UNIQLO SKIRT + ARMY JACKET

Photos Angelica Domingo // jacket vintage // skirt Uniqlo // tights American Apparel // boots Forfex

"I like the skirt. I like the look. It's interesting." So said one lady on the subway, the second that day to comment on this outfit. It's sort of a gray area, as we discussed at length in yesterday's post. It's a skirt, but...it's not really feminine. It's pretty...butch? I've loved it since I saw it on the lady mannequin in store, though I ended up buying it online because they didn't have it in my size in like, two different locations #SOML. I paired it with this totally quiche vintage army jacket that I found for under $20 at Beacon's Closet. For whatever reason, I seem to have an affinity for that vintage army look—my dad's old duffel bag, the Filson briefcase I tote everywhere.

This look is a great example of how to mix old with new, how to marry butch with theoretically femme. Plus, it's so next lev with my Forfex boots, I can't even. Inspirations for this outfit came from far and wide, by which I mean Instagram (below, left) and Pinterest (below, right). I'm just really feeling black & navy layers in unexpected lengths, what can I say? Also, kudos to The Sartorialist for igniting my passion for a quilted skirt in the first place.

I feel like this is my man-spin on a trend Who What Wear reported on, the frilly dress with a combat boot. Obviously this isn't quite the same, but the idea is there! Check out my other skirted looks here and here. Which is your favorite?

HOW TO WEAR VINTAGE

The essential 5-step guide you didn't ask for and never knew you needed.

This week's outfit post has me wondering—how does one go about making someone else's decades-old clothing one's own? It's not always as simple as pasting yourself on top a Tumblr graphic, so I've compiled these handy-dandy tips for wearing vintage. Harken to my wisdom!

01 Know your references (but stay true to your own style). This look perfectly speaks to my inspirations: Marcello Clerici, the protagonist of Bertolucci's The Conformist and Tuxedo Mask. The Conformist is, hands-down, my most favorite style movie of all time. It oozes style. Pungent, intoxicating, meticulous, sexy style that'll leave you with a fashion boner for years. If you haven't seen it, rent it now. And Tuxedo Mask, I mean...come on. Can't go wrong. (Actually, when I Googled Tuxedo Mask, a lot of "cos play" came up. I'd say that's where you might go wrong. So watch out for that.)

Clockwise from top-left: Me shopping vintage in Florence (this is the store in which I bought my Fendi muffler) // a still from The Conformist // Tuxedo Mask // another still from The Conformist

02 Less is more. Not to be confused with the rule below, this applies more to the actual shopping experience. You should always be on the lookout for simple, versatile pieces that you can wear in a multitude of ways. (Keep this in mind—we'll be talking about it more next week!)
03 Accessorize within an inch of your life (but then take one thing off). It's super fun to stock up on vintage pocket squares, ties, scarves, tie clips, glasses cases, hats, etc., but exercise caution. I was thinking of maybe wearing a pocket square with this look, but then realized that's the definition of trying too hard.
04 Don't be afraid to mix decades. These pants are from the eighties and I think the blue velvet jacket is too, but together they help create a look that's totes old-school glamour. Cary Grant aficionados, eat your heart out.
05 Don't be afraid to wear lady clothes. These pants are actually lady pants. High-waisted and pleated, as God intended, yet I wouldn't have found them if I didn't shop both sides of the aisle.

Call Me Marcello

It's been just over three years since I made the acquaintance of the infectiously stylish city that is Florence. Well, it doesn't infect everybody because that's a lot to ask of such a popular tourist destination—once you go fanny pack, you never go back—but the city is still an amazing place for style, design and culture. Like Paris, it's a city for which you don't really need an itinerary. (In fact, I'd recommend against one.) Put on your most comfortable least ugly shoes and hit the streets, turning random corners, stopping for pizza and gelato, snapping pictures all the while because everything will take your breath away.

Florence is the city in which my passion for vintage came into its own. It's also where my interest in photography really took off. The light in Florence is insane, for lack of a better phrase. It's so beautiful, wherever you look, it pulls you outside of yourself. The way it falls on buildings and plays off rooftops, throwing the city's famous architecture into relief—it's like living in an Instagram filter. Or like being in Italy IRL. IDK.

An experience like that changes how you see things, how you taste things, how you use all of your senses. You have to slow down to ingest all of the textures, the colors, the smells, the people. A father walks his daughter to school, her pink backpack slung over his shoulder; a woman bikes by with her purse stowed in the front basket; a gentleman werqs lime green pants while out for a Sunday stroll with his wife. It's not a remembered still frame from a Merchant Ivory film, it's living and it's breathing, it's quiet and yet it's full of passion. And they have really good spaghetti.

Given my severe lack of fundage I probably won't be making it back to Italy any time soon. But I was feeling inspired by the recent menswear shows to take a sartorial cue from the birthplace of Bertolucci and Fellini and strike some poses in NYC's own Washington Mews. You can take the boy out of Italy, but you can't...oh, you know.

Photography Angelica Domingo & Sean Santiago // all clothing & accessories vintage

Paris Match

"Bistro bitch" is today's look, courtesy of beaucoup vintage hotness and some unsuspecting café tables. This jacket is always a big hit, so I was only too happy to discover that I'd acquired just the right wintry separates—chunky oatmeal knit, heavy wool pants—to craft the ultimate in color-coordinated Brooklyn-chic ensembles. I look like a cross between a park ranger and a French professor, but this jacket can go very Euro with the right pair of aviators (as evidenced here.)

The hat was my grandfather's (last seen here), the sweater is from the Brooklyn Flea and the glasses are these Warby Parkers. Oh, and I'm still on that Murakami grind, in case you were wondering about the book. Click through to see the full outfit! Photos Angelica Domingo.

Oh, snap—I was shot for a street style blog in this outfit! Muchísimas gracias for that, Breaking Fad. The pants are vintage Yves Saint Laurent; I picked them up at Odd Twin during their last weekend because they were having a balls-to-the-walls sale. They were too big by a few sizes, but I took them to Hong Kong Jack and had him pretty well completely re-work them...and now they're amazeballs, obvi. I really like them with Chucks just because they're already so fancy, you know?

Ok, I think that's all I've got for now. Did you see my bedroom makeover sneak peek on IG this weekend? Or were you "living" your "life" instead? I see how it is.

Double Denim for Fall

Get your best seamen jokes ready, y'all, because today I'm dressed like a fisherman! Well, at least like I'm about to spend some quality time off the Maine coast. Either way, I'm ready to talk seriously about denim, specifically a double dosage of denim and how to wear it for fall.

Even more specifically, we're talking about vintage Levi's, because that's all I'm wearing. I love the wash on this pair, which I picked up from Low when I visited my 'rents in Charlottesville over the summer. #SmallTownBlues #FTW. The wide leg has been really divisive—some people people are ambivalent about it while others think it's downright unflattering. To be honest, from certain angles this pair can look a bit dad jean-y, to which I say: #YOLO. Below you can see some of my inspirations for this look, clockwise from top-left: Men In This Town, The Sartorialist, Liam Saw This.

 

According to this handy-dandy guide to shopping for vintage denim jackets, mine is most likely from the 60's; it came into my life via some selective rummaging at L Train Vintage. The sweater and shoes are vintage and the scarf is from J.Crew.

I have to say, as infrequently as I buy jeans, denim has a special place in my heart. It just ages so well! My oldest pair is an Acne Mic rigid from...2006? (Last seen here.) I've had them patched up so many times by now and still the seat is wearing out, but I can't bring myself to get rid of them.

MILEY CYRUS MADE ME DO IT

It's time for the fall edition of Sean In Skirts, in which we ask: Is grunge the great unisex unifier? I know people were pretty into my très polished turtleneck look from the other week, but if you couldn't tell from that mischievous twinkle in my eye, I'm livin' by a new motto: "I'm just being Miley." I don't need no sport coat or "glasses"—I can't see through the fog of sex and awesomeness that I'm walking through right now, anyway. Hell, I don't even need pants. But what does this all have to do with androgyny and 90's alt-rock? Find out—plus see the rest of this outfit—after the jump!

1 LEATHER SKIRT, 2 WAYS

The idea here was simple: take one versatile wardrobe "staple" (a YSL reproduction leather wrap skirt) and style it two ways to reference two very different designers, Yohji Yamamoto and Rick Owens. Both have played with gender boundaries and conformity in their work, and a lot of the dialogue we've seen played out on the runway (or on Style.com and in the pages L'uomo Vogue through the years) has to do with proportion and silhouette. So, long story short: I'm just a boy in a leather wrap skirt, standing in a garden, asking you to buy him a matching manpurse.

2 Ways to Wear a Jumpsuit

Because looking like an inmate is so #hotrightnow—orange is the new black, bishes!

But in all seriousness, jumpsuits are having a major moment. Obvs our first point of reference is the inspiration board I made the other week, but also of note: Carine Roitfeld styled a Home Depot painter's suit 7 different ways and it was a revelation and a half. That being said, I had to fit shooting this post in between eating and masturbating (speaking of which, look at this picture of Zac Efron!) so I only got to two ways to style my jumpsuit. I hope you can deal.

The 'suit is a vintage Navy uniform I picked up at Low Vintage when I visited Charlottesville last month. The first way I'm wearing it, above, is casual/ruffian—backwards cap, collar turned down, bandana in full effect, hems cuffed. Googling, "mechanic jumpsuit" tells me this is a pretty literal way to wear the thing. Also, if you're in the market, you can find a similar style at Fancydress.com; you're welcome. The second way, below, is formal/Brooklyn businessman.

Pop the collar, turn down the hems, shed that bandana, and top it all off with a vintage fedora. This is a great look for when you're not necessarily working on cars. All the boys will want you and all the girls will be like, "Ugh this bitch again," but in a good way. Like this post? Check out 2 Ways To Wear Overalls. Photos Brian Marrone.

AN INTERVIEW WITH JOY GRYSON

Designer Joy Gryson launched her eponymous accessories line in 2006 after an impressive corporate career that began at Liz Claiborne. There, as assistant to the Vice President of design and development, she cut her teeth in a category that would become crucial to the solvency of many a fashion house; she was then on to Coach, Calvin Klein and Marc Jacobs, all the while honing her eye for smart and desirable design. I sat down with Gryson to talk about her experiences in the industry and her three accessories lines, Gryson, Olivia Harris, and IIIBeCa.

To do justice to Gryson's words, I enlisted the gorgeous Lauren from The Marcy Stop to model designs from IIIBeCa and Olivia Harris. I styled them with vintage from Amy Yee's bitchin' online boutique, Maeven, as Gryson made clear in our conversation the importance of timeless appeal. Enjoy!

A New York City native (she grew up on the border of Queens and Long Island), Gryson went to F.I.T. for merchandising and marketing, but knew her passion lay in the creative process. "I didn't want to sit there and do numbers," she says.

She launched IIIBeCa, the youngest of her three accessories lines, in the fall of last year as a means to give back to her local community. Sales from IIIBeCa support three charities she and her husband and business partner, Peter, care deeply about: Family Focus Adoption Services, a non-profit Gryson's mother co-founded; Memorial Sloan-Kettering hospital; and the 9/11 memorial.

The look of the line was inspired by Gryson's first designer handbag, by Il Bisonte. "It was that yummy, grainy leather that you know is going to wear so well over decades. You still see all of these vintage ones today—they really are completely timeless." Despite its accessible price point, the IIIBeCa line is no stranger to the level of detail typically associated with a more expensive product. Made of vegetable-tanned Vachetta leather, the bag's interiors are left raw—taking minimalism to the max. A drawstring lining is included for customers who prefer something a little less rough. “I’m very detail oriented, that’s the Virgo-ness in me,” Gryson says with a laugh. “I’ve designed for people who are at a couture level and I’ve also designed for people who sell bags at Target, so I understand that you can make a great bag no matter what the price point is.”

ABUELITO IS THE LOOK

Because Cuban grandfathers are so hot right now, I guess? Maybe I shouldn't be in charge of improving my own sex life...

I've been on a shirt-buying rampage of late and this short-sleeve marble jacquard number from Sidian, Ersatz, & Vanes is one of my most favoritest acquisitions—picked up on sale at Owen for a quarter of the original price, #winning. I love the print, obvs, but also that pajama-y collar—it looks perfect left open so I can flaunt my charpet (chest carpet, duh), so graciously exposed as it is by one of OAK's versatile tees. The high-waisted pants were last seen here, the hat and pinky ring you saw here, and the bracelet is Giles & Brother. The frames are Warby Parker's Begley—do we like the round shape? It's been divisive...but I think I'm on board with it. Photos McArthur Joseph.

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OUTSIDE MALIN LANDAEUS

Long story short: she's gorgeous and I'm dying.

But I mean, really—we all know onesies are #hotrightnow, but a onesie sweatshirt dress with an unfinished hem? So next level. And I'm pretty sure she's wearing these shoes, which are from Zara, but they look so wonderfully Acne-ish with her ensemble. I love the bruises on her knee and the glimpse of a tattoo we get peeking out from under her left sleeve, not to mention the no-fuss hair and minimal makeup (maybe none at all?)

And if you didn't know, Malin Landaeus is one of the best vintage boutiques in Brooklyn. The shoe selection is impeccable, there's deadstock vintage eyewear from Sweden, and she has some great jewelry by Erica Weiner. And if you stop by on a Sunday afternoon, Landaeus serves tea and (homemade) cake! You can also follow the store on Tumblr and Twitter, and find out more about Landaeus herself in her StyleLikeU profile.

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HAWAIIAN SHIRT + STRAW HAT

I spend an ungodly amount of time popping into random little vintage boutiques around the city—if there's a baby cactus in the window and a stack of mom jeans within view, I'm game. One particularly fortuitous recent pit stop was Williamsburg's Antoinette, where I came across this insanely gorgeous Hawaiian shirt and was all about that life. Originally large enough for two of me, I had my tailor take it from blimpy to skimpy—well, from blimpy to perfectly oversized—et voilà! An urban beach bunny is born.

I paired it with black skinnies, because sometimes there's nothing wrong with the easy way out, and a straw boater-cum-fedora from Nishiyama's stall at the Brooklyn Flea. The Converse are also vintage, from Guvnor's here in Park Slope. Oh, and if you want a closer look at the pinky ring I'm wearing in that first shot (also vintage, #theme), click here. Photos McArthur Joseph.

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Kimono Dressing (Is a Thing)

Because nothing says "outdoor music festival" like a gay guy in a kimono. Or maybe that's Sienna Miller in wellies...? Either way, this is what I wore yesterday at the Northside Festival, where I saw Solange! And she was gorgeous and I died. Photos McArthur Joseph.

Confession: I did not actually wear this kimono around the whole time. It's from the 1930's! And everyone knows you don't wear your best kimono to an outdoor concert—rookie mistake. I did have the flower crown on, though, and it was a big hit. I bought it at the Brooklyn Flea for $25, though you might be savvy enough to make your own. If you can't, this is the vendor's website, or you could maybe hit them up on Instagram?

Speaking of Instagram, some of you may recognize these pieces from my feed. As you can see, the kimono can be belted, too:

This outfit is also perfect for weddings, in case you were wondering. I almost wore the combo to my cousin's wedding, but rain kind of shut that down. Real talk—I think a kimono is the absolute best for lounging around your house and pointing at things dramatically. You can see how I wore my other kimono (yes, my second kimono) in last week's post.

ANNIE GATSBY HALL

photos McArthur // shirt Uniqlo (seen here) // pants vintage (seen here) // sweater Calvin Klein // penny loafers vintage (seen here) // fedora vintage from 10 ft. Single (seen here) // folio vintage Louis Vuitton // bracelet Stephen Einhorn // belt Uniqlo (alternate colorway seen here)

Here's what I wore to the Manhattan Vintage Show this past weekend, an ensemble inspired by Annie Hall and what I imagine Jay Gatsby might have worn après-tennis. (Brooks Brothers is actually releasing a Gatsby-inspired collection, in case you have some unfulfilled blue blooded wardrobe fantasies.) And yes, in case you were wondering, I actually told people who commented on my look that I was channeling 'Annie Gatsby Hall' - I'm that much of a nerd.

The vintage show is such an incredible event and I was really happy to be there for pleasure instead of work this time around. I got the chance to catch up with some of my favorite vendors (one of whom has an amazing online shop you need to visit) and traipsed about with some blogger buddies. I picked up this adorable-as-balls vintage Vuitton folio and everyone bought kimonos and then we tweeted about it...mark your calendars for the next show! But IDK when it is, so Google it.

Click through to read about my inspirations for this look!

NOT AT COACHELLA

Who needs Coachella when you've got the Brooklyn Flea? Yesterday I grabbed my camera and headed over to Fort Greene where a large cappuccino and a DOUGH café au lait donut awaited me at Bittersweet. I was all set for a morning of perusing and style stalking. (I wore this jacket with these jeans and this t-shirt, in case you were wondering.) (What the hell do you mean it hadn't crossed your mind?!)

The flea makes me wish I had approximately a billion dollars to donate to like, ocean preservation, so that I wouldn't feel guilty about blowing a couple grand on ten tons of vintage and some really cute chairs. Some of my favorites are Nishi's shop, Interwoven and this guy Koichi, who doesn't have an online presence. (Except I Instagrammed his #supercute displays here and here.) If you're in the city and haven't made it to the flea yet, you should haul ass next weekend and make a morning of it. The farmer's market is right down the street, so you really don't have an excuse!

FRENCH BLUE + VINTAGE DUFFEL

This is what I wore the other day while running around with my giant duffel full of samples (working on some projects...more on that soon!) The jeans you're by now overly familiar with (here and here and here), but I just love 'em with this long vintage workman's jacket, plus they're perfect for warmer weather. I'm pretty sure this color blue is like, #sohotrightnow and it goes nicely with my yellow Converse (last seen here). Not a bad look for Spring, amiright?