Did you notice anything odd about the href="http://www.nytimes.com/pages/style/index.html">Times
Style Section today? We don’t mean href="http://www.getkempt.com/linkout/loose-threads-chicken-fashion.php">chicken-fashion
odd – indeed, we mean good odd. Look, when The Grey Lady offers up
another David
Coleman piece about the resurgence of pants, a “Modern Love” entry
on dead babies/girlfriends/husbands or whatever href="http://runway.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/03/02/no-exit/">dust
bunnies are rattling around Cathy Horyn’s head, we’re always the
first ones to take the piss.

But today…

Starting with href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/fashion/13CEREMONY.html?ref=fashion">Eric
Wilson’s enlightening piece on the mainstream success of the indie
store Opening Ceremony, the Style Section, normally dedicated to more
feminine concerns, offers a full plate for the male reader. Always one
with the snappy prose but often assigned to odd shops, Mr. Critical
Shopper Mike Albo takes href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/fashion/13CRITIC.html?ref=fashion">a
trip to one of our absolute favorites, Atelier. From there, our
beloved David Coleman works his “X is back!” magic on href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/fashion/13CODES.html?ref=fashion">something
that is actually coming back – bow ties. Okay, you can laugh a
little, but it’s good eats nonetheless. Finally, the cagey,
near-incomprehensible Cathy Horyn lays her thoughts (and career) on
the line with an honest, clear-headed and cutting href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/13/fashion/shows/13banned.html?ref=fashion">entry
on her recent tiff with Giorgio Armani. Sure it contains a strange
half defense of the fashion critic – but then again, being a fashion
critic is only about half defensible anyway (we wrestle with it every
day.)

So brava, Styles! You’ve finally given fashionable, intelligent,
straight males a Thursday full of quality content. As for next week…
only Trip
Gabriel knows.

-G.B