F/W09 Military, Layers, and Delivering the News

Buenos dias everybody I am back at it again. I’m combining posts like crazy here trying to get all of this stuff out as S/S10 shows have already hit the runways in Milano! Since I’m going to be running the rest of this show on a condensed time table as fall in the Northern hemisphere draws near, I’m not going to talk about EVERY outfit. For the rest of these I’m just going to slap images in your face and then talk about my faves of the bunch. Let me flip on some music to play into my ears (my Thievery Corp station on Pandora) and the slapping shall commence!!

So the military uniform influences were all over the place in F/W09, but none more prevalent than in the D&G shows. My favorite overall looks from this group are definitely D&G 14 and 17. I love the bow tie with v-neck sweater underneath that awesome jacket in #14. I honestly don’t even know what to say about #17. It’s just so awesome. That jacket is great and pairing it up with the lightly destroyed denim gives it that sort of real appeal that I could see myself wearing out on the town for an evening. The other look that I like in this group is D&G #21. That fur down the inside for the cold Russian nights in 1940 and the whole regal appeal that rolls with it is awesome. The other things that I really like in this group are the black & red jacket from D&G #3 and I love that little touch of the flower on the Armand Basi trench.

Here’s your second set of military up in this piece. My favorites from this group are the looks from Diesel Black & Gold, Moschino, and Trovata. I like the overall feel of the Diesel Black & Gold look and that coat is extremely well made. The Moschino look is also excellent in its own right. The clean lines and extra-shined leather definitely give that feel of a high ranking officer. Also, note the red, white, and blue tie that they snuck in there as well. In my previous post about the RWB showing up, there were a couple of Moschino looks. Thus, it’s them carrying over that pattern into multiple looks. The Trovata look is probably my favorite in the bunch. The shawl-collar navy (in color and branch of the military) pea coat is definitely one of the better pieces in this group. Add in the accented straps on the lower forearms to hold out the water and you’ve got yourself a superb coat. Other pieces I like in this group are the three D&G looks leftover from the last one. The two coats are awesome and then red piping accents on that light blue shirt really sets it apart from a lot of the looks seen in F/W09.

It’s time to layer it up ladies and gentlemens. Although, in this group it’s not so much physically putting on layers, but layers of colors. In a lot of the past shows and recent trends there was a color fade trend where gray would fade to black. Well what I noticed through F/W09 was that a lot of the designers made their colors much more defined. There’s still a little fading in this group, but it’s not as gradual. There are more steps to it. My top 3 looks in this group (in no order) are Emporio Armani (minus the leather fanny pack-esque thing), Hermes, and Marc by Marc Jacobs. I love the sweater and overall feel of this look and the flat cabby-style hat adds to it even more. The Hermes look I love because it was so simple, but so different from everything else I saw. The subtle change up of the color of the stripes on the shirt on this shirt makes it my fave. I’m definitely a fan of the subtle details that really show the designer took their time in crafting the garment. Next in my fave three is this awesome sweater from Marc by Marc Jacobs. I really like the mix up of the colors on this. It’s very Rivers Kuomo (lead singer of the band Weezer) and two of the swatches are donegal tweed/salt & pepper in nature. Other faves in this group would be the great sweater from Dirk Bikkemberg and the diagonal white stripe that runs from sleeve to body to opposite sleeve and the sort of Charlie Brown feel that Missoni tosses at us.

Finishing us off here we’ve got some Newsboy and Driver hats that were working the runways. Burberry Prorsum definitely took the reins on this and came out with some really fantastic looks. The first look from Burberry is probably my fave in the entire group. I love how all of the clothing has very deep, rich color and then the shoes come at you like mirrors with the shine on them. Also, note that on three of the four Burberry looks I have up there, they have them with fingerless gloves. That’s definitely something to pick up for the colder months if you happen to live in a climate where you’d need them. Now, the driver’s caps from Dolce & Gabbana are fantastic couple with those suits and the skinny ties. I mentioned before that the gradual fade had gradually faded out, but actually the pants in the first Dolce & Gabbana looks have that fade to them with horizontal lines up the pants. It’s a very cool and complex pattern in what seems to be a very simple pair of pants. Again it’s me with the subtleties.

That should just about wrap up this one. Next up, I think I’ll finally suit you guys up with some fantastic formal wear from F/W09. Stay tuned everybody. Same Oscar craziness, same Oscar blog.

F/W09 RWB and Donegal Tweed

Alright ladies and gentlemen we have another couple of trends that were burning up the runways. The first one I’m going to toss at you is a touch of Americana. OK OK, so maybe there are a bunch of other countries whose flags are red, white, and blue. Call me a big, fat American if you will, but on the runways this fall a few designers hit us with these gems:

Starting off with a bang we’ve got a fantastic sweater from Adam Kimmel. The colors are so clean and vibrant it really stands out in this crowd of other red, white, and blue looks. Honestly, it reminds me a lot of a cardigan sweater I had as a child. I don’t think I have any pictures of me in the sweater and I wouldn’t subject my childhood to the peanut gallery here. Also in this look the muffler with the cut edges has the colors, but in different hues. It’s a nice little touch to this look.

Next, we get suited up in excellent fashion. Gucci tosses this classic power suit at us with very clean lines and a shirt and tie to lighten it up a little. I obviously don’t mean that it’s lightened up color-wise, but more in having some fun. The banker white colored shirt and the checked pattern definitely pop out in this look as well as the shine texture to the tie.

Strolling in now, we’ve got a couple of looks put forth by Iceberg. In the first look, well…we’re missing the white, but the red and blue are there! That’s actually why I did throw this one in because I love how the red and blue announce themselves on the scarf. It’s almost like a red-winged blackbird how the color stands out in this look. That right there really forced my hand in putting in this look into this group. Also, in this first look I adore the intricacy of the detail put into those shoes. The second look from Iceberg is definitely more on the casual side of things. I love the big, red neck on the turtleneck portion of this and those clean, white Velcro shoes are excellent as well.

Moving to the bottom, we’ve got this awesome sweater from Michael Bastian. It’s in the same category as the Adam Kimmel sweater right above it. However, this sweater has a nice shawl collar to it and a much busier Native American pattern to it with the two chiefs and teepees.

Coming up next we’ve got a couple of looks from Moschino. I love the regal appeal of the first one from Moschino. It’s definitely a step back into time with the bowler hat atop and the crisp cut and feel of the navy blazer. Where the Gucci look had a lot of fun, this Moschino look has a lot less. The only fun you get out of this look is the diagonal stripe to the tie. Speaking of fun, the other look from Moschino that I have in this red, white and blue trend is this awesome blazer, tie, and shirt combo. I love how from the waist up that it’s very busy and pops against the very reserved pants and shoes.

The last look in this group is simply a scarf that really did it for me. I really like how Yohji worked this into the sporty feel of Y-3. The way that they tied up the sweater around the neck like an intricate pretzel is just awesome and really adds to the casual feel of this entire look.

Donegal tweed hit the runways HARD in the F/W09 shows this year. There was a flash of it in almost every collection this season and here are some of my favorite looks from it.

Starting it off we’ve got a fantastic coat from Alessandro Dell’Acqua. I love the black fabric accents and the solid gray sleeves on this. It almost feels as if the coat is a vest with a collar. I’m also a big fan of the light shine to those slacks with the cuffs on the bottom. It’s a very dressy casual fall style on this. The pants may take it a little out of that realm, but overall it still has that feel.

This next look from Bottega Veneta also comes with that same feel, but the shine on those pants are a bit too high to wear to your local coffee shop. I’ve always been a fan of the light collared shirt under the sweater and they did something interesting here. Usually when the collared shirt is underneath you’ll have a V-neck sweater, but on this they used it on a crew neck.

Coming through now, we’ve got a couple of looks from two different Armani collections. The first here is a very casual look from Emporio Armani. I love the look and feel of that coat along with the newsboy hat in a brown version of that same salt and pepper feel. This look is for sure my favorite in the group mainly because I can envision myself wearing that down the streets of a snowy New York City, even if I do live in middle America.

The other look from Giorgio Armani definitely has that more regal, affluent feel to it. The salt and pepper relaxed blazer with that vest underneath are perfectly paired up. I also like how the pocket square helps to tie the jacket into the overall look. It’s a very nice touch indeed.

The following look is probably the most mixed up in terms of the patterns. You’ve got your full suit of donegal tweed, diagonal strips on the tie, dotted multi-color shirt with a banker white collar, and red/white/black slip on shoes. When you read that you would think that the look would be WAY too busy, but somehow Gucci pulled it off where it doesn’t look all that overly busy. It definitely leans toward the busy side, but, in my opinion, it didn’t break over that threshold of too busy.

The last one in this group from Iceberg falls right between the Bottega Veneta and Emporio Armani looks. You’ve got your low shine the pleated dress slacks and then that donegal tweed look in a knitted pea coat. My favorite in this though is the blue, knitted, loose turtleneck sweater. A younger dad could definitely pull that off on the sidelines of a brisk, cool day for their kid’s soccer game.

Starting it off on this second set we’ve got this great clean and sleek look from Jil Sander. I like this clean look and how it really makes the donegal tweed style the central piece of the entire look. They didn’t add anything amazingly flashy to run with it. The salt and pepper is the statement of fashionability in itself.

Michael Bastian tossed his cap into the ring on this group as well. This fantastic, sporty look I really like the double pocket on the jacket and those blue fingerless gloves are awesome as well. You can’t really tell if they’re connected to the full-zip underneath or not, but I would assume that they’re simply complementary to the full-zip.

Now, we’ve got another classic Michael Kors look. Salt and pepper not only works its way along the jacket, but also the turtleneck sweater as well. My favorite part of this is actually something very simple: buttons on the inside of the coat. Often buttons are a great accent, but when you can hide them inside and make the look even cleaner it’s excellent.

Next on the palette of donegal tweed we’ve got this jacket from Neil Barrett. The first thing that’s great about this is how Neil breaks it up with the rest of the coat being a deep black with the salt and pepper fabric shining through. Then he goes and allows you to break it apart and use it as a scarf. Form and function work perfectly hand-in-hand on this coat and I think it’s awesome. Those shoes are pretty cool too.

One of the designers that really caught my eye in all of the Fall/Winter 09 shows that hit the runways was Trussardi 1911. I don’t know what it was about their looks, but they really just hit that spot for me. I like how the grays play off of each other in this look and, same as the jacket from Michael Bastian above it, has the double right-side pocket. It is very business attire oriented with great class.

Finishing off this post we’ve got a great salt and pepper stole from Victor Glemaud. I really like the casual appeal to this look and note that across the board on the bottom there’s either a hem to the cuff of the pants or they’re rolled up. A lot of designers were doing this in menswear for this season.

That wraps up this post. I hope you all enjoyed this. I’ve got about 6 other topics to cover, so I’ll try to bust through them as my schedule is much more open this week. Thanks everybody and up next I’ll cover the military influences, layered colors, and newsboy hats that lit up the runways.

F/W09 Duffle & Plaid

Holy cow, I’m actually posting! I took a little break there for a bit, but I’m back to give you some more to think about for Fall/Winter09. In this post we’re going to hit on a couple of trends that were working their way around the shows. The first of the two that I’m going to attack is the duffle style.

This was popping up on a lot of different coats around the shows this year. In this spread here, we have 8 looks at a duffle coat from 6 different designers. The first look is from Dunhill and almost like a rain poncho cut of the jacket, but the material is something that you’d see more on a pea coat. I like how the mood of the jacket sort of emanates from the deep grays and blacks, but then the clasps are a bright white.

The next duffle coat we have here is from Iceberg. I’m a big fan of Iceberg and would let them outfit me head-to-toe just about any day of the week (if I had means by which to buy their entire collection). They pair up this very nice duffle jacket with a big full-zip or half-zip sweater, you can’t really tell by the shot, with a high turtleneck. This is definitely one of my favorites in the group.

Coming up next the queue we’ve got this very regal/high society sort of duffle coat from Loewe. The deep black color of the coat matched up with the leather duffle clasps and those clean leather boots just ooze the high society appeal of this look.

Three completely different uses of the duffle style coats come at you now from Paul Smith. The first one has plaids crossing all over the place, and I’ll be touching on plaids next. Much like the look from Dunhill, this Paul smith green and navy plaid jacket has white clasps that jump out at you, instead of the more textural accentuation like the previous coat from Loewe. Still near his green and navy plaid section that Paul Smith rolled out another duffle jacket, except this time it was in black and it’s excellent. The final coat from Paul Smith is this jacket with a sort of cowboy feel to the color of it, but the cut is very 80’s blazer. Any way he puts it together, I really like it.

The second to last one here is a very sporty feeling coat from Rag & Bone. The texture of the jacket almost feels like you could go for a jog in it. It’s almost like a Y-3 track jacket that I have from the S/S09 collection where it’s a nylon/polyester blend. It’s light-weight and still can keep you nice and warm. They threw a nice little shawl neck on top here as well that also gives it a nice touch.

The last duffle look we have here comes from Z Zegna. Like the Loewe coat, it’s definitely more of a dressed up coat with that brushed feel to it. As you can see on this coat, it looks almost exactly like a pea coat with the placement of the clasps where you would usually see buttons on a pea coat and a nice waist belt to hold it all together. With the thickness of the fabric that they used, you can tell that this will keep you warm on those cold winter nights.

The second style I’m talking about here is the plaids. They were all over the place and use in just about all respects from coats to shirts to pants to ties. Those above are just some of my faves. The first plaid pattern comes from the 3.1 Phillip Lim. I love black and grey plaid with the stripes of red through it. It’s a very cool and original pattern.

Next up we’ve got gray scale all over this jacket from Bottega Veneta. I love the pattern and also how the pattern on the sleeves matches up perfectly with the body of the jacket. This would be practically impossible to create in SecondLife, unless the sleeves or the entire coat was made with prims. It would take a talented primsmith like Cubic Effect to pull off something like this. Coming at you with another look from Bottega Veneta which is the same base pattern as the previous, but the colors are different. Also this coat comes off as more casual with the whimsical use of the wraps around the wrists, military button-up shoulders, and off-center pocket.

The first non-outerwear plaid pattern in this group comes from Etro in the form of this suit. I love the use of this deep brown, but personally I would have to break this up a bit. The plaid is great, but it can get a bit busy.

John Bartlett gives us a more refined plaid look with his take on the plaid pattern for Fall/Winter ‘09. He breaks down the plaid and stripes barrier fantastically with the plaid coat and striped pants. My favorite part of this entire look is the plaid flower on the jacket. That little touch just sets it apart from all of the other looks in this plaid extravaganza here.

Moving to the bottom now, Loden Dager gave us a nice gray scale, lumberjack plaid on their coat here. It’s a lot like the look from Band of Outsiders that I showed earlier, but this is pattern has an obvious structure to it where the Band of Outsiders one was more abstract.

Sliding over, we have some more green and navy plaid from Paul Smith, but this time it’s on a blazer. Counting it up, we saw this plaid pattern from Paul Smith on outerwear, slacks, and now this blazer. He definitely carried that theme across different mediums very well.

Next on the list, we have this great jacket from Tommy Hilfiger that actually reminds me a lot of a coat that I’ve blogged before from :sey in SecondLife. The pattern on this coat has more lines in a tighter pattern than the one from :sey, but the colors are almost spot-on and the :sey coat gives you those great buckle straps.

Finishing off the plaids here we’ve got a couple of looks from Trussardi 1911. Maybe it was the Band of Outsiders hoodie that started me down this path, but I absolutely love this first look from them. The shirt, vest, and collar all just blend together so well and those pants are really great as well. The other look from Trussardi 1911 we have here is a very clean plaid. The lines in the pattern are very distinct and I love how this differentiated itself from the crowd where most used very busy plaids. Clean, simple, and very everyday.

I’ve got a lot more to cover here, so I’ll try not to take as big of a break between posts on the rest of them because of how much I have left. I’m going to try to pump these out as fast as I can. Stay tuned people. Same Oscar time, same Oscaresque station.

F/W09 Dressy Outwear

Ohhhhhhhhhh snap. I’m back at you with more Fall/Winter 2009 hotness from the runways. This post is more of a debonair affair than the previous ones. You have your jackets that you can just toss on and go to wherever you need to head to for the day, and then you have that really nice coat that you wear for special occasions. Here is a taste of those coats:

First up, we’ve got a very nice coat from Belstaff. The offset zipper gives a nice fashionable touch to this coat and I really like really the overall feel of this look. This definitely has a power look to it. Next up we’ve got a fantastic coat from Burberry. It’s a touch more casual than the rest of the coats I’m talking about in this, but it’s best suited for when you want a nice coat and you’re not looking for it in black. Note the nice tie for the waist. The following two we have here from Dries Van Noten and DSquared2 are two pea coats with a collar in common. I really like the deep black of the Dries Van Noten jacket, which is almost like much thicker and heavier blazer. The strong shoulders and chest pocket are nice touches to this very regal coat. The other coat with a color switch on the collar is the one from DSquared2. This coat is a much more relaxed coat than the previous, but still just as excellent in it own right. Although it’s shown with jeans, I think this coat bodes better with the white shirt and bow tie. The last two in this set have accents on the other portions of the jacket. This first one from Emporio Armani has a cut similar to the Dries Van Noten jacket in the shoulders and at the opening the cut is right down the middle. The accented pockets are great for fashionability, but I wouldn’t leave my wallet in one of them. The last one in this group is a really great classic coat from Hermes with a tan inner lining that shows up on the cuffs and just inside the opening on either side, but left off of the collar.

Moving right along with the coats here we’ve got a really well put together pea coat from Iceberg. Very classic lines on this coat and definitely set off with that huge scarf. The second in the line here is very classic as well, but it’s also very classic Michael Kors. The overall feel of this look from Michael Kors seems to be right in line with the look of most of the S/S09 Michael Kors campaign. It’s very well-put together and very elevated. Note the knit collar as well, as it’s definitely something to look out for in F/W09 trend spotting. The next look here from Richard Chai looks like it’s casual, but really this jacket can go both ways. You can wear it like the designer tosses it out here or suit it up underneath and work it as a nice softly textured plaid coat to offset the solid colors of say a navy suit. Sliding on down to the bottom row we’ve got a great jacket from Salvatore Ferragamo. It carries over the accent seams that were rampant in the S/S09 shows and brings to fall astonishingly well with the military feel to boot! Finishing off this post we’ve got two looks from the Z Zegna show. The first one here is a great black coat with those little, shiny accents over the front of the shoulders that really set it apart from the rest. Last, but definitely not least, is this great deep brown jacket with a teeny bit of shine to fabric and, like the previous Z Zegna coat, a bigger sprinkle of shiny accents down the front. These accents aligned themselves with the theme of show as if the rain just stopped falling on the models with wet asphalt look of the runway.

And that wraps up my picks for dressy outerwear from the latest shows. Coming up next I’ll hit you with a couple of trends that were really overtaking the runway in the outerwear category that I haven’t really shown yet.

F/W09 Casual Outerwear

Outerwear is always everywhere in the Fall/Winter fashion shows. F/W09 really did have some gems for outerwear this time. I always really love Fall/Winter because I’m more of a winter color kind of guy. I’m not saying that I don’t enjoy the nice bright colors that come with spring and summer, but coming from a frigid northern state I guess my opinion is a bit swayed because I’m wearing outerwear 7 to 8 months out of the year. In this post I’m going to get into some of the more casual outerwear that I found in the shows. All of these jackets can be worn with a nice pair of jeans or, for one, a pair of solid gym pants.

We’re coming out of the gate swinging. This old navy boxing champ will drop you on your ass and look damn good doing it. I love the extended collar on this coat from Adam Kimmel and the dark colors totally set off those rubber boots. It’s almost something straight out of Deadliest Catch, but all of those guys wear orange in case they fall out of the boat. He’s more of a local fisherman.

I hate to play favorites, but this second look here from Band of Outsiders is probably my favorite look in all of Fall/Winter 09. Maybe it’s my affection for aviators, but really that gray patchwork, half-zip hoodie is just awesome. It’s slightly snowboarder flashy, but muted with the gray. And the whimsical patches of really 3 different colors of gray that never repeat into a fully obvious and coherent pattern make something this simple that much more complex.

Next up we’ve got these crazy cool jackets from Calvin Klein that seriously remind me of Tron. In that shot you can see the black on being walked in the front, but they also had it in a gray as well that’s walking behind. From the different shots that I saw of this jacket, it almost was as if the jacket was made of foam or a foam-like material. It’s one of the pieces that really stood out from all of the other shows. Not a whole lot of people took risks this season, but I would say that this one from CK was definitely an intelligent and calculated risk.

Following Calvin Klein, we’ve got a look from Belgian designer Dirk Bikkemberg. The Bikkemberg label really centers on the sporty aspect of the fashion world. In his own words from their website, “Sport in general, and football in particular, represent the language of a genuine and positive way of life.” In case any of you misunderstood, he was speaking of European football (what we call soccer). Thus, this look here represents the football culture in the sporting aspects of the look. This fleece-looking top with the salt & pepper main portion was a great piece in the Bikkemberg collection.

Moving down to the bottom we have this great look from Gilded Age. It’s a shorter peacoat with some very nice sandblasted and partially acid washed jeans. Throw on a scarf with two different plaids and some fingerless gloves there and you’re set to go…on to the next look of course.

This jacket from Armani is definitely more of a fall coat than a winter coat. By ease of which this jacket moves around and the look of the coat, I would say that it’s probably a polyester blend fabric. Also, peeking out from underneath it is a shirt with organized patches of stripes going every which way and the velvet touch to the pants is a nice addition.

My last two outerwear pieces come from designers known for their editorial looks on the runway. The first is a Satyr-like character from John Galliano’s show wearing a great coat that will for sure keep you warm in the winter. I mean look at all of that faux fur (I assume) on the inside of that. It’s great because the texture of the fur on the inside touches on the brushed velvet look without actually being that look. The last casual look comes from a postapocalyptic soldier with dirty boots and a military style gray jacket that’s simply to die for. You can tell that this jacket from Nice Collective is much lighter in weight than the aforementioned coat from John Galliano. Both have the same sort of feel to them though.

That finishes up the Casual Outerwear portion of my coverage here, but be on the lookout for my picks on Dressy Outerwear to come next.

F/W09 Colors

I’m back again with my runway madness. I know that when I put out all of my S/S09 picks that it was pretty much right in the middle of the F/W09 shows. Thus, I’m trying to get this one out before all of the S/S10 images hit the runway. Also, it’ll give the few designers that even read my blog some quality looks at designs they can implement into their digital design arsenal.

Kicking off my F/W09, I’m going to hit you with some of the colors that popped off the screen and slapped me in the face through my sifting. Although it was more like they were challenging me to a duel. Anyway here are some of the colors that were more prominent throughout the shows.

Carrying over from last season, I still saw a lot of reds that showed themselves. Etro kicked out a couple of them in those first two shots as well as Tim Hamilton on the bottom. The Etro looks show a deeper red that was very synonymous with F/W08 shows. Speaking toward each look, the first actually speaks toward this sort of patchwork trend that was making its way through the shows with whimsical cuts of where one pattern breaks off another begins. The second Etro look is a very casual chic with a square-quilted pattern a lot of designers were showing off. Tim Hamilton’s look is a very striking, velvet red suit and no matter if you were to break up that suit, just wearing the jacket or pants, it would still hold the same sort of punch that the full suit does.

The next color above is that sort of mauve color that comes into play with the turtleneck from Etro. Where Etro shows you how the color can punch from an opened blazer, Loden Dager demonstrates the mauve color in a slightly more demure form in outerwear. There are two other things of note within these two looks. The first is that in the Etro look you have your shine texture still around in the fashion world. The second is that you’ll notice the rolled pant legs in the Loden Dager look. A lot of designers used rolled pant legs for their more casual looks in a lot of different ways.

Moving on, another key color that showed itself was this camel/khaki color. This isn’t so much of a color that would jump out at you, but it’s definitely a solid base color. The two looks that I chose for this color were from Patrick Ervell and Versace, respectively. I like how comfortable the Patrick Ervell look is. As I said a moment ago, Ervell uses an elastic band on the end of these pants, almost like rain gear, for the shortened pant look. The other camel/khaki look from Versace is a lot more of a comfortable style that you can take to an art gallery opening or something of the like where the Patrick Ervell look is much more meant for the artistic display of the runway. Note the perforations in the shoes on the Versace look. The only store in SecondLife, off the top of my head, that you can find a pair of shoes like these is at Adam n Eve. They’re called the Pepperpot, but I don’t think they come in camel like the ones in the Versace show. Also, the Pepperpot’s are slip-ons where the

The last color I want to talk about here is orange, and here’s the fantastically quirky jacket from Junya Watanabe. The hunters’ blaze orange offset by the strips of plaid is just awesome. Like I mentioned about the 2nd Etro look, this jacket has a much larger quilted pattern on the orange portion of the jacket. Also the brown accents on the pockets as well as the hat really bring this all together. When I saw this I thought that this would be something that you could find in the closet of say Ben Gibbard (lead singer of Death Cab for Cutie) or one of The Jewnas Brothers.

Alright, I got the easy post out of the way. Other colors that you should watch out for are teals in the light and dark variety, navy’s, and gray’s. These will manifest themselves later on through my posts that are coming on down line, but I felt like these were the most notable. That’s it for now, and I’ll be creating contact sheets and moving on down the line for more F/W09 fashion posts. Stay tuned fashionistas.

Duality

Alright, I’ve done this before and I’m bringing it back again. I’ve got two looks today that are on opposite sides of the spectrum. The first look I have for you is one that I’ve been mulling over since I saw a pretty big fashion show that COCO was in. Then Bronson Twine made a post that pushed me over the edge to really go check this out. I know I say it a lot, but this designer really knows her color.

Everything cocoro Lemon puts out has really vibrant and welcoming color. The intention of her designs are for the female persuasion, but there are a select few things that can be taken as unisex. Definitely the wrap-around-waist shirts can be worn as a great accessory and the over-the-shoulder sweaters can be added to a nice preppy look. Personally, I went for this fantastic blue and white striped shirt. I went for it because it reminds me of an American Eagle shirt that I bought when I worked there. It’s still in my closet somewhere…or in the basement because it’s a laundry weekend. Anyway, I think Bronson’s and my post here should be used as batman symbols on the sky for COCO to start thinking about guys.

Speaking of work before, my second look actually follows along those same lines, but not in the same direction. There’s a girl that works in my office who definitely knows her fashion and is on top of her fashion game. Earlier this week she had a black & red lumberjack shirt, black skinny jeans, and some calf-height boots on that the jeans tucked into. I decided to take that look, put some male perspective on it, and present it to you guys. The black & red checked shirt was actually the first thing that sparked up memory. I was searching down a shirt I saw on Naith Smit in one of his Flickr shots a couple of weeks ago. I found out that it was from sey, but when I got to it I wasn’t sure if I really had a look that could go with any of the colors that sey provided. Then, I saw my coworker and it lit right up in my head how I could incorporate it with some of my regular clothing. By regular I mean some of the designers and items that I tend to use a lot on here. I’m a creature of habit and when I find things that I really like or are perfect for me, you’ll see them a lot on here.

For those of you readers in the USA, enjoy the long weekend! I know I will because I’m taking an extra day on Tuesday. Oh! And a head’s up for you guys & gals reading this. I’ll probably have all of the images gathered for a round-up of F/W09 by the end of next week. I’ll drop all of that on you guys some time in the next 2 or 3 weeks.

The Rundown
Chill
Waist Shirt :: COCO – Shirt Tied Around Waist in Stripe Blue L$200
Tank :: Hell Bop – Hank in White L$75
Jeans :: Valiant – Light Blue Triniti Jeans L$250
Kicks :: SOREAL – Superstars in SSP011 L$399
Glasses :: Solar Eyewear – Nash L$245 (or @ Fab Fash Studios for L$0)
Necklace :: Redgrave – Silver Shoot Necklace L$120
Bracelet :: Mhaijik Things – Silver Elephant Hair Bracelet L$200 (comes with a ring as well)
Hair :: Gritty Kitty – Hoke Troika in Black L$130
Tattoos :: iNFLiCT – Proud Like A God L$549
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

Work
Shirt :: :sey – nel shirt in Red L$400
Jeans :: Calypso Giano – Stonewash Classic Jeans in M10 L$250 (L$1,500 for 10)
Boots :: Hoorenbeek – Patagonia in Black L$520
Shades :: SteinWerk – Aviator Sunglasses L$450
Hair :: Philotic Energy – Mykal in Black L$149 for 8 colors
Tattoos :: iNFLiCT – Proud Like A God L$549
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

The Soundtrack
Chill :: Weezer – Island In The Sun
Work :: Franz Ferdinand – Ulysses

L$100,000 Outfit Contest

Hey everybody. I thought I’d put this out there because I’ve been tapped to be a judge on it, but Hoorenbeek is having a pretty big outfit contest. Like L$100,000 big. Here’s the contents of the official contest details and a little shot I put together quickly…and don’t steal my outfit. I’ll know!

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[ hoorenbeek ] OUTFITS CONTEST
Come to our store and pick the notecard to have the chance to win L$100,000 by creating a new outfit for us.
Your style and creativity will put you in the spotlight!
You can win L$100,000 and 50% of the outfit sales!

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All Hoorenbeek

Olio

37 Across – Hodgepodge – 4 letters :: Answer = Olio. Are there any crossword people in the house? Well it leads into my post that I’ve got for today. I have a LOT of things that have just been sitting in my inventory that I always intended to blog, but just never got around to because RL has been pumping on all cylinders, especially with summer on the horizon and the brutal winter we had here in the Midwest. Thus, when I’ve been getting the chance, I’ve been popping off some quick shots of stuff that I’d like to blog. Now to remember what exactly I’m wearing…

Alright we’ll work the top row first here and left to right. In the upper right we have a look that’s mainly IZUMIYA fashion set number 8. I know, again more black and white from me with IZUMIYA, but I like it. I like the use of the prim top to the skirt layer. I don’t think I’ve seen that anywhere else and especially for a male av it works because we’re a wider bunch than our female counterparts. The skirt layer will keep to your form so your legs aren’t always poking through it with your AO and the prim part covers up the need to futz with the poof of the skirt that always seems to mess with my lower back. Granted you get all of this innovation for the low price of L$25…seriously. Another piece I need to talk about here are the shoes. The Sk8Sneaks from ZHAO are pretty awesome. This is actually a creation of Lissa Maertens of Cattiva e Cattivo. I was talking to her the other day and she had told me that she was starting to create shoes under the Zhao brand. Personally, I think this is a great addition to the Zhao brand because Zhao has mainly wrapped their brand around the female shoe. Bringing in somebody like Lissa that has successfully created some great male shoes really helps them. I’d love to see it make Zhao a staple in the male shoe arena or at the very least shake some things up. The style I chose for this look is the white zebra ones, but there are a lot of different colors and styles to choose from.

The next two down the line to the right we have a couple of main pieces that I’d like to talk about from Laqroki. Both pieces surround the color blue (go figure) and the first is the Eagle jacket in blue. I can’t really pinpoint what exactly makes me love this jacket so much. I think it’s probably the great hue of blue that they used in it and the subtle striping that looks like shading until you get in close. You know, I notice that Laqroki really uses a lot of gray scale tones in their clothing, but they really need to throw some color in there. Usually when they throw in color they get it right and I seem to always end up feeling like I want another color but it’s not there. The other thing I wanted to speak on in this look is the hair. UncleWeb Studios has been open for…maybe two weeks and Din has already released another new hair. The latest to be released is this Jin02.03 hair. I really like a lot of the new hairs from UncleWeb and the new textures are fantastic as well. Although I will admit that there is one thing that I don’t like. The mesh black hair textures are a little inconsistent. In some of the hairs they’re really noticeable and in others they’re much more subtle. I prefer the subtle, but it does make for somewhat of a guessing game as to what you’re going to get. Anyway, I like this hair here and this is the 03 style in black. It has some structure to it and then some playfulness to it as well. Jin 02.03 gets a thumbs-up from me.

The other Laqroki one that I threw in here in the upper right is the white blazer. This version of the blazer comes with a light blue undershirt and it just felt so nice a light for spring that I had to get it. I picked up a nice little 3-pack of the blazers without the shirts underneath as well because I like to mix & match shirts underneath.

Moving to the bottom row we have a store that I picked up on from a Japanese blog that’s in my blogroll over there >>>>>>>> It’s a blog by Cary Kiarx and the store is called NWYD. I picked up three of these shirts, but the one I really wanted to blog was this red one. I mean if you look at the images placed up there by Cary, you see all of the sweaters over shirts hanging up on the wall and this red one practically jumps off of the wall and says, “BUY ME! BUY ME!” I listened to its Sirens call, bought it, and couldn’t have been happier with my purchase. When you buy this shirt you get regular sculpted cuffs without the button-up shirt cuff showing up underneath and then a version of the cuff with the button-up shirt cuff showing. I really like how they worked out the cuff showing through the prims.

Next up we’ve got something that’s pretty cool. Although the tie and shirt are sold separately they still mesh together really well. Essentially the tie is sort of an add-on to the shirt. You can get this shirt with the regular collar and then for an added L$80 you can purchase the collar + tie combo. What’s really nice about it is that you can wear the tie with any of the plethora of colors that Schadenfreude provides this Oxford shirt in. The ties come with a HUD with which you can change the color of the collar to any of the collar to any of the colors of the shirt. Thus, no matter what color of shirt you want to buy, you can customize your tie to fit it. Again on this look, I tossed the Sk8Sneaks from Zhao in blue zebra onto here. As I mentioned before, I like the subtle mesh black from UncleWeb Studios and this free style up on the counter in the store called Reed in mesh black is perfection. Also in this look we have taped Buddy glasses from Artilleri. Artilleri has been coming out strong with some new releases for men. They’ve been covered so much that I’ve held myself back from overloading you with them, but I do really like these Buddy glasses. They’re very geek chic and come in a plain version along with this extra geek taped version.

The last look I have for you is actually the oldest one that I’ve had sitting in my inventory. It is the Argrace With You sweater + scarf. I love the softness of the texture on the scarves and richness of the color in them. I had to do a bit of futzing with the size of the scarf to fit around the prim neck piece (they don’t come connected together), but it was well worth it for a sweater of this quality. The prim neck and sweater come on where they’re connected to different points of the body. This allows for ease of leaving the scarf on or taking the scarf off. The main thing I like about this again comes down to the color. I like the deep olive color on this sweater and the half-rolled sleeves. It feels very everyday and almost mountain man. I really dig that about this.

That wraps up my olio o’ looks here. Please note the new page to my blog called the Creators Glossary. It covers all of the stores that I use in my blog. I’ll continue to provide slurls in my posts, but that’s more of a log of the history of places that I’ve covered in blog and what I covered or like best about the stores. The only letters not covered in there are Q and X. If you know of any menswear stores that begin with Q or X…let me know and I’ll check ‘em out. Here’s the laundry list of items with extra starch:

The Rundown
Top Left
Outfit :: IZUMIYA – Fashion Set No. M08 L$25
Shoes :: Zhao – Sk8Sneaks in Zebra L$400
Bracelets :: Action Surf & Sk8te – Unisex Studded Buckle Bracelet in Black L$200
Glasses :: Artilleri – Buddy Glasses L$130
Hair :: MADesigns – James in NB I L$300 for 3-pack
Tattoos :: iNFLiCT – Proud Like A God L$549
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

Top Center
Jacket :: Laqroki – Eagle Jacket in Blue L$225
Jeans :: Valiant – Ripped Cream Dark Blue Jeans L$250
Shoes :: Hoorenbeek – Nylon Trainers in Blue/White L$520
Glasses :: Artilleri – Buddy Glasses L$130
Hair :: UncleWeb Studios – Jin 02.03 L$190
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

Top Right
Jacket :: Laqroki – White Blazer with Light Blue Shirt L$300
Jeans :: Casa del Shai – Pedro Jeans L$300
Shoes :: Hoorenbeek – Docker Shoes in White L$520
Shades :: Rughster – Aviator (not currently available, but msg sent to creator)
Hair :: MADesigns – Brad in NB I L$300 for 3-pack
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

Bottom Left
Sweater + Shirt :: NWYD – Flower & Knit Shirt in Red L$100
Jeans :: Fishy Strawberry – Distressed Denim in Classic L$145
Shoes :: SOREAL – Superstars in SSP014 L$399
Glasses :: Solar Eyewear – Nash L$245 (or @ Fab Fash Studios for L$0)
Hair :: Gritty Kitty – Hoke Troika in Black L$130
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

Bottom Center
Shirt + Tie :: Shadenfreude – Oxford shirt in Azure L$160 Bird of Happiness Necktie Pair L$80
Pants :: Pixel Dolls Belted Pants . Stripe in Grey L$50
Shoes :: Shoes :: Zhao – Sk8Sneaks in Blue Zebra L$400
Glasses :: Artilleri – Buddy Glasses L$130
Hair :: UncleWeb Studios – Reed in Mesh Black L$0
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

Bottom Right
Sweater + Scarf :: Argrace – With You in Olive L$300
Jeans :: Calypso Giano – Stonewash Jeans – Classic in M8
Boots :: Maitreya – Desert Boots in Green L$400
Shades :: Armidi Gisaci – Lifestyle Aviators – Silver L$325
Hair :: Armidi – The Law in True Black L$295 (5-pack)
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

The Soundtrack
Random songs from every Pandora station I have
The Velvet Underground – Pale Blue Eyes
John Lee Hooker – Boom Boom
Al Green – Tired of Being Alone
The Ting Tings – Great DJ
Paul McCartney – Maybe I’m Amazed
Death Cab For Cutie – The Sound of Settling
Sevendust – Shine
Air – All I Need

Fashion Is Danger

You think you know fashion, but fashion’s a stranger. You think fashion’s your friend, my friend fashion is danger. Moscow, Berlin, Paris, London, Tokyo, Wellington, Rome, Geneva, New York City.

I couldn’t have started this out any better. I saw Flight of the Conchords last weekend and they were pretty amazing. I mean they even brought out the robot suits! Alright I’m going to hit you with the three shots and then I’ll hit you with my words on each.

Springy #1

Springy #2

Springy #3

Spring is in the air and FINALLY here for some us in the northern hemisphere. The bright colors can finally creep back out and I’ve been seeing them all over the place with the nice weather we’ve been having around these parts. I’m actually going to touch on something that I missed in all of my previous S/S09 male fashion posts. Besides all of the blue that flew at us in all of the shows, there was also a secondary dominant color in the shows that I overlooked and that was Coral/Melon. Above I’m displaying some of my looks that incorporate that sort of color.

Springy #1
This is actually an outfit I put together when I was going to double team a couture fashion article on Runway Mag with my boy Catero, but before we had the chance Runway blew up like the Lindenberg. To be completely honest, I don’t know an official name for this suit. This is actually a preview version of a Z Zegna influenced suit by Hoorenbeek that will be coming out in the near future. The shading is a little heavy, but overall this is a really great and fashionable suit. I actually went down to Fabulous Fashion taping in the Springy #2 outfit yesterday because Hoorenbeek was being featured on the show. The show for Hoorenbeek will be up very soon and I’ll update right -> here <- when the show is up if you’d like to check it out. The shirt underneath is actually one of the Cambridge shirts from Armidi’s Gisaci, but I threw my own flavor onto it. I had to do a bit of prim work to put this together, but I think it really ended up being very well worth it. To create the look of this shirt it required removing the long cylinderesque sculptie from each of the pieces that go on the upper arm. Then I took the small ends, attaching them to the forearms, and rotating + positioning them to look right. Note that this shirt is actually the Aufren White shirt with a coral-colored tint to it. The official tint I used to get this color is:

Red: 255
Green: 157
Blue: 122
~~~~~~~
Hue: 16
Sat: 100
Lum: 74

Finishing off this look are probably my current favorite pair of shoes in all of SL, the Classica’s from Kalnin’s. Please note that if you have not put on your Kalnin’s shoes in a while that you should put them on to get your automatic update to them. I don’t think they came with a notecard detailing what exactly was upgraded on the shoes, but after putting on both the Classica’s and the Gallop’s I was automatically sent newer versions of them.

Springy #2
My second look here comes from a lot of different places. The first and most vibrant thing that pops out at you is the jacket and vest. These come from the Shiki Gingham Check suit in Mandarin. Not exactly Coral/Melon, but very very close. Personally, I felt like the entire suit was a little busy and overbearing with the texture. Although, when you break it up like this I think it comes off looking a LOT better. The next thing that I should draw your attention is the hat from Apollon. Connecting this look to the first, I initially heard about these while Catero (srsly would you get out of my head Cat? kthx) was researching some Japanese fashion designers and he told me that I’d look good in one of the hats. When it happened I kind of laughed because I didn’t think they were really my style, but then when I got there and saw that the hats were only L$140 for two I figured I could buy a couple and see if I liked them. Well, obviously, I really did like them and found a couple of looks for this one to go with. Staying in Asia, I slid in the Isis shirt under the jacket layer from Zaara Kohime. Zaara has been dabbling in the male realm and I really like these Isis shirts. They come on a lot of different layers with the ability to tuck in and there’s a semi-sheer version of the shirt on the jacket layer.

Springy #3
My final look is the latest and greatest from those crazy ladies at Paper Couture. I haven’t had a chance to talk to her much since the early conceptual stages of what Paper Couture’s S/S09 collection was going to look like, but I was given the early hint from Ava Lu that it was going to be an Indian (Bombay not Native American) style to it. Of the three looks that they put out for men, I felt like this one really hit the spot. (other bloggers did as well as other blogs have been popping up with this look) This one also features some of the coral coloration on the breast and collar of the jacket. Note that all three looks for men pretty much come with a shirt and pant layer (two of them come with collars for shirts), so if you’re looking to mix and match fuhgettabotit. Finishing up this look I thought that the LeLutka Carson sandals would work very nicely. I got a taste of these from the freebies that LeLutka tossed out to their groupies, and knew they had the colors to fit this look. Again, I had to do a little prim work on these because I’m sorry, but the only reason that men have size 0 feet are to crunch them into shoes. When you open up the shoe, the feet look tiny and awkward. Thus, I moved my feet up to 25, as that’s what proportionally looks best with my shape, and had to do a little prim work to resize them for my feet and tighten up the straps. Thank you to LeLutka for making them only no transfer and allowing me customize them to my needs.

Alright, I’m going to hit you with the Rundown and Soundtrack and get myself out of here. If you have any male Coral/Melon leads please let me know in the comments. I’ve been searching high and low, so keep me in the loop. Enjoy your first and second lives to the fullest everybody.

The Rundown
Springy #1
Suit :: Hoorenbeek Suit – Tweed Suit L$960
Shirt :: Gisaci – Cambridge Shirt in Aufren White (tinted) L$250
Shoes :: Kalnins Classica L$400
Shades :: SteinWerk – Aviator Sunglasses L$450
Hair :: MADesigns – Eric in Ash Browns L$300 for 3
Tattoo :: Negko – Humaga L$149
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel in Tan Face #11 L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

Springy #2
Jacket + Vest :: Shiki Designs – Gingham Suit in Mandarin L$480
Shirt :: Zaara – Isis Shirt in White L$150 (3-pack for L$400)
Pants :: Sartoria Italiana – Riva Dress Slacks in Light Linen L$100
Shoes :: Kalnins Classica L$400
Hat :: Apollon – Homberg Hat in White 2-pack for L$140
Shades :: SteinWerk – Aviator Sunglasses L$450
Tattoo :: Negko – Humaga L$149
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel in Sunkissed Face #11 L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

Springy #3
Shirt, Jacket, + Pants :: Paper Couture – Fine and Dandy L$250
Sandals :: LeLutka – Carson sandals in White L$300
Hat :: Apollon – Homberg Hat in White 2-pack for L$140
Shades :: SteinWerk – Aviator Sunglasses L$450
Tattoo :: Negko – Humaga L$149
Skin :: Belleza – Miguel in Sunkissed Face #11 L$2,000 single (L$5,000 for 4-pack)

The Soundtrack
Fashion Tracks
Flight of the Conchords – Fashion is Danger
The Kinks – Dedicated Follower of Fashion
Kelly – Borrow That Top
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Spring Tracks
Raphael Saadiq – Never Give You Up
Ray LaMontagne – Hey Me, Hey Mama
Yerba Buena – El Burrito
Thievery Corporation – Sol Tapado