Caps and gloves

I have a soft spot for men's headware and flat caps in particular. When I was at the sample sale I mentioned in the last post, I also found some sample flat caps and a pair of soft leather gloves. I particularly like the flat cap with the bright red corduroy inset. Snazzy...

I also bought this one because of the color and because of the size. Somehow the flap is larger than regular caps, which makes it look cool. The guy also had a blazer in matching fabric, but that was way too large, otherwise it would have been tempting...

  

In addition to the flat caps I also bought a pair of very soft leather gloves simply because they matched my new jacket....

My first real English Wax Coat

This weekend I visited the yearly sample sale of a knitwear dealer in Amsterdam, through an invitation from The Boss Otten Company (or B.O.T.C.). One of his colleagues sells typical english men's clothing from John Partridge, William Lockie and Magee. Usually this sample sale is a bit above my budget,this time I decided to go for a real wax coat. In the end, after some haggling, I payed 155 euro's. It is a brown jacket model with several interesting (hidden) pockets. Like for example a poacher's pocket in the rear back panel. The model is called 'guards jacket'. I like the fact that it is not the typical dark green or dark blue color these wax coats traditionnaly have. And as these jackets are supposed to look better and better with age and wear, I intend to wear it for a very long time.....

Here is one of the hidden pockets in the front:

 

And the poachers pocket:

Result!

Last sunday we went to a local flea-market. Usually I do not find very much, clothing wise, but this time I was very lucky! There was a woman who sold used frames and lo and behold, between the usual suspects there was what looked like a geniune pair of cartier men's glasses! I tried them on and tried to look at myself in a mirror, but the lenses in there where so far off that I good not get a good look at myself even when I pressed my nose to the glass...anyway I bought them for 32,50 euro, hoping they were real.
After some resarch I found the same frame on e-bay for 900 dollars, retail price 1500 dollars...I found the serial number on the frame, which I think is a good indication they are real. The name-stamp in the ear-piece is made by hand and set in gold apparantley. If I am right this is made in platinum. I got them fitted with the right strenght lenses on monday (fortunately they were in stock in the shop, and were fitted in less than half an hour!)....result!!

Plaid jacket

I found this jacket at one of many local thrift shops in the area. This is from one in Beverwijk. This is a plaid Ermenegildo Zegna cloth-jacket by Eduard Dressler, 2 buttons and fortunately my size! (Which is 50 by the way, an excellent avarage size as most men's clothing samples are usually made in a size 50). It also had not been altered (or very much worn for that matter) by the previous owner. And as plaid is very much in fashion now, I am very much in style for a mere 5 euro's....

It all starts at your feet....

These are some wonderfull socks a bought this morning. They are Italian cotton socks, knee high and very thin. I bought them in my local market in Heemskerk. The guy who sold them had originally bought them in Italy, but the market here in Holland for these kinds of socks is very small and virtually non-existant on your local fruit, veg and such market. So I got 6 pairs for 10 euro's. The guy had to sell them at a loss, just to get rid of them. He had to pay 9 euro's a pair from his supplier. I saw similar socks from Ermenigildo Zegna on the net for 25 dollars a pair. This is the second box I bought, unfortunately his only stock left was black. The other box also contained 2 navy and 1 cream pair.

So this is how it starts.....

When in High School I started to get interested in fashion. Not in a very conscious way, I justed wanted to look different. I was the kid wearing white dress shoes and yellow pants to school....
But flash forward to the present: at 40 I am still very much interested in man's fashion, however, I do not have the financial means to splash out on designer clothing. I do know, however what is quality and what is not. So, in order to get those nice clothes without paying a fortune I try to be creative in acquiring good (designer) clothing. I turn to different sources, hence the title of this blog: sales, samples shop daughters (this is a dutch expression for clothing that a shop does not seem to be able to sell, for being either too expensive or too "different") and second hand.
My aim for this blog is to share with you whatever I buy for a nice price and to see if you agree! As I have been "collecting" for quite a while there is quite a lot in my wardrobe I can show.