THE JOURNAL
Black Trousers by Tory Van Thompson Coming Soon
Mr James Harris and Mr Lawrence Schlossman are a modern-day Abbott and Costello – but with far better outfits. As co-hosts of the Throwing Fits podcast, they and a wide roster of guests discuss fashion, internet culture and the Downtown New York scene with a healthy dose of irreverence, raucous laughter, and colourful language – alongside all the sartorial knowledge you’d expect from two self-professed “jawns enthusiasts”.
Which is why, launching today, we’ve teamed up with the duo for a collection of more than 70 reimagined garments made by some of their favourite brands; from the Japanese Gorpcore of Norbit by Hiroshi Nozawa to the New York elegance of Wythe and the trippy, military-meets-psychedelic-surfer look of Monitaly. We gave the pair free rein to curate and collaborate with the brands that they think are the most exciting out there today, and to finely-tune their products into a perfectly edited summer capsule.
For the collection’s accompanying lookbook, which you can peruse below, Harris and Schlossman tapped five of their favourite guests of podcasts past, to put their own personal twist on the pieces.
01.
Mr Brandon “Jinx” Jenkins, journalist and podcast host
Mr James Harris: Lawrence and I first met Jinx when we all worked at Complex. He’s not like a lot of the people you’ll meet in the music and media world because he doesn’t gatekeep. If he likes something, he’ll tell you all about it. He’s so willing to share what he finds with anyone around him.
Mr Lawrence Schlossman: As long as I’ve known Jinx, he’s never gone Hollywood. He’s not out here posturing and flexing and wearing shit that people wear just because it’s expensive.
JH: Jinx, Lawrence and I are kindred spirits in that we always want to dig deeper. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s fucking hot as hell. Please quote me on that. Jinx is a hot piece of ass. Here, he’s rocking a Norbit by Hiroshi Nozawa hike vest. Jinx was digging through the racks, found that vest and its matching pants, and was like, “Woah, this is fire. I want to try this.” He nailed it. He looks like a Gorp assassin.
LS: If you’re spending the day out and about in NYC – or any major city – then the Norbit vest is perfect. I’d way rather have that on than shouldering a tote like some bozo. It’s going to look cool and going to give you a sharpness that some other Gorp brands just don’t bring to the table.
02.
Mr Mordechai “Mr Mort” Rubinstein, photographer
JH: The first time I saw Mordechai, he was selling hats and ties on Prince Street while wearing this insane purple outfit. I was like, “Who is this psychopath, and why do I want to be his friend?”
LS: There’s nobody more enthusiastic about clothing than Mordechai. James and I are the one per cent of the one per cent when it comes to jawns enthusiasm, but Mordechai will talk you to death about clothes, with or without a camera or a microphone in the room. Big thoughts, strong opinions, great fucking taste.
JH: He sees fashion, aesthetics and personal style in ways that nobody else does. How he dresses is like how Lawrence and I order sandwiches: we’ll get the sandwich, deconstruct the shit out of it, rearrange the meats, and hit it off with some hot sauce and special pickles. Might even throw some turkey in there.
Two-Tone Black and Bluestone Trousers, Two-Tone Black and Tan Trousers by Tory Van Thompson Coming Soon
LS: He’s wearing our Beams Plus madras-plaid pieces, with a really great Monitaly coat. Though we had an inkling of what he’d choose, we were waiting with bated breath to see what he picked, and it was proof of concept for us when he chose the Beams Plus gear.
JH: We figured he’d be drawn towards some of the more preppy, Japanese pieces that we worked on.
LS: Beams Plus makes some of the best Madras plaids in the world, and we wanted to figure out how to do plaid head to toe without being too golf-course. The pieces in the collection are giving golf course, but a fun golf course, not a stuffy one – think Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack. Each piece is a different pattern, so if you want to go full Mordechai mode, you can, and you won’t look like a guy wearing a romper because the patterns are all different.
03.
Ms Kathleen Sorbara, vintage dealer
JH: Kathleen owns Chickee’s Vintage, one of the best vintage stores in all of New York City’s five boroughs. Their style is super specific – if someone wears vintage pieces from Chickee’s, you can tell right away when you see their outfit.
LS: She’s got a great perspective on the industry, too. She’s a model-turned-entrepreneur who’s really lived it and done it and is never afraid to call a spade a spade.
JH: She’s so skilled at taking masculine clothing and putting her own twist on it. She was really drawn to this beautiful blue Western shirt we did with Wythe: she grabbed it immediately, rolled up the sleeves and made it her own. She also paired it perfectly with these big, flowy pants, a look that she’s a big proponent of. When she was on the podcast, she said, “Men, make your pants bigger,” and the average width of pants men wore in New York City increased immediately. Mathematicians confirmed it.
LS: Kathleen is such an elegant dresser. Not in terms of archetypal, feminine elegance – she wears a Western shirt like a cool Frenchman smoking expensive cigarettes and reading a pocket-sized novel would wear a Western shirt. Look at the French tuck on the shirt, the rolled-up sleeves and the little flip on the brim of the bucket hat. I mean, come on. This is a perfect fucking outfit, for a guy or a girl.
04.
Mr Hugo Mendoza, store manager
Trousers by Tory Van Thompson Coming Soon
LS: Here’s the deal: Hugo is the biggest fucking boss. That’s the end of the story. Honestly, I first came across Hugo because his Instagram was sick. He’s the perfect example of uptown and downtown meeting. He’s one of those “if you know, you know”-type famous New Yorkers, and the guy at Stüssy in New York.
JH: Hugo came out to Brooklyn to do the podcast and got a Bottega Veneta delivery to my crib while we were recording. That’s the type of person he is.
LS: Just look at how he’s wearing these reworked Tory Van Thompson trousers. He looks like a don. It’s a workwear pant, and he’s making it look like a $1,000 pair of trousers. That’s the Hugo effect. You can feel his presence in this picture. He brought the boss don vibes to these pants. Everyone needs to get their ass in a pair of Tory Van Thompson pants.
JH: Regarding Tory Van Thompson, I first discovered them because another podcast guest mentioned them while he was discussing some brands he liked. I looked them up right away, and that was the first and only time I’d ever purchased something on my phone while we were recording. I was like, “I need these upcycled, reworked pants”. I wore them literally every day during the winter, and I don’t think I’ve ever gotten so many comments on an item of clothing I wore. He’s a young Black creative from Brooklyn who’s really coming up. He deserves exposure, recognition and a fucking bag.
05.
Ms Naomi Fry, staff writer, The New Yorker
LS: The first time I heard about Naomi was when she wrote a piece about being a mom who copped Supreme for The New York Times. James and I were working at Four Pins at the time, so we covered her story and called her the “OG fuckmom”. It wasn’t a roast. It was like, “Who is this lady? She fucking rocks.”
JH: Naomi is the “fairy podmother”, so getting her in here was a no-brainer. She’s been on our podcast so many times, and besides always having such good insight and amazing things to say, she’s always down to clown and is just a good hang.
LS: The sweatshirt is from Monitaly: they’re a super fun West Coast brand, and the sweatshirt they made for the collection is a really cool take on tie-dye. It’s tonal, earthy and bright, but not too bright. Not the kind of bright you see on every bozo downtown.
We envisioned it as the go-to weekend sweatshirt for a late night at the beach or a coffee run on a brisk fall morning. It checks every box for me, and the quality is insane. This isn’t a shitty gift-shop hoodie you get when you’re on vacation visiting your grandmother.
As for the jackets we’re wearing, they’re from our friend Hayato and the stitching on their pockets is inspired by the caning on Cesca chairs.
JH: When this project came up, I was like, “We have to do Hayato pants and jackets”. They fit so great. He’s a one-man operation, and now he’s on MR PORTER sitting next to TOM FORD. Hopefully, this is a big opportunity for him.