For dancing. Gingham comforter for sleeping.

-I started taking swing dancing classes at Dance Manhattan. At first I was just doing some dabbling but it’s stuck and now dancing is one of my new favorite things. So much so that I’m going to do some traveling to other cities next year (for dancing) and go to dance camp. Yes, dance camp.  I started off taking East Coast Swing classes, but I’ve advanced over the past few months and now I’m working on Lindy Hop, Charleston , and Jazz moves as well. I really like the Charleston and the many variations of it. Aside from that, I’ve dabbled a little bit in Balboa and next month I’m taking a Collegiate Shag class. I think for the remainder of the year I’m going to focus mostly on Lindy Hop and Charleston and try to “catch up”.

-I moved from Williamsburg to my own place in Greenpoint. I love my neighborhood and I’m pumped about living alone and having a place to myself.  I’m currently working on decorating and making the place my own, which I’ve never really had the opportunity to do in the past. I’m trying to balance being tasteful with being lazy, hopefully it works out.

-Bedford & Grove is still in the works. We’re hoping to start pursuing it more aggressively next month, once our new website is finished and we start going to buyers to get our stuff in stores.

-I bought a new bike. It’s a Linus. Here it is in Mcgolrick Park in Greenpoint:

Bedford & Grove

I purchased these shoes in the past month or so. These are Ralph Lauren Darlton wingtips made by Crockett & Jones (an English shoemaker) using cigar shell cordovan from Horween. These are solid shoes that will probably last the rest of my life. I highly recommend these to anyone looking for a shortwing. When I first decided to get new shoes I knew I wanted a sort of wingtip in cigar shell cordovan, but I couldn’t decide between a shortwing, longwing, or a wingtip boot. These got my attention and after finding a good deal on them I pulled the trigger. The color, leather, last, and styling on these are all amazing, and they work with almost any outfit.

Probably my favorite Christmas presents this year: Moose socks.

A while back I bought the above Alden Shell Cordovan pocket knife holder and pocket knife. As an experiment, I decided to try out sun-bleaching leather, and this seemed to be a good item to try it with. After about 1-2 months of being taped to my west-facing window, the branded side has become many shades lighter from sun exposure.  This could be done to shoes, belts, and watchbands with some very interesting effects as the sun lightens portions of the leather differently. Just remember if you’re doing this to shoes you should condition the leather afterwards, because in addition to lightening the sun will also dry out the leather, shortening its lifespan.

Virile – West Broadway and Lafayette St…Soho NYC….

My business partner and I were photographed on Broadway last weekend. It was cool boot day.

My Gordon Rush boots have gotten a lot of wear since I’ve bought them. I’d guess that I wear each pair twice a week most of the year, and in terms of maintenance I do the following:

-Always putting shoe trees in while not worn.
-Alternating between applying tan Tana shoe cream and Saphir Renovateur Leather Conditioner/Cleaner every 1-3 weeks, depending on visible wear.
-I avoid wearing either pair of boots in the rain or snow, though there have been some unavoidable circumstances where they got significantly wet.  The leather has held up really well despite this.
-I had the heel pads replaced on both pairs with Vibram commando heel pads. This was about $30 per pair and they match the boots perfectly.

The Tana shoe cream has given my dark brown GR boots some tan and reddish hues, which I personally really like. The color of the Tana cream mostly matches the whiskey/tan GR boots though, so their color is mostly the same if not a bit darker and bolder.

I’ve been working on a menswear line with a business partner lately, and we’re starting to see some finished products. Above is one of our more recent samples. We’re going to have a line of shirts finished soon and we plan to expand to suits soon afterwards. Stay tuned!