There is perhaps no more casually elegant shirt collar than the camp collar. Constructed without a collar band (the strip of fabric that fastens around the neck), the soft collar is part of the same piece of fabric as the body of the shirt, giving it a truly seamless look. Generally worn unbuttoned, they have a tendency to spread wide. As Dean Martin proved, they can help separate a gentleman from the pack.
While visting Cannes for the screening of Che, his bio-pic of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara, director Steven Soderbergh sported a beard that extended down beneath his shirt collar. Given that Soderbergh is usually clean-shaven, can there be any doubt that he disposed of his razor (and good sense) in homage to Che’s neck beard, which made him look like he had a lion’s mane?
In one of Izzy’s favorite episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm, the neurotic protagonist is highly annoyed by extra trouser fabric bunching up over his crotch. But the “pants tent,” as Larry David calls it, is a phenomenon that occurs only when he sits down, which makes the ill-fitting crotch on these Banana Republic trousers even more inexcusable.
Wisconsin cheeseheads be damned, there is nothing more American than wearing a hot dog cap at a baseball game. That is, until someone invents an apple pie hat.
If women love a man in uniform, they must surely lurv a man in half of one, at least when he has the hard-earned, eminently practical figure of a firefighter.
The Barack Obama campaign is blaming Hillary Clinton’s camp for leaking this photo of him to the public in order to reinforce paranoid, stupid fears that he is a crypto-Muslim. The picture was taken in August 2006 when Obama was visiting Wajir, a desert, largely Muslim area in northeast Kenya. The garb was presented to him by local elders, and the politician diplomatically tried it on. Although Izzy has written about the risks and rewards of going native sartorially (something the Manolo also noted about President Bush), surely Obama did the right thing in donning the sash and turban in the presence of his hosts. (And it should go without saying, but that headgear is worn not only by Muslims.) The real shame is that many politicians, wishing to avoid the possibility of such pictures being used to falsely smear them, will end up being rude when faced with similar opportunities abroad. And it’s not exactly if Americans overseas are known for their worldliness…
With his thick, nearly-octagonal eyeglasses, Obama-for-President button, and bowtie-less tuxedo shirt, Spike Lee had a lot going on at the Oscar’s, but thanks to that dashing white trilby, he proved himself one of the good guys.
Courtesy of Thom Browne comes this freakish nightmare—of ironing, that is.
While suitable for Princess Leia, the world’s largest earmuffs are best avoided in this galaxy.
When you’re having a bad face day, there’s nothing better than a shaggy wig topped off with a tartan beret. At least you can’t see yourself in the mirror.
Capturing a sentiment that originated with the French Revolution, Republicans in France for a long time subscribed to the slogan, “Il n’y a pas d’ennemi à gauche,” meaning “No enemies to the left.” Whether or not that should be the case in politics, it is certainly true with respect to the colors on the political spectrum: Pinks and Reds can indeed get along.
Pitti Uomo, the most important men’s fashion show, has opened in Milan with offerings like his trapper’s hat from Dolce & Gabbana. It looks strangely familiar, and not in a good way. Oh, wait.
