“Supplément Canal Plus” 14Dec 2014. Is Michel Rocard the King of Denim in Los Angeles?
These dirty clothes were not worn by Michel Rocard.
I know what you’re asking…. Is Michel Rocard the real king of denim in Los Angeles??!
Right? That’s what I thought. But, be your own judge.
And let us know what you think after watching Dec14 2014 episode of “Le Supplément de Canal+“, a popular French TV show hosted by Maïtena Biraben, featuring a main political personality each week and punctuated by several short docs (from roasts to current affairs.)
Should you be well-versed in the french language, you will enjoy the entire show:
Should you need to fast-forward straight to the adventures of Mike “Jeans of the Old West” Harris and yours truly, because you’ve been driving on the wrong side of the freeway for ½ hour, there it is:
Many thanks to Canal+, producer Maïtena Biraben and journalist Marc Beaugé for the consideration, field reporter Camille Girerd and journalist/cameraman Guillaume Cauchois for their kindness, hard work and professionalism and energy.
Extended gratitude to comrades and historians Mike Harris and Russ and Charla, Tina Wakino from “Bazar” in Venice… and Lady Luck!
The trained ear will recognize the rockin’ sounds of Mr JD McPherson spicing things up during the documentary.
Mike Harris showing recent finds, before heading out to the unknown…
At the first gas station stop, Tina “Eagle Eye” Wakino was already on to something. H&M Spring 2013?
Now if I could just remember where I buried that thing…
It’s no Club Med for Canal+ reporters Camille Girerd and Guillaume Birot taking 5
Big John, Big John… Big Bad John!! Is it lunch time yet?
Let us know when you reach China.
Whaaa?… a Levi’s paper ticket from 1576? Go dig some more, son
Canal Plus has a free smartphone app that works great for US viewers to download or replay shows, available here.
Thank you for watching 🙂
SEPT 2016 UPDATE:
The show is not streamable anymore, but here is a screen capture done at the time of airing. Sorry about poor image quality and sound.
I believe I pretty much owe my soul to Music. I owe it to all the talented Artists who have made my days brighter and my nights lighter when nothing else seemed to work… Music is an endless source of inspiration for me, a vital part of the creative process behind anything Mister Freedom®. I thought I’d share some of it, which is the best way to keep it alive.
So. If you have an urge to cut a rug, shake a leg, do the bop, get rhythm, jump the blues, dig the boogie, or need rock therapy, we are adding a new section to our online store: the MF® Juke Joint, with some fine roots music CDs for your listening pleasure.
It will feature a selection of some of the sounds one might have heard spin at our Los Angeles store. Clearly not an exhaustive list of the eclectic mix of music we listen to, as we don’t intend to enter the World of music distribution, letting the pros do that. We just want to feature a few contemporary Artists we dig!
Some of you will already be familiar with them, some happy to discover something new. Ahhh, the bliss of unearthing a new song, put it on repeat until the craving is gone…
Now, the mercantile bit. No, we’re not giving CDs away with purchase. Music is what musicians do for work and freebies don’t help make a living. At that level that’s a lot of hours of real work, solo practice, rehearsals and commitment. Even if the trick is to make it all sound effortless once on stage, choosing music as one’s path comes with sacrifices not everyone is willing to make. I’ve always respected those who do.
So the CD prices are those suggested by the Artists. We are just making it easy to add some of that sweet Rock & Roll to your Mister Freedom® online cart, if so inclined. No sampling or fancy web set-up as one can YouTube anything these days to get a taste. Just the official CDs as released by the original Artists.
We will be beefing up our MF® Juke Joint selection as time permits.
We’ll just start with a few talented fellas we know.
Dig it.
Thank you for the support, and don’t forget to go see live music. Sure beats Candy Crush on the sofa. Thank you very much.
The “MF® Juke Joint” section will be available on www.misterfreedom.com as soon as our tech dept recovers from the Holiday cheers 🙂
We’d like to announce that each CD will come with this autographed photo of a live one, but no.
Pappy proudly striking a pose in his brand new Black Lamb Campus jacket. We believe he’s ready for the draft horse test.
Mister Freedom® Black “CAMPUS” Jacket, Italian veg-tanned Lamb edition ‘The Sportsman’ Fall 2014
That’s right jack.
It’s back.
It’s black.
And I don’t mean zombie-consumerism Friday, with deals you can’t refuse on things you won’t use.
I’m talking new addition to the Sportsman catalog. Like a new version of the MF® Campus Jacket we originally introduced in 2013.
In this instant-gratification World, where mass producing soft factory-distressed garments is the norm and the money-making ticket for the Garment Industry majors, releasing an unlined pink-colored cowhide jacket, as we did in the Fall of 2013, can be seen as an unwise move. In the “these guys are not well” kind of a way…
But thanks to the good sports who decided to take the plunge and play the DIY game, we survived. And, a year later, there are some mighty fine examples of worn-in Campus jackets out there.
We were rewarded by all the cool evolution shots, every patient new owner molding his Campus to his own liking, for some breaking it in for the next generation.
One way to do it was expertly documented on the Vintage Engineer Boots website by our friend USMC MSgt John V.
Whether hands-on or via social media photos, witnessing this fun natural patina process might have hopefully convinced a few skeptical individuals that the ‘worn look’ will come… naturally. Our Campus jacket went from a ‘raw’ light pink to warm shades of orange, with basically sun exposure and wear. Nothing revolutionary for you salty bunch, but an apparent novelty for some who hold factory-distressed clothes as the norm, because they are ‘comfortable’ straight off the rack…
My apologies to the choir for the broken record.
Early evolution of a Campus jacket, 2013
Perso Campus jacket, 1.5 year of intermittent wear
Then, in 2014, this happened…
As I was sourcing out leather one day, trying to discern Sonny Fisher’s ’56 “Pink and Black” from the engine rattle, I came across a stack of wrapped bundles of black leather sitting on top of a metal shelving unit, in a wholesaler’s warehouse. Inside the craft paper, small hides of a supple and delicate leather with somewhat of a glove leather touch had been gathering dust for years. This was ordered from an Italian tannery and was never paid for, I gathered…
Long story short, this was a New Old Stock lot of genuine vegetable-tanned lamb hides from Italy (I found some remnants of paperwork in the rolled skins).
Although a definite departure from the rugged look of a worn cowhide Campus jacket, I felt that a black Italian lamb Campus would not be too shabby of an addition to the Mister Freedom® Sportsman catalog. Next thing I remember, I was driving off with my lamb loot.
The USA manufacturing went as smooth as the first time around…
The first time around…
For extra fun and because we had way too much time on our hands this summer, the originally solid dark brown corozo buttons we selected for the project were left in the sun for several weeks. This gave ‘life’ to the wood grain and veins, making each button unique, and puzzling the neighbors in the process. Yes, we laid each button flat in several trays, one by one, then put the trays on the roof for a tan. We then sat down and stared for over a month. Don’t worry, we took turns.
Now, if you‘re very bored one day, check the back side of a button, for an idea of its original color.
The style of our Campus jacket, inspired by a “Cossack” type cut popular in the 1930’s, has been discussed in the original post and remains the same for this black lamb issue.
This time however, DO NOT immerse this jacket in water! Don’t even think about it…
The black lamb Campus is ready to go, just requires to be worn as-is, without any pre-treatment or efforts.
This version is intended as an elegant 1930’s style jacket, dressy sportswear if you will. These veg-tanned lamb hides are delicate and will scuff easily. Do not rub against brick walls or drag this jacket behind your car, like this maniac…
This is not a workwear-type coat meant for field work and rugged treatment, including storing nails in the pockets. You wear this on a date. Or to get a date, when cargo shorts don’t cut it.
Bottom line, should both arms of our Black Lamb Campus get tied to two draft horses pulling in opposite directions, we guarantee the jacket will rip in half.
The Campus Jacket was designed and manufactured in California, USA, by Mister Freedom®, with the help of Sugar Cane Co.
SPECS:
PATTERN: An original pattern inspired by 1930’s sportswear type lightweight leather jackets.
LEATHER: Genuine Italian vegetable tanned lamb leather, exclusive to the USA production. The leather is BLACK.
DETAILS:
* 1930’s silhouette
* One piece back
* Fully unlined, clean seams.
* Cotton corduroy collar and wrist cuff facing
* Slash pockets with arrowhead-shaped edges.
* Side gussets with adjustable side straps (NOS metal slide buckles)
* Keyhole button holes.
* Sun-tanned brown ‘Cat Eyes’ corrozo wood buttons (aka ivory nut), backed by 1920’s NOS French antique glass buttons (some jackets will have black, some will have iridescent white-colored back-buttons).
* Underarm venting eyelets
* Mister Freedom® ‘The Sportsman’ woven label behind the slash pocket, right front panel.
* High stitch-count, sturdy poly-cotton thread stitching.
* Made in California, USA.
CARE/SIZING:
This is quite a delicate jacket, not intended to be worn while working in the field but rather as a dress-up garment.
It does not require any type of pre-treatment and is ready to wear as-is.
After a few years of normal use, professional care or conditioning might be considered and left to a veg-tanned leather specialist. Again, DO NOT immerse in water.
The cut of the Campus is quite snug, depending of course on your own built. I wear a snug 38, my usual size in MF® jackets, with a simple Tshirt or light shirt underneath.
Like its cowhide predecessor, this black lamb model is true to size. It is not anticipated that the lamb leather will stretch/’shrink’ with normal wear.
Please refer to sizing chart for approx measurements, identical to our 2013 natural cowhide Campus jacket.
Another terrifying adrenaline-charged stunt, captured by Mr. Tadashi Tawarayama of Seven Bros. Pictures, 2014. Breathtaking, no?
HELO JACKET, Signal Yellow/Navy Blue
“Sea Hunt” mfsc collection, Fall 2014
The final heavy hitter of our “Sea Hunt” two season-long saga comes in the form of an airborne pilot-type jacket: the “Helo”.
We first made a signal yellow Helo. And against Tina Turner’s advice, realized we needed another Helo. So there’s a navy blue version as well.
Are you still there?
I know nothing about flying machines, but I’ve always found helicopters fascinating. All kinds of shapes and colors, unlikely floating crystal bubbles in metallic frames, hovering and defying gravity and winds…
“When the command is GO… SCRAMBLE!” said the old GI Joe™ Action Pilot™ leaflet I dug out of surviving bits and pieces of childhood stored in a metal trunk back in the Old Country.
I was not much into video games or fire trucks as a kid, but kinda dug helicopters for some reason. Maybe because TV programs were full of them. Félix, the bright yellow Hughes 300 lifting off from the helideck of the Calypso with Cousteau on board meant Adventure. TC’s chopper in all its ‘Verner Panton’ paint job glory meant bizness…
Fancy recreational toys, island tour vehicles, for rescue missions or airborne stunts, Air Cav mean machines or rotorhead dreams… no matter the assignment, these flying crafts always seemed to be manned by skilled daredevils, handling real joysticks that surely beat Atari’s. I was sold.
Tanguy & Laverdure, action pilots
The ride of the Int’l Man of Action
Family heirlooms
Photo courtesy Vectis Auctions
USAF S-51 Panama 1950’s
Yellow’s in.
Felix on the Calypso 1975
Félix, Jean-Yves and Bob
Airborne wall paper
TC & Magnum
Chopper Squad
Bebel
Bell’s belle
Hughes and jag 1976
VH-ELP Westpac 1973
“Be nice”, Vietnam 1969 (courtesy ‘Raspberry’ Reed, via VHPA Museum)
Some of the above vintage photos/infos courtesy of members of the Professional Pilots Rumour Network, rotorhead section. All credits to the original owners.
So, when it came to designing a pilot-type jacket for one of our ‘Sea Hunt’ character, a rescue helicopter pilot, I was GO.
In many of the 1960’s-1980’s photos I’ve researched, helicopter pilots are wearing flight coveralls, CWU (Cold Weather Unit) jackets or jet pilot type jackets. It seemed that a jacket specifically made for helicopter pilots never existed in the US Air Force (I could be wrong). So I decided to blend nylon flight suits with MA-1, N-3B and CWU-type gear to come up with one.
The expert at Buzz Rickson’s kindly opened their doors, and allowed us to utilize their resources and mil-specs trims.
Back in California, we played with several ideas, different body types, length balance, styles, periods, tweaked pocketing and construction for a while…
For those into design anecdotes, the early sketch had a narrow and straight throat latch and a zipper chest pocket. After seeing an actual early prototype sent from Toyo Enterprises, I realized it made the jacket look too ‘racing’. I opted for a latch in the shape of an L-2B flight jacket waist tab and an alternate chest pocket design instead…
Well, let there be flight and there was flight, from sketches to prototypes, we eventually landed a ‘plausible’ hybrid. A jacket that looked to me like it had been around tarmacs cockpits for decades. The Mister Freedom® mfsc “Helo Jacket” was born.
Our “Helo Jacket” shares its insulating qualities with original Air Force MA-1 type flight jackets (I mean the real vintage USAF deal, not the cheapo ‘Made in Pakistan’ civvy versions). While the thick wool pile lining will guarantee warmth, the wool knit collar and wrist bands will help prevent the cold air from penetrating.
The ‘Space Age’ V-shape of the cuffs was borrowed from a 1960’s WEP fixed-wing USN pilot jacket (detachable top part of a winter flying suit MIL-S-18342 C. Many thanks to reader Matt Henderson for the knowledge. More valuable insights on WEPs here).
This specific detail proved to be a real challenge during manufacturing. I believe the original purpose of these V-shaped cuffs was to allow extra stretching for a wrist instrument. In 2014, their main achievement was to provide real headaches to the skilled machine operators mounting our Helo Jacket… Sorry ’bout that.
Instead of the familiar orange lining of vintage MA-1 or L-2B reversible flight jackets, we opted for a non-emergency yet contrasting weather cloth lining. This is the same fabric we had milled for our Spring 2014 “Skipper Jackets“. This 100% cotton fabric not only feels nice against the skin, it also provides an interesting contrast in texture/hand/feel next to the mil-specs 100% nylon twill shell.
The Helo is a heavy winter jacket of about 3 Lbs.
Designed in California by Mister Freedom® and manufactured in Japan by Sugar Cane Co.
SPECS:
FABRIC:
Shell: Mil-specs heavy 2/2 nylon twill, milled in Japan. Lining: 100% cotton 6 Oz. “Weather Cloth” tightly woven windbreaker popeline, milled in Japan. Inner: Insulating wool pile.
Two model options: a) Signal yellow shell/Navy blue linning & knit trims. b) Navy blue shell/Olive “Jungle” green lining and knit trims.
DETAILS:
* Original design inspired by vintage US Air Force flight gear.
* Vintage mil-specs replica parts & trims.
* Heavy duty 1950’s-type “Crown” zipper front closure.
* Inner windflap.
* 100% wool knit collar and cuffs.
* Two inside chest pockets.
* Snap throat tab.
* Expanding knit wrist “V” gussets.
* Arm “cigarette” zipper pocket (fits a case-less iPhone5)
* Bottom cinch string, leather sliders and eyelets.
* Made in Japan.
CARE/SIZING:
When needed, professional dry-cleaning ONLY.
Do NOT wash.
Our Helo Jacket is true to size, with somewhat of a slim fit. If you are usual a 38 in msfc jacket, you are a 38 in the Helo.
Please refer to approximate measurements in the chart below. Please note that due to the thickness of the shell/inner/lining, measurements are somewhat subject to interpretation.
Deck Pants, Type N-1Z, Indigo-dyed jungle cloth
“Sea Hunt” mfsc collection Fall 2014
Some of us like indigo. Some of us like jungle cloth. Those who like neither are in for a treat with this special number. Double punishment.
We have revisited and ‘simplified’ an old trousers pattern we introduced in 2008, the mfsc N-1K deck pants (“N-1” was for the 1940’s USN deck jacket reference, “K” was for the USAF type K-1 flight suit that inspired the pattern of the front patch pockets). There’s nothing wrong with knocking yourself out once in a while, before Dong does it.
Everyone is by now familiar with “Jungle Cloth”, a Bedford cord type fabric. This tightly woven cotton, distantly related to the corduroy family, has somewhat of a water repellent quality, and was used quite extensively by the US Navy in the 1920’s-1940’s period, as the fabric of choice for some of the foul weather gear.
Our durable 14 oz. jungle cloth is pretty much mil-specs, with a MF® spin on the color. We had the fabric indigo-dyed for the occasion, a dark shade of indigo blue. The color is light-sensitive, and meant to fade naturally with regular wash/wear cycles. The front patch pockets are using the warp of the fabric horizontally, subtlety contrasting with the vertical grain of the legs. Overtime, the natural patina will highlight the interesting juxtaposition of one fabric going in two directions. We’ll be posting evo photos on the Hall of Fade sometime next year…
The rear pocket pattern has the same origin than our “Sea Hunt” Spring 2014 Crew Pants.
The overall pattern of these pants is a mix between utilitarian and military. The N-1Z features a 40’s-type black oxidized cotton tape CONMAR zipper, a new contender soon to spice up the groin-zoom photo contest of our sizzling Instagram account, when it’s eventually brought up to speed.
The N-1Z deck pants are designed in California by Mister Freedom®, and manufactured in Japan by Sugar Cane Co.
Fabric milled and indigo-dyed in Japan
Disclaimer: Please note that the photos are displaying my own (soaked and slightly worn 4-5 times) pair of N-1Z. Production comes unwashed/unworn, of course.
SPECS
FABRIC:
* Durable 14 Oz. all cotton “Jungle Cloth”, indigo-dyed in a rich dark indigo blue shade. Milled and indigo-dyed in Japan.
DETAILS:
* Pattern inspired by vintage utility and military trousers, and Air Force flight suits.
* Patch pockets, front and rear.
* Zipper fly, vintage-type CONMAR, black oxidized color, cotton tape.
* Oxidized metal donut waist button.
* Waistband facing lined with Buzz Rickson’s USN-type chambray.
* Full flat-felled seam construction.
* 100% cotton stitching, black color.
* Made in Japan.
SIZING/WASHING:
Our deck pants come raw/unwashed.
We recommend an original cold soak, spin dry cycle, line dry. These are intentionally not cut like skinny pants, and boiling them won’t change that. The N-1Z have a comfortable waist/leg fit. They will shrink to tagged size after the recommended original soak.
Color croaking (temporarily bleeding onto other lighter-colored textiles) is to be expected and will temporarily ‘stain’ light color garments such as white tucked-in undershirts. Indigo rub-off washes off eventually, this is the nature of the indigo beast.
When cleaning is needed, turn inside out and hand wash in cold water with mild eco-friendly detergent designed for delicate fabrics. Do not use a heat dryer. The jungle cloth is very durable and will resist washing machine cycles without a problem, but the indigo will react to excessive and unnecessary agitation by leaving unattractive marbling marks, even if the garment is turned inside out. The first years of care are important to guarantee a nice indigo wear patina.
Please refer to chart for cold soak/line dry measurements. Keep in mind that our cold soak method results in minimal shrinkage.
