Ft Bragg's Fashion Elite

Velvet slippers for the quiet professional...


"You know what Delta's gonna do when they see these pictures?"


"We gettin' hazardous pay for this?"



About to deliver some humanitarian assistance...



"All we need are some 8x10 head shots and we move to NYC..."



"Hey, at least you didn't have to empty the shitter like the guy in the yellow coat."



"That's odd. I only get the funny feeling when I climb rope."



"Could you get me a Latte?"

GQ Style Spring Summer 2012 (click image to enlarge)

Designer Adam Kimmel styled a photo shoot with the 3rd Special Forces Group at Ft Bragg. Usually a reader will alert me to a story like this and save me from open-mouthed shock at a public magazine stand. GQ Style-U.K. calls the piece, "The Quiet Professionals." There's some irony for you. I don't think anyone at Ft Bragg will be calling 3rd Group quiet anymore.

Kimmel had 'Marlboro Man' photographer Jim Krantz shoot the spread for the magazine whose, "... challenge was to take fashion clothes and put them in the context of the Green Berets without making it look outlandish." You can see more of the Green Beret photo shoot here at Jim's web site. Jim must love shooting things that'll kill ya.

I don't think it looks outlandish. Silly, yes. I doubt Kimmel knows much about the Green Berets and probably less about the sacrifice a Staff Sergeant makes for $36,000 a year. But in fairness to a clueless hipster fashion designer and British fashion magazine -- the U.S. Army said yes. Which makes me wonder about future military collaborations with magazines.

Playboy's, "Threesome in an Abrams." Field & Stream's, "Fishing with Grenades." And Out Magazine's Norfolk Seamen, "We Don't Drink and We Don't Cuss - Nor-Fuck! Nor-Fuck!" Tax dollars subsidizing fashion photo shoots for British fashion mags. We called that FUBAR when I was in the Army - Great name for a magazine.

Off The Reservation -- Espadrilles

I've always associated espadrilles with a European who would wear a pencil thin moustache and an ascot. Or, a Frenchman who paired espadrilles with a boat neck, navy stripe shirt and white capri pants. Images of Sonny Crockett's espadrilles with unstructured pastel linen jackets are as hysterical as a cop in Florida with a yacht and a Ferrari. But never say never and like all things sartorial -- the slippery slope, at least for me, almost always starts with an image.


Granted, I wasn't thinking of espadrilles when I first saw this photo of, and taken by, Alice Olive (her blog here). I wasn't thinking of how well the photo was composed or how she nailed the exposure or how she set the shot up. But as the image burned into my brain -- her navy espadrilles must've followed. Still, my issue with espadrilles isn't about women wearing them.

How does a man pull off the espadrille without looking like...Well, what Tom Waits called, "...a spent piece of used jet trash." I think Alice's photo helped soften my aversion and made way for these Souleiado espadrilles I saw yesterday afternoon.

With vintage J McLaughlin GTH pants they certainly make a statement, but it's one of humor, wisdom and experience. This is not the parvue of a 20-something college kid whose idea of cutting edge is Vineyard Vines and Tucker Blair. This is for the grown ups.


The more I look at these the more I'm drawn in. Maybe that's why the older man can pull off brighter "Off TheReservation" colors. The style is very traditional. What Alan Flusser called, "king of the hill party clothes" in Style and the Man. I like my description better. OTR. It has a ring to it. I'll have to call the lawyers.

Anyway, here are some examples of interesting espadrilles. $12 a pair (or less) and available here. Granted, I've never dealt with the company and it is in Argentina (thanks, Charlie G.) but like I said, We're going O.T.R. here.