Six things I like this week.  Click to enlarge picture.  Details below.

Clockwise from left.

1.) Pinball machines, rock clubs and sequin tops: Dominique Young Unique’s “Show My Ass” video

2.) Logan White photography (via Say May Day)

3.) Denmark’s Day Birger et Mikkelsen SS10 Collection (via Selectism)

4.) Mark McNairy contrast panel shirts (via SwipeLife)

5.) Effector x Diet Butcher limited edition Dirt frames at Oki-ni

6.) The indie electro awesomeness of MNDR

In the fall of ’07, bolstered by a strange fascination I had at the time with The Specials, I decided I wanted to purchase a great pair of black and white saddle shoes.  This is weird on a few levels, namely that I just tried to find a picture of anyone in The Specials wearing saddle shoes and wasn’t able to do so, even after a stalker-deep Google search.  So, I’m not sure where I got the idea that they wore them.  Also weird that I wanted to dress like a semi-defunct British ska band, but it must have resonated pretty deeply, because I also bought a pair of Fred Perry suspenders for the same reason and wore them in public approximately once.

Anyhow, after resigning that I couldn’t justify buying the pair of saddle shoes I saw in the Bergdorf’s window on my entry-level PR budget, I went ahead and got a tan and brown suede pair from J. Crew (you can see them in an earlier post here).  There were a few problems.  As anyone else who wears a size 12 or bigger can tell you, sometimes shit doesn’t translate well that large.  These shoes were huge and clunky, which led to problem #2: at the time, the only jeans I owned were skinny (thankfully that fact cannot be traced to any sort of ska style inspiration).  Still held captive by the shackles of a business-casual dress code at work, I refused to wear khakis outside of the office.  So, after a few ill-fated attempts, the saddle shoes pretty much sat in my closet for about a year, until I broke them out again last spring and found that, like everything else you wear, the likelihood of any piece of clothing or footwear succeeding for you increases dramatically if you don’t give it too much thought.  I wear them now pretty regularly.

Had my saddle shoe fixation kicked in a few years later, I would have had a lot more options.  Saddle shoes are all over the damn place this spring, and don’t appear to be letting up any time soon, with more styles rolling out by many designers this fall.  Forgiving my shoddy Photoshop collage above (I’m tired), you can see a few current and upcoming offerings from Mark McNairy, Florsheim by Duckie Brown, Billy Reid and Opening Ceremony.  I’ve already showed you some great ones from Band of Outsiders, and there are more popping up every week on the blogs.

So, I guess being a clothes-hoarder and holding onto those J. Crew suckers did have its upside.  Since I already have the saddle shoes, I can spend my money on other items brought on by bouts of 80′s nostalgia.  LIKE THIS.

If there’s one thing I learned from this season’s awesome (capsule) shows, it’s that it takes a very specific type of man to rock the drop crotch.  But, if there are two things, it’s that there is still so much out there in menswear right now really worth getting excited about.  Between New York, Vegas and Paris, plus Compass for footwear and (capsule) Women’s, hundreds of brands came together to build some serious buzz and get some big exposure.  Favorites like Mark McNairy (who we can thank when we’re all wearing digital camo cargo pants) lived up to the hype and relative newcomers like Norse Projects made a big impact on their own.

So since I’ve had all of 5 hours to reflect on the trade show season since (capsule) Women’s wrapped this evening, what better time than now to check off a list of some of my own personal favorites from these last five shows, after the jump.

I mentioned it above, but I’ll mention it again: Norse Projects is sooo good.  Seriously, look at the knits:

And there are more pieces from AW10 that are even better that I can’t find online right now.  An instant fan.

Speaking of knits, if you’re anything like me, you like your cardigans like you like your women: chunky.  In which case, this number from Dana Lee is perfect in its simplicity/chunkiness:

My old fave Stolen Girlfriends Club also makes a compelling case for what they deem “oversized grandpa knits,” of which I am also partial:

And because, why not?  Peter Jensen:

Billy Reid has gotten a ton of attention lately, thanks in no small part to recently being crowned GQ / CFDA’s Best New Menswear Designer in America.  In addition to having one of the nicest sales crews at (capsule), his collection did not disappoint.  This trench is definitely a highlight:

Both Reyn Spooner and Warriors of Radness are doing fun, beach-ready collections, updated for today with strong blasts of nostalgia, albeit influenced by very different periods in American surf history.  See the Mar/Apr “American Issue” of Sportswear International for a look at some AW10 selections from both of those brands.

And then of course, the accessories.  Illesteva, Cutler & Gross and SUPER had some killer, killer shades for fall.  And while I’m not a huge bag-carrying kind of guy, this plaid situation from Jack Spade is pretty tight:

As is pretty much the entire Mismo product line:

And one of my absolute favorites from (capsule) this year is Yuketen, whose footwear range is RIDICULOUS.

Seriously, that picture doesn’t even do justice to how sick their fall collection is.  I mean, I’m talking studded moccasins.  Just think about that for a hot second.  Studded Moccasins.

I’m not much of a womenswear connoisseur, but from what I saw at the women’s show, I’m placing my money on Barlow to make some big moves as a cool-girl clothing line.

Thankfully, this post comes with a moral, and it’s a moral in two parts.

1.) If you missed the winter shows this season, be sure to get yourself to (capsule) in the summer this year.

And 2.) Gentlemen, start saving some cash now for your fall wardrobe.  If the brands previewing at (capsule) are any indication, you’re going to have a lot of shopping to do.

(photos via We Are the Market — check that out for more show highlights)