Sharp & Steely

Saturday evening, while waiting to meet the fabulous Plumcake at one of my favorite places here in Austin, I pulled up a miraculously empty barstool and perched carefully upon it (above-the-knee skirts call for careful perching). The nice gentleman to my right, after a few bar-neighbor pleasantries, asked me if I worked in fashion in some way. Well, blushgiggle, yes, I do, as a matter of fact! (I'm pretty sure it was the hat that inspired his question. No one else was wearing one, and people do notice a hat.) This led to a conversation, specifically a conversation about fashion for men, which was a happy coincidence considering that the Spring 2010 men's shows were happening in Paris and Milan the last couple of weeks.

Bar-neighbor Ken & I discussed how fashion can be tricky for men -- there is a uniform, which can be a good thing because men don't have to think all that hard in order to look presentable. On the other hand, because men's fashion is a bit more circumscribed than women's, it's easier to fall into a rut and just wear the same old thing day after day. And, as Ken pointed out, women are the peacocks of our species -- we're the ones who are trained to preen and display. A man who dresses flamboyantly is much more likely to be looked at askance than a woman who does. Men in our culture are not taught to place as much of a premium on their appearance as women are, and so a man who does can be seen as a bit... suspect. That's if, of course, he can even bring himself to step out a bit -- most men, in my experience, are deathly afraid of dressing in a way that sets them at all apart from the crowd.

But yours truly believes that everyone, regardless of gender, deserves to look in the mirror and see something that makes you smile. Our clothes are the face we present to world, and we should like what our closets say about us, male or female.

So let's take a look at the Prada Men's Spring 2010 collection and see what lessons we can learn.

Tim Blanks' excellent review of this collection on Men.Style.Com reveals that my girl Miuccia decided to push the boundaries of the gray suit for men, and so the entire collection is black and shades of gray. Now, we all know how much Style Spy loves color, but I also love the play of multiple textures in a monochrome color scheme, and this collection has that in spades.

Gray, yes. Boring, no.


Prada also played a lot with sheerness and perforation in this show, which further contributed to the depth of textural detail.

And of course the tailoring is impeccable, because one of the things Prada does best is take a recognizable shape and execute it in a new way. So while she may be pushing the boundaries a bit with a perforated shirt, she tucks it under this gorgeous balmacaan and it's a little less scary. Although I think that coat may have some sheerness to it, as well -- I'm pretty cheesed at Style.com for not posting any detail shots from this show. Regardless -- that is one good-looking coat.

More layers and textures and prints. This one is a little riskier, with the giant herringbone of the pant, but the color scheme makes it go down a bit easier, I think. I for one would raise an approving eyebrow if my dinner date showed up wearing this.


Sleeveless for men is so tricky...

As forward-thinking as I like to believe myself, I don't think I'm quite ready for the sleeveless mock-turtleneck for men. (The fact that it's being modeled by Lurch doesn't help, either.)

This is a bit better:

Although, guys? Don the Full Blues Brothers at your peril. It almost never doesn't look ridiculous. I fully & enthusiastically support hats, as we all know, but a black fedora, even a beautiful woven one like this, is risky unless the rest of your outfit in no way makes you look as though you're about to break into a chorus of "Rubber Biscuit." Which means no Ray-Bans under the brim.

Okey-dokey. Here's where we take a runway look and dissect it into parts:

First -- theoretically, I really love that mesh polo. It's interesting and kind of bold without being at all femme-y to my eye, and I think it's really cool. However. Most of the men of my acquaintance are not barely-post-adolescent runway models with alabaster-smooth chests , so the guido potential is off the charts here and probably not worth the risk. (Once again I raise the clarion call for real, live men modeling men's clothes -- these boy-children are not the sort of eye-candy a grown-up wants to nibble!) Also... well, I'm just going to say it: nipples. Call me a prude if you will, but I don't want to see anyone's nipples except in very specific circs, and those circs are guaranteed never to happen in public. But I think I could really dig this polo over a t-shirt -- not just a plain old cop-out of a Hanes undershirt, but something with a color and maybe even a design that says, "I layered these shirts on purpose for visual interest." I think that could look pretty cool.

The cardigan I just full-on love. Love lovety lovelovelove. I want one for me, and I want one for all my man friends, because I think it is beautiful and eye-catching and elegant. It would look gorgeous over a colored dress shirt, or even just a nice t-shirt. It's different and interesting without being even close to over the top, and I just can't say enough how much I love it, and would love to see a man wearing it.

The mesh pants? Well, probably the less said about those the better. Again, pretty cheesed at the lack of detail shots for this show, although maybe these pants are the reason -- perhaps Style.com didn't want to risk an X-rating. Still -- wish there was a shot of him walking away because I'm dying to know what he's got on under there. Whaddya reckon -- boxers? Briefs? Thong? (Personally, I really hope it was a thong -- it's 2009, friends. It's time for Equal Opportunity Whale Tail.)

So. What can we take away from this lovely collection of men's clothes to add spark to our real-life Y-Chromes' wardrobes? First and foremost, good fit and tailoring are the one crucial element that must always be present. Next -- using texture and pattern to create visual interest can be easier to do well if the color scheme is monochromatic. Lastly, a classic clothing item like a cardigan or an overcoat done in an unexpected fabric or color can up the ante of an entire outfit without resorting to gimmickry. Clothes don't have to be costume-y to be special -- as a matter of fact, they never should be.

But the most important rule for men is the same as for women -- feel good about what you wear. If something sparks you, put it on and wear it. Don't rob yourself of the enjoyment of a great garment by saying, "I never wear this sort of thing," or, "It's not me," or, "I'm afraid of looking like a fool." Because A) there's a first time for everything, B) it's you if you choose to make it you and C) trust me, no one's paying as much attention as you think. And those of us who are? I promise we'll appreciate the effort.

Images: Men.Style.Com

Fashion Advice From Our New Commander-In-Chief

OMG, I love my new President so much...










Thanks to Linda at The Thoughtful Dresser for pointing me toward this.

Shopportunity -- July 16

Big Sale at Macy's!!

Enjoy $.99 Shipping on Clearance Items at Macys.com! Offer Valid 16-July-2008 through 20-July-2008.


Many lovely things, including the following dress, which is so Audrey Hepburn I could swoon:

And since we were speaking of white dresses the other day...

What's more summery than white eyelet?

To go with your summer dress, these adorable espadrilles:

And look, look! Look at the super cute multi-color patent flat sandals! Oh, I LOVE these!

For the men!

I know, I know. Don't freak out. Here's what you do. You put on the shirt and you tuck it into these nice flat-front khakis

And then you toss this great casual cotton jacket (maybe not this color, but it comes in others) over it

and you finish off the whole shebang with these great, comfortable slip-on shoes that are not in the least pimpin'

Voila! You are now the best-looking guy in the room, and discerning eyes notice and are impressed by your confident fashion know-how.

(Click on photos for links to items.) Lots of good stuff at the Macy's site. So go! Shop!!!

Style Spy's Least-Favorite Oxymoron

Oh, it does Style Spy's heart a world of good when she discovers that the XY-Chromosomers are paying attention to their duds. A reader writes:

I have to give a presentation to some customers next week, so I need to dress business casual. Do you have any suggestions for business casual clothes that aren't nerdy? Something other than khakis and a button-down or polo shirt.

Oh, you men. On one hand, you have it so easy. There's really only a few variations on a few themes to play with. The uniform comes easy -- shirt, slacks, jacket. Maybe a tie. Maybe some cuff links. A sweater or cardigan for layering. Shoes. Voila, you're done. You never have to worry about hemlines rising and falling, whether your pantyhose have a run in them, or if your bra is visible underneath your blouse. Men don't have different kinds of support garments depending on what skirt they're wearing (or how fat they're feeling). Pull on those Jockeys and you're ready to go!

On the other hand... yawn. Honestly, I'm glad to the skies (for numerous reasons) that I'm not a man. Women's clothes are much more fun than men's. There is no Christian Lacroix Haute Couture Homme. And men's shoes, while usually less precarious and blister-inducing -- nowhere near as exciting.

The fine line that a well-dressed man has to walk is how to work the formula without lapsing into fashion turpitude. Throw into the mix that a guy probably has a job he goes to five days a week where he would like to not be mocked by his fellow employees, and I can see why it's so easy to slide down the slippery slope of sartorial laziness until he is trapped at the bottom of the deep, dark, Canyon of the Pleated Khakis and Polo Shirt.

Gentlemen, try not to wear polo shirts (unless you're golfing). Especially the piqué kind that have a design of some sort (leaves, for example, or some sort of plaid) printed on them. You know, like this:

Oh, this just makes me cringe...

This is the male version of the woman's I've Given Up Outfit (brightly-colored sleeveless knit top or t-shirt, baggy cropped pant, brightly patterned floral- or novelty-print short-sleeved shirt, and probably embellished low-heeled slides or -- worst of all -- flip-flops. You know, like this:

Even the model looks embarrassed and she was paid to wear this!

Are you wearing this outfit? Take it off and burn it. RIGHT THIS INSTANT.)


But back to "business casual," a phrase that grates on Style Spy's nerves like nails on a chalkboard...

As with women's clothing, the key to looking good in men's clothing is in the fit. American men's clothing tends to be cut enormously wide. The shirts are huge and billowing from shoulder to hem, and the pants are baggy and double-pleated. If you are a guy who's on the trim side, especially, try to avoid any labels by American designers that feature flags of any sort in their logos or advertising iconography (you know which ones I mean). The clothing will envelop you and make you look like you're a twelve year-old wearing your big brother's hand-me-downs. I repeat: wearing clothes that are too big for you has the effect of making you look younger, less pulled-together, less authoritative. This is not the look anyone is going for, especially in the workplace.

Also, gentlemen, please hem your pants. If you are lucky enough to find a pair of pants that fit you and are also the right length, take 'em right on home. But nothing looks more slovenly than pants that are too long and puddle up around your shoes. Here are a pair of properly hemmed pants

(click on all photos for links)

Nice-looking, flat-front, great all-purpose pants. These are by Hugo Boss, which is a label that tends to be cut slim. They break once right at the shoe and notice the lack of pleats. The most common... um, shall we say figure flaw that men worry about is extra weight in the misdsection. Gentlemen, wearing great big pleated pants will not camouflage a beer belly. It's just extra bulk and volume around an area that already has extra bulk and volume.

I really like this great casual cotton jacket. It pulls together a look without being as formal as a wool suit jacket or sports coat.

Here's a basic shirt with a sharp cut

In general I disapprove of clothing made in sizes S-M-L (except for t-shirts and sweatshirts) because the sizing is never precise enough and therefore the fit can be sloppy, but more and more manufacturers are utilizing this cost-cutting strategy. So try everything on.

Good shirt with a nice stripe, if you want something with a little more oomph. Calvin Klein is another line that tends to be good for the narrower guy. Another clue can be found in the models wearing any given product. Note the "edgy" haircut here. If you're looking for something on the hip side, stay away from the products modeled by square-jawed lumberjacks with crew cuts.

Another huge nerd signifier is the rubber-soled shoe. You know, the big chunky kind whose laces are always coming untied. Invest in a good pair of hard-soled shoes.

Yes, it's more money than a pair of Chuck Taylors (and I have nothing against Chucks per se, just not at work), but men's shoes are far less subject to the whims of fashion than women's are and even if you spend $300 on them, you're going to wear them for the next ten years. You won't get nearly as good a return on that 400" big-screen plasma high-def stereophonic space-age polymer television you've been drooling over in the electronics store.

Perfect, plain, classic, and you could wear these with a pair of dark-washed jeans and a good shirt on a date and not look like a slob.

More good slacks

and some excellent shoes

A good slip-on can be hard to find. You want to find something sleek and sharp without veering into Guido the Killer Pimp territory. The way to do that is to look for a slip-on with a high vamp, one that comes up high on your instep. These are fantastic. You cannot go wrong with Cole Haan shoes. They are a little more expensive than most department store shoes, but they are extremely high quality and will last you for years. Again, these could be worn with a nice pair of jeans to dress them up.

This has a very subtle floral pattern in it. I like a guy confident enough to wear posies. (And, Kenneth Cole tends to cut narrow.) Also note all the shirts I'm showing are long-sleeved. I have a thing a against short-sleeved shirts. (And heaven forbid you should wear a short-sleeved shirt with a tie -- anathema!) Short-sleeved shirts are for weekends. Long-sleeved shirts are for work. "But I work in a super-casual enviiiiiiiiironment," I hear you whining. Honestly? I don't care. You're an adult homo sapiens. You have opposable thumbs and a checking account. You control your environment.

Of course, when you're really ready to step up, you can explore the world of bespoke tailoring. I have a dear XY friend who is and always has been an exceedingly trim guy. He has a naturally narrow build with not a superfluous ounce and is one of those rare individuals who actually has to work to put mass on his body. This is great in many ways, but means that buying clothing off the rack is a constant challenge -- he's absolutely drowned by most men's clothes. This past year he was treated to some custom-made clothing -- a suit, some shirts, some slacks. I think it is safe to say the clouds parted and the angels sang when he put those clothes on for the first time. Not only does he look fantastic in them, they feel better. He's not always futzing with them, hoiking them up or searching for a way to re-distribute the extra bunched-up fabric that doesn't make him look like he has some weird growth somewhere on his body. Bespoke is expensive and not available to everyone, but even things you buy in a department store can usually be altered in ways that will make them fit better.

And lastly, before you get all up my nose about how you don't have the time to worry about all this, let me just nip that in the bud. Trust me, it takes no longer to put on a pair of well-fitted pants than it does to get into those khaki trash bags you've been schlumping around in. Pants is pants and you put them on one leg at a time no matter what size they are.

Yum

This post is pure and unadulterated beefcake. Gorgeous, mature beefcake I would very much like to buy me a drink one evening when I was looking swanky and wearing fabulous heels. This is to make up for all the callow youth I paraded in front of you last week. Ready?

Thank you very much, New York Times. The rest of my day is going to be a little better now.

Photo: NYTimes.com

Clothes for Boys, Men, and Puppets

Wrapping up our Week of Men, I'm going to bring you a few highlights from the Men's collections -- specifically myboyfriendAlexanderMcQueen's show. McQueen got his start working in menswear, tailoring suits on London's Savile Row, the Mecca of Menswear, and there aren't many designers working who do better tailoring. Probably none. Menswear is such a challenge for designers: the vocabulary of men's clothing is much more limited than women's, yet season after season the designers have to show something new. It takes a tremendous amount of discipline and imagination to keep coming up with interesting stuff that isn't simply showpieces for the runway.

McQueen's collection led off with this look, which gave me great cause for hope.

Excellent sweater. It's a cardigan but not a cardigan, with just enough slouch.

And here's a great example of that tailoring. Holy moly, would you look at that jacket? That is so sharp.

What a great, fun, sometimes-I-pretend-I'm-in-the-Rat-Pack cardigan. I just love this, although our model does not appear to.

(And a word about the models... What is UP with the models they're using in men's these days? Are ANY of them over the age of fifteen? Good googly-moogly, what a passel of fey, wan, wispy elves they are. They seriously almost all look as though they were plucked from the sidelines of a high school phys ed class -- no one wants them for dodgeball, let's put 'em in some fancy clothes! The most substantial thing about most of these kids are the hollows under their cheekbones -- they're looking as emaciated as the female models. I don't know about you, but I find these boys terribly tiresome to look at, and not even remotely attractive. Where are the MEN??? Gimme some stubble, gimme a little silver hair!)

And what I'd also like to know is, do men (the ones who like women, anyway) feel the same way when they look at the girls coming down the runway? Do they think, "Where are the WOMEN?" Are they as put off by those insubstantial high-heeled wraiths as I am by these refugees from "High School Musical"?)

According to reportage on Men.Style.com, McQueen spent a month this year traveling around the Indian subcontinent, evidenced by some of the detailing on these clothes. I think this coat is mind-blowingly beautiful. Yes, it's very adorned for a men's garment, but the shape of it is classically masculine. I just think it's hopelessly lovely, and I'm crazy about the idea of a big strong (adult) man wearing it.

If the embroidery on the coat is too much, here's that motif beautifully translated into intarsia work on the sleeves of a sweater. Really gorgeous. Even your little cousin Scooter here looks great in this.

Of course, this being a fashion show, there was some silliness...

Looks like this poor shmo showed up late for his call and was thrown down the runway before he had a chance to finish dressing...

The Bumble appears to have found a second career in modeling. Good for him!

I, too, am wondering what happened to this young man's pants. (But that is a spectacular coat, isn't it?)

(I also have to say, I'm a little skeeved by the hair on these models. They all look like newborns with cradle cap.)

Here's this one-sleeved shawl thingie again. I don't get that. If you're going to do a wrap, do a wrap. If you're going to do a jacket, do a jacket. I feel that outerwear is no place for this sort of asymmetry! That being said, the shearling coat with the embroidered details is fan-freaking-tastic.

A side trip to Peru, for some reason. Seriously, Lee, if you're going to make clothes out of the curtains, make an effort and at least put in a dart here & there.

Very intrigued by this. If I'm getting the information right, it's made of that Indian embroidered fabric with the tiny mirrors all over it. That could be a bit much, of course, but I'm so taken with the shape of this jacket. It's so neat and trim and beautifully constructed. I'd really love to see this piece up close.

Looks like Animal also found a second career in modeling. Good for him!

(It does my heart good to know these guys aren't just languishing away in some Old Puppets' Home.)

But you have to forgive the silliness when you see the suits.

Good heavens, I'll bet you could cut your hand on that lapel. That, my friends, is the way a suit should look. If I ever get married, the groom and I will both be wearing Alexander McQueen. And we'll be gorgeous.

The couture shows (including the final runway presentation ever by Maestro Valentino) have been going on this week, so it hasn't been easy to stick to my Week of Men theme. Looking forward to bringing you some outlandishly fabulous stuff next week. Have a great weekend!

Photos: Men.Style.com