Hello my friends, welcome back for the latest installment of Signals. Signals is our bi-monthly round-up of anything that has caught my eye recently. It really doesn’t have to relate to menswear or fashion or anything — it’s a true grab-bag in that sense.
Please also consider liking, commenting, or sharing — your engagement really goes a long way! Either way, I hope you enjoy.
Rubato and the Vintage Feel
I talked about this very briefly in one of my Instagram stories, but this ad from Scandinavian menswear brand Rubato really caught my eye. This ad in particular immediately brought me back to the vintage Polo Ralph Lauren ads of the 80s.
I got my start on Instagram by reposting those exact ads, and as such they hold a special place in my heart when it comes to menswear. To see them resurrected for a new era is really awesome.
For what is in its essence a pretty simple image - a man walking alone through a field - I still find that there was a great deal of care to recreate that air of melancholic solitude that some of those old ralph ads captured so well.
Did they actually aim to use Polo as a source of inspiration for this shoot? I have no idea.
Either way, I’m loving the content and hope to see some more brands take this approach.
Also, if you’re interested in learning more about Rubato and the inception of the Scand-ivy movement itself, friend of the program Eric Twardzik wrote up a great introduction on Robb Report a while back.
The New Preppy
Have I talked about this before? Probably. Honestly, it deserves its own article, but it’s on the top of my mind so I want to spit something out here.
“Prep” as a style has always largely been defined through its incorporation of the leisure activities of the early-mid-century upper crust. Boat shoes, blazers, polo shirts, rugbies; many of the mainstays of prep originated on the pitch or in the water and were casually embraced as daily-drivers due to their comfort and familiarity.
That said, the fashion landscape has changed significantly over the last few decades. The area making perhaps the largest leaps and bounds (in terms of how much it has changed) has been sportswear — technical garments now dominate the scene in lieu of the worse-performing cotton of years’ past.
I’ve noticed (as I’m sure many of you have as well) a huge uptick in the amount of athletic brands that are attempting to cross that sportswear-to-casual-but-still-elevated-style threshold. Notably, the worlds of running, cycling, and tennis have really honed in on the fashion element of their offerings, often to good effect.
The recent explosion of GORPcore (this is one of the more coherent things I’ve written, you should give it a read if you haven’t) has really codified this embrace of technical-garments-as-fashion.
Tracksmith is perhaps the poster child for what I’m talking about here though — they’ve successfully combined that retro-collegiate style that we all love with technical garments that are genuinely capable of performing in their respective sport. A perfect marriage of style and function.
This extends way past Tracksmith, however — there’s a huge market for this kind of stuff currently. I decided that I’m gonna continue this thought in a longer post where I can better flesh out what I mean — look for it in the coming weeks.
Threads is Dead/Twitter/X
This dogshit app’s cultural moment lasted less than a week lol. Hundreds of millions of users on day one and already reduced to ashes.
That said, Elon Musk is trying his hardest to completely kill all of the cultural capital that Twitter had. I’m genuinely perplexed at his choices — why would you rename one of the most popular websites in the world on a whim? It’s not even a cool name…
Twitter’s toxicity is what makes it great. It’s about as close as you can get to entering a PvP version of the internet. I don’t think Musk will succeed in killing off its social capital (there’s literally nowhere else to go — every twitter clone immediately becomes an echo chamber of whatever group decides to throw a temper tantrum near its inception (bluesky, Donald Trump’s thing (not even sure what it’s called lol)), and immediately becomes lame and banal), but he’s certainly putting his best foot forward.
If this is real (and it increasingly seems to be real), then we are witnessing a paradigm-shifting moment on par with the invention of the computer chip, and it’s happening out of some weirdo’s kitchen. Where else are you gonna get this type of content?
Sperry Dawg What Are You Doing?
On a real note, their marketing team is really bad lol
I am BEGGING Drake’s to Miss Just Once
Please I need to use someone as a punching bag for content please bro just post one ugly fit bro please you have to understand
Also their archive sale is going on now, in case you missed it.
Hypebeast But For Normal White Guy Clothes
Okay I get it, the video is old (for social media), but it’s new to me. This is really what it be like though.
“Yoo dude J. Crew’s about to drop their new [Alden exclusives]. There’s already a line you gotta get down here”
Barbie and Getting Dressed Up For Public Events
The barbie movie has lived up to the hype (I am a proud KENsurrectionist btw) and is nearing the $1 billion mark for the box office. Seriously putting up some crazy numbers. Much of this success can be chalked up to viral marketing and social media trends that have helped extend the reach of the movie (and of course being one of the biggest toy brands of all time).
One of the more popular trends has seen the girlies all getting together to wear pink outfits to the theater. These aren’t like half-assed outfits either, many groups are really going all-in and completely owning the barbie aesthetic.
Honestly, it’s great to see this kind of thing. We all know that it’s nice to get dressed up for stuff, but on the whole, America has really lost its way when it comes to dressing for an occasion.
I’ll never forget the time that I went to a really expensive steakhouse with my family, where we were promptly seated next to a guy in a soccer jersey. It wasn’t even one of those “whoa he’s just like Mark Zuckerberg fr he’s beyond social conformity because of his outward status“ kinda deals, it was firmly in the realm of “you look like a disgusting slob and you’re killing the vibe for everyone else here“ moments.
It feels good to look good and it often enhances the experience of the event. Allowing yourself to actually commit to something for once in your pathetic millennial life is actually a really nice experience, and it’s something that seems to have gotten swept up in the status-anxieties of not wanting to be seen trying too hard (ew you care about stuff? In 2023???). Dressing up for stuff is cool and I hope we see some more social movements like this going forward!
The Holdovers
This movie looks fun!
Side-note though, I really don’t like these trailers where they just tell you the entire plot of the movie.
Reddit AMA With the Founder of Jack Donnelly
This was a really fun read — I’m not really a fan of reddit, but I saw this on Jack Donnelly’s instagram story and decided to give it a go. I’m a big fan of the brand and Gregg (the owner) is a really cool dude.
Alright guys, that’s it for this edition of Signals. That’s everything I’ve been up to or have otherwise been thinking about recently.
These posts take a lot of time and effort for me to write out — if you liked this post, I would appreciate a like/subscription. Engaging with you guys really does make a difference in my ability to dedicate time toward putting out quality content.
Thanks for reading and see you next time!
Thanks for the shout out!
I've had the chance to hang with the Rubato boys a couple times, first when they had their Permanent Style pop-up in NYC and then last April in London, and can confirm that they're genuinely nice dudes too.
Great read as always. I remember the days of dressing up for Harry Potter or Star Wars movie premieres as a kid. Sounds dorky now but definitely fun as an elementary school kid