah) Shaun Ryder discusses newly formed Black Grape, plus a decent interview with the yet to be disgraced Ron Atkinson and an article on Casuals shopping. From Bay for a bob or two, expect a blog involving this in the not too distance future...

Coal not Dole - Pin badge for a quid. Just doing my bit, a show of support for the NUM. The union will never cave in...

Serpico - Gone full circle and back to the same charity shop where I got this cult classic, that I've shamefully never owned, for 50p. Widescreen edition too so I can appreciate the great mans beard and choice in hats in all there glory...

Shirts and Shoes

Shirts and shoes are two of my favourite things as you can probably tell from the volume of blogs regarding the subjects. Well here's another one on the handful of bits and pieces I've picked up over the winter...

First up shirting wise, back in September I picked up this very autumnal check from everyone's favourite French fashion house Faconnable. Every shade of orange, red and brown included with a splash of blue. Like taking a leafy walk under a crisp blue October sky and treading in dog poo...

Then up is another Fac shirt. FAC2 if you like. Opposite end of the seasonal scale this one. Nice short sleeved button down in a pleasing plethora of summeresque colourways. Also includes my favourite, and lesser seen, large Faconnable badge which seems to be a grouse playing hockey...

Towards the end of last summer picked up something I'd been trailing for ages. The Casual Connoisseur v tuktuk 'Carter' shirt. Although long since sold out via CC, tuktuk had a few down to half price in the sale. I promptly pulled the trigger on the only size left (luckily an XL) and turned out it was the last of the XLs. The last Carter known to man. Sotheby's you have my number. Anyway the quality is unreal and especially love the pocket detailing...

Now onto shoes. Something I desired from the first time I saw them. Clarks Seam Trek. A beautiful design by the masters of casual footwear. Not much else to say. Pictures say a thousand words...

Got a dirt cheap pair of Clarks via ebay at the end of the summer. Brand new in fact and for roughly a fiver if I remember rightly. Purely because the seller sold these as 'Dessert Drille'. So managed to snaffle the incorrectly titled trotters for next to nowt. Not the finest from the Originals range but champion for knocking about in...

Finally a strange choice to the Good Northern household. Well documented I'm not a fan of trainers these days, but purchased a pair of Beckenbauers. Did so for a couple of reasons. One I've always liked the styling on these adidas originals and two TK Maxx had the red sticker on them, down to £18 from £45. Probably won't ever really wear them much but I couldn't resist for that...

Autumn Casual

Few bits and pieces I've picked up for the autumn, but shrewdly got during the summer so they nice and cheap.

First up a pair of shoes I've had on my radar for awhile, some long since deadstocked Clark's Minster Moors in tan. Love the design of these and they're perfect for dressing up or down - example worn for a posh meal with the wife the other night and shall be gracing my feet at Bootham Crescent tomorrow.

Next another nice bit of shirting from my favourite French fashion house Faconnable. In a pleasing shade of pink (for late summer) and brown (autumn ticked off too) check with the usual high quality detailing. Smart.

From the sublime to the faintly ridiculous. Vintage St. Michael grandad shirt in very typical 'your grandad' shades of brown, beige and grey. Lose fitting and linen, this will become my gig shirt the next time the Mondays roll into town.

Another bit of 90s vintage next. An old school Stone Island over shirt. Very lightweight and baggy with a simple design, has been thrown on over a polo when strolling down to get the Mirror. Been ages since I bought some Stoney but this was available for peanuts so couldn't resist.

Next up some cult badges. First a soon to be sold out blue (Hartlepool!) Stand against modern football pin from distant echo. I was online purchasing issue five of the mag when I spotted these, and red ones, fresh in. Purchase had to be made. After that we've got a pin from North East based A Casual Man blog. Those of you who haven't marked my words and visited his site, please follow link elsewhere on this blog. Love the simple yet classy nature of this pin, words which could also sum up the blog nicely.

Getting Shirty Again

A few choice shirt signings into the collection. Yet more Ralph, Faconnable, Blue Harbour and Hackett. I'll let the pics do the talking.

Today I'll be Mostly Wearing...

Barbour mac
M&S Lambswool knit
Faconnable shirt
OTS Dogwalker jeans
Pointer Hopkins

Getting Shirty (recent purchases)

Decided I needed some serious shirt investment a couple months ago so went hell for leather in sourcing them. Here's what I got..

First up a classic navy blue/white Gingham check Ralph Lauren. Oozes quality and I don't think anyone does this kind of shirt as well as Mr. RL. Following that another Polo by RL design called 'Bleeding Madras' - I think it's bleeding gorgeous. Got a slight worn look to it, which is something that's never really appealed before, and think the wooden hand painted top button is a real touch of class. A mix of colours, reds, greens and blues, meaning it'll be champion peeping through with a whole host of knitwear come the autumn. Both picked up from TK Maxx for £35ish - they're outdoing themselves with the RL casualwear at the moment.

Next up is a crisp looking Faconnable, not disimilar to a Barbour Tattersall I own if it wasn't for the wavy checks. In three tone green on a bright white shirt. Great shirt from this brilliant French label. eBay for £12 BNWT

Next up are two from the Markies outlet. A pastel coloured short sleeve Oxford shirt for less than a tenner. Fell in love with this shirt when I saw it last summer, but never got round to buying it. Lush one for summer and bigger fitting than other Blue Harbour shirts, but seeing as it'll only be worn in stifling July heat (if we're lucky) then that bagginess can only be a good thing. Also a supersoft brushed cotton number in autumn browns that will be going into storage until the colder months, but might as well prepare for it because it'll roll around in no time.

So all in all five excellent shirt purchases in my opinion, well worthy of wardrobe space. And all from my favourite brands (with the exception of Barbour) for shirtings.

Recent Purchases

Had a good rummage round in local TKMs and come away with a few choice bargains. Picked up a couple of Faconnable shirts for £13 each - nice casual blue check effort and a dressy stripey number for nights out on town. Pleased as punch with these, quality shirts for sweet FA.

Also got these OTS shoes for less than a tenner. Have instantly become my favourite shoes. Class look to them and go with everything. Have been obsessed with shoes since finding out I was to be a dad, as didn't want to look a proper chav in trainees all the time. Outed loads of trainers last autumn and got some Duffer Yogi and a few pairs of Pointers. But these are literally the dogs.

Finally could get some stick for this one - a Pretty Green shirt. Was in January sale and with that tenner e-voucher mentioned earlier, had it down from 70 notes to 39. Still a canny few bob for a shirt from a label most wouldn't touch with a barge pole, however I really like this colourway - brown, navy and blues. Was pleasantly surprised with the fit as I was expecting slim fit, but no, a true XL. Only criticism is that it could be an inch longer. And also that they've dropped the price by a tenner again, so could re-imburse me. However having a look into other colours now they're 28 quid - even though the service was less than perfect - sending a large first time around. Get it sorted Gallagher.