gqmf

Ryan Gosling in Band of Outsiders
I haven't been shopping in three months and this image of Ryan Gosling heading to Cannes for the premiere of his new movie, "Blue Valentine", makes me think two things: my first purchases should be a new cardigan and a new pair of black slim cut jeans. I've been wanting the Band of Outsiders cardigan he's wearing since I saw it at Odin a couple months back. It's so simple and yet so stylish. I also need a pair of black slim cut jeans after I destroyed my Shipley & Halmos pair while playing kickball in January (long story). Can't it be Christmas in May and someone just give me these things?

via JustJared

three lovers

"La Collectionneuse"
directed by Eric Rohmer, 1967
Two guys and a girl in St. Tropez in the late 60's. It's the perfect setting for a story brimming with sexual politics and erotic tension. It's also innately stylish. Patrick Bauchau stars a man hellbent on achieving nothingness in an idyllic summer home. Enter the coy temptation that is sexual youth and abandonment played by Haydée Politoff. Oh, and his friend, Daniel Pommereulle, is staying with him too. Masterfully measured, the morally vexed tale of repression and release plays wonderfully and cruelly in such beautiful settings. The wardrobe is at times distracting because it seems so precise. Oversized cuffed shirts with extra long shirt tails, terry clothed sweatshirts, caftans for days spent lying in the brush, and of course, bikinis to eye at for days. There certainly isn't a timeless to every wardrobe choice, but the ones that do resonate last just as much as the power of Rohmer's art.

serge

"Mr. Iceberg"
Serge Gainsbourg
1979

I now have permission to not wear socks until the fall.

turtle, turtle

Turtleneck, Uniqlo
$39.50
I wore a sweater every day last week to work. Yes, the bitter winter had me firmly in its clutches. Luckily, I found my the best weapon to ward off the cold--the turtleneck. Out of most necklines, it's one of the more deceptively tricky ones. If you're neck is too short, it can make you look stumpy, if you're neck is too skinny, it can make you head look huge, and if you're French, you look like a cliche. I've always loved them and wear them proudly. It's like wearing a scarf all day without being labeled that obnoxious person who refuses to remove their scarf in doors because they matched it to their twin set. Paired with a blazer, I feel especially like a bad ass. And when this guy doesn't look bad in one either, it's time for everybody to embrace the turtleneck.

"and all i saw was sock."

Vanity Fair, "The Hollywood Issue
April 2003
Take a look at those socks. Look closely. Go on. It's Jude Law's right ankle. That subtle flash of pink amongst the otherwise neutral palette is style defined. That image of subtle sartorial impact had a big effect on me when I bought this issue almost seven years ago. I'm not interested in copycating the look, but I bought a couple of pairs of socks at Uniqlo today in shades of kelly green, blue-grey, and stoplight red and I'm waiting for the moment that I can carefully have my pant leg expose a shot of color. Jude Law might be a movie star that never became a true movie star, but style is style and you can't ignore that peek of pink is pretty badass.

legs, legs, legs

Dear Chloe,
I like yo steez.

W.

performance: on the run

If the guns, sex, '70s grit, or the film's middle-finger-to-the-world point of view isn't seductive enough, please watch the opening credits sequence to Sam Peckinpah's "The Getaway".

down by the bay

Don Siegel's 1979 film, "Escape from Alcatraz" (playing as a part of the Film Forum Con Film Festival) still wasn't enough to make me an Eastwood believer, but damned if the the hard ass squint of 70's Eastwood (when he seemed less aware of his iconic status) didn't make a strong case. Watching the percolating, creased face of Eastwood burn to a slow boil as he devises the ultimate plan to escape from the ultimate prison was the film's strength, but leave it to an uneven and surprisingly non-engaging level of suspense to make the film fall a little flat by the time the boys break loose (it's not a spoiler, the film is based on a true story). Post-film I spotted Lauren Hutton looking lovely in a leg brace and smoking a cigar of some sort and asking what was playing next. A definite welcomed respite after a movie with no female eye candy. The beautiful, famous women most grown on the non-existent trees here because I keep seeing them left and right.

all plaid out

Light Cotton Zip Parka
Uniqlo, $49.50
I just can't get enough.

jealous of an eight-year-old

Crewcuts by J. Crew
May 2009
I think swishy pants and shoes that lit up as you walked were big when I was in elementary school. If only I had Crewcuts at my disposal I could have been a young sartorial star like the "Mad Men" creator's son.

cover girl

"Models are about high heels and short dresses."--Gisele Bundchen
making a good point in custom Versace
at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute
Gala Opening of the "Models as Muses" Exhibit
She couldn't have said it better.

the one and only

Helmut Lang attending
Cartier 100 Years in America
April 30th, 2009
This is exactly how I'd want a suit to fit. I miss Helmut. I have strong memories of flipping through my dad's GQ's from the mid-late 90's and his look was always persuasively described as "cool", "austere", and "of-the-moment." Whatever it was, it made sense to me. His jeans were the first designer jeans I felt like I had to own and I wanted to imitate his paired down, minimalist style with the basics I could afford at Gap and Old Navy. I 'mstill waiting for that Helmut piece that I'm sure will change my life, but until then I'll keep hoping to look as refined and relaxed as Mr. Lang.

run for the roses

Scout Button Down
Billy Reid, $135
The 135th Kentucky Derby is this Saturday and although I won't be in attendance, copious amounts of Bourbon will be consumed in celebration here in Brooklyn at a watering hole co-owned by a Louisvilian (we have to stick together in this city!). Derby is as much about what you wear as it is about the race. I have an idea about what to wear, but I might wear my new Billy Reid shirt that I purchased last night at the Whiskey Wednesday shopping event. It's the perfect mix of Southern dandy and easy to wear cool (plus for added authenticity, the shirt appears to be sun bleached in spots giving it the appearance of having worn it out to the track all day in the glistening Louisville sun), something that will not only be perfect for Derby, but for the rest of the summer. However, my big question is do I go full seersucker or will I risk looking too much like Mark Twain?

hot child in the city

The weather turned from mid-40s and raining to 80s and sunny this weekend. The shorts had to come out. My two favorite pairs are from the Gap I got on sale for $11.99 about three years ago. The length is perfect and they have the coin pocket in the right pocket. I want to add to my shorts options as it gets warmer. These are some options I found while trying to stay cool this weekend:

Raf by Raf Simons, $230
Gap, $36.50
Brooks Brothers, $69.50

the scent of a man

Ralph Lauren Romance
My dad told me there are three things a man should have:
1. A trademark watch
2. A trademark scent
3. A trademark car
I could care less about the car, but I do miss wearing a watch (my favorite watch broke about 3 years ago and I've been too lazy to buy a new one) and wearing cologne has never been my thing. However, being the recessionisto (if that's a word I can use without shame) that I am, I shopped my closet and found a bottle of Ralph Lauren Romance that I've probably owned since either senior year in high school or freshman year in college. It still smells clean, classic, and it's rounded out with a hint of citrus. It's not overpowering, but it has a presence. I think I might make it my trademark scent for 09. Now, if only a Cartier Tank watch would fall into my lap and I'd be good to go.

performance: down in the trenches

How do you make a film about prisoners of war funny and stylish? Enter the genius of Billy Wilder. The master of the discombobulated Hollywood genre picture, Wilder has a way of inflecting the many genres he covered with a sly sense of humor. It's never overt, but it's always there. I was surprised to find how acerbic and delicate the humor was in his 1953 prisoner of war film, "Stalag 17." Amidst the muddy, cold camp of German World War II prison barracks, the suspicion of a mole consumes a group of American airmen who love cigarettes, Betty Grable, and the idea of escaping. Comedic moments such as when the airmen don their best Hitler mustache or a dazed and sexually confused Christmas Eve dance party amusingly, but not distractingly cut through the tension of what's really at stake. William Holden stars as the number one suspect, but everything is not what it seems. Holden has a knack at playing the guy's guy who isn't quite as glamorous as Cary Grant, as everyman as Gary Cooper, or as hard boiled like Robert Mitchum, but his masculinity is as thick as the wool peacoats the SS guards wear and as badass as the leather shearling jackets the airmen wear. The style in the movie is impeccable from start to finish. Chinos tucked into boots, epaulette details on jackets and coats, henley's that look worn in, and button downs that are functional and utilitarian. Sound familiar? One could say it's very on trend or it was a prescient form of dressing for these times when a man needs to feel secure, protected, and ready to take on the evils of the world. Yes, even if they're Otto Preminger.

about last night...

If bears spend their winters hibernating by sleeping days on end, I figure watching a shit ton of movies is my way of hibernating during these cold times. I have been taking full advantage of my new ability to view films on Netflix's website via the Watch It Now option (it was unavailable for a long time for Mac users such as myself) and you better believe the first movie I watched was Adriane Lyne's trashy 1986 film, "9 1/2 Weeks." Regressive, silly, hyper-stylized, and at times plain stupid, it is however an insanely stylish film. The color palette is mostly greys and blacks. Kim Basinger was my first movie crush in Tim Burton's "Batman", but if I'd been born a little earlier and seen her in this, I'm certain this would have been the film to cement my love for 80's Basinger. Whether it's wearing sexy tank tops meant to be ripped off or the perma-smoky eye she sports throughout the film, Basinger is dead sexy in every scene. Add Mickey Rourke in dark, quietly menacing overcoats, minimalist set design, and a plethora of diffused lighting and you immediately are taken by the mood. Forget about what you might have heard about this movie and instead take in the haunting images of beautiful people gone wild.

band of outsiders

Within the first few minutes of Joachim Trier's sensational debut feature, "Reprise", we're treated to a glimpse into the bright and broken futures of two best friends with aspirations of literary acclaim for their debut novels. After a peek into a future not so far off, we come back to the present and watch them nervously deposit their manuscripts into a mailbox. Cue Joy Division's "New Dawn Fades" over the credits and the slow motion image of the spirited Independence Day march in Oslo, Norway and immediately you feel like you're watching something inspired by the excitement and vigor of youth. Trier has made a convincing case of what it means to be young, creative, and on the way to personal discovery. The film is lead by a wonderfully semi-non-professional cast of vernal, stylish Norwegians who spend their afternoons goofing around, discussing literature, rhapsodizing about cult icons and their nights attending punk shows and late night parties where the music can't be loud enough. After several break-ups, breakdowns, hook-ups, trips abroad and relationships mended along the way in the lives of these young folks, Trier assuredly delivers an affecting ode to the joys and pains of growing up. It's one of the most stylish films of 2008 as well as one of the best.

"i don't claim to be original."

It's become a new tradition to watch Claude Lelouch's "A Man and a Woman" on New Year's. He's a race car driver. She's a script girl. They meet and fall in love. It's that simple and that complicated.

penthouse pet

Ain't that the life? I have a not so guilty pleasure for E!'s "Girls Next Door" and while I was home over the holidays watching a marathon, Hef and the girls were going through his scrapbooks that detail his enviable life. Hef fondly reminisced the days of "Playboy After Dark", his short lived television series from the late 60's that purported the myth of the swanky, louche, playboy lifestyle his empire embodied. It may look silly and outdated, but it looks fun as hell. I wouldn't mind spending my New Years with a lemon schnapps and lounge singer entertainment.

Other great moments on the series via YouTube:
Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, and Hef discuss sex on film

James Brown performs "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud"

George Carlin regaling the crowd