Another month has gone by, and with it, another thousand pages of glossy, gently perfumed menswear journalism has arrived on our doorstep.
Naturally, we’ve got a few opinions.
Here’s everything you need to know from this month’s magazine crop»
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“Magazines”
If you haven’t checked your mailbox recently, we’ve got some good news. Another round of glossy style advice has arrived on the nation’s collective doorstep, and
In fact, this month’s haul was particularly interesting because of Esquire’s latest Big Black Book—a glossy tome filled with all the intricacies of style too involved for the general subscriber base. That means dark rum, exotic leathers and all manner of Italian suiting.
Of course, it’s not all good advice—so we’re stepping in to tell you what to read, what to try and what to avoid at all costs.
Here’s everything you need to know from this month’s glossy magazines…»
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Another round of glossy style mags has arrived on our doorstep (and possibly on yours), so we’ve put together a reader’s guide for everything that happened in print style this month—including Justin Theroux’s Serpico style to Details’ ode to the male posterior. (Not a joke.)
Proceed at your own risk.
In honor of the newly unearthed magazine treasure trove known as No Layout, we couldn’t resist a quick flip through the first issue of Fantastic Man, published back in 2005. In addition to a near-timeless appreciation of the pajama, it includes a prophetic multi-page spread entirely devoted to chest hair.
It was a simpler time.
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via GQ UKSeeing Red: An appreciation of the Nantucket Red. [Men's Flair]
Played: Playboy is suing Drake over sampling 1975′s “Fallin’ in Love,” which Hef won the rights to in a poker game. Ah, the 70s. [Fishbowl]
Nerf Herder!: 100 of the strangest, meanest and unlikeliest insults in movie history. [Pajiba]
Take a Picture: The best of June’s magazine photography, in case you didn’t see it on a newsstand. [Vulture]
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Here’s a new idea for saving print: Frisbees. Hypebeast just turned us on to Berlin’s own Freestyle Magazine, who just released their second issue. It’s distinguished by two remarkable feats. First, they continue their commitment to shipping every issue with a Frisbee—in this case, a Paul Smith-designed disc with the slogan “Take Pleasure Seriously.” Second, they managed to convince Sir Smith himself to indulge in silver face paint, presumably by appealing to his inner Bowie. Read it while listening to Kraftwerk.
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Happy Birthday to You: Suddenly, Iron Man 2 looks pretty good. [InStyle]
G.O.A.T.: A bloggy countdown of the best magazine runs ever. Predictably, Cat Fancy is snubbed again. [This Recording]
Prepped: Michael Bastian drops a bit of knowledge on the perfectly fitted polo shirt, among other things. [The Moment]
Turn the Page: Legal-lined t-shirts. What more do you need? [CoolHunting]
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The chaps at Monocle are in the news again for launching both a Hong Kong bureau and a program on the BBC World News channel—a pair that would overjoy J-school purists, if it didn’t come attached to a magazine that’s looking more like a boutique every day. For those keeping score, Newsweek doesn’t have either.
The line so far is that they funded the new bureau with tote bag sales. Of course, all their revenue goes to the same place, so you might as well say they funded it with blackberry sales, retail money or (gasp!) good old advertising. It’s sort of true, but more than a little unfair.
Still, we’re going to call Good Idea on this one.
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In the interest of livening up an otherwise uneventful Tuesday morning, we’re bringing you a few snaps and a video from the fourth issue of Jacques, a pleasantly retro erotic quarterly out of Brooklyn. (Think Vargas girls and vintage Hef.) We wanted to keep things SFW above the fold so you’ll have to click through for the good stuff. Enjoy yourselves…
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Cole in the Stocking: Lily Cole hits the Interview circuit. [Interview]
Here Come the Wolves: In the top ten viral videos of 2009, the Twilight trailer beats out Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.” For the first time in my young life, I feel somewhat betrayed by the internet. [TechCrunch]
I Turn My Camera On: A gentleman’s guide to the bewildering world of digital cameras. [Gizmodo]
In Bad Health: Men’s Health accidentally repeats a cover. The sound you hear is hundreds of people smacking their hands to their foreheads. [Gawker]
Print magazines have been having a pretty rough year, but by our lights, the glossy-pic-and-glossy-ad formula still has some life left in it. Especially if you’ve got an iPhone.
A high-fashion aggregator called Distill just launched their third issue and their first foray into the world of mobile magazining, currently available for a comparatively steep $5 in the iTunes shop. Inside, you’ll find a bundle of editorial wisdom drawn from magazines like Vice, Interview and Acne Paper, along with ads from Swatch, who’s footing the bill. The business side is still a little bit murky, but if it pays off, you may be getting a lot more of your style wisdom on the go.
Of course, we’ll always have a sentimental weakness for blogs…
| ALL Well Pressed |
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Tom Ford hasn’t popped up on our radar too much lately—something about the movie business—but his latest Fall/Winter collection recently arrived shops around the world, and Japan’s SENSE magazine put together an impeccably styled editorial spread to remind us why we were so excited about it to begin with.
This windowpaned gentleman, for instance, has taught us to stop worrying and love the loud suit. The colorful tie, the boots and the blublocker-esque aviators all suggest a kind of flash the fashion world doesn’t have nearly enough of. Hopefully Mr. Ford won’t find Hollywood too tempting.
Well, you can cancel that trip to Manchester.
A Brooklyn blogger just talked his way into a few dozen copies of Rig Out, Oi Polloi’s new zine. If you’re stateside (or boroughside) and you want a copy, shoot him an email at secretforts@gmail.com offering some form of sartorial recompense.
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The Mancunian boutique Oi Polloi has been a solid outlet for our anglophilic urges for a while now, but it looks like they’re getting into the publishing business.
This is a page from Rig Out, the new biannual “fanzine” assembled by Manchester’s finest. Naturally, there’s a lot of Barbour involved, along with a few well-chosen words, but you’ll have to cross the ocean to get your hands on it. So far, it’s only available in-store—but if you’re in the vicinity of Manchester, it should be worth a stop.
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Andy Spade & Anthony Sperduti of Partners & SpadeAmerica’s in need of a new image…but come to think of it, so is advertising. So mixing a little patriotism and a little PR magic is just good business.
This month’s PAPER Magazine (via WBE)mixes the two in just the right proportion, with a series of editorial images promoting a kinder, gentler image of America. This “Sorry” banner comes courtesy of Andy Spade & Anthony Sperduti—known to some as Partners & Spade—and Shepard Fairey pops in for a Soviet-styled ode to wind power, but the real muscle here comes directly from Madison Ave.
Naturally, there are a lot more doves than hawks, but the real question isn’t what this means for America but what it means for advertising. Once ad men start unleashing their inner RFKs, who knows what kind of full-pagers we’ll start seeing.
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After Monocle used their brand to launch a shop, a newsstand and a half-dozen brilliant collabs, it was only a matter of time before more pubs got in on the action.
The first to catch on is Fantastic Man, a boutique European biannual best known for favoring designers over models for their cover shot. But apparently two issues a year leaves them a little free time for other pursuits like perfumery, because they’re debuting the magazine’s signature cologne next Monday. They’ll follow it up with a candle collaboration with Acne, but we’re still waiting for a bit of apparel to creep into the mix.
Via The depression-era gangster is a creature of rare sartorial talents. Colorful without being dapper, image-conscious without being vain, he manages to combine brutality and grace in a way currently only seen in boxers and the occasional NFL lineman.
This illustration, for instance, has a hooligan sporting a mauve-orange combination—pretty daring, especially if you’re lurking in the shadows.
And to top it off, he sports the bowler as well as any model we’ve seen.
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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.
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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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Last time we checked in with the Brit sophisticates at Monocle, they were getting into the newspaper business, but it turns out they sell more than just reading material.
Their online store has a whole range of collaborative products, including a hinoki-scented fragrance from Commes des Garcon, travel bags by the Japanese brand Porter, and even a Swedish bike. The newest addition is a scarf from Drakes, but from the sound of things, there’s plenty more in the pipeline.
It’s a bit odd for a boutique magazine to have an actual boutique tagging along, but we can’t say we mind. Most men’s magazines distinguish themselves by their taste in swag; why not put all that taste to work?
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