A bowtie race, Life in Hamburg, another perspective on American hip-hop's influence, German Humor, “Most Extreme Trousers,” “Foot Cleavage,” Morning Routine, Lederhosen, (cars), field hockey, The Fresh Prince, and more!
Apocalypse Duds
Horsepower with Frederik Wetzel
Good evening, good afternoon or Guten Morgan, as the case may be, ladies and gentlemen, these and them, we welcome you to an extraordinary clash of style and precision, where elegance meets flexibility in a test of sartorial skill. Tonight, we have the nail-biting showdown that will test our contestants, dexterity, memory, and speed at not tying. In the modulus corner, we have the Don Draper of design, the magician of modulus, boss tweet himself, a man who marries German precision with laid-back American elegance, Freddie Verzel. Facing off against Freddie, in the Gingham corner, none other than Connor Flower, the co-host and producer of the renowned Apocalypse Duds podcast. Overseeing tonight's contest with sharp wit and keen insight is Matt Smith, the co-host and producer also of Apocalypse Duds. As referee and narrator, Matt will guide us through each twist and turn, ensuring that every nod and fold is scrutinized and celebrated. Get ready for a bow-tying tirade like no other. God, why do I write this shit? Where tradition meets trend setting and only the finest tire will triumph. Freddie's is the time to be at 12.21 seconds. Can he do it? So, we're going to do it. We're going to do it live. Yeah, that's for an audio-only podcast. Yeah. Yeah. So you think we should race? That was my, the question about the whole thing. Should it be a race or should it be heat? Well, that's what the answer is. That's up to you, I guess. I mean, we can, we can send a record. I thought you would come, I thought you would come for it. Well, listen, I think we should do a race because I think that's funnier. Okay. So, do you want to start right now? All right. At the very beginning, I was already excited when you saw your untied bow tie. Yeah, I got a little bit of a, I got a little bit of a head start. Now, I'm almost positively not going to be able to do this, but we'll see. Okay, hold on, hold on. I got to get the timer ready. The timer. The timer. There you go. Stopwatch. All right. Very funny. Wait, wait, wait, where do we start with our hands? Like, are we already allowed to touch the bow tie or do we have to have the hands squared? I say, yeah, I'm a jerk. Hands on waist. Yeah, this is a German thing, I think. All right. My hands are on my waist. Okay. Gentlemen, start your engine. That doesn't really work. Sorry. All right. Three, two. All right. So here's the knot. Oh, it's nice. Frederick comes out with an amazing lead, but it's still neck and neck. Oh, man. It's been waiting for a lot of my time. And, and boom. And then mine, of course, looks like a ball. Frederick wins. Handily at around 16 seconds. So not quite the world record, but, you know, not again, it's book, but it'll do for the apocalypse touch podcast. Just bring it on him last minute. Yeah, this happening. He had no idea. This is happening. Because it would have been unfair to our audience if he had known. So that's true. I would have frecked us the whole day. Right. Right. So, well, thank you for coming on and putting up with our shenanigans. Good to meet you. So just to get us, get us off and rolling. Where are you from? And where do you live now? Yeah, I'm from, from Hamburg, Germany. So Hamburg is the second biggest city that we have here. And I was born and raised here. So I didn't move an inch, basically. Interesting. Is that actually live, live like probably 200 meters from the home where I grew up. Wow. Now live with me. We, we, yeah, we moved to the same neighborhood once again. And now I'm here again. Yeah. That's awesome. Is that a common thing? Like, is that like, are people staying where they are for the most part? No, I don't think it's mixed. I think they move around quite a bit. But at least in a city, they move neighborhoods and so on. But yeah, I always liked it here. We tried out moving a bit closer to the city center at some point. Yeah. Wasn't the right thing for us. And yeah, it's quite nice neighborhood around here. We have lots of greens and trees and with a little kid at home now, it's, it was the right thing to do and to come. That's great. Yeah. Like just out of curiosity, how big it like is Hamburg? Like how many people live in this city? It's 1.8 million, I think. Oh, yeah. Oh, shit. Okay. Yeah. I mean, compared to US cities is probably not, not that much, but it's the second biggest. Right. Right. And in Germany. That's cool. And yeah, my, I, as much as we have done this with people that live in areas I have no idea about, I have not learned much about German geography. So unique, I guess, is smaller than Hamburg. Yes. I would have figured it would be like Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, but no, it's actually Berlin, Hamburg, Munich. I think I'm really not sure I'm so bad with numbers and geography, but I think Munich might have 1.4 something. I bet you're correct. We're not going to check it out. I hope so. And yeah, cool. Are do your folks still live in that same house or a place that you grew up? No, they don't, actually, they don't. So my parents moved out when my brother and I were both out of the house because they figured they don't need it anymore. And they moved to the apartment where my grandmother originally lived, which is a little bit closer to the city center, but my mother-in-law is still living close by. Oh, that's cool. Funny enough, my wife also, she also grew up around here. So we grew up like a few hundred meters apart. Have you guys been together since you were younger? No, we were friends. Like, we met in primary school, actually, and we haven't been friends back then. But our paths always crossed and we became friends in high school at some point. And we're together since we're students. Oh, it's gorgeous, my niece. Yeah. So I guess, is there a distinct Hamburg style now? I mean, because we are going to get into something like this question, but I'm curious if there is like a... I'm not sure there is because there are so many different neighborhoods around here. Like, we have this very alternative scene in a way where you find back in the days where all the parks and whatnot. And now right now it's baggies and hoodies and stuff like that. Very casual, very relaxed. But on the other hand, Hamburg also has these like richer neighborhoods or wealthier neighborhoods. And there you find like the something that could almost be called like preppy in a way. So people with polo shirts and button downs and chinos and bow chews and the likes. And I think also, Hamburg is a little bit British, I would say in a way. So when the rain comes out, which happens quite often around here, you find all these barber jackets and stuff like that. Oh, that's cool. It's somewhere there. But you can find a lot of different styles around here actually. Yeah. What kind of stuff did you see growing up that people were wearing? Well, it was the 90s, so it was mostly bad. What kind of? Yeah. I mean, coming back, it's all coming right now, right? Yeah. I could hate on a lot of 90s being a 90s kid myself. Yeah. Yeah. But I guess there was the same everywhere that people were like in jeans and sweaters for most of the time, and it wasn't at all that special. But it always depended on where I was when I grew up. Like when I was younger, I was also very much into hip hop clothing and stuff like that, like the little white boy in the baggy jeans and stuff. That was quite strange in a way, looking back now. But my friends were dressing like that too. Did you own a pair of Jico's? No, I did not. I did not. I did not. Yeah. That's a that's a star on your report card. Yeah. I've said it before. I'm glad there's no photographic evidence of me. Well, there may be some in like a deep buried photo album of my mom's, but yeah, not not a whole lot of. You should and cover these. You should uncover these. What my dad did when he when he retired, like my mom, she has all these these photos collected somewhere. And he took all of them when he retired and he scanned them, picture my picture. Oh, that's cool. And digitized them. So there is digital evidence of my, yeah, of my youth style, let's say. You're full indiscretions. I'm not always happy that it's there, but it's there. Yeah, that's funny though. I mean, I think that that style was very transformative for huge numbers of people. And we talked about it here before. It's because I guess it's American, like it's distinctly American. But I just wonder about the I guess I wonder about like the mix of the two scenes, you know, like because eventually they meet. Yeah, I think it was it was very heavily influenced by by the US style. And there were a lot of German brands, like the borrowing from that and they were producing their own stuff. I'm not even sure if they were German brands, but they were just like a part of it. Yeah, yeah, exactly. But hugely. I mean, there it was the other way around. I, of course, I had the the superstars. I knew you met some point, but that was, I mean, everybody had them. But like these these mall brands, they were all copy copying, I don't know, Dickies and stuff like that. And you could find it then from this German brand that nobody knew. But yeah, the style was very US influenced, I feel. Yeah, because I was thinking about it, I was thinking about Adidas, like, I don't know, I think they're like one of the they're like one of the biggest brands in the world. Absolutely. Yeah, it's actually influential, like, I mean, whatever Kanye's whole thing. Big, big, big influence, right? Yeah, definitely. Definitely. It's a super interesting brand also the way they went and with with Adidas originals, which is a much more interesting take on this whole sports world thing, I think. But yeah, of course, I mean, I'm not so much into sports right now, except for doing sports, obviously. Yeah, back in the days, like, I love their stuff. I love what they were doing. Absolutely. Yeah. Would you do sports, right? I do. I do. Yeah, we saw an interview that you played the Oh, hockey. Yeah. And I still do. I mean, I moved on to the, let's say to the to the senior team, like 35 plus. But yeah, I'm still playing. That's doing that. Yeah, it's always seemed like a really fun game. And I love hockey. I played street hockey and shit growing up. But it kind of seems like somewhere between like, you know, soccer and actual hockey to me, which is always been interesting. Look, yeah, exactly. And I think in the US, it's more like, I would say from the girls or women's sport, mainly. Yeah, I don't think that there, I don't know that there are any. And I always thought that was odd, because like, to me, it seems like you could beat the shit out of each other with a wooden stick. You could, but you're not allowed to technically speaking. Oh, God, it's against the rules. Yeah. Because they gendered lacrosse, right? And so in girls lacrosse, you're not allowed to check. Right. Very seriously. Anyway, so just bizarre. Mm hmm. I think you should everybody should be allowed to hit each other. Absolutely. Definitely helps. It should be should be genderless. Exactly. Your opponents. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, I'm I'm still playing as long as my knees let me ride. Right. Right. I imagine after how many years has it been now, 30, 30 years. Yeah. Yeah. I started when I started with school. So around seven. That's cool. Yeah. Did you play in university also? I did, but but not in university itself, because it's a little bit different here in Germany, so you don't have these dedicated university teams. Oh, gosh, okay. You do have them for some sports, but I was always in in my club, which is coincidentally also in the same neighborhood that I'm living in now. So that's really fucking cool. Yeah. Yeah. I guess, I assume like, I don't know how much you know about American college, but I would assume that it was kind of like the intramural section that we have where it's like, yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. And I mean, Hamburg actually is quite, quite big when it comes to field hockey, like there are lots and lots of teams just here in the city. There was a time when the, the, the Bundesliga. So the first league of hockey was just consisted just of teams from Hamburg, which was nice because nobody had to travel. Right. But yeah, it's, it's a, it's a huge thing here. And it's, it's probably the same clientele like La Crosse in the US. So the same people are playing as let's say. Yeah. That's what I would have figured up. We would like to do the fifth check. Looks like you're prepared. I came prepared. Yeah. Exactly. I guess we'll go feet up today. Okay. Okay. I, I, I wanted to ask where should I start, but feet up is, is, yeah, I start with nothing because I'm, I'm not wearing any shoes. I'm at home. Oh, yeah. And nothing there, but I, but I was wearing the, yeah, let's say that the men's wear uniform shoes, the hashtag men's wear shoes, Alden, Cordova, nine, eight, six shell, color eight loafers. Of course. Yeah, of course. Yeah, of course. No, I, I wore them early at this day. I'm wearing a, and it, it matches actually matches your introduction. I'm wearing a Madras pants, like patchwork pants. I see we know everything. Yeah, you do. You do. They are eyes are everywhere. Apparently under the table. So, um, yeah, I'm wearing these there. Uh, they are actually Old Navy, which surprised me when I found them. I was like, I didn't know Old Navy is doing stuff like that. They make some kind of nice stuff. Yeah. You just pick whatever. Yeah. Yeah. And I found them on eBay for like, I think 20 bucks or something. So I, I had to, I had to have them. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I'm, I'm wearing a university stripe, uh, Oxford shirt. I was trying not to say OCBD because I know that Sean Crowley hates people who say this and I know. So, uh, yeah, I'm wearing this one from a brand called Tokyo Wednesday club, which is as weird as it sounds. I, I, I found them through Instagram and, and they make these super baggy, like, basically like an old Brooks shirt, uh, Oxford shirts, uh, and a linen jacket, uh, Ralph Lauren, ivory, white, uh, made literally days. Yeah. And the bow tie, the bow tie that won the race is, uh, roughly roughly Ralph Lauren. Yeah. Yeah. I was going to ask you what your opinion is. What color belt are you wearing? It's brown. It's brown. It's a, it's a braided belt from, uh, Uniqlo. I'm like, I like, I don't know why I follow this rule that I like have invented in my mind apparently, but I always thought that the rule was black and cordovan on the same team. Yeah. Brown with brown shoes. Yeah, that's, that's honestly, that's an, that's an interesting question. Yeah. Always wearing bra. I actually tried to find a cordovan belt because I, I thought it must be out there somewhere, right? So somebody must have done this game. I inherited one, I guess. I've never seen one. Nice. Alden made them at one point. I don't doubt they still do. Uh, I can't think of anywhere else off the top of my head that makes cordovan belt. I've always like colorate. Yes, it is like burgundy ish, but there's enough brown undertones, uh, of the leather itself that brown belt, not black belt or a burgundy belt. Like I've seen. Yeah. Yeah. The kudos. I personally have never owned a pair of cordovan shoes that might be heresy to some people, but that's not my shit. And you're hosting a man's wear podcast. I mean, to be fair, I have worked with Alden and sold a fuck mode of Alden cordovan shoes. They're just like, they're not my thing. Right. Matt sold, Matt sold some to me. Matt sold me on the idea and I found them in a thrift store and they were too big. So I had to sell them. Okay. That's too bad. Yeah. I have to say that they're not my best fitting shoes. The family last is so weird. Yeah, it is. It is. It somehow gives every single person foot what I like to call foot cleavage. And it just like, I don't know how that works. Like even even the most narrow of feet of narrow size, it still gives them foot cleavage. Yeah. What does this mean that foot cleavage? Like, like some loafers, you know, where the where the vamp ends. Some, you know, seem to like stretch and move with you. That's fine. Like however, however that shoe is designed, I don't know if it's a last problem or if it's the actual shape. But like everyone that I've ever seen wearing a pair, their feet spill over that those like two sides on the vamp, just a hair. Okay. Yeah. Isn't that like foot side boob? Or yeah, maybe foot side boob, whatever, push up effect of of all them. It's a yeah, but like people love them. And yeah, they're they're fantastic shoes. I'm not shit talking. Absolutely. I mean, I mean, they're they're expertly made absolutely, but but I have heard so many people saying, Oh, they don't fit quite right. But you know, it's a yeah, the sizing can be can be difficult. Yeah, especially on, you know, especially on the shoe that doesn't have places. It's a it's a little exactly a little more of a headache. Yeah, there's no there's no whatever give something. Yeah, the opposite of that is. So I guess this is a good question to go after the fit check. How do you put together your fits, like conceptually or procedurally from lack of better words? But what's your what's your process? Well, usually when when I'm when I'm at home, I get out of the bath and I sit on my bed and I stare at my closet. And I wonder what I would I feel like this day? I mean, sometimes I'm I'm planning in advance. Like, for instance, when I have a, I don't know, a client meeting in the on the next day or something like that, then then I already want to think about what to wear to this. And you know, what laser I feel comfortable, you know, whatnot. But usually it's like, I'm I'm sitting there. I'm opening the doors of where my pants are behind and then looking at the shirts. And then I'm just choosing. Usually I'm choosing one item that I want to wear that day. And then I'm trying to build off that. And like, how formal do I feel, how not formal do I feel? How much does my daughter who's sleeping right next to me at that moment is does she wake up and do I need to be quick or whatever? And how much time do I have to decide? And yeah, then it's then it's going from there. But it's usually day by day. And yeah, only when I'm when I'm traveling, then I'm I'm packing in advance. And I'm trying to put together as many pieces that go with everything else, you know, to to have the to make the most out of it. Right. That's the worst part. That's the most that's the most taxing part. That's like the hardest part of being alive. So let's let's piggyback on this. Do you travel pretty regular? I would assume because of what you do somewhat. Yeah, I did before COVID. There was traveling quite regularly. And we were also like, not just on holidays, but for business. Yeah, you're right. I was traveling for that quite a bit. But like for basically everyone of us, it changed during that time. And right now I'm not traveling that much anymore. No, we we do smaller trips to the to the seaside here, but just as a family and business trips, not that many anymore or sometimes most of them inside of Germany. Gotcha. Well, what's what's some of your go-to's for for a trip? Like, what are you packing? I pack more boring, I would say, like back in the days I was I was bringing this huge suitcase and and trying to get off my most extreme trousers and whatever I had. Most extreme trousers, beautiful. But but right now I'm I'm going with almost every time I'm having a navy blazer with me, because it's just like, I mean, every, you know, every man's for a classic man's for a guy says that the navy blazer is really the the workhorse of the of the wardrobe. And I would agree because it goes with almost everything. And then I came to like the the vintage Ralph Lauren Chino's like the the ones that are still 100% cotton and not with some stretch stuff like in the basic colors like a khaki or stone or something like that. Because I can I can wear them with with different shirts every day and with different ties. And it's it's it's very basic, but it it works. No, but it's so like grown up. Yeah, I'm packing like a plaid jacket, another plaid jacket. Like, and I don't know why I do this. I mean, I know exactly why I do it. But yeah, I should. I have planar stuff, right? I haven't louder accessories. I could do that. That would be so bad. We we have established that you're not a plain non-loud person. I'm pretty positive. Yeah, I mean, when I when I now think of the the last film shooting that I attended there, I try to to pack a little bit differently because I knew it was it was happening like not just in the city, but also in the woods. And it needed to be a bit more versatile. So I did pack a navy blazer just for the evenings and for for client dinners and stuff like that. But then I went all the way down with the same the same address pencil that I'm wearing right now, actually, and jungle jacket and my dress shirts and the bucket head and all the good stuff that I'm not allowed to wear at home, usually because my wife hates it. I so the bucket head is forbidden by your part. It is 100% 100%. Why? Why? I don't get it. I don't understand the hatred at all. Me neither. She says it makes me look like an like an old guy. And I would agree. But I think old guys dress nicely. And is it not they want you to look like is an old guy? Yeah, like I don't. Yeah, I don't find it. Absolutely. He's very much sense to me. And I think that women are very sensible. And so it seems like unreasonable. Yeah, yeah, it is. But I mean, there are people who can pull bucket heads off. I'm not sure if I'm one of them, but I have to have one one waxed version from barber and one for the summer, which is a cotton thing. She hates both of them. So I support everyone. Wait, hold on. I have does she hate the jungle jacket? Also? No, no, no, no. Okay. One isn't a problem. You get the jungle jacket. That's like the that's like the if you hate the jungle jacket, you're going to be my enemy. I'm sorry. No, no, that that one is good to go, actually. I'm not aware of that. Good. So this is this is a question out of left field, but we'll get it out of the way. Porsche pronunciation. Oh, yeah, I think there I think there's even an episode of Fresh Prince about it where they are like, I think it's it's Hillary and Carlton discussing and or with will discussing and they're saying, hey, rich people have problems too. And then they're coming down the stairs. It's Porsche. It's Porsche. It's Porsche. It's Porsche. Okay. So yeah, I can. Yeah. Well, my question was because I put that in the doc, of course. So I'm like, how do you deal with a thing that is so commonly mispronounced as like a brand brain person? It's it you tend to ignore it or I tend to ignore it because when you talk to people, they are either on the client side and they should know. And if they're on the agency side, they learn pretty fast, right? So they I mean, they do have other advertising people in the US as well. And of course, they all they all by now, they all know how to how to pronounce it, how to how to say it. I think there are some people from the Chinese market on the client side to actually set it wrong, which was weird. But yeah, most of the people I deal with, they know how to pronounce it. And then, you know, the others, don't don't correct them. The brand doesn't do that. Right. So we were in that same interview about where we read about feel hockey. Fuck Connor, remind shop that interview. It was a good one. Yeah, that's ability. Ability. Now, sadly, I thought a great, a great blog. Yeah, it was absolutely. I enjoyed the articles and also the interviews a lot. I think he's really well done. Every now I'm taking a break. Yeah, he's in my anus, something like that. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, great. Definitely a lot of information on there. Yeah, so we saw the mention about the vintage Jaguar that you and your dad restored. How did you get into cars? I don't I don't really know. I think it was also through my dad probably because it started very, very early, like when I was probably two or three years old, I was already interested in cars and had lots and lots of model cars as a kid. There's actually a video of me like around three years old or something. I'm going through a through a magazine through car magazine and I'm naming all the brands in there and and it's it's all right. And now I look at it and I think, okay, maybe I had a problem back then. But yeah, I was I was always interested in cars and we went to car fairs and, you know, on the weekends, we even went to to the places where they sell the cars and we just looked at them and sat inside and it was was a hobby. I love cars and my dad took me there. That's awesome. And yeah, it never went away. I'm not so much into modern cars. I have to admit, like, yeah, I agree. I agree. Not that interesting anymore. Yeah, but yeah, cars in general, I'm a car person for sure. Yeah, my dad is a mechanic and I've been around. I've been around cars my entire life. I am not a mechanic in the least bit. I can change oil now. That's that's something. But yeah, like the classic, you know, the classics from, I guess, the pre-muscle car era have all been. It's just like, that's cool, blow in my mind. Yeah. Do you have, what's that? Do you have a favorite? 55 Chevy Ballet Air and I'm going to be weird, but I'm like the four door more than the coupe. Okay, I don't know why. Yeah, it's just it's just one of those things like, I can see, yeah, it just looks more badass to me as a four door than a two door. What about yourself? Right. Yeah, what about yourself? Ah, that's that's that's tough. I wouldn't say have one favorite. I mean, I love the car that I that I have. I love the Jaguar. It's an XJ6 series one. So from the from the 17th from 1971, it's the limousine as well. Oh, that's awesome. It's a pretty pretty cool one. I love in a Jaguar. I think it's the XK 150. That's an older one, like a two seat race car. The E type of course is great. And I would love to have a Land Rover Defender at some point. Oh, yeah. Wait, we have a Land Rover history in this family and I'm. Oh, do you really? Yeah, briefly, I had a I had a discovery too and a broke down in the middle of the outer bar. And oh, since then, since then we're driving a ball wall that is also older, but that's a bit more. Yeah. Are you Team Defender 90 or Team Defender 110? 110, clearly. A friend of mine used to have one and I just love it. Everything was broken in that car and it's still drove. And he repaired all of it all of it himself. But it's just it's just such a nice car because it's like a car. Right. I saw a newer one on the highway recently and it looks so bad. Compared. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It does. Like, yeah, I am not a fan of modern car design. The one that looks like the Bronco. It's just like, you know, it's amusing, you know, like, you know how like that capitalism fucking destroys shit in that exact way. But my point, like, so, you know, from the clothing standpoint, there's so many brands like you were talking about these originals, like things that kind of throw back to things that they've done in the past. Right. Why the fuck don't car companies ever do that? Yeah, I think it's a safety thing. No, no, but I mean, you can you can update the, you know, the materials and the safety aspects without like, you know, and taking inspiration from like a mid 70s, defend. I agree. And I don't want to turn this into an automobile podcast. But I think there's a French company they basically copied the old defender. It's it's called e-neos or e-neos or something like that. And I saw it on the road for the first time. And I thought this is just a cheap Chinese copy because I was like, okay, what the hell is this, is this car? And then I looked it up and they put a lot of effort into it and turned it into a luxury car. And I think it also comes electric, which is good in a way. I'm not completely convinced by the concept, but at least they are trying, you know? Yeah, totally, totally. I mean, that's that and the Bronco or like the most interesting things I've, I haven't seen this. I won't look it up. But like, yeah, the Bronco is like maybe the most interesting car design that I've seen in like 20 years. Yeah, it's nice, actually. Anyway, sorry to that. I don't know if we've ever actually talked about cars on here. But I don't think very much. Yeah, yeah, at least it wasn't sports to your sugar and con. No, and I mean, cars are fine. Like, it's sad everyone here mostly has to drive one. But I get it. Like, I mean, I understand. I'm not like, like, I don't see cars. Yeah, it's in the aesthetic world too. Like, if you're an enthusiast. Well, it's like, it's like a rapper thing, you know, it's like, which, yeah, you're going, Koop, I'm going four door. I don't know if you know that song that probably not. But that's you with that car. That is, that is me with that car. So I guess we can do another tangent. Like I told you, my stepfather, Eric Schuster, right, is German. And my mom always gives him so much shit for not having a sense of humor. I think that he actually is one of the funniest people I've ever known in my life, right, because he is like subtle and very dry. And I think has a great command of humor. And so I was wondering if you had as a, as a funny German, like basically on site, I was wondering if you had any input into the stereotype of Germans as humorless, because I have found it not to be true at all. Yeah. Well, thank you, first of all. It's hard to say, I know, I know the stereotype and I would, I know lots of humorless Germans, I would say. You're out there for sure. They are definitely out there. But if you want to find a German sense of humor, then it's mostly dry. I mean, it's not like the British dry. It's a little bit different. It's more, I would say, observing in a way, and then you make like a dry comment that is up point. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. That's that's the way to go for for German humor. I mean, everything that's German comedy and whatever is just horrible, I have to say. The average people who come with a sense of humor, they can certainly get to you, and they are probably like Eric Schuster, with a dry humor that I might understand, but yeah, if you get it, then it's good. It's funny you brought up the British sense of humor, because that's immediately where my mind went. Like, I consider them kind of two sides of the same coin. In a way, yeah. I think the British humor is a bit more, yeah, not over the top, but probably also more black. I mean, it's black humor a thing. I would say absurdist, I guess. Yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. And it's even more, the volume turned up more that you think like, okay, can you actually say that weight? Yeah, but you can, and it's funny in a way. So I think we are a little bit toned down on that, but yeah. Yeah, yeah. We'll leave it at this, but I think that that is probably chopped up to a historical event in certain ways. That might also be true. Yeah. So your fifth picks are fucking phenomenal. Thank you. One, one. It's like you're a professional. Yeah, seriously, like, I am not a big pick person as much these days, but like in the past, I have definitely struggled. Connor has talked openly about his struggles with it. Yeah. What's your process for that? Like, do you, you know, location scale? What's something you can, some info you can give to the budding fit pick? Yeah, are you devising these scenarios? Do you have like, what do they call it? Storyboard? Yeah, I'm basically, I'm briefing my team on it, and then there are days. No, it's it's also something that started during COVID, right? Because before that, I was also taking fit picks. And I was also back in the days, I was taking them for my tumbler. And then it was just the basic, I stand somewhere, I take a quick pick with my with my camera before anybody sees me, and then I'm off again. Right. But during COVID, I figured, okay, there wasn't much else to do, right? When you're stuck at home and you can't do much working from there. And I just wanted to do something with that. And I just didn't want to stand there and, you know, photograph what I'm wearing, but I wanted to put some, some stories behind it in a way. So yeah, I started going into that and I just made up my mind. Okay, what would be, I guess, funny in a way? Because I was, I think one of the first picks that I took was like me sitting in the corner with a, with a butter knife and the tie around my head and, you know, that's a good time going insane person. And yeah, I was just, I was just trying to tell little stories because I thought just standing there and doing nothing is a bit boring. So I wanted to do something about it. And then I, I tried to come up with, with ideas more or less spontaneously. Sometimes they're inspired by the items around me, I guess. Most of the picks I take at home, actually, so they are in one of our rooms here in the apartment. So I don't do much location scouting. And most of them I also take myself. So sometimes when we're on the road, I force my wife to get one. But that's more like in the moment when I, when I see something and go like, okay, that, that would be funny. Like, I don't know, eating an ice cream or being at the beach or whatever. But usually I make up my mind what, what to do. And it doesn't have to do much with the clothes that I'm wearing at that day. But I just happen to wear them. And then I try to take a funny picture. That's, that's a good philosophy, I feel. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's really works out. I mean, I think it's like very creative. I think that things are shot pretty well. I guess you must be a photographer in a way of the word. No, no, not at all. You have a camera, right? I don't, I don't. You only shoot with your phone. It's just my iPhone. I have no camera. I was like, this is like an iPhone commercial. No, I think, I mean, I, I don't even try to get something like nice lighting and right angles and whatever. Like it's always front camera, almost like, like stage. I mean, you see that they are staged and, and that's fine for me. But if I'm, if I'm trying too hard, I think it would feel weird. So I'm, I'm definitely not a photographer. And maybe with a camera would be worse. So maybe it's good to, to stick to the iPhone. And. Oh, you're good. Do you remember learning to tie a bow tie? Obviously you're an incredible bow tie. Also, piggyback question with that. Right. How long have bow ties been your thing? Ah, that's quite a while. And I, first I have to say, I think they are not as much of a thing anymore right now. I tend to grab more a tie than a bow tie in the morning when I go for neckwear. At the moment, if I change again. But then I'm, I'm almost ashamed to say that gossip girl back in the days, like the, the original one inspired me to wear a bow tie, because I saw that and I thought it was so fucking cool. And I mean, looking back at it, what, what they wore was horrible, but, but I just thought, what are you wearing? What are you wearing back then in the gossip, bro? Time machine, if you want to go back there, I was, I was trying to, to copy what they were wearing. But I was more going for the items and less for the fit, I would say, and that's why a lot of the things looked horrible. So, um, you know, because I have never once seen this show. And I have no idea. Okay. Yeah, that's probably good. It's a, it's a bunch of rich kids from, from Manhattan and they're on a private school and, and their school ties are actually the Brooks Brothers number one pattern. So the, the red and gold ones. And yeah, it was the, these are sound like synonyms. Penn Badgley. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know if it is, but is, is that the actress name was that the, the, I can't tell it's either Dan Humphrey or Penn Badgley. Look, Dan Humphrey's the role, Dan Humphrey's the role, but, but yeah, he was, spoiler, I guess his real name is, okay. Was that an HBO show? I think it may have been, I don't know, actually, I think HBO has it. I think I saw that have legal scream somewhere. Yeah. But anyway, yeah, that, that's what brought, like the, the role of Chuck Bass brought me to wearing bow ties because he was the guy wearing bow ties on the show all the time. And I, I, I laughed how different that was. So I, I wanted bow ties back then. And I, I started wearing them, uh, and, and learning how to say I learned that from a, from a YouTube video, actually. So I, I looked it up. I watched it probably 20 times or, I don't know. And, and then, and then I was good to go and then, uh, it worked. And since I wore them so often, then it's, it's, yeah, I, I never under it again. Right. Right. It just became a second nature. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I, I have tied many of bow tie, uh, for not myself as much as like, you know, styling a mannequin or a person walking into a store I worked in and be like, Hey, uh, how can you teach me how to tie this? And I'm still not very good. Yeah. Yeah. I can tie a double forehand at about 10 seconds though. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's, that's the next race coming on, right? What's that? That's the next race. Yeah. Yeah. We're going to have to find whoever claims to be the fastest tie, forehand tire. Who do you think off the top of your head would say that they're the fastest tie tire? Okay. You, I can think of known, you say me. I can't tie it's not even, it's not even that good. Yeah. I don't, I don't know who would say it. Um, I don't know either, but I'm sure that someone would claim that they do and we intend to find out. We will have any leads, um, on someone that claims to tie a tie very fast. Uh, hit us up, please. Yeah. Send us an email or something. So what do you think about Ralph in your life and in Germany? I mean, I think that that's like, I know you said in an interview that that was like a starting point for you. Yeah. Yeah. It absolutely was. And I think it was also, uh, you're wearing it today, right? I'm wearing it today, exactly. I'm wearing the jacket, uh, and also the underwear. Um, yeah. But, uh, no, Ralph was definitely a starting point for me, um, because, but I think also because the brand is positioned a little bit differently here in, in Germany, but because around here it was a long time it was really like a true luxury brand, right? Like up there with Gucci and Prada and whatnot. And the stores were in the same neighborhoods and the price tags were also the same. We, we didn't have outlets back then. Like, yeah, yeah. You couldn't get a rough shirt from the, from the Ralph Lauren outlet. So it was a brand that when you were wearing the, the polo shirt, it was also, it was already like meaning something. It showed that, you know, you obviously had some money to, to spend that much money on a, on a, on a polo shirt. Um, and I think it's, it's a little bit differently in the, in the U S that it's not as high up there as it is around here. Uh, I think it's not as much as before because, you know, globalization changes everything. And now people know that it's not, it's not that, but it's still a brand that is, that is mostly seen on, on, on people with, uh, yeah, with, with, with a bigger bank account, let's say, right. Yeah. All people who want to be seen like this. Yeah. It's a signifier for sure. I mean, it's like that, that branding. Um, I don't know. Absolutely. Absolutely. It is. It communicates a lot. Yeah. And, and when I, when I started getting into, into preppy and more traditional clothing, uh, I was mostly wearing rough lowering, like almost exclusively. Um, now I'm, and there are things that, that I don't like as much. And I know you have the discussion on here as well. Like the, the missing pocket, for instance. Yeah. It's terrible. It's awful. It's so bad. Yes. It is. But back then I didn't want a pocket. I just wanted the logo on my, on my chest. Right. Well, let's see it's in, because it's an insane suggestion that we could, that we could have a pocket and an embroidered logo. Right? Weird. I have also seen that. I think there are a few versions out there that come with the pocket and the, the pony. They've done that in the past. Yeah. Exactly. They should just always do it. But, yeah. Like, well, I don't know that it really looks that good. I mean, I think if the pocket is there, then you probably shouldn't logo on top of it. But Brooks, but Brooks Brothers does that too. So, you know, that's kind of been, that's been a thing for a long time. It's, it's not my favorite, but like, I carry a pin every single day of my life. I need a goddamn pocket. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And right now I, I also, I only buy shirts with, with a chest pocket. I prefer it that way, right now. But back then I wanted only, only the pony on my, my chest. And that was it. And I was, I was shopping heavily, but back then I wasn't so much into, into vintage because it, I, I just didn't know how eBay worked and whatever. But I was almost always in the Ralph Lauren boutique. And, and I, I'm ashamed to say the people knew me there. Like they, they know that's, that's right. That's right. I don't know if it says, oh, it's him again. But, uh, yeah, they, well, one of the best things as a human being that you can be is a regular. Probably. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. That's at least it's one of my personal favorite things. Yeah. Oh, oh, yeah. I've heard people say that. I mean, I think that that's like a good, because it means like you don't suck, right? Like we're not an asshole to waiters, servers. What have you? Yeah. Yeah, that's true. Do you, uh, have you like, over the years, have you had, um, some people in your, you know, in your friend group that were into the same kind of like, Ivy Preppy thing? Or are you a little bit of an outlier? Uh, in a way, I am. I almost am. I have, uh, one, uh, one of my best friends, he was, he started with me on that journey, I would say. Like he was interested in clothing after school. I was interested too. Um, he moved to Paris and, uh, that was a Brooks Brothers in Paris back in the days. I know they closed it by now because they're pulling out of the European market for whatever reason. But anyways, but we were both like going there and, oh my God, I need this shirt, I need this, I need that. And, um, he, he embraced it as much as I did. And he went away from it a little bit, I think mostly because he needed to wear suits on a daily basis on his job while I didn't. But for me, it was a free choice. And for him, it was, you know, he was almost forced to do it. So he's a bit more casual right now. Um, and then a former colleague of mine, I met him through work. He's French, um, actually, but he moved to Germany a long time ago and worked in German advertising agencies. Uh, and before I even met him, um, my boss back then said, oh, you need to meet this guy. He's, he's dressing just like you. And I was like, yeah, nobody's dressing like me. I doubt that. But, uh, then we met and actually it's, it's true. I mean, he's, he's probably putting the French spin on it in a way. Uh, there are differences, but he's the one person. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. That's true. Exactly. But, uh, he's the one person that I can, that doesn't look at me weird when I, when I talk, you know, color points and, and leather, kinds of leather and whatever, because he, he knows these things. And he, he's also, he was, uh, a lot into, into Ivy and traditional clothing. Uh, so what's, what is kind of like your work environment these days with, with, like with what people are wearing, you know, in the States, it's oftentimes like a fleece fest and a quote unquote golf shirt, you know, just very casual, just depending where you're working. Yeah. Well, if you, if you call this already casual, then, then don't let me tell you about German advertising agencies, because here, and it's a, it's, it's a good and a bad thing in a way, but people can wear whatever they like. I mean, in the summer, there's, there's tank tops, there's flip flops, there's shorts, there's everything, uh, super, super casual. I mean, if, if you, if you're meeting a client, you probably wouldn't put on the, would put something on top of the tank top, but still, um, people just go with their own styles and it's lots of hoodies, sometimes even sweatpants to work. Uh, again, especially after COVID, if you run to the office, then you might still wear the same thing that you're wearing at home. Um, but yeah, it's, it's super, super casual and laid back and nobody bets an eye, but I, I think that has good and bad sides in a way. Yeah. To, to, I guess advertising is also a little bit more of a inherently casual thing. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah. Same, like a, you know, white collar law firm. Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Do you own any, um, like, have you ever been into, you know, some of the traditional German things, you know, loading cloth comes to mind? Uh, only as a kid, because, um, my mom, she's from, uh, she's from Northern Bavaria. Um, and like sometimes she, she forced my brother and, and me into like a load and jacket and stuff like that. I, I, I know I hated it so much. I know we, we bought a lot of stuff when we were, uh, on holiday in, uh, in Austria. And I mean, they also have these, these load and jackets and stuff like that. Um, but I hated it so much. And, and maybe that, that led to me not wearing any of that stuff later on, later in life. Gotcha. Um, so I'm, I'm not really into that. No, I was, I was actually wearing Liederhausen twice. Um, yeah. Okay. Cause we, uh, we went, uh, we went with, with our clients who were with Porsche. We went to the, uh, what's it called the, the Basen in, in Stuttgart. So, it's the same thing like the autograph has, but just in a different time of the year. Right. Uh, and I'm probably not allowed to say that people dress the same because there are certainly differences between what kind of Liederhausen you're wearing, but still we, we, we, we had to wear this kind of stuff to go there and to, to have beers with, with them. So yeah, I, I did that, I did that for work, but I wouldn't do it, uh, privately. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I guess there's sort of generations of traditional clothing, right? I mean, uh, cause it's certainly true to some people would say wearing a bow to highest traditional. Yeah, probably. Yes. That's true. Yeah. So it's just, bizarre. Yes. Yeah. It's, I mean, here in Hamburg, you sometimes see younger people also with these traditional, uh, like not coming from the, from the, from the, from the, uh, navy, but, but from the, from the people on both, like from sailors, like these traditional blue, uh, caps that, that they are wearing. And you connect them with Hamburg because the city is close to the water and, you know, uh, boats are a thing around here. Um, but you either see them on really, really old people or on young people getting into that style because, um, but it's, it's super traditional. Yeah. Cause it's like, uh, like, I don't know, like, uh, sort of like a flat cap in a way. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Exactly. It's like a flag. Like it's basically what, what a, what a captain on a ship would wear, but not with, with a widen with a, with a gold, I don't know, embroidery on it, but it's just, it's just plain blue everywhere, but with a, uh, with a visor in front and just a flat cap, basically. Yes. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Is there an Ivy League sort of equivalent in Germany? Like, if we're talking about Ivy style, right? Is there like, uh, are the, are the top schools in Germany, like, clustered in some way? Uh, I don't, I don't think they are really because the, the, the system around here works a little bit differently than in the U S. So you, you have these cities where you know, okay, this city is good if you want to go into, uh, into medicine or into law or whatever. Oh, it always depends on, on where you're going for that. Um, there are a lot of private universities popping up more and more where you have to pay quite a lot, because usually in Germany, you don't have to pay as much as in the, in the U S. Yeah. I feel like the U S is, is definitely the most expensive, like secondary line. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Absolutely. I agree. I think I can't imagine. I can't imagine a worse place. But, but therefore there's, there's no real Ivy League around here. Yeah. Yeah. Cause it's the state. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting. But that's, we like that. We do it. We do it. We support that. We support that. No, absolutely. Yeah. So, so we're gonna, we're gonna close out with this, which is, uh, something that us as Americans can't even pay them. Three months of parental leave. Yeah. That's just, that's mind blowing. I could have taken more actually. Really? Yeah. You can divide it here between, uh, the, the mother and the father. Okay. Between between the parents, let's say. Um, and, and I think it's, uh, it's 12 months in total that you can, that you can share whatever way you want to. Oh, it's also also like 14 months when you work part time at some point or something like that. So it's quite cool. Yeah. I was talking with my psychiatrist today. I think we could devise a bed. Um, so that basically someone could have birth on the bed and go to work immediately. And I think that that would be my million dollar idea. Don't, don't give anyone that any. Yeah. That's a whole idea. God damn it. Yeah. Yeah. I was surprised it doesn't exist already. I mean, really. Yeah. You owe me both. Uh, yeah. That's going to be the next Elon Musk in that. Oh, yeah. Um, anyway, project, dude, this has been fantastic. Thank you so much again for coming on. Thanks for having me. Yeah. It's been a fun discussion and, uh, we love, we love the more international, uh, guests that we can, that we can get. Yeah. Thank you very much. Yeah. To close out, we always give, uh, our guest a chance to shout out whatever they would like to. So throw your Instagram handle and anything else you want to, want to praise out there. Uh, yeah. Thank you. So, uh, yeah, my, my Instagram handle is, uh, at Happy Preppy. You can, you can find me there. And if you like what you see, you can, uh, follow me. Uh, and, uh, maybe, maybe a shout out to, to, to my wife who, who, who, who takes all of this and, and accept if the, the way it comes and accepts the fact that for the bucket hats. Yeah. Except for the bucket hats, that's true. But still, uh, that my closet is way too big and, uh, she's still, uh, not, not mad at me when it comes to this. So, yeah. Wait, we love the supported partner on this program. Absolutely. Absolutely. Uh, Lily, I love you. Uh, my daughter, uh, as well, if you listen to this in a few years, don't be embarrassed. Yeah. Thanks so much for having me. Yeah, dude. Uh, just out of curiosity, how old is your daughter now? Uh, she's almost three, like, uh, in August, she's turning three. That's awesome. Yeah. Good. Good times. Good times ahead. Maybe, maybe you will influence her taste in clothing at some point. We'll see. She, she knows the difference between a tie and a bow tie. So that's a good start. Nice. Yes. Yeah. All right. Genius. Well, yes, uh, Frederick, once again, thank you. Um, thanks everyone for listening. Um, if you have questions, comments, concerns @apocalypseduds on instagram.apocalypseduds@gmail.com. If you want to send us anything, just high, whatever. Uh, we don't even get bought. You're just a virus. Yeah. Did you get bought emails? That's how, that's how desperate we are to get an email. Um, anyway, um, yeah. I am Matt Smith at Rebels Rugs. And I'm Connor Flower at Connor Flower. Yeah. Yeah. I'm glad you noticed that mistake. Um, anyway, uh, yeah. Uh, one more time. Thank you for listening. Please rates and subscribe on your platform of choice. Um, and we will see you next week and give Freddie a follow and get Freddie a follow. Yes. Yes.