The Sartorialist

Dear Mr. Schuman,

Quand Paris vous fait la reverence…

You might know this already but after the New York Times,
Le Monde (in this week-end edition) has just reported how fashion-sensitive French have become crazy about your blog and pictures!
I enclose the link and article below for your convenience.

This is my first visit on your bog and I agree with your numerous daily readers from all around the globle!

Please, come to London also! Women’s stockings and umbrellas-matching French cufflings enlighten the often-grey skies.
Plus, the Old Island has never been so hot and sunny in April!

Bien respectueusement,

a French girl d’Outre-Manche

http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-651865,36-895714@51-891889,0.html

Des carnets personnels qui veulent démocratiser la haute couture
Un nouveau moyen de décrypter tendances et défilés
LE MONDE | 13.04.07 | 15h43 • Mis à jour le 13.04.07 | 15h49
Suivez l’information en continu, accédez à 70 fils de dépêches thématiques.
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lus besoin de s’appeler Suzy Menkes – légende vivante du journalisme de mode de l’International Herald Tribune – pour donner son avis sur les derniers défilés ou les tendances de la saison. Lieu d’échanges et source infinie d’informations, Internet permet à celles et à ceux qui n’appartiennent pas forcément au milieu de la mode de parler chiffons et de décortiquer les looks.

Et de fait, l’interactivité du blog se prête au style. “La mode a quelque chose d’instantané, d’exclusif, que seul le Net peut traduire immédiatement. Les hebdomadaires et mensuels n’ont pas les moyens de publier la dernière information aussi vite”, explique Florence Müller, historienne enseignant à l’Institut français de la mode (IFM).

Depuis un an, les blogs dédiés au style fleurissent sur la Toile, et il est impossible de les dénombrer précisément. “Le phénomène est comparable à celui de la bulle Internet il y a une dizaine d’années. De nombreuses personnes se lancent dans la création de blogs et trouvent un public avide de renseignements. Il faut laisser le temps à la frénésie de retomber et que le tri entre les bons et les mauvais sites s’opère naturellement”, prévient Florence Müller. Ainsi, seuls les meilleurs blogs seraient destinés à évoluer sur les traces des sites américains, précurseurs du mouvement.

En France, les blogueurs agissent dans un but principal : désacraliser la mode. Géraldine Dormoy a créé, en juillet 2005, un des premiers sites qui fait aujourd’hui partie des plus pointus (cafe-mode.hautetfort.com).

“J’étais passionnée de mode et je n’avais personne autour de moi avec qui en parler. Le blog m’est apparu comme une évidence”, explique cette Parisienne de 30 ans. Parmi les blogs du style français les plus consultés, celui de Garance Doré (www.garancedore.fr) arrive en tête et revendique près de 2 000 lecteurs par jour. Cette illustratrice parisienne agrémente ses billets de dessins de mode qui se démarquent des photos des autres sites.

Mais en France, on est encore très loin du ton journalistique professionnel des fashion blogs américains.

Diane Pernet, une célèbre styliste new-yorkaise, jette son regard acéré sur les dernières tendances (ashadedviewonfashion.com), tandis que Cathy Horyn, rédactrice mode du New York Times, pose un oeil avertie sur les coulisses des défilés et du monde de la mode (runway.blogs.nytimes.com).

Et s’il est un blog que tous plébiscitent de New York à Paris, c’est bien The Sartorialist (thesartorialist.blogspot.com). “Il est aussi frais que bien informé”, déclare Cathy Horyn. Au gré des défilés, son créateur, Scott Schuman, photographie dans les rues de Paris, Milan et New York les looks qu’il trouve chics. Peu de texte et beaucoup de photos, le tout traité avec humour.

L’ampleur du phénomène est telle aujourd’hui que les maisons de mode n’hésitent pas à “draguer” les blogueuses en leur envoyant des produits ou en les invitant aux défilés. Elles gardent pourtant de la distance. “Bien que les services de presse me sollicitent, je reste maître des informations que je diffuse et partage”, assure Garance Doré.

Alors qu’aux Etats-Unis, le marketing fait partie intégrante des blogs de mode, en France, ils ne sont pas encore devenus le reflet des magazines spécialisés et restent, pour l’instant, des journaux intimes du style.

Clever guy! Playing the elegant against the casual: the small, neat tie and unironed shirt; the trim (actually, a bit too small for him) jacket against the pants with their wonderful color splotches and fraying. Good show!

I like the detail of the paint splotches but – at first glance – they are somewhat awkwardly placed…

I did a double-take, and not necessarily because I was looking at his tie.

I just died and ressurected. I LOVE this!

Usually a bowtie renders one ancient-looking, or at the very least, bookish. Not here.

Usually I loathe the khaki-pant-blue-blazer with look. (It might have something to do with the fact that it was the uniform of the security guards at the museum where I used to work.) This guys makes it look great. It might just be the old cliche that an attractive person can look good in anything.

I think the reason it works is you have that unexpected contrast of a beefy guy in aviator sunglasses wearing what you might call a bookish ivy league blazer and bowtie combination.

It’s a refreshing juxtaposition of unexpected elements, and hints at a confident sense of style.

Bravo.

Anyone have a take on the fit of this blazer? I know that the new Polo Ralph Lauren men’s ad campaign features such a style. You can really see the influence of Thom Browne especially in the lapels (they seem to get narrower each season!). I still respect this man’s sense of style, though.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that it makes no sense to me to sell clothes that are a size or two too small. Let me ask any private-schooled guy out there: Remember when you outgrew your nice blazer (navy or otherwise), but your parents wanted it to last the rest of the year? Did you take pride in your blazer when you had to avoid reaching out or bending your arms in it? That what I thought.

If you aspire to be, or are, a true sartorialist, you should be relaxed in your clothes, instead of worrying about their fit every second. Clothes should move around you, not the other way around (and I mean that in a literal and figurative sense).

Love the look! This is a perfect balance of a little hip and hop. The bowtie and suit are preppy and the unshaven look and sunglasses are hip.

sorry, but a bit contrived…

Awesome!

Wait, those are paint splotches on his *pants*? I thought that was his hand (with inexplicable paint splotches) under his jacket and tucked into his pants pocket? In any case, I love the bow tie and how it juxtaposes against his sorta mean expression.

Do those mini bowties simply come shorter, or do you somehow tie them differently?

it´s great and chic i adore him

does it work? only if he really didn’t care if it did or not. depends on this guys intention. personally, i think all the open space around the tie, with that tiny collar is odd against the shape of the jacket and the loose fitting chinos. without the tie…you just have another guy in a blazer and distressed pants. he probably gave this less thought than we have. if so…it works.

good shot.
w

This looks like half the guys I went to college with. We had a dress code, which meant shirts and ties for men. However, the student body was kind of crunchy so it wasn’t unusual to see a guy with beat-up khakis and a bow tie.

I’ve visited since graduation, and male students still dress that way. Take this guy and plunk him down in the middle of Sewanee, TN and he’d look right at home.

Polo ralph lauren
always looks timeless…

have always loved bowtie…. bowtie and aviators?? i like it… :)

love it although not sure i could pull it myself, yeh when are u coming to london, we’re offended my your absence!

Do not care for this look at all. I don’t know if it’s the shades, or the facial hair that’s throwing me off. And as for the chinos, bad idea. The paint splatters or whatnot just look sloppy to me.

He looks like the seniors at my prep school, paint splotches and all, except it’s dried clay from ceramics. The paint does indeed look a bit contrived and poorly pulled off – that said, the unkempt, nonchalant look only works until a certain age. I like the bow tie though.

I’m fine with the look from the waist up. I’m actually a great fan of Polo overall. The pre-weathtered, pre-splattered khakis, however, are another embarrassing effort from RL to sell bohemia/Old Money/whatever to the suburban shopping mall set. Sort of his version of “Jackson Pollack wore khakis,” like The Gap did several years ago. More costume than clothes.

i’m pretty in love right now.

pants.

bowtie.

boy.

mmm.

i love everything about this

Wonderful. Edgy, American Trad. One can only hope his style catches on as fashion.

American Trad

I’m betting he works for Polo Ralph Lauren since you photographed him outside the company headquarters at 650 Madison.

What is cool to wear at Polo inside the company may be wrong on the streets outside the company.

I will say this: I love the notion that a young man in the US would go for this combo and not make it look like he’s a preppy asshole; there are a few too many people in the US who wear this combo and manage to bring the word “arshole” to mind. However, I don’t like how the jacket fits – it’s way too small in the torso length, yet too broad in the shoulders. I can’t tell if he got it all at a thrift store, which is great, and was going for a preppy look on a budget, which is also great, or if he bought this all off the rack from RL like some of you are suggesting. Which is just bad. If he’s going for ironic wrinkled-messy-faux-prep-art-boy on a legit level, LOVE IT. If he bought it all, NO.