The Sado-maso Jacket and the Shirt with Initials

You can never really determine the wearability of a garment until it's lived in your closet for a while and proven its ability to work itself into your everyday outfits. I bought this Ivan Grundahl black leather and jersey kimono jacket as a show piece. I thought that I'd be lucky to get a couple or three wears out of it, and I was completely fine with that. It was that exquisite.

black patchwork leather and jersey kimono jacket by Danish designer Ivan Grundahl. I was with my buddy Lisa Mettier shopping around IF New York and when I picked it out, I was floored with laughter when she remarked that the raw-edged and pieced-together panels of leather reminded her of sado-maso or S&M. She has long since taken back that opinion, but the monicker lingers.

But I found it to be more useful than I thought it would be. It lent an almost rebellious relaxed feel to evening outfits, setting me apart from everyone else in their dashing but constricting sharply-tailored jackets. Coupled with classic menswear items, it becomes wearable in the daytime, almost slightly reminiscent of the silhouette of a relaxed trench coat.

I've been going double-loose a lot lately: drapey, robe-like jackets with oversized shirts and trousers a size or two too big. Hopefully, diligent belt-tightening to the furthest notch prevents me from growing into my gargantuan garments.

Number (N)ine sunglasses, Ivan Grundahl leather and jersey kimono jacket, oversize monogrammed shirt by MTM shirt, crochet scarf from my mother, Cheap Monday trousers, vintage shoes

close-up of the leather-trimmed sleeve. Casio watch courtesy of Equip.co.uk

I had the shirt made by this new Russian-based online custom shirt service called MTM Shirt and I was quite pleased with their product. The process of designing the shirt on their e-shop was simple yet thoroughly customizable and the delivery was prompt and efficient. They have been working on web design and have improved their looks quite a bit since I tried the service a couple of months ago. I would recommend trying it out and having a shirt made; the shirts are quite reasonably priced.

monogrammed made-to-measure shirt courtesy of MTM Shirt

It's fascinating how much of a surprisingly noticeable air of class embroidered initials bring to a regular shirt.

photos by Angelina Santana