Manolo for the Men

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that the U.S. State Department is teaming up with private business to improve the boorish behavior of American tourists abroad. Izzy—who thinks it obvious that if you are a guest in a foreign country, you should act a diplomat-in-training—was especially delighted to see that an etiquette guide will be distributed that, among other things, warns against dressing too casually.

Not only does the American mania for casual dress come across as rude in countries where people still care about propriety, but dressing better can actually prevent loutishness. It is all to easy to be obnoxious, to litter, or to brush off someone needing assistance while clad in a loud shirt, jean shorts, and flip-flops. But try doing that in a jacket and tie. Just as smiling can make you happy, dressing like a gentleman can turn you into one. Could this be why women love a man in uniform?

It pains Izzy, a compassionate man, to see men suffering in the blazing sun in regular-weight chinos or, even worse, dungarees–unaware that our civilization has invented trousers for even the most sweltering conditions. Thus it is to his great delight to report that J. Crew this season is offering summer-weight khakis, which can otherwise be hard to find. Izzy himself has rubbed the cotton twill between his experienced fingers, and can vouch for its surprisingly airy weight.

A Japanese movie theater announced it will screen the latest Colin Farrell flick, The New World, in Smellovision.

Back when Variety reported on the movie’s potentially strong B.O. performance, surely they didn’t mean this.

While celebrating Passover last night, somewhere between his fifth and sixth glasses of Manischewitz, it occurred to Izzy: With so many Jews in the schmatta business, why has so little attention been paid to the yarmulke? Why is this accessory different from all other accessories? Is faux silk or cheap suede really the best we can do?

It turns out that Jonathan Adler, better known for his ceramics and interior-design work, has taken a needlepoint stab at the problem. The results so far are just ho-hum, but, hey, at least it’s a start.

It’s fashion week in Mexico City. Zombies in crop-tops are all the rage.

As a sideline to his gig as a professional quidnunc, Jared Paul Stern also happens to be the creator of the “punk-preppy” clothing line Skull & Bones. If only taste could be criminalized…

A gossip columnist wearing spectator shoes? Oh, the irony.

When Izzy was a cub newspaperman, his ink-in-the-veins, suspender-clad editor encouraged him to dress for the job by wearing a fedora. Care, however, had to be taken when selecting the size of the brim: “Not so large that people think you’re coming to kill, as opposed to interview, them.”

Perhaps Jared Paul Stern, the New York Post gossip columnist alleged to have blackmailed a billionaire, chose his hat all too well.

Izzy finds something strangely evocative about the courtroom appearance of Richard Leigh, the novelist who just lost his plagiarism lawsuit against The Da Vinci Code’s Dan Brown. The combination of hitman jacket, trailer-park hair, and cowboy ’stache and sideburns visually express world-weary defeat. (Note the continuity between the jacket collar and his cragged face.)

Who knew aviators could reflect such sadness?

Displaying an exotic turban, the philosopher David Hume was clearly not afraid to zhuzh things up every now and then.

These glossy moccasins are a delightful departure from the makers of the original suede driving shoe.

In defense of traditional Scottish garb, the Izzy proffers this country gentleman from The House of Bruar. The quilted tweed jacket and waxed-cotton “apron” are appropriately accessorized with an unpretty hunting dog.