“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

No one is more excited about this week than moi. The Men’s Fall Collections are launching in Milan and New York City. For the next few days, I will feature my seasonal Manzie Report, only this year, in an effort to tone back the rhetoric and vitriol I will report on the Best of as well as the Worst of, just to show you how politically correct I can be…ish. Over the past few seasons, men have gone from being enormously effeminate to overly butch and this season, I am predicting that the the two worlds will collide. At ENKNYC,… Read More »

Well, you didn’t think a season would go by without me making at least one little reference to that much loved and admired creature…the Manzie. What good would I serve if I did not stick in my two cents and and point out the one look from each of the men’s spring ’11 collections that could have easily been edited out? Huh? If you don’t know what the Manzie Report is by now, then you just have to look at these images from this week’s men’s shows/presentations to recognize that certain kind of man that would wear these ensemblays. Actually,… Read More »

The Spring 11 shows came to a close in Paris, as is the case in Milan, there were great, sexy, safe collections sprinkled in with those few designers that love…and are committed to…Manzies. Naturally, the free spirits of Paris saw more mandals, more drama and sadly, more quirky man-hats. The Paris Manzie Report ends by showing a few looks that could have been edited out…had they hired me.… Read More »

As we continue with the Manzie Report in Paris, I had to first mention this little story that applies to the first designer being mentioned today. I was at Penn Station (don’t ask) and noticed this guy wearing Bermuda length shorts, a suit jacket, tie and white collar shirt with leather wind tip shoes. Now as quasi-acceptable as this look is, the guy was such a nelly queen as he scurried through Penn Station, that I wondered, “Could these Bermuda suits ever take off and go mainstream?”… Read More »

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 looks than not. Naturally, what’s a Manzie Report without a few good manzies, and with Browne’s theatrical penchant for showing more looks than necessary, there has to be a few bombs in the line-up and here they are. Calvin Klein had a few doozies, too.… Read More »

The Milan Men’s Shows are under way and we are off to a “two snaps up” start. The few looks by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen are very promising indeed. There is one trench coat (above) that is really great, but coupled with my father’s Long Johns, well, it’s her first outing so I will be kind. Today let’s just trash look at the new collection by Haider Ackermann, whose collection was inspired by the film Lost In Translation…only in that the models are lost in gobs of fabric. Lost being the operative word here. And we’re off. Stay tuned… Read More »

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, Brazil, Lakme Fashion Week (India) and assorted Middle Eastern countries. But today, let’s discuss Paris. With the economy still in turmoil, many of the collections have been fiercely edited, and buyer optimism is reflected on increased orders. And frankly, the blogosphere is having a positive… Read More »

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. Let all those editors walk around in horrendous shades of blue and orange (Gina Lollobrigida orange, to be exact) and leave the humans to wear what makes them look good, namely, black and/or grey. Now we have a whole new meaning to grey. Your job… Read More »

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 overtime to avoid making Manzie Faux Pas, for fear of being included in the Manzie Reports. What I can say about Fall 10 is that there’s much ado about nothing special, since quite a few collections played it really safe. Perhaps it is a no… Read More »

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 fashion shows in Europe, the overarching trend was something that I hadn’t seen in quite some time, actually ever. I came up with the term Manzie to capture the moment. A Manzie is not a Dandy, nor is he a Pansy, hence the revised… Read More »