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Dear GQ:
If you want to defend your precarious position as the né plus ultra of men’s fashion rags, you should put a little more effort into features like “The 50 Most Stylish Men of the Past 50 Years.” Specifically, how in god’s name could you leave out Tom Wolfe? Not to mention Andy Warhol, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash…
Bonjour, Monsieur: Yon these last 50 years, GQ has served American men dutifully. Now, after successful launches in England, Italy and Russia (‚Äì‚Ć‚Äì√¶‚Äî√Ö‚Äî√Ö‚Äì‚àè‚Äî√®, ‚Ä쬕‚Ä쬙‚Äî√® ‚Äî√Ñ‚Ä쬵‚Äì‚àû‚Ä쬙‚Äî√•‚Ä쌩‚Äì√¶‚Äì‚â•‚Äì√¶?) the title formerly known as Gentleman’s Quarterly will be issuing a French edition. While we wonder if the famously particular French will allow a magazine of Western pedigree to influence their dress or take up space in on their newsstands, we know that as long as these labor strikes keep coming in bunches, the Parisians will have plenty of time to read it. Bonne chance, nos amis.
There’s something about Miami, the badly-dressed epicenter of the Northern Hemisphere, that seems to affect even the most sensible of men. Take Glenn O’Brien, the weathered and usually well-put together “Style Guy” of GQ fame.
It appears that the “brutal” new James Bond is something of a prima donna. At the cover shoot for GQ’s December Men of the Year issue, deconstructed 007 Daniel Craig refused to wear any of the designer duds the magazine’s fashion mavens picked out for him, insisting instead on a suit of his own. Having caught wind of the clothing contretemps, we asked GQ’s Adam Rapoport, who wrote the Craig cover story, what went down.
Note to GQ readers: think twice before following the advice on three-piece suits in the January issue too closely. While we’re all for the return of vested interests, proper tailoring is absolutely essential when it comes to adding the extra element. You do not want your shirt and tie peeking out between the vest and trousers, and nor should your waistband be on public view, as has happened to GQ’s unfortunate model pictured here. Without a smooth, uninterrupted vest-to-trouser transition, “the entire elegance of a three-piece suit is destroyed,” as the great Alan Flusser notes. For this reason, low-slung pants, as on display in GQ, do not work on a three-piece, and belt loops have no place here either; side tabs are preferable, and braces are of course the classic choice.
Just as designers and the likes of GQ try to convince men to get back into three-piece suits this season, the trend-happy New York Times Styles section is taking the contrarian route, advising readers to forego the whole hog and simply sport the vest.
Structural Support: In the near future, girdles will actually tone your body—so go ahead and have that third brioche. [Style Dash]
Alphabet Soup: GQ + CFDA. [FWD]
H to the Izzo: Your man Sean Carter picks up another fashion label. [Female First UK]
Viva Kimmel: A less luxurious outlook from Florence. [Men.Style]
Back to The Well: More deals at Opening Ceremony. [Racked]
Legal Suit: Judge rules that prosecutor’s ascot, “borders on contemptuous,” a precedent soon to be employed in the case of Neckkerchief vs. State of Ohio. [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]
Product Placement: Adrian Grenier pimps We Are the Superlative Conspiracy with the cryptic, “Remember… remember.” [TMZ]
Retrospective: 2007, the year tacky broke. [Electric Warrior]
Small Cap Investment: The Journal puts a “buy” order on the fedora. [WSJ]
Boy Toy: “How To Dress Like The Perfect Couple” by Christopher “Ashton” Kutcher. [Harper’s Bazaar]
“I Remember The First Time I Had Real Sex—I Still Have The Receipt”: Oh, Sebastian, you scalawag you. [GQ Style Guy]
Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.
We have always regarded idiosyncratic impresario Andre 3000 (née Andre Benjamin) as one of the most stylish men in modern music. A fitting heir to Jimi Hendrix in many ways, it’s felicitous that Benjamin (who has several acting credits to his name) has long had a Hendrix biopic in the works. Now he’s branching out into fashion with his own line called Benjamin Bixby, inspired by 1930s football players.
Creative Direction: GQ’s beloved Style Guy settles in behind his new desk. “Mazeltov.” says us. [WWD]
All Points East: Our favorite fashion adventurers head to the distant, savage shores of Greenpoint. [Refinery29]
Mating Habits: While Petra Nemcova surprises no one by taking up with Sean Penn, Elle “The Body” Macpherson (born March 29, 1963), keeps us guessing by with a possible link to Julian Schnabel’s 21-year-old son. Insert joke about cougars and High-School daydreams here. [Style Dash]
Local Boys Big in Japan: Kempt faves Loden Dager preview their Uniqlo designs with a Tim Hamilton collection on the way. [Racked]
Puff’s Revenge: Mr. Combs will be sending Ms. Lopez Sean John baby clothes for her newly arrived twins. This is no way to treat the woman who helped you stash your piece from the cops. [Media Outrage]
Bidding War: Our guess; this is as close as you’ll get to getting under Kiera Knightly’s skirt. [Clothes Off Our Back]
Hush Puppies: Now that German police dogs have shoes, it will harder than ever to convince them that they’re not people. [AP]
Hold Your Breath: That Hedi Slimane/LVMH joint venture is looking more and more like a reality - knock on wood. [Thread Trend]
Roger, Wilco, Out: StyleDash thinks Jeff Tweedy needs a style intervention due to his SNL appearance in a nudie suit. Similarly, we think Style Dash needs a music intervention due to their apparent ignorance of the Flying Burrito Brothers (video). [StyleDash]
Team Colors: An interview with sideline style leader and coach of the 5-and-11 49ers, Mike Nolan. [HuffPo]
Housing Futures: Figuring that all the collapsing real estate market needs is a fresh blazer, “Fashion Futurist Geoffrey Beane” (say whaa?) is teaming up with Century 21 (not the store) to redesign their iconic gold jacket. [Business Wire]
For Absolute Beginners: Buying into Mod style. [ModCulture via Retro to Go]
Best Men: Engineered Garments brings home the inaugural GQ/CFDA Best New Menswear Designers in America award (oh, and $50,000). [Men.Style]
Leading Lights: Luring men toward a new shaving cream is much like luring mosquitos to a high-voltage death. [NYTimes]
Historical Threads: Classic American style parsed. [A Continuous Lean]
It’s Not Easy Being Green: Kermit the Frog gets his slimy, webbed hands on Terry Richardson—or is that the other way around? [Skidknee]
Space Case: Once, we were grown men who watched football and Westerns. Then, Sci-Fi fox Tricia Helfer snared us her Tholian web of leggyness.[OhNoTheyDidn’t]
Shields Up: In related news, Spock goes down hard. [The Observer]
Picking Numbers: Cathy Horyn starts off her morning congratulating her friends at 6267 on their new post as chief designers at Gianfranco Ferre, has a glass of red wine before lunch to celebrate, gets all moist about Scorsese. [NYTimes]
Crimes and Misdemeanors: Forget Beckham, marketing guru and American Apparel founder Dov Charney knows that no one can sell more underwear than Woody Allen. Too bad he didn’t ask permission first. [Radar]
New Kid on The Block: Given the criteria, we most likely qualify as “Lad Nouveau.” Call us that on the street and… well, let’s just say you’d better have good insurance. [Times UK]
“Well-Dressed Rebels”: ACL breaks down the stars of April GQ. [A Continuous Lean]
Better Than a Card: Earnest Sewn will be offering discount tattoos for Mothers Day. How come you never see moms sporting “Son” tats? [Paper]
Thanks to our friends at GQ, we managed to get our hands on the five-page profile of Marc Jacobs from the May issue, hitting newsstands next Tuesday.
The piece takes a closer look at Jacobs’ transformation from mop-headed shut-in to flamboyant tabloid fodder, as well as his rise to power as creative director of Louis Vuitton. Apparently his secret is ulcerative colitis, a disease that forced him into a restricted diet and ruthless exercise regimen. The piece’s best line is this bon mot: “If Ralph Lauren is a lifestyle, Marc Jacobs is an ethos.” Does that make Tom Ford a nightclub?
Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.
A MOTH likes his WOTH s, WWLs, and whatever they call the gratuitous knockouts in GQ just fine, but it’s exceedingly rare to find all the qualities one desires in just one woman. Often we’ve found that at least two are required.
And when it comes to the perfect pairing, it’s hard to beat the two pictured here: statuesque stunner Jessica Stam and cooler-than-thou actress Chloe Sevigny.
International Trade Imbalance: Italian GQ gets Ana Beatriz Barros and we get frigging Shia LaBeouf. There is no justice in this world. [Horny Oyster]
One Leg at a Time: There was a time in history when a simple pair of pants could make any guy into a full-fledged “dude”. [Animal]
Man of the Evening: How to dress like a gigolo. Use this information carefully. [Style Salvage]
The Class of 2008: The Westminster Graduate show displays the deft designers and crazy creators of tomorrow. [Brandish]
Well That Was Fast: Just as we were getting into Bureau, they slam the doors in our face. Seriously, we’ll miss you guys. [DNRNews]
You Don’t Look a Day Over 95: An enlightening tour of the Converse Century. [Hypebeast]
Head to toe madras got a boost this summer from the likes of Ralph Lauren and Thom Browne’s Black Fleece collection. However, the full-on matching madras suit effect is a bit much, we feel, even in this realm.
Trust that old dog Glenn O’Brien to show us how it should be done. His plaids are complimentary but not identical; what’s more they’re obviously well-worn and look as if the fabric might be authentically Indian to boot.
Considering how seriously nouveau 007 Daniel Craig takes his suits, we were not surprised to see that he made the grade in Vanity Fair’s 2008 International Best-Dressed List.
However, knowing how into Tom Ford Craig is—as we noted before, he refused to wear anything else for his GQ cover shoot, and went through 40+ Ford suits while filming the latest Bond flick, Quantum of Solace—we were somewhat taken aback to see him pictured in the mag wearing nothing but Dolce & Gabbana. Looks to us like someone at VF went out of their way to favor the Italian duo over the MOTH king—and it also looks like Tommy needs to buy a lot more ad space.
Not all of J. Crew’s collaborations are on the racks. This week, they launched a microsite with GQ dedicated to “rebel style,” with J. Crew merch giveaways on the side. (At least you’ll know where to spend it.)
The premise of the microsite is a 30 day crash course in becoming a “well-dressed rebel.” We aren’t sure if Shia LeBeouf is quite what comes to mind when we hear “well-dressed rebel,” but their guest, Scott Sternberg of Band of Outsiders, is a little closer to the mark. The biggest saving graces are the Vice Records soundtrack and bizarrely Godardian titles, both of which give the enterprise a lot more cred than it deserves.
There are a few unexpected tidbits, like Sternberg’s preference for short-sleeved dress shirts, but so far, the advice is pretty much what you’d get from the magazine—like popping the top button, sticking with upscale cotton suits, and curveball footwear. Then again, the site only releases one video a day (starting the day you sign up), so we’ll have to wait until September to get to the thrilling conclusion.
Who is that guy? Was he in that boxing movie? With the guns?
That’s right, it’s Mickey Rourke. And by the time February rolls around, you may be seeing him on the cover of a lot of magazines that weren’t returning his calls a scant few years ago.
His latest, The Wrestler just took home the top prize from Cannes (with a little help from indie auteur Darren Aronofsky), and its latest distribution deal guarantees him an Oscar campaign and a few months in the media spotlight. In other words, the folks at GQ are on the phone with his publicist right now—if he still has a publicist—and the early reports indicate he’s a hell of an interview. Hopefully, he can pull off a suit too.
Obama & Terry Richardson: Is that a campaign lawn stick or are you just happy to support me? [Kanye West’s Blog]
It Speaks: While we’d always imagined rings of fire, a crafty blogger reveals that when Anna Wintour opens her mouth it’s just a standard question-me-and-die British accent. [TheCut]
G Crew: The Gentlemen’s Quarterly toppers picked like well-dressed vultures through J. Crew’s fall offerings, comprising their favorite three looks for you to snatch up. [J Crew]
The Outer Gentleman: Head Porter adds a sophisticated touch to active gear for the sportier man. Fall ’08 features totes, wallets, key holders and camera bags in durable fabrics with a gingham print. [Hypebeast]
Beer Market: In a shocking turn of events, beer sales increase at Wall Street watering hole as the stock market plummets [NYT]
We Know You Wonder: GQ breaks down the dome, summing up everything you need to know about fitting, buying and wearing a good hat. [GQ]
Shiner Behind Her: Tom Bergeron drops Heidi Klum on stage the 60th Annual Emmy Awards. The ass bruising seriously restores some street cred to the Dancing with the Stars host [ET]
Fall Time: VF rounds up this season’s must have watches, and even throws in a few looks for her. Get yourself a new timepiece and a jump on Christmas as well. [VanityFair]
Bad Fox: Transformers 2 femme fatal and GQ covergirl Megan Fox has a loose-lipped Mom. Mrs. Fox chatted with her hometown newspaper and confirms your biggest dreams—Megan as a very, very naughty teenager. [Palm Beach Post]
Tight Helmut: We must concur, Marc Jacobs, you’re not the only one in the Fashion District hitting the gym. [Men.Style]
Louis Canvassing Connery?: Great Scot Sean Connery could be the next face in the ongoing Annie Leibowitz-shot Louis Vuitton campaign, joining Francis Ford Coppola and Catherine Deneuve. [Fashionista]
Mocc’ing Luxury: Valet offers a peek at Arrow Moccasin Company’s winter offerings, featuring sheepskin upgrades and even a pair of made-to-measure if you send them an exact trace of your feet. [Valet]
The three-piece suit can be hard to pull off without looking like Boss Tweed, but if you pull it off well—like this patterned gentleman—you’re in memorable territory. In style as in all things, fortune favors the brave. The trick here is matching the suit to the narrow plaid in the shirt, then setting the whole ensemble off with a diagonally thick-striped tie. They even tuck in the tie as a victory lap. Trust us, the GQ kids are drooling.
The suit comes courtesy of Alabama’s Billy Reid, which explains the southern flavor. It’s not a look that New York or Los Angeles have seen very much of. They tend to be more focused on Milan or Tokyo than Savannah, but it’s a shame.
As for the model, he might be preening, but he’s got reason to.
Photo by Anula MaibergThe “manly advice” market is really taking off lately, between a few blogs we could name and GQ’s ever-increasing “rules” pieces. And, if you remember the Tribeca J. Crew store as well as we do, you know there’s a pretty good book form of it too. Say hello to What a Man Should Know, Volume 1, available at a bookstore and preppy menswear retailer near you.
