What We Like: Mark McNairy

Go-to-hell has become a prominent adjective in the world of men’s fashion as of late.  Wear your trousers a bit shorter and go sockless to show off your “go-to-hell ankles”.  Chilly?  Just throw on a pair of brightly hued and ironically patterned “go-to-hell socks”.  Just make sure the color of your “go-to-hell shades” does not clash with that of your “go-to-hell cords”.

  

Anything that would slightly embarrass your mother, were you to wear it to a Sunday morning church service, can be considered “go-to-hell”.  I’m not the biggest fan of the phrase, but I am a very big fan of the movement.  (I was just recently reprimanded by my mother for sporting my very own go-to-hell ankles at a wedding shower).  With prep-culture reaching the peak of it’s reemergence, designers are feverishly churning out new and inventive twists on classic American wardrobe staples.  The basic navy blazer is now being made available in not-so-basic reds and plaids and plumbs.  You can get a pair of chinos in just about every color under the sun these days.  And now, thankfully, finally, you can wish people to eternal damnation with your dress shoes as well.  

The world of men’s dress shoes had been rather boring for quite a while.  Brown. Black. Leather. Tan. Suede. Boring.  Then, in 2008, former creative director for J. Press (an Ivy League staple) Mark McNairy began adding brightly colored souls to his dirty bucks, chukkas, loafers, and saddle shoes.  Voila, the “go-to-hell dress shoe” is born!  McNairy’s line, Mark McNairy New Amsterdam, is not not strictly shoes, but it is the footwear that stands out.  And it is the footwear that has made GQ label McNairy “the most in-demand shoe designer on earth” and “the most talked-about cobbler in a century”.  Kind words for a man simply telling us all to go-to-hell.    


Photos via Mark McNairy New Amsterdam 

Mark McNairy New Amsterdam

-Justin Bristow