Caruso at Rugby

Were you wondering why Rugby's new spring jackets were practically $600?  Well, now you know - Raffaele Caruso is in the house.  The Italian manufacturer has made jackets for Ralph before, mainly Blue Label aka the mainline stuff, but this is their first venture with Ralph's younger, cheaper Rugby line.  If you're not familiar with what Caruso does you can brush up here courtesy of Jeremy.  Turns out Rugby has ditched the poor man's Thom Browne fit and gone with a new natural shoulder, suppressed waist and fully canvassed sport coat.  According to some intel I got today, these jackets fit insanely well off the rack if you're into a more Italian look.

-L.A.S

Rugby University Duck Boot Tie

My own F/W novelty can now be yours thanks to Rugby's University Duck Boot Tie.  Critter anything is always a good time, but when Bean boots are somehow involved it's even better.  I can't think of a more appropriate tie for this time of year, especially as I write this very post from a quasi winter wonderland version of Atlanta.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with their loved ones and that we can all take ourselves a little less seriously in the new year.

-L.A.S

Attn: Rugby Holiday Savings Event

I don't know about you, but I woke up to, I don't know, 50 or so emails alerting me to the various holiday sales that started around midnight.  I do not have the effort necessary to talk about all of them so I'll mention Rugby's since that's a brand a lot of you guys enjoy - not to mention their F/W 2010 gear has impressed the shit out of me as of late.  At checkout you can use the code "RUGBYHOLIDAY" to get 25% off all styles and free shipping.  Not bad if you ask me.  Was anyone even asking me? No? Okay, never mind.

-L.A.S

Rugby Black Watch Down Parka

Damn, Rugby came with it this holiday season.  Their new arrivals have a ton of interesting pieces, from rugged black tie to RRL Jr. looking knits.  My favorite of all the new stuff is this black watch down parka.  No one is going to deny that this is a busy jacket, but it helps that all the elements are cool and classic.  The result is a very warm winter option that toes the line between preppy and outdoorsy.  It's surprisingly versatile, actually.  The detachable hood, leather toggles and ribbed cuffs are quality, functional details and we all know the right functional details are absolutely necessary when spending $200 plus on your flagship piece of winter outerwear.  I think the biggest argument someone could make against this jacket is that aesthetically it is very "of the moment", which is a nice way of saying that it's "trendy".  But here's the thing, next year when black watch isn't so ubiquitous you'll be the guy wearing the jacket everyone wants to know about.

-L.A.S

Storytellers

More so than country of origin or the manufacturing process, which are very intriguing in their own right, it is the inspiration and meaning behind garments that interest me the most.  Clothes have the ability to tell highly personal and highly unique stories.  On the most basic of levels it is their function as emotional signifiers that make them meaningful.  This innate characteristic plays a large part in the creation and design of clothing that we buy and end up making our own - I guess you could say that emotion, in turn, breeds emotion.  I am very pleased to present a guest post from my good friend Antonio that I believe discusses this very principle.

[Alfred "Aldo" Ciongoli, UPENN class of 1964.]

[#75, Co-captain lightweight football.]

[Beta house secretary, wig, tie twist, no socks, in 1964.]

A well-designed garment can tell a story.  I have been fortunate in my career to work with people who want the clothing they make to say something about where it came from. The designers behind Rugby Ralph Lauren consistently excel at translating moments from American and English history into contemporary clothing with an authentic feel.  I am drawn to the familiar stories they tell of classic collegiate style because I grew up listening to the real thing.

My father was a storyteller.  Throughout my adolescence, I was constantly begging him to recount the memories of his.  Pop’s youth seemed to revolve around his corner - where 13^th met Wolf Street - in southern Philadelphia.  It was here that he traded his 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle rookie card for star Phillies pitcher Russ Meyer and a stick of gum. It was here that he developed his physician’s steady hand from surgically bissecting “pimple” balls in two for half ball games across the street.  It was here that he discovered he had been accepted to the University of Pennsylvania’s class of 1964.  

Pop’s college stories were my favorite.  At PENN, he took out a small student loan, not to pay for classes or books but to pick up the tab on dates with “Candy” Bergen.  “Aldo” was pre-med, co-captain of the lightweight football team and a member of two prominent honor societies; but if you asked him what he was really proud of he would have told you he was the secretary of the Beta house.  His fraternity was the stuff of legends, a mélange of mahogany and pipe smoke, backgammon and beat-up leather club chairs. Beta was famous for their “shipwreck” parties with waterfalls running down the house’s main staircase, sand dumped from wall to wall, and elaborately rigged nets that were the only way to move - or climb - from one room to the other. They stole trolley cars and dropped live mice on unsuspecting female passersby from their roof.  They wore coats and ties to meals and boatneck varsity sweaters and bowties to classes.   For Rugby’s fall/holiday ’10 collections, we tried to weave this vivid portrait of the Ivy League experience in the early 60s – filled with tradition, tweed and sockless weejuns – into the nooks and crannies of each garment.  You can see the best manifestations of Pop’s own stories in two pieces – his red and blue striped boatneck letter sweater and a reinterpretation of his football jersey in rugby form, complete with his tackle twill number “75” on the back and a hidden interior felt ID patch reading A.K.C. “Aldo” ’64.  I hear his voice every time I put one on.

Thanks to Lee Norwood and John Yang for telling a story of their own every season and allowing me to incorporate the memory of my father into this fall’s.

I'd like to thank Antonio for not only contributing this story to Sart Inc, but for being a continuing source of inspiration himself.  Whether he knows it or not, he has help shaped this blog and me as a person.  And for that I am truly grateful.

-L.A.S

Debate: Rugby's "New Trad" And Sartorial Signifiers

Oh man, here's one the purists are probably going to want to tear apart.  Rugby is advertising a selection of their new F/W 2010 arrivals as "The New Trad".  Side note: can trad even be new?  While this particular marketing choice of a specific buzzword was obviously an opportune one considering the current popularity of such an aesthetic, I think it is a tad bit ill advised.  When Rugby says Trad they mean "dapper dishevelment" (their own words), not necessarily traditional menswear.  And I think many of us will agree that these two things are not necessarily synonymous.  A quick perusal of these new offerings easily confirms this.  It's nothing new in the grand scheme of Rugby's brand.  "Trad" isn't really present here at all.  Instead we see the nuevo-prep we're all used to at this point.  So scratch "The New Trad" and insert "The New Prep" because that's exactly what's going on.  Poor semantics?  Maybe.  But then again all that shit is subjective so maybe you feel differently.  Or maybe you're just pissed I used the word "trad" in a post.  Maybe you're pissed I used the word "prep" in a post.  Anyone who would like to discuss sartorial signifiers please direct yourself to the comments.

-L.A.S

Ralph Lauren And Dipset: A Love Affair

I've joked on both Twitter and Tumblr before about the sheer amount of Polo references in Dipset's lyrics, especially as of late.  For those unfamiliar The Diplomats, more commonly known as Dipset, are a Harlem based rap crew who recently reunited after dominating the east coast rap scene in the early 2000's.  Their infatuation with the brand seems to be a direct extension of the Lo-Head or Lo-Life movement popularized in 1990's New York.  Up until recently Dispet member Juelz Santana had been the most vocal about his love for Mr. Lifshitz's various wears, specifically Rugby.  I'll let him spell it out for you, "If it ain't the Gucci or the Louie then it's Polo or it's Rugby."   Things came to a head this weekend when Dipset affiliated rapper Vado (who has also rapped this gem: "I love Rugby to death. Made that my baby's name.") released his new single "Polo" from the upcoming album Slime Flu.  Yes, this is a major hip-hop radio single dedicated to all things Ralph.  Despite rap's unyielding connection with extremely high-end goods, Dipset seem drawn to the everyman luxury of Polo.  The love affair between Dipset and Ralph Lauren is interesting to me as it represents a perfect snapshot of Ralph's success here in America.  Regardless of what he set out to do, the man did not create a brand.  He created a lifestyle - a very specific lifestyle that an entire country aspired to.  Even African American kids from Harlem who had dreams of ruling hip-hop.  And that very lifestyle is still making it rain for RL to this day.

[Those jeans look familiar.]

-L.A.S

Hands On: Rugby Limited Edition Jean

Last week Rugby released their Limited Edition Jean Box Set.  The good folks at Polo were nice enough to send me a pair to test out and talk about if I liked them.  Well, as you can imagine, I like them - I like them a lot.  These made in the U.S.A. jeans are the real deal.  By "the real deal" I mean ultra-dark indigo-washed selvedge denim sourced from Cone Denim's White Oak Plant.  The small batch (only 100 pairs were produced) are hand numbered and also feature an array of thoughtful details.  The pocket bags are blue oxford cloth and the back yoke is lined in blue university stripe oxford cloth.  Silk twill, in a handsome rep pattern, is used as trim on the 5 button fly and makes up the back patch to add some of Rugby's signature collegiate aesthetic.  The jean is cut in Rugby's Vintage slim fit - low rise (though they can be worn at your natural waist), trim through the thigh and leg.  The box set not only comes with some serious denim, but a made in Italy silk rep tie and a style manual.  Not that anyone who reads this blog needs a style manual or anything.  It's truly a special package, but don't take my word for it. Check them out for yourself.

-L.A.S

[Editor's Note: A big thank you goes out to Lance over at Polo Ralph Lauren.]

Rugby Fall/Winter 2010: "The Wall" And The Eton Wall Game

One of the  interesting things about Rugby, and really all of Polo for that matter, is the amount of preparation that goes into their collections.  Most of that pre-work is lost on the consumer and we just see the end result, but I guess you could say the same thing for most items that are "designed".  In my eyes the inspiration behind the process always ends up more intriguing than the actual products themselves so I relish any background information I can get my hands on, especially when it comes to brands I personally enjoy.

Rugby's most recent F/W 2010 arrivals are part of a group of clothes dubbed "The Wall" based on The Eton wall game.  The event is still held to this very day at Eton College, a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18.  The game itself is similar to the popular games of soccer and rugby, but what sets it apart is the fact that it's played on a narrow strip of ground in front of a brick wall, first erected in 1717.  The rules for the game are kinda bizarre, but it's tough to deny the sheer badassness of playing a contact sport virtually on brick.  Anyhow, the colors and themes that dominate the first batch of Rugby's F/W 2010 collection are based on Eton's colors and the English prep school stylings surrounding the event.

-L.A.S

Attn: F/W 2010 New Arrivals At Rugby

By now you're probably familiar with Rugby's new season roll out modus operandi.  The collection is usually divided up into a few themes that more often than not center around prep, ivy, English gentry, etc. - pretty much anything dealing with old money type shit.  As each season approaches various pieces come out in clusters, some better than others.  F/W 2010's first deliveries have just hit Rugby's webstore and seem focused on the sport of cricket, or at least what old school cricket looks like in my mind, with navy blue, white and gray dominating the color scheme.  It's typical Rugby fair as some of the "vintage inspired varsity pieces" hit and some of them miss.  Not everything is strictly F/W and, in fact, most of the new gear is extremely transitional, meaning it will work just as well this time of year as it will in September or October - functional versatility meets shrewd business tactic.  A smattering of Sart Inc approved joints below.

-L.A.S

Gingham Oxford

Taking two of my favorite things and combining them is a pretty easy way to get the Sart Inc bump.  Rugby's Washed Gingham Oxford is no exception.  It's your standard oxford, but "tricked out" (yikes) for S/S with a micro gingham pattern.  On top of that killer combination the shirt also comes with the much sought after flap pocket, which can really set off a sport shirt when done right.  If this wasn't already an open and shut case Rugby also put this joint on sale for like $40 (for a limited time you get 25% off the sale price).  I'll take all three, thank you very much.  Hey dude, there's a picnic on your shirt and everybody's going.

-L.A.S