Art Eddy III

There are certain fashion trends that are a headscratcher. You look at the latest trends and wonder who would wear that. Still there are fashion trends that stand the test of time. So with that notion I.W. Harper has long been immersed in style. Following the brand’s return to the U.S. last year after more than 30 years abroad, I.W. Harper has renewed their love of fashion. They teamed up with their friends at Goorin Bros. to create a hat spotlighting our iconic Bowing Man on the interior, complete with a whiskey colored hat band.

Inspired by I.W. Harper’s stylish roots and dapper present, The Harper will launch this Holiday season and be available at Goorin Bros. locations nationwide and at www.Goorin.com. So for those of you who are 21 years of age or older why not pick up a bottle of I.W. Harper Whiskey and get a stylish hat from the Goorin Bros.

You might have recently ordered a Moscow Mule. You have seen them being showcased in bars and clubs, but did you know that this cocktail is 75 years old?  Now more than ever you will see cocktail menus across America feature the Moscow Mule and creative variations of the recipe—but there’s only one original. As the co-creators of the original Moscow Mule in 1941, SMIRNOFF vodka and Cock’n Bull Ginger Beer are celebrating seventy-five years of America’s first vodka cocktail.

In the late 1930s, John G. Martin was the president of an American alcohol company, Heublein, which owned the rights to SMIRNOFF vodka.  One historic day seventy-five years ago, in 1941, Martin sat at the bar of The Cock’n Bull, an iconic pub on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, with owner Jack Morgan.  At a time when brown spirits were king, Martin was struggling to market his newly acquired vodka to American palates.  Morgan, too, had a dilemma: few people cared for or even knew about his ginger beer. Martin and Morgan made cocktail history when they created a solution to sell both products by combining SMIRNOFF™ No. 21 vodka with Cock’n Bull Ginger Beer and a spritz of lime in a copper mug. This was the world’s first Moscow Mule.

Following the creation of the cocktail at The Cock’n Bull, Martin travelled to bars around the United States encouraging bartenders to make a Moscow Mule, giving each of them an instant photograph of themselves with the final creation. Martin took a copy of the instant photograph on to the next bar, encouraging other bartenders to make the cocktail and eventually sparking a frenzy for the Moscow Mule across the country.

To kick off the celebration of this milestone anniversary, SMIRNOFF hosted a series of immersive dinners at the 14th Annual Tales of the Cocktail, one of America’s premier spirits festivals that highlighted the Moscow Mule during an annual cocktail competition. Throughout the evening, invited guests of legal drinking age were transported back in time to experience the story of the Moscow Mule in a pop-up restaurant modelled on the historic meeting between John G. Martin and Jack Morgan.  Guests responsibly sampled original Moscow Mules, made with SMIRNOFF No. 21 vodka and Cock’n Bull Ginger Beer.

For 150 years, the SMIRNOFF brand has been enjoyed by legal drinking age consumers around the world, but it wasn’t until the Moscow Mule was created that vodka became a popular spirit in the United States. The mixability of SMIRNOFF vodka and its quality have inspired other vodka varieties across the globe and served as the basis for popularizing some of the world’s most famous cocktails.

No matter when or where you craft an original Moscow Mule to commemorate this tremendous milestone, please remember to always enjoy it in a copper mug and drink responsibly.

When it comes to Michael Jordan and his signature sneakers everyone stops to look at the latest edition of the most popular shoe line. Last night Jordan Brand showcased the new Air Jordan XXXI in Las Vegas. Defiance is at the heart of Michael Jordan’s success. Throughout his career, the champion faced hurdles — injury, repeated defeat, illness — and continuously soared above them to realize the unexpected. Along the way, he redefined basketball’s relationship to style, the sport’s connection to youth counter-culture and the game’s creative potential.

When Jordan’s footwear arrived during his rookie season, it shared with the world some of its namesake’s tradition-breaking bravado. A black and red colorway violated the league’s uniform policy, earning a stern letter from league officials and generating a $5,000 fine each time the player wore the shoes on court. “Around this time, if you knew anything about Nike…Nike stood on this kind of rebel behavior,” recalls Jordan Brand VP Howard “H” White, in reference to the runners and tennis players connected to the Swoosh. “This Jordan, that color of the Air Jordan I, kind of galvanized that universal scope.”

The Air Jordan I set the tone for Jordan’s future, and his eponymous brand, transcending the court and finding favor across a broad spectrum of society, even with, as White reminds, skateboarders. “You just can’t make those stories up,” he says. “If somebody said, ‘Hey, here it is: Take the pen, take the pencil and draw it up just the way you want it,’ you probably couldn’t have drawn that up the way it came out.”

The Air Jordan XXXI represents a balance of Jordan Brand’s tradition of game-changing performance and its transcendent style: lightweight support for the world’s highest-flying athletes, including Russell Westbrook, and rich material details that exude an off-court sensibility.

The shoe’s first-of-its-kind Flyweave and leather upper incorporates a number of iconic Jordan elements, reintroducing the original Air Jordan “Wings” logo and a subtle Swoosh — not seen on a Jordan shoe since the Air Jordan I and the first time it has appeared alongside a Jumpman logo. And in its launch colorway the Air Jordan XXXI pays homage to the “banned” story.

Informed by Jordan himself, the Air Jordan XXXI also follows on a tradition of low-profile cushioning. “He needed to feel closer to the floor — that was his thing,” recalls White of the origin of Jordan’s desire for low-to-the-ground sole units. As such, the Air Jordan XXXI features FlightSpeed technology with full-length Zoom Air that enhances court feel, responsiveness and lateral support. “We really wanted to focus on propulsion in the forefoot, so when you’re coming down you’re engaging the FlightSpeed with the Zoom Air bag,” notes Kuerbis.

The Air Jordan XXXI “Banned” will be available globally September 3 in select retail stores and on Jordan.com. Stay tuned to @Jumpman23 on Instagram and Twitter for more information on the Air Jordan XXXI.