The Moment

Men's Fashion Shows | Look Who's Walking

By Alexandra Marshall — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:01:18 +0000

The Moment checks in with four top men's modeling agencies to find out who's getting casting heat this season — some familiar faces, some you've never seen before. Here are eight models coming soon to the Milan and Paris runways. Let us know in the comments section your vote for the Guy of The Moment.

Photo courtesy of Success Models

JOHANNES LINDER, 19, German. Debut season. Success Models On hold for: YSL, Dries van Noten, Cerruti, Kenzo. Exclusively at Jil Sander in Milan. The secret of his success: "He looks completely innocent of any sin," Donnell says. "He just arrives, and he's sunshine. He's the teenage boy that everyone wants to cast."

Photo courtesy of Success Models and Red NYC

TYLER RIGGS, 22, American Success Models and Red NYC On hold for: Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Trussardi, Belstaff, Neil Barrett, Moschino, Alexander McQueen, John Varvatos, Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, Number (N)ine, Dries van Noten, Thierry Mugler, Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garçons The secret of his success: "He's rock 'n' roll, but he's got a contained self-confidence that gives him an everyday attitude," says Jean-Jacques Donnell, a men's booker.

Photo courtesy of Select Models

ASH, 17, British. Debut season. Select Models On hold for: Prada, Burberry, Costume National, Jil Sander, YSL, Number (N)ine The secret of his success: "The fashion world wants skinny, edgy and tattoos, and he's got the right look for that," Bowman says. "He's already a little editorial star, with 22 pages in Man About Town."

Photo courtesy of Select Models

ALEX GILBERT, 20, British Select Models On hold for: Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni, Gucci. Paris options still being negotiated. The secret of his success: "He looks like the all-American dream," says Elizabeth Bowman, a men's booker. "He's really clean-cut, and he's been cleaning up in print, too, with campaigns for Pringle's, Uniqlo, Benneton and editorials in Vogue Italia and Numero Homme just out."

Photo courtesy of Ford Models Europe

ADRIAN BOSCH, 20, Danish Ford Models On hold for: Jil Sander, Prada, Gucci, Gianfranco Ferre, Trussardi. Lanvin, YSL, Dries van Noten, Hugo Boss, Cerutti, Thierry Mugler, Kenzo, Dunhill, Ann Demeulemeester, Hermes The secret of his success: "He's a chameleon," says Franck Welker, the men's division director. "Designers love him because he can be rock 'n' roll or hip-hop or elegant. And he's a bit skinny."

Photo courtesy of Ford Models Europe

MATHIAS LAURIDSEN, 24, Danish Ford Models On hold for: Jil Sander, Missoni, Versace, Trussardi, Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci, Dries van Noten, Hermes, Cerutti, Kenzo, Hugo Boss The secret of his success: "He's very self-confident when he walks -- you can really see the difference when you compare him with the other boys. He's the male model with the most exposure of them all right now," Welker says.

Photo courtesy of Models 1

JOSH BEACH, 23, British Models 1 On hold for: "Everything. His agent just told me he has the longest list of options he's seen in five years," says Mark Evans, the men's head booker. "But he's not doing Paris because he's on tour with his band, Snish." The secret of his success: "He was the first of the naughty guys, with tattoos and piercings, but as more photographers work with him, it's clear he's just so handsome. People are comparing him to a young Matt Dillon."

Men's Fashion | The New Japanese Dandyism

By Bruce Pask — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 21:59:28 +0000

"A slightly more classic take on a dandy" — Japanese labels Haversack and Camoshita by United Arrows. (75° Pitti Uomol/Haver Sack).

FLORENCE, Italy — I'm sitting on the train to Milan, across the aisle from two incredibly stylish Japanese men, most likely fashion buyers as everyone on the train from Florence to Milan is leaving Pitti Uomo and going to the fashion shows. I have to say that the Japanese fashion flock are stealing the show here. Amazing personal style, with what is becoming a bit of a signature look for a group of them: very natty, often checked sport jackets, worn with a coordinated checked shirt underneath a crew-neck sweater, along with slender pressed gray flannel trousers, argyle or some other colored sock, and a very fine English shoe. A slightly more classic take on a dandy. United Arrows, one of the best men's stores in Tokyo, exhibited its own line, Camoshita, at the show: checked suits, a matching tweed jacket and vest with a white shirt and wool bow tie, a contrasting windowpane wool trouser and an off-center-buttoning single-breasted fawn-colored wool coat -- all epitomizing this new dandy look. Another Japanese line called Haversack, now being sold at Opening Ceremony in New York and Los Angeles, showed beautiful high-waisted gurkha pants and jodphurs, vintage-looking rounded-collar shirts with a camel wool three-piece suit. The designer of the line was at the booth, wearing a navy beret, an ascot under a crew-neck sweater and knee-length breeches with bright-colored socks. I

Showtime | Milan Men's Fashion Preview

By J.J. Martin — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 18:21:44 +0000

View Larger Map Yes, it's time for the men's fashion shows in Milan — yet again. Here, a primer on how to survive the week. The Clothes If you're headed this way and are packing your bags while reading this, here's a word of advice: there was enough snow in Milan last week to go cross-country skiing down [...]

Vaya Con Dios, Ricardo Montalbán

By Alexandra Marshall — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:51:13 +0000

Ricardo Montalban, a character on "Fantasy Island" in a 1977 photo. (AP Photo/ABC)

On other pages in The Times you'll find a proper obituary of Ricardo Montalbán, who died Wednesday in Los Angeles, due to causes not released to the press. Here we'll take a moment to luxuriate in the Mexican actor's fashion impact. With all due respect to Tom Wolfe, no other man has done more for the crisp, structured white suit than Montalbán, who wore the getup weekly for six years as Mr. Rourke on "Fantasy Island." The inexplicable feats performed by Rourke paled in comparison to the miraculous spotlessness and masculine structure of that three-piece, always set off by a stark black necktie (and sometimes a pocket square). Montalbán has now gone to that wicker wing chair in the sky, but his look is immortal.

'T Takes' | Episode 2

By Adam Kepler — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:10:21 +0000

In the >second installment of our 'T Takes: Brooklyn 09' video series, directed by Brody Baker, we follow our white-tuxedo-wearing protagonist, played by Charlie Cox ("Stardust"), to a mysterious rendezvous with the caller from Episode 1. This latest chapter in this enigmatic tale co-stars the milk-skinned model Lily Cole, who began posing at 14, a year before the starmaker Steven Meisel photographed her for the cover of Italian Vogue. Cole, who made her acting debut in the 2007 remake of "St. Trinian's," next appears in Heath Ledger's final film, the Terry Gilliam-directed "Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus."

The Digital Ramble | Workspace Inspiration

By Rosecrans Baldwin — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:39:45 +0000

(From Theselby.com) The Digital Ramble explores aesthetic topics through materials found online. With a new president come new curtains. Vanity Fair asked designers to offer ideas on redecorating the White House, while The Guardian asked architects for a redesigned Oval Office. In both cases, the results are pragmatic and bland. President Bush has used the same desk as every other president since Garfield (except Johnson, Nixon and Ford, says the White House Web site), so I imagine Obama will, too. But what else could he employ to inspire a productive workplace? I've lost an hour or two in The Selby. It's a Web site that curates the detritus of aesthetically minded people: the gorgeous junk that inspires various arts-related people and sits around the house. Which reminds me of Francis Bacon's studio. In August 1998, according to Dublin's Hugh Lane Gallery, more than 7,000 items in his workplace were catalogued in a database, including "approximately 570 books and catalogs, 1,500 photographs, 100 slashed canvases, 1,300 leaves torn from books, 2,000 artist's materials and 70 drawings." A book was compiled, but the gallery maintains a good amount of imagery online. President-elect Obama is a writer, though, not a painter. The Daily Routines blog collects writers' work habits. Take Emily Post: "She woke at 6:30 a.m., ate breakfast in bed and began to write. Midmorning, she took a break to give instructions to the household help; then, still in bed, she continued to write until noon." Better than its redecorating feature, The Guardian regularly updates its archive of writers describing their rooms, where I learned that Martin Amis works out of some kind of garden shed. I also like this collection of beautiful geek workspace setups, charmingly titled "Les Plus Beaux Bureaux de Geeks." Why not simply gaze on this magnificent picture of Al Gore at his desk. If a man needs three enormous monitors for his computer, he's obviously saving the world. Near my old apartment in Paris was the dusty Les Archives de la Presse bookstore. I used to love looking through the windows at the stacks of vintage fashion magazines. With less beauty but more zing, this collection of New York magazines from 1965 to 1997 should inspire any young wannabe editor or art director. After all, it's not too far a jump from New York 1968 to Monocle 2008. I enjoy a good how-to as much as the next man, especially when it explains the backstory of how something great came to be. This illustrated history of movie studios' logos has meat on its bones, but more interesting is the design saga behind President-elect Obama's well-known logo. Here's a video of VSA's Sol Sender explaining where the "O" originated. The client's mandate? "Do something different."

Scent Notes | Ed Hardy for Women

By Chandler Burr — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 20:01:32 +0000

The Ed Hardy brand is a phenomenon that is, in the context of today's pop culture, instinctively logical: Here is Hardy, an artist who works in one of the stranger art forms -- tattoos, quite elaborate -- and on perhaps the strangest of all art media -- human skin, still alive, thank you very much -- and were you to acquire one of his works of art, you could virtually guarantee a marvelous explosion from your parents. Thus the explosion of the brand. (When I was in Mexico City a few months ago, you couldn't throw a Dos Equis without hitting a massive Ed Hardy billboard.) On the other hand, were your parents familiar with the depth of Hardy's artistry, they might applaud your investment acumen. Hardy's tattoo apprenticeship was apparently carried out while earning a San Francisco Art Institute B.F.A. in printmaking. He studied traditional Japanese tattoo art in Japan, and his strange work became strangely beautiful and substantive. He has with his wife written, edited and published numerous books on alternative art while curating gallery and nonprofit exhibitions, and is a frequent museum and university lecturer. Hardy mentors younger tattoo artists, though he is reputed to have now turned his focus to printmaking, drawing and painting. So you probably couldn't get a real Hardy tattoo even if you wanted one. Still, he created real art. Enter fashion. The flamboyantly French and ardently litigious fashion designer Christian Audigier acquired the rights to commercialize Hardy's art by plastering it on everything from hoodies to ball caps to leather jackets, and the bottom of the official Web shop of Audigier's Hardy-exploitation wear has a list of registered trademarks as long as your arm. You can't get a Hardy tattoo, but you can buy the T-shirt. More axiomatic still are the perfumes. Oh, but you saw that coming a mile away. Audigier has creative-directed two pairs — a feminine and a masculine each — and one wonders if Hardy smelled them before they left the factory. I realize these things are critic-proof (Macy's can't keep them on the shelves), but here we go. Take Audigier's most recent launches, in December of 2008: Love & Luck for Women and Love & Luck for Men. For the feminine, Adriana Medina has created a very nice copy of Olivier Cresp's Light Blue (the feminine) for Dolce & Gabbana, simply lowering the volume almost to zero on the green apple (which is what makes Light Blue so good) and substituting a very light, rather diaphanous spice. It's a nice scent, not a full-fledged perfume as much as a well-executed initial sketch, but this works perfectly for Hardy's demographic: mass-market teenagers. It precisely gives the perception of wearing scent without actually wearing much. It's also the best of the four. (It has decent persistence on skin; on the other hand, it diffuses like lead.) Love & Luck for Men, by Olivier Gillotin, is equally perfect: the masculine cliché of deodorant soap, aluminum and synthetic spice. Mennen Speed Stick on 17-year-old. Commercially savvy and of no interest at all. Good persistence, sadly. Ed Hardy for Men, the original masculine that debuted 11 months prior, is Gillotin doing another version of the masculine cliché: subtract some of the aluminum et voilà. That leaves its mate, the original Ed Hardy for Women. Which is fake strawberry. Like, the stuff used in Jolly Ranchers. This isn't even a realist school of perfumery because it's not perfumery at all. Perfumers and flavorists share many raw materials (a lot of the things in your Diors and Laurens are food grade), and what Audigier has bottled, you can find in the cake mix aisle at D'Agostino. I say Audigier advisedly. Technically, this sugary elixir is attributed to a perfumer, Caroline Sabas. To say that her prodigious talents are wasted here is to misunderstand entirely the marketing premise. Obviously Audigier wanted fake strawberry, and that's what Sabas gave him. (It's nice as far as fake strawberry goes, incidentally — probably Sabas's contribution.) And if you're wearing your awesome Ed Hardy T-shirt, size small, you'll probably buy a bottle because the packaging design matches. But it's not good. Not strangely beautiful. And not substantive. Ed Hardy for Women by Christian Audigier | Ed Hardy by Christian Audigier (One star; Inoffensive) | $75 for 100 ml; available at macys.com

The Fashion Telex | Thom Browne

By Joseph Plambeck — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 17:07:25 +0000

A "Mad Men" rerun at Thom Bowne's Florence presentation. (Photo: Giovanni Giannoni)

Our man Bruce Pask, who's taking in the Pitti Uomo men's-wear fair in Florence, Italy, recently filed an update on The Fashion Telex, our live feed from the shows.

Very 'Mad Men' — minus the sexy secretaries. A steno pool in accurate period dress, a highly choreographed group of men in Browne's signature short, skinny suits."

Suzy Menkes, meanwhile, put it this way:

In Focus | Edward Steichen

By Judith Puckett-Rinella — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:09:30 +0000

Photographer Edward Steichen possessed a painterly ability to capture and glamorize fashion photography.

More Sprouse in the House

By Cator Sparks — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:10:34 +0000

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Sprouseapalooza continues this week with another fête for the multitalented artist and designer Stephen Sprouse, who passed away in 2004. Last week's troika of graffiti-covered Louis Vuitton events celebrated his Day-Glo genius — captured here in this exclusive T video by the director Chiara Clemente, featuring interviews with Marc Jacobs, Jeffrey Deitch, Patricia Field and other friends. And last night, at the launch for "The Stephen Sprouse Book" (Rizzoli), by Roger and Maurizio Padilha, it was another family reunion for the Sprouse posse, including Teri Toye, Sylvia Miles, Debbie Harry and Marc Jacobs. Sprouse's mother, Joanne, was glowing about the latest contribution to her son's legacy: "The Padilha boys really shed a new light on my son. They characterized him perfectly." The tome is also available in a limited Louis Vuitton edition, covered with Sprouse's Day-Glo text from the now-iconic bag from 2000. For those who didn't jump on the Sprouse party train in New York, we're living for the new online salute to him by Deitch Projects, Louis Vuitton and Rizzoli at welovesprouse.com.

Photographs by Kevin Tachman Mauricio Padilha, Marc Jacobs, Roger Padilha

Sylvia Miles, Debbie Harry, Mauricio Padil