I was hanging out at Kinokuniya in San Francisco over the weekend, flipping through some magazines, and was pleasantly surprised to see Bruce Boyer featured in the March 2014 issue of Free & Easy. Bruce has always been one of my favorite menswear writers. He’s uniquely erudite and eloquent, and can write about men’s clothing in a way that’s substantive and thoughtful, but also not overly rigid or dogmatic. If you haven’t already, you ought to check out his books Eminently Suitable and Elegance. His essays at Cigar Aficionado are also must-reads.
The Free & Easy feature takes us through some of Bruce’s things. There’s an old Coach messenger bag from back when they used to manufacture in the United States, a Willis & Geiger watch set on a brown alligator strap, and a pair of Russell Moccasin’s fishing oxfords. Among what I’m sure are his many tailored jackets, Bruce has a tried and true navy sport coat, a brown checked faux tweed, and a solid green (possibly Shetland?) tweed jacket. For casual wear, there’s a green patch pocketed shirt jacket with a unique lapel by Paul Stuart. It looks rather similar to the Justo Gimeno Teba jackets sold at The Armoury.
There’s also a great shot of Bruce’s shoe collection. I’ve always been under the impression that he wears nothing but suede, but a little over half of his shoe wardrobe is comprised of calf. Much like me, Bruce seems to favor slightly more casual looking pieces. Most of his shoes are bluchers or slip-ons, and of the few oxfords he has, many are made from casual materials. There’s also a pair of George Cleverley tassel loafers that look like the most elegant shoes ever. Handsomely styled and shaped, they seem infinitely better than the tassel loafers I own from Crockett & Jones and Allen Edmonds.
The best things in the feature aren’t about what’s in Bruce’s closet, however. They’re the photos of Bruce himself and his home. Bruce tells me he lives in a historic district of New York, where the houses on his block date back to the 1740s. His house is one of the “newer” ones, having been built sometime around the Civil War. The home itself looks lovely. On that leather armchair, where a big checked throw is draped, is exactly where I’d like to listen to some of Bruce’s blues records and read his copy ofOur Age by Noel Annan.