M65 JACKET!

As iconic as Mount Rushmore itself, the M-65 jacket has always been at the fore front of men's fashion since its inception in the 1960's. Worn by Army veterans, film stars, fashion heads and just regular people alike; this jacket has become a men's wear staple for over 50 years!

After the USA chose to help the struggling south Vietnam forces defeat communism from the oppressing northern regime in 1963. The USA government reacted to change their army's uniform to fit for this whole new terrain; with its vast jungles and swamps they chose to create Sateen uniforms to be light and breezy in the dense heat along with ripstop to stop it from destroying in action. However, when it came to outerwear for the traveling troops they chose to rethink their approach and created the M-1965 aka M-65 in 1965 as its name suggest. Rather than being a heavy parka (M-51) in the Korean Conflict, this jacket was lighter and more easier to move in plus it could be used with or without a hood instantly. The Government issued this jacket firstly to the troops stationed in the Central Highlands, where the air was cooler than the jungles, then to all the troops after the monsoon rains had come and as a result it began to get colder. With this in place and the the success of this jacket the USA started to give it all their troops across the world not just in Vietnam.

Two of my M-65 Jackets 

As you can see from above each jacket features a four pocket design, Velcro straps to fasten both the sleeve cuffs and the collar as well as both a zip and press stud closer. But making this different from the original M-51 jacket from Korea was the idea to have a fold away hood that hides in the back via a pouch, accessed only by he collar; instead of a removable making it easier to switch around.
Each jacket was produced to be the OG-107 colour way as this was the staple, standard issue colour the American army chose for their uniforms, before it was later adapted to a variety of camouflages and colours as it was sent to other troops in other countries overseas. Also, the jacket had a secret roll back cuff that could be pulled down to cover the users gloves or folded under encase he chose not to, this was added to the jacket to stop the rain from entering as it would protect the gloves or hands when the monsoon hit unexpectedly.

Al Pacino as Frank Serpico

Christian Slater in True Romance

As Hollywood has created various well known heroes and villains post Vietnam War, many characters from these films have been decked out with an M-65 jacket helping to push it into mainstream culture. A particular figure curated by Martin Scorsese in 1976 exploded the jacket into the front of every ones eyes as DeNiro played ex-veteran Travis Bickle. A character who seemed to never take off his M-65 and thus each outlet used to promote the film stressed the importance of this jacket, as it indicated his War based pasted that lead him to this point of insanity. Many of the iconic photos and scenes of Bickle seemed to revolve around him rocking that famous jacket. As a result,not just DeNiro wore the jacket as other famous actors have wore this staple such as: Christian Slater in True Romance, Woody Allen in Annie Hall and Al Pacino in Serpico where he played an undercover office in the 70's.    

However, as time has passed the jacket is still as popular as ever and can be spotted on various men and women in day to day life as well as famous fashion events like Pitti Uomo in Florence. A sprezzatura classic this is usually popped over a blazer/ suit and adds great contrast to both white or navy choices amongst other colours. Give one a go!

Pitti Uomo Style with added M-65 Style

The Sartorialist showing us different way to rock one

- THURSTON

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LARRY BURROWS- WAR PHOTOGRAPHER

Larry Burrows: Doomed Photographer
Eyes to the Horror

In the late afternoon of the 10th of February 1971 the English photojournalist Larry Burrows was pronounced dead after his helicopter was shot down by the Vietnam People's Army in Laos. An incident which also took the life of fellow french photographer Henri Huet who too, boarded that disastrous helicopter flight. Burrows in the wake of his death had managed to show the world the true horrors of war and the length of terror these soldiers were facing both on and off the battlefield. His main accomplishment was his extensive coverage of the Vietnam war between 1965 til his death in 1971. Many of his photos appeared in multiple magazine especially, Life magazine where he was first discovered and worked for since he was only 16 years old; as a result, with their wide audience figures this publication had at the time, his photos were widely praised and inspired many figures to drum up support against this conflict.
 All these photos taken during this period of unrest where collected back together and published in a book pleasantly titled: "Vietnam". This was both a celebration of his work in the conflict as well as a epitaph to his legacy as a photojournalist, this book can truly be seen as his magnum opus.

My Copy of Larry Burrows Vietnam Work

One of Burrows many Life Magazine Covers

Never one for Censorship, Burrows let his photos do the talking!

He tried to Capture all angles of the War

As you can see, many of his photographs encapsulated the real brutal nature of war; with many of his photos displaying injuries, corpses and people who are in dire need of any help. All of his shots were taken without any staging or any form of setting up prior to the lens shutting, before burning an image forever on a blacken screen, a light to our eyes. All his snaps were from the cuff, what you see is what really happened through his eyes. As a result this gave a more authentic look into America's effort to dispel the powerful communist Viet Cong from attaining the country.
 With his wide use of scenery and broad aspects, Burrows stressed the true meaning of team work within his pictures. Each of his images caught a large section of the battlefield, with both the aspects of fighting and artillery bombardment along with the dead and wounded who are left both in the foreground and in the horizon to fight the death within themselves. Not only that, but Burrows successfully managed to highlight the vast and always dense green jungle that the solider waded through on a daily basis which strongly contrasted with the continual appearance of blood and annihilation visible all around these backdrops.    

War is Never Pretty

Additionally, through out his work he focused on individuals too both on and off the arena of war, no matter if they were fighting or not. As shown above, he enjoyed to target people who he felt best represented the daily struggle to survive in this harsh environment. He photographed the needy with various wounds; alive or dying, soldiers committing to the fight, blasting all kinds of weaponry to hold back the advancing forces, and of course the locals who were caught in the eye of the hurricane; whether they favored the Americans liberation or not. This as a result help to spotlight at home the dangers of what was out there and lurked hidden in the wild grass. This as a result, made his work become a weapon in its own right to be used against the Government and support the leave out of Vietnam.          

In the Heart of the Battle

Level of Detail within his shots has never been overlooked

As history has progress and we now look back on this doomed conflict, we seem to use Burrow's photos to help illustrate the great amount of lost America faced in Vietnam but, also that War itself is never a pleasant experience. Burrows along with his strong colours, surrounding and faces all in his photos, managed to run home the genuine grim reality of what was going out there in the jungle. Sadly, as he continued to work he too became a target and his death not only helped to add a little more truth in his work it also added more power to his photos.



- THURSTON

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SCHOOL, BOATING & CRICKET!

"Blazer Maketh The Man"

Whether it is striped, piped or three buttoned up; there is nothing quite like a sports blazer! With the wide variety of colours, stripes and designs; every summer wardrobe should have at least one of these hanging in there. 

When it comes to the origins of the striped blazer; most fashion historians argue that there were curated back in 1880's where, the Lady of Margret College of Cambridge added stripes to their blazers to stand out from their close competitors. Which in turn created the turn, "blaze of colour!" or "blazer" we now know. 

One Of My Recent Vintage School Blazer

As for myself; I recently found myself traveling up to Sheffield with a good friend to visit the Mecca of vintage garments: Rag Parade. A place acknowledged for a wide variety of old men's fashions from: leather motorcycle jackets, to Army Gear and work wear culled from multiple places around the world and from a cross section of periods in history.
Whist being in this attic of fashion, I noticed a high hanger filled with a wide range of blazers, each with their own curious stripes and badges; representing numerous teams and schools from across the world. I was in love! Upon asking the owner about the blazers, he told me he had a very wide range of them; all from various dates post 1900. All gathered from different places which reflected their rarity influencing their prices. After searching and trying on, two very unique blazers which each fitted like a glove I purchased them. In hope that they would add a little extra flair to my already amazing wardrobe. (If I do say so myself)

One was a rare Cricket Blazer from South Africa in a light blue colour way with a medium yellow stripe running down, shown above. Another purchase was a English 1970's (I believe) black and burgundy striped with a sewed on emblem on the pocket, referencing the academy with letters rather than a crest or animals typical found on these.
Another difference between the two is that the English blazer features a more dated design with patch pockets and a three button closure. However, the South African blue blazer is very different in style, it features offbeat pockets, with metal buttons instead of plastic buttons making fit more with a boating style rather than a school blazer.

Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine Showing off his Style

1920's Cricket Style

Going back in time, it was uncommon for a man not to rock on of these both on and off the theater of sport or behind a desk; as well as on the street walking or practical anywhere that demanded clothes. Which as a result, these styles of blazer became a sort of institution for the modern man in the early 20th century with a lot of middle class and elite men choosing this garment over anything else in their wardrobe. This included the fateful mountaineer Andrew Irvine who wore his as a result of winning the Cambridge Vs. Oxford boat race back in 1923, a year before his disappearance up Everest.

Although, moving some 40 years later, these types of jackets were rejuvenated by the original Modernist of the 1960's, who chose them as a statement piece to wear on the streets and driving on their scooters. This brought the striped blazer back into contemporary culture again along with into the headlines. With a lot of guys wearing them to Brighton as a form of uniform against the rockers and police in heavily documented brawls, They favored this style largely down to its vintage feel as well as the three button fastening and the bold colours on show. Which all in turn disrupted the idea that they were from working class backgrounds.

Brooks Brothers' Amazing Gatsby Collection

When Baz Lurman took F. Scott Fitzgerld classic novel "The Great Gastby" and ushered it into the modern era, the iconic american menswear brand Brooks Brothers took it upon themselves to recreate the feel of the jazz age, with a deep collection of clothes for the film. A collection brimmed full of tweeds, white linens and of course stripes; as shown above. They expertly chose to recreate the true feeling of nostalgia and make sure you felt as an extra, in this adaption extravaganza. As a an all around fan of Brooks Brothers, I was really excited to see not only their involvement in the film but also the fact that we as customers could purchase these clothes too, After downloading and browsing the catalog I was drawn to the boating/ regatta type outfits with their dandyish flair, slim silhouettes and they way they seemed to channel a more 20's vibes on the whole than some of the other costumes. With this my favorite was the deep burgundy with the crisp clean white stripes with added black lines to create an all round crowning contrast.      

A Scene From The Film "The Go- Between", Very British Film

- THURSTON

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SUPREME X URS FISCHER

Just today, 21/03/16, New York street wear kings announced that this season would feature a very limited collection of exclusive art work by Swiss artist Urs Fischer as part of their ever so popular S/S 16 collection.

A rare collection of skate boards, consisting of three have been produced. These feature a continuing work of art based around that of a lit cigarette designed by Urs and given to Supreme for this season. Other artists who have followed in his footsteps included: Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Peter Saville, H R Giger and Mark Flood. To name a few in their deep extensive and sometimes controversial history since 1994.  However, in classic Supreme styling the art does not feature in a conventional frame or being part of a installation, most of all Supreme's artist collaborations are instead placed onto to the backs of skateboards. 
A new canvas!

TOASTED

As for the artist himself, Urs Fischer was born in Zurich in 1973 to two doctors; in his early days he focused on photography and joined the Schule für Gestaltung in the city. Upon juggling his education and bouncing on the doors of the local night clubs and bars, Urs successfully excelled at the subject and managed to move to Amsterdam where he had his first solo show, showing all his work in fine detail. 

As he became more involved in the art scene, he chose to adopt the styling of the Neo-Dada movements, (A favorite of mine), where your art work reflects a kind of anti establishment trait. This appealed to a wide range of buyers and critics as he triumphantly curated numerous well know: objects, drawing, sculptors and room insulation.

FRIED

BAKED

I am very interested in these decks, similarly as I am a fan of both his past work and the design placed on them too. I like the ethos of the cigarette and how it speaks to a history of skateboarding as well as fans of supreme who enjoy divulging in such activities. Plus, these decks explain the ideas surrounding "time", which is closely demonstrated by the general item of a blazing cigarette. An object which represents the matter of time by reducing the consumers own time line and how it over time subtracts itself and slowly burns itself out and become nothing again. A perfect non-permanent object.

Keep your eyes peeled to see if I catch one of these decks, hopefully the FRIED one, or if I burn out. I will be purchasing as fan of his not as a skateboarder although in my youth I did try that and successfully failed.


Urs Fischer x Supreme Collection of three limited Skateboards will be released on the 24th March 2016!

Other Pieces of Urs Work

- THURSTON

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OUTFITS OF THE WEEK!!

You Can Never Be Over Dressed or Over Educated - Oscar Wilde 

One of my main interests is FASHION!

I don't really recall how it all started for me, I guess I just feel head first in and learnt to swim from there. Over the years however, I have tried and adapted various trends and styles from both the past as well as the current trends straight from the catwalks. With this I have built up a huge wardrobe of designs, outfits and of course clothes for me to dress up with.

Personally, now I am older I have become much more conservative and only partake in fashions which are based around a blazer and shirt. I burnt my street wear bridges years ago. I really enjoy the looks of vintage fashion with the 'Ivy Style' of youth Post War taking president over most of my clothes. This includes the quintessential Oxford Button Down shirt in mass of different colours and cuts, Navy Blazer, with or without the Gold Buttons, and different pairs of loafers too. As show below! Brands however include: Brooks Brothers, all labels in Ralph Lauren and Thom Browne to name a few.

Post Ivy/ Trad Style
Blazer: Brooks Brothers
Pants: Bespoke James Purdey
Jumper: Rugby Ralph Lauren
Tie:Vintage School Tie
Shirt: Polo Ralph Lauren

Sprezzatura With Vintage Military
Pants: Brooks Brothers Black Fleece
Jacket: US Army Vietnam Era Jungle Jacket
Blazer: ZZegna 24/7 Jacket
Roll Neck & Shirt: Polo Ralph Lauren 

Another section of men style is the Italian flare known as 'Sprezzatura'. A style argued about the educated slobbery of men's high class, which emphasises men looking messy but juxtaposing that to create a tailored look. With these outfits I match a variety of Italian brands as well as American brands in my wardrobe to replicate the looks on the street in: Florence (Pitti) and Milan; where I have visited personally. As seen above, I have mixed a vintage original US Army Jungle Jacket with a roll neck and a special navy blazer by ZZegna; designed for any time of day. However, its the look of having your shirt collar underneath poking out over your roll neck which categorizes this look as being 'Sprezzatura'.  When worn on the street you are bound to get a few stares but personally I feel it is timeless fashion and never disappoints.

Another Ivy Style Inspiration
Pants:Boggi
Blazer: Vintage 1968 Brooks Brothers
Tie: St Aloysius College
Shirt: Land's End Denim

Be on the Look Out for more of my outfits and what I have learnt from my experiences in fashion. Also, they might be a few blasts of the past so you can see how I have changed over the years, and how I got to this point! Not only that but I will highlight and explain brands I enjoy to wear and my personal takes on the new season from them too!

Check out my INSTAGRAM for constant fashion posts!!!

- THURSTON

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REVIEW! MAX RITCHER - FROM SLEEP (2015)

"Sleeping is one of the most important things we do"

It seems year after year Max Richter, a German born English composer, gets better and better. With a major backing from film directors as well as HBO knocking on his door, for more songs to be added to their star filled TV dramas, this man can do no wrong. (Seek The Leftover's TV Show, series 2 out now)

After finishing various works for the silver screen and the ones that live in our front rooms remaining constantly vibrant. Richter took it upon himself to crafted one piece of music heavily disguised as lullaby to help explore the ideology of what Sleep is and what happens to us as we enter inactivity.
Richter prior to writing this length of music, conferred with famous neuroscientist David Eagleman to learn more about how our brains work at night. Richter wanted to attempt to find out the answer of what spaces occur within our minds when it is on "holiday".  Thus...

We got the masterpiece: SLEEP!


However, this album under review: 'From Sleep' can be seen as the "greatest hits" of this eight hour long epic. Heavily consisting of pianos, strings and choral structures, this album is perfect in case you just want dip your toe in the waters of this drowsy delight. Basically, a heightened power nap to energize your ears. The album is compressed onto one CD or on two vinyls in a deluxe package; its a beautiful accompaniment to your thoughts and dreams in the midnight hours.  

On this record, set over two visually stunning vinyls which in themselves create their own moon like gravitational pull when spinning, Richter manages to craft a beautiful patchwork of pianos, variety of strings and choral pieces throughout to distill a quilt of heavenly slumber. The music, river like in it's passage, drifts along with a soft ambiance. Personally, this lullaby for the dormant individual never fails to lack any tedious qualities track by track or does any section repeat its previous self; Richter successfully conveys a strong sense of emotion and a constant beating melody which is usually absent in the hearts of minimal music.

Track by track we get a feel of Richter's thoughts and feelings on what sleep is to him. Second by second will hear that with each stroke of a string and each hum of the choral piece being played we see the transition of the subject mater into that of an art. The vibrations add more and more splatters to the final canvas of art hanging in our minds.

Max Richter- German born English composer

Richter himself is a key figure head in the modern movement of post-minimalism in the early 2000's. A style of music and art which further develops and expands upon the original idea of minimalism a few decades before. As he successful re-composed Vivaldi's classic baroque standard, 'The Four Seasons' with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, to critical acclaim, he became a main figure in the modern classical circuits. (For me personally, this is where I first heard his work)
Although, he himself had already released a stream of concept albums including the brilliant 'Blue Notebooks' which, featured Academy Award winner Tilda Swinton herself narrating like a omnipresent voice. These records largely stayed in a mix of elective social circles where they were chosen as their favorite albums of that year corresponding to its release.

Not long before the release of this record to the public, the composer was approached by the BBC to preform this epic it all its heavenly glory on the 27th of September that year,2015. With Richter agreeing to be part of it's Radio 3 "Science and Music" weekend, the whole 8 hour piece was preformed live from the midnight til 8:00 am to match the sleeping patterns of a normal human as the climax to the festival. With this, Ritcher manages to break multiple records all at the same time including: the longest broadcast for a single piece of music in the BBC since its inception in 1936.

Max expressing his feelings about the record/ Inner Sleeve

Side A of the Vinyl/ Grey "Moon" Colour

Rating: 4/5


-THURSTON

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P.S. Yes 'The Blue Notebooks' is where I get my name sake from! Shhhhhhh.....

REVIEW! PAVEL BUCHLER IDLE THOUGHTS (2013)

BOOK REVIEW: PAVEL BUCHLER- IDLE THOUGHTS

The Book in its GLORY

"All I remember is the handwriting going on for pages and pages... in its way it was perfect."

A closing remark by the artist Pavel Buchler on the reasoning behind why he has chosen to replicate the fading memories of his father, within his art work. The art work can be seen as a very heart felt love letter to his deceased father, as well as the influence he has bestowed within Buchler now as he is an adult. Whether it can be seen as open letter to his father or a work based upon the discovery of his failed novel in his youth, Butchler has used this as a catalyst to help him create multiple works of art based around the idea of human ideas as well as the way we write to express these interests of ours.

Pavel Bulcher in discussion of his work

  Pavel Buchler was born behind the "Iron Curtain" in Prague in 1952, around the time of the infamous 'Slansky Trail', where he would live and worked until the early 1980's. As a struggling artist he drew inspiration from a variety of sources: including his heritage, but mostly from the society and the world around him at time, especially living and breathing under a very strict Communist rule (strongly shown in his other works). Learning from this he created multiple works of art and sculptures to both stress and parody his life under this all seeing eye. However, he has also turned his hand into teaching and lectures about approaches to art on the whole as well as his own work. Currently he is a professor at Manchester University on the MA Fine Art course.
Still to this day he is a strong a prominent figure on the intentional art scene in more ways than one.  

Moving on to the exhibition put on by the recently re-built and updated Withworth Gallery in the student heart of the city of Manchester, I can not say I ever entered the gallery prior to it being updated but pictures have help me to illustrate the changes that have taken place over its closure. Now the gallery has a wide variety of different form of art work from sculptures to drawings, film and other art based works from multiple foreign and home grown talent.

Idle Thoughts (Diary 2010-2011)

As shown above, you can see the level of detail Buchler adds to these pieces; where each individual scrape and flick of the pen is perfectly added to cover up any remaining white paper cushioned below. The main interest in us human's is what lies behind all that blue blur. What was written moments before? Its a bizarre take on what the human mind can develop and structure but, also how in time all of our ideas grow from seeds and fruit the understanding of who or what we would like to achieve. This collection of art is no different; with the thought of time taking president which is duplicated with the periods of expanse it took to complete the collection. From the inception of his discovery to the formation of the works all of this took time, like his father's novel did.

In others forms of works in the series, entitled 'a year with a dead Biro' we see Buchler create invisible works of prose left as a ghostly outline on the page. This includes a diary of notes taken from the same year which has his thoughts and feelings embossed with the fibers of the paper itself. An all white swan song of his inner mind workings, which is too faint for us to see and feel. Yet, symbolically powerful for us viewers to feel a sense of lost and hope all juxtaposed in one. What was written?

Few of the Pieces on show 

Overall, a excellent messy insight into the world of failed human notions. Prior on the surface it may seem like an explosion at a pen factory; it deals more with the connection and love with for his father as he reminisces about his childhood and his amazement that his father could have it in him to create a novel in general.  



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