🔥FIRE SALE🔥 No. 10
Rethinking jerseys 🏈, FarmersOnly fits 🚜, and Prince Jackaroo 🤴🐄🦘, Duke of Frostbite 🥶, Pints 🍺, and Xbox 🎮.
In my all-consuming quest to scour through the digital crates, bins, and garage sales of secondhand clothing, I find myself with a surplus of saved items from across the platforms I explore. As the readers know, I often find a throughline, trend, or theme to explore when it comes to my recommendations, but this time of year, namely, deep winter, especially February, is difficult to sort. It is a non-season. Festivities are behind us. The days are technically getting longer, but the sunshine is far from sight. Now is an excellent time to take in the entire array of options. Take a note from Punxsutawney Phil – peek your head out and take a good look at what is happening on the street, but return to the lab and cook up some ingenious fits.
This summer, when bloke-core was trending, and a few months later, when the NFL season was beginning, I began rethinking jerseys. I had sworn off wearing them after they were a staple of mine in college. For some reason, every guy wore them to parties from 2013-2017. In New York, they signify a kind of douchey cluelessness that is actually quite endearing if you drop the cynicism for two seconds. These two kits, one from the ‘98 French Soccer team and the other a Champion Raiders jersey, evoke the exact opposite sentiment. The French kit summons memories of Thierry Henry, Zidane, and the current French national team manager Didier Deschamps, and their elegant play that led them to World Cup victory. With their reputation for taking no prisoners on the gridiron, the Raiders kit elicits a more menacing response.
I simply will never get tired of nice pair of straight-leg jeans and a heritage barn coat. This combo is the certified uniform of nonchalant diner owners, retired New England professors, and farmer’s market stall keepers alike. I especially like these flannel-lined jeans from L.L. Bean, which are abundant online. They are an excellent way to give your one pair of Uniqlo heat tech a break and wash them because I know you’ve been putting that off you disgusting creature.
I’ve seen several TikToks on my feed celebrating Bob Dylan-core or “wearing a jacket that’s not warm enough.” This forest green wool jacket from Pendleton paired with this made-in-the-USA wool sweater will help you capture that Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan look and maybe fetch a nice-looking girl to walk down a snowy street in The Village with you.
If you read ⌚The FIRE SALE Guide to Actually Affordable Vintage Timepieces ⏰, you will know how much of a fan I am of Seikos. Seiko, the inventor of the quartz movement, is a brand with heritage that doesn’t break the bank. GQ recently scooped me with an article detailing Seiko 5 sports watches (although I mentioned them in my guide months before), and vintage models are incredibly affordable with some excellent subtle style variations. I like these 90s day-dates, one with blue and the other with gold numerals. They resemble sportier Rolexes but aren’t replicas. They have enough of their own character to not feel like cheap imitations.
This time of year always reminds me of J-term and the start of the spring semester at my alma mater. While I mostly stuck to a slacker preppy dress code in undergrad, I occasionally would visit the local Tractor Supply Company or Walmart men’s section to check out the wares. I still have Wrangler pieces from that country Walmart and wore the hell out of a John Deere trucker hat that I tragically lost. These two pieces remind me of that time and are pretty bitchin’ in a John Cougar Mellencamp kind of way. I love the McDonald's x Cactus Jack x Wrangler vibes I’m getting from this button-down.
The Future Farmers of America is a non-profit organization that teaches young guns how to whip a tractor and rotate crops like their grandaddy and also happens to make an iconic blue corduroy jacket that is certifiably dope. Don’t let Emily Bode, Ralph Lauren, or the mood board marauders see this!
Truly one of the saddest and funniest books I’ve ever listened to is Spare by renowned former Prince and former solider turned content creator Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. If you want to read about going through the most profound and public grief a child could possibly go through, this is the book for you. Additionally, if you want to read about pints and Xbox with the boys, buying dime bags at Eton, and Freudian analysis that would shock Sigmund himself, this is also the book for you. At nearly every chapter, I have been taking a beat to see what Harry’s sartorial choices were in the particular era he is writing about. There are some good – his slouchy preppy looks of his teens. There are some bad – a nazi uniform. However, the era of Harry's that caught my attention the most was his jackaroo era when during his gap year, he worked as a rancher at a cattle station in Australia. The flowing navy shirt, the canvas hat, but most importantly, the piercing volcanic Oakley sunglasses left me feeling inspired to dress for a future solar punk utopia and perhaps a climate-devasted dystopia.
Queue up Lorde’s Leader of a New Regime! Pack the SPF 3000! These Oakley shades, in that nice scorching red hue, will keep your vision protected from the blinding infrared rays. For those desert nights that will soon befall the entire environment, may I suggest this Oakley reflective windbreak in brown and khaki with a surprising cobalt blue accent? It will keep you visible to your fellow Anthropocene herdsman.
I leave you with this randomly beautiful Chobani ad? where for once, the future has a kind vibe where technology, animal husbandry, and farming live in harmony! Not to mention the characters who decorate the ad have very chill, earthy, and functional outfits on. Look for more on “Solar Punk” in the future.