Style Stalking... we could grow up together (part two)

Following on from yesterday's sartorial stalking of we could grow up together's very own Kwannam Chu here is the second helping. Ordinarily we would wait another day before posting the second round of images but we heard your 'please sir can I have some more?' pleas and took pity on you. Thankfully, this serving is far tastier than a bowl full of gruel. The photographer and blogger undeniably knows how to throw on a great Spring look and mixes high street with designer and not least the odd find from his secret address book (which he has thankfully shared below).

The Sakura Look:
Yellow plaid shirt from Club Monaco
Shawl collar sweater from H&M

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The Soho look
Tweed blazer from Freak's Store in Tokyo
Skinny cords pants from Zara
Vintage brown dress up shoes from the Brooklyn flea market called fleas and arts
Murse from Paul Smith

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The Stoop Look
J. Crew striped shirt washed oxford
Zara shorts

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The WTWA Look:
Duffle coat from Fidelity by Gerald & Stewart, from Tokyo
Where the Wild Things Are tee from Urban Outfitters
Topshop jeans
Failsworth cord hat

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The Zara Look
Green blazer from Zara women's!
Green striped shirt Thomas Mason for J. Crew
Yellow belt Topman
Zara shorts

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Kwannam's NYC Recommendations:

Book Store: St. Mark's!

Coffee: 9th Street Espresso. The Smile on Bond Street is quite charming too!

Antique Shops: Rubenstein Paula in Soho and the Upper Rust in East Village

Eats: Soba-Ya in East Village (best noodles), Bacaro in the Lower East Side, Mama's Food Shop in the Lower East Side and Babycakes for their everything! Love vegan cakes!

Shopping: Fort Greene Flea Market, flea and art market in Williamsburg. Antropologie! The J Crew Men's Liquor Store because they have XS, I can hardly buy things from the men's department here in the states! Freemans Sporting Club where I picked up this shirt. INA in Nolita.

Hairstyle and retro American style

A Student's Italian Affair

Inspired by Italian 60s cinema, the winning look by Rafael Cunha who was inspired by the work of Ernest Trova

Susie first mentioned how second year Central Saint Martins menswear fashion students were recently asked to combine British tailoring and Italian fabrics to make one outfit inspired by 1960s' Italian cinema last week and I've been waiting for the images to share with you. ever since. Thankfully the wait is over because this was some design brief and the resulting looks are truly something. I have spent many an afternoon transfixed on the style and beauty shown during this golden era of Italian cinema and it is always great to see some emerging menswear design talent.

Razor sharp tailoring by runner up Lisandro Olmos

What started out as a sourcing trip for Christopher New (the CSM menswear tutor) thankfully ended up as an interesting brief for the second year menswear students on the CSM Fashion BA course. New, was invited by the Italian Trade Commission to visit the factories of some major Italian cloth manufacturers and this resulted in the brief to design and produce a look based on tailoring and inspired by 60s Italian cinema. For the second year students it was an opportunity to work with luxury fabrics, most for the first time.

A modern interpretation. So Huang's take of 60's cinema

Italian suits of the 1960’s set new standards for tailoring and the students were asked to watch seminal films of the era for inspiration including Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960) and 8 1/2 (1963), Visconti's Rocco and his Brothers and Antonini's L’avventura. The result is some exciting looks which break new ground creatively for the I.C.E. whilst introducing future designers to the benefits of these luxurious cloths (not to mention us).

My favourite entry by Daisuke Suzuki

The looks were presented last Thursday at CSM's Southampton Row base and three students were awarded prizes by a judging panel which included Francesca Serafine (Deputy Directory of the ITC), Andrew Davis (former editor of Arena) and Christopher New. Hampus Beggren and Pavel An were runners up whilst Rafael Cunha was declared the winner. The winning look was inspired by priests and the code behind how they dress, from this point, Cunha had to develop a character and decided to tell the favoured story of 60s Italian cinema; the story of a man who finds himself questioning his beliefs.

A full article including interviews with the students can be read on DazedDigital.

Style Stalking... we could grow up together (part one)

Our blog roll has constantly evolved as we stumble across new favourite reads and bid a fond farewell to a few defunct ones. Kwannam Chu's we could grow grow up together has been a constant fixture and long the way has provided us with a great deal of stylish food for thought and eye candy along the way. So who better to continue our Style Stalking feature than the lovely Kwannam Chu? Rather than sticking to a strict style diary Kwannam asked to submit a collection of his favourite Spring looks and of course we approved because well, we just could not wait for his submissions! Below is an introduction to his Spring style by the man himself along with the first four looks. The final four will be posted tomorrow along with his recommendations (the fruits of which will become apparent shortly.)

Spring in New York is the best, because you can see how the seasons change. Come rain come shine, warm and cold all at the the same time. To me, getting all deck up can be a bit stressful, so whatever is easiest to put on together works for me. I want everything to be effortless because I'm lazy. Nice shirts and short shorts are a must! A fitted shrunken tweed blazer is my security blanket...I feel so safe in it, oh, and green moccasins too! I am obsessed!

The Bow on Lapel look:
Black and white mini check shirt from a Hong Kong label Kitterick
Dinner jacket and clip on bowtie from Comme Ca du Mode from Tokyo

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The Jack Spade Look:
Plaid shirt from GAP, Tokyo, they have a different collection there
Tweed blazer from Freak's Store in Tokyo
Jeans I bought here at Topshop, the baxter jeans
Clutch from Jack Spade of COS

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The Marching Band Look:
Jacket from Zara, many seasons ago
Just some 2 dollar black T-Shirt
Jeans are from GAP in Tokyo

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We hope you enjoyed the first batch of sartorial stalking as much as we did. As mentioned above the final four looks will follow shortly along with a selection of his address book recommendations!

C.P. Company / Aitor Throup: The evolution of an icon

April absolutely flew by for me. I am quite sure that someone had their finger firmly pressed on the fast forward button throughout those supposedly thirty days because I was little more than a voyeur as everything passed me by. With this in mind I need a little time in May to catch up on everything that I missed. One such missed event was the exhibition to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of C.P. Company's most iconic piece, the Mille Miglia Jacket which saw Aitor Throup design the latest incarnation.

Throup's sketch of his design for the 1000m Goggle Jacket

From the very first jacket made for the sponsoring of the Mille Miglia car race to the special edition created in collaboration with Aitor Throup, C.P. Company’s journey is told through the different steps of this iconic item which, season after season, has been subject to continuous transformation and experimentation. As always with Throup the exhibition tells a story of materials, special treatments and shape research.


For the benefit of those of you who are unfamiliar with the Mille Miglia and the role of C.P Company in its history...the Mille Miglia Car race, was a one thousand miles open-road endurance race that started in 1927. In 1988 C.P. Company sponsored the race and for this special occasion Massimo Osti exclusively designed and produced, as a promotional piece for the Mille Miglia competitors, the very first Goggle Jacket.

To celebrate both the past and future of this jacket the company hosted a special exhibition at their showroom in Milan during the 2009 International Furniture Fair. The exhibition, curated by Aitor Throup, featured the new design as well as 20 Mille Miglia jackets selected from the C.P. Company archive. Of course I was unable to visit myself but through the wonders of the Internet we can all live vicariously through thenonplace who was fortunate enough to see Throup's interpretation of the iconic Osti design first hand.

Aitor Throup had this to say on the 1000m Goggle Jacket: "I have taken a literal approach to driving ergonomics and functionality, with the aim of creating a piece which is even further informed by its driving concept than the original."

As mentioned every time I jot down the designer's name, I was fortunate enough to listen in to his conversation with Sarah Mower at the V&A last Summer and during this chat Throup's face lit up and his passion took over as soon as he started talking about this iconic jacket. Both the label and the jacket mean so much to him. During the 80s the C.P. Company was a label of choice for the football 'casual' and has ultimately become something of a taboo here despite being held in high regard throughout the rest of Europe. For Throup the brand has not had the respect and attention that the designs deserve and this exhibition will hopefully change a few people's perceptions and understanding of C.P. Company. For more information on the exhibition and Throup's design please visit Being Hunted's Youtube page because they have recently uploaded three videos shot in Milan during the exhibition (including the Twenty Jackets installation, an interview with Aitor, as well as a closer peek at his 20th anniversary Goggle Jacket).

The Music Writer

The music writer Travis Elborough outside Rough Trade off Brick Lane the iconic indie music shop (US & UK editions of his book’s)

Honey, I styled the kids

Do you remember Wayne Szalinski from the late 80s and 90s? I doubt many that of the stylish young chaps featured below do because they are far too young. For the benefit of those who don't then, Szalinski was just your average 'nutty' scientist who worked on top secret machines and accidentally (somewhat carelessly) tested his latest laser beam contraption on his own children (more than once). It seems the hilarious scientist has diverted his attention from shrinking and blowing up his own kids and has duly flicked the 'style' switch whilst aiming his laser at children indiscriminately. If you think I've gone crazy please bear with me because I do have a point hidden somewhere amongst my confused ramblings. This week the best dressed people I've seen online and beyond have been less than 5ft tall and I am not talking about isolated sightings of a re-styled Danny DeVito....my attention has been frequently diverted to the youth of today.

Not a DS or action figure in sight...a typical scan from Vogue Enfants from Fashion Screen

I have suffered sartorial envy towards a toddler before at the hands of this mini Parisian captured by Tommy but these past few days the sheer volume of styled little folk have left me dazed, confused and strangely envious. In short I am close to being a man beaten by someone I really should not be. My week began with me learning exactly what goes on inside the pages of Vogue Enfants (courtesy of The Fashionisto). The well styled editorials depict a number of those whipper snappers in somewhat alarmingly mature environments. In terms of the clothes themselves I'd happily wear most of it and this combined with the fake tattoos and faux driving shots makes the whole thing very, very strange indeed. In truth I was freaked out a little by it all. I compared what I was like at that age...and remembered that I was happiest in my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle t-shirt initially and then progressed to Arsenal football kits and little else. When I wanted to look more mature I went to the shop and naively 'puffed' on candy cigarettes and applied the Superman tattoo to my arm. But damn this publication and the evidence below suggests that kids grow up fast these days.

Two straw fedoras belonging to two stylish prepubescents

Just as I recovered from the shock of Vogue Enfants I encountered two well style prepubescents over on the Sartorialist and Facehunter wearing strikingly similar ensembles including matching straw fedoras (something not lost on Thom either). The little star captured by Mr Schuman has already generated a great deal of attention amongst commenters (155 and counting) and the general consensus is that he is adorable. The cut of his jacket and length of cuff is spot on. Not only is he extremely well turned out but he knows how to pose far better than me! I need to pull my finger out, I'm not ready yet to beaten so easily by those so young. The slightly older chap snapped by Facehunter once again out dresses me and seems to posses more attitude.

Whilst on the subject on being out styled by the 'small people' I would like to cast your minds back to a little GQ feature on an eight year old. Thom first brought Arlo Weiner to my attention back in March whilst showcasing the eight year old's style and declaring "Arlo Weiner, son of Mad Men creator Matt Weiner, is simply one of the most stylish people, anywhere, of any age." I have to agree with him. Thom subsequently threatened to give up the style game when he encountered Luca and Daniel via the NY Times and again these boys are depressingly well put together.

I am only twenty five but feel like a past his prime Father gasping for air whilst watching his Son beat him at yet another sport. What is happening? Is Wayne Szalinski really to blame for this sustained influx of stylish nippers? What do you make of these little folk, are you in awe like me whilst finding it all a little creepy and wrong? The fact that I am being out styled by someone who could well still wet the bed is not what scares me but rather the thought of what these kids could become when they grow up! I will leave you digest this fear inducing thought whilst admiring their respective getups...

Picture Postcard: Vintage May

I stumbled across the above image over on the ever aesthetically pleasing Coute Que Coute and felt it a fitting shot to represent the beginning of May and the long weekend. In the month of May you really (or atleast should) begin to notice a change in the weather and ultimately opt for lighter layering whilst showing off a little more skin. During this month I'll strive to explore a new style or two whilst showing you the experiments (good and bad). The image is taken from a look provided by a vintage store based in Sodermalm called Herr Judit (I'm certainly due another visit to the Swedish capital to explore the strong menswear offerings). The store sell and buy vintage and designer wear (mostly) for men. The selected shot has reminded me of how fruitful vintage shopping can be so I'll begin my hunt to add a few Spring/Summer options in the realm of second hand. Off to Bang Bang and then beyond this weekend then...

Latest movie…

What Turns You On? from The Style Scout on Vimeo.

Susie Bubble, Facehunter, Le Femme and many more appear in a 2 min film we entered into the recent Virgin Media’s shorts contest…

Below another movie I made in the depths of winter on a Saturday night when we stayed in blogging, and the movie traces my travels through the blogosphere that night with some of the the accompanying music I recall hearing through last.fm on that occasion…

Saturday Night In... from The Style Scout on Vimeo.

A Collage Too Far...

A Collage Too Far from The Style Scout on Vimeo.

JLo Mash (half-finished)

JLo Mash from The Style Scout on Vimeo.

Growing in to a personal uniform

Inspiration from Oily Boy

Following an interesting article over on Valet, EJ posted a thought provoking look at the idea of having a personal unform which left such an impression on me that I'm still pondering it. I like the idea of owning and becoming one or two outfits. The clothes would come together to form a signature of sorts, a recognisable trademark. Once you've found that secret formula (if it even exists) of a great outfit the key should be to tweak as you go, accessories and colour can certainly be experimented with to breathe fresh life in to any outfit. In a relatively recent feature on WWD Thom Browne stated...“It’s the beauty in the uniformity that I find refreshing. Not having so much choice is what I find refreshing,” Indeed, Browne is well known for his regimented daily habits, which extend to the shrunken grey suits and white button-down oxford shirts he dons every morning but could this be for me?

Earlier this week Susie declared to me that when she hits a certain age she will embrace the dark colour palette and relaxed fit world of Yohji Yamamoto for her personal uniform which made me question who I would turn to as I matured. During an afternoon of procrastination I found myself discussing this very subject with John. He declared he would 'love to be a Yohji and Issey man with a sprinkling of Comme' for good measure and this certainly struck a chord with my me. John also recalled his pleasant surprise at viewing images of CdG x H&M collaboration launch and noticing a significant number of middle aged plus enthusiasts thumbing the rails. We both found this loyalty to certain brands admirable. It soon became apparent that the names we were discussing were extremely Japanese focused, including Visvim, Porter Yoshida as well as those already mentioned above). For us Japanese old man style is hard to beat and this is just one of the reasons we love Oily Boy so much. The gentlemen contained in the pages are of a certain generation who have learned how to wear their clothes not let their clothes wear them.

My personal uniform could quite easily come from Casely-Hayford's aw09 collection.

I decided to sleep on the question of who I would turn to to create my personal uniform today. My answer constantly evolves because I'm still in a stage of experimentation...I've not quite reached that age yet where I can say..I want to wear this, this is me and then stick to it. However, my current pick of designers to supply such a uniform would be Casely-Hayford. Along with Fashion156 we were offered a sneak peak at their AW09 collection long before anyone else had and I instantly fell for the mix of tailoring and sportswear. A number of labels attempt to combine a street and sport aesthetic with formal tailoring but very few truly pull it off and the father and son design duo undeniably do so. The tailoring fits perfectly with my current sartorial aesthetic as it is full of interesting features such as a dropped hem on a single breasted jacket and the ribbed cuffed trousers in tweed jersey. This is tailoring for the 21st gentleman and I would love to be that gentleman. Which designer(s) would you turn to in order to create your personal uniform?