autumn/winter menswear report

Welcome to clipboard, a weekly newsletter about fashion, hospo, and Tāmaki Makaurau, by Reilly Hodson. This week: the pieces you need now the weather is getting cooler, and the second-best hummus in town. If you enjoy clipboard, you can chip in a few dollars and support my lifestyle by clicking the button below, and maybe get some perks.

fall winter 2021

Now that I’ve crossed off my last shorts-wearing day (last Sunday) of the season, it’s time to prepare for the new season, in the only way I know: buying new clothes. Here are the pieces I’m going to be wearing to get fits off as the temp drops.

workwear

It will surprise no one that I am going to evangelise for classic workwear pieces this winter. Workwear, to me, occupies the near perfect intersection of form and function: hard wearing and comfortable, and still cool looking.

The key pieces of workwear to wear as the temperature drops are:

• Chore coats: Thom Morison makes the best chore coats, but you can find them elsewhere, too, and if you can get a good vintage one, even better. They’re the perfect light outerwear piece, and they’ll carry you well into the cooler months if you layer them with some wool, particularly in Auckland where it never really gets too cold.

• Work pants: I’ve written what feels like a million words on work pants at this point, so I won’t bother you with more here. Just buy some if you haven’t already, tbh, and lean in to the hard-wearing, loose fit pant gang.

• Heavier outerwear: I’ve peeked into the future, and there are some awesome local workwear jackets that are a bit heavier than a chore coat coming from some clipboard favourite brands (see above). Think lots of pockets; lined jackets that keep you warm and looking like a cooler version of a rugged outdoorsperson.

Key brands: Dickies, Stan Ray, Checks Downtown, Thom Morison

get gorpy

Gorpcore, a term I still don’t know the precise origin of, is the state of mind of wearing the most techy, optimised version of a garment. It’s a style adopted by rock climbers and cyclists, and in the winter, even city dwellers whose biggest hike is to the local specialty cafe almost have a good excuse to co-opt it into your wardrobe. Think water repellent jackets that do that satisfying thing where the water beads off easily, trail sneakers, or fleeces. Stay warm, look cool, and feel a little futuristic in the process.

Key brands: Patagonia, Salomon, Arc’Teryx (if you have too much money)

knitwear!

What is winter without good knitwear? Not good, in my opinion. This year I’m looking to cardigans like this one from Commoners, chunky knits like these from Kowtow, and chill silhouettes in basic colours like this one from Margaret Howell.

Key brands: Commoners, Kowtow, Wynn Hamlyn

clips

• My partner scored us exclusive invites to the opening of the new Yu Mei store in Newmarket, and it’s characteristically beautiful for a collab between NZ’s best luxury brand and Rufus Knight, NZ’s foremost luxury retail architect. Yu Mei is an expensive brand, but I’ll always ride for them, because they actually provide value for that money in terms of in store experience, beautiful retail spaces and high quality product. In related news, if anyone wants to sponsor my efforts to buy this lovely bag, get in touch.

• I am on a constant search for good shirts at a reasonable price now that I’m an office boy, and Fabric in Britomart just got in some very good ones from Universal Works. I love the green, in particular.

• Zoe Walker-Ahwa at Ensemble has a great list of the best places to buy curated vintage clothes - good for the soul and the environment!

• Two cool local Instagram shops I’ve been enjoying on my feed recently: object.dept for vintage jewellery, and kiosk_store for great furniture and home goods.

• I caught the train from the new Britomart station this week, it’s very cool! Worth the wait, and bring on the City Rail Link please.

• One of my few Auckland-based substack competitors, Chris Schulz at Boiler Room, has a great read about about the strangest building in Auckland: the Metro centre, which when I moved here was the most exciting building and now is basically a ruin.

• The video where Phoebe Bridgers smashes the guitar is officially on YouTube. Side note: I really want the Prada suit energy Dan Levy has in the intro.Share clipboard

the second best hummus in Auckland

Every week, clipboard features One Good Thing, a cool thing I’ve bought, eaten or experienced in the past week. This week: East St. Hall’s hummus.

Much like Baby G Burgers at pop ups, parties at East St. Hall have been pretty much ubiquitous in the Auckland influencer community since the restaurant/pub/bar/club opened last year. Amongst all the $18 crudités, DJs, and chilli margs, it’s easy to forget that East St. is also a really nice place to eat dinner.

Everything that makes East St. Hall a good dinner spot can be seen in the hummus. I’ll put this on the table first: this hummus is not as good as the best hummus in town, which comes from Gemmayze Street, but it is really good. It’s a simple dish done really well, with a little flourish of salsa verde, and it hits the spot.

That’s the vibe of the whole menu at East St. It might not be the number one best version of the dish that you can find there, but it’ll hit the mark, be very satisfying and have just the right amount of interestingness. It’s a great spot to bring friends and hang out. Their falafel, by the way, is also delicious.

That’s all for clipboard this week, thanks for reading! I’ll be back in your inbox next Sunday morning. Enjoy the rest of your long weekend, and if you enjoy clipboard, share it with your friends, and if you really like it, think about contributing $5 a month to help me keep going to restaurants and buying clothes to talk about. Until next time, you can follow me on my increasingly dormant instagram, that will potentially be kicking off soon.