In Trovata

Plots in the Pleats, Stories in the Seams

Ever wonder the amount of work it takes to edit a movie.  To get the scenes to the right length so that none of the effect of the script is forsaken.  To make sure the actor has portrayed the right pathos at the right time to ensure that the viewer will not be lost.  To pan and hold a shot to the utmost second in the most appropriate lighting to make sure that the feeling trying to be relayed is captured without question.  It's almost like what's being created is a cinematic oasis where every move, every nuance, every suggestion pulls the viewer in deeper and deeper, informing, entrancing and transporting them to a place where they are almost observing as a shadowing character, no break between seat and screen.


Similarly, ever wonder the amount of work it takes to establish a lifestyle brand.  It's not really about going into a store and seeing a hanging picture of Nantucket above a bowl of oddly colored seashells and then determining, this brand is all about New England and sailing.  It is, rather, about acknowledging a tradition for a founding belief that a particular culture of people bound by activity, location or status deserves a kind of homage, if you will.  There has to be a certain amount of confidence and contentment with a lifestyle brand; a kind of innate proud inclusion that says 'all that comprises this lifestyle deserves to be showcased solely for what it is and stands for'.  The selling of that confidence, that freedom, that curiosity to preserve what's being heralded, be it of grand status or cult status, is what draw people in.












So sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of fateful ship named Trovata.  This ship's journey began in 2002 from a rowboat berth, but has since grown to luxury liner dimensions that now includes womenswear.  Like a well written film or the plot of a dog-eared novel, Trovata's CEO John Whitledge started the label as a kind of sidekick to his seaside, mildly preppy, exuberant college life.  The label seems to have grown due to the unabashedly honest approach to clothing that it embodies; easy, comfortable, fuss-free clothes that afford the wearer to just 'be'.  Its first retail store in Newport Beach, California continues to promote the brand as more than just clothing as well.  It creates an experience through selling vintage magazines, found objects and even develops vintage film.  It's almost an induction, if you will, for the patron to understand what creates the thoughts that drive the people of this informed yet 'chilled out' lifestyle.  There is something intelligent about Trovata clothing and the way the designs challenge a plaid to be more than simple, push a lived-in blazer to have treasures just for its owner beyond a modern fit and call for fabrications to pull out the luxurious side of understated chic.




For Fall 2011, Trovata still tailors with that soft live-in hand but not in the way of the shabby chic.  The collection stays true to its American vintage inspirations and seemingly offers a remix of the kind of treasures one finds when they go rummaging through the racks of a small seaside vintage bazaar.  The cozy over-washed tees scream layered comfort while wonderfully double layered tees offer up deceptively appropriate layering without bulk.  There's a lived-in washed element to the jeans and chinos that seem über-casual and when paired with trim, superbly cut plaid shirts and svelte rustic outerwear seem harmoniously balanced.  What Trovata continues to showcase and is probably one of their nicest elements are the little details that seems just for the wearer to know about like coy piping against cheeky inside jacket linings, the decorated waistband tab options to go sans belt on non-dressy trousers and their comfy gossamer lightly lined knits that make reversible a plausible option.





Perhaps Trovata can pull from the stories of the mile-wides and seasides yet thrive in the metropolises because it offers what many cities (and labels) are losing.  It preserves what it is from stitch to snip.  That's a story worth wearing.






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In Plectrum by Ben Sherman

Rep the Real

So here's a dirty little revealing of an untruth from my past.  In spring 1994 I was going through what a casual observer might call a coming of age awakening where I discovered the sudden thrill within me of being bound to the island of Jamaica by blood.  So there I was, a brand new freshmen at the 'long-toothed age of 17' at Howard University pinning posters on my wall of popular West Indian nightclub spots in my Bronx stomping grounds like Sunbeam Lounge, 'The Glass Bucket' and 'Act III'.  Although I would imbibe with the occasional fare at the local 'hole in the wall' reggae-infused dive joint The Glass Bucket, the nighttime moonlight was hardly enough to foolishly hide my peach-fuzz kissed top lip from the gargantuan 'by the book' bouncers outside Act III.  And of course, Act III was the place to be.  So as I'm in my dorm room pinning up my shrine to a life I dared to dream of, in walks a fellow dorm mate from some island and as we hit some convo, he begins to eye the wall.  After perusing all the popular dancehall acts that breezed through Act III that spring he turned to me and asked if I was a yardie.  Sadly, I dabbled in soaking my liver in bottom shelf rum and practicing a menacing rudeboy stance but didn't bother to educate myself on the absurdly obvious colloquialism 'yardie' which simply meant of Jamaican descent.  So my reply was a questionable "yeah? heh, heh" which was followed by his skeptical "uh-huh" and later by my Homer Simpson-esque "D-oh!".  See it might be in your blood, but you've got to understand it to live it.  The point is, you can't fake the heritage.

Let's face it, not only is heritage dressing deep in the psyche of American mens fashion right now, but it also makes sense.  However, similarly to my attempts to fake the funk in Nightclub Diaries of a Bronx-born Adolescent, there are several companies and chain stores whose attempts at getting heritage dressing right, seem regrettable.  I believe a huge aspect of modern heritage dressing not just capturing the mood of Americana during its build up but also subscribing to craftsmanship, detail and the classics of design all within the context of relating to our lives today.  That detail of American heritage dressing is very closely related to the sartorial snappiness and Savile Row elegance that is London, only remixed and broken-down for relevance to life on our side of the Atlantic.  This is why an edited collabo of the heritage and the sartorial make sense when paired together and also why I was immediately drawn to the introduction of Ben Sherman's new Plectrum Collection.







The company's new Plectrum Collection is Ben Sherman's new premium top-level, 'designed in London' coneptual collection that is more directional and sartorially tuned in with the enlightened modern male consumer.  What strikes me as key in Plectrum's approach is the fact that it all seems designed.  Clarity?  It feels designed and not just organized at some board meeting where silhouettes are rehatched and new print and color thrown in.  For Fall 2011, you get a sense for and see the thought process behind Plectrum's mixture of colors and the pairing of prints with textures to arrive at a wholly dimensional story.  The proportions on the knits are appropriate for sensical layering while having the appeal to be integrated into your Saturday romp wear or mid-week afterwork aperitif attire.  It's very nice to see a collection that takes into consideration the impact of how you enter a room just as strongly what is left behind when you exit it.  Collar trims and trim chinos in popping colors and wooly textures that exude strength yet invite one to canoodle marks a great attempt at killing several birds with one stone.  It's the execution and the nuances of quality clothing that create the lore that establishes a heritage.  The time and energy was taken to get it right and that's an undertaking one clearly cannot fake.





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