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?