March 21, 2010 world of men's style / fashion / grooming RSS
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A blog dedicated to the interesting, scandalous, useful and cutting edge in the world of men’s style, fashion and grooming.

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“Magazines”
07/01/08 ·

LinkOut

Trump Towers, Lacoste Celebrates, and Kate Models

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Kerr-azy: Miranda Kerr still has a lot of work to do if she wants to win our hearts, but she’s off to a solid start. [Egotastic]

Watch Your Tongue: Commenting on men’s fashion without sounding like an ass is a tough tightrope walk—particularly when John Galliano is involved. [NYMag]

The Donald: There’s only one person on earth who thinks Trump Tower is one of the greater tourist attractions in our fair city, and he owns it. [The Moment]

Happy Anniversary: Visionaire and Lacoste team up for a very special birthday celebration. [Brandish]

How Much Organza is Too Much?: Any. [Gawker]

The Princess Bride: Kate Middleton may be shifting gears and starting a career as a fashion model—so there’s your good news for the day. [Daily India]

10/08/08 ·

Storefront

Protect Your Neck

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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?

10/21/08 ·

Good Idea

Tough Love

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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.

See the full page here (last question)

01/23/09 ·

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»

02/25/09 ·

Big Picture

Top of the World

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.

03/02/09 ·

The Biz

Mr. Fantastic

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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.

Get our take on the impromptu scent»

05/07/09 ·

Ad Rock

The Greater Good

americapaper_crop.jpgAndy Spade & Anthony Sperduti of Partners & Spade

America’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.

A few more»

06/11/09 ·

Shelf Life

Oi!

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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.

06/15/09 ·

Shelf Life

Over the Ocean

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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.

10/15/09 ·

Good Idea

Mr. Ford, We Presume

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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.

11/17/09 ·

Well Pressed

I’m On the Phone

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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…

12/10/09 ·

LinkOut

Lily Cole is Gilliamesque

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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]

02/02/10 ·

Good Idea

Start the Presses

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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…

There Will Be Garters»

03/02/10 ·

Dept. of Corrections

Going Vertical

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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.

Here’s why»