Gilt Fuse = Gilt Female?

I feel so deceived. All the hype about the new Gilt Fuse, and yet apparently it doesn't even apply to us guys.

Countless - COUNTLESS - blogs wrote about it. Nary a one mentioned anything about it being women only.

So when I saw the email subject of "We think you're going to love Gilt Fuse" in my inbox today, you can imagine my quick nod of assent. But then I opened up and bore witness to this crucial line: "...exclusively for women." I never saw this coming (though I probably should have, given the two ladies in the photo, and the fact that most of the hype came from women's blogs). Oh, the horror.

Bachelor Pad Heaven

Desire to Inspire is one of our new favorite blogs, especially after today's more modern take on Frank Lloyd Wright's long, horizontal lines and integration of nature. And as you read here, the influence of FLW will get us every time.

But what we really want to talk about is this: the playground / loft apartment of a French bachelor residing in Brooklyn. Wow!! A perfect blend of art, sport, and masculinity, all while maintaining the highest standards of design.

Notice how the artwork all hangs from unfinished moldings that are placed a few inches away from the corner of the walls. Also, note how long it takes you to realize that there's a television there towards the left. With the Dark Knight playing, no less.

The blue is simply stunning at first, and continues by giving a playful impression of the place. A man that knows design but doesn't take himself too seriously.

I just included this as an interesting observation of what the photographer is doing here in the shoot. In comparison to the picture above, you can see that not only have the chairs been rearranged, but so has everything else that isn't fixed to the floor. It appears that scrumptious spread of fresh apples has already been devoured.

Continue to Design to Inspire to see many more inspirational shots (yes, lame pun intended).

Goods on the Cheap

Stylish yet casual overnight bag from COS, good for quick getaways to the beach or countryside (about $205)

Last week's rundown

After a quick vacation and bit of a hiatus, we’re back - feeling reinvigorated and ready to post more in quality and quantity. First, a rundown on things we missed while gone:


After Aggregate Appeal contributes his take on the Obama Effect, Off the Cuff breaks down the Prez’s sartorial influences. Personally, I think it’s more of his age and physique than anything else (side note: I just went googleimaging for Bush in order to compare, and I ended up continuing through at least 15 pages of results - some truly fabulous stuff). MB has a little bit more critical perspective in his Obama fashion timeline.


Some truly breathable white canvas from Ace Hotel and Arkitip collaboration ($80) [ht Mo’ Classics]



We’ve long been proponents of Hong Kong tailoring prowess (hint hint), given their commitment to detail and high level of service. You know you can always trust these guys, and even with their extremely competitive pricing, their standards of quality are much better than mainland China or much of Southeast Asia. Will at ASW gives his take on the Hong Kong tailor experience.


Recently stumbled upon Punkreas, a Turkish music blogger site with the latest daily song picks. All of the text blurbs are written in Turkish, but that doesn’t matter – with the cool album art and graphics and the smooth audio player, just pick your genre at the bottom (in English) and let it stream. Maybe if we give enough hits from the States he’ll Google Translate that stuff into English!

So long, men.style.com

Conde Nast is at it again, this time cutting men.style.com from its portfolio (pun intended). Those damn McKinseyites have come in to point out the obvious, that GQ and men.style.com are cannabilizing traffic and giving Conde Nast a hard time in branding them separately.

So much for that great resource of fashion show runway coverage, as Garcon Mag also notes. Hopefully it will be transitioned over to GQ.

Fashion I could never wear but still looks cool (Part I)

Seamless white to black jeans here... so smooth, it's mesmerizing. Don't think it would have nearly the same effect worn by a blonde guy.

It came from Wasilla

Portugal. The Man

A meaningful thanks to Sarah for actually making me care about what town these guys are from. Not a new band, apparently, but they are to me, and, I reckon, to the big scene. Portugal. The Man (yes, "Portugal. The Man") is a bluesy, folksy, rock group that ventures between choir vocals, electric guitar lead solos, and sounds-like-Jim-James unapologetic wails.

Hurry up and listen to the forthcoming album here on MySpace, at least until the the record comes out officially on Tuesday. Two song previews here; the rest you will need to buy.





Thanks, yet again, to Paul Lester of the Guardian for helping me add another dandy to my collection.

Shoegaze

Sorry for the delay. It's that busy time of year. You know, the too hot to move, let alone put a scorching hot laptop on your lap for more than 30 seconds, time of year.

Speaking of summer laziness, I'm contemplating going against personal principle and making my first purchase of slip-on shoes. Always one to prefer a few laces on my shoes, I never jumped on the slip-on trend. Maybe it was the thick monochromatic soles, always present in staples like Vans (even if the rest of the shoe is customizable).


But Zuriick offers a nice blend of a more classic cut with contemporary design, shoes that are less likely to remind you of what you were sporting back when the NKOTB were peaking in popularity.


They're becoming more widely available in stores - just recently I went to Urban Outfitters to check out their Beata design. This is probably the biggest threat to my first purchase of slip-ons - a refresh of the classic desert boot design.

e-Magazine endorsement: Debonair

I've been receiving Debonair's semi-weekly emails for weeks now, but I've just now taken the time to go back and read through a lot of them. There's a lot to like here - the email's short length makes it a quick but informative read, Debonair's styles can be appreciated by all fashion senses, and, of course, it's free.

If you subscribe, you receive interviews with both big names (Steven Alan) and insightful up-and-comers. Most of this can be found on their simple website, including a guide to NY's best "style service" providers. But not everything is online - some is exclusive to the email subscribers - such as this recent deck shoe guide:

Dear Floid,

The following is in response to yesterday's letter. See previous post.

Firstly, thanks for opining there. Your points are (somewhat) well taken. And as the wise man recently pointed out, Jay-Z "don't wear skinny jeans cause my knots don't fit." But I don't share Jay-Z's problem, whether it's a case of elephantiasis or a need to carry large wads of hundos. And to be clear, when we're talking about skinny jeans, "slim" is probably the better term. Painting jeans on to the point of damaging your health or limiting a reasonable amount of mobility is borderline ridiculous.

The point is, most guys don't buy 4 pairs of jeans a year at $200+ a pop. Or even half that. But there is nothing wrong with updating the jean department in your closet to a slimmer cut when you do make your next purchase. Jeans, I suspect, make up half of your outfit nearly 75% of the time you go out casually.

Say what you want about the trend, but I'll embrace it while it's here. It's a refreshingly clean and often flattering look after what we've gone through in the past - "Relaxed" fit, bell-bottoms, high waists with pleats(!). Of course they aren't for everyone, depending on your build, age, and personal style. But don't knock its masculinity:



Oh, and even the WSJ has picked up on this one - front page of Monday's paper, as a matter of fact. Perhaps the WSJ once again presages the imminent peak and fall of a trend? The Journal correspondent even hiked out to Williamsburg to interview those strolling about the hipster capital of skinny-jean-extremism:

Guest Post: Floid

Our compatriot, Floid, over at The Gravy Train, recently sent us the message below after reading through the old Biased Cut blog. I feel obligated to post in its raw form, and I'll refrain from prefacing with anything. My response forthcoming.

Biased But:

First off, any guy wearing skinny jeans has weight issues and needs professional counseling immediately. In fact, whenever I see a guy with skinny jeans, the blood flow to my legs constricts (…don’t get dirty now, cause my zipper don’t fly that way hombre). In fact, I bet my fellow columnist is wearing skinny jeans right now. In his Pimm’s entry, he couldn’t even spell “masculinity” correctly. Don’t gaze me bro!

Without going too much into the history of jeans, Jeans became popular when workers wore them in the factories during World War II. If they all wore skinny jeans, we’d all be speaking German right now. In fact, I’m on page 82 of my long thesis on how being picky with fashion is actually a by-product of complacency and excess. Jeans were originally made (and still are) to be rugged and a little loose fitting for practical purposes.

It is because of these “tough” traits that jeans are the most widely adopted form of wear throughout the world. Think of all the masculine figures in American culture, they sure as hell didn’t wear “skinny jeans.” When you’re packin’ (or think you are), you can’t wear those aberrations.

Hell…not even JOHN MAYER wears skinny jeans.

So, as the fall approaches, do yourself one “biased cut” and cut those skinny jeans out of your wardrobe. Get yourself some real jeans and rough em up doing manly things.

By the way, is it just me, or is it weird that a “protein stain remover” was made by a “Madame Paulette?” Yeah…suuuuree…sweat, dairy, blood and/or vomit…

Floid

Tucking in the Tails

By now surely every guy has at some point gone out with their dress shirts untucked. Its ubiquity burgeoned at least a few years back - this NYTimes article even documents the trend five years ago, to the month. However, there are MAJOR caveats to the trend; a few basic rules that every guy should know but for some reason still doesn't.



It pains me to even have to write this, but as the ever-pompous MB pointed out, some shirts are appropriate with tails in, and some aren't. But it doesn't just depend on the length and cut of the shirt. Also under consideration are the type of jeans (tucking shirts into low rise jeans can be disastrous) and, of course, the occasion.

The difficulty often lies in the fact that many of the shirts guys wear to work are also being used for casual wear. And I'm all for versatility. But the likes of Brooks Brothers and other staunchly conservative corporate staples definitely don't have the type of cut to be worn with your skinny jeans. What we're looking for at Biased Cut are shirts that better cross the line between work and play, both in pattern and cut.

Miike Snow

No typo there. It's two ii's, but it's actually three people. Three dj/producers. The full album used to be on MySpace, but now only a few songs are left. If you're MySpaceaphobic, you can stay here and listen as well:

Those Hard-To-Remove Protein Stains

...just got a little easier to clear up. And get your head out of the gutter - protein refers to dairy, blood, perspiration, and/or vomit. But that's just one of three classifications of stains, according to Madame Paulette.

Will over at A Suitable Wardrobe has made a great find with his professional stain remover kit. Buy a few and keep at the office or in the car and go worry free when feasting on a monster dish of penne pasta or at an extended happy hour.