February 9, 2012 world of men's style / fashion / grooming RSS
“advice”
12/28/11
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The Gentleman’s Workout (and Other Advice From 2011)

Gentleman's Workout

Let’s be realistic. It’s the week between Christmas and New Years – you’re not going to your personal best mile time. Instead, consider employing The Gentleman’s Workout: Pack a gym bag. Leave it in the car. Find the closest steam room. Enter it with one large bottle of chilled water. Drink it. Take a cold shower. Enter the steam room with a second bottle of chilled water. Drink it. Take a slightly warmer shower. Utilize all toiletries/razors/ combs-in-jar-0f-blue-liquid saves/q-tips available in the locker room and, if applicable, enjoy a stiff cocktail in the clubhouse before returning home for a much-needed post-holiday workout feast.

Here are a few of our other humble suggestions from 2011…»
 

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11/15/11
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Good Idea

The Kempt Guide to Thanksgiving Travel

Travel

It’s a fair bet that in about a week’s time, you’re going to be taking a trip of some kind. And since time is precious, you’re going to want to arrive ready for a solid session of food, drink and general carousing, with wrinkles in your clothes or fatigue in your body.

Over the years, we’ve developed a near-failproof game plan for pulling off just that. It’s not complex, but it demands rigorous adherence and an almost monk-like resolve. If you’re up for it, we’ve enclosed the three key points after the jump…

Our three-step plan for getting off the plane unscathed…»
 

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10/19/11
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Good Idea

A Gentleman’s Guide to Halloween

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s coming. In just a week and a half, you’re going to be faced with a flood of invitations to costume parties, and you’re going to have to find a costume in the spirit of the occasion that doesn’t make you look like a complete doofus. We’re not going to lie to you, it won’t be easy—but we’ve got a few ideas on how to make it through unscathed.

The three things to remember this Halloween…»
 

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06/07/11
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Good Idea

The Kempt Guide to Wristwear

Street Etiquettepic via Street Etiquette

We’re in favor of flourishes.

So when gentlemen started adorning their wrists with colorful strings, beads and leather straps, there was a lot to like. It was spontaneous, and it was good. But with $100 lanyards flooding into boutiques, we thought it might be time to separate the inspired from the trendy.

So without further ado, our two cardinal rules concerning wristwear. Take them to heart.

Here’s what you need to know»

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09/17/09
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LinkOut

Silwia Jankowska Slinks

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Hello, There: Fashion Copious checks out the portfolio of Ms. Silwia Jankowska, and we’re beginning to think every model in the city has a “slinking on the floor” shot… [Fashion Copious]

Oh Man: A familiar face takes stock of the “manly advice section of the bookstore. The verdict? You’d better learn to tape drywall. [Slate]

Roll Out: Esquire takes stock of the latest runway trends, as applied to what you already own. Get ready to roll those pant cuffs. [Esquire]

Music for SmartPhones: Brian Eno fulfills his destiny with a generative iPhone version of Music for Airports. Maybe he was too cool for Android? [Gizmodo]

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07/27/09
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Good Idea

What a Man Must Do

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In case you missed your issue of Esquire this month, we’ve got an emergency dose of masculine wisdom. This one comes courtesy of Omar Tehawko who put together the poster at the left. He’s managed to narrow the Things a Man Must Do down to five simple imperatives:

1) Shoot a Small Helpless Animal
2) Visit Space
3) Punch a Lion in the Face
4) Fly a Jet Fighter
5) Save the Day

It might take some doing, but nobody said manliness was going to be easy. First, you’ll need a lion with a glass jaw…

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04/24/09
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Good Idea

Choices, Choices

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One of the highlights of Britain’s current turn in the style spotlight is the steady stream of heritage brands taking their star turn. This month, it’s Baracuta, a lightweight jacket company recently been favored by a J. Crew collab, a quasi-placement in the latest Bond flick and seemingly endless supply of good press.

Of course, a history of showing up on the shoulders of everyone from Steve McQueen to Joe Strummer doesn’t hurt.

We weigh your baracuta options»

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04/09/09
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Good Idea

Aiming High

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Lapels have been migrating north for quite a while now, and in this Oliver Spencer blazer—pulled from his latest lookbook—they seem to have moved all the way to the collar.

It’s not for everyone—Tom Ford is on record as hating the look—but Spencer knows how to pull it off better than anyone.

You’ll want a smaller collar than usual and a thin knot to keep everything roughly in proportion, but the real trick is leaving the top button unbuttoned. The jackets in question are usually three-buttons, and fastening the top one is every bit as bad as fastening the bottom.

And if you want to throw in a quick lapel trinket to show off how clever you’re being, we’d say you’ve earned it.

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03/27/09
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Dept. of Corrections

The View From Paris

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It’s been a while since we heard anything from Rick Owens, but apparently Men.Style hasn’t forgotten last decade’s Marc Jacobs. They stopped by Mr. Owens’ Parisian flat to condense his style wisdom into ten simple rules.

As you might have guessed, some of them are better than others.

For instance, ponder this one at #4: “When a suit gets middle-of-the-road it kind of loses me—it has to be sharp and classic and almost forties.” We were with you until the 40s part, Rick…

We catalog Mr. Owens’ wisdom»

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03/26/09
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Taking a Knee

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As much as fashion media tends to focus on clothes, real style comes from knowing how to wear them…which doesn’t go without saying.

H(y)r Collective just posted a smart take on correctly approaching plaid shorts, which contains crucial info surrounding what might be the preppiest item of clothing on earth. The main gem is this: Stay between one and three inches above the knee, and everything will be ok.

And, if at all possible, try to wear them on a yacht.

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03/24/09
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Conversation

Street Life

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The Dow may be surging, but it’s going to be quite some time before that money trickles down to the average man of style…much less the average shop-owner.

Hypebeast recently had the same idea as us, and approached some of the wiser boutique men and label owners with notebook in hand.

Streetwear isn’t exactly our scene, but the lessons are more or less the same: cut back on stock, streamline production, and try to ride the whole mess out. The most surprising takeaway is the longterm effect of all the sample sales you’ve been seeing. We aren’t usually inclined to speak ill of the occasional 80% discount, but labels and shops need high margins to keep afloat, which makes it hard to imagine what the sample sale scene will look like six months from now.

We excerpt some of the best advice»

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02/26/09
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Big Picture

The Lay of the Land

philadelphia_crop.jpgvia Benhasten

Although he may occasionally find himself at a loss for words, a gentleman is always ready for new customs. Even if it means adapting to a world in which women light cigarettes for men.

There’s plenty of changes afoot, but you’ll never get anywhere if you don’t try them out.

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02/11/09
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Big Picture

On Stage

beatles_crop.jpgvia Hey Okay

As the Beatles can tell you, having nice stuff is never as impressive as knowing how to use it.

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02/02/09
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Bad Idea

Thanks, Boss

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We have a lot of love for Bruce Springsteen, so it’s hard for us to see him flub a crotch slide on national TV. But if we were to take one lesson away from the experience, it would be the following: never do anyhing that might end up reenacted on YouTube.

See the reenactment in question»

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01/30/09
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Good Idea

Reach For It

pulp_crop.jpgvia Tsutpen

Inspiration can come from many places, but it’s usually best in small doses. So while we heartily endorse fedoras, peak lapels, and even the occasional pinstripe, you should resist the powerful temptation to dress like someone on the cover of a dime novel.

For women, of course, this rule does not apply.

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01/26/09
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Dress Code

Hear Ye, Hear Ye

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There are a lot of sources for style advice, but if we had our choice, we’d skip the glossy mags, style sections, and even the blogs, and go straight for the sartorial wisdom of medieval parchments. They’re a little hard to find these days, but the advice therein is timeless.

This guide to pants may be a bit feminine for our uses, but the advice about acid-washed jeans is as true today as when it was written.

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01/23/09
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Dept. of Corrections

The Laws Haven’t Changed

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It’s a long-running joke that Esquire and GQ publish the same “new rules for men’s style” every year—the sartorial equivalent of Cosmo’s “487,000 Ways to Please Your Man”—but we’ve never minded too much. The rules tend to be genuinely overlooked lessons, like that fit matters and a well-dimpled tie is never wasted. We just wish they’d stop telling us how new it is.

This time around, they called it a manifesto»

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01/16/09
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Blithe Spirits

So Fresh, So Clean

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Vodka: is there any problem it can’t solve?

Well, we can add vintage-clothes smell to the list at least. Valet Magazine tracked down the costume designer for Mad Men to see how they keep the vintage-heavy set from smelling like the back of your grandmother’s closet and the answer was a whole lot simpler than we thought. The secret? One part vodka in two parts water, sprayed on and left to air. Apparently astringent spirits do a lot to suck up whatever’s hovering in those threads, and vodka’s pure enough to not leave any smells behind.

Sounds like we’d better stock up.

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01/02/09
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Bad Idea

Dear in Headlights

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Being men of the world, we tend not to look to Dear Abby for sartorial advice. And this week, we were reminded why.

In Wednesday’s paper (via The Cut), she took up the question of a Pennsylvania man who, as he delicately puts it, “wears skirts for comfort.” Her advice? “As long as you have the testicular fortitude and shapely enough legs to wear skirts, then you have my blessing.” Oh dear…

The case in full»

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12/18/08
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Conversation

Tom Tom Club

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If his ads are any indication, Tom Ford has seen a lot, so we figure he’s picked up a considerable amount of wisdom along the way.

So we’re glad Details managed to keep him in one place for long enough to dish out some life lessons. The results vary from his morning routine (ice cubes over the eyes) to his unvarying commitment to tuxedos.

The big design revelation is Ford’s distaste for the high-cropped suit jacket…but it makes sense that he wouldn’t much go for the waiter look. As for the sexual revelations at the end, let’s just say he takes swinging very seriously.

The tao of Tom»

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12/08/08
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Giving the Business

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If you’re committed to gentlemanly behavior, it can be difficult to properly tell someone off—no matter how richly they deserve it.

So we found this vintage Sinatra story particularly interesting as a master class in the virtues of quiet, drunken forcefulness. The story comes from Mario Puzo, who had displeased his Blue-Eyedness by using his life as a model for the Johnny Fontaine character in The Godfather. When a stumbling mutual acquaintance introduced them, Puzo got an earful of what can only be described as impeccable wrath.

If you’re looking for the lesson, here it is: don’t swear, use arcane slang, and throw in as many veiled threats as you can. Also, shouting in public places is encouraged.

See Puzo’s account here»

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12/01/08
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Dept. of Corrections

The Devil’s in the Details

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Any time a glossy unveils their New Rules for anything, you know they’re about to get themselves in trouble. And when it’s something as commonplace as denim…it can get ugly.

DETAILS’ just debuted their New Rules of Denim and, to their credit, it stops short of being a complete embarrassment. But you can tell how hard they’re working.

The problem is, denim just isn’t that hard to wear. By now, you know whether the skinny look works for you, and beyond that, there just isn’t that much to it. So to stretch it out for six slides without repeating yourself takes some real journalistic ingenuity.

The Kempt take on DETAILS’ rules»

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11/19/08
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Shelf Life

MOTHs in Print

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aRUDE editor and occasional MOTH IkĂ© UdĂ© has just put together what may be the magnum opus of modern MOTH-hood. The book is called the Style File, and it might turn out to be the sartorial field guide we’ve been waiting for.

The book profiles a series of well-dressed souls—including fellow Kempt favorites like Ruben Toledo and Dita von Teese—and their take on personal style. Naturally, there’s a lot to learn from UdĂ© himself. We just hope it all made it into the book.

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11/12/08
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Scene

Blame it on the Rain

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The paparazzi get a bad rap, but as long as they’re on the side of chivalry, it’s not all bad. Take, for instance, this latest infraction by our own Daniel Craig, captured by the intrepid photogs of the Sun.

A brief lesson, if we may: A little rain never hurt anyone, but leaving your lady to soak may cause irreparable damage, as Mr. Craig is surely discovering now.

You never saw Roger Moore doing this sort of thing.

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11/11/08
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Good Idea

The Hobo Knows

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We’ve sifted through a lot of advice, but it’s rare that you find anything approaching real wisdom in a magazine. To get the good stuff, we recommend going to a slightly smellier, more grizzled source.

We’re talking about the Hobo Code.

Inscribed in the Annual Convention Congress of the Hoboes of America in 1894 (we hear the buffet was amazing), the Hobo Code has stood as the gold standard of vagrant ethics for more than a century, guiding famous vagabonds like Fry Pan Jack, Stormin’ Norman and Waterbed Lou as they rode the rails through the country. It holds up surprisingly well, especially if you ever find yourself in Hobo Court…

A selection from the Hobo Code»

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