Cordarounds - For the Man You Love
Sunday, February 10, 2008 at 7:57PM 
Every so often, I have been known to shop for men. It’s usually when a friend is in desperate need of style advice and doesn’t know who they can trust. Enter: moi. Apart from these occasions, I don’t have much cause to shop for men; my male relatives get their dose at Christmas and birthdays. But there’s so much good stuff out there for guys! What is a girl with a healthy ability to dispense her aesthetic and hard-earned money to do? Enter: Imaginary Boyfriend. I like to shop for IB just to keep my hand in, as they say...
Most single gals have one – you know, that ideal boyfriend you’d be buying fantastic and thoughtful gifts for if he were actually real. (Well, he is real, but as-yet undiscovered. At least I like to think so.) Recent purchases for my IB? Some vintage cufflinks from Molte Cose on Polk Street, a pound of Peet’s Coffee’s new only-in-San Francisco Farley’s Blend, a copy of Elizabeth Armstrong’s Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design and Culture at Midcentury, also The Mischievious Art of Jim Flora by Irwin Chusid, a Paul Smith handkerchief, a CD from Paris Dernière (and those are hard to find,) and a fantastic t-shirt I’m planning to borrow from Barking Irons. Aren't I a good Imaginary Girlfriend? Hmmm.
Then of course there’s also the Cordarounds.
Is that a Jesus in your pants?I had heard of Cordarounds a few years back, but thought they were one of those San Francisco urban fashion myths. Horizontal corduroys? What boy genius thought of that one? Do they work? Do they have that unfortunate widening effect on the body like all horizontally-oriented textiles? What is their noise coefficient? I was full of dubious questions. Luckily, I recently had the opportunity to put all these questions to rest and learn about Cordarounds first-hand. At a Friday-night fashion show, no less – one that billed itself as featuring wine, beer and “certifiably straight” men. As you can imagine, I was eager to RSVP.
The Cordarounds show was at the Backstage Salon on Russian Hill – a strange choice, but it’s very off-the-cuff nature was a perfect match for the event. My friend Meg & I arrived to find a scene not unlike the monthly “First Thursday” art gallery crowd: some yuppies, some hipsters, some sketchy bike messengers looking for a free drink, not to mention the strange Ukranian (dare I say, mafia?) owners of the salon who contributed additional color. I love this kind of scene. It’s Fellini-esque and just about anything can happen. The ultimate benefit to the pre-show party was being able to chat with the guys. The Cordarounds “models” were gentlemanly, silly, self-effacing, ready to pour you a pint, and hilariously funny to a man. Oh, and they were all damn good-looking too. Who are these guys and where did they come from?
Meg & Mr. Cordarounds, Chris LindlandIt seems that all Cordarounds models are local boys, the friends and neighbors of Mr. Cordarounds himself: Chris Lindland. A tall, affable businessman, Chris Lindland has that certain twinkle in his eye that can only come from having a winning product that’s just on the cusp, combined with a keen sense of humor. Isn’t that what one would need to invent horizontal corduroys? Lindland is happy to talk about how he and his partner still produce Cordarounds out of his garage in San Francisco, and how they’re ready and willing to discuss expansion with any and all prospective financiers.
And why not? This product is fantastic - not merely because it's both hip and wearable, but because of the detailed features throughout: unusual linings & plackets, built-in pocket squares, contrasting pockets and the branded red Cordarounds triangle that shows you're a Cordarounds man.
The Reversible Smoking Jacket with seersucker on "the runway"Products include the Cordarounds pants: basic and five-pocket, and my personal favorite: the Reversible Smoking Jacket. I asked Chris about this himself when I noticed that the better-part of the crowd was wearing jackets in an array of luxuriant brocades. “We had created a jacket with this great lining, and I found I liked the lining side more than the right side. The stitching was great, nicely finished, so I said we needed to make it that way: reversible.” As the Cordarounds website states: “A corduroy jacket that adapts to your vice-ridden lifestyle.” Being a girl with a fondness for smoking jackets and the men who wear them, I suggested that he complete the look with a pair of Barker Black velvet slippers, to which I was innocently asked: “Who’s Barker Black?”
Sigh! A style-minded straight man with so much to learn! I suppress my Svengali side and get another pint of beer from the keg. A keg? Yes. Personally, I think that if more fashion parties featured kegs the straight-man demographic would be far less averse to them. But that’s just my assumption.
General mayhem at the Cordarounds show...After many more pints, the runway was cordoned off by yellow caution tape, the lights dimmed, and the music cranked. Our friendly “models” strutted their stuff, created characters and vogued on a par with the best. At the end, the room was full with new Cordarounds admirers. Meg & I were in complete agreement: the most fun and the best-looking crowd we've seen on a Friday night in a long time. At the after-party at the local bar, we were able to chat with the Cordarounds insiders who demonstrated how seamlessly the fashions transition from private party to pub with complete comfort.
Just the kind of thing my Imaginary Boyfriend would love!
Cordarounds are only sold online at a fantastically fun Cordarounds website with all the details you could ever want to know about everything Cordarounds.
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