Japanese Menswear Magazines
Vogue Hommes Japan in it's second issue covered the full range spectrum, from American tribal trends to hot colors for spring. The American influence is shown as well as the European, and it's mixed well with a Japanese aesthetic and some showcases on Japanese designers too. Also notable is Hedi Slimane's photography making the look one of high fashion and style. The back also has a great "Legends" sketch each issue, most recently being; River Phoenix.
Popeye has been around for a long time. The magazine shows a bit of runway, a bit of outfit overload spread, and they showcase a lot of trends(something huge in Japan) in everything from denim and what's in and what's selling, to the style of how people are wearing clothing and the Japanese art of mastering a monthly outfit guide and not wearing the same outfit twice in one month. From rolled pants to cropped pants, canvas shoes, headwear styles and more they show trends that are being seen all over and ones still to catch on. They also try to do editorials where you relate the brands and pieces to everyday use and wear. There's typically good designer editorials and a lot of glossy skinny young models which gives it a bit of the high fashion mix or the homoerotic fashion feel (you catch the drift, androgeny being such a theme these days). A good read on seeing what is out there and where the market is heading.
Men's Fudge has been creative enough to hit the streets in markets like New York, Paris, Milan, and London. In the current issue they visit some of the most progressive stores within New York and London and bring them head to head. They photograph the sales people on their style and ask them what's hot at the moment and what is really selling. It's like a monthly fashion blog so to say. They showcase trends on the streets, in the stores and in the runway shows. It's creative in serving up to the minute trends and what's really happening out there in a all genre's within the menswear game. They even interviewed the sales people at Rugby by Polo Ralph Lauren in New York City and shot pictures on their style in one of the recent issues. It's a great magazine to flip through and really sense what is happening at the moment.
Free & Easy, the classic on American values, Americana and the one with a grip on "being a man" in the old fashioned sense. This is definitley the most masculine mens magazine in Japan in regards to fashion and lifestyle and goes very far in depth. It takes the Japanese honor system and delves it into the old American and with some new to create an excellent niche that is sweeping the U.S. little by little and growing. Along with a love and obsession with Steve McQueen and all things American, Free & Easy stands out as a great one.
Mens Non-No... here's another good one. Along the lines of a Popeye or a Men's Fudge. Men's Non-No is a bit of both of those publications and shows clean menswear as well as some great Japanese designer showcases. Another one of the glossy magazines with young skinny models. They have some great exclusive issues with brands like Xampagne and John Lawrence Sullivan from Japan and a lot of European influence from editorials with Paul Smith, Dior, Gvenchy and more of the luxury menswear brands.
Leon magazine, while along the lines of a more sophisticated worldly consumer. Leon definitely draws it's inspiration from the European tailored menswear world, Milan in particular. It caters to a sophisticate along the range of say 25 to 55 who definitely has some money to throw around and wants the panache to prove it. Still a great read for tips on anything from pant cuffs and hems to how to tie your ascot.
Huge magazine is one of my favorites and very well done. each issue is practically curated with a theme then sections on films that relate and items to buy as well as stores to shop for those items and editorial spreads related. The current May "Outsiders" issue shows editorial spreads depicting 1950's beatniks in New York and relates films such as, Coppola's, "The Outsiders" and along with other American traditional "bad boy" influences. Huge is definitely one of the best.
2nd magazine is the ultimate in showcasing the American trends of preppy, nautical and camping... They show the best tote bags, the best camping packs, boots, boat shoes denim and more. The magazine is ahead of it's time and now America is catching on. Great collectible issues on denim and boots and more with guides and brands.
Japan is fanatical and very much ahead at the moment I feel in terms of creativity and retail within fashion and menswear. They've been taking American influence and classics and now a lot of European ones lately too, then recreating things in a way with quality and vibrance that is breathing new life into the old. these are just some of the magazines I suggest and the ones I've been on here in the states for I awhile. This has been shaping for some time now. You can really see the influence on things in the states and in fashion in general from what's coming on stronger and stronger all over. Don't sleep!
Friday Film: American Gigolo
It was a film that helped spark Giorgio Armani's career. Men everywhere wanted the unstructured blazer and the sophisticated panache of an Armani suit. This film exemplifies the Armani style on Richard Gere of course. Let's not forget where Armani learned his craft, under Nino Cerutti, a man who also outfitted many of the world's most stylish films. Enjoy the opening of American Gigolo here. Set to Blondie's "Call Me" it really transcends the style and look of Girogio Armani's elegance on set. The same sexy style also always reminds me of another amazing and sophisticated designer these days; Mr. Tom Ford.
The Growing Heritage Look
These brands and the American classic revival have been on strong now for a minute. Due to the trends in the economy, the sway of the old being fresh again, the swarm of some of our industry's best blogs pushing them and a lot more. Consumers have been wanting classic goods that last and offer quality more and more lately not false misguided trends, here today and gone tomorrow.
This is a look all too common these days and growing more and more in downtown New York and Brooklyn. The Moscot frames or the optics... A good classic Gitman plaid , Woolrich, Pendelton and countless others... Engineered Garments O.D. Green vest, there's a huge vintage workwear, military, prep, outdoors, cross over these days. the Japanese helped build that amongst others... The Timex military watch, simple and classic... The A.P.C. New Standard jeans one among many basic and timeless pairs of denim. Jean Touitou and company have taken a ton of retro basics and classics and made them very tasteful again... A pair of Quoddy mocs or trail shoes. Some L.L. Bean boots, desert boots, boat shoes, canvas classics all of them are in the rapture of brands and styles within this look nowadays. Lets not forget bucks and saddle shoes, and penny loafers too for the dressier version.
These brands have been on the come up for a minute now. You can thank designers like Daiki Suzuki with Woolrich and Engineered Garments and websites like A Continuous Lean, All Plaid Out, Secret Forts, H(Y)R Collective, Jake Davis and the people at Men.Style for zeroing in on this trend. Inspired by classic and timeless staples. These brands whether new or old are what's being felt now and to come. This is just one of the many looks, they're also beginning to be felt on the runways too. Japan is largely to thank for this as well.
While this is just a sector in the fashion industry it's definitely the growing force. Don't sleep on America's heritage it's here to stay and will effect everything else. What comes around goes around... However don't stand on trends too hard just remain classic and cool, Style comes from within. It's one thing to appreciate things like this and another to be a follower for the sake of trying too hard to fit in.
"Today's trends, end up in tomorrow's landfills" - David Amram
Check the Americn list at ACL for a list of most of these vendors: ACL American List.
Today's Muse: Jean Seberg
I can't help but realize in the last picture posted here of Jean Seberg that she looks strikingly similar to another current actress celebrated for her Hollywood beauty; Scarlett Johansson. While I'm on my French New Wave kick this week and be it last week's Muse was French, Francoise Hardy. Jean Seberg while not originating from France sure idolized a muse in Godard's "Breathless". She was the real deal and rocked the short, petite, cool look before "It Girl 66" Miss Edie ever did. Take notes ladies... Today's muse.
Pierrot Le Fou
Godard, Belmondo, Karina... French New Wave... The color on those films... The pop of Belmondo's red tie in that gray suit. You just can't beat a timeless classic. Call me a sucker for the substance and creativity of Godard and Truffaut but you can derive inspirations from their films alone to fashion, to art, to life, to architecture... There's something to be said about timeless works of cinema. They capture the era and the mood and covey a great deal of messages. I suggest taking a look at this film, you might actually see the resemblances in many of today's fashion and films and beyond.
Jake Davis Feature
Posted over the weekend was an interview I did with Jake Davis and a feature for the website that I'm a contributor for We Are The Market...We Are is a great compilation of what's out there and new within the menswear industry and a whole lot more. I had the pleasure of sitting down with Jake and discussing what he's been up to, gaining some insight on his views and a lot more. I recommend checking it out. Jake's website has been popping off now for a minute and he's doing some really great things in the scope of film and media. The image here is a post he did just creatively describing his message over Valentine's day, his website has been an outlet for his creativity and his views, that which have grown to a broader audience in the past year. He's an articulate and intelligent guy, definitely one to watch on the rise... If you want my opinion, don't sleep!
Max's Kansas City: An Era of Cool.
Max's Kansas City was a restaurant and a nightclub in the area now mainly considered almost Gramercy and north Union Square in Manhattan. The Spot was a gathering place and hangout for musicians, artists, tastemakers, even politicians and saw many countless other types from the 60's, 70's as well as the early 80's. Max's witnessed some of our popular culture's most influential people. From Andy Warhol and his factory to The Velvet Underground, The Ramones, Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Robert Rauschenberg, Bob Marley, The Sex Pistols, The New York Dolls, Bowie and a monstrosity of others. Many of the bands and people in our culture that the world is familiar with met there for the first time. They cross pollinated and mutated in a melting pot of style and socializing.
There was a period in the 1910's and 20's that housed this in Greenwhich Village with people like Eugene O'Neil, Max Eastman, John Reed and some great writers and artists; The Bohemians. Then the Beats of the 40's and 50's with Ginsberg, Kerouac, Burroughs. That period led to the sexual revolution, the revulsion of 50's suburban facist (McCarthyism) values and wasteland dreams in lawn care and houses and cars which all masked the image created to repress and keep you thinking things are all "A" okay and that sparked the "hippies" and a whole lot of other great minds and movements along with it into the 70's. The 80's and the 90's saw a spiralling down of a lot free thought and movements, and now our generation makes those eras and times one's of nostalgia through shows on VH1 or recreating the fads from eras out of a lack of innovative and forward creativity.
This was New York... Mickey Ruskin brought them all together, the cool people, the artists, the rockstars, the business men in suits, the wannabees, the junkies, the models, the transvestites, the locals of the neighborhood all under one roof. Curently even in our so called "recession" of a shitty time and global crisis, I don't see anything even close to this in Manhattan. The melting pot became a place for trendy people all wanting a taste of nostalgia. A spot to shine and make it like Madonna or a Warhol (Of course this has almost always been the basis of New York City and is the lifeblood of America as a whole). The city became inflated and mad expensive. Giuliani cleaned up the streets kicked out the quote on quote "garbage" and allowed the corporations to come in and make a mockery and Disney Land of Times Square and many other parts. The life blood has been draining... The energy has been wanning and now the Soho neighborhood that once housed some of the world's greatest artists at $170 a month now houses million dollar rents for retailers like newly opened Top Shop to house it's cheaply made over priced tacky trends to the scores of tourists and wannabee followers alike. Mannhattan was duped in a sense... We still have some old timers and some influentials here wanting what Max's Kansas City had. Nowadays it's an all too real indication that "change" is inevitable and we need to find ways to make things happen for the better. Sometimes I have to ask myself... In cleaning up New York City and trying to make it a better place to live and visit... Did we actually destroy what it stood for and what it meant and why it was so magical?
My point is that it may never be the same and probably won't be and Manhattan will always be "The City"... But in a scene of dying dreams and endless bottle service, nights of money wasted on flaunting one's lack of substance and urban so called success, we need to wake up and reinvigorate things... Where are this generation's tastemakers, the new set of influentials, from the streets to the bars to the libraries...
What do we need? Perhaps we need to wake up and breathe new life into things. Maybe we need a new Max's Kansas City. They used to say, "The revolution will not be televised" the revolution will happen in the streets, the bars and coffee shops and nowadays I feel through globalization it starts online.
Max's with it's die hard supporters photographed outside.
Andy Warhol and his Factory sitting at his table in the corner.
Front of Max's, just another night... Check out David Johansen in this one.
Andy Warhol and Nico at the table.
Bruce Springsteen's early album titled Max's Kansas City and one of the many recorded there live.
Madonna early performance at Max's 1981.
What Max's Kansas City looks like now... Just another random Deli/Cafe/Market.
Today's Muse: Francoise Hardy
"For Franoise Hardy at the Seine's edge, giant shadow of Notre Dame seeks t'grab my foot, Sorbonne students whirl by on thin bicycles swirlin' life like colors of leather, spin the breeze yawns food far from the bellies or 'er hard meetin' Johnson piles of lovers fishing kissing lay themselves on their books. boats. old men clothed in curly mustaches float on the benches, blankets of tourist in bright red nylon shirts with straw hats of ambassadors (cannot hear nixon's dawg bark now) will sail away as the sun goes down the doors of the river are open, I must remember that I too play the guitar, it's easy t'stand here more lovers pass on motorcycles roped together from the walls of the water then I look across t'what they call the right bank an' envy your trumpet player" - Bob Dylan
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