Mad for Plaid

Memories of my first semester of b-school came flooding back as I watched Inside Job. The films highlights the enormous negative impact sleazy traders, incomprehensible financial instruments, lazy regulators and misguided mathematical geniuses have had on the world. As I entered school in Fall 2008, no one wanted to work for a hedge fund anymore.

Demand for sterling cuff links and Paul Stuart suits melted along with the global economy. However, an enduring style trend quickly emerged. From Paris to Hong Kong, fine boutiques are stocking heritage brands like Gitman, Woolrich and Red Wing. People are choosing earthy plaids and chambrays over fine English Oxfords. Denim is worn with cuffs rolled up and khakis are comfortably wrinkled instead of neatly pressed. Especially this fall, major American cities look as though they're mostly populated by early 20^th century farm-workers and machinists. Much to my chagrin, facial hair (untamed beards and bushy moustaches) has made a big comeback among the hipster crowd.

It's no wonder consumers are dressing the part of laborers, they are looking to the heritage brands of their childhood in order to associate themselves with people who actually produce things. While it has a decidedly masculine tone, the trend is not limited to menswear. Perhaps the most baffling incarnation of this trend was Ralph Lauren's Spring 2010 Collection, which put a luxe spin on the Grapes of Wrath (one signature piece was a silver lamé overall gown.) The connection to labor doesn't stop with clothes. Moss, the Soho über-chic shelter gallery, just wrapped up an exhibition of aggressively industrial-yet-handmade pieces. Unsurprisingly, the New York Times noted recently that mainstream media has adopted a more masculine version of the ideal male.

I'm sure we'll find a reason to dress to-the-nines again soon, but in the meantime I'm enjoying dressing the part of a lumberjack (sans facial hair) several days a week.