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So I had the wonderful opportunity to be the mansy stylist for the recent Free Boutique fashion show. The Free Boutique, as you well know, is the only fashion forward free store in the world, so all these looks were made without spending a dime. The fashion direction was Deserted Palace and is a fall collection inspired by runaway tsarinas, broken chandeliers, sand dunes on the dance floors, that type of thing. This show came up unexpectedly, and since it’s been a while since the last donation party, the free b. clothes were pretty well picked over, but despite all that, I think I did a pretty good job! Here are my favorite looks as modeled by Yuzo, Olive and Noah.
Yuzo Nieto
As much as I’d like to take credit for thinking of the ripped jean/tights combo, they were directly stolen from the Bubbledome but since she is a post-apocalyptic giant cage of fashion smack downs, I figure she won’t mind a little pilfering now and again. Plus this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve been called the Stolen Store!
We have been wanting to do fashion shows ever since the free b. started but have never gotten around to it, but now that it’s on, you can expect a lot more! I had so so so much fun putting it all together and it was hilahrious to see my friends’ personalities transform into ditzy models in a matter of hours. Noah for example, was perhaps the cutest, as soon as he was dressed, it was like an episode of America’s Top Model and after a few hours he and his model cohorts were lap dancing, prancing around, constantly posing and at one point, found a bar of chocolate and had a chocolate makeout party… Models! I guess it goes to show that the absolute power of fashion corrupts absolutely!
Here’s the song that inspired the name of the collection by the supér Jean Michel Jarre:
deserted palace – jean michel jarre
Oh, and this isn’t a mansy look, but isn’t Geyl looking beautiful!
After yesterday’s TruckExpo (the last time I’m ever going to say that phrase) the Sébastien Tellier concert was a much needed fashion revitalization. With his confrontational sunglasses, light pink sink scarf, and of course his grey sparkly blazer (apparently I really like sparkly blazers!) he was like a walking, smoking, white wine drinking mansy fashion juggernaught. I will say that I wish he had a better cut of pants but with such perfect flourishes, one can overlook the lesser details. Did I mention at one point he was smoking out of his nose?
With more fake smoke than you could possibly imagine, candles and very smooth french electro, for at least that one night the Boulevardier achieved the pinnacle of the much sought after “adult. contemporary. anarchist.” experience. Here is my outfit that I wore to the concert, it is a riff on the aw08 women’s Givenchy collection and as you can see, what I lack in beard is made up for in chains…
I recently ran across a fantastic article in the latest Another Man about designer Adam Kimmel’s look at Semina as inspiration for his aw08 collection. Semina was a journal put out in the 50’s by Wallace Berman that collected poems, art and literature from all the major beat artists, William Burroughs, Alan Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski, Alexander Trocchi, Michael McClure etc. Kimmel’s goal was to take the way the male beats approached fashion as reflected through their values and translate that into a contemporary collection.
While I think that a lot of his pieces stray quite a bit (sweatpants tucked into socks with a blazer or a navy blue velour jumpsuit come to mind), even more than his particular collection, the highlights seen above, I think his approach is spot on. I love the idea of taking the counter-culture values of the beats and turning that into fashion. From what I’ve read about it since the article, Semina is an incredible journal and Wallace Berman equally amazing, for one, even though he’s in his 80’s he is still an avid dumpster diver!
This approach to fashion reminds me a lot of the anarchist co-ops that I use to live in, combining eccentricity, anti-capitalism and non-chalance to create a look that is astonishing in both style and gall. My friend Uncle Sloshua comes to mind first. Here’s a mansy who pieces outfits together like a roulette wheel of ridiculous male fashion stereotypes: Sicilian cowboy pimp, 70’s traveling salesman, beatnik motorcycle greaser, and the most recent vietnam vet w/cop mustache. Here he is looking particularly dapper and unabashedly sketchy, note the gold belt.
I’ve been a little suspicious of the weather lately, this month has been unusually mild and frankly it’s had an effect on my fashion. Had it snowed on Halloween like it has since i can remember, I’d probably be singing a different tune, but as it is, i’ve had a lot of time to long for winter and thusly winter fashion. I’m not terribly proud of this look, I don’t ski and I hate skiing culture, but here it is anyway:
Aprés-ski:
Is this a joke? I haven’t figured that out yet, all I know is that ever since I got this sweater I’ve been trying to find a place to wear it. You see, this is no normal ridiculous free boutique sweater, this is a hand-me-down from the one and only Rod Kershenstein. Rod is definitely the snappiest octogenarian I know and he’s a total conservative wingnut to boot! Why just the other day, Rod informed me that if I had been in the DNC protests (which I was) and he was a cop, he wouldn’t think twice about killing me, the proverbial me, I think… This was all in reference to his “threaten me, I’ll kill you” philosophy, which is a strange amalgamation of Fox News, having stormed the beaches in Normandy, and being a little senile. I don’t know why but that seems to add to the sweater’s appeal.
Eitherway, what better time to don a snappy conservative garment or two, now that conservatives are buying up guns because Obama’s going to declare sharia law. Now I’m definitely not your average Jobama, but I recognize a fashion statement when I see one.
Here’s the most recent article I wrote for Louis Vuitton Night, discussing some strategies for choosing your wardrobe.
Tactics for fall fashion transgressions. With fall fashion in full swing, mansies have their work cut out for them. The major houses, with their boring or un-wearable designs and their vulgar prices leave us little to nothing. And on the other end, radical subcultures promoting drabness and conformity season after season are no better. In the mêlée that is fall fashion, what’s a mansy to do?
Thus far, the Boulevardier has discussed why mansy fashion is relevant, how it undermines militarism and patriarchy and why outlaws are fashion heroines. But many aspiring mansies still seem to be at a loss for how to make the first steps from unfashionable cretins to elegant outlaw socialites. In this column, we look at a few strategies for making mansy fashion work for you and a few tricks that will help you enter the world of the well dressed.
