gentlemen, start your search engines.

I could move into one of Billy Reid's decadent, antique-clad stores.

I love being a girl.  I love makeup, I love heels, I love jewelry—I love fashion. But this love for fashion is pretty broad because I cannot get enough of menswear and haberdashery.  

Social Primer for Brooks Brothers
featured in this month's Garden&Gun

Maybe it begins with the love for the southern gentleman that’s been ingrained in me since birth, but just a drive past The Locker Room or Buckelew’s in Montgomery or a stroll past the Summit Brooks Brothers or the men’s department at Saks, and my heart skips a beat.  What is better than an impeccably dressed man?  And here in the south, those well-dressed men aren’t hard to find. Weekend-wear of khaki shorts, slightly rumpled button downs, driving shoes or rainbows, followed by game days filled with Nantucket Reds, dress shirts, ties and bow ties, and loafers.  

Fast-forward into the workforce and you have impeccably tailored suits, monogrammed dress shirts and shiny cufflinks.  Really, the list is endless, and I get giddy just at the thought of it all.  I find myself wondering every day, “Can I make a career out of this?”.  

Hopefully so.

And just as I have been drooling over the new Fall lines for women while the Bryant Park tents were still buzzing in February, the Fall menswear collections are no less drool-worthy.  

Topping my list of favorites include Brooks Brothers’ Fall line, and thankfully the folks at BB have obliged my love by showing a preview online.  Some of my favorites include (ok..they’re all my favorites):

Just like at Christmas where you must find that perfect tree-topper, you must find the perfect neckwear. 

Wool is just right for Fall, 

and this bow tie from The Cordial Churchman is a perfect addition to any gentleman's wardrobe. 

There are unbelievably great options to be found everywhere, from Brooks Brothers, with a special note on fellow Alabama native and Social Primer author K. Cooper Ray’s delectable collection of bow ties for the iconic menswear store (seen right), to Southern Proper and, my newest indulgence, The Cordial Churchman by Ellie LaVeer.  

Another favorite classic is the tweed jacket, of which there are so many options that I just can’t stand it.  Picture this:  a pair of jeans, dressed up with a button down and that tweed jacket, then add a bow tie and sockless loafers—hello, beautiful.  I swoon. 

Billy Reid (third from left) with models.

You can’t mention menswear and the South in the same breath and not mention Billy Reid.  

Inside one of Billy Reid's amazing stores.

His cool-meets-traditional style works just as well at his flagship store in Florence, Alabama as it does in Manhattan.  His stores, dripping in antique-y goodness, conjure up images of an older South.  The findings are no less delightful, with everything having a quality, worn in feel.  

Reid's antique-y aesthetic carries over from his clothes to his store decor.

After being chosen as GQ’s 2010 best new menswear designer in America, Reid entered into a collaboration with iconic denim company Levis.  Whatever this purveyor of “southern-bred luxury” touches turns to gold, so invest heavily.

What better way to add a little style to a fall outfit than with
a wool bow tie like this one.

Gentleman, stop whatever you are doing and go browse those Fall lines.  There are great prices to be had by all and dapper style to boot.  

As one of my Trinity/Samford friends recited ZZ Top when I complimented his perfect Sigma Chi pin attire one day, “every girl’s crazy ‘bout a sharp dressed man.” 
Take that to heart, boys.

All Brooks Brother's photos courtesy of Brooks Brothers.  

All Cordial Churchman photos courtesy of The Cordial Churchman.

All Social Primer for Brooks Brothers photos courtesy of Garden&Gun magazine.