Red, White and Brumos

Looks like the folks at the classic race team/Porsche tuner Brumos invited the Urban Outlaw himself to run around in their nicely modded 2012 911. The car is decades newer than anything he owns personally, but due to its stellar red, white and blue color scheme... for me Magnus Walker seems right at home with this one. 

Man, that thing is just a stunning piece of machinery. It's just interesting to me how this paint job turns what's normally your run-of-the-mill looking 911 into a total classic. Seriously, just look at it!

Jaguar F-TYPE Coupé Chase Car

I've always had a soft spot for European chase cars from the pro cycling world, especially the hot little sports wagons that often get fitted with numerous framesets and wheels. But the already stunning Jaguar F-TYPE Coupé has just been turned into even more of a rare beauty for the Team Sky racers.


And the sound of this thing... amazing.

DENNY: The Ultimate Urban Utility Bike

I'm very inspired by this, yes I'm gonna say it, innovative bicycle design. DENNY is one of those rare whips that feels fresh and not compromised really in any way. Enjoy!

Socks + Sandals = Fun Fashion

A few months ago, I got ambitious one day and whipped out a solid combo of Teva Originals and some rag wool socks. Despite it not being nearly as egregious as oh say white tube socks and Birkenstocks, it nevertheless has had an extremely polarizing effect on both friends and family. Some have mocked me endlessly for perpetrating such an appalling fashion faux pas. While others have full-on told me that they're also going the way of the Teva.

I decided to trace back the route that led me to believe that the sandal and the sock can live together in fashion harmony. As far as I can tell, this current look got its start when retro Oregon- and Colorado-based campvibes brands like Poler and Topo started making gear about two years ago, specifically bags with that classic early ‘90s motif.

I noticed that not long after these brands started doing their thing, the styles I wore in high school began making their way back into my closet. It’s this combo of denim/chambray, hiking boots and fleece/rag wool sweaters, with random pops of color mixed in. 

I started a Pinboard called campvibes not long after that, dedicated to this look and stumbled on a Tumblr curated by a Japanese blogger called Miatagod. It was packed full of these amazingly colorful, East-meets-West images of camping-inspired clothes including sandals with socks. I love scrolling through this cleverly curated collection cuz all of the sudden, it made fashion feel fun.

At just about this same, Teva reintroduced their line of Originals with colors and patterns that’d feel right at home along side this fun look and feel I’ve been geeking out on. Here’s a peek at their lookbook vid that rounds out this vibe.



It certainly doesn’t feel to me like this is just a fad. I see a longer term trend that continues to blend comfort and style, as do others. It’s a trend that infuses fun into fashion and celebrates a form that falls out of function.

When the image of me sporting my Teva Originals plus socks was originally posted, it got its fair share of both flack and fandom. One fan in particular was the social media team @Smartwool. They also instantly recognized the long term trend at play here and decided they were in.

Our own Mr. @kyality stepping up his shoe game with a @teva wool sock combo. What do you think folks? #tevaoriginals pic.twitter.com/CoYZkMTNJF

— Struck (@struck) April 4, 2014

@struck @kyality @teva Think you need to step up your #sock game if you're going to blast your toes. That's just me though.

— Smartwool (@Smartwool) April 4, 2014

@smartwool Hook a brother up! CC: @struck @teva

— Kyle Snarr (@kyality) April 5, 2014

@kyality @struck @Teva direct me your email and we can connect, aka, hook it up.

— Smartwool (@Smartwool) April 5, 2014

Then this happened...

@kyality @teva Now we got the sock game where it needs to be. #socks #fanlove
— Smartwool (@Smartwool) May 1, 2014

VSCO vs. OMFGCO

Time for a stroll down inspiration alley. Loving this video interview by Visual Supply Co. with the creative directors at Official Mfg. Co.

Yes, lotsa super Portlandia branding and graphic design going on in this piece, but man... it gets me excited to go eat at Olympic Provisions and Clyde Common again... or at least their Brooklyn equivalents.

Magnus Walker's Outlaw Fever

Holy moly. The Urban Outlaw, Magnus Walker, just keeps the hits coming with his latest flick: Outlaw Fever. He's now designing his own custom rims and testing them in downtown LA in the middle of the night and it's simply exhilarating.

So I'm going to go ahead and make a little prediction. Obviously rims have been dramatically increased in size over the last decade or so. 18+ inch monsters with ultra low profile tires have certainly been en vogue. Well, I think thanks to Magnus we're going to start seeing this trend go the other direction. His rims start as small as 15 inches, wrapped in some serious meat.

Mark. My. Words.

BMW E28 M5 in Cry Havoc Cry

In a short film drafting heavily off of BMW's original branded content masterpiece The Hire—this short features a beautiful E28 ///M5 identical to the one my dad drove in my youth. 



Bottom line: I had no idea this car had that kind of effect on women!

The Sound of Senna

This is an interesting and pretty cool take on an experimental tribute to classic F1 racer Ayrton Senna by Honda.

Benton Badness

Yes. I know. More Porsche stuff. What gives?? Stumbled on this vid via a new site I'm really digging called SILVRARROWS. Give it a gander, some beautiful footage in here.

The RWB Porsches

Spend just a few minutes searching Porsches on either Tumblr or Pinterest, and you'll quickly come across some aggressive, wide-body examples with the letters RWB emblazoned on them. My first thought was that these were some kind of all-wheel drive mods with a "rear wheel bias" hence the RWB. But I've come to learn these are actually the products of the amazing Porsche tuner RAUH-Welt Begriff of Japan.

Their gorgeous builds are known for their serious stance, distinctive wide-body kits and massive rear wings and apparently are fixtures on the streets of several Asian countries. They've just recently launched their operations in the United States as well.

Here are some of my fave examples, as well as a great little vid on RWB that I recently stumbled on about their operation in Thailand. Enjoy!



One more for the road...

Wes Anderson: Symmetry Snobbery

As if we didn't already know this already, Wes Anderson is a complete symmetry snob and I'm totally okay with it. Enjoy!

Will CarPlay Play Nice?

Thanks to the good old Geneva Car Show, Apple did something this week that it rarely ever does. It gave us all a sneak peek at product that's still a bit of a work in progress: the automotive onboard iOS system called CarPlay. (Ya know, kinda like AirPlay for your car... but you'll probably have to plug it in and no, you can't watch movies.)

Ever since the first iPod came out, I (and probably all of us) have wanted better integration with my vehicles. CarPlay seems to be the answer to that... finally. But I've got a small handful of concerns that hopefully won't derail the promise of real in-car integration.

Apple Maps?

Uh, not a bonus folks! I've been lead astray far too many times by Apple's cheap knockoff of the real deal. Gimme Google.

Plugged in?

I feel like they're showing the iPhone plugged in for a very specific reason... CarPlay better work just as well via Bluetooth. (UPDATE: Uh, sounds like this is a plug-in only deal, bleh.)

Knobs?

Who needs knobs? Or a touchscreen for that matter? The promise of Her has made me much more of Siri superfan. Why even reference those old inputs? Just give Siri Scarlett's gravelly sarcasm and trust me, we are good to go.

But if you insist on in-car multitouch... do it this way for sure:

Not this way:

Getting Stoked for the Oscars?

Who will win the Oscar fight for Best Original Score? John Williams or Arcade Fire? I never thought that contest could possibly exist. Enjoy this clip from the scoring of Spike Jonze's in-the-not-too-distant-future film Her.

Volkswagen Bio Runner Concept

Back in 2008 I stumbled on this cool concept sketch of a futuristic VW Baja-style racer called Bio Runner. I saved some pics of it on my hard drive and stumbled on them the other day wondering why the crap I never posted them anywhere. The Bio Runner was one of the award-winning designs to come out of that year's LA Design Challenge and I just can't get enough of the spectacular image of the Syd Mead-ish future it paints.

The concept features an athletic vehicle with limbs that can respond to various terrain types and basically lean into turns. It's supposedly powered by dual-turbine engines that can rev up to 500,000 rpm's and drinks bio-synthetic jet fuel. So apparently it's not a hybrid?

I love that the creator went to as far as to envision things like the support chopper delivery system, a Speed Racer-esque spy drone and even a Red Bull sponsorship. This kind of creativity reminds me so much of building crazy LEGO vehicles as kid! Speaking of LEGO... man, I gotta go see that flick already...

Here are some additional images to geek out on:

Branded Content Done Right

Been having some really interesting conversations with folks lately about the dos and don'ts of brand content. There's a such a fine line and a balance that needs to be achieved in order to make something that'll really resonate with—not just anyone—but the right audience of brand evangelists who'll then spread the good word on your brand's behalf. 

This short film about Justin Vernon from Bon Iver does just that for Red Wing. Thanks for the heads up @Upto12.

The Future Is Now

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to sit behind the wheel of a brand new BMW i3. Sure, its not the sexiest beast on the road, but there is nothing out there that feels more connected to the future of automobiles. Watch this little flick and you too will feel like the future has arrived.

Play the Road

So I'm a little late to the game on this one, but I just stumbled on this pretty stellar experiment concocted late last year by Tribal Worldwide in London for the launch of the 2014 Volkswagen GTI. Partnering with musicians from Underworld along with sound designer Nick Ryan and producer Yuli Levtov, Tribal created an application that translates the movement of the car into an original musical arrangement, essentially making the GTI a musical instrument and the driver both the musician and composer.

Taking the values generated from the speed, direction and acceleration/deceleration of the GTI—complex algorithms (a.k.a. robots) translate the data into some hauntingly beautiful tunes that perfectly accompany your driving style in real time. Here's some pretty fantastic behind the scenes footage... now if they can only determine how to make this a public app!



And here's a live-drive performance. Enjoy!

My Everyday Carry (Well Sorta)

A couple of days ago I snapped a quick pic of my ideal "everyday carry" (EDC)  and I was stoked that earlier today it was featured on one of my fave blogs, aptly named Everyday Carry. Even though not all these items are always on my body all at once, here's the breakdown anyway:

• Tsovet SVT-LX73 Automatic, custom leather strap by Greg Stevens Design (GSD)
• Apple iPhone 5, iFrogz Natural Cover Koala
• 2013 Volkswagen GTI key, custom leather fob by GSD
• Parker Jotter Stainless Steel 0.5mm Mechanical Pencil
• Opinel No6 Folding Knife with Oak Handle 
• Custom leather wallet by GSD
• Field Notes 48-Page Memo Book
• Ray-Ban New Wayfarer Classic in Tortoise

2013: A Year in Review

Top 3 Favorite Albums

3. Daft Punk - Random Access Memories

The Kyality Kids might love this album even more that I do. Standout track: Doin' It Right

2. Vampire Weekend - Modern Vampires of the City

Wasn't sure if I could play these guys at work without getting eye rolls from the hipsters until this album came out. Standout track: Don't Lie

1. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

I literally knew this was my fave album of the year from the first strum of the first, standout track: I Should Live in Salt

Top 3 Favorite Movies

3. Gravity

This jaw-dropper of a 3D spectacle will most likely dissuade an entire generation of kids from ever wanting to be astronauts when they grow up. Standout scene: 13-minute opening shot

2. Star Trek Into Darkness

Even though this flick didn't seem as epic on my second viewing, my opening night experience still ranks with the best of the best. Standout scene: Cumberbatch's monologue

1. The Kings of Summer

A classic indie sleeper that perfectly defines my ideal kinda flick. Standout scene: The pipe dance... not to mention I worship their Tumblr.

Top 3 Favorite TV Shows

3. Mad Men

Still some of the best writing for television ever. It's hard to know how they'll keep it up. I think a time machine jump to the '80s would be awesome. Standout episode: For Immediate Release

2. The Mindy Project

Thanks to Mindy Kaling's sense of humor, I feel like I'm still pretty much getting my weekly Tina Fey fix. Standout quote: "I fell asleep watching Amelie, and when I woke up, I had spilt so much red wine on me that I thought I'd been shot." 

1. Happy Endings

There's a part of me that's almost glad this under-the-radar, laugh-out-loud super-Friends series was cancelled after its second season (correction third season!). No chance of it ever going stale. Standout character: Max Blum

Top 3 Favorite Cars

3. 2013 Audi RS4 Avant

Simply the most amazing station wagon to never make it stateside. Standout feature: A pay-to-play relaxed limiter taking its top speed from 155 mph to a whopping 174 mph!

2. 2013 BMW M135i

The venerable Chris Harris calls this car the best bang for buck on the planet. Standout feature: Supercar performance, hot-hatch looks

1. 2013 Singer 911

Want a brand new classic Porsche with modern day performance? Well if you've got 6-figures and can wait in line for a few years, Singer's got your dream car. Standout feature: It's a new, old 911!!!

Top 3 Favorite Designs

3. Topo Designs

Topo Designs is Colorado's response to Portland's Poler Stuff and their line of retro #campvibes are colorful, functional and fun. Standout product: Klettersack in Coyote

2. iOS 7

It's insane to me that half the world gets to upgrade their phone to become the most amazing, high-tech device on the planet… for free and still manages to complain about it. Standout feature: In-app parallax

1. Petrolicious

Thanks to the Clason's—both Josh and Becca—we now have the best auto enthusiast site around, full of quality content and tasteful graphic/motion design. Standout film: One Car To Do It All

Kyle Style Guide

In about 8th grade, I became a little bit obsessed with a gal that worked at the Gap, which made me extra conscious about fashion and for a while led me to think I wanted to be a fashion designer. In fact, I concepted my own line of clothes that year called… 'Kyle Style' of course. Since then I've always thought a lot about what I choose to wear. 

Recently, we met some friends at a restaurant and my buddy actually asked if I could help him dress better. I was flattered and thought he was joking, and he may have been. But it made me think about what could be some tips I could share with him… hence the Kyle Style Guide.

Get Uncomfortable
First things first gents... style is not about comfort. It's about achieving the optimal look. This means wearing clothes that are more of a tailored, tighter fit (a.k.a. lose the baggy sports jerseys).

Keep It Classic
Stick to tried and true classic threads and avoid crazy cuts. Be sure to have at least one of each of these: red plaid flannel shirt, well-worn chambray shirt, tweed blazer, Levi's denim jacket, zip-hoodie, v-neck sweater, wool sweater, field coat, soft fitted tees and some basic Levi's jeans.

Levi's Lovin'
On that note, when selecting your denim... seriously, stick to Levi's. You could potential spend hundreds on designer jeans and they won't stand the test of time as well as a solid pair of good, old-fashioned red tabs. I recommend sticking to either 508, 511 or 514 cuts. 

Layer Up
Once all your basic pieces of apparel are in place, you can mix and match. But most importantly, start layering. Don't be afraid to go as deep as three to even four visible layers. Trust me on this one.

Accessorize
Add a classic set of accessories into the mix. Acceptable items include: knit beanies, scarfs, baseball caps, driver's cap, simple sunglasses, gloves or ties… but not all at once. don't go more than two deep with these.

Non-fancy Footwear
Stick to the same classic, timeless principles when dealing with your feet. Have a pair of each: leather boots, leather dress shoes, Converse All-Stars, classic running shoes and a pair of rubber 'locals-style' flip-flops. 

Color Scheming
Color can be tricky. Always defer to keeping it simple. I use a lot of greys and browns and default to brown leather accessories like my belt, boots, watchband, and wallet. Typically reserve your color accents for shirts and socks. Unless you're Upto12, then you can go ahead and wear green pants.

Hope this is helpful. Check out some stylish examples of these principles here. And follow Tim Melideo from the Stay Classic blog for other great looks.