Get Dressed Week 2021

Welcome to clipboard, a weekly newsletter about clothes, hospitality and Tāmaki Makaurau, a city that remains in sort-of lockdown, 90 odd days later. This week: I wore a real shirt every day this week, and the best beverages for summer. If you enjoy clipboard, share it with your friends, and you can contribute financially at the button below.

getting dressed!

Lockdown is tough, and continues to be tough, for a number of reasons. For me, an obsessive about getting dressed, one of the struggles has been that, as I make the 10 metre commute to my dining table, I have fallen into a uniform of blank tees, shorts and sneakers. While that’s appropriate for my line of work, and lines up with what the rest of my coworkers are wearing through Microsoft Teams, it has felt a bit boring.

So, to kick myself out of a funk, this week, I decided to make a minor but noticeable upgrade to my uniform: every day this week, I threw on a shirt, with collars and everything.

I have advocated plenty in the pages of clipboard, and today in the pages of Sunday magazine, for the collared shirt and shorts as the quintessential look of this spring and summer, so it was only right that I lived that look, and documented it, for a week.

What I found, apart from the fact that the look is definitely a good one, was that making an effort, even a small, limited effort, to Get Dressed every morning, makes a difference, however slight, to the languishing mood that settles every time I don’t have something else to think about, which is to say, quite often.

If you, like me, derive mental pleasure from looking good and put together, I heartily recommend making an effort, even if it’s just a small one at the beginning, to put yourself together in the morning, and try to stem the languishing feeling.

I also asked you, dear readers, to send in your fits on Instagram, and here are some of my favourites that came through.

clips

• I heartily recommend listening to the 10 minute version of All Too Well by Taylor Swift and letting out the emotions of the last three months - tres cathartic

• This week, Maggie Hewitt, designer of beautiful clothes at Maggie Marilyn, wrote a rather self-centred, tone-deaf think piece for the Herald (despite the fact that it’s remarkably easy not to write an op ed for the Herald!). I wouldn’t recommend reading it, but I would recommend reading Zoe Walker-Ahwa’s response at Ensemble.

• Janaye Henry and Leonie Hayden have a great gift guide for supporting Māori and Pasifika businesses this Kirihimete on The Spinoff.

• I wrote about summer menswear for Sunday magazine today. I have no idea where you can find issues of the Sunday Star-Times in Tāmaki, but I’ll be searching! Send me pics if you find the piece in print!

• Another good blog post about shirts, if you’re interested.

• The Good Friends of clipboard at Checks Downtown continue to release excellent spring/summer goods every week, and there’s more to come. You can also now buy Vans Authentics, the perfect summer shoe, in store there, all the more reason to pay them a visit, now we can.

• You can check in on my Movember running progress, and chip in for a good cause, here.

quench your thirst

This week, with the exception of yesterday, was hot. If the forecasters are to be believed, and I’m not always convinced of that, there’s plenty more hot days to come. Here are the things you can drink when you’re overheating and need to quench your thoughts, in my opinion.

espresso coldo

The espresso coldo is not an order you can just ask for at a cafe, because they’ll laugh you out of the spot. An invention of Ollie Simon of Simon and Lee, Gochu and Good Dog Bad Dog fame, when we worked together, an espresso coldo is just an espresso shot poured over three or four ice cubes. As long as there’s a good barista involved, it’ll be delicious, cold and tasty. If you don’t trust your barista to make a good coffee without milk/chocolate/whatever, by a Boss Coffee Iced Long Black from the dairy instead - less strong but still tasty.

vermouth spritz

My mother-out-of-law bought us a Kiwi Negroni kit for my birthday, and I’ve been really enjoying making negronis at home, they’re my favourite cocktail. At the end of a long day, though, sometimes you don’t want something that strong. In that case, make a spritz, just an ounce of vermouth/campari/Aperol topped with soda and filled with ice. A vermouth and soda will be refreshing, and pretty low in alcohol, so you can drink three if needed. You can also garnish them with an olive, or orange peel, if you want to be fancy.

pet nat

I’m a natural wine enthusiast, but I know it isn’t to everyone’s taste. I’ve never met someone yet, though, that doesn’t enjoy a pet nat. The natural sparkling wine, if you buy a good one, tastes better than the fanciest champagne to me, because it’s a bit fruitier and not quite as dry. Ask for a recommendation at your wine store of choice, I recently enjoyed this one, made from Sav Blanc, recently.

Japanese beer

I went through a craft beer phase, and I still enjoy the odd sour or hazy pale ale, but I’ve more or less come to the conclusion that what I want from a beer nowadays is for it to be cold, refreshing, and pretty easy to drink. That’s why I love a Japanese-style lager, like an Asahi or Sapporo. They’re reasonably priced, available at supermarkets, and there’s nothing not to love.

If you have good summer drink recs, I’d love to hear them!

That’s all for clipboard this week, thanks for reading! If you enjoy clipboard, please do share it with your cool friends, and get in touch! You can find clipboard on Instagram during the week, and flick me an email anytime.