Paris Is Burning Alright…To A Crisp
The Milan shows bring out the masculine guns of the fashion industry. Armani, Zegna and Gucci lead the charge in sophisticated, sexy, masculine clothes. One can consider it boring (some of my readers, you know who you are), but it is at the core of the business and must be respected as such. There is [...]
Milan’s Odds As It Ends
The Spring 11 shows came to a close in Milan, and overall there were great, sexy, safe collections sprinkled in with those few designers that love…and are committed to…Manzies. There were noticeably less mandals than last year, more blue than black and less quirky man-hats, which makes me very happy. Yes, there were Mad Men, [...]
Vivienne Westwood: Coo-Coo for Cocoa Puffs
Dame Vivienne Westwood is a force of nature. She presents her avant garde collections in virtually every market on Earth. Mens’ in Milan, women’s in Paris, combo platter in London, Hong Kong Fashion Week and, if I’m not mistaken, she has featured the Anglomania collection in the United States. Last season her theme was “The [...]
Manzies in Bike Lanes
Thom Browne took to the bike lanes with a breezy, cool collection for spring. As a long time bike rider, his homage to cyclists everywhere was refreshing and welcome. Usually I find more things wrong with Thom’s runway collections than right, but I am happy to report that this time around there were more wearable [...]
Who Wears Short Shorts?!?
It was not that long ago, actually last year at this time, that I MEAN…WHAT?!? discovered The Manzie. You know how The Wolfman is part man, part beast? Well, a Manzie* is part man, part nelly beast. It all started quite innocently when I was just finding my mojo as a blogger and noticed that [...]
Paris: Things That Make You Go Hmmmm…
Hello my fearless flock of fashion following friends. What I love about World Fashion Week is that we get to see so many beautiful collections from all over the world such as New York, Milan, and Paris. Sure we also see lots of nonsense from other ports of call such as Madrid Fashion Week, Australia, [...]
Manzie Sighting At Stephen Burrows
Stephen Burrows’ collection was great. She showed this beautiful signature column gown that brought me back to 1977, when I first arrived on the scene. Stephen was my first introduction into the scene. My roommate Sal De Falco and he were dating, and I was immediately whooped up into the firestorm that was Stephen [...]
New York Manzie Report
“It’s good to be the king.” So said Mel Brooks in History of the World, Part 1. The reason I bring this up is because the men’s collections for Fall ‘10, between Milan and Paris and now in New York City, are really great…and very butch. So, my quote for this season is, “It’s not [...]
Grey Skies Are Gonna Cheer Up…
The biggest news after looking at the Fall ‘10 Men’s Shows is Grey is the New Black. Period. Sure, black was all over the runway, too, and should always be a staple in everyone’s wardrobe. I don’t care (and nor should anyone) when the editors scream for “Color, Color, Color” like they did last season. [...]
Manzies Marching On
Overall, the men’s collections in Milan are pretty great. Sifting through all the images to mine for Manzies was not quite as easy as last spring. Somehow I would like to go out on a limb and take some credit, that my Manzie Reports impacted some of the designers. Seems like many of them worked [...]
Manzies Are Back On The Runway
It has been a while since the last round of men’s shows where we first met The Manzie, which we sometimes refer to as “The Manz” or “La Manz”. You newcomers need to be brought up to speed. What is a Manzie? (pronounced man – zee), hence, What is a Manzie Report?
At last season’s men’s [...]
IMW Year In Review
Everyone is doing their Year in Review…why can’t I? Every news station, cable or otherwise, newspaper, magazine, website, you name it…it’s recap central. We are being accosted by The Year’s Best, The Year’s Worst, The Top Ten Movies, The Top Ten CNN Heroes, The Top Thirteen Tiger Woods Hookers, you name it, there’s a list [...]
Thom Browne…Triple Yikes…The Ultimate Manzie
As I started reading Tim Blanks‘ review of the Thom Browne collection on men.style.com, I thought I must have landed in the Fashion Twilight Zone. Having read the Women’s Wear Daily review and judging for myself based on the images, I thought, “What is Tim drinking backstage…Thom Browne Kool-Aid?” There is little to say. WWD [...]
Mini Manzie Report-The Nonsense Continues
Yesterday was uneventful as far as Manzies go. The women’s collections are in full bloom. Alexander Wang, Jason Wu, Charlotte Ronson, William Rast, Rag and Bone, these are the collections with all the heat. That said, there was little if anything interesting going on in menswear. And when I say uninteresting, I don’t lie. I [...]
Manzies Hit The Catwalks At New York Fashion Week
Just when I thought that my Manzie Reports were getting read by all the right people, being viewed on all the right laptops, iPhones and Blackberries, comes the reality that I am not fully doing my job. I know that the Manzie Report has been a source of laughter and hysteria by many of the [...]
End-of-Summer Stomach Ache
Has your end-of-summer stomach ache started yet? Surely, you know that feeling. It started when we were kids, that huge knot in your tummy that makes you double over in physical and mental pain. The first time you experienced it was the night before starting school after a joyous, carefree summer. It hurt so bad, [...]
FOTZ…
Many of you must know by now that I have coined the phrase “fotz”. There ’s many applications to this term. But, what, do you ask, is FOTZ? Etymology: What started out as a sarcastic reference to something that is or someone that “thinks” they are fascinating. So, it went from fascinating to fotzinating to [...]
There Are Some Real Men Left Out There
Y’all know by now that I love a good laugh when it comes to the Emperor’s New Clothes school of fashion, be it for men or woman. The word is out that I.M.W. has people laughing out loud at the commentaries. (I do too, shh.) However, not every day has to be riddled with the [...]
Refresher Course: What Is A Manzie
At the risk of being redundant to those of you who have been following my Manzie Reports for quite some time, I wanted to take this moment to review, remind, and introduce to the new readers, “What is a Manzie?” (pronounced man – zee) and why are we reporting on it?
After reviewing the recent European [...]
O-KEE-DEER and MOODI-AVA, Two Words From My Past
Anyone who knows me from childhood will tell you that I developed my own language, mostly words and expressions to describe things, people or activities that I found somewhat nonsensical. Now, I just say I Mean…Whaaaaat?!?! a lot, which captures the essence. One word is “okeedeer”. This is really just “OK, there”, but with a [...]
Ask And Ye Shall Receive…Random Manzie Photos
The power of suggestion knows no bounds. Yesterday I put it out to the universe that I wanted y’all to send me images of random Manzies. Well, the Lord sure works in mysterious ways. ‘Cause not 24 hours later, these beauties arrived, thanks to Ramon. Will no doubt start a “Manzie Alert” on I Mean…What?!? [...]
Yup…Here’s Another Manzie Report…Just What The Robust Market Needs
Somehow I must have been asleep at the wheel or something, but somewhere between Paris and Milan, several designer shows slipped under my radar and have just now surfaced. If the Manzie Report bores you, by all means, leave now and wait till we cover the NY Fashion Shows in September. And if you are [...]
Are Stylists Necessary? Um…Yeah!
I was just reading on the The Daily Beast about how stylists are being cut from budgets and all other sorts of nonsense. The article was an outtake from a bigger story in The New York Observer pointing out that these “celebrity stylists” are being bypassed as the actual celebrities are going directly to designers. [...]
Manzie’s Hit The Big Time….As In Time Magazine
Who’d have thunk that when I MEAN…WHAT?!? coined the phrase Manzie Report, and pointed out the horrendousness of some of the things that everyone’s favorite Manzie is wearing, that lo and behold, Time Magazine, yes, that magazine that puts Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton or Sarah Palin on the cover, has an entry about Mancessories. [...]
