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Weekly Updates* Michael Williams knows what he is talking about. The Ohio native's website A Continuous Lean--whose name derives from a nautical term for a list--is a catchall for all things men's style. The site gives equal play to tweed, metal trays, fighter planes, ties and staplers. In the year and a half he has been running the site, Williams, who co-owns a fashion PR firm, has quickly turned his holistic view of style into an authoritative stance on how to live classically. He gave us a breakdown of what now makes a man.
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
ON THE DEATH OF METROSEXUALITY
The two words that I never want to use are fashion--the F word--and metrosexual. But I think that is dead and gone. That is so rejected by guys our age who are into fashion, into clothes, into barber shops or into these things, objects. This is guys being comfortable liking things. It's not about fashion, it's about having a certain aesthetic, and if apparel is a part of that, it's just another component of that style--I'm into these bands, this restaurant--it all works together. This is the evolution. It's like your girlfriend embarrassing you because you like clothes, like, "He's a metrosexual!" Can you just shut the fuck up? I just like clothes, is that bad? Everyone wants to make it effeminate for guys to like style, and this is guys finally being like, Just shut up, we like stuff and, I'm sorry, I like Steven Alan shirts.
ON BUYING AMERICAN
I want to dispel the notion that I'm just interested in American stuff. I'm proud to buy American made things and support local manufacturing. I think as a country we should make things--every country should. But I don't want it to say, "I'm just interested in American stuff." I try to stand up for the little guy if I can. I'm not obsessed with it. It's not realistic to how people live. You wear stuff made in China.
ON LOOKING CLASSIC
I like really sturdy stuff. The thing I love about men's dressing is, you buy a suit at Savile Row, and it costs a lot of money, but that is going to last forever. It's never going anywhere and your son is going to get it. Buy quality things that last a long time, then 50 years from now they are still relevant, they are old and beat up, but it started in a place where you consciously bought something to last. That's the way I shop--I consume things, I don't buy things for a season. When I go to a store, I'm not like, Let me get that shirt because this looks cool right now. In ten years that's going to be in my closet, part of my collection, and that's going to be sweet.
ON HIS FANTASY LIFE
In my world, I'm driving a tank wearing an oxford shirt. That's the honest to god truth. If I could be in my Barbour coat, driving my Defender over to the proving ground and then maybe hit Odin on the way back, grab some High Life beers--pretty good fucking day.
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