American Dream

This, ladies and gentlemen, is how you wear a suit.

Jay Gatsby, Gilded God

That of course is Leo from the upcoming Great Gatsby adaptation, directed by the always costume and style aware Baz Luhrman. His second to last film, Moulin Rouge, still affects my sartorial choices almost daily, and had of course a massive impact on women's fashion.

I'm excited for the reaction the world of common style could have to this as well. Victorian and Edwardian styles had power and potential, but had by the end of the Great war era been reduced to drabs and dregs for the war effort. The Jeeves and Wooster era costumes, bright, playful, stylish and smart, were a breath of fresh air in the attitudes of Europe and the Americas after a disastrous 4 years and Imperial morality. These clothing were as much an attitude themselves, a rebellion against stuffy Victorianism, just as powerful for men as the flapper dress and bob would prove to be for women. The style typified in the Great Gatsby were the first that could be honestly called 20th century, modern, and have stayed contemporary to one degree or another ever since.

Monday morning "whaaa?"

There's something to be said about how subjective this work is. Of course, fashion is just another word for trending (or rather, the other way around) and what's trending is typically up to a few clouty (or should I say Klout-y?) individuals who use their expertise in media and marketing to make us pay more attention to this over that.

It's all very elementary, I know.

But sometimes, you need to be reminded that in the end, this is all subjective, and when "the best" comes along, it's 'best' to remember what Penn and Teller had to say; the best, is bullshit.

This week, the magazine that I work for (whose articles are behind a pay wall, so sorry, no linkies) ran a counter-comment to the Boston Globes Best Dressed Bostonians list. Why would we do this, living a few hundred miles away and in another country? Because of a man named Brad Marchand, who would otherwise never be seen in the style pages if not for the Globe's choice of flare.

Brad is a local boy, from a part of the city just down the road called Hammond's Plains. He grew up, made good on the Canadian dream, and now plays hockey for the Bruins down south. Here we call him the Whizzer, due much in part to his habit of getting drunk in public and looking ridiculous in the resulting photos (many of which show him NOT wearing various articles of clothes, far from the best dressed at the party).

Brad, fashion icon

Regardless, someone at the Globe took a good look, and said "yes, that makes sense, put him down for an award, I like his look". Then they filled it out with a few photos in which he's wearing a shirt and seemingly stable.

Just a nice little reminder to never take fashion, or the fashionistas, at face value. Take a look behind the curtain at what's sitting around the floor of the change closet before assuming that we (collectively) know what we're talking about.

It's a lazy Friday

So here's a lazy Friday post!

Yes, care of Nerd Boyfriend is this truly epic photo of the legendary mock-rockers Spinal Tap, resplendent in their then-70's chic, now retro charm.

I'll take two please, and a sewing kit

"You maniacs! You blew it up!"

*ahem*

Once in a great while, something truly incredible, something stupendous...something utter beyond the previous scope arrives on the fashion scene, and makes you do one of three things: spend every cent in your possession, stare in utter disbelief, or wretch.

The good (questionable) people at Hot Topic have pushed the bar down the street, around the corner, and off a pier into the harbour, with the release (at some point previously) of the One Legged Pant.

Just let that name sink into the squishier parts of your brain before click through to the link. Let your mind try and develop it's own idea of what that could mean Normal pants, missing one leg? Maybe it's not literal, but a comment on how the pants are made, or can sometimes appear? Maybe it's a comment on how much fabric was used, only half that of a normal pair of pants!

No.

They are none of those.

The One Legged Pants, which you will notice actually SOLD OUT at some point, are in fact a clever ruse, a cunning disguise meant to trick the male mind into, *gasp*, crossdressing!

Yes, it's a skirt. A maxi skirt, to be precise, like the kind girls used to wear in the 90's, except with some zippers and belts, to dude it up (apparently). In my humble opinion, that's like spitting in the desert; a skirt is a skirt, no matter how you attempt to masculinize it, because that's the history and culture we're stuck with. If a guy wants to wear one, there's nothing wrong with that, but I have issue with Hot Topic's apparent sly attempt at re-branding the garment in such a ridiculous fashion to sell more product.

It's almost as if the designers at HT are TRYING to get awkward high school kids beaten up and laughed at, if not for wearing a skirt (with buckles!), then for trying to explain to their bully/teachers/parents/other general public that it is in fact JUST a pair of one legged pants, and that you should stop picking on them.

What's you game, Hot Topic?

Shill for the big boys

As a dude in the fashion world, it is a general rule that anything that makes my job, that is helping other fellas look stylish (a Herculean task in these trying times of Jersey Shore), any easier is my friend, comrade and quite possibly lover.

The Collection by the New York Times is the first two. TC is the newest fashion and style app released by the Times to showcase the latest in vogue trends and wearable whatsits.

Yes, it suffers from the same male-deficiency as most such guides, focusing almost entirely on the ladies, but what's new there? The men-centric content they do deliver is well worth wading through the womanesq, and I for one have high hopes for the future of this portable potent.

(be ware, the link opens to Apple's iTunes store)

Fukashima Do'

My hair reached critical mass some point last night while I was sleeping. That is to say, not that my brain had a melt down, or my scalp became radio active. Rather, the length and volume of my hair reached that magical point where rather than looking robust and clean, or long and healthy, the two have combined to create a powerful force for chaos and mismanagement. Even with the aid of heavy products, creams and pastes thicker than any peanut butter devised by George Washington Carver in his wildest nightmare, my do' has become a wild hive of asymmetry, jutting out in random directions, as if drawn by a drunk Japanese animator.

So the question I must now ask myself; cut back this uncontrollable mess and bring us right back to square one, closely cropped and finely tuned, near-aerodynamic coif? Or power through, damn the consequences, and dare to look a little ramshackle a few weeks until the weight of the locks overpowers the sheer density, and we settle into the era of long, luxurious hippie hair (except cleaner, and not a drop of tie-dye in sight).

Decisions, decisions.

H&M Update: Lazy, lazy journalists

The local "respectable" print journal ran an article today announcing the new line from H&M I talked about yesterday. The piece, plucked from the AP wire, extols the virtues of Madame Versace's designs, and hints at how this couture would help us typically dull Canadians spruce up our look and lives (okay, so a bit of reading into it). Not mentioned, either in the article, the paper's website, or as a editor's note anywhere, is that our local H&M (as in, where those reading this paper would assume they could purchase these products) would not be carrying the line, set to be released November 19th.

Since yesterday, I've attempted to contact the H&M regional office for comment, but haven't been able to get anywhere. But at least, unlike the CH, I tried.

Further updates soon.