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Sofia Suarez

I'm quite into fashion, but I used to live in those rock tees when I was a kid. I saw there are some funny tees now with pictures of designers done up to look like rock stars. Tell me where!
Mr Dandy: Yeah, I guess fashion designers are kind of rock stars these days, so it's a great idea that leaves you thinking, "Why didn't I think of that?" Well, I didn't but Colin Torvino of Modern Man did. The Rick Owens Tour Shirt and the Phoebe Philo version (both US$90) are available at modernman.fr. Oh, what do they look like? Totally 80s! They've got those retro graphics printed onto black cotton tees in two designs per designer, all awesome. Of course, the ultimate insider pairing would be to wear the top featuring Rick Owens with bottoms by Rick Owens, but it'll turn heads with the right pair of jeans, too.
Mr Dapper: Ah, yes, I had heard of this project-cum-social study about designers as the new rock stars. It is fodder for discussion about high fashion vs affordable, democratic design, and the link between the fashion and the music worlds. True music snobs, I assume, would rather wear the real deal and most likely have a collection of souvenir T-shirts from concerts they actually attended. There are multiple auctions on websites such as eBay. Meanwhile, might I recommend websites that offer new T-shirts using vintage designs, such as rockabilia.com and wornfree.com (HK$270 and up). Full disclosure: while I can recommend the best, you won't be seeing me in a rock tour T-shirt - original or re-imagined - any time soon.
 
I am happy with my new watch (a replica of a classic design), but I'm not too pleased with the very 60s black rubber strap. I thought it'd be easy to replace it with one of those fabric ones, maybe with a stripe down the middle, but the watch shops I've gone into haven't been very helpful. Can you steer me in the right direction?
Mr Dandy: How James Bond of you! There are tons of Nato and zulu straps online. The easy route would be to just order a few from jcrew.com, where they come sized for 18mm watches in various hues of camo, stripes, Liberty-like floral prints and solid colours (HK$250 each). Websites offering even more colours include: natozulu.com, crownandbuckle.com and thenatostrapcompany.com. All the cool kids are also getting that Nato wrap-around style in leather, which is available from all the above mentioned sites for about HK$160 to HK$450 a pop.
Mr Dapper: Oh, the ignorance. For the record, the ill-fitting striped watch band worn by James Bond in the film Goldfinger (1964) was not, in fact, a Nato/G10 strap. Sorry, chaps. Dandy inadvertently used the terms Nato, which has an extra flap and buckle to secure the watch in place, and zulu, which is simply looped through the spring bars and easily interchangeable. For the record, the Nato strap was created by the British Ministry of Defence in 1973 and has little to do with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. In Hong Kong, visit Ken's Watches (84 Des Voeux Road Central, tel: 6792 2222) to have a specialist size and fit your choice of nylon strap (HK$100 to HK$150).
Got a question for Dandy & Dapper? E-mail them at: dandyndapper@scmp.com
 


How to rock tees featuring 'rock-star' designers, and the Nato watch strap