New School Dandy Profile: Giuseppe Timore

Over the past several months we have been introduced to many amazing people in the virtual world of blogs and social networking. With this post we continue a regular series of profiles of New School Dandies. This week we feature Giuseppe Timore of An Affordable Wardrobe.

Where did you grow up? Just outside of Boston.
Where do you live now? Same place. In the house where I grew up, in fact.
Where did you go to school? I haven't finished college yet, but I had plenty of learning at the hands of Catholic nuns and Jesuit priests. My education may have been a bit strict, but it also taught me a lot, like how to present oneself and dress properly.
What’s your occupation? I sell fine wine and imported cheese in a local wine shop.
When did you establish your personal style? Was there a pivotal moment? How has it changed? I was always around it. My grandfather was a tailor, and always sharp as a tack, and my dad was a clothes horse too. My grandmother lived for fine clothes and fine food in her younger days. Plus, I'm Italian, and you how seriously we can take our clothes.

I think I really got into it in high school. At that time, I started watching a lot of old movies, taking my cues especially from the 1940's. I was also at the age of choosing my own stuff. I got a job in a men's shop in the city, and it all took off from there. In the old days, I was a fixture at the original Filene's Basement, hunting for bargains on designer clothes.
How would you describe your style? Classic Eclectic? Or something. I lean towards the standards, striped ties and button down collars, but I love color and off-beat pattern mixing.
What are your sources of inspiration? Lots of things, really. Anybody who is cool and independent, who dresses in a way that expresses who they are without regard to what's "in style" or what others might think, those are my people. Sure, I watch a lot of old movies and spend way to much time looking at stuff online, but it's the regular people on the street who really get me going.
Who is your style icon? Jazz musicians of the early 1960's. Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis when he shopped at Andover Shop....those kind of dudes.
What are your preferred dandy reading materials? The usual suspects in blog-land.
Do you have a favorite website? There are a lot of fun ones these days. Tin Tin, Heavy Tweed and Maxminimus are doing a particularly good job. None of them can hold a candle to "An Affordable Wardrobe", of course.
What is your favorite personal item (non-clothing/accessories)? My grandfather's Gillette safety razor. I use it every morning.
What is your favorite clothing article or accessory? My Barbour Moorland jacket. The older and more worn it gets, the better I like it. It has a way of making any outfit underneath it look better.
Where is your favorite or dream vacation spot? Northern Italy, or "the old country" as it was called when I was growing up.
Tell us the best kept secret in your city. The Boston area is loaded with thrift stores, and the thrift stores are loaded with fine menswear if you're persistent. But any good thrifter knows that it's a cardinal sin to reveal your spots. Nothing ruins a thrift store like popularity.
What would you be doing ten years from now? Probably trying to figure out how to loose ten pounds so I can still fit into my Barbour.
What is your current obsession? Long Playing Microgroove Phonographic Records, and giant wooden speakers for listening to them. Always has been.
Currently inspired by? The fact that more guys seem to be at least trying to take an interest in appearance these days.
Currently annoyed with? Guys who wear neckties with an untucked shirt, sloppy jeans with frayed bottoms that get caught under the heel, and white college boys with nasty dreadlocks.
What else do you want to tell us? It really only takes a couple of extra minutes to get dressed well in the morning, but the attitude improvement it can give a guy is huge. After a day or two of feeling like a million bucks, any guy is bound to be hooked. All you out there who are scared of good clothes, don't be. Give it a try and see what I mean.
C.H.

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