Kempt

The Safety Blanket

We’ve been poring through Gordon von Steiner’s Japanese street style shots all morning, and we’re very impressed—both with GQ and with Japan as a country. There’s plenty of Navajo print and camo on display, but we were more taken by the shift to bigger scarves and smaller jackets seen here. The gent on the right is basically wearing a blanket over his shoulders to casually transform his leather jacket into a winter coat. You’ll need an extra peg on your coat rack—but otherwise, all it takes is a mild winter day, a few yards of flannel and some courage.

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01/27/11

Scarlett Johansson has a Big Night Ahead of Her

via Trouvailles du Jour

Swan Arms, Swan Arms: A Darren Aronofsky profile reveals his love of werewolf metaphors, and his thin but lustrous mustache. [NYMag]

And the Nominees Are…: GQ and Dockers just named their nominees for best newcomers of the year, including Michael Bastian and the Riviera Club chaps. [WWD]

The Rise of the Tourbillons: The Antenna guide to the latest crop of watches from IWC. Be warned: “travel time” is not the same as “time travel.” [Antenna]

The Latest Rage from Coast to Coast: You are a confident, successful professional, but your life is empty without a glow-in-the-dark strip tease necktie. [Boing Boing]

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12/21/10

Allow us to explain why…»

A Mighty Blow

In general, we try to keep a laissez-faire attitude towards a man’s morning routine, but when the latest issue of Gentleman’s Quarterly devotes a page of their fine publication to the premise of blow-drying men’s hair… we have to take exception.

To keep it brief, this is one trend you can skip. And the exceptionally self-serious black-and-white snap of Robert Pattinson that ran with the piece might give you some idea as to why.

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09/29/10

Guinevere van Seenus Just Really Loves Cool Whip

via Fashion Gone Rogue

Yeezy Strikes Back: XXL’s new Kanye cover story is basically unedited excerpts from his diary. He’s officially broken the fourth wall of journalism. Awesome stuff. [XXL]

Shouldering Responsibility: A guide to the many varieties of shoulder on tailored suits. Advanced studies. [Men’s Flair]

Still the Man: Steve Albini on GQ: “I would like the fashion industry to collapse…. At least pornography has a function.” Running with this one took gumption. Our hats are off. [The Q]

The Internet Must Pay: Just because it’s Wednesday, here’s your chance to turn a helpless website into an Asteroids-style demolition derby, thanks to a clever new browser toy. Just leave us out of it, please. [Wired]

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08/03/10

Rowena Has Made a Hipster Carpet

via LikeCool

Like “Taunting the Bear,” but Catchier: The Quarterly coins a new phrase, “fucking the babysitter,” for self-inflicted disaster. [GQ]

Speak, Voicemail: Clive Thompson has stopped talking on the phone…which explains why he’s not taking our calls. [Wired]

The Housecoat Speaks: Hugh Hefner defends his legacy, on the eve of a new doc celebrating his works. [Vulture]

Have a Seat: Behold, the spectacle of a Corvette seat being manufactured. [Core77]

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06/01/10

Dree Hemingway is Feeling Sleepy

via Fashion Copious

Suit Up: The Quarterly’s annual cheap suit roundup digs up some pretty fantastic stuff. Perry Ellis never looked so good. [GQ]

It’s a Denim Thing, Apparently: “Crotch Blowout” is neither as exciting nor as painful as it sounds. [Put This On]

The New AOR: A gentleman’s guide to Ariel Pink. [LA Times]

The Spiders from Mars: Louise Bourgeois (of the enormous arachnid sculptures) gets an elegy. [NYMag]

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05/10/10

Karen Elson is Lost in Thought

Little Ghost, Little Ghost: When you’re married to Jack White, you probably have a lot to contemplate. [Fashion Gone Rogue]

Advanced Users Only: Here’s how you pull off a double-breasted aquamarine blazer. It helps if you’re completely without fear. [Street Etiquette]

What Rough Beast…: The lads at Condé kick off a music series in the only proper way, with the Fall. [GQ Eye]

Bound for Glory: A set of vintage airline stickers, to decorate your briefcase. [NotCot]

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04/13/10

Kristina Krivomazova is in the Dark

Haunted Mansion: Zoo Magazine is a big fan of blackout curtains, it would seem. [Fashion Gone Rogue]

The Old Stuff: GQ rounds up the best vintage shops in America. Naturally, none of our favorites made the list, but we’re not entirely unhappy about that. [GQ]

Cut and Sew: A quick survey of your custom shirting options. That is
[Magnificent Bastard]

The Remix Beat: Years ago, we wished for an M.I.A. and Cornershop collaboration. Finally, it has come to pass. [SPIN]

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02/16/10

Mr. Reid, We Presume

via Evan Sung/NYT

It’s already all but disappeared in the Fashion Week hustle, but we thought we’d take a moment to dwell on Billy Reid’s moment in the sun. We’re referring to his new status as the GQ-anointed Best New Designer in America, beating out J.Crew helmer Frank Muytjens and globe-trotting up-and-comers Burkhman Brothers. We’re going to go out on a limb and say he deserves it. Don’t call it a comeback…

Let us count the ways»

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01/27/10

Mr. Jonze

The latest GQ found room in its countdown of the 25 most stylish men in the world for one of our favorite polymath directors, Mr. Spike Jonze. They single out his love of the tie, but we’d add a particular bit of rule breaking to that equation: he’s not squeamish about wearing ties without a jacket, a combination that, in the wrong hands, can suggest a career in accounting. He’ll even try it with an untucked shirt from time to time, although we’re not quite ready to endorse that one.

Here’s the secret»

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09/23/09

Much, Much Larger than Life

It’s a rare magazine piece that seems to be working with too much material, but when you’re dealing with the man behind Ed Hardy, we suppose a little excess is to be expected.

This month’s GQ profile drops what might be the definitive profile on Christian Audigier, the man who gave us the trucker hat, Ed Hardy’s neon panther hoodies and the ugliest wine bottles on earth. Our favorite part: the Quarterly’s Devin Friedman (known to Audigier as “Darren”) reveals that the maestro of Fraunch has employed a film crew to follow him around more or less continuously for the past five years of his life. And yes, that includes a makeup guy.

It makes sense, given that Audigier arguably saw reality TV culture coming earlier than just about anyone else. And once you’ve made an industry out of huffing the exhaust of celebrity culture, there’s no point scoffing at a little self tanner…

Also, he may or may not be co-starring in an action-comedy with 50 Cent.

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09/15/09

A Walk on the Olivia Wilde Side

Wildin’ Out: GQ spends some quality time with Olivia Wilde. [GQ]

Raiding the ‘Stache: You cannot stop the mustache. You can only hope to contain it. [Blackbook]

Mr. Lauren in Repose: Ralph Lauren is apparently a Batman fan. [VanityFair.com]

Ghost Ships: Malaysia is suddenly swamped with disused tanker fleets. Real talk. [Daily Mail]

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02/12/09

Scene

The Big Dance

GQ held their CFDA party last night, and there was no shortage of famous faces. This snap caught GQ’s Jim Nelson, Thom Browne and Andre Benjamin in the same frame, and it offers a glimpse of things to come. Nelson’s getup shouldn’t surprise anyone with a subscription—at this point, the slim suit-and-tie are nothing short of a dress code—but Mr. Benjamin’s Bogart-level beltline is one of the few moves that genuinely surprised us. He pulls it off perfectly…but we doubt anyone watching had the courage to try it out themselves.

See more of the scene»

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01/15/09

Hear about this year’s nominees»

Spreads, Trench Coats, and Our Name in the Paper

The Spread: We aren’t sure who AnnaLynne McCord is, but we just started liking GQ a lot more. [Egotastic]

Stay at Your Desk: Thom Browne goes to Florence to get even stricter and more austere. Think identical models and lots of trench coats. Doesn’t Italy usually make people looser? [IHT]

…and There’s a Planet: The latest web video gem retells the Star Wars saga with a spotty memory and a lot of Photoshop. [BoingBoing]

Well-Observed: Our distinguished editorial director dispenses a pearl of wisdom in quote form. Also, something about eCommerce. [NYObserver]

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01/15/09

The Biz

And the Nominees Are…

It’s awards season again, and the menswear group is getting ready for its turn.

We’re talking about the GQ/CFDA awards, an annual August bash that names the menswear designer of the year. The list of nominees just landed in our inbox and, while it’s a little short on Toms, we’re excited to see all the names in one place.

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12/30/08

Icon

S for Style

This month’s GQ has a primer on presidential style, and while we knew about LBJ’s glasses and Kennedy’s trim suits, we were surprised to hear about Harry S Truman’s penchant for skinny tartan ties.

Not too shabby by today’s standards, which got us thinking. It took a while, but maybe the man from Missouri’s time as a style icon has finally come.

The Truman show»

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12/04/08

I’ve Seen the Future

If you’ve picked up this month’s GQ, you may have noticed a rare bit of prognosticating in the Editor’s Note. In case you haven’t, here’s the gist: With the help of a few well-chosen futurist, EiC Jim Nelson envisions a future of heavily-bearded, housebound, and impotent American men.

Leaving aside how he gets there, we aren’t sure how the beard ended up with such a bad rap. For Nelson, beards are a cipher for masculinity, not the genuine article, but he’s too heavily invested in his clean-shaven mug to see the truth. The mountain men are only gaining in strength, and the time will come when unkempt masculinity will rise up to displace the clean-shaven ideal that’s reigned for so long. (This may also coincide with all of us losing our jobs.) A few whiskers won’t make men any less virile, even if we need to trade razors for clippers and recalibrate our dopp kits.

Until then, if Nelson wants to see the future, he should visit Maine.

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11/04/08

When their target buyer is a rich punk rocker, it’s usually not a good sign»

Fingerprints

This month’s GQ had a few nice items, but we have to take issue with this bit of wisdom (on p58, for the curious):

Fingerless gloves have always struck me as too raggedy—fine for a punk rocker or a chimney sweep, but that’s about it. This season, though, Bottega Veneta has turned that notion on its head and is offering cashmere fingerless gloves that are more than chic. I love the idea of a punk rocker (a rich one) in full-on rock garb but with luxurious gloves

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10/21/08

See the full page here (last question)

Tough Love

If any of you happen to be picking up this month’s GQ, you might happen to see a familiar name…

Our old friend and Style Guy Glenn O’Brien gives us a big up for calling him out all those months ago on a brief stylistic indiscretion. Giving advice to a similarly conflicted soul on how to correct his friends, O’Brien says, “Sometimes a guy needs tough love.”

Nothing but love, Glenn.

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10/03/08

Shelf Life

Know the Time

Photo by Anula Maiberg

The “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.

See what’s inside»

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09/29/08

Object

Three is the Magic Number

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.

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09/23/08

Naughty Fox, The Perfect Moccasin &amp Sean to Vuitton

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]

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09/22/08