It seems like fashion brands started cranking out iPad accessories as soon as Apple's tablet hit the market (Gucci, Burberry and Michael Kors to name just a few), but I hadn't realized exactly how enthusiastically until I went on the hunt for something to protect my new Christmas present during my upcoming trip to the men's runway shows in Europe.

My bride totes hers in a simple black Falabella Stella McCartney sheath with chunky chain edging ($395), and I wanted something equally as straight forward and unadorned but guy-appropriate. I'll already be slinging a bag over my shoulder so I decided against the strappy messenger bag style (like the "Danny"  iPad tote from Rebecca Minkoff's new Ben Minkoff line that Max Padilla wrote about last week).

Over the weekend, I found exactly what I was looking for in Jack Spade's nylon canvas iPad folio ($69.95). The exterior is brown, and the interior is a blue-gray micro check pattern that looks and feels like shirting fabric.

It also has a couple of features that don't seem like a big deal until you've tried to use an iPad in a variety of real-world conditions -- a 1-inch spine (like a book binding) that angles the touch-screen for easier typing (it also allows the device to be displayed upright in landscape position for hands-free viewing) and a cut out space in the back that allows it to be placed in a docking stand without removing it from the folio.

Although the cases are currently back-ordered one to two months at Apple's online store and aren't in stock at the Jack Spade boutique in Venice, as of Saturday they were in stock at the brick-and-mortar Apple Store at the Grove, which is where I scored mine (it was hanging next to a selection of Michael Kors cases).

If anyone's found other cool iPad cases for guys, let us know by posting a comment. (And note that comments including hyperlinks won't be published, so if you have a recommendation, just give us the name.)

-- Adam Tschorn

Photo: The Jack Spade nylon canvas iPad case ($69.95). Credit: Adam Tschorn / Los Angeles Times

If you’ve found yourself wishing there was a single place to address all your various esoteric needs — perhaps a Bob Mackie-designed headdress owned by Phyllis Diller, a whoopee-cushion Halloween costume, a robot toupee and a blogger-designed curse-word necktie, head over to the stretch of Little Santa Monica Boulevard just west of the Wilshire Boulevard intersection in Beverly Hills and start tapping the brakes when you reach the tiny storefront windows festooned with neon yellow pineapples.

It's the latest pop-up installation in the Apartment Number 9 space, a collaboration with New York-based Jack Spade, and in addition to oddities like artist Jason Polan’s thin book of black-and-white drawings titled “People I Like in LA" stacks of vintage vinyl comedy LPs (including records by Bill Cosby, Diller and Richard Pryor) and two (count 'em, two) gorilla costumes, the store has the distinction of being the first to serve up the man bag and accessory brand's first foray into a full-blown clothing collection.

Jack Spade, the New York-based maker of preppy utilitarian man satchels and accessories  (it's the male counterpart to the Kate Spade line) is making its first foray into apparel this fall, and to mark its West Coast debut, the label will be taking up temporary residence at the Beverly Hills' Apartment Number 9 boutique (at 9877 Little Santa Monica Blvd.) from Sept. 3 through Oct. 31.

In addition to seeing how the aesthetic of heavy canvas totes, waxwear map cases and soft-sided drill nylon briefcases translate to shirts, trousers, sweaters and suits, (I'll have more of those details in early September after I've had a chance to take a close-up look at the line) it will be a great opportunity for denizens of the Left Coast who've never experienced the curated retail experience of the Jack Spade SoHo store to get a feel for the boutique/curiosity shop/hardware store/college dorm room vibe that can include everything from vintage books to moustache gloves.

This one promises to be a doozy -- the company apparently partnered with an eclectic bunch including comedian Phyllis Diller and the Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. to help curate items for the Beverly Hills space, which will include offerings from the brand's private treasure trove of comedy albums and Halloween costumes.

Is it too much to hope for a Jack Spade branded Phyllis Diller Halloween costume?

-- Adam Tschorn

Photo: A button-front shirt that's part of the first Jack Spade apparel collection, making its West Coast debut at the Beverly Hills Apartment Number 9 boutique on Sept. 3. Credit: Jack Spade

Jack Spade/Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. collaboration

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In the aftermath of New York Fashion Week, we found ourselves poking around the Jack Spade store in SoHo -- one of our favorite repositories of all things manly –- and one of the new arrivals that caught our eye was the Superhero/Civilian reversible coal bag.
A version of the brand’s industrial canvas tote, the bag depicts all the sartorial trappings of the superhero life on one side –- among them a decoder ring, utility belt, "invisible" underwear and tube of anti-matter,) and an assortment of secret-identity necessities on the other, including a fedora, necktie, thick-framed eyeglasses, a dress shirt, a pack of energy pills and dog-eared copy of “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.”)
And it does double-duty in another way too. In addition to finally answering that burning comic-book geek question WWCKC? (What would Clark Kent carry?), a portion of the $195 price tag is donated to the nonprofit writing center 826NYC, which just so happens to be located behind a swinging bookcase in the back of the tongue-in-cheek Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co. in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood.
Although it isn’t being sold through the Jack Spade website, there’s no need to leap tall buildings, just duck into the nearest phone booth and call the Greene Street store and they’ll ship it to you. But if you want one, you better be faster than a speeding bullet –- it’s a limited edition bag, so once they’re gone, they’re gone –- at least here on Earth Prime. Jack Spade, 56 Greene St., New York, N.Y. (212) 625-1820.

Photos: Superhero on one side (top) and Civilian on the other, both courtesy of Jack Spade.
-- Adam Tschorn