The Stylings of Joy Division, Michael Bastian for Uniqlo and Style Advice from Cary Grant

“UniQlo”

04/18/13

The Stylings of Joy Division, Michael Bastian for Uniqlo and Style Advice from Cary Grant

Joy_Division_WS

Joyous Occasion: Well Spent finds some sartorial inspiration in Joy Division, a band that “dressed like they sounded.”

Standup Pat: On the passing of football announcing legend Pat Summerall, his longtime on-air partner and friend John Madden gives him a heartfelt sendoff.

Marco Polo: The Times gets the scoop on the new line of polos Michael Bastian has designed for Uniqlo.

The Middle of Fashion: The timeless style advice from one of the best who ever did it: Cary Grant.

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09/07/12

Good Idea

Wearing Your Sunday Best

You’ve got less than two days to get ready for some football.

And more essential than any secret dip recipe or fantasy team voodoo, you’re going to need a trusty pair of sweatpants for your long Sundays to come—not to be confused with the Sundays at the bar (seriously, don’t wear these to a bar, to work or to anything other than an absolute emergency High Life restock). So we rounded up the finest specimens of jersey-cotton leg blankets on the market today, for your football enjoyment, depending on your sartorial leanings—from the Anglophile to the couch-styled.

Herewith, the five best sweatpants you need for game day.»

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08/31/12

The Biz

Joe Montana is Joe Cozy

The former 49ers quarterback and NFL Hall of Famer has just emerged as one of the new faces of Uniqlo, headlining a motley crew of skaters, bloggers and singers who have mostly San Franciscan ties (the Japanese superstore is finally making the westward push in early October).

In addition to the obligatory tech-y plugs (sounds like he’s done his homework), he mentions his penchant for “an interesting collar, or a pocket that’s different,” which could mean there’s hope yet for Joe Cool’s style—we’ve been wary ever since he made the baffling decision to endorse Shape-ups (a long line of questionable judgment we assume began when he agreed to those two fateful years in Kansas City). But we’ve got to think this is a step in the right direction.

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08/23/12

Labeled

In on the Djokovic

Tennis has been known for some offbeat sponsorships—it’s never been all “Nike or Adidas.”

There’s always been a strong foothold for smaller, more fashion-forward labels: Sergio Tacchini, Fila, Lacoste and now, Uniqlo. News of Novak Djokovic’s split with Tacchini (he actually ditched Adidas to sign with McEnroe’s old sponsor) and signing with Uniqlo shocked the tennis world a few months back. The move sounded a bit questionable at first, but anyone familiar with Uniqlo’s HeatTech thermal wear knows that they’ve been dabbling in high-tech fabrics for a while. The tennis gear, timed with the US Open, is finally hitting stores, and we’re most interested in the zipper-placket polo in tennis white. It’s decidedly sporty, but should come in handy the next time you’re slated for a round of mixed doubles.

You’re always up for a round of mixed doubles.

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12/08/11

Well Pressed

The December Issues

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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10/31/11

Well Pressed

The Kempt Guide to the November Issues

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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10/11/11

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Patti Hansen Is Dressed for Water Polo

via WBE

A Healthy ’Qlo: The new Uniqlo flagship is looking pretty spectacular. Even the escalators look strangely futuristic. [GQ]

The Shirt from Hell: A well-deserved tirade against the evils of the non-iron shirt. [Slate]

Hustle Blood: Grant Bloodworth owns the linen DB. Take notes on that pocket square as well. [tucked]

Giving Up the Gun: The jackets in Kiton’s new line have a less-than-credible shoulder, and the Italophile tumblrs are giving them hell. Live by the camicia spalla, die by the camicia spalla. [Parisian Gentleman]

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·Kiton
·UniQlo

08/25/11

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Ladies and Gentlemen, the Pirelli Calendar

via Italian Vanity Fair

So, I Told You: The social etiquette of being right. It’s a problem we have to deal with all the time. [MIEN]

Club Life: Justin Bridges’ guide to the club collar, with a little help from Uniqlo. [tucked]

The Real Wrestler: The tragic decline of Ric Flair, of the WWF. Be warned—it’s incredibly long and incredibly sad. [Grantland]

The Covered Wagon: A crop of screenprinted posters from pre-talkie westerns, and your retro fix of the day. [How to Be a Retronaut]

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06/24/11

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Hey, That’s My Shirt

via Hypebeast

End of an Era: Jil Sander drops the mic on Uniqlo and walks away from the +J collaboration. [The Telegraph]

Lana Turner’s Still Got It: Anne Helen Peterson tells the story of sex, murder and Lana Turner. A dame in full. [The Hairpin]

A Gentleman’s Guide to Brewing Beer: The Art of Manliness sits down with Martin Simion of Austria’s 1516 Brewing Company. [Art of Manliness]

Downer of the Week: Peter Falk, of Columbo and Wings of Desire, is dead at 83. Lame. [/Film]

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03/07/11

Scene

Kempt Man of the Hour: Bryan

See full size, via

This week’s gent is a bit more outré than our usual tastes—that’s a wig, for starters—but it’s a great clinic in working more adventurous items into your routine.

Consider the outfit piece-by-piece. The jeans and the sweater are both mainline Uniqlo—roughly the cheapest good stuff you can buy. If you ditched the scarf, the bowtie and the overcoat, he’d look like a well-dressed temp. Those three accessories elevate him into fashion-show territory, and we’d guess he’ll be wearing at least one of them again tomorrow.

And while we’d normally find a short-sleeved, fur-lined coat to be a little over the top, when it’s over jeans and oxfords, somehow it’s not quite so intense.

As for the wig…you’ll want to work up to it slowly.

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02/24/11

The Biz

The In-House Sartorialist

Street style blogs have been thick on the ground in the past few years, so it was only a matter of time before retailers got in on the game. Case in point: Uniqlo just launched their own mini-Sartorialist, called Uniqlooks. The subjects are a bit scrappier, but the sun-dappled lensing and Parisian and Manhattan street settings are unmistakably Schuman-esque.

The outfits aren’t quite as high-fashion as the Sartorialist, but the best ones have a certain international bohemianism to them. (Also, pretty French girls.)

There’s only one problem: Uniqlo’s bread-and-butter is cheap staples—your oxford shirt, your gray v-neck, your other pair of jeans, etc.—so they tend to be responsible for the less eye-catching items in the pics. But if that means reminding people how good their pants look under a budget-busting McNairy shirt, it might not be such a bad thing.

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01/20/11

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Reasons to Steal a Car

via LikeCool

Man of the Hour: Chris Cooper has seen a lot in his life, and he doesn’t have time for your crap. [NYMag]

Fellas Who Are Good: The FBI pulled down the biggest mob bust in New York history today, with over 100 arrests from all five crime families, so the Voice helpfully rounds up the best nicknames involved. Highlights include “Tony Bagels,” “Lumpy” and “Baby Fat Larry.” [Village Voice]

Inauguration Day: The JFK Library follows up its lucrative data dump with a Twitter-friendly run through of Kennedy’s inauguration speech. Check it out here. [Creative Review]

Jil Sander Returns: Early pics of the new Uniqlo +J arrive on the webs. [Antenna]

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01/14/11

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Michelle Williams is in Need of a Massage

via Fashion Gone Rogue

The Persistence of Plaid: Ray Smith explains why plaid has stuck around. [WSJ]

Necks Will Be Protected: The $50 check wool tie. [Commerce with a Conscience]

Sander Strikes Back: The Beggar pegs the return of Uniqlo +J to next Wednesday. You’ve been warned. [The Choosy Beggar]

Lonely at the Top: An interview/factory tour with Top Shelf, one of the largest sellers of custom clothing in the U.S. [Secrets of the City]

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06/25/10

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Cows are the New Rock Stars

via Contributor Magazine

The Power of the Sun!: Because we care, here’s everything you’ve ever wanted to know about sunburn. [Lifehacker]

Portugal Wins Again: Apparently the Portuguese are winning the World Cup-Twitter trending game. Time to rally, kids. [Mashable]

Doing Donuts: Continuing our ?uestlove kick, here’s the man’s favorite albums at age 5, 10, 15 and so on. [Pitchfork]

In Print: An appreciation of Uniqlo tees as art. Especially the ones with rabbits on them. [The Moment]

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06/07/10

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Barbara Gonzalez is Stretching

Via Like Cool

Free & Easy: The Dennis Hopper bonus reels are starting to come out of the woodwork. This Schnabel short biopic is our favorite so far. [Not Yellow, Chicken]

The Daily Meme: In case you missed it, feast your eyes on the wonder that is Sad Keanu. [Urlesque]

We Call Him “Papery”: Uniqlo gets a mascot, and it’s creepy as hell. [PSFK]

Back in the Day: McNairy for Pro-Keds is a time warp to the best part of 1981. [Sartorially Inclined]

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05/11/10

LinkOut

Jennifer Lopez is a Big Sofia Loren Fan

Italian Vogue Bats 1000: We believe she’s wearing a chandelier of some kind. [Fashion Copious]

So Many Cardigans: New York Magazine takes on the global dominance of Uniqlo. The money line: “They have chosen fabric, rather than fashion, as the area where they want to excel.” Sounds like a solid plan to us. [NYMag]

Hopefully It Won’t be Called the G-Pad: Google tablet. Act like you know. [TechCrunch]

The Egg Did it Last Season: A chicken fashion show, brought gloriously to life. [Whim Quarterly]

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01/08/10

LinkOut

Gisele is Riding a Naked Horse

Wild Horses: Gisele is officially the highest paid model in the world. The horse is a close second. [Fashion Copious]

Gallery Show: Rogues Gallery: Still pretty damn cool. [SwipeLife]

Shoot the J!: Preparing for the second coming of J+ at Uniqlo. It’s gonna be real. [Shophound]

Long Live the King: In honor of his 75th birthday, here’s a roundup of Elvis’ five best travel movies. [World Hum]

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12/11/09

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Claudia Cardinale Is Not Above a Little Gunplay

Fellini’s Other Muse: In honor of Nine, Maya Singer guides a tour of Fellini’s favorite women. Next week: Nino Rota’s favorite trombones. [Style.com]

Also, Truman Peyote: The epic annual Year in Band Names roundup. Highlights this year include Damage Pants, God Johnson, and German Beef Initiative. [A.V. Club]

First Look: An early peek at the Spring/Summer crop of J+ by Jil Sander for Uniqlo. [Nitrolicious]

Think of the Children: It’s a long weekend, but see if you can get through it without buying $248 cashmere sweatpants. [The Cut]

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11/23/09

Object

Going Under

Most of our winter gear tends to be bulky outer layers, but it may be time to revisit one of the unsung heroes of the ski set: the long john.

And thanks to Uniqlo’s heat-tech gear, they may be a bit slimmer than you remember. The latest models use special weaves to stay dry, trap in heat, and generally protect your bottom half. We’d opt for a non-waffled pair to preserve the drape of your trousers, but don’t be surprised if these trunks are thinner than you remember. We always knew technology was good for something…

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06/26/09

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Black or White

Glamor Shots: Vogue Italia introduces us to Ms. Viktoriya Sasonkina. [Cyana Trendland]

The Man in the Mirror: MJ gets an appreciation from the gray lady. [NYTimes]

Public Enemy #1: The style wisdom of Mr. John Dillinger. [WSJ]

The Urge to Merge: The owner of Uniqlo may take over the Gap, resulting in a resurgence of avant-garde crew necks. [The Cut]

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05/19/09

Storefront

Well Aged

via Shophound

Starting today, Gilded Age graces Uniqlo with a few downmarket gems, and the fine folks at Shophound managed to get a few early pics. We thought it was a good catch when the collab was announced, and it looks even better now, particularly the red henley-ed sweater on the right. On your marks, get set…

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03/04/09

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Carine, Knots, and Summer Linen

The New Girl: French editrix and Wintour-to-be Carine Roitfeld is getting the bio treatment from CBS. Revelations include her youthful foxiness. [FashionIndie]

All in Knots: A new multimedia path to the perfect knot. [NotCouture]

Nice Corpus: Our friends at Corpus get the interview treatment via New York Magazine, and reveal their secret Ralph Lauren obsession. [The Cut]

High/Low: Uniqlo and Opening Ceremony deliver on the perfect cheap linen suit. [The Moment]

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02/23/09

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Tadai Gets Rich, Topless Lohan, and the Swan Song of Mickey Rourke

Don’t Mess With Lohan: Lindsay Lohan does another set of topless snaps, courtesy of Hedi Slimane. Does this count as a step forward? [FashionIndie]

In Japan, Thermal Wrap Wears You: Tadai Yanashi, the owner of Uniqlo, is now officially Japan’s richest man. Suck on that, Shigeru Miyamoto! [Luxist]

It’s Fundamental: Esquire starts to read again…as we slowly stop reading Esquire. [Esquire]

Mickey Mouse Club: Vulture imagines the sublime trainwreck that could have been the Mickey Rourke acceptance speech. [Vulture]

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02/04/09

Labeled

Viktorious

We’re trads at heart, so we’re always happy to see someone putting a new spin on the staples of tradwear. (That would be the suit and the tuxedo, in that order.)

Viktor & Rolf slipped underneath our radar when they skipped out on the major runway shows, but by the looks of these press pics, we were missing out on quite a lot. The high-cuffed pants are straight out of the Browne playbook, but between the wildly patterned blazers, shimmering socks and boldly mixed high-top sneakers, there’s a lot here that isn’t indebted to anyone.

None of this is quite ready for Barneys, but we wouldn’t be surprised if there was a Uniqlo collaboration in their future.

See the slideshow»

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02/02/09

Labeled

The New Class

Opening Ceremony

Uniqlo has a remarkably catalog for a down-market brand, but even more impressive is how many upscale designers they’ve managed to tempt in for collaborations. Alexander Wang, Loden Dager, Tim Hamilton were all on last year’s list, but apparently the ‘qlo has a few more in the works.

Over the next few months, they’re rolling out two new men’s collections from Opening Ceremony and Gilded Age respectively. (Shipley & Halmos, sadly, stuck with womenswear.)

Gilded Age acquits themselves fairly with a set of baggy, nautical gear, but we’re more partial to Opening Ceremony, not least because of their electric blue suit that looks like it could have come right off Pete Campbell’s back.

See the suit, and Gilded Age’s contribution»

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