On The Street.....The Deconstructionist , Soho

Again abut the little details - I love the stylized "work boots" working back to the raw cut grey flannel pants.

Feels like the original Soho artist look

Coming Up At The Sartorialist

Show season is right around the corner and I'm gearing up for another great trip to Europe to cover the shows/guest blog for Style.com and shoot a page for GQ.

Super exciting addition!!
I'm adding Pitti Uomo, the men's fashion trade show in Florence, to my coverage for men.style.com this season.
Everyone tells me this is when the real men's tailoring peacocks come out to strut their stuff.

Here is the tentative schedule:

Jan 9th - 14th Pitti Uomo, Florence
Jan 14th - 19th Men's Milan
Jan 20th - 23rd Antwerp GQ
Jan 26th - 29th Men's Paris

Feb 3rd - 10th Men's & Women's New York

Feb 14th - 17th Sweden???
Feb 18th - 26th Women's, Milan
Feb 26th - Mar 6th Women's Paris

On The Street.....Navy Cape, 5th Ave.

On The Street.....New York Original, Union Square

Fashion Writer and Woman-About-Town.... Lynn Yaeger

Photos from the Luciano Barbera Archive/Website

I found these Elliott Erwitt photos on the Barbera website. Such classic style

On the Street......Grey Coat, Manhattan

This Email Made My Day

This is the first sentence of an email I received the other day

"i LOVE your site...my boss, Jean Touitou the designer and owner of APC forwarded me the link of your blog where you are talking about buying APC jeans...he loved it."

I think I should try to do a follow-up post while I'm in Paris and have Mr. Touitou give me his input on which jeans I should be wearing.

On the Street......Camo/Plaid, Paris

I love the camoplaid mix with the old school earphones.

At Louis Vuitton, Paris

I have my laptop computer with me here in Illinios and was going through some of my files and found this shot that I missed posting while I was in Paris.
I love this look but then again she always looks great!

On the Street.......Patterned Wool Coat, Manhattan

Click on photo to enlarge image - you gotta see the beautiful mix of print scarf and patterned wool coat in bigger detail.

On the Street.......Beauty On The Boardwalk, Miami

Gentleman Hunter

Gentleman really are the peacocks,
I love the flourish of color that is both dandy and yet very gentlemanly. The pale blue scarf with hunter green sportcoat is pure genius.

Notice the beautiful buttons on the jacket - great detail. He mentioned that the whole look came from Beretta, the Italian hunting outfitter.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

I am in the back woods of Illinois for Christmas but will be back with new posts tomorrow.

I can't thank you all enough for your support this year.
I realized that I didn't really want much for Christmas this year because the success of the blog and the community we have created has been the best gift.

I have some great new features that will premiere soon (hopefully first week of January) so I am guardedly optimistic that 2007 will be even better than 2006

What a girl wants for Christmas

Hey, Barney's Girl and I are going to take a 2 week break from the blog. Both of us are going to be on family vacation, celebrating new year with friends and head back to college in Jan. But before the break, I'm going to leave you with a list of fabulous Christmas ideas -basically what I would like to recieve, and I'm sure many of you would at least like one thing on the list.

Girly beauty items. Girls always need eyeliners. Afterall, eyeliner is essential to some people's day looks and most people's night looks. And I absolutely love MAC's powerpoint eye pencil.

Brush cleaner is another (but not obvious) must to one's beauty collection. Please do remember to clean your makeup brushes regularly!

Speaking of brushes, my sister was just saying how she would love a set of brushes -another essential to one's beauty collection.

Moving onto other girly things, as inspired by BG's list of essential bags, the LV Speedy 25 is a popular and very practical bag for a girl to own.

Another cool bag is the Chloe Paddington clutch -good for day and night, and effortlessly chic.

I love classic jewelry, and the first that comes into mind is Tiffany & Co's basic silver collection. These Elsa Peretti earrings are so classic and versatile. Hmm... maybe I should get them for myself.

The MacBook is SO small and cute, although I don't quite like it's keyboard and function inside. For more a more impressive laptop, get the MacBook Pro -much sleeker and impressive. I stood in the Apple store playing with these Macs for two hours a few weekends ago when my old laptop died, but ended up opting for a regular laptop instead.

Sony cybershot DSC-N2 -it's got 10.1 mega-pixels and a huge 3.0 LCD touch screen. And very importantly, it's cute!

Get your friend a DVD set of your favourite TV show that your friend hasn't watched before. I totally recommend Veronica Mars -it's one of the coolest and most underated show on TV.

Lastly, with more than 20mil viewers in the States each new episode, you can't go wrong with a Grey's Anatomy calender, (unless you know your friend hates the show.) A new year of staring at the entertaining cast of GA and Mc Hotties!

Merry Christmas and have a stylish (refer to earlier posts) new year people! See you in 2007!

How To Wear Plaid In The City

Dont Fporget that the photos are 50% bigger so click on the photo to enlarge image and really see the detail

FW06 Beauty Trend: The Smoky Eyes

Yes, I know that we are technically at the end of the FW06 season, but I've saved this very gothic look for the festive season. I absolutely love this season's gothic look. We're not talking about high school emo/ rock chick/ gothic look here, we're talking the sophisticated one.

Rochas had chimney sweepers as the inspiration of the collection, including the super smoky eyes which looks like a lot of shades of matte black and charcoal grey.

Alessandro Dell'Acqua -Sparkling and fluid-like black. The whole eyelid looks literally all black.

Marc by Marc Jacobs and Valentino -Marc's (left) eye makeup is soo funky -it looks like the makeup artist used a black eyeliner and drew random lines all over the model's eyelids (which I'm sure were well-planned)! On the other hand, Valentino has got the very sophisticated look, with mainly dark eyeliner at the bottom, complete with red lipstick. A bit too mature for me, but maybe some of you would like to try it.

Nars eyeshadow -Pile on the sparkling black, artistically of course. For those who want a bit of colour, dark purple is great for most skin tones.

Nars liquid eyeliner -Lots and lots (and hope that it doesn't run off throughout the night!) If you want the smudged eyeliner effect, then opt for pencil eyeliner instead. I usually recommend MAC's black eyeliner to my friends.

And lastly, mascara! From experience, Diorshow gives the most dramatic effect, although it did smudge a bit on long nights.

If you think all this black is waay too dramtic and dark for you, then you can try dark brown. See how Rachel Bilson looks mega-gorgeous in dark brown smoky eyes? (But then again, she looks gorgeous in most looks.)

I've always thought Christmas as a family event and New Year countdown as a friends' event. Personally, I think this look is a bit too extreme for family Christmas dinners, but I'm seriously considering doning this look for New Year. Now all I have to do is master the art of putting on all that black eye makeup without looking like a panda and find myself a super pale lip colour!

On The Street.....Some Kinda Blue, Midtown

On The Street.....Tough Love, Downtown

Did I Just Take A Photo Of The Singer Pink?

This Week BG is Loving. . .

This gorgeously delicious rose buckle belt from McQ!
I love the beautiful and intricate design of the rose buckle. It is feminine yet cool. Matched with the perfect width belt, they will be just the thing to spice up and pull together an outfit. I’ve been looking for something like this for the longest time.
Although I might just end up with something even simpler this season. A black patent leather belt with a simple buckle and the perfect width, not too wide or too thin- like this one here from Shop Intuition. I saw something very similar the other day at Lafayette and I really wanted it because it would just match with everything, but alas they were 65euros. I’m not sure something so simple is worth that much. Thoughts?

January GQ - DeNiro Cover

My new GQ page just hit the stands. In this issue I highlight the "no-tie" (or as Adam from GQ says "air-tie" look) that I have been seeing again on some cool guys on the street and on the runways of Paris and Milan.

Also my good friend Mory makes an appearance on the page! His part is pretty funny (and racy), you gotta read it - even if it is just while you are standing in the magazine section of Barnes & Noble.

On The Street.....Martin Grant Peacoat, Soho

I love it when an item looks so simple from the front but when it walks past, you're just able to catch a glimpse of the "drama in the back".

A buyer once told me "drama in the back" was a favorite phrase of one of her salespeople. I always thought it sounded great and , well, dramatic but I have never found a situation to use it myself. Today..(dramatic pause)...is my day.

The Contest Winner

So many great entries!

It was fascinating to read about such a diverse world of inspirations.
I was a little surprised (pleasantly) that so much inspiration came from the home or personal interaction.

I think these entries also said a lot about respect.
Our respect for others, for family and for those that care for themselves.

A lot of grandparents were mentioned and again I think that has a lot to do with love/respect and how love/respect influences our concept of what is beautiful.

For the winner I chose the entery below.
What really got me was this line " My grandfather’s work bench and tools, where he set the diamonds into the ring I wear every day now and taught me to love the hard, precise labour of making things sparkle..."

That line really speaks to me and captures what i love about the craft of fashion, couture and tailoring. For me fashion and style is not about "I'm better than you" or "look what I have " but about the craft of making something beautiful or graceful. I'm a complete sucker for that romantic vision of a artisan in some little dim lit room crafting a pair of shoes or a shirt or ,for that matter, in a darkroom working on the perfect print.

That line could also just as easily reflect what we do to present ourselves in the way we feel most expresses who we are.

"to love the hard, precise labour of making things sparkle..." perfect!




Even though I’m by long habit an observer rather than a joiner, I couldn't resist this question - any more than I can this blog! Here's a selection of some of the many images that have floated up since I’ve been musing on “What has most inspired your personal style?”

My grandmother’s cloche hat and fur-collared coat, which she wears in a photo from the roaring 20s when, appearances to the contrary, she was just a teenage kid from Montreal’s Saint Urbain Street...
Myrna Loy in the Thin Man movies, with her gowns for every hour and her wit for any situation ...
My grandfather’s work bench and tools, where he set the diamonds into the ring I wear every day now and taught me to love the hard, precise labour of making things sparkle...
My grandmother’s dresser drawers, where sweaters were swathed in tissue and nylons nestled in satin boxes...
My great aunt’s silk scarves, which she doled out to me one at a time on holidays and which I have somehow, between then and now, lost...
Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, when she cut her long hair and rolled up the sleeves of her proper dress, and became herself...
My mother’s leather mini skirt, which was a glorious glazed mahogany, her multi-coloured Missoni blouse, which was a knock-off, and her appetite for all things lovely and lively, which was and still is her most fabulous accessory...
Jean Seberg’s t-shirt in Breathless, which said New York Herald Tribune and spelt new-world style in the old-world style capital...
My school friend Martha, who at 16 wore a Peruvian poncho as a skirt and looked soignée...
My father’s giant box of oil pastels, which at the age of three or four I often played with, arranging and rearranging the rods of colour until my fingers were muddy...

CONTEST UPDATE 12/20

I have just posted the entries that had not been verified with an email.

That takes the total number of responses to almost 350!!!

Thanks so much!

The Sartorialist on Paris Vogue.com !!!!

Anyone who has been watching this blog for a while can just imagine how excited I am to be on Paris Vogue.com.

It just went up today and though I can't read what it actually says, what I imagine it says is just fine with me!

check it out here. Paris Vogue.com

The Sartorialist Contest w/ the New, Signed Bruce Weber book as The Prize

I was in Miami this weekend for Art Basel and had the chance to attend the book signing for Bruce Weber's new book "Sex and Words".

Of course I was thinking about my readers and thought "How can I use this opportunity to benefit them and thank them for all their support?" then I got an idea A CONTEST!

A really easy contest that everyone can participate in.

Here it is
in the comments section of this post please respond to the following
"What has most inspired your personal style?"

This could be your Grandma, or a movie, a band, a designer or whatever.

I think it will be really interesting to read what inspires your style plus you can win a really cool book.

IMPORTANT - please leave your response in the comments section and then copy it and email it to me so I can match it up and send the prize to the right person. I will not post a response until I receive the email .
Please put CONTEST in the subject line

The Winner will be announced on Dec. 20th ( in time for Holiday gift giving or receiving)


I will begin with my response

Giorgio Armani ads of the 80's were incredibly influential on my early style development. The ads then were mostly shot by Aldo Fallai and were so beautiful (usually black & white). I could relate to what I was seeing in the ads, they were full of people and place that kinda looked like my life - only better.





This is how the Bruce Weber website describes the book:

“Sex and Words” is a limited-edition book of Bruce Weber photographs inspired by the writings of D.H. Lawrence. In the context of Weber’s catalogue of publications, this delicate volume features a unique construction. Sixteen black and white and three color plates are juxtaposed with selections from “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” “Women in Love” and “Sons and Lovers.” Adjacent pages within the volume are interspersed with illustrated vellum sheets that play off the naturalism and sensuality of the photos and text.

This is a limited print run of 2000 books


ps for those of you that don't win but still want the book I have two other signed copies that I will auction off especially for The Sartorialist readers on Ebay.
I will place the link here when it is set

Good Luck

On The Street...Perfect Androgyny, part 2

This look is so perfectly androgynous that I will let it be my mens and women's post this morning.