Warning: Post is slightly NSFW due to tattoo exhibit pictures.

Unlike the nocturnal escapades of Ben Stiller’s Larry Daley, the guys and I only spent an afternoon at the museum. Luckily, there we didn’t have any trouble from the tablet of Ahkmenrah.

Dapper Day has certainly come a long way.  When it started, it was just about throwing it back to the old Disney Date nights, where people who go to the parks in style.  As it has been taken over by the disneybounding/cosplay side, I certainly felt that it needed to rebrand.  Perhaps Justin Jorgensen read my mind, because that’s when he started to do more non-Disney events, like the annual LACMA outings that we’ve gone to before.  Those have taken place in the summer, which leaves a big gap between the Fall event and those LACMA events.  Justin surprised me yet again when he announced the outing to the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, which took place this past sunday.  Obviously I invited the squad and we spent the afternoon looking at the exhibits that I hadn’t seen since I was a child.

Located near USC and directly adjacent to the California Science Center and the Air & Space Museum, the Natural History Museum is really a great place to visit if you’re in LA.  It’s not as cool or popular with the millenials like the Broad or LACMA, but then nerd in me loves this place.  Within its many wings, there are wings of animal displays, Mayan artifacts, and dinosaur fossils.  I really need to come back and visit the musuem proper.

Overall, it was a pretty fantastic day.  There wasn’t a lot of Disney people (though there were a few) and I was delighted to see people actually dressing well. Perhaps it’s because the museum is a more “reserved” place compared to the vibrant life of Disneyland.  All of the main exhibits were open while the special ones was TATTOO, showing exclusive art and artifacts of the ancient art, and a section of the Gem and Mineral Vault, featuring some of the rarest colorful diamonds for a limited time.

We got to the museum at around 1:30PM which gave us a solid 4.5 hours to see as much as we could! I know I’ve been saying this throughout the past few events I’ve gone to, but I am always happy that our squad has gotten bigger.  I’m sure you’ve been tired of just Spencer and I going to things, and even he’s been missing from a few since he had work!

I kept my promise of not taking streetstyle pictures because I really just wanted to enjoy the day with my friends.  However, that didn’t stop us from looking fly and snapping a few of our own personal outfits!

Spencer

Spencer actually woke up late that day and threw on the trusted Street x Sprezza combo: brown jacket + grey flannel trousers.  It’s a “vintage spin” on the StyleForum uniform, where the navy jacket tends to reign supreme.  Even though his jacket is a belted-back from the 1970’s and his trousers are 1930’s repros by Ralph Lauren,  it makes such a classic look that skirts the line between vintage and contemporary.  When you take the beautiful brocade and spearpoint collar, it obviously has a 30’s lean, but it’s not odd at all.  It’s a perfectly understated Spencer outfit!

Adam

Adam brings rocks another fair isle combo with a different vest than the one he wore to Benny’s Christmas party.  This time he makes the bold choice of pairing it with a navy stripe, peak lapel suit. I feel like most of you would disagree with this, as striped suits are “formal” while fair isle (or any sweater combo) is casual.  I think it’s practical (it was a semi-cold LA day) and makes for a smart look.  Adam echoes the brown tones with a similarly toned circle-motif brocade tie and spectators.

Blake

We love cream trousers because they go with everything.  Blake pairs his pair (last seen at the Dapper Day Expo) with a brown herringbone jacket, cream tattersall waistcoat, and a great green spearpoint.  It’s a great combo and a little surprising for me, since  Blake has been opting for vintage German pieces as of late.

Roy 

Roy, (Roycu for you Styleforum people), is always a pleasure to feature.  Amazingly, he’s been wearing the same clothes since he was a young man, back in the 1960s.  For this Dapper Day outing, he wears a tweed Brooks Brothers sack suit that is largely similar to the brown worsted ones that Spencer and I own.   Like Adam, he dons a fair isle sweater and makes the bold choice of wearing an orange-striped bowtie and an orange pocket square; he keeps this theme going with orange laces on his wingtips.

Ethan

Lately, I’ve been exploring the idea of “modernizing” vintage suits.  Obviously I’m not going to change the cut (I like preserving old garments), but the key is all in the styling.  Instead of a spearpoint, I went with a blue cotton button-down collar and wore a wool foulard tie from Gentl Supply (review coming soon) and tassel loafers to make it less of a true-vintage outfit.  The tattersall waistcoat was an ivy choice, to fit in with the museum theme. I actually really like this outfit, since I think it really makes the suit look contemporary, apart from the width of the trousers.  I was initially unsure if the wide legs would work with loafers, but I really dig it.  Maybe I’ll keep my leg openings at that width…

Hector

Hector finally was finally able to join us again!  Channeling his east coast origin, his styling just screams traditional collegiate youth. A bespoke 3-roll-2 unlined blazer (with brass buttons no less) is the star of the outfit, being worn with a spread collar oxford shirt (radical!), club stripe bowtie,  and 150s wool trousers.  Be sure to check out his loafers; these Crockett & Jones tassels are tasty.  

Rachel

Rachel gets in on the museum-dinosaur theme by wearing a green dress that really evokes scales.  Again, womenswear isn’t my forte in the slightest, but knowing Rachel, it’s a true vintage dress from the 1960’s.  It’s really cool to see someone represent this era of fashion, as most of Dapper Day tends to do either vintage or modern interpretations of strictly 1920s-1950s.  We need to show off more facets of vintage!

Snapshots

I think that I took the most pictures at this event.  It doesn’t help that the Natural History Museum is not only naturally photogenic, but features a lot of amazing exhibits that you are invited to touch and experience.  I think you can really see how much fun we had at this Dapper Day outing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

 

I’m really glad that Dapper Day is branching out of it’s Disney roots.  Not only is it more accessible to regular people, but I definitely like the idea of doing classically-styled events in LA.  It seems that NYC, London, and even places in Sweden have all the cool, dressy parties.  However, Dapper Day is for everyone rather than being just for those in the fashion industry or being invite-only.  Even though I’d love to mingle with my menswear contemporaries and talk menswear, nothing really beats just dorking out with your well-dressed friends.  I really had a fun time visiting an amazing place that I haven’t been to since I was a child.

Even though the next Dapper Day at Disneyland is in April, there’s actually another outing planned for February which is done in collaboration with the LA Opera.  I’ve always wanted to attend an opera, but I’m not sure if I’m going yet.  I mean, Frasier Crane is playing Voltaire in this production of Candide, so it is certainly tempting.

Hopefully continuing to do events like this will help rebrand Dapper Day away from being a Disney centered thing.  It’s not even affiliated with Disney, yet so many people think of some of the over-the-top disneybound outfits that have come to characterize the event.  There’s nothing wrong with the idea of disneybounding, but as I said in my podcast, it is way too focused on color and has really changed from its original form.  Setting these events apart from Disneyland will hopefully foster some true style from attendees, whether it’s vintage, contemporary, or in between.  Dapper Day is all about stepping out in style not a costume, and I think most of us accomplished that at the Natural History Musuem.

Always a pleasure,

Ethan W. 

@ethanmwong 

Street x Sprezza 

Photography by Ethan W.