The Craftsman: Interview with Gilded Age designer Stefan Mijanic. [The Discerning Brute]

Go West Young Man: Steven Alan lands in the City of Angels. [Refinery29]

News To You: Seems someone won that “Project Runway” show last night. Yeah, we don’t care either.

Handy Man: A little more work around the house might get you a little more play around the bed. [AP]

Smooth Ride: Hermès unveils a signature edition of the already posh Bugatti Veyron. This will go great with our helicopter. [Men.Style]

Wedding Bells for Everyone: Nicolas Sarkozy married Carla Bruni. Now his ex, Cecilia, will marry her new paramour. Don’t you just love happy endings? [Reuters]

Exchange Rate: The falling dollar is doing no favors for your closet. [Houston Chronicle]

It’s The Perfect Time For… April77’s Spring/Summer collection. [Hypebeast]

Dress to Suppress: Amidst what appears to be a total collapse of democracy, journalistic independence and human rights, some intrepid fashion writer actually managed to file this story on style and the derailed Zimbabwean presidential campaign. Who needs freedom of the press anyway? [All Africa]

Bulletproof Bonnet: Perhaps a more useful mode of dress for scared Zimbabweans, this cutting-edge, street-thug tech hoodie can stop a 9mm round. [BBC]

Ships Ahoy: A naval salute to Chambray. [A Continuous Lean]

Get Fit: A little primer on silhouette theory. [Permanent Style]

Go Green:Take a peek at Timo Weiland’s bio-friendly billfolds. [Refinery29]

Off The Cuff: Pop quiz, hotshot. Your brand-new slacks haven’t been to the tailor yet and you’ve got 15 minutes to meet your people at the bar. What do you do? What do you do? [Esquire]

Apparently the recently-departed Nau isn’t quite so departed anymore. The Portland-based ecowear marque has gotten a much-needed and much-deserved second chance from Santa Barbara’s own Horny Toad. The Toad favors more casual (and somewhat unremarkable) button-ups, making it a somewhat unlikely brand marriage, but we’re too grateful to hold a grudge.

More on resurrecting raingear»

In the wake of Palin’s shopping spree, we were glad to see Obama scoring points for having resoled his shoes along the campaign trail. Of course, the political blogs are spinning this as an example of Barry’s thrift, but we see it as the mark of a sartorially sensible gentleman. After all, if you liked a pair of shoes enough to wear them out in less than a year, you might as well hang onto them. And anyone with enough sense to buy welted shoes has our vote.

In other words, it’s just one of the many rewards of old world cobbling.

It’s been a rough road for Men’s Vogue, but it looks like they’re nearing the end of it. Word came down today that the awkward little brother of the men’s mag business is being downgraded from a bimonthly stand-alone mag to a semi-annual supplement to Vogue. In other words, it’s getting the ax.

Men’s Vogue (or Mogue for short) was always a bit confused, jumping from the usual profile fodder and high-end trad-wear to longform journalism pieces culled from the New Yorker’s reject pile, but it was never less than interesting. And we always figured Avery would be able to straighten things out.

Fare thee well, Men’s Vogue.

Things are getting a little grim in the art world lately, with more than a third of the lots going unsold at Sotheby’s impressionism auction this Monday. Apparently the folks that have $10 million to spend on impressionist paintings are investing it in gold bars or bulletproof jets instead. The only good news to come out of the auction was for Edvard Munch’s Vampire, which sold for three million more than expected.

We’ve always been financially savvy, so we’ve come to the following conclusion. The art market may be depressed, but the market for depressing art has never been better.

The Hirsts and Murakamis of the world had better take note: what the people want is paintings of people crying, preferably in black. By the time the year is out, the Met will be handing out Kleenex at every show.

Anyone want to go halfsies on Goya’s Saturn?

Business may be slowing down lately, but the menswear business is doing just fine according to the Bloomingdale’s CEO. Of course, he probably wouldn’t mention it if he were hocking the family jewels, but it’s nice to know we’re out-consuming the fairer sex.

Our theory: It’s all those desert boots.

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»

We may have been a little hasty when we predicted a depressing art boom.

New York favorite Mark Rothko landed sales as high as $72 million before the troubles—possibly fueled by eccentric advertising executives—but the latest sale couldn’t even pull a measly $10 million bid. That’s even more remarkable given that the painting depicts the gaping emotionless void within us that no light can pierce…so it would seem to have the depressing art market cornered.

Maybe we should hold on those Van Goghs a bit longer.

Things have been pretty rough for the American car industry over the last few decades, but we never thought the solution would be sculpting hubcaps into decorative bowls. Isn’t this the sort of thing you’d usually buy from impoverished villages in Mexico?

It isn’t just banks and magazines shedding employees anymore: even our old pal Damien Hirst has gotten in on the game. Despite having a very good year on the auction circuit, Hirst is laying off 17 of his 22 studio-hands. As of the January 1, they’ll be staring into the diamond-encrusted skull of unemployment.

All Hirst had to say for himself was the usual corporate mumbo jumbo about “efficiency cutbacks” and “not making those butterfly paintings anymore,” but we’re concerned. If Hirst’s not equipped to support an entourage anymore, we aren’t sure who is.

Perhaps some sort of a bailout is in order.

The eCommerce bug is spreading across the East Village at an alarming rate. The latest culprit is Cry Wolf, who launched a site this month to bring brands like Harmon, Cronicles of Never, and Public School to whoever is wise enough to log on.

To our eye, it’s only a matter of time before someone draws together all the boutiques Alibris-style and makes hard-to-find labels a thing of the past. But until that time, this’ll do pretty nicely.

We were all set to write about Kendi—the ties look good right?—only to discover that in the few months since we heard about them, their website has reverted to a zombie site plugging GoDaddy.com. In case you forgot, it’s rough out there, and a dearth of interesting ties is the least of our worries.

If anyone has any news on the fall of Kendi, drop us a line. Otherwise, we’ll just wait for the leftovers to show up on eBay.

For a little over four years, Dubai has grown in the public’s imagination as the Vegas of the middle east, where Islamic devoutness could forge a local truce with unrestrained capitalism and a flood of oil money could fund obscenely ambitious construction schemes. But now that the boom times are over, the idea of a luxury oasis is seeming a lot shakier.

The Telegraph recently devoted 1500 words to cataloguing Dubai’s troubles, but the gist is familiar enough: lots of construction debt, less money than they thought, and a dwindling supply of optimism. The buildings are still going up, but no one is sure how they’ll pay for it all…at least until oil prices go back up.

Somewhere, Dana Thomas is smiling.

Market capitalism has had a rough few months, and everyone seems to be piling on. It lost the bankers to corporate bailouts and now it may lose its most vocal and culturally important spokesmen: the rappers.

The new single from the production team N.A.S.A. manages to lure Chuck D out of obscurity for an impressive verse, and that’s a MOTH you’re hearing on the chorus, but the song—titled “Money”—doesn’t seem to think too highly of the stuff. In fact, it’s downright skeptical. Maybe it’s Shepard Fairey’s video, but the paper chase comes out looking pretty unseemly. And if we can’t believe in material wealth, what’s left to rap about?

Whatever happened to putting five carats in your baby girl’s ear?

See the video»

For those of us without fabulous wealth, it’s hard to appreciate the psychic brutality at work in the art collection game. High profile collectors aren’t usually aesthetes or intellectuals; they’re corporate raiders and law partners. They play for keeps, which is why the auction system ends up being so lucrative. The goal is to put together a collection that will command respect, and whoever ends up with the best stuff wins.

Luckily, the aesthetes at Assouline are stepping in to lend a hand. They’ve just put out The Impossible Collection, a guide to the 100 most valuable works of art in the world. It says what they are, why they matter, and where you can find each and every one. The book itself will set you back 500 dollars, but the value of the art is incalculable. Still, it’s nice to have a goal.

See the complete list»

Speaking of workwear, we ran across this snap of a West Virginia family circa 1908 that should give you an idea of what it looked like the first time around. For a long time, this was the uniform for hard times.

Rabbit, Run: Surreal photography continues to scare the crap out of us. [NotCot]

Winter Sports: A friendly face introduces us to the terrifying world of snow polo. [Luxist]

Going Minimal: Does good design flourish during a depression? It depends how you feel about the barrel-top. [Unbeige]

Going Gray: The enduring appeal of the gray flannel suit. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

We were browsing through the latest Gargyle stock when we came across this Fred Perry Chambray shirt—call it one more upside to deflation.

Of course, we’ll want something a lot heavier than chambray for the next few months at least, but it never hurts to plan ahead. In this case, it even pays off a little.

With Damien Hirst testing the limits of just how conspicuous art consumption can get, it was only a matter of time before we stopped messing around with jewelry and went straight to cold, hard cash.

This installation piece from Art Marcovici stacks 10 million $100 bills on pallets in the middle of a gallery. Aptly titled “One Billion Dollars,” it’s supposed to incite your capitalist urges, but it just makes us wish we had a more colorful currency. Maybe Marcovici should think about One Billion Euros as a follow-up.

With the downturn getting serious, we knew we were going to see fewer big ticket items, but we didn’t expect to run out of places to wear a suit.

Maybe we should have. Desperate to draw in more clientele, the New York institution 21 has relaxed its dress code. In their words, “Ties are still preferred and greatly appreciated, but they are no longer a must.”

We’ve written similar words, but under very different circumstances, and despite it all, we’re sad to see the jacket-and-tie requirement go. The trad life is a noble one, and it’s worth preserving. We’re sure there are other ultra-formal restaurants in the city…but we can’t actually name another. Until now, we’ve never needed to.

At least the market for bejeweled iPhone cases is still going strong.

Fully Spread: Fashion Indie honors the work of Ms. Karen Collins. [FashionIndie]

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: The essential Conde Nast guide to spring. Umbrellas not included. [Men.Style]

Angry Young Men: A trek through the Faile studio…including a prayer log or two. [PSFK]

Times is Hard: The Times recounts the current difficulties facing young designers. Conclusion? Your trip through that blowout sale may be more important than you think. [NYTimes]

We knew things were getting rough for Dubai, but we didn’t expect people to be in such a hurry to leave.

Apparently people are skipping town so fast, they don’t even bother to take their cars: more than 3000 have been found abandoned in the airport parking lot in the past few months. Sharia law is pretty tough on debtors, so folks in dire financial straits tend to skip town rather than face jail time over a bounced check or two. But with boom times definitely at a close, the sheer volume of people sprinting towards the nearest outbound plane is becoming downright remarkable.

On the bright side, we bet the used car market is really taking off.

Some might say that a $1900 beanbag chair is out of step with the times, but not necessarily…

We’d guess right now there are a lot of bankers that want nothing more than an enormous pillow to collapse on.

Weigh Station: A German designer has declared Heidi Klum too fat to be a model. Something tells us Seal is beating the crap out of this guy as we speak. [Page Six]

Four Score…: Keeping score at fashion week is a full time job. So far, we’d say Robert Geller by a nose. [The Moment]

Lonely at the Top: The real victims of the downturn are Russian billionaires. [Luxist]

Think Big: Jonathan Demme finally spills the beans on David Byrne’s famous big suit. [The Guardian]

via LIFE

It’s tough to say what luxury looks like during hard times, but it’s a question fashion houses are going to have to answer one way or another. We’ve got a few ideas ourselves—most notably this one—but we imagine the Louis Vuitton folks have smarter minds than us working on this one as we speak.

The Choosy Beggar just weighed in with an answer we can get behind: sturdier, more durable clothes to last through whatever comes our way. This is what raw denim was reaching for, and it might be the only thing that would get modern consumers to drop serious money on clothing again. But after 15 years of churning out disposable duds, are labels ready to think long term?

Only time will tell.

These are rugged times. Rugged materials are called for.

But hopefully we can keep them confined to garments that won’t actually touch your body. After all, it’s all fun and games until somebody gets a rash.

This burlap tie may be the first good item we’ve seen to make use of rougher fabrics, but we’re pretty sure it won’t be the last. (Hat tip to UD Chicago.) A good contrast of fabrics can make a whole outfit, and burlap is pretty much guaranteed to set off whatever texture your suit is. Plus, it’s tough enough to last until the next bubble.

If you’ve leafed through the front of this month’s DETAILS, you might have seen the usual bunch-of-stuff section titled “Investment Pieces.” It’s not a bad angle—they certainly need to address economics in some way—but they don’t seem to have told their writers about it.

The result is a few safe staples mixed into the same trend-driven stock they’ve always specialized in. Luckily we’re here to separate the wheat from the chaff…

We catalog the errors of the monthly periodical»

It’s important for brands and retailers to stay agile these days, but good ideas have been in remarkable short supply. To that end, we’ve reached out to some of the brighter minds in the business for an impromptu thinktank. If you’ve got any ideas of your own, feel free to let us know.

Not all great minds are bloggers, so the latest in our ongoing series comes from the retail side of the equation.

Portland’s Winn Perry is one of the rare independent boutiques that manages to steer the mainstream from outside of New York or Los Angeles, and establishing a style stronghold in a small city takes a whole lot more than just a good eye for clothes. So naturally, proprieter Jordan Sayler has a few interesting things to say about keeping afloat in troubled times.

Hear Winn Perry’s wisdom»

This bit of raw denim got us thinking. As with most high-end jeans, the main selling point here is the material: the finest Japanese denim, guaranteed keep getting better for decades to come.

Since the fabric warps to fit your body, there isn’t much point in bragging about the cut or the skills of the designer. What you’re buying is the fabric; everything else is secondary. It’s an attention to material you don’t see much outside of bespoke houses, but by now it’s second nature to the streetwear crowd.

Why raw denim still matters»