MALE FASHION

Male fashion. It seems fairly easy due to the restricted number of garments available to men. However, try to make it look "sophisticated yet casual" and you will see how tricky it gets.

Ages ago, fashion was a crucial aspect of men's life - take as an example French king Louis XIV, aka Le Roi Soleil (The Sun King). He might have been one of the first male fashion trendsetters and victims (the guy even wore high heels).

uh lala... what a leg... . Louis XIV

Then, with Hollywood's golden era we gained quite a few style icons: Clarke Gable, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Gregory Peck or James Dean. They all had their individual style and amazing personality that filled their tailored suits impeccably.

up : Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable; down: James Dean, Cary Grant.

Soon after, appeared James Bond, the charismatic character of Ian Fleming's series that brought to the big screen gave rise to probably the biggest product placement in the history of cinematography. 007 is an agent that looks tres chic even in the most unsuitable conditions and wears tuxedo like no one else.

Nowadays, there are only few outstanding male style icons. George Clooney comes to mind almost immediately. His style reminds us of the old Hollywood glamour and seems highly influenced by Clark Gable. Likewise, his Ides of March co-star, Ryan Gosling likes to suit up bringing some contemporary feel to the old-school style he sports. Chuch Bass, though a fictional character of the Gossip Girl TV series, is one of the New York's most fashionable males, visibly inspired by Cary Grant and Gregory Peck.

up: Ryan Gosling; down: Chuck Bass (Ed Westwick), George Clooney.

I would also like to draw attention to the style of an actor whose name does not really pop up when you think "fashion" - however, there is something about his outfits that makes his style interesting and refreshing - Robert Pattinson. He usually is too casual but during the public events he transforms into this impeccably dressed man, in suits by high end designers (most likely Gucci). I mean, not many people could pull off this maroon suit, but he did. He seems not to care about looks an d somehow ends up looking fabulous.

If you follow The Satorialist's blog, you might assume that the best male fashion happens in Milan. And you're probably right. Italian men pay a lot of attention to their style. However, well-dressed males may also be found in New York, London, Paris... and probably in your city as well, if you look carefully enough.


from The Satorialist: 1) New York, 2) Milan, 3) Paris: Stefano Tonchi, the editor-in-chief of W magazine.

GET YOURSELF the NEW YOU

Do you sometimes get bored with you look? I guess everyone at times does. However, if you do not know where to start, you can try the new elle online virtual makeover.
I did few trials myself and came up with quite a few surprising results. All you need to do is to upload your photo and adjust it. And that's it.
For any guys interested in trying on Rob Pattinson's look - sorry, it's gals only.
Ladies - Have fun! I surely did ;)

That's how I've started ...
... and that's how I ended up looking:

WHICH ONE TO BUY POLL

Ok, I'm in a major quandry. So, I like two dresses both of which are gorgeous in their own unique way, and both are kind of expensive (at least to someone with teacher's salary).

So here is a little poll. Could you help me decide which one is better, prettier, more practical etc, whatever argument comes to your mind?

Comment people! ;)

Oh, and sorry for the poor Q of the pics - they were taken by my mobile's camera. THX.



1) River Island, 250 zł
2) H&M, 179 zł

Bike Chic Or a Bicycle Fashion

Every year when the spring sun comes out I take out my old bike from the storage and try to use it as my spring-early fall means of transportation. Despite the growing number of bicycles in my city / unsupported by the sufficient amount of bike lanes/ people still seem suprised to see a gal on a bike who's wearing a dress, not to mention high heels. They seem to identify bikes with sports only and to view them as simply recreational objects. I just wonder, if I ride my bike to work, why in the world would I want to wear sweatpants?

However, not that far away, are such beautiful places as Copenhagen, where bike-people are given enough space to safely ride their vehicles. And they are not afraid to show some serious fashion sense while riding. Here, are some photos of stylish bikers (in Copenhagen, Rome, Milano, NY and Paris) that I've found on two blogs http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/ and www.copenhagencyclechic.com












;)

The Royal Fashion Show aka The Royal Wedding

I've been kind of busy lately but still I feel obliged to post the photos from this amazing spectacle that took place on the 29th of April - the wedding of Prince Charming/William and Kate Middleton.

Since it's so last week ;) I'm not going to say too much. The dress designed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen was a pure perfection in its modest sophistication-with georgeous lace over the gorset-ty gown. I also admired the light veil and the simple bouquet made of lillies of the valley. Other than that, I just want to point out the obvious refference to the wedding dress of Grace Kelly of Monaco. However, I believe that actions/ and pictures/ speak louder than words so I leave you with these:

SPOT THE DIFFERENCE ;)

I've been posting a lot about Black Swan recently, and this post is sort of related to that topic as well. There's been two almost identical movies out lately one starring Natalie Portman (and Ashton Kutcher), the other one - her Black Swan co-star, Mila Kunis (plus Justin Timberlake).

The first one's called No Strings Attached and the second one - Friends with Benefits. Yes, there is also striking similarity in the titles.

Here are the trailers - spot the difference. Anyone?

Black Swan saga continues ;)

My blog will soon become monothematic, I suppose, but I can't help myself. I feel a need to post yet another proof of ballet and Black Swan's major influence on fashion.
Here is the photo of Anna Dello Russo, the Editor at Large in Vogue Japan, dressed in noir tutu at Marc Jacobs fashion show:

Recently, also Polish designers became inspired by this trend. Below, you will find a link to the video where Dawid Wolinski shows his first dresses from the upcoming collection and admits that one of them was inspired by the costumes in Aronofsky's movie:

http://dziendobrytvn.plejada.pl/28,45273,news,,1,,dom_otwarty_dawida_wolinskiego,aktualnosci_detal.html

Channeling my inner swan

I've already posted two texts on the influence the ballet trend had on the fashion industry and showbusiness. Apparently, it had an influence on me as well, since I've just bought a georgeous dress from h&m By Night collection that looks like ballerina meets Dirty Dancing. The dress in its structure, especially in the corset part, resembles the ones worn by the ballerinas, but it also has a little bit of the Dirty-Dancing's-final-dress feel to me. Unfortunatelly, the pictures don't do the dress enough justice, but until I make my own pics, these must suffice (I have the off-white one). Now, all I need is feathers ;)








photos: h&m, imdb,fairybreadandsalt.tumblr.com,baletnica-i-balet