Style develops and becomes personal over time, often, like in my case, with a lot of experimenting. While I pretty much dress the same way I did in high school (now with better fits and materials), I definitely had some lapses of judgement in the 90s when I thought I was a fashion guy and ended up with some square toed shoes (including a pair of Gucci sandals) and some nylon Prada. Thankfully I found my way back to my preppy roots and I guess I’d describe my style now as Neapolitan American prep. I am always on the lookout for people with good individual style—paying attention on the street, the subway, or IG for the best character studies, from old geezers to skaters. I am also lucky that Wm Brown events draw a crowd of well styled gents from whom I draw a lot of inspiration. This is where I first met Elias Marte—he would show up with a handful of well dressed guys who called themselves the Cozy Boys (you may remember them from the cover and inside style feature of Wm Brown issue 7). They all stood out to me with their strong individual styles—for me, the best combination of urban prep. I love how Elias flawlessly combines Barbours, loafers, denim, Drake’s scarves, and his signature gold jewelry. I thought it would be a good idea to start profiling different guys whose style inspires me here in the newsletter. I’ll ask them to lead us down their style path—the how/why of their look. What I find the most inspiring is seeing style confidence, and a range of different approaches that may be outside of my style wheelhouse. I’m excited to have Elias be my first style profile and share his uniform below.
“This look is a classic Elias outfit. I wore this cozy fit to our recent Alfargo’s Marketplace Menswear Garage Sale. I have on a vintage alpaca Ralph Lauren sweater tucked in—the tucked-in sweater look gives wonderful proportions to my frame. I’ve had this sweater in my collection for over 7 years—it was thrifted in Williamsburg. I rarely wear button-up shirts. I definitely wanted to be comfortable while hosting and helping out customers at the pop up. I have on vintage pleated high waisted jeans—I have slowly been transitioning to wearing denim. The belt is a beautiful one from Sid Mashburn, with a brass arrowhead belt buckle—I actually found it at Alfargo’s from one of our vendors Shane. It was sooo good I had to get it. On my feet I have Kamakura over-the-calf socks (they’re great value), and Belgian Shoes (Traveler model), which I got at Alfargo’s. They’re super cozy and this sole holds up better to walking on the pavement.
Now for my accessories which I’m known for: I have 3 yellow gold 14k necklaces. Two of them are from Popular Jewelry (Virgin Mary and Lazarus). The smaller necklace is from New Top Jewelry. I have an apple pendant from Yeah It’s Jewelry that pays homage to my city (NYC) and also my squad logo (Team Cozy Boys). I’m such a New Yorker so I had to have a pendant paying homage. I always wear all my three chains together. On my wrist I have a vintage black face dial Must de Cartier Tank from the late 70s that I recently obtained from my friend Antonio V of Charm City Jeweler . The Cartier tank is a timeless watch and I was so happy to come across a black face dial. It literally fell in my direction. Shout outs to Antonio! My other wrist has the Virgin Mary as a bracelet in 14K yellow gold, a style popular in Dominican culture. (Dominicans wear a lot of religious gold jewelry.) On my left hand I have an opal pinky ring—the stone is from Greenwich St. Jewelers. On my ring finger—I’ve had this ring since I was eight years old—my mom gave it to me, and on middle finger an emerald ring from Popular Jewelry. My right hand ring finger has a tricolor (sapphire, ruby and emerald) ring in a channel setting—I love it because it’s a combo of three of my favorite gems. I saw this ring on my Instagram stories and I immediately needed it—so I actually obtained it via Instagram from a jewelry friend who sold it to another jewelry friend who sold it to me. So this ring previously belonged to Carocaro Jewelry and Saints In Gold. The middle finger ring is from Popular Jewelry. My scarf is from Drake’s and sometimes I wear it as a headscarf if it looks like it’s gonna rain.”