Style

Treat Her Right: The Cross-Country Valentine’s Date GuideFive chic, urbane ladies divulge their favorite date spots, and we show you how to dress for each
By Yang-Yi Goh |

FELLAS, WE’VE GOT some bad news: Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. And you’ve forgotten to make plans. Again. That sound you hear is your girlfriend’s forthcoming explosion of rage barreling backwards through the space-time continuum to smack you upside the head.

But don’t start hyperventilating just yet; Handlebar‘s here to help. We’ve rounded up few of our most trusted female friends from across the country — Charlotte Wilder of The Wilder Things out in Boston; Styluste‘s Rebecca Lay and Renee Ogaki in NYC; Pop ‘Stache editor Becca James in Chicago; and designer Yun-Yi Goh of The Grunion Run in L.A. — to recommend the ideal restaurants for a romantic night out that’ll make your better half swoon.

As if that weren’t enough, we’re also going to help ensure you clean up nicely for your Valentine. Our style team has put together a selection of dapper looks designed to match up perfectly with the ambiance of each eatery. Toss in a bouquet of flowers, and you’re certain to carom straight out of the doghouse and into her boudoir.

Don’t forget to thank us later.

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A Night Out: Shimon & Ariel OvadiaThe stylish twins behind Ovadia & Sons spill the beans on their favorite New York hot spots
By the Editors |

2011 WAS A BIG YEAR for Shimon and Ariel Ovadia. Over the last twelve months, the Brooklyn-raised brothers watched as their upstart line, Ovadia & Sons, skyrocketed from an underground favorite to the forefront of the menswear market. The label’s sharply tailored threads—which range from impeccable double breasted suits to beautiful sport shirts and heavyweight knits—are now carried in stockists as varied as C’H’C’M and Barney’s, and 2012 looks poised to continue the young company’s rapid ascent.

A great deal of Ovadia & Sons’ success can be ascribed to its founders’ vision and insight. Shimon and Ariel are, in many respects, the perfect dinner party guests: stylish and worldly, eloquent and amiable. Which is exactly why we decided they’re also the ideal candidates to kick off our new “A Night Out” column. Here, the debonair twins take us on a tour of their favorite New York eateries, venues and watering holes, and show you what to wear to each.

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Vintage VanguardsA collective of Minneapolis vintage enthusiasts embody the best of Midwest menswear
By Becca James |

THE FOREFRONT OF AMERICAN culture has always been fixated on the coasts. Whether from East or West, our seaboards have long provided a constant flurry of new citizens, ideas and innovations. But it’s in the Midwest—the very heart of this country—where our identity, culture and heritage are forged and established. For centuries, amid rolling hills and outstretched plains, the industrious and independent among us have carved an inimitable path and provided the backbone of America.

It’s that same rugged individualism that is at the foundation of Greenwich Vintage, a Minneapolis-based menswear showroom that specializes in hardwearing, beautifully aged, vintage American goods. Founded by curator and barber Michael “Mustache Mike” Ader, cobbler Zen One and CFO Maximillian Miller, the born-and-raised Midwest men aim to export the look, feel, and quality of the region’s deeply-rooted style to the rest of the country and the world, sharing with customers the tales woven into each unique garment.

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No Flotsam, All JetsamA former architect finds her true calling in creating stylish, sustainable wallets

By Jeremy Wolf |

YEARS AGO, in naval parlance, the term “jetsam” referred to the collection of goods tossed overboard when a ship needed to lighten its load. In times of distress, sailors would jettison cargo deemed unessential, condemning their shipments to a watery grave with hopes of saving their own lives.

With that in mind, it might seem strange to come across a company named after what ultimately amounts to litter. But for Jetsam, designer Laura Skelton’s new line of menswear-inspired wallets, it all makes perfect sense.

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Menswear’s Better HalfMore and more talented female designers are focusing their attentions on creating stylish clothes for men
By Becca James |

Fifth & Brannan's Kate Wintrode is among a growing number of female menswear designers

THEY SAY THAT BEHIND every great man is a great woman. Sartorially speaking, that adage has never rung more true.

With an expanding attraction to classic menswear among today’s generation, there has come a deep interest among women designers to try their hand in the trade. Yes, there have always been women in the menswear industry, but never before have so many talented female designers made men’s clothing a priority rather than a side project.

Harnessing the same passion men use to design a dress around the sensual curves of a female body, women are focusing on the pragmatic nature of the male psyche, placing a spotlight on the personality traits of men, not the physical. As men’s serious, decisive and loyal attributes take center stage, they manifest in the details: the stitching, the lining, the things most fail to notice at first glance. That is the heart of menswear, and the women with enough moxie to deliver the goods are capturing it.

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