Style Profile...Michael Arenella

Michael Arenella

Job?
Musician, Singer, Orchestra Leader
(www.dreamlandorchestra.com)

Best Sartorial advice from your parents?
I went to Catholic School as a young boy, and on the "Out Of Uniform Day", my mom did me up right. She was very imaginative and tasteful, and showed me that color and panache could work on boys, too, and at no sacrifice to their toughness.

Style icons
Max Linder
(French silent film actor, 1883 - 1925, known as "The Man In The Silk Hat")
Harlem musicians in the '30s
Cary Grant

Describe your personal style
Jazz Age through French Resistance

I build my daily look around?
Where I'm playing that day or evening.

Personal Style quirk
I wear sock garters

Favorite designers
I’m into old stuff.

Most cherished item
My 1925 Studebaker

I feel best wearing?
Cap, goggles, gloves and a linen duster

I never break this fashion rule.
Tuck in your shirt

Never caught wearing?
Pajamas

Most underrated item in menswear/ womenswear?
Menswear- the hat
Women - the dress

Dress to impress who?
Nobody

Shine your own shoes?
Yes

Shoetrees?
Yes

Favorite stores?
Flea Markets and EBay

Your next "must have" purchase?
3-piece cream linen bespoke suit

I only buy __________ in Europe.
Cuban cigars

I splurge on.....
Dry cleaning

Favorite item of clothing
Straw Boater with a Chartreuse band

Guilty pleasure
Afternoon drinks

Cologne, skincare?
Bay Rum cologne, any brand

When I was high school I wore?
Khakis, Oxford shirts, canvas shoes

Favorite fashion magazine?
Apparel Arts
(Apparel Artists the de facto magazine of record for men's clothing in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s)

Favorite vacation spot?
Canoeing the New York Harbor (really)

Favorite neighborhood restaurant?
Sam’s Restaurant and Pizzeria
238 Court St, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn
(between Baltic and Kane Sts, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn)