Mutants New York....6th Ave. New York

I love the Burberry hat with the jacket

Giorgio Armani - L'Uomo Vogue 1974

Is Diego Della Valle The New Agnelli

The late Gianni Angelli was an Italian style icon. Sartorialists around the world have copied his carefully studied "nonchalant" quirks of dressing. Recently I've seen photos of Diego Della Valle ,the Sartorialistic owner of Tod's, sporting the Agnelli patented no-buttoning-the-button-down-collar look and the suit with sport shoes look. In the photo above he even dares to reproduce one of my favorites, the rarely copied tie-outside-the-sweater look.

To his credit, Della Valle is trying to create a few memorable "items of flare" for himself. At Italian football games Della Valle has taken to wearing his sweater over a color-coordinated cashmere scarf.



Should we name this look? What have you got?

Lismore Hosiery...Closing Day

An appointment cancelled the other day so I decided to wonder around the Lower East Side. Lismore Hosiery ,which I had shot in the past, somehow looked different. When you considering that everytime I passed it in 15 years it always looked exactly the same, I knew something was up....Closing Day. Lismore had occupied the same address for 68 years, I don't think they ever changed the window display in all that time. Inside was just an empty shell of the once flourishing business but like most of the garment businesses in the LES they simply cannot keep up the the times. What amazed me inside were all the little details like the roll top desk in the back room, the wheel covers on the rolling ladders, the ancient adding machine and the smell. It was the exact same smell of my grandma's house. I don't know if it is the smell of old wood, old buildings or old people. I felt really lucky to have been there to record the last day of that business. One day I will show these photos to my daughters and show them how New York use to look.

Sunday's Best....Harlem, New York

Window Shopping.....Domenico Vacca

The Coat Stands Alone.... Midtown, Manhattan

What The F&%@! Does It take To Make It As A Young Designer In Menswear!

What the F#%@! does it take to make it as a young designer in menswear? Easy, HAVE A TAKE!!

HAVE A REAL AND UNIQUE POINT OF VIEW. Don't mistake "having a take" though, with creating a watered-down "just for sales" driven product. And not having a "serious" product does not mean not having a dead serious plan for how to grow your business.
Confused?
Let's look at one of my favorite men's collections Duckie Brown

The first time I saw Duckie Brown was in Barneys a few years ago. It was a beautiful, simple jacket, until you looked at the back, which had a huge, colorful, felt house appliqued on the back. The other day at Barneys, I fell in love all over again with a red plaid sportcoat, with all of the colors of the jacket echoed in tiny beads sewn around the hem of the jacket.

Steven and Daniel, the "Duckies" of Duckie Brown, have not played it safe. What has it gotten them? Only some of the most prestigious accounts in the world, like Barneys, Fred Segal, Harrod's and Harvey Nichols; a cast of Hollywood hunks, like Jude Law (do we really need to add anyone after him?), and pages and pages of press. I have so much respect for people that know they are doing it the hard way, do it anyway, and still succeed.


Duckie Brown is winning, not because of big pockets full money, but pure creativity, vision and a little humour. Notice that's "humour" with an extra British "u"; humour like "The Office".
Checkout their website, the photography is great.

A Certain Man, A Certain Style....Harlem, New York

On The Street.... Midtown, Manhattan

David is the manager for the Borrelli store in NYC. I know a lot of guys in the business and he is easily one of the most articulate on issues of style, quality and design. There are very few salespeople I would ask their opinion, he is one.