The Times’ App List is a definitive guide to must-have games, tools and distractions for your iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone 7 or tablet.  According to the paper, The Sunday Times’ app list was compiled by experts in the relevant fields along with input from regular Sunday Times app reviewers. The App List itself allows readers to search for specific aps, look through app categories and arrange results by platform.

Off the Cuff is proud to be part of the BeSpeak team and honored to work with such a distinguished and talented t group of sartorial and technical experts.

Conceived and developed by legendary clothier Alan Flusser, BeSpeak provides style guidance for business attire for men, including the best style of suit, dress shirt, tie, and pocket square to dress your personal best. The app recommends and coordinates the suit, dress shirt, tie and a pocket square customized for each individual based on a personal profile.

BeSpeak employs patent pending proprietary technology to create a personal profile based on hair color, skin tone, eye color, face shape, body shape and size. These algorithms were created based on intense analysis of classical style guides and designer preferences as seen in fashion advertising and runway shows.

It’s an amazing tool that can help you find the colors, patterns and styles that best suit (so to speak) your specific profile.

Use it in the morning to decide which outfit to wear, how to improve an individual outfit or when shopping to help select profile-perfect purchases. Select the most flattering clothes for a meeting, a date, or job interview. Most importantly, BeSpeak can help you better develop the dressing skills for how to look your most stylish every day.

How does BeSpeak work? First, create and store a personal profile for you (or others) based on hair color, skin tone, eye color, face shape, body shape and size. Then, you will receive a recommendation for coordinated outfits.

To see additional outfit recommendations, just tap the “reload” button on the lower menu bar.

You can also input your own individual articles of clothing or potential purchases and the app will make recommendations relative to your profile as well as evaluate and grade your choices. So, you can build your own virtual closet, get expert recommendations on what works best for you and even make sure that new shirt, suit or tie actually fits with your profile and your wardrobe.

You can download the free BeSpeak app from www.BeSpeak.com or from the iTunes store.

Traveling, whether for business or pleasure, can be a stressful endeavor.  And the desire to return to a time of more thoughtful and luxurious transportation is an easy, escapist point of view.

However, in the real world we must still deal with lines, security checkpoints, body scans, tight seating, cranky airline staff and self-important plane mates, never satisfied unless they have something about which to complain. Yet, as most travel writers will attest, the technology, flexibility and cost of air travel – and of travel in general – has never been more advantageous to the customer as it is now.

Of course, travel these days is by no means perfect, or at times even tolerable. So, let’s agree that, yes, traveling by plane or train can be fraught with potential problems. Late or canceled flights, speed restrictions, or damaged track are but a few of the many things that can lead to a feeling of powerlessness, resulting in frustration and anger.

While such large-scale problems can reduce even the most seasoned traveler to tears, or at least silent rocking back-and-forth paired with deep breaths, more often than not it’s the little things that really cause the most stress.

By planning ahead, playing well with others and accepting that stuff happens, you are more apt to be the kind of person others don’t actually mind being stuck with for a few hours. Being ill prepared for your trip can lead to disappointment and discomfort. Choosing your clothing, luggage, accessories and travel strategy can make a huge difference in outlook and comfort before, during and post trip.

As with most of life, the key to success is often nothing more than preparation and perspective. Here are a few simple things you can do to reduce some of the stress and maybe even enjoy traveling a bit more.

Dressing for Travel

Regardless of the reason for my travel, I always dress as though I am going to run into someone important.

For business, that means wearing a suit, dress shirt, no tie, and good shoes. I always add a pocket square for a touch of style and a little color. When feasible, I also opt for a more comfortable and less form-fitting suit. Casual clothing goes into my bag.

When traveling for fun or in business casual mode, I still choose to project some style and maturity.

I usually pass on the jeans and wear a nice pair of khakis or corduroys and have a blazer or sweater handy. Zip cardigans are a good option and allow for cooler or warmer cabins. I wear shoes that make sense for my trip, not just for ease of the security checkpoint.

A main goal should always be to dress well but remain comfortable. Personally, I make a conscious decision to look better than I need to look.  An excellent example of this approach is displayed here by Alan Flusser.  He expertly presents an elegant yet comfortable look without appearing stuffy or overdone.

When I dress well for travel, I feel better about myself, why I’m traveling and am more thoughtful of others.

By choosing a stylish wardrobe that can be mixed, matched and paired, I also don’t need to pack as much. Gray suit trousers can be paired with an oxford and sweater or a spare blue blazer. For a casually dressy look, pull out the jeans and pair them with a tee shirt, fine gauge v-neck merino sweater and the suit jacket. Mentally work through real outfits for your trip.  Lay them out ahead of time, but be proactive.

Moreover, I simply choose to take a stand against sloppy and disrespectful travelers. Dressing nicely shows respect to my fellow passengers and to the airline or train crew. I am entering their office, their workspace. If I would never dress like a slob to visit a client’s office, why would I do so in the intimate environment of a plane?

Travel experts tell us over and over that how you dress directly impacts the treatment you get from gate agents and flight crews. It is a known and frankly obvious fact that we are judged by how we dress. Everyone makes these kinds of judgments every day. I think the truth of the matter is that we just don’t like it when it happens to us – and the outcome is not in our favor.

Packing

As a regular business traveler, it goes without saying that I always try and get everything I need in a carry-on bag. If that’s not possible, I’ll pack just my essentials in the carry-on and pray that my checked bag arrives when and where I do.

Remember not to over pack your carry-on. Otherwise, you’ll have a whole new level of frustration trying to squeeze it into a too-small overhead compartment. And when that doesn’t work, your carry-on will be gate-checked and you lose access to all that stuff you wanted to keep handy.

In terms of business travel, I have a good rolling carry-on that is perfect for a few days to a week, and a larger global workhorse that can take a beating. A rolling carry-on can be your single most important investment.

There are a lot of options out there; in fact I’ll be upgrading my 15 year-old bag soon and am on the lookout myself. Go for function over form in this case, because what really matters is how well your roller houses your stuff and performs during a transfer or running to catch the 11:58 express.

With business cases and day-to-day bags, I am happy to invest in beautiful leathers and craftsman quality. But when it comes to luggage likely to be checked, I want practical, functional durability.

Sometimes, I use a smaller shoulder strap carry-on bag. My old Ghurka ‘Express’ bag is perfect for this; roomy yet compact, soft and flexible but tough and all-leather durable. But remember, while such a bag may give you a globally stylish and blog-worthy persona, you still need to lug it and your other stuff all over the place. Hence, the myriad benefits of a good, compact, rolling carry-on.

Attitude

Last but not least is the issue of one’s attitude when traveling. The subject of attitude is very important to me. I spent a great deal of my younger years in the luxury retail environment, which is all about relationships. While I always wanted to do well by my customers, I am of the belief that the customer is not always right. Often, yes. Always, no.

The customer is not the most important person in the store. The line salespeople are; as are the managers, stock room, and shipping staff. Staff is what makes companies succeed and when you have staff that wants to give their customers the best service possible, everyone wins.

Permitting customers to run roughshod over your employees is counterproductive. This is not saying employees are always right, it just means they are not human punching bags for cranky customers.

Treat airline staff, or any other staff for that matter, with respect and patience. You may be ticked off, but would you want to switch places with the gate agent who just announced that a flight was canceled?

When front line staff recognize that you are an adult and that you understand they do not, in fact, run the company, they are more likely to remember and look after you.

A few years ago, my wife and I experienced this first hand on a flight to Paris. After a horrible drive to the airport though pounding rain, we were met with a disorganized sea of angry travelers. Ultimately, the flight was canceled. When I finally made it to the counter after nearly an hour, I knew we would never get on the next flight out. I was angry and tired but made every effort not to take it out on the airline agent; it wasn’t her fault.

I was as reasonable as possible under the circumstances, expressed my exasperation and made it clear that I was venting in general, but not at her.

Treating that harried and exhausted desk agent with respect apparently paid off, because hours later, when everyone was finally issued tickets for the new flight, we were upgraded to first class.

A common occurrence? Probably not. But the point remains that how we chose to present ourselves in the situation, pack, prepare and plan all came together at that moment. We were dressed appropriately, prepared with what we needed to get by sans luggage, and behaved like grown-ups when things went south.

Instead of being a bitter memory, that experience continues to inform how we travel and how we treat others.

In many ways, this is a natural extension of the resurgent interest in menswear, a focus on quality and the unique roles history and social provenance play in gentlemanliness.  Another factor is younger men of style seeking to insert a little distinctive expression into clothing that must still conform, more or less, to the realities of workday life.

Enter hook + ALBERT.  This new accessories brand is one of the first to really focus its wares on the desire of stylish men to find ways of injecting life and personality into their wardrobes without necessarily going all peacock.  What began with a mission to create, colorful yet stylish dress socks with the comfort and support of athletic socks, expanded to include a range of clever and colorful accessories.

The socks are H&A’s core product line, and they are wonderful.  Vibrant colors and fun, work-friendly patterns can now pop out from beneath suit trousers and khakis alike.   Company founders Adam and Cory view socks as “ankle accessories” and opted to reinterpret, and indeed reconstruct, the dress sock itself.  Click here to learn about the welcome technical features of hook + ALBERT socks, like cushioning and arch support.

And, while they first sought to bring change to the luxury sock market, they also felt it was important to offer their customers those hard to find little accessories that can truly make ones’ look unique.

Another big hit has been their line of colored dress shoelaces.  Such a simple idea, but such a huge impact on personal style; we love them.  Colored shoe laces can dress up any shoe, from a beat up brogue to a boardroom-ready cap toe.  By going bright or subtle you can give your shoes, and your overall look, a punch of color or simply a hint of something unique.  Laces come in a standard 30-inch length and fit dress shoes and low boots.

We are especially fond of the stylish incongruity a pair of red or orange laces create when worn with heavy-soled wingtips.  It gives the outfit an unexpected personal twist while not taking away from one’s overall look.

Lapels can be a tricky thing for a modern gent.  Once, a man was sartorially naked without something in his lapel hole – after all, it’s there for a reason.  These days it is hard to put one’s lapel to work without looking overly affected; a pocket watch chain secured with granddad’s favorite fob is just too vintage for most men.  Flowers, though Springy and sophisticated, inevitably lead to being asked if one is heading off to a wedding.  Still, there is something undeniably swanky, and distinctly gentlemanly about displaying a tasteful token on one’s lapel.

Hook & ALBERT’s solution was to create a new take on the boutonniere.  Handmade of soft mercerized cotton, each unique crochet flower secures to the jacket lapel via a shell button on the back.  We are partial to the Storm Blue, but as with their shoe laces, the color chosen – bold or subtle – can project the wearer’s mood, personality and sense of style.

The brand’s simple hopsack neckties are of a contemporary, narrow cut and well-finished.  The tie’s colorful contrast backing located where it lays against the shirt collar (in our case, vibrant red for a navy blue tie), has both practical and aesthetic functions.  The detail also gives it a fun tweak known only to the wearer.  The choice of hopsack also gives the tie a slightly informal, vintage air that is well suited for casual dress, letting it take on the role of a stylish accessory.

Lastly, you may be wondering about the name, “hook + ALBERT.”  So did we.  It turns out the name derives from that most treasured of gentlemanly possessions, the pocket watch.

Prince Albert, husband to Queen Victoria, liked to wear his pocket watch on a simple chain secured to his vest through a button hole.  The excess length of the chain would drape across his vest in a stylish swag.  As average gentlemen followed this royal fashion cue, it became known as an “Albert” chain.  A single Albert chain has at one end a vest fastener, often a t-bar or decorative button, and at the other a small “hooked” clasp securing the Albert to the pocket watch.  Want to see what a single Albert looks like?  Head over to OTC’s Facebook page – we found a great example.

OTC is happy to recommend the creative and well-made accessories of hook + ALBERT.

The 2011 CFDA Menswear Designer of the Year and head of design at Gant by Michael Bastian, reinterpreted five of Randolph Engineering’s classic frames.  OTC favorites include the gold-tone Sportsman and  Signature Aviator II in chrome with mirrored lenses.

The great thing about these classic, timeless and unabashedly masculine sunglasses is that they get the job done while pretty much never go out of style.  However, don’t wait too long because the MB+RE collaboration is around for limited time and only runs through the end of 2011.

You can order yourself a pair here, or better yet, how about winning a pair for free!

Randolph Engineering and OTC are going to give away pair of RE+MB sunglasses to one lucky OTC reader.  Learn more by checking out the contest on our Facebook page.

The wallet I have carried for more than a decade is from R. Horns, in Vienna – a maker of wonderful leather goods. It is a classic international billfold with two currency sections and eight credit card slots. The rich nutty brown leather, darkened with age and quite thick is still soft. I love it. But it’s not always what I need; sometimes I just want to carry a few cards and other times I want a sort of portable home base to capture all the ephemera of my life.

Over the past couple of months, I’ve been testing a few outstanding options – here are two standouts.

From Billykirk, the New York-based leather goods company I have my home base; the No. 217. It’s a big, beautiful zip card/coin wallet that features 12 card slots, 2 interior main compartments and 1 zipped coin pouch. At first stiff and solid, it quickly softened molded to my hand, and to whatever was inside.

Founded by brothers and business partners Kirkland and Christopher Bray, Billykirk makes elegantly functional leather products that combine the best of substance and style.  Most of the manufacturing takes place in Lancaster Country, PA, by Amish craftsman whose attention to detail is genuinely outstanding.

The No. 217 holds all of my cards, receipts, notes, slips of papers and on occasion, my iPhone. Although not dissimilar to a women’s clutch (my wife has tried to adopt it a few times) it is very much a man’s wallet. I’ve found it to be a perfect travel wallet, great for keeping track of all my loose stuff.

It’s also just plain beautiful and something that will likely be passed down at some point (no time soon however).

When I do not need to have access to all my cards, change and cash I now switch gears and pull out a handy, trim and equally outstanding little wallet. The three-pocket Astoria from Waskerd is another great example of a renewed interest in low-impact craftsmanship.

Similar to the production methods of bag maker Will Lisak of ETWAS, all the wallets are handmade by founder Derek Shaw, a self-taught leatherman.

“I was born and raised in Texas and my grandfather raised cattle for a living. I remember waking up with him before the sun came up to help him feed the cows. I have had a fondness of cows and leather ever since. I love leather in its natural state – imperfections and all. I love the smell of leather. I love the feel of it, and more than anything, I love how quality leather patines and forms from handling and use. When I began making wallets I wanted to incorporate some my grandfather and his love for cattle in my work.”

Says Shaw, “almost all of the names of my products have very personal meaning. I’ve lived in Astoria, NY, Bloomfield, PA, and Newport News, VA. Each city and stage in my life has brought me to where I am now and influenced who I am.”

Depending on your needs any one of these gets the job done. Whatever type of wallet you choose, in whichever configuration best matches your needs, choose something you really like. A wallet, like all your personal effects should be an investment. Invest wisely.

Prior to the dot-com revolution, suits were de rigueur in most offices and the concept of “corporate casual” had not yet been birthed; at least not in the mainstream workplace.  As the internet revolution gained steam and started to impact how we did business and even thought about business, our work wardrobes too began to change.

As they shuffled to the closet each morning, men started to pine for the glories of casual comfort.  Just like those Silicon Valley guys who seemed to be living the real American Dream, lawyers and accountants, statisticians and bureaucrats all started to ask for work wear flexibility.  This was the beginning of a sartorial revolution that, ironically, would lead full-circle to the current resurgence of dressing up and dressing well.

Remember the young hotshot exec in those 1998 Westin Hotel TV spots who was so successful that he got away with wearing jeans to the office?  Scandalous! That was big stuff back then.  He was a rock star.

As I have noted before, the resurgence in men’s interest in fashion, personal style and for some, a near-obsession with quality and heritage, is largely due to the current generation looking to their parents for guidance and instead seeing 50 year-old college wanabes.

Today’s 20 and 30 year-olds are rebelling against their parent’s generation because, basically, they are kind of slobs.   Not only do many of today’s dads have little personal style, they also deign to find value in things that even sniff of vanity or taste.

The generation that matured under the influence of grunge music, Old Navy as office wear and a cultural rejection of “corporate influence” was groomed to treat any interest in style as effeminate and undesirable.  To them, the coat and tie was a yoke of bland depersonalization.  It was the embodiment of the “uniform” in all of its negative context.

Truth be told, this was a pretty accurate characterization.

By the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, office wear was, for the most part, boxy and bland, uninspired and uninspiring.  The cool kids wore jeans and Chuck Taylor’s to the office.  They had messenger bags and messy hair.  They worked in California.  They were smart, ironic and edgy and, most importantly, they were individuals.

They expressed individualism through nonconformity and discarding the sartorial symbols of traditional work.  To them, what they did mattered, not what they wore.  Sartorial rebellion was their visible call to arms.  Of course, such things are never so simple: by dressing in a deliberately rebellious and nonconformist fashion, they were themselves creating a new degree of conformity.  Dressing outside the cultural boundaries of the new code (i.e., dressing up) risked exclusion and social derision.

Fast forward to today and we have a near opposite situation.  What had then been new and fresh, innovative and freeing rapidly turned into an excuse to wear sweatpants to the office.  All those amazing perks that went along with the relaxed dress code – game rooms, personal concierge service, loaner Porches, company-provided grocery shopping and dog walking – all went away with the collapse of the dot.com bubble.  That pesky profitability thing just ruined it all.

However, the casual wardrobe stuck in there.  It was seen as anachronistic and unnecessary to once again don a tie or suit if you did not absolutely have to do so.  “Why does it matter” was the thought.  Work and results were the point, not how you dressed.  To be sure, there was some retrenching on dress codes, but it was largely confined to traditionally formal environments like law and corporate offices.

While the dot.com implosion dented casual office wardrobes, it had not totally invalidated the concept.  Khakis and polo shirts persisted.  In the eyes of some though, lack of “appropriate” office dress belied a deeper cultural issue: a lack of respect and accountability for one’s self and work.  This viewpoint is often tied to professions in which earning a client’s confidence is vital (why should I entrust my fortune to a banker in a tee shirt or my international merger to some kid dressed for golf?).

As the economy picked up through the mid-2000s and a new generation of hotshots started looking for ways to express both their financial success and – here’s that word again – individuality, many turned not to their pleated and over sized polo-clad parents, but to each other.

Through revolutionary blogs like Scott Schuman’s Sartorialist, guys saw how to dress with genuine style and flair.  Real people with real taste; not a runway or catalog or magazine but the streets of New York.  And sites like the one you are now reading, Andy Gilcrest’s Ask Andy (the founding father of menswear blogs) and Will Boehlke’s A Suitable Wardrobe, provided the kind of detailed sartorial and style information simply not previously available.

This up-and-coming generation of young men took it upon themselves to learn about the history of men’s style, its variations and traditions.  Most importantly, they started to talk about it with each other.  Bypassing their parent’s generation altogether, the inspiration we now see comes from the golden ages of menswear: the 1920s through 1950s.

The success of TV’s Mad Men has also awakened a belated appreciation of 1960s streamlined, swanky, cocktail-swilling manliness.  An entire subculture has developed, fixated on analyzing the remarkable period execution of the show’s producers and set dressers.

With all this as a cultural backdrop, more blogs began popping up and more Sartorialist-inspired photographers began posting examples of outfits and clothing details.  When OTC first launched six years ago, it was one of perhaps five menswear-focused blogs.  Now there are scores, covering all aspects of men’s fashion.  Some come and go; some last.  Some are shallow vanity projects with nothing of substance to offer anyone.  Others, like the innovative Put This On blend video shorts with clever and genuinely practical advice.

The audiences for these sites continue to grow.  And it’s not just Wall Street I-bankers looking for the right Rolex.  Many of these men want a detailed understanding of proper suit construction, the differences between mechanical and automatic watch movements, the provenance of a Ghurka briefcase or the hallmarks of a handmade shoe.

When the crash of 2008 tore the confidence and pay checks from massive swaths of the population, an interesting thing happened.  As expected, a degree of formality and sobriety returned to many workplaces.  Some companies chose to reestablish guidelines for work attire; some tightly defining office casual and others requiring traditional business dress.

The reaction among menswear and style bloggers was not to rise up against conformity but to double down.  They demanded from each other and the fashion world more choices, greater quality, customization and the rediscovery of, for lack of a better term, dandyism.  And while sites like IVY STYLE revel in the joys of East Coast preppy culture (incredibly popular in its own right), not all influencers have their gaze set to the rear view mirror.

For some of these bloggers, taking classic style traditions and breathing into them new life is a goal in and of itself.

Last year, I organized a blogger meet-up for Alan Flusser, the noted menswear designer and author who created Gordon Gecko’s wardrobe for the movie Wall Street.  Normally accustomed to captains of industry and fashion royalty, his audience that night consisted of young menswear bloggers; a new generation looking to blend traditional style with modern sensibilities.  It was eye opening.

Street Etiquette is a leading example of this classic/urban hybrid which is powering much of the interest in menswear.  Joshua Kissi and Travis Gumbs, who both attended the Flusser event, are seriously influential guys with creative, detail-oriented points of view.

Alan is adapting to this new generation’s sensibilities.  Recently revamping his showroom to reflect a cleaner, Art Deco feel and tweaking his house silhouette a bit, he understands that the influencers of today are less likely to be him, and more his kids’ peers.  Nonetheless, he and other fashion luminaries like G. Bruce Boyer are not sitting still, reflecting in their past glories.

Still influential and still sartorially authoritative, Alan’s innovative iPhone apps, BeSpeak and Snap Dress, are backed by complex algorithms which attempt to mimic his vast depth of knowledge.  They allow users to create truly customized wardrobe choices matched to their specific body and coloration profiles.  Alan Flusser in your pocket, as it were.

Just take a tour of the websites and blogs dedicated to men’s fashion and style and you’ll find a master’s degree worth of examples in branding, content management, writing, photography and retailing.

I’ve lost track of the number of former bankers who have reached out to OTC to tell me about their custom suit, shirt or tie making venture.  For some, it’s all business and they see a market in dressing well.  For others, frankly more than I had expected, it’s a real desire to express a deep interest in helping people be their best.

Big names like MR PORTER, the men’s division of NET-A-PORTER, combine retail flash sales with blog-worthy content.  Akin to a newspaper with its features and product write-ups, it’s clear that the site’s backers understand the single most important thing about getting a guy’s interest in fashion piqued: content.

For men, content is king and context is a close runner up.  And that is one of the great levelers brought by the internet to this debate; it democratized the issue of fashion and the relevance of style.  The blogs and sites which have succeeded and continue to wield influence present something useful and relevant.  They give their readers something worth reading, content with value and the historical and style-focused context to help put it all into perspective.

Hopefully, this installment provides just that.

Victor Lytvinenko, one half of the husband and wife duo that founded Raleigh Denim is no different.  Though in some ways the antithesis to Ignatious’ ebullient personality, the genial and understated friendliness of this couple belies the intensity and determination that has built a backyard experiment into a serious brand for serious denim connoisseurs.

Raleigh Denim’s small team of craftspeople is solely focused on producing exceptional products crafted by hand and made in America.  Locovores by nature, they would really prefer to keep it in North Carolina, if not the city limits of Raleigh.  And for the most part, they do just that.

Raleigh Denim’s stock comes from Cone Denim and every aspect of production takes place in their small factory in Raleigh’s Warehouse District.  Most of the sewing and stitching machines are vintage rescues.  Other equipment was found on Amazon, at industrial auctions, bought from old textile factories, and even at garage sales.

Not focused on piece production, their staff is salaried and treated like the highly skilled experts they are.  In fact their chief pattern maker is a 70 year-old lady who used to be the head pattern maker for Levis.  She still draws every pattern by hand.

Where it takes mere minutes for name brand jeans to roll of the production line, a single pair of Raleigh Denim jeans will take several hours to hand build.  But even as their brand recognition grows, production does not – and will not.

Victor and his wife, Sarah, have no desire to become the next 7 For All Mankind or Joe’s Jeans.  And Raleigh Denim jeans are meant to look like jeans, not fashion accessories.  No swirls or embellishments and no funky silhouettes that will be out of style by week’s end.

These are people with genuine passion and a transparent sense of purpose.  They want to make really great jeans.  Victor can talk about the art of designing and crafting jeans for hours.  The quality of the denim, how and why indigo fades and ages as it does or their unique rear pocket design that is both more durable and more labor intensive to assemble.  He loves what he does – not just the design or the end product, but the physical act of creating some thing by hand.  Before making jeans he made wine, made beer, painted, sculpted and built furniture.

Many of their jeans’ unique details, like the hand-screened hip bone graphic on the pant’s interior, are never seen by anyone but the wearer.  Contrast stitching, hand felled rear pockets and hand hammered rivets all add to the cost but also help to create a unique and cherished garment.

The brand is branching out and producing some great looking shirts (both Victor and Sarah are wearing them in these pictures).  We also had a chance to take a sneak peak at some awesome samples for next season – jackets, new takes on jeans and some amazing sweaters.  But at it’s heart, this folks make jeans.

That said, we also loved their spin on accessories.  The natural denim and leather tote bags being assembled by hand, one by one, and destined this week for Barney’s in New York, are outstanding.  Constructed of heavy Cone natural denim and beautiful Horween leather, they also have cleverly designed adjustable straps .

These jeans are not for people who want to be noticed, they are those who don’t feel the need to be noticed. And just like the finest tailored clothing, only the wearer knows about all the details and the price tag of around US$ 280.00.

Is that a lot to pay for a pair of jeans?  For some, yes.  For others – who see not just another pair of pants but an example of American style and true heritage – no.  For those who love jeans or who only want one great pair, Raleigh Denim is definitely for you.

Additional images from the OTC on the Road visit to Raleigh Denim, in Raleigh, North Carolina:

Victor and Sarah hard at work prepping for a major Barney's order and the New York shows.

Yes, I know I look like I just hopped off a polo pony (great shirt by Turf Legends).

Each pocket has a hip joint screened onto it by a guy down the street before being attached to the jeans by hand.

To show me how indigo changes over time, Victor put these jeans side by side. On the left, worn in and 3 months old. On the right, exactly the same jeans, brand new.

The Raleigh Denim production floor is a throwback to a time when we made things by hand.

This is how every pair of Raleigh Denim jeans is cut.

All of these patterns were drawn and cut by hand.

More importantly, many blogs, including OTC, provide the kind of context men seek when building their own personal style.

Please be sure to view the original article, at this link.

There’s one in every workplace. He sits at the cubicle across from you. Gregarious and well- groomed, he’s the star on your office’s kickball team. But he’s also a secretive character, hunched over his keyboard, closing windows with the haste of a hunted gazelle. Is he dabbling in soft-core pornography or high-stakes gambling?

A secret agent? Arms dealer? EBay overlord? No, chances are that innocent young dandy is just browsing men’s style blogs.

Long ago, in the old country, males visited trusted tailors for tips on fit and style. In the 20th century, fashionable fellows read lifestyle bibles such as GQ or Esquire in the seclusion of their own bathrooms; yet even there, a 100-page monthly couldn’t break the standard, sartorial tropes imposed upon them. Man was divided: urban or rural, white- or blue-collared.

The valiant wore vibrant flourishes such as studded cuff links or magenta socks, but, mostly, men dressed like their forefathers, who passed down style heritage like they would a good pocket watch: “[Suits] have to be new, yet they must look old. Filling the pockets of one’s new suit with stones and hanging it out in the rain is one possible solution,” said John Robert Russell Bedford in the 1965 classic “The Duke of Bedford’s Book of Snobs.”

But times have changed.

“Guys today have lost all sense of occasion. They’re not taught to dress for different circumstances,” says Glenn O’Brien, “The Style Guy” columnist at GQ magazine.

O’Brien’s newest fashion-cum-philosophical treatise, “How To Be a Man: A Guide to Style and Behavior for the Modern Gentleman” ($25, Rizzoli), links men’s wardrobe downfall to laziness, bad manners and rejection of history.

But man, ever the entrepreneur, found that the blog is mightier than the sword. The same Web culture that gave way to one-click purchases and 13-year-old viral pop stars preserved a culture of anonymity, a haven for eccentric alter egos once relegated to AOL chat rooms.

And so the stylish man emerged, posting on anonymous forums such as “Ask Andy About Clothes,” a 2001 precursor to menswear blogs, where style enthusiasts debate the construction of calfskin tassel loafers or flap- pocket oxfords. Shortly after, the style blogger arrived, making it hip, or, at least, socially acceptable for men to make videos called “How To Wear an Ascot.” Now, independent blogs such as “A Continuous Lean” (Acontinuouslean.com) or “Put This On” (Putthison.com) offer advice, as do popular brand offshoots such as UrbanDaddy Kempt (Getkempt.com).

“Some guys are shy to admit they’re interested in clothes, but we all want to look good and appropriate. Men want that information instantly,” says The Style Blogger (Thestyleblogger.com) founder Dan Trepanier, who was voted “The Best Dressed Real Man in America” by Esquire in 2009. “While a magazine will take a couple months to publish a story, bloggers publish within days and give men the vocabulary they’re looking for.”

And for men, immediate encyclopedic knowledge is the key for making fashion a masculine endeavor. Chris Hogan, who started the D.C.-based menswear blog “Off the Cuff” (OffthecuffDC.com) five years ago, finds that men are comfortable talking about clothing, so long as they’re given historical context. “It’s different than the way women talk about fashion. Men want context for what they buy. That information is now available. It’s not, ‘I’m wearing these jeans because Brad Pitt bought them,’ it’s more, ‘I’m wearing these jeans because they were made in a factory in Raleigh, N.C., using traditional techniques.’ The heritage, updated preppy movement put menswear in a new context, especially in Washington.”

Trepanier finds that men are more forthcoming about their interest in clothes because so many bloggers are average Joes. “There’s still a stigma surrounding the fashion industry, but blogs have done a service for regular guys,” he says. “I grew up on a farm in Canada and played basketball. That makes fashion seem more OK.”

Retailers and designers view blogs favorably, too. Philip Soriano of D.C. men’s shirt company Hugh & Crye (Hughandcrye.com) sees that guys are more familiarized with styles and taste. “In the past few years, we’ve seen a lot of our customers reading specialized fashion blogs. They know the collar and fit they want. Any blog that highlights fit is a bonus for us.”

Besides providing a shame-free place for dudes to scour trends or watch “how-to videos,” blogs have democratized men’s style, making eccentric sartorial choices available to any guy, whether he lives in Williamsburg or Wichita. “TV sort of homogenized everyone, and for a while, everyone dressed the same,” O’Brien says. “But the Internet changed that. It’s the great cultural medium that’s taking things out of the hands of monopolies.”

And even Washington, one of the last bastions of baggy suits and Dockers, is changing with the times. “I’ve noticed a lot of younger guys in D.C. dressing great,” Hogan says. They’re more comfortable with customization. It’s almost as if they’re rebelling against their parents by dressing well.

KR is an old friend of mine, a coworker who is indeed a true-blue DC lobbyist.  More specifically, he is a dyed-in-the-wool son of the South who, by the sheer misfortune of life landed in the Yankee infested bastion of Washington.  At least that’s how he likes to play it.

KR is just enough of an iconoclast to get away with the “man, I hate Washington, but it’s a living – you know…” bit.  He is also one of the most genuinely talented advocates I’ve ever come across.  He is smart and knows his industry back and forth, up and down.  He is, as are most good lobbyists, unapologetic about his profession. As KR often notes, what he does for a living is also one of the few rights specifically enshrined in our constitution’s first amendment, which prohibits Congress from abridging “the right of the people…to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Whether touting big oil or the Girl Scouts, that, my friends is lobbying.

Now, with all that said, I also want to point out that KR is not remotely close to being an Ivy League snob.  He does not have a law degree and frankly, most DC people annoy him.  He’s old school, in a Southern Rock kind of way.  He is also true to himself in a town that justly deserves a reputation of being populated by those who pat you on the back while simultaneously stabbing you in it.

These shots were taken in Nashville, at the tail end of a recent legislative conference.  KR was hanging out in a bar, minding his own business and having a beer.  Next thing he knows, some lady is taking his picture and chatting him up.

Turns out she is a pro and had just wrapped up covering the CMA awards, which had taken place the night before.  She liked his look – very Matt Damon.  Sure…I get that sort of comment all the time.

And by the way, is it just me or does that top shot also have a little Scott Schuman in it?

Anyway, this story is classic KR.  The people he has met and the the things he has done allow me to live an amazingly vicarious life through his exploits.  Still, he is a good guy trying to make his way through life and that alone is often a major accomplishment.  To me, that is true personal style.  I don’t care who you’re wearing – what kind of person are you?

I should also note that KR is a clothes horse who needs to embrace the joys and sartorial benefits of custom tailored clothing.  It would do him wonders; although he really just wants to live in jeans and Lucchese boots.  So wonderfully un-Washington.

Sartorial change is also afoot.  Men young and old are ready to shed their cold weather layers too, and it really does seem that a style renaissance is in the works.

Where I typically see baggy jeans and flip-flops or sloppy “I’m-still-in-high-school” looks, I instead observe genuinely clever and classic combinations; great looking suits and the expression of real personal style. In fact, this recent story in the Wall Street Journal captures this apparent backlash against the insidious casual-Friday-every-day philosophy.  The younger generation, apparently, now has more taste than their parents.

For the first time in a long time, it appears that many of the young gentlemen around me have decided to own their own sense of style and that it’s good to look good.  Bow ties worn with deliberate flair, top-drawer footwear, tailored clothing and a clear bent toward formal dress.

Not everyone subscribes to this approach of course, but the shift is measurable.  A wonderful resource for tracking down this new take on dandyism can be found at Unabashedly Prep, run by our good friend Fred Castleberry.

With that sunnier sartorial prospect in mind, let’s turn to another sign of Spring: trends and samples.

Trend-wise, it would appear that last year’s ongoing and heavy foray into East Coast Ivy League establishment continues to gain strength while at the same taking on a more refined air.  A friend refers to this as the “finally, it’s cool to be intellectual” look, and I think she’s pretty spot-on.

When the Wall Street Journal becomes a go-to resource for men’s fashion and style guidance, you know times have changed and probably for the better.  The launch of Mr. Porter heralded not only a new approach for male online shopping, but a new approach for online shopping itself: content-focused relevance and smart curating.

We all know that men do not shop like women, but we also perceive value and relevance differently.  Look at OTC; content-heavy and focused on why certain tings matter, what value they can bring to your life and how you can incorporate them int your wardrobe and life.  That is the Mr. Porter approach, and it’s the right one to take for this market.

My own nephew, a mere 23 years-old and on the hunt for a Capitol Hill job, is a great example of how the perception of dress or “grown up” clothing has shifted.  Heretofore, said nephew lived in North Face fleece and old sneakers.  As a recently minted college graduate, he just grilled me about the nuances of dressing well: fit and fabric, American v. European details, cufflinks, where to get a quality suit on a budget, the value of capital investments, footwear colors and construction, etc.

I almost fell off my chair.  But I also appreciated the cultural shift; he cares about the details, the history and the relevance of what he wears.  The attention he only just gave to which J. Crew boxers pair well with his jeans is now focused on double v. single vents and how much cuff should show when wearing a blue blazer.  Something tells me he’s just one example of a new breed of menswear consumers who appreciate substance behind the sell.

Moving on the Spring samples, OTC has been able to road test a few new items from some of our favorite brands over the past few months – here are some highlights.

Ben Silver, the storied purveyor of ironclad old school Southern style sent along a unique tie.  As part of the kickoff for Southwest Airline’s new non-stop flights from DC to Charleston, SC, Ben Silver crafted a beautiful and limited edition repp tie in the airline’s colors.  Now, when we hard that a shudder ran down our collective spines; Southwest’s colors are not the most soothing combination.  But, not only did they pull it off, it’s actually pretty nice and perfectly Springy!  To the left, you can see the finished product being sported by Charleston’s own Andy Rankin.

Tucker Blair‘s founder, Tyler Llewellyn, was nice enough to shoot over a brand new sample from their Italian Woven collection - a departure from the company’s traditional line of fantastic hand-stitched preppy belts.  It’s a nice in-between look that can go a tad more formal without looking like you are wearing a suit belt.  Also, the stretch factor is a nice touch – wouldn’t even know it’s there to look at it.

A permanent fixture on the OTC favorite list, Vineyard Vines dropped a few items on our doorstep too.  Much of this past weekend was spent in my comfy new Island Pants, in a worn-in Nantucket red.  They have a nice generous cut without being too roomy.

I’ll have to wait until things go more summery before pulling on the breezy Islander Plaid Island Shirt, if only because of its decidedly beachy color scheme and puckered, casual weave.