“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

Not only are the 70’s and 80’s experiencing a resurgence on the fashion runways across the globe, but so are the the mores and attitudes towards men. We are in the throws of a (yet another) redefining moment. Two seasons ago, men were like Pre-Raphaelite creatures whose waif-like bodies and fair skin made them the object of desire for both men and women. Manboys were sensitive, angelic creatures. Dior Homme was the look du jour and these men ate quiche. In 1982, Bruce Feirstein‘s book, Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche spent the year on The New York Times Bestseller List,… Read More »

Everyone and anyone in the fashion/media industries has been monitoring the major changes that recently took place at W Magazine. With Stefano Tonchi at the helm, having left his post at The New York Times Magazine, all eyes are on each issue of W. The recent covers shot by Inez van Lamsverde & Vinoodh Matadin have been dynamic and the fashion editorial pages look great. Much of the filler content seems old…but that is due to the internet delivering content at the speed of light. When I read that Kim Kardashian will be nude on the cover of the November… Read More »

So why on God’s green Earth did The New York Times Style do a piece on her for that section? It baffles me. Here you have the end of fashion week, amazing contributors like Cathy Horyn (who I could listen to for hours on end) and Eric Wilson, who traipse around to all the shows, must have unprecedented access so many stories and interviews in their luggage. So what, we need to read about a bunch of conservative gays…an oxymoron…that are all a twitter…literally and figuratively…because Ms. Ann Coulter is coming to speak to them at some have baked rally?… Read More »

Eric Wilson from The New York Times Style did a great piece on an experiment called Six Items Or Less a while back. Heidi Hackemer, an advertising executive and total groovy chic, decided to limit her wardrobe to six pieces, not including undergarments, accessories and workout gear for an entire month. She created a website and challenged friends to join her and within no time 250 people participated in the experiment, which was a massive success in that it was picked up by the mainstream media. Six Items or Less became a statement on where we are in relation to… Read More »

Finally, men can come out of the closet…and we are not talking about their sexuality here, rather, that men can openly say they use cosmetics and still maintain their butchness…ish. The New York Times Style section has an article about the rapidly growing market of cosmetics created exclusively for men. I love that the evolution of man boils down to his desire to maintain his youth and beauty. Not that there’s anything wrong with it. On the contrary. When men became admitted metrosexuals…though I prefer the term Manzies for this purpose…all bets were off. Suddenly, “straight” men were allowed to… Read More »

There is a fascinating article in today’s The New York Times Style about reincarnation. I guess reincarnation is a style issue. Questions raised are: What to wear in your next life? Or better yet, What did I wear in my last life that I can correct in this one? The article begins with a psychiatrist, Dr. Paul DeBell who believes he was a caveman, and that, “I was going along, going along, going along, and I got eaten”. Oy. Now if that were me, for the sake of this Style piece, I would have said, “I was going along, going… Read More »

We all think that our lives are meant for the pages of a book. Come on…admit it. And if you can’t admit that, then surely you have considered your workplace as the setting for a hilarious sit-com. Don’t lie to me. We all have delusions of grandeur and relax, you are not alone. I read Eat, Pray, Love after everyone else did, that summer when those three words were all you heard. That’s the problem with hype, Oprah-based or otherwise. By the time everyone raves about a book, movie or TV show, you get there and wonder…what’s the big deal?… Read More »

There is a great article in Sundays’ The New York Times Magazine about Fat Fashion called Plus-Size Wars. It is appropriately titled, because the Battle of the Bulge is a lifetime commitment, most often, a losing one at that. Fat and Fashion rolled into the same conversation is not the sexiest of topics, however it is a growing (no pun intended) market, yet the F word still has its adverse effects on the industry. No one wants to be called fat. Having been a fat child, I know all too well how painful it is to be ridiculed for just… Read More »

Thou Shalt Not Take The Name Of Elizabeth Taylor In Vain When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Fifteen Commandments, as depicted in Mel Brooks‘ History of the World Part 1, there were five commandments that never saw the light of day. (Watch this short clip to learn about this little known biblical fact in Exodus 20:2–17.) httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5aO7sswvJo Anyhoo, one of those laws as commanded by the Lord himself was: Thou shalt not take the name of Elizabeth Taylor in vain. Sadly, we have become a society not dissimilar to those Israelite hedonists running rampant in the desert,… Read More »

There is a heartwarming article in The New York Times Style section today about sober living at summer shares at the beach. It surely is admirable, I couldn’t do it. Give me the caw of a seagull and I need to order a Planter’s Punch…stat. I’ve dabbled in sobriety and have been known to say,” I used to be friends with Bill…” Anyhoo, to support these guys taking the healthy step to be sober and have a life…I give them a few steps to add to their already 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous.: The Other Steps of Fire Island We… Read More »