Blade + Blue Menswear Releases Scruffy Playful Nod to School Days in their 2014 Spring Lookbook

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San Francisco clothing company Blade + Blue just released their Spring 2014 Lookbook and they took a playful nod to school days. Today’s lesson Old-School Cool. And as always we are head over heels obsessed with the choice of scruffy models.

Important to note: 5% of all sales will benefit the Harvey Milk Civil Rights Academy in San Francis co, to support the important work the school does in teaching empathy, understanding, non-violence and the power of community to its elementary school students.

Bags are a new category – they are made by hand by a friend of Papas in NYC. Since they are all handcrafted, there are very limited quantities available. “I really wanted to bring the idea of great book bags & backpacks in this season as I spent so much time thinking about being back in high school and re-living those days!” Papas

2014 Spring Collection :

Owner and designer of Blade + Blue, Peter Papas tells us: “There were 2 themes playing off each other when I was building this Spring Line.

Last summer I spent a lot of time up in Shasta County and found a real beauty in the simplicity there – the freedom in the acres and acres of open land, the calm in the waters of the lakes and falls & the local farmers’ pride in their traditions. It was the perfect escape from San Francisco which seemed like it was just growing too much and too fast. I needed time away from the friction of the city, time to rest and time to think.

I found myself thinking a lot about being young, before the pressures of adult life start to take the wheel. I would see the young kids going off to school and I was envious of how clean their slates were. They hadn’t yet made any big mistakes or found themselves wishing they had more time to make their dreams come true. Their possibilities were still endless. And I wanted to feel that way again, like my future was still wide open.

So you will see these two concepts: the slow pace and quiet tones of the pastoral farms vs. the optimism and energy of young kids living their american dreams.

There is a pretty overt “americana” vibe with the use of classic gingham checks but they are done in tones that reminded me of the farm: soft olive, warm gold and burnt orange.

The balance of fast and kinetic vs. calm and pastoral can be seen in the color choices of the plaids too, I wanted to pit patriotic tones of Royal Blue, Scarlet Red and Bright Gold against warmer tones of Orange, Umber and Olive… kind of like a push and pull.

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