The Sartorialist

So this photo has finally run in Wallpaper magazine so I can finally share it with you.

Back in April I was in Milan shooting the Salone for Wallpaper.
It was Saturday, the last day, and the fair was slowing down so I took a lazy walk around the Brera.
I was on Via Borgonuovo when I looked up and saw Armani walking down the street.
Actually, I saw Armani’s giant bodyguard first but Armani was about four steps in front of him.
Anyway, I stopped Armani and began to ask him, and quickly began asking the bodyguard (that guy moves quick) if I could take his photo.
He asked for a business card ,which I didn’t have on me, so he looked me over and agreed to let me take his picture.

Armani still looked a little hesitant but I have seen him in action enough backstage at his shows that I know he likes to be shot against a dark backdrop to highlight his white hair.

He began to take his one of his trademark poses but I motioned that we should move off the street and in front of a nearby building with a dark background. I motioned to his hair and said something like “bene constrasto” (not to be confused with “bene castrato”). This instantly won a few big points with him and he was very patient while I got a couple of shots.

Funny thing, one of the reasons Armani has built such an incredible empire is he is very careful with every aspect of his image. For example, when you take a photo of Armani he will not look up at the camera until he has set his pose and checked every element of his look. You cannot take a picture of him until he is ready.
As a photographer this is a pain but it is a perfect example of how he continues to worry about every little aspect – I have tremendous respect for that. The guy is in his 70′s and is still sweating all the little details.

I am happy to begin The SartoriaList Women’s
Same concept as the Men’s SartoriaList plus two additional services.
As with the men’s list I will try to get a good mix of ladies from varied income levels.
I am currently efforting responses from women in New York, Milan, Paris, London and Stockholm (Berlin?).
I will be updating the SartoriaList as I receive answers but quite a few will be going up in the next two weeks.

Of course, I had to start with a few of the coolest women I know.

CARINE ROITFELD

Hair salon
Romain Color – 37 rue Rousselet paris 7eme

tailor:
Styl’up – 5 rue pasquier paris 8eme

Dry cleaner:
Delaporte Teinturerie – 62 rue Francois I paris 8eme

Shoe repair
Pulin bottier – 5 rue chauveau Lagarde paris 8eme

Nail Salon
Sothys institut de beaute – 128 rue du faubourg saint honore paris 8eme

Body Treatment
L appartement 217 – 217 rue saint honore paris 1er

EMMANUELLE ALT

Hair Salon:
Leonor Greyl – 15 rue Tronchet paris 8eme

tailor:
Styl’up – 5 rue pasquier paris 8eme

Dry cleaner:
Delaporte Teinturerie – 62 rue Francois I paris 8eme

Shoe repair
Cordonnerie Vaneau – 44 rue vaneau paris 7eme

Nail salon and body treatment
Institut Revlon – 19 rue Bassano paris 16eme

TARA HENTHORN

Hair Salon:
ALAIN COIFFURE 184 rue de grenelle 7emer
cute little place, where the clientele are like your grandparents, and walking in the door is like stepping back into the 1950′s. the ladies have regular appointments to get themselves coiffured and to catch up on the quartier gossip. i go there not really for the haircut (as my hair is never in more need than a trim), but so soak up a little of the old life…

Tailor or Alterations:
Being a designer i do it myself.

Dry Cleaner:
PRESSING MALAR 27 rue malar 7eme

Shoe Repair:
CHAUSSURE ROLAND 12 rue malar 7eme
Gorgeous little old man, owns and runs the place all by himself, and every morning i pass him on the street on the way back from the boulangerie, smile and say “bonjour”.

Nail Salon:
NOCIB

This is one of my all-time favorite shots of Lino.
It appeared in July GQ but I wanted to make sure it had a home here also.
To me it is the very essence of Milanese style.

I loved this shot but I guess the page just isn’t big enough for two Lini (the plural of Lino)

As I promised recently, I will be making new additions to The SartoriaList over the next few weeks
Our good friend Reza has sent over his list of resources not only for New York but also Naples!
Reza has also informed me that he has lost 15 pounds and we may soon need to change his moniker to TBM!!

Thanks Reza and the first one to Naples wins!!

from Reza email:
BARBER New York: Peter at Delta Hairstylists
BARBER Naples, Italy: Gianni at Barbieria, via Crispi 13-15
(In my case, given the little hair I have, the barber is really more of a surgeon)

TAILOR/ALTERATIONS suits, Naples, Italy: Mr. Pasquale Sabino at PrimoPiano Italia, Piazza dei Martiri, Naples
TAILOR/ALTERATIONS shirts, Naples, Italy: Mr. Salvatore Piccolo, via Strettola S. Anna alle Paudi 54, Naples

DRYCLEANER: Sophia Careplus 150 E 79th St NYC ( hand pressing of shirts + general dry cleaning)
DRYCLEANER: Perry Process 427 E 74th NYC (suits)

SHOE REPAIR Naples, Italy: Paolo Scafora Custom Shoemaker TEL +39-333-239-6239
SHOE REPAIR NYC: The Empire, 991 Lexington Avenue, NYC (ask for Roman)

This information should be permanently updated on The SartoriaList by the end of this week.

Ladies don’t despair the women’s SartoriaList in full process. Just wait till you see who I post tomorrow!

No matter how hot it is outside, it is always colder in your office.

The late Mr. Ferre shows how a larger man can wear his pants at his waist WITH a vest and create a very slimming effect.

Again, the “rules” don’t work for everyone but they can usually be slightly tweaked and work more often than not.

If you are taller, check out old photos of Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart or Gregory Peck – all tall and still wearing their pants at their waist (with very successful results)

The easiest and least expensive way for ANY gentleman to look much better in his clothes is to pull those pants up.

Both of these gentleman look more refined ,even while dressed in just shirt sleeves, because they are wearing their pants at their waist and not at their hips.

I think it also visually drops about ten pounds on a guy because your shirt doesn’t blouse-out and hang over your belt as badly.

For my August GQ page I talk about the particular to Manhattan look of guys running out of the office on “early Friday’s” in rigs that are somewhere between Manhattan and the Hamptons a.k.a Manhattan Beach.

I know I’m fickle but all it takes is seeing a guy like this (looking really cool in in a loose silhouette) to reconsider my my love of the slim Italian classics.
You have to admit that this guy looks pretty cool and comfortable.

As we saw yesterday – another example of rolled cuffs and dress shoes.

I like this even more because they are dress pants.

Again, a look full of retro-ish elements that are done in a completely modern way.

Rich, deeply hued jewel tones are a staple of the Fall wardrobe but maybe the boldness of color makes them equally interesting for summer.
Part 2, tonight around 6pm

Square-hemmed shirts….uhmm

I like the idea of square-hemmed shirts.

If you are going to wear your shirt untucked they offer a more finished look than normal curved shirt hems, plus they also feel a little more sporty.

Unfortunately, I think they can make you look a bit….well…square.

Also, I usually see them on short-sleeve shirts and I’m just not a short sleeve shirt kinda guy.

However I like the way this gentleman is wearing the square-hem shirt

First of all, it is a long sleeve shirt!

Secondly, it is cut slim enough but I think a little extra length in the back (like a tennis-tails polo) could help a lot.

This also inspires me to look into those cool Cuban shirts with the squared hem and pleated fronts but the originals seem to fit me a bit funny and the fashion versions are usually a bit over-the-top.

I might have to experiment and take one of my cotton shirts ( not linen because it would curl too much at the hem) to a tailor and maybe they could alter the shirt to a square hem.

Anyone out there have particular success with square-hemmed shirts?

Variation on a theme

Unfortunately for me I have always found ribbon belts too wide for my size.
That is, until I found this belt at Brooks Brothers which is a typical ribbon (or actually woven tie silk) belt BUT it is unlined so I can scrunch it down a bit to make it much thinner.

It takes the effect of Fred Astaire and his tie-as-belt look.
I will probably remove the d-rings and tie the belt kinda like Astaire but I think it will read more sporty and not too precious.

Summer

I shot Shannon recently on Park Avenue and ran into him again the other day on Madison Avenue – of course he looked quite dapper.
Some of you will be happy to hear that he is not a fashion insider but (as his business card reads) SVP Director of Acquisitions at KBS Realty.
I love the very slight retro touches to his suit and yet it seems completely modern.
The pants are particularly well done.

Inverted pleats can be tough on most men especially if you are not use to wearing your pants on your natural waist instead of your hips (like jeans).
Shannon said he makes sure his waistband is always sitting right on his hipbone.
The absence of a belt also makes the pants seem so sleek and modern but ,again, it is actually a very retro touch.

I am working on updating my SartoriaList and I’m sure Shannon will be included and I will have to get a Style Profile done on him soon.

I always think of plaid as a more Fall like print but this may make me reconsider.
Also, another example of a young Asian man doing a great take on American Prep

I thought these were two really great variations on volume and Summer Black.

On a personal note, the bottom photo is Marina Larroude of Men.Style.com, we shared a car together to a lot of the shows in Milan and Paris. I was running around with her that day and she just seemed so natural and effortless in that dress. It is always inspiring to see elegance in motion and see a young lady able to get real work done while still looking so chic.

She is a little lost in thought in this photo but trust me she does have a killer smile.

ps – I think she said the dress was Miu Miu

This feels like a 30′s movie still to me – the little movement of the window curtain real makes the photo for me.

ps
please click on the image to view at a larger size – the tones and contrast are better

Thanks to everyone who participated in yesterdays discussion on shorts!
Wow, so many comments!

I am most proud that this blog has so many stylish and articulate men AND women.

I thought yesterdays post was a great way for men (who would never ask for themselves) to get a women’s point of view on what can make them look more attractive or enticing.

My perception is that gay men feel comfortable talking to other gay men about fashion but straight men rarely ask other men anything meaningful about fashion and probably even less often ask women ( especially potential partners) what they feel will make them look (dare I say?) sexy! (there, I said it)

I bet that for every woman that responded yesterday there were twice as many single guys reading those responses very carefully.

What did we learn?
If you got good pins guys don’t be afraid to show them!

Right at the knee but reasonably slim

I love how this young lady accentuates and controls her curvy shape with hi-waisted jeans.

Isn’t this a million times better than the too low-cut jeans that so many young women insist on wearing?

This photo is actually from an assignment I shot for August Glamour magazine about jeans for different body types.

I went out to shoot “on the street” as usual but when I told the young ladies that I was shooting for Glamour they looked at me kinda funny and the first few politely declined.

It took about three refusals before I remembered the “Glamour Do & Don’ts” – I realized they must have thought I was shooting for that.

Once I described the purpose of the shoot in a better way it all went very well.

Actually, I have a shot for tonight’s post that Glamour didn’t run but that I really love.

The big discussion about overalls the other day reminded me of this photo from Pitti.

More than just about overalls ,to me, this look is about how Japan sees our (American) historic costume – i.e. 30′s Dust Bowl – in a much more romantic way than we even see ourselves.

As I have shown on this blog, there is a big American trend going on in Japan right now.

They romanticize us (Americans) the way we do the Italians or French (except there is also a big classic Italian trend in Japan right now also).

So instead of focusing just on just the “yes” or “no” of overalls maybe this post will get you thinking of other ,seemingly, forgotten American classics that might make it back in our closets this Fall.

This is how a look ,that I might not wear myself, can inspire me to look at a movie or book or see a related but completely different item of clothing in a different way and maybe work that item into my wardrobe.

From this look, I might only see the white collar shirt in a more casual way than I usually think of it.

Speaking of books like Grapes of Wrath…

… this photo also reminds me of that great Preston Sturges movie Sullivan’s Travels (1941) with Joel McCrea and the incredible Veronica Lake

Here are some of the other images from January’s Pitti of Japanese doing American classics

A fashion show seems like the perfect place to wear your hair in a more dramatic way.

I love how she does it with such a lack of pretentiousness

On Sunday I bought a copy of DNR to see how they reviewed the mens collections (I did this on Sunday because I am a loser and consider this beach reading)

I love the implied sportiness of a suit worn with tennis shoes.

There were only a few trends at the shows that I really loved.

I thought the idea of dark pattern mixing for summer at Prada was one of the best looks of the season.

I could see a lot of designers and companies interpreting this in their own way and next summer we will be dressed better because of it.

This image really doesn’t capture Gianluca’s personality because he really seems very gentle but at that moment he looked like such a rock’n'roll bad-ass that I couldn’t pass up the shot.
This is one of those shots that the long-term abstract inspiration will be more important than the individual pieces of clothing.

Anna Della Russo in full stride

I thought it would be good karma to take a print back to the barbers that I shot last time in Milan.

They thought it was very nice but also very suspicious – they kept trying to ask if it cost money, they actually looked a little annoyed at first.

One of the customers who spoke better English finally explained to them that I was giving it to them as a gift.

I hope they enjoy it but as I write this I realize if they don’t put it in the shop then they have have to choose which one gets the print – sounds like the basis of at least one episode of every sitcom ever invented.
I’m guessing the print ends up ripped right down the middle with each one framing their half. Maybe some yellow tape is put down the middle of the shop alla Brady Bunch. Finally their wives talk some sense into them and they agree to tape the print together again and leave it in the shop.

I think I might need to take them another print next time just in case.

ps – I realize now I watch way too much tv.

I like the individual pieces especially mixed back to the pink shoes but what i really like is the hair.

How do you even ask for a cut like that?

“Hey Floyd, can I get the looks-like-I-don’t-care-or-comb-my-hair-but-still-makes-me-look-cool cut”

I didn’t get the sense that they meant to dress alike but I guess great minds….