11.12.2010

mountain man en vogue

I've always kept certain elements of my style sensibilities hidden - ones that I attribute mostly to being from the Pacific Northwest. Sometimes in the PNW dressing is for practicality only, and as a result we end up wearing things that are not entirely flattering. For example, wool. Northwesterners love wool. Not because it looks awesome, but because the climate almost demands it - it's insanely warm and it keeps you the driest in that notoriously rainy climate. Wool sweaters, wool blankets, wool socks...bulk bulk bulk...wearing them for days, months, years in a row - until they got too many moth holes and were as such rendered useless. Growing up in the Northwest we didn't wear fur, we didn't even really, in the grand scheme of things, wear a lot of down. We wore wool...we wear wool...we'll always wear wool. Northwesterners are mountain men - and now is our time to shine.

Not sure how it happened or why - but the mountain man look is en vogue. Faces are getting scruffier, long johns are being sold as pants, Pendleton (an Oregon-based brand) is collaborating with every hot brand imaginable (Levi's, Opening Ceremony, Urban Outfitters), and boots have never been bigger. It's my people's time to shine and I'm taking full advantage. Here's my favorite most recent purchase, bought on a voyage back to the motherland (Oregon) - a vintage wool poncho.

1 comment:

Lesli said...

Okay, admittedly I am also from the great NW but I love wool. It's the best- keeps you warm even when it's damp-and a much unknown fact is that it can even keep you cool when it is super hot (the Bedouin wear it in the desert). I love it as inner-wear and outerwear and now that I know it's hip...my self-esteem has risen above this nasty NW dank fog.