PAJAMA DRESSING

Today I'm synergizing my passion for the statement sweatpant with the trend of pajama dressing, also: I'm wearing a dress! WTFRUSRS?

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ON BEING A FASHION BLOGGER

photo Ari Park // coat Uniqlo (seen here) // scarf vintage (seen here) // beanie H&M (seen here) // jeans Cheap Monday (seen here) // glasses Warby Parker (seen here and here) // shoes vintage (seen here)

You guys, this is a really serious post. Look at how pensive I am on that rooftop. That's how serious this is!

Jokes about blogger poses aside...I really feel the time is now for a post articulating a certain frustration with the role of the Fashion Blogger. Two articles I read recently have led me here, both from fashion journalists I've followed for some time and whose opinions I respect: one, from BuzzFeed Shift editor Amy Odell, asks where fashion will find its next Bryanboy - aka its Next Big Thing; the other, by Suzy Menkes, takes a closer look at that ultimate arena for the self-made style star, outside the venues where collections are shown during Fashion Week. Odell talks to a few blogging stalwarts regarding the future of the nascent occupation, all of whom say things developed naturally for them, with apparently a good bit of luck thrown in. Hark to this giant effing block quote from Odell that I can't bring myself to cut down to size:

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PERSONAL STYLE VS. THE INTERNET

The other day I thought to myself, "That guy's outfit is so Tumblr." A strange sentiment on the surface, but as I got to thinking about personal style and the internet it occurred to me that the symbiosis between online style stars and the omnipresent photographers that celebrate them has created a chicken and egg situation with far-reaching repercussions. Are these people popular because they're photographed so much, or are they photographed so much because they're popular? More than that, what does their popularity mean for the sizable audience digesting their de facto style creeds on a million different dashboards?

Image-based platforms for social interaction have inevitably wound up as tools for sociocultural coding, providing a visual demarcation of who gets It and who's from Florida. You can see it in Pinterest's evolution beyond its humble beginnings as an online scrapbook and content-bookmarking service; the site now serves as a portal into a world of rough-luxe Scandinavian cabins, artisanal fig tartines and fireplace-adjacent thoroughbred labradors. The same can be said of Tumblr, with its users' adherence to an aesthetic equation that drives the popularity of most images on the blogging platform. Conformity can come as no surprise - what else could be the end result of 10,000 reblogs? Is Tumblr more of a collective digestive system than anything else?

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ORIGINAL CONTENT

The Man Repeller shot by Vanessa Jackman

Lately I've been thinking a lot about original content. What is it? How do you create it? Why isn't there more of it? Debaters seem to get hung up on creation vs. curation vs. consumption. A blog can be everything and nothing; it can be sharply edited, wholly original and beautifully designed. Or it can be an unhinged pictorial f*ckfest, a.k.a. the Tumblr of any bored teen, inevitably publishing under the username "nuclearchanukah," or "crackponies" or something. Sometimes the photolog blogs are totally awesome repositories of otherwise easily missed gems (Stuff and Nonsense, Maryam Nassir Zadeh). They are wordless compendiums, purposefully detached from their creators and expressly for the purpose of curating links and images. Other times the blogs that really take off rely solely on sharing their favorite finds from around the web, slickly edited together (Honestly...WTF). A mix is oftentimes nice to find and a nice mix is what I strive for on this blog - hopefully that doesn't come as a surprise to my readers! Said mix is a big sticking point though, as "stolen inspiration" is digital piracy to some and simply sharing to others.

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[STREET STYLE] THE HAIR YOU WEAR

A "beauty" themed street style post, since this is Official Beauty Post week, after all. I've run into some people with wickedly awesome hairstyles over the last few months, styles that really reflect and maintain a personal aesthetic...maybe my premature Silver Fox thing can become some kind of signature style? Only time will tell...shots from around Manhattan and Brooklyn.

daisy duking

photos Ariel Park // shorts Ksubi // t-shirt Calvin Klein // shoes Converse // bag + bracelet (seen here) Low Vintage // sunglasses (seen here) Ray-Ban

Today's post is maybe "anti-fashion," no? This is what I wear when I'm feeling really lazy! But it's a good base to let this sweet lil' bag shine. The real deal we need to talk about here are the shorts. I call them my daisy dukes simply because they're denim cut-offs, though internet research proves they should probably be revealing more ass cheek. Whatevs. "Daisy duking" is an ensembular phenomenon particularly prevalent in my new home of Brooklyn, where both sexes are pretty into it even though sometimes their thighs seem to be against it. How to get the look? Get out your scissors and destroy two pairs of pants, then get lucky - third time's the charm! You definitely need a pair of slim leg jeans, otherwise the silhouette is weirdly loose and baggy and brings to mind JNCO cargo shorts, barf. Cut-offs can be really great for resurrecting certain items from your 'drobe...I picked up these Ksubi denims back when they were still Tsubi, but rarely wore them for one reason or another. Now I'm in them literally almost every day. Literally. They're basically scratch and sniff at this point. Butterfly kisses!

P.S. Here's Poppy Delevigne wearing round sunglasses so BAM, #trendybish

[STREET STYLE] MY FRONTIERSMEN

These are some men wearing outfits that I think bring something unique to the "style table," but I'd really like to draw attention to the first and last photos...

I came across the man in the first picture at MoMa, where he was rather majestically strolling through some of the exhibits in studded-heel platforms (yes, with a studded heel! I didn't catch him from the right angle, je suis désolé.) I love love love the contrast between his look and the outfit in the last photo - they are both in skirts, yes (or maybe khaki-man is in some sort of artistically-interpreted apron, could be) but they are so different! I think the first look is maybe what we would consider a "traditionally" female ensemble worn by a man, whereas the second is very sexless - his look just happens to involve a skirt (and white nails)(but also Tevas?) and it's not exactly something you could easily or immediately imagine on a woman.

I find both looks to be exceptionally fashionable and courageous and feel they represent the next wave in men's dressing, which brings me to the post title. It's a reference to one of Bill Cunningham's columns from last month in which he discusses the "frontiersmen" whose ensembles are at the forefront of menswear...turning the tides, bridging the gap between East and West, confronting expectations and saying 'non!' to conformity. The men who are making America a better place to dress!

What do we think of these outfits? Granted, it is still maybe a bit of a shock to see a man in a skirt, but this is not drag, it's not "cross-dressing." These are simply men...in skirts! We know how I feel about this (or if you don't, take a gander at Some Boys Like Me and/or Men Without Pants), but I always welcome feedback, particularly on this topic ^_^ ( <- face of encouragement!)

Special thank you to Julia at La Belle Oiselle for bringing this video and the Cunningham piece to my attention - I love to find bloggers on my wavelength!

summer layers: waisted

photos Kelly Kollar // t-shirt What Goes Around Comes Around (seen here) // hat thrifted (seen here) // flannel shirt vintage Polo (seen here) // shorts Assembly New York // shoes House of Holland x Superga

I am and always have been a goody two shoes. I'm the guy at the party like, "Is that a marijuana cigarette? Oh, no thank you." Not to say that I don't know how to have a good time! You can totally find me on the weekends at Le Bain...in the bathroom eating a sandwich on the toilet. (I kid!) But my first real taste of rock music came from my babysitter, who introduced me to No Doubt and Garbage when I was seventeen. (Joke! I was a tween.) I also vividly recall my mother busting in on me listening to Alanis Morrisette's You Oughta Know (in which Morrisette drops the "f-bomb") back when Jagged Little Pill first came out and I bought it on cassette tape so we could listen to it in the car which did not have a compact disc player. 

This is all to say that by no means can I claim the grungy vibe of this look and last week's to be inspired by live Nirvana recordings (b-sides), skateboard culture or whatever. It's mostly reminiscent of Larisa Oleynik circa The Secret World of Alex Mack. I like that the shirt-around-the-waist look is sort of akin to a skirt/kilt (or maybe it's a makeshift skort?) for those of us who haven't converted. And, of course, my new shoes are cuter than anyyyythingggg.

[SHORTS STORY] CRAZYSEXYCOOL

This week's outfit is super casual (super cazh? caszh?), so I brought out my Blue Steel to really sell it. Except for trademark reasons I can't actually call it Blue Steel, so it's officially, "The Cerulean Hammer." Please to pay special attention to how awesome my rings look in picture two, because I spent a lot of time trying to figure out that particular configuration. Thx.

photos Fareine Benz // denim jacket (seen here) Low Vintage // sweatshirt Zara // teesh, shorts and plimsolls Urban Outfitters

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[SHORTS STORY] EURO TRAD

The second installment of our Shorts Story series celebrates the style flavors of Europe. Yes, I just typed that sentence! Long story short, my pants are very tiny and I'm wearing driving moccasins. The shorts used to be a pair of pants, for the record, that I unceremoniously took scissors to, promptly destroyed and had to take to my (older, Korean) tailor to see if she could get the hems straight. "They are short enough," she says. I guess so, but everyone knows that Europeans invented both the Speedo and the nude beach and really, why am I even clothed right now? But srsly u guyz, I think there's something to be said for a crisp button-down, sleeves rolled, paired with tailored khaki shorts. You can see my stylespirations below. That guy on the left knows how to button a shirt - you don't. On the right, blogger Christoph Schaller is German and therefore fully committed to the Euro Trad sensibility. What do we think? How does my spin on European prep compare to last week's Americanized version?

original photos Fareine Benz // inspiration photos via Tumblr and Christoph Who // check me out on Pinterest for more! // shirt GANT for Jeffrey (previously seen here) // shorts IDK // shoes faux Tod's (seen here) // bag Steve Mono (seen here and here) // belt Uniqlo (seen here)

DIGITAL BY DESIGN

Having the chance to support local artists through this blog is always a treat, so I was excited when my friend Todd approached me about a new undertaking - excited, but wary. Why? Part of this new project, he told me, would involve transferring a photo of a mural he'd painted in his dining room onto a t-shirt. So you understand my trepidation? Well, trepidatiousness be damned! The line, branded RTH Designs, is a digitized treat. Using dye-sublimation printing (it's complicated), Todd was able to have the mural as well as a few other original designs (I'm seen here wearing my favorite) blown up and transferred onto performance polyester t-shirts. The material's sheen adds a trendy neoprene-ish element to the shirts' outsized prints and is damn comfortable to boot!

Todd is having a launch party for the line this Friday, June 1st, at his store Artifacts. Click here for more information and be sure to swing by! Tell him you saw "some fruit on the internet" wearing his design - he'll get it ;)

RTH Designs t-shirt paired with my faux leather leggings from Urban Outfitters, a cotton sportcoat from Zara and my combat boots from Low Vintage. Shot "on location" at McIntire skate park; photos by Fareine Benz.

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

SUMMER WEIGHT

Here I am working the pensive thing pretty hard, having obviously just descended from the back of my pony to struggle with further rejection from Zac Efron. I’m sorry I didn’t realize you weren’t interested in the computer rendering of what our baby would look like, Zac. Anyway…this outfit might be a little preemptive considering it’s not even May, but we all know this year’s been unexpectedly warm so hark, and listen to my wisdom.

The Uniqlo button-up is lightweight cotton that I washed and dried by crumpling it up into a little ball. It’s so fine that it holds the wrinkles and looks like linen. Or a crinkled-up-ass shirt you pulled out from the bottom of your dirty laundry. Debate! I roll up the sleeves and loosely tuck it in front for that “je ne sais quoi” effect. The scarf is a double-sided Dries Van Noten silk that I rarely wear because it’s so fancy, but the color! The detail! So good. And last, but not least: woven belts for summer. #revelation

P.S. I am aware that Madonna has nicer arms than I do.

photo Joel Codiamat

TWERKING FOR THE WEEKEND

1) I tried on these boys' size 12 pants at Gap. Don't judge me! Does it help or hurt to say a 14 would've been a better fit? Regardless, what do we think of the color? Good green/bad green?

2) I went to Sephora...summer "beautine" post coming soon!

3) I picked up some decor 'zines for Sunday morning reading time - my favorite home was a Kenyan cabin featured in WoI.
4) Chelsea is back in town and we're already making great life choices together. Crop tops are so hot right now.
5) Is there anything better than waking up and remembering you purchased all the ingredients for a wonderful brunch at the farmer's market? Scrambled eggs with cheddar and chives plus some pan-fried potatoes...yum!

Follow me on Instagram @xoxofruitpunch to get instant access to all these hot pics PLUS a complimentary nylon fanny pack embroidered with my winking face.

SEANNY-KATE OLSEN

One of my recurring problems with shopping primarily vintage and secondhand is adopting “trendier” styles that require a more modern silhouette. Menswear is generally less trend-oriented than womenswear, so there are fewer iconic (or rightfully forgotten) styles to come back into fashion over the years. The ones that could - bellbottoms? polyester leisure suits? - aren't going to push your style forward. That being said, I was really happy to find in my secondhand-holic wardrobe the elements to put my own spin on a recurring street style look I'd been loving. The pants are the only non-vintage item in this outfit; you can see them as part of a suit here. The shirt is vintage Ferrutti and it and the oversized canvas scarf are from Vintage Vixen. When wearing the scarf I'm always asked if I'm wearing a pant leg around my neck - I guess people really just aren't ready for cotton canvas scarves? The sunnies are my Gianfranco Ferre pair last seen here, and the hat is another brown cowboy hat I have. That's right, I have multiple brown cowboy hats - giddyup?

It is also worth noting that I seem to be working on a trademarkable new pose, as seen in picture 3 (first incarnation available here). But what should I call it? The Happy Fruit? Fruit Sensation? The Fruitsation? Only time will tell. All I know is that the bohemian vibe of this outfit prompted one of my friends to declare me "the third Olsen twin," hence the post title. I'm not complaining! Check out my real inspirations below:

Can't get enough of my favorite looks? Check out my Pinterest board L'homme for more (and image sources).

all original photos Joel Codiamat

SORT OF LIKE A SACK ATTACK

Here's another angle on the polyamide Comme des Garçons SHIRT shirt I wore in the other week's outfit post. As you can see it is preposterously long - so preposterously long that I could totally traveling pants it with some lady readers out there. Just belt it!

GOOD OLD FASHIONED

They say God is in the details, right? Well, the details here are my favorite thing - the red piping on the pockets, the high rise, the wide leg! These are my vintage Boy Scouts trousers, previously seen here, that (sort of) reference the silhouette at Kenzo I blogged about the other week. They look very old fashioned here, like it's 1923 and I want to sell you a newspaper, although last week I paired them simply with a crisp white shirt and felt very Euro. My favorite detail you can't see, but only find out if you ask me who I'm wearing, like it's the Oscars or you've run into Joan Rivers on the street. "Oh, these?" I'll say, "These are Randy Wards. His name is literally printed inside my pants because they used to be his when he was eleven." It's fun, no? Paired with a Steven Alan-esque shirt from Low and a skinny belt and faux-Sebagos from China.

photos Joel Codiamat

STOCKHOLM STATE OF MIND

Today's outfit is tried and true *fruitpunchery - I'm wearing vintage and an article (or two) of women's clothing. The knit beanie I picked up on a day trip to Lucerne - ordinarily it's a challenge to pull off, but for this ensemble it's the perfect finishing touch, the piece that elevates the outfit from an exercise in layering monochromatic textures to my perfect outfit for some imaginary farmer's market hopping in Sweden. The sweater is a J.Crew number I'd relegated to pajama time until I was able to shrink it in my parent's dryer and my new Comme des Garçons SHIRT polyamide shirt looks incredible layered underneath. (Stop by Vintage Vixen to see if you can find any other CDG gems [you can't, I took them all.])

My friend, local artist Thomas Dean, made the tote. The design is a riff on the D.C. flag. Dean created the various prints by scanning in and blowing up black and white illustrations from a 1970's school primer - what?! You can visit his Etsy shop to see more of his awesome work. Then, of course, we have the pants! These are vegan leather ladies' pants I found on sale at Urban Outfitters. What does "vegan leather" mean, exactly? That they're polyurethane, which I Googled, and apparently it is eco-friendly. Unless I misread the internet - there were like, so many words. I paired them with my Ash Italia sneakers, also from UO...also ladies...but actually leather. Nobody's perfect.

Inspiration for the look from my Tomgirl board on Pinterest:

As you can see, my top half is a nod to blogger Jeanne Damas' sweater + long teesh combo while my bottom half is a quite literal boy-terpretation of Alessandra Ambrosio's street style, all topped off with a sportcoat. Now, I don't wanna start sh*t with an Angel, but I might look better in my faux-leather pants. Just throwing that out there. The look also simulates the crop top trend and incorporates the long shirt silhouette seen at Carven, and I kept the shirt collar tucked in because I felt that was the Alexa Chung-y thing to do, duh.

all outfit photos courtesy photographer (and blog reader) Joel Codiamat - thanks, Joel, for being the newest *fruitpunch contributor!