A Fashionable Morning with Nic Alves
it was gloomy tuesday in the city of hermosa beach, california. a week into summer, the warm humidity fell upon us, dragging the temps up into the low eighties. the worst part? it wasn't even noon yet. taking shelter under a patio umbrella outside the 'java man coffee house,' i was taking sips of iced coffee, until my phone started buzzing. it was lord_nic.
nic asked for my whereabouts, but before i could reply, we spotted each other. i saw a gentleman dressed to the nines, across the street. nic saw a guy wearing black head to toe on a warm day. smart, real smart. after exchanging our hellos, he proceeded to grab a cup of caffeine. feeling adventurous, he returns with a citrus mocha latte. in addition to his fashionable entrance, his choice of drink tells me this guy is something special.
how long did it take you to get ready this morning?
like twenty minutes. i think I’ve mastered it. it has taken longer in the past, but i don’t know, the more you do it, you get a routine going.
your style clearly separates you from the crowd. the jacket, shoes, shirt, etc. what would you say is your "thing?"
definitely shoes. boots to be specific- like a nice military boot. i think i have every boot now.. try to get that- a boot that you don’t see everyday.
would you consider
yourself a "sneakerologist?"
i just like shoes. boots fall under shoes. sneakers fall under shoes. you can say sandals. anything you wear on your feet. i guess you can say i have a foot fetish, even though i hate feet.
everyone has a signature. what is yours?
fitted clothing. a very fit look. tailored. looking back at fashion as a fine art, i would say i’m a mixed media.
mixed media?
so a mixed media in art is basically when you use different, products to make a final painting. for example, it’s like you used a pencil on a canvas with water color, right? you normally wouldn’t use a canvas and water colors or a canvas and a pencil. you’d use pencil and paper. i like to mix high-end with low-end. so like i wear a nice boot, but maybe a dress shirt from target. i don’t think you have to necessarily be specifically brand loyal. you don’t have to wear all street wear. you don’t have to wear all suits and ties. i wear skater stuff, for what people would call “street swag” with something really nice and it just puts a touch of my style on it. like i’m wearing hiking socks with a professional outfit!
i had no idea those were hiking socks.
yeah, no idea!
is there a style that you admire, but can’t pull off?
oh, yeah. so that goes back to what kanye [west] is designing lately. his own stuff looks so cool- it’s not something you see everyday, but it’s just something that i feel like i can’t pull off. i don’t think i look good in that, but again it’s something that like i don’t say that’s not cool or it’s not fashionable because i can’t wear it. i think it looks amazing. and just for clarification, we’re talking about baggy shirts, pants that are slim but baggy in terms of ruffles, just the street wear style. i admire joggers, but i would not wear them.
we can see that you're quite a stylish figure. besides dressing well, do you have any hobbies?
yeah, looking at shoes! i’ll spend hours just looking at the latest boots. i may not actually need a boot, but I’ll spend an afternoon just looking for something different. and if i find it, i’ll get it. one thing is, i refuse to ever pay retail for anything. so if i find a boot that i really like, i will wait for it [$] to go down… and then i’ll buy it. it’s a blessing and a curse because i save a lot of money, but sometimes i wait too long and it will go out of stock. then i’m just kicking myself, like “you should have just paid retail. it wasn’t that much. just buy it!”
what was the longest time you’ve waited?
like a year, two years. because styles are constantly changing but my personal style doesn’t change with the trend. i’m not a trend follower. there’s a boot that’s in style one summer, then according to the fashion blogs, it’s out of style, i’ll still go buy it and wear it. i don’t care what other people are wearing, i’m always looking for something different, so that’s why i can wait. i’ll pay retail for something for that’s already pretty cheap. i don’t go to h&m and wait for a shirt to go on sale, but if it’s like a higher-end [product], then yes.
if someone wanted to incorporate the nic alves style into their closet, where would they start?
a good place to start is a good pair of jeans. you can dress jeans up or dress jeans down, depending on your shoes. desert boots are really good. always work bottom [shoes] up and from there the tops are just anything you want. so, the best place to start is a desert boot, a pair of jeans and whatever shirt you want. really you only need two items, boots and pants. you don’t even need to get a nice boot. my favorite pair of desert boots are actually from target and i wore them until there was a hole in the sole, but they were just the greatest shoe ever. they just looked so cool. no need to spend $500 on the latest desert boot from wherever brand. no one knows that brand of a shoe if there’s no logo on it, and high end brands don’t usually have their logo on it. that’s my motto.
nic fed his parking meter enough time to grab a cup of joe and snap a few photos around town, before heading off. we both survived the heat and enjoyed a delightful morning by the coast. not to forget, getting some insight on the fashionable lord_nic.
for more on nic, you can follow his fashion forward life on instagram.