The Sunday Best

Style Inspiration | Fantastic Mr. Fox

Is it strange to find style inspiration in an animated movie? Probably not when that movie is directed by Wes Anderson and features George Clooney.

And it can't be any odder than obsessing over The Incredibles' chairs.

Philip Sparks

One of the most interesting menswear designers in Canada, Philip Sparks, now has an online store. Enter the code FREESHIPPING for, of all things, free shipping. I'm surprised Sparks doesn't receive more international attention, since in my mind he is on par, visually, with the workwear lines coming out of Japan and the US.

Karl Lagerfeld is eating breakfast at a small cafe

Karl Lagerfeld is eating breakfast at a small cafe around the corner from his office.

On the table are several items, all spaced evenly from each other: a spoon; a knife; a fork; two boiled eggs (soft-boiled); a glass of orange juice; a macchiato; toast made from bread so thin it is almost transparent. He watches as a woman runs to get the bus, slips, catches herself, continues running. She makes it just as the bus is pulling away; the driver stops to let her on. But Karl Lagerfeld can only think of the woman’s shoes - small delicate things, like she is wearing two birds on her feet. These shoes, decides Karl Lagerfeld, these shoes hold some terrible secret.

Two weeks later Karl Lagerfeld pores over samples and nothing is right. He takes his anger out on his assistants not with words, but by banishing them from the inner sanctum. They wander lost like wayward doves out in the corridors before finally congregating in the garden to sigh. Karl Lagerfeld does not sigh. He remains as silent as Rodin’s Thinker, poised on his marble plinth, inscrutable. He remains there for ten straight hours until his assistants wander back and stare at him through the door. Is he dead? Amazed? Forgotten?

They fall asleep in a pile.

The next day all is forgiven. Karl Lagerfeld has no time for petty grievances. There are clothes to make, styles to define, lives to change. On a Tuesday, certainly, there is time for contemplation. But a Wednesday, a Wednesday is all about doing.

Gentlemen of Bakongo, Brazzaville

As first seen on Twitter and then the Guardian, these photographs by Daniele Tamagni show people using a conservative dandy style as a sign of rebellion (and bring to mind the Teddy Boys of England.) Fascinating and inspiring.

Of the ones available online this is my favourite, mostly because it reminds me of my room - clothes strewn everywhere and me in the middle, carefully folding pants.

From the Guardian:

The Sapeurs (the Society for the Advancement of People of Elegance) fantasise about walking the streets of Paris or Brussels - places most can only dream of visiting - returning to Brazzaville as sartorial aristocrats of ultimate elegance. They emerged from the chaos of the Mobutu reign, their distinctive look a way of rebelling against his dictatorial decree that everyone should dress in traditional African costume.

Teddy Boys

Palmer and Sons | Made in Vancouver

It's rare to find anything that's made in Vancouver these days, other than beer and tribal tattoos. The father and son team behind Palmer and Sons look to change that with some exceptionally well appointed leather goods.

Palmer and Sons

Fall 2009 - A Primer

While showing the Spring 2010 offerings makes sense for store buyers, it does little to help us, the common man, prepare for Fall 2009's outfits. So let's leave the up to date coverage for the big boys (I know I just covered NYFW, but bare with me.) Instead I'll revisit the shows of nine months past, and peruse the mall sale racks for what things as might clothe us.

Band of Outsiders

Junya Watanabe

Etro

McQueen

Burberry Prorsum

Pringle of Scotland

Leather + oranges + greys + browns + boots + layers.

Filson Cape Coat

Woolrich Shawl Collar Ivy League Sweater

Fjallraven Kanken

Opening Ceremony

NYFW | Michael Kors

...makes really bad clothes for men.

NYFW blah blah blah...Holy shit Isaora makes sweet gear

As seen on The Moment:

The company’s founders — Marc Daniels, a high-tech vet, and the designer Ricky Hendry, formerly at Neil Barrett and Calvin Klein — set out to create a high-performance line of apparel with a fashionable point of view last year.

 

 

 

Isaora

NYFW | Spring 2010 | Cont'd

Duckie Brown

Guess what Mr. Blanks called the Duckie Brown collection. If you guessed "accessible," you've been reading men.style.com.

 

I think "accessible" is his word for "overtly safe".

Patrick Ervell

Every season he makes one thing I desperately want.

 

Marc by Marc Jacobs

 

Somehow, this all works. Love the shirt jacket.

Michael Bastian

Bastian makes clothes men want to wear. That might seem faint praise but, considering most other designers seem incapable of accomplishing even that, it places Bastian at the top of the class.

 

 

 

Even skirts.

NYFW | Spring 2010 | Cont'd

Rag & Bone

I would wear everything that they sent down the runway. Not a sure sign of greatness, but I like what they're selling.

 

 

Robert Geller

I feel like I should call him "Superbowl winning Robert Geller" he's been so celebrated as of late. Destined to be called "tailored slouch".

 

 

3.1 Phillip Lim

Josh Peskowitz tells us "Lim's intent was to take the stuffiness out of traditional menswear colors." If by that he meant "use patterns no one will want to wear," mission accomplished!

 

Ralph Lauren

Does Ralph Lauren want to be Tom Ford? Do sick people in America wish they were British?

 

 

Yigal Azrouël

"I just look at myself. It's my own trend!" My advice - look harder.