The Most Legendary #Menswear Grails Of All Time

Not Available Lead
Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

Not Available Lead

#Menswear grails like “classic” hip-hop albums have the magical ability of turning a subjective topic into stone-carved, objective history. Just as no one can in good conscience argue against Illmatic as a genre-defining piece of work, the following garments helped mold the tiny digital culture we call #menswear. These are not simply items coveted for their aesthetics, but, rather, for their ability to shift paradigms both big and small. Whether due to unique fabrication, prohibitive pricepoints, limited runs or a lighting-in-a-bottle-just-at-the-right-time releases, comfortable lust eventually turned to desperate need, hopeful browsing replaced by something much more crucial. Thanks to most of the reasons that made them grails in the first place, these items soon became the subject of lore, fish stories and fables. “Did you see pic 8 of Tommy Ton's Pitti slideshow? How the fuck did he get one?!” It's funny, you almost don't ever want to acquire a grail lest it stop becoming a grail all together. The following items will forever be etched into the collective consciousness of #menswear, where they will continue to live on forever. Well, there and on all our blogs. And that's kinda how it should be.

1. graillead

Not Available Interstitial

2. 1grail

Not Available Interstitial

Michael Bastian Double Breasted Blazer

When this double breasted blazer hit the pages of GQ in 2009, the early #menswear 1.0 community took a giant Doritos Locos Taco-sized shit in its collective raw denim. With its grey elbow patches, cashmere, tartan lining, gold buttons and insane pricetag, it was single-handedly the best and most luxurious example of the time's extremely popular neo-preppy clothing to emerge out of the new wave of American designers. This was the cornerstone of arguably Michael Bastian’s best collection to date (F/W 2009), an offering that as a whole struck the perfect cord between Americana nostalgia and high-end luxury.

3. 2grail

Not Available Interstitial

4. 3grails

Not Available Interstitial

5. 4grail

Not Available Interstitial

6. 5grail

Not Available Interstitial

7. 6grail

Not Available Interstitial

8. 7grail

Not Available Interstitial

9. 8grail

Not Available Interstitial

10. 9grail

Not Available Interstitial

11. 10grail

Not Available Interstitial

12. 11grail

Not Available Interstitial

13. 12grail

Not Available Interstitial

14. 13grail

Not Available Interstitial

15. 14grail

Not Available Interstitial

16. 15grail

Not Available Interstitial

17. 16grail

Not Available Interstitial

18. 17grail

Not Available Interstitial

19. 18grail

Not Available Interstitial

20. 19grail

Not Available Interstitial

Latest in Style