[SHORTS STORY] AMERICAN PREP

This month I'm embarking on a special journey...a journey to that item of clothing at the heart of summer dressing: shorts. Shorts are tricky because, to be blunt, it's easy to look like crap wearing them. Weird pocket placement, strange and unnecessary seams around the ass/crotch, a plethora of lengths that can be really unflattering...shorts are tricky. Enter the first in my Shorts Story series: American Prep. This is different from Euro-inflected versions of preppiness because boat shoes. Also, see my horse bracelet, vintage kelly green Lacoste polo and whalebone necklace. I'm big into shorts-cuffing and highly recommend it for enhanced cuteness. To switch things up this week, you can see a modified version of the outfit below, topped off with a lightweight vintage sportcoat instead of a cardi.

This was fittingly shot at the gardens at the University of Virginia, speaking of which...I did some gardening yesterday! (BAM life update segue) While wearing something decidedly less preppy I volunteered at Annie Novak's Eagle Street Rooftop Farm here in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. I worked with a few other volunteers to plant rows of peppers - with my hands, y'all! I actually learned about planting stuff in the ground, which was awesome - and what's more awesome is that Annie described our work as "perfect"! So if anyone asks what I''m doing up here you can tell them I'm a gentleman farmer; I've got the Instagrams to prove it!

photos Joel Codiamat // hat Urban Outfitters // polo, sportcoat and bracelet Low Vintage // cardigan American Apparel // shorts H&M // belt Uniqlo // shoes Band of Outsiders for Sperry

SO LONG, COUNTRY ROAD

Posts have been a little text-lite lately, due in part to how lazy I am and partly to how hard that makes it for me to type very much. Sorry about that! I know my readers appreciate a well thought-out post with insights, humor and references to gay things and so I’ve packed all of those things into this post PLUS a complementary year-long subscription to More (the magazine for women over forty!)

I have some big blog news to share with y’all that I've been withholding 'til I had this most perfectly introspective pose worked out. Drumroll please: I'm moving to New York! I’m not sure what to expect, but I expect it will be just like Sex and the City meets Friends. I don’t have a new job to tell you all about, or even a new apartment from which to Instagram my breakfasts, but I have some kind friends who have agreed to open their doors to me while I try and land on my feet. What more could a young man ask for? Except for an older gentleman suitor who wants to keep me so blinged out I feel like Trina. Joke! Joke?

It’s my goal to continue growing this blog and I hope that New York offers me more collaborators, more compelling content and, of course, more readers! Hopefully you’re as excited as I am to see how just how ridiculous my outfits get, what color poo I’ll scribble on pictures of my first and last lunch at Balthazar and how I “un-decorate” the walls of the abandoned car out of which I’ll be living using only all of the skills I’ve learned in the last year and old gum. And just in case you thought I was too busy “preparing” for this move that’s only two weeks away to keep my head in the proverbial game of style blogging: here I'm wearing my new vintage Kenneth Cole boots that are litrahlly so cute I could feed myself to a bear.

photos Joel Codiamat

DEAR INTERNET No. 20

Oh, look! Asian guys! Where'd they come from? The internet. Long story short, I discovered two amaaaaazing new street style blogs that chronicle the sartorial splendor of my potential future husbands (here's looking at you, dude in picture 1), photographer James Bent's La Mode Outré (bottom photo) and Hoya Snap (top three).

Ah, Spring...the warmer weather makes me want a new bag, preferably akin to this sexy Dries Van Noten number.

I've been pinning lots of pretty gardens lately! Look at them here and dream about garden parties with me.

Also on Pinterest - I recently caved in and started a food board. It's mostly for the photography because cooking is hard, but these recipes from Hungry Ghost and Tartelette look so good they're bound to taste all kinds of wonderful.

Pictureplane is all I've been listening to lately. The video above is pretty much why the term "mindf*ck" was invented (latex bodysuit!), but the music is just awesome. Check him out on Soundcloud here.

All of the images in this post link back to their original site! Click through to see them in context...