Recent Purchases

 Haven't done one of these for ages. Years in fact. When I post a load of bits and pieces I've picked up. This lot is especially random, boredom of lockdown taking effect...

A vintage Folk rainmac in a striking royal blue. Came as part of a job lot of coats, including an Elka x Norse projects fisherman's jacket and couple other smart folk overcoats. Couldn't get a decent photo of the others, anyway this was pick of the litter.

Brook Brothers shirt. Classic long sleeved button down with a fine check from the shirting staple siblings.

Garbstore x Indigo Farm selvedge denim. eBay bargain this, £13. Only couple of blurry photos in listing so took a risk. Paid off nicely as in top condition - no fading or wear. Very smart.

Clarks desert boots. My old pair have gone the journey so pleased to some new ones dirt cheap from TK Maxx.

Another job lot, this time of tittfers. Two Highland 2000 wool watchcaps - these were the brand who did CC's OG McMurphys (which I've got a handful of) so the quality shines through. Made in England also. Then a couple tweed numbers - a bakersboy, for when I'm feeling Peaky, and a trilby for when I'm Still Game.

Pissed up OG England 96 home shirt and Hackett cap. Recently got a refund on my EURO 2020 tickets so was a bit glum. Got these for watching it at home and throwing patio furniture round my garden...

...with an England soundtrack. World in Motion and England's Irie. The two best football tunes IMO.

The devil makes work for idol hands. Particularly when Sara Cox is the centrefold. Few vintage Loaded mag from eBay. For the articles.

A signed Pools ball. Celebrating 100 years of Hartlepool United. Fortunately I've only been around for 37 of them.

Alan Partridge - Sports Casual

Cool customer or all the gear, no idea?

Hats on or off?

Hats On

* The Bobble
The bobble hat has seen a re-surge of popularity in the past few years, no doubt with some part played by the exclusive Tom Weirs by Casualco. Three colourways are released in limited numbers of 50, sell out in minutes on said website for £25, then cruelly appearing on eBay a couple days later for often treble the RRP. The bobble hat is sometimes associated with nerds like bird watchers and trainspotters, but despite this is the ulimate in cool winter warmers as it evades the attention of the fashionists. It's hip to be square.

Casualco.com

*The Trapper
The trapper is as quality as it is functional. Again wins cool points as it does look a bit silly. Flaps can be worn up for that Russian cab driver look or down to protect ears from frostbite in Arctic conditions - or during January mid week games.

Fjall Raven

*The Flat Cap
Maybe because it's because I'm a Northerner that I rate these so highly. One for the Northern League dwellers, pigeon fanciers and whippet breaders. And the odd clued up chap. Tweed caps are proving to be quite popular at the moment, another hat proving that it has a cooler rep now than in the past. As Northern as a road sign saying THE NORTH in, well, the North.

A. Moon Tweed

*The Bucket
A hat made famous by the Madchester and early Britpop scene, the bucket is predominantly found on heads come summer, particularly at music festivals. Worn by those trying to emulate Reni and Liam Gallagher, but less so Man City boss Roberto Mancini. Quite a functional hat as keeps sun out of eyes as well as rain off the head. My personal favourite is the Kangol Spray, but they loss brownie points for churning out those god awful fluffy hip-hop ones.

Stone Roses Reunion Bucket

Hats Off

*The Cap
Worn by everyone and anyone. The baseball cap is synonymous with chav culture, but saying that you don't seem to see them as much these days. Which is probably a good thing given the vulgar house check designs that single handedly brought Burberry to it's knees in reputation stakes. I do have a problem with the Stone Island ones that are doing the rounds at the moment - even the genuine ones look fake. Being the cheaper of S.I.s range this is the SPW garment that lots of young whippersnappers opt for with their pocket money, hoping for top boy status. Gay boy status i'd say. Shit.

Stone Island

*The Beanie
It's like a bobble hat but minus the bobble. And to be fair they ain't all bad, there's a lot of good ones out there. But they lose points for those who throw one on with a t-shirt in the height of friggin summer. Again Stone Island deserve a mention for their thoughtless and unoriginal version. Sticking their trademark button patch on the front of a beanie really wasn't a masterstroke. I thought things couldn't get any worse... until I saw the CP Company goggle ones. Sigh.

CP Company

 *The Deerstalker
These never looked good and are best left in the confines of the mid 80s. If I saw some country gent wearing one combined with a Barbour jacket, shotgun and gun dog I'd probably laugh, even though he genuinely has a right to wear one. So imagine what I'll do if I see some 17 year old on the terrace combining one with Sergio trackie top. I'll point and fucking laugh.

80s Casuals

*The Trilby
Unless you're one of the seven members of Madness or one of the Blues Brothers then you haven't got the right to wear a trilby. One for the old boys as part of their Sunday best, after wearing the flat cap on a saturday. Another hat which has it's chequered past thanks to Aquascutum et al.

Aquascutum

Yorkshire Tweed Cap

Picked up a smashing Moon flat cap from the local M&S outlet today. Based in Guiseley, Leeds, Mr Abraham Moon & Son have been making fine tweeds since 1837, to rival those of that well known Outer Hebrides brand. And they now provide their fine wares to high street staple Marksies (the biggest distributor of Moon Tweed in Britain), but also do a bit of collaborating on occasion with the more discerning designer pallets - D&G and Ralph Lauren being two most recently.

Been after a flat cap for awhile, as quite like that 'cap and crombie' combo. Tried and failed with a Harris Tweed bakerboy and missed out on Connoisseur's Villain cap, and so was pleased as punch to get this blue/black cap for £8.99. A Good Northern piece if ever there was one, were once seen as the uncool old codgers head warmer as he fancied pigeons, raised whippets, and hacked and coughed at non league games - all whilst he supped his bitter with yellowing nicotine stained fingers. Now though the cloth cap is a worldwide symbol of cool and to prove it here's some snaps of icons of mine wearing said garment, both of the tweed and cloth variety...

Suggs

Del Boy (David Jason) - Only Fools

Paul Newman

Bill Murray

Shaun Ryder

Jamie Foreman

Ade Edmondson

Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) - Blue Bloods

Festive Clobber Gifts (Recent Purchases)

A few Christmas gifts off the family for the wardrobe -

First up a plain Barbour shirt from me maw. Dark blue and white check, quite a chunky check too. Not the usual thin check most of my shirt choices have. Liking the lack of outer labelling, just a small discreet shield motif with no words on chest pocket.

Next up a nice smart Harris Tweed scarf. It's stiff, it's itchy and it smells of piss when wet, but what a cracking look. Brown/cream houndsteeth design from those Outer Hebrides hermits who weave the wool in their living room. Well documented that Casual Connoisseurs Harris Tweed scarves all sold out within a minute, but preferred this colourway direct from Harris Tweed - half the price of CC efforts at a low low £15. A gift from the wife, who thankfully has the same view on scarves as me - that you can never have too many...

Which is a good thing because the maw-in-law got me another one. A smart Paul Smithesque college scarf by House of Frasers Linea range. Not something I've ever bought from before, but in my humble opinion the likes of HoFs Linea and Howick are just like M&S - they provide good quality everyday clobber for a reasonable price. Anyway it's always been about design as opposed to the label for me (not strictly true when I was younger, but is now I'm more mature), so there.

Next something I been after for a good while but couldn't warrant it at full price. However found one on eBay BNWT and got him for £30. A Casual Connoisseur 'Beat-a-storm' MKII cagoule. Anyone reading this won't need telling they used the Peter Storm Cag as their template and made a pretty damn cool waterproof/windproof lightweight jacket. Deffo the best colourway of the second set of releases, although would have killed for a blue one of the original set. Still this looks the dogs on and the quality is far better than expected, fully lined in white rubbery waterproofing inside. Well done lads.

Finally another eBay purchase. Been on a downer about Stone Island recently and sold this jumper off. However felt lost without him being one of the original S.I. crew. So saw another one pop up on Bay and had to have it. Got for the same price as I sold it, he was one size bigger so a bit more comfy, plus in better nick than my old one so all in all a result. Pale green with marina stripes, and those of you film buffs may recognise it from Nick Love's Football Factory, as the knit on the 'nutter in a Stone Island jumper and a blade in my face' - but we'll not hold that against it.