John Galliano impresses with impracticality

In trying to further research the fall 2009 collections I came across the John Galliano collection. The video below shows the entire collection and it is spectacular. The clothes are a vision of pirates and at once both modern and historic. I can't honestly think of any place where I would wear anything in the show, but I really enjoyed watching it, take a look:

The old college try

It is now officially September, back to school for some and the end of summer for all. Summer is all about fun and sun, but personally fall has always been my favorite season. One of the biggest reasons I love fall is that it affords us so many options for dressing. Season after season fashion magazines, ads and TV try and push "layered" looks on us but most of the time the weather just doesn't allow for it. In fall you can finally embrace the excellent choices available for layered looks with the wide variety of jackets, scarves, pullovers and vests without being too hot or too cold. If you're about to go back and hit the books, first take some time to consider these looks modeled by Hunter Parrish of Weeds fame and coming from this article over at GQ

Best Dressed Real Man

Esquire is running a contest to find the best dressed real man. You can click here to check it out, of the finalists listed here is my pick:

Jill Sander - Fall 2009

I decided to continue viewing videos of the fall 2009 collections to see how well they are translating. Here is what Jill Sander had to offer:




At first I thought that it was going to be similar to Calvin Klein, boxy and monochromatic, but then some surprising pieces came down the runway. I really like the multi-colored jackets, they are a bit much with matching pants and turtle necks but thrown over a simple V-neck and jean would look smashing. It is interesting because so far I haven't really seen those jackets come up in an editorial sections in magazines, but I'm still not too far into fall issues as I am desperately clinging on to the end of summer.

I also thought the shapes were quite interesting. The over-sized sleeves with cuffs create an unique look, it doesn't look quite right for the office but it could be a big hit at a party. Many of the jackets seem narrow at the waist but wide at the shoulders and hips, it creates a sort of oddly manly hourglass figure. Usually I think of Jil Sander as a more androgynous look, but this seems to be more of a dualism of masculine and feminine instead of a lack of gender. I think it works for individual pieces but the look is a bit too much for head to toe.

Fall Fashion Flashback?

I saw the website was up for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and started thinking about how funny the timing of fashion week seems in the age of youtube. Designers works for a year to plan a collection and put on a show of clothes that are intended to be work six months in the future. Fashion is something current and changing, but the clothes we buy are from designs that are a year old by the time they get to stores. So now that it finally is fall 2009 I looked up some videos of the collections that debuted last spring to see how well they translate now.





Minimalist, monochromatic, colorless this collection seems really typical of Calvin Klein. I always like Calvin Klein clothes in reality, but his presentation is just always the same. The silhouettes a little too boxy which gives everything a really stiff feel. I will say I do dig the music though, but I don't quite see what its connection to the clothes is. I greatly prefer what Gucci had to offer instead.






I like the different materials and the slim cut look of their suits. Gucci is known for a dark, slick and edgy look and this does not disappoint. The accessories really add a great rock-n-roll touch to the look, but suggest that if dressed differently a very different feel could be achieved. Also that purple striped shirt just screams Chuck Bass to me, and that's never a bad thing.

Comme de Chuck!

I have been busy working my way through the hundreds of pages that fall fashion magazine editors have amassed for us this year. So far I am seeing a lot of good stuff, and plan on fully critiquing various ad campaigns for this site soon. Giving myself a much needed break from the perils of paper-cutting mags I was over at the Nylon Guys website and saw these awesome shoes:


Apparently Converse and Comme de Garcons have teamed up to give out feet some happy! I deeply covet that black pair and may have to go order them now (which you can do here).

I love that Converse keeps cashing in on its low-key cool by pairing up with either different designers or retailers. I got a few pieces from the Converse for Target line and have been a big fan of them and this new endeavor looks ever better. I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

The man for the job

GQ posted an article on how to dress for a job interview. They take a bunch of guys in interview outfits and then make them over for the same job. I thought it was a good little pictorial with some nice suggestions for how to achieve the best 'hire me' look. While some of the make-overs are great other still don't look that professional to me. I think they went too far with some of the looks and it comes off as more high fashion than big business:







In some other cases though, everything ended up looking mighty fine: