SECRET FORTS | A COLLECTION OF GOOD THINGS

Tuesday 06/11/2013

B-ROLL : THE HILL-SIDE + GITMAN BROS SUMMER SHIRTING.

Never content to simply rest on their laurels, The Hill-Side continues to grow and evolve from their very first collection of instantly classic ties and pocket squares to their latest endeavor. In collaboration with the Ashland PA expert shirtmakers Gitman Bros, The Hill-Side releases, just today, a special collection of floral-printed, perfect-for-summer short sleeve BDs. And with their release comes one minute of video made from hundreds of photos taken with a dozen or so disposable cameras early one morning last week in Brooklyn.

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TOKEN ENGINEERED GARMENTS POST : FW13 LOOKBOOK.

Here at Secret Forts, we are unabashed in our long time and extreme fandom of all things Engineered Garments. With the release of their FW13 lookbook, each look so layered, each garment so detail-rich, it takes a number of passes to dissect it properly.

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EPIC FIELD TRIP : ICA, BOSTON.

While back in New York for work recently, I was lucky enough to invite myself along with the brothers Corsillo on an overnight road trip to Boston. Right back to the same area of the city in which Emil had his studio after grad school, albeit greatly changed since those days. The occasion; the opening of Barry McGee’s “mid career survey” at the beautiful Institute of Contemporary Art in Fort Point for which Emil and Sandy produced a series of three (with a fourth on the way) limited edition bandanas selected by and printed with Barry’s work and exclusive to ICA and Hickorees of course. Friday morning, with the bandanas belly-banded and boxed up, we had a delivery to make. And then, beers to drink.

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OUT/ABOUT/HERE/THERE.

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THEN AND NOW : THE UPGRADE.

While most things featured here at Secret Forts only get better with age, there does arise the eventual occasion for mending, darning and upgrading. Picked up at a flea market some years ago, this selvedge HBT tote has always been a favorite of mine for its simplicity. And as most things do as a result of constant use, it began falling apart. This is where it helps to have friends who practice a craft, know what they’re doing and do it exceptionally well (*that would be Chris and Lindsay at Stanley & Sons) and who don’t mind being asked a favor of that when put up against meeting production deadlines and other more pressing business, understandably drops to somewhere near the bottom of the “to-do” list. Well worth the wait. What’s old is new again.

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OUT/ABOUT/HERE/THERE.

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BEFORE BOTTLE ROCKET, BOTTLE ROCKET.

Bottle Rocket. Released 17 years ago this month. I wound up seeing it after, with a head ache from rolling my eyes too hard, walking out of “Hamlet” with Kenneth Branagh and slipping into the adjoining theater at the Kabuki in San Francisco. I became a fan immediately and have been since, minor “Life Aquatic” grievances aside.
Wes Anderson’s short, shot four years prior in 1992 on stolen film from the University of Texas at Austin Film Department. One of the cinematographers, Barry Braverman, would later be referenced in Anderson’s 2001 “The Royal Tenanbaums”.
Narrator (Alec Baldwin) : “She was a playwright, and won a Braverman Grant of$50,000 in the ninth grade.”
A few years later, in the March 2000 issue of Esquire, Martin Scorsese would announce Anderson as the next Scorsese.

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RESEARCH IN STYLE : WP LAVORI at 30.

On the occasion of their 30th anniversary, the publication of WP Lavori‘s “Thirty Years of Research in Style”. The company’s past, present and future in print. The Italian-based distribution home to such labels, and to only name a very few, Woolrich John Rich & Bros., Blundstone, Barbour and Barbour Beacon Heritage, Baracuta and of course the cult-followed, previously Daiki Suzuki-helmed Woolrich Woolen Mills, now under the tutelage of Mark McNairy. Published by Rizzoli and available for pre-order in the states now.