Contemporary Classics with CAT Footwear

October is nearly over, which surely means that the next few months are going to be a flash in the pan. With the lead up to the holiday season before Thanksgiving and then the ultimate crescendo of New Years Eve, remembering the past year while we celebrate the arrival of the new. Plenty of brands have focused in on this concept, combining elements of the past with more modern concepts, creating something new that still feels classic and familiar. CAT Footwear decided to utilize this tasteful fusion in their Dapper Dudes collection for AW17, with preppy heritage that is reimagined in new silhouettes and constructions. The stunning shoes featured in this post are the Sawyer by CAT Footwear, an oxford style shoe featuring unique lace eyelets that allow you to get creative with how you tie your shoes.

To mirror the motif set forth by my footwear, I decided to pair some new age style pieces with some old-school fabrics for that contemporary classic look; the shoes allotted me the opportunity to have some fun with a tonal look, combining varying hues of khaki and brown. An updated hooded bomber in classic military twill, a raglan style sweater thats french-ribbed, and slim-fit trousers in a not-so stuffy tweed. The key to tonal looks is not overthinking the combinations and letting the hues build off one another, pairing things that would normally go together, just in similar shades. For particularly layered looks, I suggest having a flow of saturation from darker to lighter, from bottom layer to the top.

Tonal looks have been all the rage in 2016, so lets see if we can't take CAT Footwear's cue and welcome this trend into 2017 with us. I'd like to thank CAT for being such an innovative and awesome brand and for providing me the opportunity to model the Sawyer shoe for them this season! Let me know you think below and be sure to share your tonal looks, and as always...

Be Dapper, Be Different.

Sparry Selects: Kale

As 2016 comes to its final quarter and New York Fashion week is behind us, a little company known as Pantone releases a collection hues that they predict will be the "it" colors of the season; it is unbelievably scary how accurate these people are! This season's offering has a rather diverse palette ranging from rusty red to an almost sky blue, and I do plan on covering all of these shades in the coming weeks, but the first and most important color on the list is known as Kale (aka the green we all love to wear). The representation from Pantone shows an olive green shade that is light enough to be worn in the early fall, but still enough saturation to hold its salt for the coldest winter day. Take a look at all of the pieces that feature this amazing shade, and get them in your closet to get ready for the season!

Tech Time: Spectacles by Snap Inc.

Its easy to be skeptical about new wearables in this age of technology revolution, with new gadgets being released on an almost hourly basis to gain a competitive edge. Its no wonder that more than 85% of these products go unused after the first 6-months of ownership as either an updated version is released, a competitor creates a better alternative, or it just simply becomes outdated or the user loses interest. For this reason, I tend to approach new technology with a cautious optimism, but I had a different experience after I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about something coming from the stables of Snapchat, or Snap Inc. as CEO, Evan Spiegel, would have it. The newly dubbed Spectacles are the latest to come from the popular video and image messaging platform, and they truly aim to change the perspective in which we share the snippets of our lives. As Spiegel remembers using the glasses for the first time:

"It was our first vacation, and we went to Big Sur for a day or two. We were walking through the woods, stepping over logs, looking up at the beautiful trees. And when I got the footage back and watched it, I could see my own memory, through my own eyes—it was unbelievable. It’s one thing to see images of an experience you had, but it’s another thing to have an experience of the experience. It was the closest I’d ever come to feeling like I was there again."

This isn't just some fad that Snap Inc. is trying to push, they even mentioned the slow rollout of the product as to make sure they get the product right, this is about changing the way we interact with our technology, creating an experience unlike any other. Some might say thats a view point shared amongst some of the greatest minds in the tech world, like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The initial product release doesnt have a set date, but it will be this fall and at a measly $130, its hardly the most you've paid for a wearable; something tells me this will be a great gift. I certainly look forward to seeing how this "experiment" progresses, what do you think?