guy’s stuff

any collaboration in the fashion world is exciting and refreshing. most recently a string of collaboration pop-up (temporary) shops have sprung up across the globe, including the Colette x Gap store in New York and Commes De Garcons x Louis Vuitton store in Tokyo.

(Colette x Gap store, NY; Commes x Louis Vuitton store, Tokyo)

throughout the past few years in particular, the collaborations between designers, or between brands, or between designer and mass brands in particular, has shook up the fashion world and allowed for new and innovative designs to be developed.

one of the most successful collaborations to date is the Y3 brand that has been birthed out of the incredible partnership between Adidas and Yohji Yamamoto. despite my lack of love for sportswear, Y3 happens to be carry some of my favourite pieces, and is a personal favourite of mine.  it combines yamamoto’s avant garde sensibility with adidas material and technology. each product is thus both fashionably aesthetic and 100% functional.

(Y-3 SS/09 Collection)

other successful sportswear/footwear and designer relationships include stella mccartney for adidas, mihara yasuhiro AND alexander mcqueen for puma and most recently raf simmons for dr martens (ss 09). we take all these established and respectable designers and what their design aesthetic is supplemented by the mass appeal of brand they design for. personally i LOVE the mihara for puma collection, but i still believe in mihara’s own product line more. but raf simmons for dr martens is an extremely promising collection (albeit somewhat different from the other brands since this collection looks to be a one off instead of a sustained partnership) because what it does is it fuses the adventurism and innovation of raf simmon and the wearablity and trustablity of the dr marten brand.

(mihara yasuhiro x puma FW/08)

(Raf Simmons x Dr Martens SS/09)

related to this sort of collaboration is when a designer comes up with a line of accessories for a brand, such as Kris Van Assche for Oliver Peoples. combining the masculine new world aesthetic of the Dior Hommehead designer with the trendiness and cult-sensibility of Oliver Peoples, the range of sunglasses is incredibly chic with its interchangeable lenses, and they potentially are able to establish themselves as classics.

(Kris Van Assche x Oliver Peoples)

another type of designer collaboration is exemplified by takashi murakami for louis vuitton. like with philippe starck for fossil (see entry on watches 01) , takashi murakami is an artiste by trade, and what he brings is a unique an very beautifully abstract concept to fashion table. by thinking out of the fashion world, it gains artistic value and thus makes it an even more covetable fashion object. it’s a strange yet completely understandable fashion paradox. what makes this all the more exciting is the fact that there is a sense of internationalism in the design, merging the french aesthetic of LV with the japanese vision of murkami.

(Takashi Murukami x Louis Vuitton Monogram Camoflauge)

but perhaps my favourite kind of designer collaboration is between a designer and a mass fashion brand. most of the time, a designer hooks up with a mass fashion label to create a line or what we call a capsule collection. this is unlike Kim Jones who is now designing for Alfred Dunhill, where an already established cult designer is hired to oversee the design for an entire line. same can be said for marc jacobs and louis vuitton.

capsule collections have their appeal in their overt “trendiness”. because they only exist for that moment, the items become that much more “necessary”. the dozen or so items created by the designer for the line are supposed to be interchangeably worn as separates as as an entire outfit, combining the elements of high fashion design with street practicality and affordablity. perhaps the most successful mass label that has embraced the concept of designer capsule collections is swedish clothing company H&M. it has worked with many of the members of fashion royalty including Chanel legend Karl Lagerfeld, jil sander’s Raf Simmon, sutch design team Viktor & Rolf, spice girl favourite Roberto Cavalli, and american sweetheart Stella McCartney. each collection has turned out to be such instant sell-outs that some collections have reportedly been snapped up within an hour of it’s launch.

(H&M Collaborations: top left clockwise – Roberto Cavalli at a fitting, Karl Lagerfeld ads,
Viktor & Rolf men’s look, queue at Stella McCartney’s debut)

which brings me to the two most buzzed about collaborations today. without a doubt, H&M’s upcoming collaboration with Commes De Garcons (in stores November) is first on that list. there are many interesting things about this collaboration. for one, Rei Kawakubo, the powerhouse behind the japanese brand, does not seem to compromise any of the famous Commes aesthetic. with her, it’s all about deconstruction mixed with independent and exaggerated silhouettes and those famous Commes painted polka dots. in all honesty, i find it hard to see the what H&M adds to this collection. it’s almost as if Commes just found a new place to design and produce a line. price wise, there isn’t a significant difference between the high-fashion price tag of Commes and no longer affordable prices of this new H&M collaboration. but i say cheers to Commes because it has probably gotten the sweeter end of the deal, increases it’s marketability through the use of H&M’s marketing resources and brand. H&M of course stands to gain too as it has truly established itself as the most fashion forward mass fashion label to date.

(Commes des Garcons x H&M)

another of the collaborations i look forward to is the Lanvin and Acne partnership. this capsule collection is beyond chic and the men’s line in particular is super successful. combining the high-fashion brand Lanvin with the cult-denim label Acne, the collection manages to find a wonderful sophistication with jeans and denim. the clothes are truly amazing, and is centered around the idea of “making denim more desirable”. i am completely feeling the romanticism of denim in the design, particularly with regards to the casual cool of those awesome denim shorts.

(Lanvin x Acne menswear collection)

(Standout Piece : Lanvin luxury meets Acne denim in a hightop sneaker)

yet, as much as i want to believe that fashion collaborations are purely motivated by artistic visions and craft appreciation, i know this is not so. a lot of the collaborations are mere products of acute business acumen, where brands constantly want to upgrade themselves and their image, whilst efficiently increasing their market with shared marketing and new product development (wow i never thought i’d actually get to use things i learnt duringstudied for IB Business class ever!). still, it’s nice to believe in the spirit of collaborations and at the end of the day, the inspiration is still there. genuine or not, i’ll buy it.

there are many ways a guy can end up looking like a douche. and one of the most prevalent ways is through the use of collars

walk down the street and you’ll see douchebags EVERYWHERE with their “popped” or upturned collars. i mean seriously, only gum and bubbles were meant to be popped. (joke may be bad but the collar-douche is seriously worst)

i sincerely do not understand the need for a guy to reach for his collar and turn it up. it’s incomprehensible and it’s just really weird. i mean. does it make you look better? not really. it’s just so obnoxious and screams “i’m a jock/jock wannabe and i think i’m so cool”.

all that’s missing are khaki shorts, aviator shades, and that i’m-too-sexy-for-my-shirt swagger.

as separates, all these things can kind of work. khaki shorts can look really cool with a white top and sandals. aviator shades can look really good when paired with a shirt. and that swagger. haha. i myself will admit to be guilty of the occasional swagger , but i refer to it by a different name – the dance-walk. it’s the walk you adapt when you hear a beat or feel really confident (like when i’m wearing my gucci ponyhair loafers).

but that collar should NEVER be turned up. please. they’re bad enough on polos but are worst on dress shirts.

another crazy and, in my books, more reproachable trend is that of the exposed collar.

i don’t watch the hills, but Spencer Pratt (photographed above), just pisses me off. i mean look at that outfit. it’s not a bad suit per se. but it’s that inappropriate unshaven face, deliberately tanned skin, glaring jerk-smirk and most importantly, that disgusting exposed collar.

i mean. the whole deal is just so unnecessary. do you know how much more effort it takes to KEEP that collar out of your jacket than it does to keep it in? it looks stupid, trashy, sloppy and pretentious all at the same time.

the same people who pop their collars are most probably the same people who commit the exposed collar offence as well because they belong to the same group of people. people who simply try too hard. that’s really what it is. fashion and style should be something very natural. sure, a thought process should be carried out, or what i call intention, but at the end of the day, don’t end up looking like the guy everyone loves to hate.

there also needs to be a belief we invest in our outfits. there’s no point TRYING to look like something or TRYING to give off a certain kind of effect. believe in the garments you wear and then style will develop subsequently. i guess that’s why models are perceived to be empty vessels, because the more insipid and bland their personalities on the runway, the more the garment will be the main focus. it’s all about the clothes.

the exposed collar in particular is very costumey. let me tell you who commits this offence the most: teenage boys, and the men who believe they are teenage boys. it’s true. think about your prom and think about the number of guys who flared out their collars. picture one of them in your head and try to recall whether you thought they looked cool or not.

not happening.

very john travolta circa Saturday Night Fever.

of course some guys can pull this look off. they’re the same 5% minority who can pull any look off. these people, as derek zoolander would say, ridiculously good looking, or just too cool to be judged. otherwise you’re just a douchebag. i happen to be able to think of only one friend who can pull off the popped collar, but he happens to be a polo player, and to some extent i can understand how polo players try to diversify the eponymous polo shirt.

i guess that this whole collar saga is very phallic in the sense that we as men constantly see the need to keep them up and are unable to keep them in.

i think one of the phenomenons in fashion that i personally believe is rather cool is the Kidult, purely in the fashion sense. i mean… think about the converse situation. everytime you see a kid DRESSED like an adult, don’t you think “TOO COOL/CUTE!”. (i do, however, hate kids who ACT like adults. bleaughx).

(Photo Credit: Ralph Lauren Kids. i actually have a really really great lookbook from Dior Kids but i can’t seem to find stills on the internet. those photos are CRAZY cool and cute, but this is kinda awww-ish as well)

so the Kidult, is basically an adult who dresses with semblances of a kid.

look at kanye (Photo Credit : The Sartorialist). the shirt is just screaming 6-year old print. yet theres a sophistication to the outfit and the overall effect is just super chic.

dressing like a kidult is cool but i guess only a certain type of guy can pull it off well. a guy who is inherently stylish yet whose taste levels are not completely questionable. it really is all about attitude. as ironic as it sounds, i believe the kidult needs to have some kind of maturity to be successful.

the above 2 runway looks are taken from D&G and Jeremy Scott. (ps i really wanted those gladiator sandals from d&g, but they didnt have my size by the time i was prepared to pay for them. haha)

jeremy scott is really one of the more kidult-ish designers out there. at an extreme of course. his clothes are quirky, dramatic and fun, but not particularly wearable. almost very couture in that sense, yet, not in the full meaning of the word.

a more well balanced designer would be marc jacobs and his diffusion marc by marc jacobs line. i’ll refrain from featuring too much of his stuff, if not this site will become almost a shrine to him, but i really do love his designs. i mean. i probably will do an entry on my favourite designers sooner or later, so i’ll refrain from going into why i love his clothes so much here.

(Photo Credit: Marc Jacobs SS 07 & SS 06)

there is just such style to all of his garments. his outfits as a whole are always really well balanced, and this is why i think marc’s clothes are the only ones i will wear a complete head to toe outfit of. haha.

i think one of the more memorable statements that i remember reading marc saying (or at least i remember it as marc), is that he’d rather a man be stylish than fashionable.

back to the idea of the Kidult, kids these days are becoming increasingly fashionable. this kid from paris looks barely 14 (Photo Credit : The Sartorialist) and yet his outfit is beyond fierce. and those shoes.

those shoes. those shoes. those shoes.

reference back to footwear entry 01. lol.

i think there is this big idea about growing up that we as individuals always fight against and often we forget that by embracing said ideas, we might end up, as elle woods would say, so much better than before. thesis, anti-thesis, synthesis, yada yada. haha.

i guess the whole idea is to not take fashion so seriously, the way we used to be when we were kids. to feel what we feel and really go with it. although as cosmo shows us (below), dressing up and looking dapper sometimes does have its allure.