I’m going to try a new type of post here – I want to talk about some of the outfits I’ve worn recently, why I made certain styling decisions, discuss unique pieces in the outfit, what the context or occasion for the fit was. Maybe this will be a 1-off post; maybe I’ll do this more often. And while this does feel almost entirely too self-indulgent (I’ve noted the inherent tensions of having a blog while trying to avoid self-indulgence previously; clearly this is something that weighs heavy on my mind), ultimately, I feel that I have mostly resolved that tension. Also, I intend for this blog to capture my perspective and thoughts on all things that I rest my consideration upon, of which clothes and style represent a significant portion.
In order to give this post the best shot at being meaningful, I’m gonna write about the coolest clothing thing I’ve had the opportunity to participate in: Division Road’s FW25 Residency, and the creation of my 1-of-1 custom leather jacket.
Division Road and the FW25 Residency
If you’re unfamiliar, Division Road is a luxury heritage clothing boutique in Virginia, sitting on about 45 acres of beautiful, stewarded nature. I think, of all the clothing stores I’ve had the experience of visiting, none nail the intersection of person, purpose, and place quite like Division Road. They extend the same level of consciousness and consideration from the clothes that they sell, to their care for the land, to their customer experience. And the intersection of those three things, to me, was really what the FW25 Residency was about.
At the Residency, the heads of a handful of companies (Dehen 1920, Freenote Cloth, Nick’s Boots, and Fox Brothers) were present, and visitors had the opportunity to work with them to design custom, 1-off pieces. In addition, there were:
- local artisans showing their wares (a ceramicist and a knife maker),
- a chef who made quite the delicious lunch for everyone, and
- tastings from a local meadery and a local vineyard (the latter of which is owned by THE Dave Matthews of the Dave Matthews Band, so freaking cool) (unfortunately, as I abstain from drinking, these tastings were lost on me).
It was quite special – Sofia and I got to spend the day hanging out with the nicest, coolest people, talking about the sickest clothes, eating delicious food, and exploring nature. I think that it’s hard to imagine a more ideal day, honestly. In fact, if you were to ask me prior to the Residency what my ideal day looked like, I think I’d describe something actually less preferable than the day I experienced at Division Road.
Working with Andrew Broderick of Freenote Cloth
You get the professional pictures, and then the only two pictures that I took the entire day.
For my custom piece, I chose to work with Andrew from Freenote Cloth to design a leather jacket. I didn’t own a leather jacket yet, and so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to get something really special while rounding out a gap in my wardrobe.
Freenote Cloth holds a very special place in my heart, as the very first piece I purchased in the menswear/heritage scene was their waxed rider jacket, of Yellowstone fame (although my purchase was completely uninformed by that show, and I still have not seen a single episode. I was just deeply influenced by the Iron Snail’s waxed jacket comparison video).
Andrew proved himself to be quite personable – it was a lot of chit-chat, talk about a decision, get sidetracked, conversational tangent, jacket things, and so on. During our conversation, we learned that we’re both from the same area in Central Florida! Truly a lovely time.
We ended up settling on the Alcorn jacket in a medium brown horsehide from Maryam Tannery, one of my top 3 tanneries. The leather quite nicely complements my Briselblack engineer boots in natural-overdyed-brown horsehide, also from Maryam. We picked out buttons, hardware, lining, zippers, and tags from quite the assortment of options.
And, that brings us to the outfits: the outfits in this post are all based around this leather jacket, and the saddeningly few wears I got out of it in-between receiving it in February and having to hang it up in anticipation of the Florida summer. Never to fret, however, as in the blink of an eye it will be Fall again, and thus leather jacket weather.
Outfit 1
My inaugural wear of the jacket.
I wanted to keep it simple and let the jacket do the talking. I paired it with my Freenote jeans — also picked up at the Residency — partly because the overall jacket-jeans silhouette is timeless, but also because the two pieces speak the same design language. Both are rooted in mid-century workwear and biker details, and Freenote consistently nails that look. When I’m building an outfit around one strong piece, I look for things that already share its vocabulary rather than things that contrast with it. It also felt right to wear the two pieces together, knowing I would be sending the fit pic to Andrew and the Division Road team and I wanted to show that the jeans were going strong with just about 5 months of wear.
On the feet, my engineer boots were a bit of a no-brainer — they fit the design language, and as noted earlier the leather pairs beautifully with the jacket.
While I could have gone with a plain t-shirt, I felt that would be a tad too boring for me — it is these subtle decision points where I think one’s personal style choices are truly put on display. And, with my hair looking the way it did that day, I knew I would have to wear a hat. So, turning to complementary earth tones, I went with my green Papa Nui “Chesty” cap, and my Warehouse graphic t-shirt. Again, trying to keep within a certain aesthetic. Also, quick shoutout to Papa Nui — dude makes the sickest hats.
Lastly, to triple-down on the green, and also just because I don’t like to leave the house without it, I had to bring my semi-matching Porter Yoshida co bag (I just got lucky that it’s also green — anyone who knows me IRL knows that this bag is with me regardless of how well it matches the fit). If I recall correctly, I just wore this outfit to walk around downtown, hit-up the local farmer’s market (shoutout SNAP Volusia), get something to drink, nosh on some oysters… the usual Friday-night routine…
Outfit 2
Back when I was in high school, my style philosophy went something like, “for any given statement piece, there are a handful of other, complementary pieces that are implied, or obvious, and that the most interesting fashion happens when you reach beyond the obvious, to something that shouldn’t work, and then you make it work.” Now, as you can imagine, this led to quite a lot of loud, pattern-clashing outfits… and no, I will not be showing you any of those fit pics here. Just imagine plaid pants with a floral shirt…
Now, while I have long since outgrown this philosophy, it is something that I still think about occasionally, and I think might be somewhat to blame for this outfit here. These Kapital century denim jeans (shoutout Brittany at Blue in Green ATL) lean quite heavily towards streetwear, in my opinion, but I really wanted to try and pair them with the leather jacket. I tried to keep everything centered around this tonal color palette — white, light brown, dark brown, black. I actually felt really quite hip in this outfit, which I chalk up to the way that it leans into the streetwear vibe. Despite having come up in the fashion scene during mid-2010s /r/streetwear, the jean + hoodie/jacket combo are about as close as I want to get to that aesthetic nowadays.
As partially evidenced by the train, I wore this in Chicago, as with the following outfits. March in Florida was around 80 degrees; much too hot for a leather jacket. In Chicago, however, it was in the cool-and-breezy 40s. Great leather jacket weather!
Outfit 3
Not much to say about this one. Probably my least favorite outfit that I styled with the jacket – I think the top half leans really lumberjacky, which is fine, but then the bottom half doesn’t continue that look. If I recall correctly, I was trying intentionally to pair the jacket with the black jeans + black boots, but I think I fell short of nailing it. If I were to try that again, I’d probably go with a simpler top-half — perhaps my black-and-white flannel and no hat. However, Sofia looks amazing as always in their fit, so I couldn’t leave these out. Also, the Lincoln Park Conservatory rocks and you should all go.
Outfit 4
This outfit, on the other hand, is I think my favorite way that I’ve styled this jacket. I had just picked up these Freenote pants the day before, and really had a vision and ran with it. The color palette is very reminiscent of the first outfit in this post, but I think this is a much more visually interesting outfit. I really like all the textures at play — the herringbone-twill pants, the waffle-knit henley, the grain of the leather. The very tasteful wear on the boots and the much less tasteful paint splatters on the green shirt. As I felt that this was a somewhat Kyle Foxworth-like outfit, I decided to emulate his style a little by only buttoning the top half of the shirt. I will also note another point in this outfit’s favor, is that it was remarkably comfortable to wear. Now, of course, all my clothes are deeply comfortable in my opinion, but something about these pants with the top layers was just very cozy, without the usual sacrifices of structure, fit, or function that come with comfy clothes.
There ya have it folks. A fun time and some leather jacket outfits. As much as I have general disdain for time travel, the fact that this jacket has to be shelved for the next 7 months creates quite the temptation… not that I have time travel capabilities, obviously… but if I did…
Becoming Whatever 
Leave a comment