“I Mean…What?!?” – Abe Gurko

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 »

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 all the spring men’s shows were featuring the nelliest clothes on Earth. “Not that there is anything wrong with it.” But then, the fall collections showed lots and lots of butch realness (pants tucked into boots?) going down the runway. I thought perhaps, that the… 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 »

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 Burrows’ World. We were called Burrow-ettes. Stephen would stitch together colorful, little garments for us to wear to Studio 54 or Tea Dance in the Pines…before the muscle heads and crystal queens took it over. It was a fairy tale time in the fashion industry. New… Read More »

“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 good to be the queen”. In what I am calling an immediate response to my Manzie Reports from last season, every designer on Earth quickly revisited their sketches for this season and chose to man up. Thank you all for taking note, but now what… 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 »

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 going on. Well, I am not special, I want to do one also. So, join me as we sing Auld Lang Syne here at I Mean…What?!? and close out our (barely) first year since birthin’ the baby (not be confused with the Birther Movement). Herewith… Read More »

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 wrote, “The clothes were ridiculous.” Whereas Tim Blanks says things like, “Browne’s clothes felt refreshed, confident, and as upbeat as the soundtrack of Beatles songs.” Or how’s this, “He just loves polka dots and Darth Vader.” Fotz. You judge for yourself. This is a bi-polar… Read More »