Men's Second Style

I first found Theodore and Drusus DuCasse’s Zanzo a while back quite by accident–or maybe it was serendipity intervening, which is always fun.  I noticed one of the small satellite shops (I think it was the one at The Wharf), did a little browsing, and took a few things home.  Ultimately I ended up at the seriously extensive main store, which is laid out like small, themed specialty shops along a central main “street.”  This layout seemed both smart and convenient, as it makes it easy to browse and shop for items in a particular style or genre, if you have something specific in mind.

King’s Road is Zanzo’s new line of menswear, inspired by different cultures across the world.  It was launched recently with an introductory selection of nine different clothing designs, most enhanced with sculpted attachments.  Here I’m presenting a cross section of these new designs, including some of my own favorites.

Here you see the Rajasthani Sheer Shirt.  This is a great design that walks the line between casual and dressy and is equally comfortable on either side.  The base fabric is sheer and translucent, so the color will appear darker or lighter depending on the tone of your skin–I’m wearing a fairly light skin tone here.  Some muscle shading and other details may show through the sheer fabric, and the neckline is a deep V to mid-chest, which I think makes it more than a bit sexy.

Five different styles are available, with different decorative designs.  The style here is called Bhilwara, and the beautiful design appears to be done in gold paint, applied directly to the fabric.  You can wear this shirt tucked or untucked; I think it looks great casually untucked over jeans.  L$120 each, or all five styles for L$480.

Theodore’s Beaux-Artes Shirts may have started out as fairly standard button-front, long-sleeved shirts, but somewhere along the way something else happened: they turned into Art.  Each of the five styles uses a different fabric color and artwork to evoke a unique response in the viewer.  The design here, called L’Arbre (“The Tree”), depicts in line drawings an idyllic scene of bird and trees.  Sculpted cuffs and collar with necktie add dimension and realism; the necktie itself is also sculpted, not flexi, but it’s subtly curved to fall naturally over the chest.  I noticed that the prim pieces arrived with full bright set on, which struck me as a little odd–I think the color match to the garment piece is better, and the overall look more natural, with full bright off, but chacun à son goût.  L$160 each, or L$640 for the pack of all five designs.

The Fifth Avenue Denims are beautifully faded but worn through nowhere, not even at obvious pressure points like the knees.  The “off the rack” fit is close and lean, never baggy, and pegged tight at the ankle.  Sculpted rolled cuffs have realistic ridges of heavy, double-stitched seams; depending on how you fit the jeans, or how they fit you, you may need to size these up a little to look right.  Shiny metal button at the front closure and rivets at the pockets stand out against darker, as-yet-unfaded fabric.  Take home your choice of five colors (Colombo is shown here) for L$120 each, or all five for L$480.

I’ve previously written a little about the history of the Nehru jacket, and you surely know how to google for yourself, so there’s no need to go into that again here.  Theodore’s interpretation of this now-classic garment has the traditional high notched collar.  The front of the jacket, which is often kept simple and clean, here is sumptuously decorated with sprawling artwork that doesn’t jump out at you, but rather pulls you in once you notice it and look more closely.  Sculpted cuffs are unexpectedly but appropriately graceful.  Five different styles are available; Bangalore is shown here.  The jacket can be worn tucked or untucked, as you prefer (although I can’t quite imag9ine wearing it tucked in).  Priced at L$130 for a single jacket, or L$520 for the pack of all five variations.

The Edo Jacket is a trim, single-breasted, narrow-waisted jacket that’s decidedly un-businesslike.  At first glance the fabric appears to be simply a solid color, but look again and you’ll see that there’s actually a subtle repeating geometric pattern that makes for a more luxurious feel.  If you look closely at the sculpted bottom piece, you’ll see that its front edges don’t align precisely with the edges of the open garment-layer jacket.  I fussed with this for a while, trying to get the edges to line up, but the attachment is a single sculpted prim, and there’s only so much tweaking you can do.  Then I thought, Hey, wait a minute… and, just to be sure, I went back to the shop to check.  I confirmed that this is indeed how the jacket is pictured in the vendor artwork, so I take it as the designer’s intention.  This may or may not work for you, so caveat emptor.  Available in five jewel-deep colors; Konjo-iro is shown here.  L$130 each, or L$520 for all five colors.

Here I’m also wearing the Pampas Dress Slacks.  These dressy but not formal pants are detailed with a silver belt buckle and finished with sculpted cuffs.  Available in five different colors for L$100 each, or L$400 for all five.

Intimate apparel has not been neglected at King’s Road–far from it!  The Bella Figura Boxers line boasts ten different styles, each with its own unique artwork.  Of the ten styles, my personal favorite is Carini, as shown here.  Each is provided on both pants and underwear layers.  L$70 each, or L$350 for all ten styles.

Throughout this post, I am also wearing Zanzo’s recently released Gen-X male skin.  Unfortunately, due to time limitations I am not able to give the skin a more formal review, but I do want to mention that it has one of the best faces I’ve seen in recent memory–or, in fact, ever.  I really, really like the face on this skin.  Gen-X comes in four skin tones, with two body variations (with and without chest hair), and fourteen facial options.  Gen-X also has a more mature look than the previously released and still available Gen-Y, which has a less muscled, more youthful look.  In a perfect world, I might prefer a skin with the Gen-X face and the Gen-Y body, but that’s just me.  Both are priced at L$1000 for a single skin.

All King’s Road designs are by Drusus and Theodore DuCasse, and can be found at Zanzo (Splintered Rock 224, 172, 714).  You can TP directly to the King’s Road section via the teleport signpost at the arrival point.

= | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | = | =

Perhaps you’re wondering about my eyewear–and well you might.  I’ve previously featured some of the meticulously detailed wristwatch creations from Steinwerk Designs, but it’s only recently that designer Aveline Stein has added sunglasses to the Steinwerk line.  The two designs featured here are the Euro-cool Etienne (glance to your left) and the newly released classic Aviators (below).  Call me an elitist if you like, but I have my preferences, and in eyewear I prefer full prim construction to making the entire front face from a single flat or curved, essentially 2-D prim with frame and lens artwork applied as a texture.  The latter technique can indeed make glasses that are very handsome at normal viewing distance, but I think this technique always suffers upon close inspection.  Of course that’s just my opinion, but sharing my opinion is what I do here, so there it is.

Like all Steinwerk watches, these sunglasses are tightly and painstakingly built from dozens of standard and sculpted prims, some of them quite tiny.  The result is eyewear that looks great from any distance or angle, and only impresses more the closer you get.  Details vary from style to style, but all of Aveline’s sunglasses are touch- and chat-scripted for control of various settings, including but not limited to size, frame and lens color, and lens opacity.  Although Aveline’s first eyewear styles were designed for women, her recent styles are unisex, and she hopes that men will enjoy them too.

Priced at L$450 each.  You can buy for yourself or as a gift at the clearly marked store vendor.  Demos are available, so you can try before you buy.  Find them at Steinwerk Designs (Primitive City 185, 110, 66).