ON & BEYOND

I was presented to Tommy Rebel a few years back. I got to stay in The Brooklyn Basement for the first time (hopefully not the last) because he is a close friend of my home girl Maura.

First and foremost, he hates blogs. It didn’t roll off the tongue as swiftly as I’d hope, when it came time to ask for some pictures of what most of us would consider a gold mine or a museum of sort. *sigh of relief when he said yes*. Upon entrance, one is quickly acquainted by a hand-painted “Brooklyn Basements” type across the window of the main entry point. A star spangled banner gives us a hint of what we are to expect: a collection (understatement) of the most iconic American street fashion rarities, from Nike’s to Danner boots, and RRL to Carhartt.

Tommy Rebel isn’t the typical collector, he knows more than you would expect, in fact, a 30 minute conversation that’s mostly one-sided is worthy of a 30 day lesson. He paints the big picture in 3 words (undisclosed information), but it’s one of those “you had to be there” instances. All I can say is that a stay in the Brooklyn Basement is much more than anyone can vouch for when visiting America’s melting pot.

Thank you, Tommy for the amazing experience.

I am described as highly myopic at -6.00 diopters, so I’ll allow myself to say that I needed glasses, not like the guys walking into stores asking for “hipster clear lense black frame wayfarers”. Not much of a connaisseur, but in the month of searching for a new pair, Needles, Tai Hachiro, Persol, Moscot were words in my daily vocabulary…which did make me feel like a dandy at times hahaha.  I ended up taking an easy way out in hopes of never encountering a frame fanatic who would let me know how much I didn’t know, so I picked up some Ralph Lauren’s. But When I saw these Kaneko’s, it was a little repenting to think of my RL’s…

Available at G1950 for 18,900¥ (200 USD)

Back due to popular demand, Ralph Lauren’s ”Create your own” campaign is back on the RL jp site, meaning you can choose from 12 colors and create your own color combinations.. I know i say this alot, but fuck would I love to be able to read japanese. RalphLauren.jp