Toogood 2 Betrue

I've been meaning to share all of this for about...oh, forever. Suffice it to say I got behind.

Faye Toogood: she's amazing. Former editor at The World of Interiors. Set designer. Fashion designer. Fucking awesome woman, except fuck gender she's just amazing. You can read more about her here, here, and here, and then read about her "agender" campaign with Selfridges and then follow her on Instagram.

Statement Cuffing Is A Thing

And I love it, duh.

The men's fashion issue of T is out now, or soon? I'm not sure which. I'll be on the lookout. I always love Jason Rider's work, but this season I fell hardest for this denim story styled by Carlos Nazario.

Photos © Oliver Hadlee Pearch / T magazine

Also can't wait to read this incredible looking profile of Pablo Bronstein. Swoon!

And Again With the Uni-sexy

Let me tell you a story. A few years ago when I was working retail I helped this one guy, European, obviously, otherwise I would have ignored him, and he was wearing this really great sweater. It turned out to be Céline, obviously.

Now, you might imagine him to be trim or kind of small, like me, but he was this burly bear guy. And the sweater, it fit him wonderfully! It had, and now I'm trying to remember it and I'm embellishing it, but I know it had split side seams, and that was kind of amazing, that this big guy was casually wearing this silhouette that was supposed to be manufactured for femininity. It looked wonderful on him. And ever since I've been like, damn, if I just had that one sweater.

And then I found it.

Well, not that exact one, but a split side seam turtleneck from Apiece Apart. It's gorgeous and perfect. Merino wool, navy, a slight taper to accentuate my shapely silhouette. Well, it's made in China, which is always kind of a red flag for me, but I guess if it weren't it'd cost as much as this Proenza one? I mean, Jesus people, how much should a sweater cost? Thank god it's sale season.

These are some other uni-sexy looks from the brand. Hot damn tho. That white shirt! That chunky knit! Those loafers! I can't even. You can find out more about the brand here and here, and be sure to check out their awesome Tumblr while you're at it.

Top photo via J.Crew / Bottom photos via Apieceapart.com.

Inspired by Trademark

This past weekend I made it into the new Trademark boutique in SoHo and just loved it. The space itself is incredible, designed as it is by Swedish firm Bozarthfornell (they do all of the Acne stores and, according to their site, are working on stores for Kenzo and Gaia Repossi) and featuring "deep-blue polished concrete floors embedded with brass accents", bird's eye maple paneling and a svelte white sheet-metal staircase. (Click through to read the Arch Digest write-up; the iPhone pictures I took don't do it justice, sorry.) My favorite thing might've been the stairs, which seemed to be stained blue—so pretty! I also loved this sweatshirt-esque sweater, and tried on one of the label's skirts just for shits, giggles, and to tear gently at the fragile fabric of society. This is all to say that I have lady dressing on my mind and a whole lot of pictures to share with you, dear reader, to convince you that we should all be wearing loafers, wide-legged pants and oversize chunky knits.

Photo (above) © Chama Photography / Tales of Endearment

Exhibit A (first photo in the post) comes from an awesome editorial Natalie Joos shot for her blog, Tales of Endearment. If you haven't seen it before, be sure to click through. Joos was asked to style a bunch of thrifted items and—ah!—the results are just so amazing and inspiring, and this look is my particular favorite. Exhibit B (two pics above) is from 1205, a unisexy brand I wrote up a little while ago, though I accidentally deleted that post when I switched back to Blogger last month. Sorry. Anyway, if you haven't checked out designer Paula Gerbase's line yet, now is the time to do so.

We now turn our attention to Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen's The Row, whose Resort 2015 collection (on Jamie Bochert, below) delivered 70's minimalism via "Sea Island cotton, natural linen, double-face wool, and a supple suede." Diane Keaton would be proud, which is all that matters. Also, that Pre-Fall 2014 skirtfit (skirt oufit, obviously) on the model above is so amazing. "Granny chic" is totally the new normcore. I'm even seeing a ton of older women, women maybe in their 60s, whose outfits are kind of brilliantly unisex—or kind of sexless, or maybe sex-adjacent? It's such an obvious demographic to turn to for inspiration if you want to look like a cross between Katharine Hepburn and a preppy nurse.

Studio Nicholson I don't know much about, aside from the fact that I love their AW14 collection. Designer Nick Wakeman (a lady, for the record) looks pretty awesome; the brand retails at Net-A-Porter. And for the record, are Birkenstocks the new Birkenstocks? You heard it here first, ladies and gents.

And this all brings us back to Trademark. The coat! The sweater! The beanie! So, so good. How do we feel, non-binary constituents of the universe? Are you as amped up for fall dressing as I am?

Sweater Dressing with Miranda July

Ok, this isn't much of a post, I'm just feeling hot for sweater dressing right now and found this little video of Miranda July dancing around to be a good thing for Friday. It's part of Objects Without Meaning's new campaign. You can read a bit more about the brand on Steven Alan's blog. Have a great weekend—look out for more posts next week! Honest!

Photo © Stella Berkofsky / Objects Without Meaning

Would You Wear Agyness Deyn's Clothing Line?

Because she has one, and it's sort of unisex. Dubbed Title A, Deyn told The Cut that the line is inspired by, "Katharine Hepburn and Patti Smith [ed. note: you can see this one in the AW14 campaign images, above] and how guys used to dress in the '90s; the list is endless. Annie Hall. Even in the 1900s, how women used to wear big overcoats over their dresses and things. It kind of comes from everywhere, really."

It's not a bad list, and I'd be lying if I said Annie Hall hasn't been a style touchstone for me many a morning. Deyn also references Dries Van Noten in her interview, and his influence is obviously felt in outfits such as the one below—a standout Chesterfield wool coat ($450) layered over a smoking jacket ($375) and slouchy tee ($79).

The suiting elements in the collection definitely smack of Margaret Howell, which is never a bad thing.

But I wonder if Deyn could've pushed her conceit a bit more? It feels a little too of the moment, and lacks a certain je nais se quoi. "I’ve always worn boys' clothes growing up and menswear all the time, but I feel like this is slightly different," she told The Cut. "It has sexy dressing...it’s kind of that cross between how Mick Jagger and Kurt Cobain wore women’s clothes that kind of fit. At the moment, there’s kind of a non-gender. Some guys actually dress more feminine than women in their tight jeans and T-shirts and things like that...so, I feel like it’s not just like, 'Oh, we’re making a menswear collection in the burn-your-bra-feminism way'. It’s more of embracing femininity with whatever you wear, like the silk dresses."

It still reads a bit like a COS/Zara mash-up on screen, but maybe once I got my hands on a few pieces I'd be a convert. But shout out to the 'non-gendered' karma!

Campaign photography via Title A; lookbook photography (below) © Dana Boulos.

P.S. Do you remember Deyn's Williamsburg apartment in WOI? I ask because it was pretty spectacular and when else am I going to have good reason to reference it? Here's a small taste:

I didn't realize, but she sold it a few years ago for $2.5 million. It was designed by Ricky Clifton, whose work is divisively good (the photo above is from the listing, not the magazine). You can read up on the apartment and Clifton here.

BLUE IS THE WARMEST...OH YOU KNOW

I'm on a warm-weather-just-get-here-now kick, so sue me. Pajama dressing and oversize knits for summer for all! Andrew Westermann for T Magazine, styled by Jason Rider & shot by Matthew Kristall.

Assembly New York #FW14

"Dressing in the dark...for the dark" was the mantra for last night's dimly lit Assembly New York presentation, held in Gramercy Park's National Arts Club. The collection drew on cabals to serve up some major coven vibes and featured "articulated school uniform tailoring resultant of midnight trysts". There were white creepers by Underground, lots of gorgeous coats, wide brim hats and even leather bandanas, all in a range of moody hues. I'm reading The Goldfinch right now and the whole thing felt oddly in tune with that mysterious, Dickensian spirit. Click here for more from Assembly.

Let's Obsess Over G-Dragon

You guys, how did it take me so long to realize G-Dragon is on Instagram?

I found his account last week and went through literally every photo. Some may complain that he's too trendy, often seen in a to-be-expected mix of Givenchy, Kenzo, maybe Astrid Andersen—but I really love his style. I love that he'll take so many risks with his image, that it's a constantly evolving thing and he's comfortable with experimenting. Experimenting like a lot. I honestly think he's quite the queer icon, even though he isn't queer and I've never heard him speak once about his personal beliefs in English so for all I know he could be a terrible human being...but his outfits! So cute! ^_^

From left to right, top to bottom:
01 "Shooting for vitamin water," says this Insta's caption. Oh? America gets Jennifer Aniston on a beach and Korea gets G-Dragon in Commes des Garçons? LIFE IS NOT FAIR.

02 Those shoes! They sorta look like this pair of shoes I once tried on ZOMG G-Dragon and I have all the thing in commons!
03 Hanging out with Grimes, who's doing what I would be doing in that situation.
04 On the streets of Paris with Taeyang serving major lewks.
05 I don't know what's going on here. I think Rick Owens? Really into the coat and also the fact that if you squint it sorta looks like it could be Mary-Kate Olsen. In a good way. (Is there a bad way?)
06 Pharrell also has a jumbo-sized Birkin, and I love Pharrell, so...

Check out some of his videos and decide for yourself—sensationalism? Or iconic style?

THE OTHER F WORD

By which I mean "femme" – though some might say "faggy". Let's dish about the recent men's shows, sex, and the science of self-expression.

A few weeks ago I asked my mom to help me choose which black lipstick selfie would be the cutest choice for Instagram. She laughed and said, "My sister and I used to do that." It was like I was five years old again, sneaking into my parent's bathroom to marvel at the sea of compacts laid out on the counter and the powder-caked puffy heads of makeup brushes—except this time, I wasn't afraid of getting caught.

When people ask me what my blog is about, what the focus is, I always feel left in the lurch. It seems wrong to say I’m a menswear blog, not just because I post about other stuff, too, but...“menswear”? Really? I'm coming around to calling it a "queer men's style site." When I was a kid I had no other associations for that word—queer—outside of its rhyming with “smear”, but nowadays there's something like comfort in the term. I like that it says other. I like that it suggests something amorphous, something unexpected, something that deviates. I like the idea that you can use it as a verb and a noun. I like that it's open and inclusive and ambiguous. “To identify as ‘queer’ is to be at ease with your own masculinity and femininity,” said writer Rohin Guha in his viral essay, On Gay Male Privilege. “You’re not constantly having to fear for your own gender expression.”

There was a time when the idea of sharing that side of myself that likes to play with makeup would have terrified me and made me feel unbelievably vulnerable. Now I'm broadcasting it to not just my mom, but to two thousand strangers on three or four different social networks. It's a bit self-indulgent, admittedly, but I'm just glad that the stigma associated with being open about what makes me different—or, really, the same as any eight-year-old girl—has dissipated.

DEAR INTERNET No. 33

Since I was so quiet all week, here's a big fat Dear Internet to let you know what's on my mind...click on pretty much any image for the source!

Prospekt Supply reached out to me about their initial offering, a pullover windbreaker, and I was like "Ok, they're based in New York and Vancouver, that's nice and liberal, but a parka?" Then I saw this shot on Vanessa Jackman's blog and was like, "Whoa! Parkas are hot right now!" Wouldn't you know, the woman in Jackman's picture is the wife of one of Prospekt's founders and she's wearing this parka. And now I want one. #weirdscience

I wrote in the last DI about wanting to take a trip to Asia this summer...it didn't happen, but I did find designer Brian Paquette's Tokyo travel diary from last spring and I really love it.

Some people have dogs, I have plants. They are my babies. I'm also obsessed with adorable ceramic pots and jars and have a mini-collection going. Stay tuned to my Instagram if you want updates about my own room makeover progress...needless to say, it's slow going. But I have plants! And they're cute!

Margaret Howell's Koto Bolofo-lensed AW13 campaign is soooo good.

I love this picture by photographer Cris Romagosa; it seems very fitting for the end of summer, no?

The Artful Desperado is putting out some of my favorite food styling/photography right now...it's so gorgeous and clever! Wit & Vinegar is damn good at it, too.

We covered Erica Tanov's bedding collection for work and the beautifully moody lookbook shot by Erica Shires is still on my mind.

I love this structural Isabel Marant flannel tee at Steven Alan...a boy version, coming soon, Ms. Marant? I imagine my arms might not fit in this one...because obviously I am sO bUfF.

And I'm still figuring out my desk/chair sitch and what the hell is going to go up on the wall behind my desk.

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