The Gate Keepers.

The Gate Keepers have my attention.  The Gate Keepers, is a web-based series hosted by Damon Dash's Creative Control site,  features "Sneed" and "The Chad" two New York City night club door men.  In the series the two St. Peters talk of all the tall tales that coincides with working in night life.  The wild anecdotes and personal narratives add some perspective to a job that is usually characterized as rude and shallow. 

The show has avoided what many projects fall prey to, GIPE (Good Ideas Poorly Executed).  You can imagine how refreshing it is to see a good idea properly executed.  The show concept is a good idea because it's a voice that has yet to be heard; but what really keeps me coming back for more is the artfulness of its production value.  The show masterfully marries cinematic shots with complementing music, creating this lovely tableau that truly captures the zeitgeist of New York.  Furthermore, I love the show's romantic noir undertone about New York City; it reminds why I love to call this place home.

Take a looksee:

Pipe Dreams! Only in New York.

Right now somewhere in Mississippi there is a 12 year old not-so-straight boy watching archive Bob Fosse routines on YouTube.  Practicing and praying that all his years as president of the Drama club results in a starring role on Broadway--he'll take a supporting role, but only if he has to. 
People everywhere identify the City of New York as a place where dreams come true.  And it isn't some self-confabulated idea either, every movie from "Miracle on 34th Street" to "Sex and the City 2" has celebrated the grandeur of New York. 
As much as this city is cosmopolitan and cultured, it is also gritty and grimy.  That's the real beauty of New York; the dichotomy of things that would be so wrong everywhere else except here--million dollar condos across the street from the projects--that's the new New York.  Living in New York on the day-to-day you will indubitably hear and see some off that wall shit.  Some of which I document, I couldn't make this up if I tried.

In someone's window:

A Rare and Irreverent Bird.

I have always been amused by the concept of 'Muse'.  Something about being a muse seems enchanted, adventurous and very fun.   I love finding new muses, they offer new insight and help you discover new parts of yourself.  My newest muse is a self-confessed geriatric starlet, Iris Apfel.  I love Iris, she is a much needed breath of fresh air. Lets inhale, shall we. 

Iris Apfel, has been taking the museum circuit by storm, with her recherché sense of style.   Like so many respectable style muses Apfel believes that having great personal style is based on finding and knowing yourself.  A good sense of self, is essential to discovering what you love, what you hate, and not giving a damn about what anyone thinks of your pink leopard pancho.

Apfel started out as an interior decorator, she and her husband later established Old World Weavers;  a well respected textile reproduction company.  In her pursuit for exquisite textiles she travelled through Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, she says, "I did fall madly in love with the Middle East because my taste go to the exotic." Her big bold pieces have distinguished her aesthetic, and made her an authentocrat.  Her postmodernist perspective is just a delicious hodgepodge.  

What I love about Apfel is she doesn't abuse fashion.  She isn't trying to show everyone how much money she has or show people how important she is.  According to her, "I just mix and put things together the way the spirit moves me."  For her it's about self-expression and freedom, and I think that those elements get lost today.  Lots of people just buy the label, they don't buy because of "I can't live without these shoes" love.  Too preoccupied with "luxury" and "status" to tap into their own sensibilities and be their themselves.  

Furthermore, Lady Apfel is having fun! People take fashion way too seriously.    I completely agree with Apfel when she says, "There's a sad lack of glamour in the world today," Apfel mourns. "And there's absolutely no fantasy," well said, Iris.  Where is the imagination?  Where is the excitement for the eyes? Too afraid to make a mistake?  Part of the excitement in getting dressed, is taking a risk, being a maverick!  What makes Apfel most muse worthy is she's fearless.  Be a maverick and one day if you're lucky, you'll be a muse. 

Iris is one of the OGs of real style, I love her--you will too! 

Go Grand or Go Home.

The Oscars get a yawn but my favorite dresses don't. Here they are:

          #4  Carey is very sharp and very bold. The earrings were a very smart choice.

  

#3  Jennifer channels the 3D of Avatar. Fan-friggin-tastic!

 #2 And Venus-like Vera emerges out of a mollusk. Botticelli is dead, but now he's gone to heaven.

 

#1    And the winner is Zoe Saldana! Grand and gorgeois!

 

Abre los ojos!

I don't think real beauty is obvious.  I always think being interesting is beautiful.  The obvious Balmain and Lanvin and Dior are great; no really Elbaz and Galliano are nothing short of design luminaries.  But living in New York fabulous wears are everywhere, you really can see a homeless man with a wicked piece on--the juxtaposition is just delicious.  So it's no surprise that I am completely obsessed with the turbans of India; that typically New York City cab drives wear.  I love turbans, headdresses, hats, all sorts of head embellishments tickle my fancy.  The Sunnis & Shiites turban in particular always reminds me of royalty -- a very chic crown.  But it's not only Sunnis and Shiites that wear fabulous religious/cultural garments.   The fellas at the Vatican are very stylish, did you know the Pope wears red Prada shoes?  Gorgeous for God, sounds fantastic! Furthermore pastors & priests' robes, which are made of silks and satins in royal blues and deep purples are quite grand.  But the monks of Tibet take the cake.  Their garbs ruby reds and sensational citrines that make the eyes dance. 
My eyes attract to things (and people) that are bold and fearless, ethnic prints and lavish embellishments.  Fashion is used and abused by those who want to prove how important, rich, and fabulous they are.  But what those people fail to realize is real style is conceived, in the everydayness of real life.  Art imitates life.

Dashing debonaire.

Scott Schuman (the gentlemen to the far left) is The Sartorialist.  Well really Schuman is a photographer, he started his photo blog, 'The Sartorialist' photographing and documenting the styles of the chic and glamorous.  In doing so he became a commentator and connoisseur of fashion, art, and design.  He was voted by TIME magazine's top 100 design influencers.
I love this blog so much.  I think Schuman definitely has fine eye for fine, well made garments.  I can't tell you how many times the images he's captured have inspired me to experiment with my ensemble. 
And I love that he isn't a fashion snob because that shit is for the birds.  On Sartorialist you can find pics of fashion editors, stylish civilians, and glamorous grandmas, his work runs a complete spectrum.  That's refreshing considering most fashion arenas have an overtone of elitism. 
Schuman's blog also opened my eyes to the beauty of menswear.  The hope diamond of fashion is women's couture, but there is really something beautifully understated about menswear.  Menswear is all about a good cut.  A great cut is the difference between a whiff of second hand smoke and a hardcore heroin addiction--the difference between sugar and shit.
Besides appreciating menswear I really admire the gentleman in it.  I love a gentleman.  They are a dying breed but when you find one, hold on to him ladies. 
So today on The Sartorialist Schuman shared a few ideas about being a gentlemen...

One of the things I mentioned yesterday, was the "manner" of a person. "Manner" or "grace" is not something that you can learn from a book. Unfortunately, it is something you just have to be or to develop.

A great scene of modern grace on '30 Rock' the other day:

Liz and Jack went out to dinner at a very chic restaurant. As they sat down at the table, Jack immediately moved the candle from the center of the setting to the side of the table. Liz looked at him kinda funny, not understanding why he did that but, not really caring either. Later, however, when Liz reached across the table to steal some of Jack's food (as she always does), she realized he moved the candle so her sleeve wouldn't catch fire when she reached across the table. Jack's manner and grace were so attuned to her as a friend, that he knew her moves before she did. That tiny gesture ended up becoming the pivotal moment of the episode and changed the course of their business relationship.

I'm telling you guys again, women notice the small stuff. They notice the gentleness/gentlemenliness more than if you use the right fork at dinner. I'm a very lucky man, Garance notices every little kindness I offer her, she doesn't miss a thing. Knowing that makes it so much more rewarding to do even more little things for her. I'll be honest, my biggest obsession in life right now is not better shoes, more suits or a bigger career but, to simply be a more graceful man for my graceful woman.

Take it from a lady, this gentleman is right.  With that said, make a notation fellas, Valentine's Day is like next week. 

Deluxe, with fries.

Mandatory reading for all you label whores: "Deluxe: How Luxury Lost It's Luster" 

                                                                       by Dana Thomas.

This book is a true schooling on how little fashion houses sold their souls for a buck and sold you the ostrich satchel for twelve hundred bucks.
Dana Thomas, is a fashion writer for Newsweek.   She explores the evolution of luxury, beginning as something exclusive and elitist, and mutating to its current globalized state.  The basis of luxury lies in its rarity, less really is more.  So the fact that 40% of the Asian continent owns at least one piece of Louis Vuitton shoots rarity right in the ass.
Thomas argues more money is being made but mediocrity is at an all time high and prices are too.
She says, "Today the average handbag cost 10 to 12 times its production cost."
Commerce trumps art :-(

All Aboard!

In my daily perusal of Vogue.com, I ran across a making-of-video for Sean "Diddy" Combs's (aka Puffy), Vogue shoot. The shoot concept revolves around Puffy's upcoming album, 'The Last Train to Paris'. The idea is Puffy is on a train for 3 days and has a seductive (and I assume very naughty) encounter with a beautiful woman (model, Natalia Vodianova).  Of course the images produced are sexy and glamorous; very true to Puffy's aesthetic.
Shot by shutterbabe extraordinaire Annie Leibovitz, Puffy & Co. are old Hollywood meets ole Harlem, à la Casablanca noir. The whole Parisian noir aesthetic really seduces my imagination, it's clever and covertly sexy. Real sexiness happens between your ears...if I wore glasses they'd be totally fogging up right now.
I don't think the shoot is anything particularly revolutionary, but I do think it's a nice evolution from the first Puffy/Vogue collaboration a decade ago. Evolution is one of the essential elements to sustaining relevance, if you're not evolving what exactly are you doing?!

Swimming with sharks.

On February 1st Kelly Cutrone will be raising hell, I guess the devil really does wear Prada. Cutrone's new reality show, "Kell on Earth" is debuting next week on Bravo (kick rocks project runway!). From the look of the preview, she will be the next over-quoted reality-tv sensation. But like an actual real sensation, not like the sensationalism a la Jersey Shore. Kelly, although she looks like she hasn't slept since Jesus was a boy, is a true story.
"What the fashion world looks like and what the business is are two completely different things," say it again Kelly, say it again! This show will absolutely counteract all those nostalgic notions of fashion being "fabulous" and "glamorous"--Rachel Zoe deceived you.
Cutrone is whip smart, wickedly wry, and acutely insolent, this show is going to kick ass.