Welcome to clipboard, a semi-regular newsletter about good shit from Tāmaki Makaurau, by me, Reilly Hodson. This is the monthly clips only edition, featuring the best stuff I’ve spotted over the past month. If you enjoy clipboard, share it with your mate who saw that picture of Frank Ocean in the orange puffer and made it their whole personality.

a mood-swing of a month

We’ve reached the end of another month, and all of a sudden it’s nearly Christmas shopping time. This is a month in which I got badly sunburnt, drenched in the rain and spooked by louder-than-usual thunder, welcome to the new normal! Let’s get into the clips.

It’s been a banner month for local menswear, so we’ll kick off with some awesome new releases:

• Checks Downtown continue to be on a tear. I bought these black double-knees the week they dropped, and I’m already lining up this very fun shop graphic tee and these gorp-y shorts.

• If money was no object, I would own every piece Thom Morison has ever made. Thom’s latest collection furthers the brand’s focus on high-quality pieces made in the best fabrics, and they look great. I’m thinking about this seersucker short sleeve, these corduroy shorts, and this beautiful vintage fabric shirt.

• Rounding out the great local menswear, Inward Goods has a small-but-mighty new range out, featuring excellent pants, classic linen shorts and a super fun bowling shirt that’ll be the talk of the barbecue this summer.

• I’ve been rinsing the new albums from the 1975 and Taylor Swift this month. They have a lot of similarities, including the collaborating producer, and both tickle a nostalgia in my brain that makes me harken back to the best parts of my teenage years.

• If you, like me, enjoy reading great journalism that makes you feel smart and, let’s face it, a bit superior (any Monocle subscribers in the house?), you should check out Semafor - it’s excellent stuff, and had a bit of fun with the website design which I like.

• I don’t love novelty restaurants, so I got a good chuckle from the revelations that Karen’s Diner was paying for fake reviews.

• The best restaurant in Auckland according to clipboard, Ockhee, has teamed up with Still Life to make what looks like a bloody delicious summer wine - great label, too.

• My favourite smart fashion podcast, Articles of Interest, is back, with a season about American Ivy, a very cool, timeless style that is a great aesthetic to get into if you just want to look good and don’t mind otherwise. There’s also an accompanying Substack, which I obviously love.

• The perfect colour for your Patagonia baggies this summer.

• Kiosk Store has these amazing flat-pack side tables from Gerard Dombroski, and they might be the most interesting piece of furniture I’ve ever seen - can’t wait to see what they do next with this style.

• An excellent read about what Elon Musk actually bought this week - essentially, a world of pain.

That’s all for clipboard this time around, thanks for reading! I’ll be back sometime soon with another issue, and again at the end of November with a clips edition. In the meantime, you can find me at your local wine bar getting a fit off, on Instagram, or via email.