Dissecting The Hype
Shoes I wish I knew about sooner, sweaters I can’t afford, and trying to dress like John Cena.
Every half a year or so I go through what you might call a “style shift”, or a “style adjustment”. I’m actually really satisfied with my current wardrobe rotation, but my heart yearns for new experiences—What I’m trying to say is, I want new clothes!! When this moment happens I naturally tend to go for clothes that are new to me, forcing me to adjust my personal style in hopes of finding that thrill we all seek as we play the game of Fashion.
I try my best to not buy things I don’t really need, but sometimes my willpower just isn’t strong enough to stop my fingers from running wild as they fill out the buying and shipping info for my latest online order. Today’s newsletter isn’t particularly about recommendations (but it kind of always is) but rather highlighting vibes that I have been feeling and not feeling lately.
IT’S JORTS SEASON!
Last summer was filled with breezy lightweight 5” shorts that were fantastic to chill in, but this season I’m feeling chaotic and that requires a more solid pocket situation because I can’t be having things falling out of them as I try to bike home at 4 am after a nightcap—this is where 5” baggies lack since I found myself always having to pick up my stuff from the ground because the baggies couldn’t fit all of my things that I was trying to carry. Yes, a bag of sorts could have worked, but I am kind of against bags, at least when I am going out.
This is where jorts really stepped up and became one of my go-to pieces, at least for this summer. Canada is going through some weird pre-summer weather where it’s kind of hot during the day, but when the sun is down it gets pretty chilly again. As someone who’s been dying to wear shorts already, it just wasn’t the right move to go full legs out with some thin material to match—I needed daytime breeze with night-time protection.
I started looking at the Big Boy Shorts from Polar which has my ideal fit but luckily for me the good people over at Fucking Awesome saw my bat signal in form of a tweet. They ended up sending me a bunch of pairs of shorts that have the perfect over-the-knee coverage and for that I am grateful!
I’m pretty late on the jorts wave I know that, but as they say, it’s better late than never! Recently, my friend and I were discussing our next fashion moves, as we usually do, and at the time we were both really keen on the jorts movement that was happening around us—both of us wanted a piece of the pie! That’s when she linked me to this video of John Cena’s first match in jorts—a pivotal moment that would set to define his career for years to come!!
What I’m trying to say is that ever since I put a pair of jorts I started winning! I pretty much wear them every day right now, and it’s been a lot of fun pairing them with different types of shoe styles, tops, and even dress shirts—because why not? Take the plunge and cut up some of your baggiest jeans and go wild, you won’t regret it, and if you want to spend some cash and acquire the perfect pair of your own, then I have a solid recommendation below.
The homie over at Fade Pants has perfected his lineup of baggy jeans that don’t break the bank, and on June 20th he is going to bless us with some perfect jorts. Since these are handmade by one person, the drop will only feature the black jorts for now, but follow the IG and stay tuned for updates are more colors of the shorts will be dropping soon!
I WISH I DIDN’T KNOW THIS
I was browsing the internet as I stumbled upon a general release sneaker I felt like I should have already known about, but didn’t. Thankfully Andrew from 3Sixteen ended up putting me on this great colorway of the ASICS GEL-1130 that needs a spotlight of its own.
We know that ASICS has been putting out fire designs, but sometimes the general releases come with some weird accent colors that I am just not that into, and because of this I end up paying more attention to the collabs rather than the general releases—before I realize asics dropped some heaters, it’s already too late. A good example of this happened right after I posted about Andrew’s pick-up on my instagram.
Michael is someone I met recently in New York, and after seeing the post of Andrew’s ASICS he ended up hitting me up to bless my eyes with an alternative colorway of the GEL-1130s that are only available in women’s sizing. Most sizes are sold out, which sucks because nothing hurts more than finding no sizes of an absolute fire piece nobody really knows about yet.
A few sizes are still available, so some of you might get lucky! Alternatively, there is also a similar colorway with some yellow detailing that can be found here.
At first glance I was reminded of the upcoming Jound Asics, which don’t have a release date yet and are a different model, but they do share a similar vibe. No normal person stands a chance at actually getting the upcoming Jound Asics, which means that it’s probably best if we find a close alternative, and these Cream/Silver ASICS fit the bill perfectly.
Unfortunately my size is sold out, and a part of me wishes I simply didn’t know this colorway existed, but now this means that my new mission is to find them in a size 12, and I will not rest until I have them in my possession.
SMELLS LIKE BROKE IN HERE
Have you ever got called poor by a photo? I have after looking at this cowboy crewneck from Bode. It’s not every day I’m trying to dress like a cowboy, but sometimes when the mood is right and the piece in question is absolutely beautiful, it’s hard to say no.
The retail prices of Bode chew me up and spit me back flying down to earth where I come to a not-so-smooth landing. As I figure out where I am again, I hear a faint voice from a distance—”You’re broke!!”. Bode isn’t for everyone not just style-wise, but I am talking about money-wise, and since there’s probably not a chance I am going to cop this sweater what I will do is just stare at it online.
Of course this type of sweater isn’t groundbreaking, and honestly, it’s just a classic piece from the Ralph Lauren collection—It may be half the price but still would put a dent in my wallet. Doing some digging for other cowboy sweater alternatives, I ended up finding a bunch of different cardigans and sweaters from the 90s—Like this Ralph Lauren piece I found on eBay. Needless to say, there are plenty of vintage options out there if you don’t want to break the bank on Bode.
Will I actually go down the cowboy path and start rocking sweaters like this? Probably not, but it’s fun to roleplay and imagine that you could wear something like this in the future!
NAIL IN THE COFFIN
Those who rise quickly must swiftly fall from the top. This is how I feel about the Adidas Samba recently. Last year they really had their moment where it seemed like every person and their grandma ended up getting a pair, but due to the oversaturation, the shoe quickly became dull and boring to me.
Once the Samba customs started to pop up I knew this was the nail in the coffin for this model, at least for me—I needed something else. Listen, the shoe is fine and you should wear what you want, a bunch of you messaged me saying that you are still hyped on the samba and will be wearing them this summer—and I am stoked to hear that because you should always do as you should!!
I’m online constantly researching and looking at clothes, and my exposure to certain items might be more than the average person. Because of this, it takes a much shorter period of time to grow annoyed with certain fashion “trends”, but this forces me to dig deeper and ultimately find better recommendations so we don’t all end up looking like the robots from the movie I, Robot.
So what are the alternatives to the Samba? I don’t really know yet, but I don’t want to say that the Samba in its entirety is out the window—because the Wales Bonner Adidas partnership should get a pass. I think we need to start looking at alternatives within Adidas itself first. Their skate lineup has some great shoes like the Busenitz Vintage, Gazelle ADV, and the Tyshawn Lows—all great contenders if you want to stay with adidas as your everyday shoe. The links I provided here are a decent start, but browse around different skate shops as there are dozens of colorways that never get released via Adidas specifically!
With that being said, I am going to spend the next little while researching what could be our next “samba”. It’s not going to be easy, but as soon as I know you’ll be the first to know.
Fade Pants might be the future they look super good also there is no lil man or something else in your pocket and they unknown i really like that about them
also trying to do a style shift, i think im slowly getting there but every summer just kills the morale for me... tbh i CANNOT get on board with longer shorts