Another Pair of Socks!

These socks aren't just interesting because they are my favorite color but also because they are textured. The pattern is sort of like a crocheted sweater. It is called seeded by the sock department at American Apparel. I'm loving there socks over there. On sale I picked up 2 for a $10er.

Enjoy!

By the way, I don't only wear Bill's Khakis even though it seems like it.

Orange & Gray

Tonight, I was browsing a few ties after work and stumbled upon a a bow tie in oxford gray at BB. It was interesting and It reminded me of this orange striped shirt I've been waiting to wear for sometime now.

Now, this got me thinking what exactly can you wear with, tie wise mind you, with an orange shirt. Orange is a pale enough color so I thought I could pull off a dark green. For some reason I just wasn't feeling it. I let my mind blank and grey came to me. I think I got this idea that I could treat it like pink and it would pop out at me against a grey.

I was really right. The darker grays such as charcoal make it seem brighter. Oxford and medium grays make the orange appear normal; not too bright and not too pale. Light grays or gray patterns on a white ground make the orange look like a pastel or pale color. Take a look and my photos. The bow tie was purchased today and the straight Glen Check patterned tie I've had for at least a year.

With the darker gray the shirt appears to be brighter.

With the white ground underneath the stripes this appears to make the orange a pastel almost a salmon pink color

See what I mean. Play around with this and discover what you like and what looks good with you. Also, know this, depending on the seasons you can use this to play on the suit you are wearing. In Winter and Fall, darker colors are worn more frequently so, we could use a darker tie and contrast with a brighter orange shirt. The reverse is true for Summer and Spring so, a lighter tie will bring the color down and let you play with a pocket square or lead with some go to hell pants.

An Orange Pocket Square

When I first saw this pocket square a year ago I knew I had to have it. I'm glad it is still around; I only purchased it last week. It is a Kent Wang orange striped pocket square made from cotton.

Why did I want it so much. Right about this time 3 years ago my late father had returned from Africa. He was running a non-profit org and helping out some NGOs focused on East African problems. While he was there he went on a safari of Masai Mara. It was cold, yes it gets cold in Africa even on the Equator, he purchased some hand knitted blankets from the Masai in the first village they encountered. One of the blankets looks just like this pattern except really really bright orange. The green and royal blue stripes really liven up the orange. The blanket really reminded me of home. When we lived in Nairobi we had a few Masais that lived near us and although modern they knitted these and sold them in town. There house was decorated with handmade crafts thanks to the mother's taste and the father's lawyer's salary.

Orange & Brown

Let us consider wearing orange and brown together. In Fall, these colors really work well together and if it works for the leaves it can't be half bad.

Esquire photo: brown checked tweed and orange shirt with a contrast collar

Some tailoring Shop. The light brown tweed jacket on the right with an orange pocket square and a navy with orange stripes tie. The dark, grayish-brown tweed on the left is matched with a bright orange silk tie.

This photo is from a Swedish blog I can't recall: another brown checked tweed matched with a dark orange tie and an orangey-brown square. It looks like paisley.

Here a famous abdicator wears an orange pastel shirt paired with a brown odd jacket with an orange over check.

In this German ad, the gentleman on the left is wearing a dark brown jacket with an orange tie.

Photo Credit: Credited under the photo unless I can't remember. Again, if they are yours and you want them down shoot me an email or leave a comment.

An Excellent Color!

I absolutely love the orange pad-holders that Rhodia makes. I had to have one and it really is outstanding. Surprisingly it gets less stares that the white linen pants I wear to University in downtown Atlanta.

The color is bright but more pastel than the pads themselves. The inside is black and contains accent orange stitching. It really is nice. Now only if it was real leather. Oh by the way this was a personal purchase. I stole from my piggy bank, it took about 10 minutes to roll up the pennies. Now I have 3 of these pad holders. 2 black ones and 1 orange one.

Rhodia No. 12 Bloc Review

I've been busy lately, not so much that I can't have a little fun. Here is another review.

Before we get started I need to explain my testing methods:

1. *Feel; how the nib feels on the paper?
2. *Feathering; if the ink feathers on the paper?
3. Bleed-through; is the ink visible on the reverse side of the?
4. Aesthetics; overall appearance, cover design and page details?
5. Durability; is it hard to tear out pages, will it be easily destroyed?

There are other means I will use to rank them but they will be personal and may not mean anything to you. There are:

1. Portability: Where am I likely to keep it in my pocket, laptop bag or portfolio?
2. Uses: Which place is it most suited for school, business or play?(no Oxford Coma here)
3. Hack ability: Can I alter it to suit my needs?

Rhodia No. 12 Bloc

Test 1: Smooth. Even the italic Reform 1745 was easy to write with.

Test 2: Feathering was non existent with any of the used combinations of nibs, pens, and inks.

Test 3: Just the Sharpie bled. One can discern that there is writing on the back but it won't bother most people. Only the really, really sensitive will mind.

Test 4: Just 1 transgression, a logo on the front of the pad in bold black lettering. None anywhere else. The gridded paper is straight forward and has no header or footer margins. Also no left or right margins. Overall it is great looking and not heavily branded.

Test 5: Pages need to be deliberately torn and for its purpose it is solidly constructed. Will take abuse from one's palm and from being sat on.

Portability: Very portable. Fits into a variety of things: palms, jeans pockets, breast pockets, shirt pockets, hip pockets, and awesome for hangman with one's nephews.

Uses: No place it isn't useful. I carry it with me everywhere. I have one for work and another for everywhere.

Hack ability: Yes. Here is one. Awesome for GTDers.

Details:

• No comparison paper for the feel test.
• Subjective methods used.
• *This particular note pad was provided by Exaclair but I was already a fan of this product.

Summary:

For GTDers and people that need an all purpose writing pad, this is the note pad for you. Its stand out features are portability and pocket proof construction. Personally I buy them a few at a time to ensure I have them on hand whenever needed. I carry one everywhere I go, never know when they come in handy.

J. Herbin Ink Review

Fountain pens are one of my interests/eccentricities and this post is a dedication to it.

Rhodia staple bound graph pad, Pelikan m250 black and blue new style, Lamy Flame,& a ????? on top of my pen case.

Yes, on the left that is the Rhodia web notebook. Sweet, no.?

Mrs. Karen Doherty, VP of Marketing at Exaclair, sent me some J. Herbin inks to review. In the package she sent me Orange Indien and Diabolo Menthe, an orange and a green ink. Yup, you guessed it, St. Patrick's Day colors. I was supposed to post this on the day of that celebration sadly my camera that can shoot macro was missing. Now that I've found it, let us get down to business. Oh! She also sent me a Rhodia graph pad to do the review with.

2 boxes of Orange Indien untouched. Okay 1 was opened.

First Thoughts: Let's us begin, initially my thoughts are that the colors are fun inks. Allow me to clarify, there are some inks that are dark enough for business use, conservative enough for formal correspondence, and then there are the fun inks for personal and creative use. Diabolo Menthe and Orange Indien are in the last camp. Orange Indien is a bright orange color that shades marvelously. I like it so much I have 2 bottles of my own, 1 was provided for this review for a total of 3 bottles. I make sure I keep this color stocked up. Diabolo Menthe is a very light, pastel, aqua green color. At first it is extremely pale, then it dries a little darker. I found this color to be very feminine and Spring like, the season not the device.

Testing: In order to get a decent idea of the ink we must test it so, the tests I performed were 4 fold:

1. Dry Time
2. Swab test with a q-tip (cotton swab)
3. Writing Sample: it gives a visual of the ink. I used a different pen with a different nib width to give some comparison
4. Bleed Through: flip the page and see if the the ink bleeds through or visible in the back.

1 Dry Time Test:

1. Diabolo Menthe = Under 25 seconds
2. Orange Indien = 35 seconds
3. Control (Noodler's Red-Black) = 35 seconds

The verdict is use blotting paper if your a lefty or in a rush. Otherwise take your time most wont smear much past 15 seconds.

2 Swab Test: (see photos above)

1. Diabolo Menthe = Dramatic color variation as more swipes occur and the shading intensifies.
2. Orange Indien = Dramatic Color variation as more swipes occur and the brilliance of the orange intensifies. Shading is more pronounce but occurs less.
3. Control (Noodler's Red-Black) = Darkens with more swipes. Shading decreases because the black over powers the red.

The verdict if you love using these colors prepare for more variation. This suggests that wetter and broader nibs should produce more color variation and shading if you like that sort of thing. The real world test of this occurs when I do the writing sample test so, stay tuned and keep reading.

3 Writing Sample Test: performed with my Pelikan m250 with a BB nib. Warning; this test is really subjective

1. Diabolo Menthe: is a very thin ink which surprisingly, for the short time it was in my pen as I was writing with it, had very little nib creep. It wrote wetter than most inks in my Pelikan and flowed easily. It is a little darker when writing than with the medium nibbed Lamy Safari. As suggested by the swab test, Diabolo Menthe varied more and had excellent shading due the wide nib. Overall it looked brilliant.
2. Orange Indien: is a mildly thin ink and has nib creep, both nibs, the Lamy Safari M and the Pelikan m250 BB, displayed this. You are going to want to be careful with this ink. Orange Indien performed well just like predicted and it shaded dramatically. The color while darker is more brilliant with a double broad nib in the Pelikan m250.
3. Control: Sorry I didn't do it. Although, it does hold true to the swab test results like the other inks.

The verdict, not compatible with this test.

4 Bleed Through Test: done with a Rhodia stapled, small, grid pad

1. Diabolo Menthe: Barely visible but present
2. Orange Indien: Visible but very lightly
3. Control (Noodler's Red-Black): More visible than the Orange Indien because of its darker pigment but not by very much.

The verdict is very little bleed through even in the Pelikan m250 BB pen. The amount that did bleed through is negligible. Only the most sensitive persons would have a hard time writing on both sides of the paper.

Summary of Analysis

• Dry Time = 25secs. for Diabolo & 35 secs. for the Orange.
• Swab Test = Dynamic Variation & Increased Shading for both
• Writing Sample = Diabolo Menthe is thin and has some nib creep. Orange Indien is moderately thin and has no nib creep. They both do not smell bad.
• Bleed Through = both are negligible in both a double broad and thin nib.

Limitations of my Analysis

• Not an exhaustive testing method
• No real control
• No experiment ran
• Some use of subjective tests
• Review materials were provide by the producer of the reviewed goods
• Only 2 pens were used to test the inks

Last Thoughts: I would purchase both inks again. As mentioned before, Orange Indien is my current favorite & I am constantly taking notes and writing in my journal with it. Diabolo Menthe would be an ink I never would think to buy; but if given would fall in love with. The color is very pale when written with thin nibs so, I will use the ink with broad nibs, stubs, italics, and flex nibs.

Wow!!! How fun was that! It could only be more fun if I added some graphs or charts. Well, there is always next time. Good night well, morning because it is passed midnight.

*Disclosure: I was provided the materials to test using my own pens.

Accenting Your Skin Tone Part 1

Accenting one's skin tone is a big deal when wearing unorthodox and hard to wear colors. With a little practice and observation one can gain major insight into what works for them and what doesn't. This series will begin with the color brown and is brought to you by the cloth hop sack and regimental tie... All kidding aside,as with most things, examples, rules, and images; help to initiate the novice.

Wearing ties, shirts, and suits that work together is the easy part; complementing and accenting your skin tone is really difficult to pull off consistently. The Gentleman pictured above pulls it off marvelously. The orange punches up the color in the suit and really glow next to his face. If you look at everything separately then together it even gets more brilliant. Also, orange ties are questionable on the face of things but more so on dark skinned black men yet, somehow he brings it altogether in harmony.

My Advice on this matter isn't to hard to follow. For dark skinned black men, I should know from experience, stick to suits in a lighter shade of brown than your skin tone. In suits if you go near or darker than your skin tone you would be wise to use texture. Make sure the texture, flannel or tweed are nice, causes a significant visual contrast from your color. If you heed this advice the color brown can be one in your suit or odd jacket arsenal.

Men of lighter complexions can wear pretty much any shade of brown but the darker shades are better suited to their fairer complexions.

Rust and other orange-ish shades of brown seem to look dashing on all when worn with attire that accents the particular shade of skin. I wear my rust colored hopsack odd coat with a cream shirt and red striped tie. The look seems to get the right combination of amazement and confusion as all unorthodox pairings do.

In conclusion, brown is a suitable color for all men. It should be worn with care to make sure the shade neither blends nor has a low contrast with one's skin tone. One should also take care to wear a shade that accents their skin tone. The right combinations of shirt, tie and suit make this color wearable.

Tune in for part two in Accenting your skin tone.....

Picture attributed to The Sartorialist at thesartorialist.blogspot.com