Le Chauvinist

"There exists a substantial difference between being in style and having style."

Salvador J. Viesca, circa 1978

Last Sunday I met Salvador and found the coolest store while waiting for brunch at The Cottage. The wait was 1 hr 15 min, and well worth it for poaches eggs with carne asada and stuffed french toast with friends. (Salvador recommends the Eggs La Jolla or one of the specials).  Across from The Cottage is, Le Chauvinist, a men's consignment store. The only consignment store dedicated to men in San Diego.

I have a love of second hand stores, and can be found at the Buffalo Exchange a couple of times a month.  I love the adventure of hunting through second hand stores exposing me to a large variety of styles in 1 place. This has helped me to try on jeans and dresses from many different designers where you don't concentrate as much on making the 1 shirt you love try to look better in small, medium, or large. I find I can get a more unbiased view on fit. The outfit either makes you look good or it doesn't..Second hand, you can tell how it is going to wear. After the first wash will it stretch or fade...Probably not it's been worn before. Sometimes clothes are new with tags. It's a treasure hunt. You never know what you will find.

At Le Chauvinist, they have designer clothes as well as more casual pieces. I love their wall of new Panama hats from Equador. On their website they list some of what's in stock..ie. Burberrys of London wool suits, Nikon binoculars, Ferragamo Shoes, Hermes silk ties, Nordstrom basics. Some things are still pricey, but the items are hand picked for quality.

I probably spent almost the full hour at Le Chauvinist talking about how you could tell if shoes were handmade, trends in fashion, trap shooting, the history of La Jolla, family, society, Great Gatsby themed parties, weddings, fundraisers, how men find that women like when men dress up. I still remember when my friend Ashley and I were at the Prana yoga store open house in Portland a group of men walked into the store in suits with pocket squares, cuff links, ties, nice shoes. One even had wild dreadlocks, but in their suits they looked amazing. I found out they were all from the The Threads Count on 23rd ave.  (For some reason I like to think of it as The Count like Count Dracula or British Royalty.  Women are drawn to well dressed men.

Salvador reminded me of the quote, "The best accessory a woman can have is a well dressed man on her arm." I think I picked a good one;)