Clothes Line Saga 003
Dead & Co, double knees, and fishing vests
Welcome back to Clothes Line Saga, a series devoted to fit pics and associated commentary.
I wore this on Saturday, August 2nd—the day I hit the Dead & Co gig at Golden Gate Park.
The Grateful Dead is, of course, the single greatest rock act San Francisco has ever produced (Girls is a close second). The city’s love for them runs deep; not even the sanitized, Waymo-fied circumstances of the present day can wash it all away. The Dead are also a massive draw, closer to a religious movement than a group of musicians. People travel thousands of miles and pay thousands of dollars to bear witness, even to a pseudo-cover band featuring only two (2) original members. As long as “Dead” shows up somewhere in the name of the band, the wooks are happy.
All of which is to say, “the Dead & Co gig” was really more of an abbreviated music festival than it was a standard concert. As such, it demanded special preparation, especially given its setting.
The Polo Field at Golden Gate Park is about a mile east of the ocean as the crow flies. San Francisco’s famous fog comes storming in fast, turning the landscape into a mystic woods straight out of a late era Van Morrison lyric. It gets cold and wet and windy, even in August (especially in August). Paths to the field run over ruddy dirt trails torn up by cypress roots and tire ruts. Walking west through the park from the Haight feels like a hike, even though there’s almost no incline or decline.
Once you arrive, you’re swept into a sea of 60,000 people. The vibrations are overwhelmingly posi, but it’s inevitable that you’ll be bumped, jostled, stepped over, and/or spilled on. You need tough, reliable goods that can go through hell and come out looking all the better.
That being the case, I built my ensemble around Carhartt double knees. This particular pair is black rigid duck canvas. This makes them somewhat slimmer fit than the rinsed or denim models, but boy can they take a beating. I’ve been putting miles on this pair for about a year and a half, and they’re just now starting to show signs of wear: softer insides, fades at stress points along pocket edges.
I’m doing the best I can to encourage the process. Pants like these are made to live in, and they should look like it. I throw them on anytime I’m moving shit around my garage or digging up the yard outside (where the reinforced knee actually serves a purpose). Still, it’s taking time.
A few weeks ago the fly zipper popped off the teeth. I was worried that might be the end of the road—it’s a heavy-duty YKK unit, seemingly tough to work with—but I took them into the woman who runs the local alterations spot and she fixed them right up. They look the same, they work the same, and no one’s any the wiser. It makes them mine in a way no other pair would be—even the most beautifully torched pair on Depop.
I wrote a little bit about the appropriation of Carhartt in the previous installment of this series. I stand by what I said then: it’s ambiently annoying, and it’s inevitable. I’m aware some people will spot the big orange C on my ass and clock me as a member of the “creative class” stealing blue collar valor. That isn’t quite true, but it isn’t quite false, either. In any case, the important thing is this: I don’t care. They’re great pants, and they make sense in my life. Doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.
The other notable element here is, obviously, the fishing vest. It’s a little bit ridiculous, especially paired with the dyed long sleeve (on which I offered further thoughts here). That’s ok: big outdoor festival things are the right place the look ridiculous. Try it sometime if you haven’t. It’s fun.
It’s also functional. I hate carrying tote bags (annoying) or backpacks (swagless) at things like this, but I always have things to tote around. In this case, I ended up with a Dead & Co Nalgene (the only cool piece of merch sold in the entire place), an Olympus Infinity Accura point-and-shoot, a bandana, a foldable bag, and a custom-milled walnut joint/lighter stash case my buddy Tony gifted me on Shakedown (check his goods out here by the way). All that shit fit tidily into about three of the vest’s ten pockets.
On top of all that, it just looks cool. This vest is vintage Columbia, but all the compartments and carabiners give it a vaguely Engineered Garments flavor. The cropped fit pairs nicely with the higher rise of the double knees, and you can’t beat that warm khaki tone.
Up top, I finished things off with a favorite hat of mine. It’s made by Swampgoods, one of the finest purveyors of Dead and Dead-adjacent paraphernalia online.
When you go see your team, you wear your team gear. This is true for the Dodgers, and it’s true for the Dead. Still, you want to maintain some sense of self. You’re gonna see the same five pieces of merch over and over again in the crowd, whether it’s the mass-produced official shirts or the special edition tees Online Ceramics is slinging on Shakedown. There’s nothing worse than dropping $75 on a sick new piece only to find yourself standing next to three other dudes wearing the exact same thing.
A hat like this is the best way to reconcile these concerns. Besides, who doesn’t love Snoopy?
