Ugh.

Global warming is in full effect (73 yesterday, 53 tomorrow). So is the end of the semester. I'm trying to stay both cool and warm, and sane, right now. We'll talk next week! Don't hate me.

I did buy the J. Crew wing-tips. I found some Prada ones I really wanted, but like most things expensive, I can't afford them. They haven't arrived yet. But they should soon. The last pair of shoes I got from the 'Crew were awful. Do not, I repeat do not, buy their driving moccasins. I'm a little skeptical about the new ones, but they are so nice looking. We'll see.

Long time, no see.

- ...because I secretly work for Men.style.com. Or they just have been reading my mind for months.

- It's cold. Time for sweaters and jackets. Scarfs have become my thing for these colder weather months that I won't yet call winter (thanks global warming). I have been wearing this basic grey cashmere one I bought last winter, only to have it recently supplanted by this great plaid wool one I picked up from J. Crew. I realized, when worn with a green shirt, it (the creme tartan version) kind of screams Christmas. So just don't do it.

- So much for working out my S/S08 favorites. School's taken over my life again. However, I will tell you spring will involve shirts, pants, and shoes of many varieties. Get ready! More on this as we get closer.

Fall essentials...?

It seems most kinds of magazines, blogs or things that talks about fashion include seasonal lists of items that they recommend readers should buy. I always love when they include $1200 shoes or the $5500 Balenciaga scarf (ok, if the funds existed I'd be all over it...even if it is "women’s"). So, rather than tell you what you should be wearing, I'll tell you what I'm wearing. It's cooled off a little here, so I've finally been able to bust out a few of the things I've been buying since August and been waiting to wear. Here is my fall uniform.

1. Clarks Wallabees. I actually bought these earlier this summer, and was waiting until it seemed right to wear them. At my summer job we had to "dress seasonally" beginning in August, which meant it was at least appropriate at work to wear them. They are easily among the most comfortable shoes I've ever owned. And they look great every with nearly everything. I got the dark brown leather--the suede is a bit cliché, and you have to worry about water spots, etc. I feel like these bad boys give me enough of a "boot" without being too heavy or too military. I wish I had bought them years earlier.

2. Dark, dark denim. I've been a fan of dark denim for years. I bought my first selvage pair last fall. Since then, I've lost some weight and my body's different so they don't exactly fit. This fall has been about replacing my old, giant ones with ones I love, and that fit better. I loved the fact that I could wear/break them in myself, without the aid of the weird things Abercrombie does to get all those holes, or whatever people do to "whisker" the denim. I want every crease and stain to be my own! If I find a pair that fits the way I want, I tend to buy them. I have two pairs I'm giving major play to right now: Ralph Lauren's Riverside Wash original fit (the slim fit is insane, i.e., I was protruding...a lot) and this random pair I found at the Gap on Saturday, the Morrison Slim Fit. They are a "slim" but not RL slim. I've been narrowing and narrowing down my pant legs for months, getting slimmer and slimmer. The Gap Morrison denim is about as slim as I can go without looking like I'm wearing running tights. The dark denim work for dressy or dressed down times. I wear them with t-shirts or with blazers. Totally versatile, totally awesome.

3. Button-up oxfords. I have been wearing these for years, but like my denim for this fall, I've taken to getting shirts that fit a bit more snug. These shirts fit better, and actually look much better. Last January's GQ featured an editorial on good fitting shirts. It's true--when it's too big, you get that blousy thing going, with miles of fabric pouring from the top of your pants in the back. I really think if you get a shirt one size smaller than what you actually think you need, you are in great shape. It might be a little uncomfortable, but the ladies suffer to look good all the time. Trust me, if it's at all uncomfortable, think about how fly you look. I'm big into the tartans and ginghams right now. And I've never been wronged by a solid blue or white one, either.

4. The right sunglasses. I'm all about the aviators this fall. I had some a few years ago that I really liked, then everyone else started wearing them, and they lost the cool for me. Well, the cool is back. Between the Tom Ford Farrah and Persol's 2813, I think I'm set. Both pairs are in brown tortoiseshell, and both are fly. The look is very classic, but not like metal-frame Rayban classic. More like, quite literally, Tom Ford classic (his version of classic at least). Steve McQueen rocked some Persol, not the same style, but Persol. Between the two of them, I feel quite justified.

5. The Peacoat. Men's fashion magazines have for years touted the peacoat as a coat we all need. I'm on the short end of things (around 5'8"), so peacoats don't exactly work for me because they end up looking kind of long. My search ended the day I found a Marc Jacobs peacoat on Yoox.com. It's got the fit of a classic letterman's jacket, with the kind of military styling many coats are featuring right now. It hits right at my waist--right where I want it. I debated about getting Philip Lim's version, but I do not have enough dough. MJ's version cost about half of what Lim's would have set me back. And honestly, I like it a whole lot more. None of those giant white buttons. And the elastic waist gives it a very fitted, and finished, look.

I thought five was a nice number to end on, as opposed to six. But I've also bought an inordinate amount of sweaters for F/W07. It'll be about layering the sweaters with the oxfords, underneath the coat, with the jeans and the boots--all about creating my own version of a classic man's work uniform. Or something! I think as long as you buy things that fit, you're golden. Keep it classy, fellas.

Because nobody can look that "interesting" on their own.

With the recent coverage of male celebs using stylists for certain events, it made me wonder if there are also male celebs who use stylists for their "everyday" wear, a la the ladies and Rachael Zoe. Case and point, Kanye West and his trip to Paris Fashion Week:


Should we try and fool ourselves into thinking Mr. Ego dresses himself? Should we wonder who is picking out his clothes? I think the real question is why, West or anyone who might have possibly seen him before he stepped out for the day, allowed him to look like this (a closer look at West's attempt at the Brawny Man):

Just because they sell it at the store, Kanye, doesn't mean you have to buy it. His fiance Alexis is kind of fine though, for real.

Photos: Men.style.com.

A euro for thought

With the dollar's exchange rate gone to shit, and with much of the fashion market for both men's and woman's wear seemingly overwhelmed with luxe level price points, could a change be on the horizon? As the women's collections come to an end this week in Paris, I can't help but wonder who is going to pay for all of this come late January/early February when the first shipments of S/S08 begin to arrive in stores. Will designers begin switching to local materials for the F/W08 collections? Will Marc Jacobs run late again because of late arriving samples from Italy? Or will be utilize local means of production to both cut costs and save time? What does it mean for the rest of us?

One guess is that Americans simply won't buy as much foreign designed clothing next year. Could this signal the beginning of the end of the It bag phenomenon for American women? If anything, the prices of these bags have steadily increased. And they're mainly from Euro-designers, where now the dollar means so very little. What about folks like Tom Ford? His NYC store runs its business in relation with Zegna, an Italian company. Will the cost of his kind of already expensive suits skyrocket because it costs so damn much to pay for the wool and cashmere? Perhaps people might even wear clothes from last S/S (gasp!) this next season--at the end of the day, a pair of shorts is, well, a pair of shorts.

But what does the current down slide of the dollar mean for American fashion?

October mags.

- I do like GQ's 50th Anniversary issue. I wanted the Paul Newman cover--I received Johnny Depp. That's cool I guess. For last year's Men of the Year issue, I wanted Jay-Z; I received Will Ferrell. I suppose that's the downside of subscriptions. Of the top 50 men of style, several designers are included like Slimane, Saint-Laurent, and Givenchy. In the top 15 to watch for the next 50 years, not a single designer--no Tom Ford, Thom Browne, or Nicolas Ghesquiere. Not a one. Either US GQ is ignoring the fashion world, or they made a huge oversight.

- Although we all probably could've guessed it, Justin Timberlake and Jake Gyllenhaal do not dress themselves for events. Surprise! Gyllenhall uses stylist sisters Clare and Nina Hallworth; Timberlake, Annie Psaltiras. And I thought those two guys just "had it"...at least Jake! Justin's "FutureSex/LoveSounds" look was a little, well, styled. But he did make me covet a YSL three-piece suit, for sure.

- Also received Men's Vogue. I love that Ralph Lauren has a big layout. He deserves major props. He is American men's fashion.

- I received October's Details a while ago. I always love what they do over there. So they need to keep it up. I don't know if I agree with their top ten item list, though. Isn't it just a rehash of last year's from nearly every F/W issue? All criticism aside, their editorials are always incredible and they have the best fashion coverage, I think.

If only I spoke French...

And if only it was going to be available in the States. Another fashion documentary, this time about the man, Karl. Lagerfeld is another designer whom I am kind of obsessed with. He's crazy! And I love watching these creative people doing their thing. Maybe Colette will have this? Hmm.

Attention Hipsters...!

To those who are trying to make the most out of the Wayfarer's recent resurgence in popularity and the subsequent doom that all things cool eventually come to, the Wayfarer's time is up! As there is nothing unique and/or hip about southern sorority girls, you know something has become ubiquitous when they pick it up. So to my dismay (basically because I thought Wayfarers required skinny jeans, striped shirts and Kirsten Dunst at your side), I saw them everywhere this weekend during tailgating for yesterday's football game. And they are apparently filtering across other campuses as well. The pic below is not from my school. So even if it's only two campuses (which I doubt), the Hipsters of New York would be having an emo-cow.

There is something off about how these glasses have been worn for much of the past year and how these girls are putting them with sundresses and flip-flops that's giving me a bad case of cognitive dissonance. If this continues, it's Risky Business all over again (and we know how that turned out). Fashionista predicted the Wayfarers demise a few weeks back, and it now looks like it's oh so true.

Photo: No one I know--just an example of the Wayfarers new market. Chloe Sevigny would be so upset.

Thank god. I kind of hated them anway!

Oh shit.

Marc Jacobs isn't playing, either. Whether for men or women, if Marc left New York and began showing both the MJ line and Marc elsewhere, it would be a huge blow to American fashion. He is easily one of the headliners of NYFW. While I don't think showing a show two hours later than scheduled, with no apparent reason, is cool, the details included in the article (that Italian factories were closed for the whole of August, thus could not ship things to get here sooner) gives Marc a stronger case, beyond the default "prima donna" explanation we'd like to give him. I wasn't that impressed with this S/S08 collection, particularly after the beauty of the F/W07 collection. But he's kind of an American fashion institution--not Ralph Lauren, but also definitely not Proenza Schouler. If anything, his shows are one of the bright spots, awesome collection or not, of NYFW.

Please don't go, Marc!

By the way, the Loic Prigent documentary of Jacobs' LV S/S07 collection is kind of awesome. If you compare it to "Signe Chanel" and the process Lagerfeld uses to create his collections there, it seems that Marc is much more hands on, like he's down there draping himself. While neither seem to do much of the sewing, Jacobs looks to at least be in the studios, while Karl seems quite removed from where his atelier crafts his designs. Ooh, also, you see the creation of the heinous Cubist Vuitton bag--the one made from six or seven different LV bags. While that bag is kind of tacky, it was a bear to create and construct. I love to see stuff like this.

On that note, Thom Browne is a mystery to me, so I'd like to see how he creates a collection and what he's like as a person--we know very little about him other than that he very much enjoys the ankle. Loic needs to give him a call!

Colette doesn't play.

I ordered the Marc Jacobs/Louis Vuitton documentary Sunday night. It will arrive at my apartment tomorrow morning. I guess that's what happens when you pay a lot for shipping, but I just assumed it was because I was American and they are French. Yeah France!

Did anybody else see Marc by Marc? He's got some smart looking things going on for next Spring. I like the jackets.

Damn it, Kanye!

First, he makes this ridiculous tirade at the VMAs. And now, the dumb picture I have of him in the post about Tom Ford eyewear is driving people to my blog, but only to see that picture. I thought there were all kinds of people reading my awesome stuff. No such luck. But if you're reading this, and like what you see, tell your friends. Even if Kanye West is what brought you here.

Do you need a bow tie to go with your navy pants?

Has it come to be that when a man wears a dark pant and tucks in his shirt that he constitutes “dressed up”? Every time I wear navy chinos or a pair of dark denim, people comment, “You’re all dressed up!” No, I have on the same pants from yesterday, but rather than being a shade of faded beige, they are dark blue. While dark colors in general, your blacks and your blues, tend to be used most in “dressed up” clothes, can we not wear them with the same attitude and feeling one wears the, apparently, more relaxed browns? Or have we become so used to seeing khaki that the only reason one would wear blue or black pants would be because they are “dressed up”?

I went to this thing last night for school. It was my department’s welcoming/beginning of the school year party. I wore a purple plaid oxford, a pair of raw denim jeans, and my Wallabees (my go-to shoe for F/W). This kind of outfit was not out of the ordinary for what I might wear to school or to any other kind of outing. But I got many comments on my clothes. I admit, the shirt was kind of fly. I’d like to think I could thank Chris Bailey over there at Burberry, but I have a feeling he had very little to do with this exact shirt I had on. Maybe it was the whole outfit, dark pants included, that tipped everyone off that I was, indeed, “dressed up”. Perhaps it was that my clothes provided a sharp contrast to the t-shirts and shorts that many of the grad students, and even professors, were wearing. Yes, I did intend to look good, and to have people notice. For me, I’m just as comfortable in dark denim as I am in khaki pants—at the end of the day, they’re both pants. But this happens every time I wear dark pants. And it is to the pants that I attribute part of this thing that happens.

Oddly enough, very few to no one says anything when my outfit includes a pant in a shade of brown. It could be the same top I’ve worn with dark pants, but now with lighter ones, and no one says anything about being dressed up. Have we become so addicted to the khakis and honey browns that when we see a man wearing navy, or even black, pants we assume they’re dressed up? Is there something that got twisted along the way that now uses a tucked in shirt as an indicator of someone who is dressed up? In September’s Vogue, there is a series of articles about the fact that many of today’s women are either scared of “dressing up” or are so confused as to what it means that they end up not “dressing up”. I think the problem extends beyond women, and into the realm of man.

The same month’s Details includes an essay about men wearing “mom jeans”—the ones that are of a light blue and may or may not be tapered at the end. Many a man will put those bad boys on, throw on a button-down and say they’re ready to go to dinner. Maybe it is about the color, then, that differentiates dressed up and dressed down. The color of many of these men’s mom jeans are in fact one that is lighter. But maybe it’s about the less than little to no thought people want to use when deciding what to wear—the mom jeans are comfortable, and they’re right there, you don’t have to search for anything else because the jeans are right where you left them when you took them off yesterday. Let’s face it, sometimes it only requires a little bit of thought, like say grabbing the chocolate brown chinos instead of the beige ones that keeps you out of mom territory and in the male gender column.

Even if your pants are not in fact dark, the simple act of tucking the shirt tail in moves you out of the generic. All of this takes the same amount of time you would use when figuring out which flip-flops to wear with your cargos (ugh). Or just put on some navy pants.

Photos: RalphLauren.com, Burberry.com

Well...

Between this being my first full week of classes, and all the insanity of fashion week, I haven't been updating a whole lot. And the fact that much of NYFW is dedicated to women's wear and most of the S/S08 menswear was presented earlier this summer, there just isn't much to report on and/or discuss. I will, however, have a full run down of all S/S08 menswear within the next week.

All that being said, there are a couple folks I forgot would be showing this week, Michael Bastian included. I was glad to see his collection.

Also, a professor whose work I much respect has asked for my take on fashion. I wanted to write back and say that I don't think anyone over five years old should wear denim shorts and that any kind of short or pant featuring cargo pockets should be burned. I don't think that's at all what she wants. I plan to write an essay within the next month detailing my take on fashion. My first step will be to read Diana Crane's "Fashion and Its Social Agendas". We'll see where I'm at after that.

Photo: Diana Crane.

Thom Browne is crazy...

But I still love him. Here are some of the first looks we have from Thursday's runway, thanks to the New York Times. Despite the long fringe and the knotted shirt sleeves, Browne is making waves, of some sort. At least some of his insanity seems wearable. If only my bank account matched how much I admire this dude. I saw him when I was in NY. I nearly shit my pants. I didn't want to shout him out right during dinner, but I was in awe for sure. Maybe there's some hope that his Black Fleece collection for Brooks Brothers will some how make it down to me, and go on an insane markdown. Time will tell.

I'm glad we're only into day two of NYFW. There's some hope left for some hottness.

...

No word on anything NY Fashion Week. Apparently, today is the first "official" day. If so, I hope pictures from yesterday's "unofficial" happenings appear, because I need to see the Band of Outsiders' collection! Ah!

In other news, I just bought the Italian chino suit jacket from J.Crew's online sale. I'm not sure what, beyond denim, that I'll wear it with right now, or even when I'll wear it, as khaki colored suits are not necessarily fall gear. But I don't yet plan on wearing the full suit (the pants are no longer in stock), so I think it'll work as a sports coat. Either way, for $100 for everything including shipping, it was too much to pass up--I had to have it!

Speaking of fall and jackets, I have found myself stalking Philip Lim's boy-cut pea coat. Because I don't live in NY, I can't just roll up to the store and try it on. But I want to know what it might look like on me. And I'm just not sure if it's a good look at all. Yet, I still think it's kind of awesome. Ugh. I don't know.

NY Fashion Week begins tomorrow.

Who I'm excited to see:

- Band of Outsiders (Tuesday - presentation)
- Rag and Bone (Wednesday - runway)
- Thom Browne (Thursday - runway)
- Ralph Lauren (Saturday - runway)
- 3.1 Philip Lim (Sunday - runway)

Despite the huge numbers of designers showing over the next week, I'm into only a few. Milan and Paris showed S/S08 earlier this summer, so we're really catching the tail end of the men's designs for next season.

I was only sort of impressed by the Europeans. I was disappointed by Chris Bailey, whose Prorsum line for Burberry seemed rather strange, and I tend to love most things they do over there. I enjoyed Balenciaga, but that may be because I love Ghesquiere's work for his women's line. There were a few other bright spots, Gucci comes to mind, but nothing particularly outstanding.

Photos: Burberry Prorsum, Balenciaga, Gucci -- courtesy men.style.com

I'll be more interested in the F/W08 collections we'll see early next year, particularly that of Kris Van Assche for Dior. I quite like his own line, but was a little weirded out by his designs for Dior. Obviously, he's not Slimane so his work will be different, but I am so used to seeing the Slimane silhouette, etc. However, Van Assche's take was welcome because he did his own version of Dior rather than a Hedi-redux, which he rightfully should as their new taste maker.

We'll see what NY has in store for us.

Because a coat with no sleeves makes sense

For the past two September issues, Details has promoted the down puffer vest as a must item for men in the fall/winter months. They always look cool, particularly when styled with denim--both urban and rustic at the same time (they kind of remind me of hunting gear...). That being said, I don't think I've ever actually seen someone wearing one of these things.

I'm convinced that, although many designers try their hand at the puffer vest, most men invest in a whole jacket when it's cold out. The vest doesn't fit well under a pea coat, much less a top coat. It doesn't work as anything other than a top layer. So you're chest and back are warm, but aren't your arms a little cold? Maybe I don't get it. But I still kind of want one!

I think that I may get a puffer vest for this F/W. Land's End has a great one for $25. You can get the cool look without the investment the LV or Moncler version requires. And if you never wear it again, it's ok because it cost about as much as a steak. I think it'll work until the temperature reaches the 30s, and I start to pile on the layers. That's when the big guns will come out. Or at the least the jackets and coats with sleeves!

Photo: jcrew.com

Farrah, pimps, and Barneys

I ended up ordering the "Farrah" sunglasses. They are massive. I feel a bit like Kanye West when I wear them--but the thing is, I am no rapper so the look he rocks is a bit lost on me. Part of me feels like I should be wearing a dyed-fur coat when I wear these shades. Tom didn't say anything about that!

I think the size of Ford's aviators work for some folks, and not others. I may just wear them ironically--they don't necessarily go with my button-up and chino uniform...but they could.

Despite their hugeness, I think I will be keeping them. They do still look good, and they step up my accessory game. They're a high on the "bla-dow" effect--something neither of my other pairs of sunglasses have. I'll be in NYC next week, so I think I'll test them out for real then.

Speaking of NYC, Barneys' warehouse sale starts Thursday. I've never been, but I'll be there for sure next week.

Picture: not the Farrah on 'Ye, but something like it. You see what I mean about how they look good on some people. I had trouble finding a bad picture of someone in large aviators. I'm hoping they'll look differently on me later as I just recently buzzed off my hair. Maybe when there's more of it, my head won't be dwarfed by my sunglasses.

Tim and Michael.

Of the current batch of new-ish American designers, I love Tim Hamilton and Michael Bastian. Anyway, Mens.style.com has a feature with Hamilton and his ten essentials and it kind of makes me love him more. He picked i-D magazine as one of his essentials, and it reminds me: has anyone else seen the September cover? Gemma Ward looking all kinds of beautiful. That makes me love her more.

And if I'm going to talk about Hamilton, I should shout-out Michael Bastian for his new deal to design the Bill Blass men's collection. Between Som doing the women's and Bastian with men's, the new Blass will be something to look forward to.

Tom Ford is crazy insane.

I am a bit obsessed with Tom Ford. Not so much with his clothing, or his days at YSL and Gucci. But really, just him. I think that Ford, Ralph Lauren and Thom Browne represent the best, while the rest of the US menswear game is somewhat meaningless. Ford represents, for me, what well styled American men should look like.

I saw him on Martha Stewart a few weeks back (re-run), and was kind of entranced. There is something magnetic about him--I think he'd be fun to hang out with. Oddly enough, he seems like a "guy's guy". I imagine him whipping up those things he made with Stewart in preparation for a Knicks game...or something. Anyway, like I said I'm not really obsessed with his clothes, but who wouldn't love to own one of his made-to-meaures?

I am, however, quite enamored with his eyewear line. The Farrah aviator glasses are the ones I like best. Last August, GQ featured some similar looking Marc Jacobs' aviators, and told us that large-lensed sunglasses were a look we needed for the fall. I bought some Blindes this past January; it's now Fall 07, and I think the large plastic aviators are still a nice choice, and are something I want/need. At this point, metal-framed aviators just remind me of something like this. So while the aviator does remain a staple of many men's accessories, I think going beyond a simple Ray-ban style, with its ubiquitous gold or silver frame, or one you find at the grocery store (ok, I did once own some gold aviators made by the good folks at Polaroid) can take a look one step higher. And while the cost is somewhat prohibitive, I've had good luck getting designer glasses from eBay. I still don't want to spend $200 on them, but they are kind of awesome, and I think I need them right now.

Photo source: Some dude's myspace profile; Saksfifthavenue.com.

First post.

Welcome to Fashmen. I know, the title is a lame play on "fashion". Bear with me here. This blog will include, what I hope to be, daily musings on men's fashion and style, as well as general observations related to fashion in general. Because I am constantly thinking about this stuff, I hope to always have something to say. Yadda yadda yadda. Check back later.