The Wells Fargo Wagon...

...is a coming down the street, oh please let it be for me. Last week, it finally was.

On Wednesday I received the long awaited Barbour International which I had purchased almost a month earlier via the buying/selling board at Styleforum. net. The jacket is even better in person than the various photos I examined online.

my Barbour A-7

First impressions are that the jacket is much, much warmer than I would have initially given it credit. I doubt that it will have any issues with SLC winters. The waxed cotton had a funny smell initially when taking it out of the bag, but that disappeared as I hung it to air out overnight. The craftsmanship is second to none, and it's easy to see how Barbour attained so many royal mandates (as outlined in the care booklets that accompany the coat). The waxed cotton feels very weatherproof, which will be great for rain and snow this winter. I even think that this jacket could survive the most brutal of camping trips. The interior is lined with a very "Burberry"-esque plaid lining, which I suspect is more due to its English heritage rather than any sort of deliberate copying. The jacket possesses both a waist band and neck cinch, and while useful at the waist, I have found that the neck cinch is too large for my neck even at its smallest measurement. The jacket does seem to run a tad large as well in general - I purchased a size 42, as is common in my suiting, but I suspect that a 40 would fit slightly more streamlined, even with a layer or two beneath.

A text from my friend Andrew officially declared me a BMOC for Fall Semester - Barbour, Boots, and Selvage denim. You can't really get much more classic than that!

Since the beginning of summer, I had been wearing in a pair of Sand Suede Clarks Desert Boots, and had been loving every minute of it. However, the boots took quite a beating in their mountain-climbing experience in the deserts of Las Vegas. In order to freshen up the look a bit for Fall, I snagged a great pair of DB's from the local Nordstrom Rack in a beeswax leather. Upon closer examination though, I found out that the boot, while immensely similar to my Sand Suede Clarks Originals, is not officially a "Desert Boot." Rather, it's listed as a Bushacre Boot - along the same vein, but rather than the crepe sole, it's a rubber one. No comparisons as of yet as to durability, considering my suede DB's survived a mountain and I've only had the Bushacre's for a week... but I'm sure time will tell. What's more, the beeswax leather looks very classy. Just a little shake up from the lighter suede.

already used and abused

An interesting thing to note about Clarks boots in general is that they run large. In other words, you'll want to buy the shoe slightly smaller than you normally would. Example - I typically wear an 11.5 US size in shoes. I've purchased both of my Clarks in size 11, and it still probably has a bit of room to spare.

What's more, with my 501STF having gone to The William (yes, I parted ways with my mountain-man denim for Jon's sake), my only current denim project are the raw 514's picked up in Las Vegas in early April. They are breaking in quite nicely, with all former rigid texture now turned into soft, supple denim. The honeycombs behind the knees are almost permanent, and I'm even getting some good thigh texture below the lap. When they finally do get washed, given their being made of Japanese denim, I suspect that the immediate indigo loss won't be too drastic. But on the other hand, the wear is starting to look permanent, and it's giving great character to the denim.

Levi's 514x

I'm super excited to see how these become even more customized. I can also say that they have stretched out considerably from their first purchase. I remember going out the night I bought them, and I would have labeled them veritable butt-huggers. Now they pull up comfortably in the morning, almost as if they know how my lower body is shaped. Ah, the wonders of raw denim.

So, with Gregorias, The William, and Davids all outfitted, I hope to be getting some additional fit pics soon to post in comparison to mine. The contest (more or less) is going to go until the end of Fall Semester, at which point the person with the coolest wear will win something cool (yet-to-be-decided).

Additionally, I have to make a shameless plug for Victorious Secret, my intramural soccer team for the semester. I was able to make an amazing snatch from my favorite football e-store in the world, prodirectsoccer.com. With the ending of the World Cup, the Nike Elite lines in the WC colorway (GreyPurple/Orange) went on a ₤100 discount. Hence and even still, you're able to generally snag the Elite versions of Nike's football boot line for less than even the new "standard" versions for this season. So, for only $160 ($40 less than the newest releases, and about $130 less than the new Elites) I grabbed a pair of Nike's Control boot - the CTR360 Maestri. Pushed generally by the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Carlos Tevez, and Rafael Van der Vaart, the boot focuses on the control aspect of the game, passing, distribution, etc. Don't have a real photo yet, so here's the one from Prodirect.

Nike CTR360 Maestri Elite

Our team's next game is Saturday around noon, so super excited to get these things exposed to some footballing action!

Anyways, that's enough for now. Will be back when posts merit it -