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Your Arsenal | A ‘90210′ Inspired Look

December 7, 2009 in Attire by Your Arsenal | 1 comment

Being a long time New Yorker you may hate me after reading this next sentence but I politely ask you to hold your judgments until the end. I am a huge fan of LA.

I guess some may consider me bicoastal (specifically my roommate) when every Saturday morning I dominate the living room with the old gang of West Beverly High School. Yes Donna Martin, Brenda Walsh and Dylan McKay are all there and up to their typical angst driven antics. Aside from the typical nostalgia (yes I was a teen during the original airing) I can’t help but notice that the high top sneakers and light stone washed denim finishes resonate just as strongly today as they did back then. The early 90’s are back in fashion (save Steve Sanders’ faded Mullet) and the infamous 90210 zip code has once again become a source of style thanks to SoapNet and DVR.

The Spring 2010 runways gave authority when they heralded in the resurgence of all things 90’s with baggier silhouettes and bright vivid colors. Ethnic chic, reminiscent of Cross Colours, was evident in the Givenchy’s collection, which highlighted African prints and oversized separates. Locals may remember Z. Cavaricci. For anyone from New York or New Jersey these pants were IT! High waisted and/or pleated with a roomy thigh, these relaxed garments epitomized an affordable take on runway fashion that any Guido from Staten Island can appreciate. The look is on point in Salvatore Ferragamo’s show who kept the relaxed movement, color palette and detailing of Cavaricci pants but updated the fabrics and straightened the leg, keeping it stylish and extremely wearable. But how does the typical guy translate these looks?

Ray Petri’s Buffalo Boys Return

November 10, 2009 in Fashion, Music by Jeremy Lewis | 2 comments

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Stylist Olivier Rizzo evokes Buffalo Style for Arena Homme +

The vision of stylist Ray Petri has proved itself as one of the most potent and influential aesthetics in men’s fashion. And in 2009, his mid 80’s-early 90’s defining Buffalo look is on the cusps of a comeback…

The juxtaposition between masculine and feminine, high and low, and especially hard and soft are the basics of Ray Petri’s Buffalo style. The look defined the youth energy of the 80’s and early 90’s as Neneh Cherry’s “Buffalo Stance” (above) and magazines like The Face and I-D brought it into pop culture. Buffalo style redefined symbolism in men’s dress, erasing away their historical meaning and leaving the most cherished sartorial traditions fair game to subversion.

TOP 10 Spring 2010 Collections

September 24, 2009 in Fashion by Faggoting | 5 comments

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Throughout the menswear collections was a feeling of the late 80’s and the early 90’s, a look back to the soft ethnic inspirations of Armani, Ray Petri’s buffalo style, the era’s strange masculine fervor that seemed at once bullish and poetic, and its hard earned, unbridled optimism. Casting this season has seen a change with more men of color on the runways since the early 90’s, a promising sign of new perceptions in beauty. Something is in the air. That period, like our own, found designers and consumers reconciling a decade of excess and consumption, waning towards an essentialist point of view, and grabbing at any reference they could that would allow them to feel grounded and whole. The best collections understood this energy, absorbed that energy, and transmuted it into something new.

The stakes are higher now than they were 20 years ago. At that time, designer mens fashion was a minuscule niche, its importance no further realized than accessories and handbags. But in the past 10 years it has become an industry engine of its own, more than a platform for fine tailoring; designers have used their menswear collections to voice their perspective on the world and to subvert the male identity into so many varied dimensions. Just in time for the new decade, here are the top 10 collections that are boldly pushing ahead, defining a new era.

Givenchy Spring 2010: Les Cités

July 1, 2009 in Fashion by Faggoting | 2 comments

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Ricardo Tisci’s hard edged, flagrant, and often questionable in taste collections have been given a lot of flak, his latest menswear presentation for Givenchy is no exception. For spring 2010 he reprised his Latino hero, this time with souvenirs from a trip to North Africa. In the context of European fashion, where Milan and Paris reign and where it’s a predominately Caucasian audience with “Europeo” tastes, his collections are indeed tacky, vulgar, and what some may consider tedious. But you move to the Latin or even the Urban world and its meaning changes from that of vapid flash and charmless bling to a harmonious mix of cultural expression, as relevant and potent as the lives beyond white Europe and North America that they are inspired by.

Givenchy: Straight Up Hood

January 26, 2009 in Fashion, Uncategorized by Faggoting | 2 comments

Paris Men’s Fashion Week Fall 2009: Givenchy by Ricardo Tisci

This is Ricardo Tisci’s sophomore collection for Givenchy’s menswear division, notable in the least because it marks the second occasion he has designed for men. If Tisci’s Givenchy woman is a spicy, indulgent, and unapologetic Latina best represented by muse Maria Carla Boscono, then the Givenchy man is more than her match. This is an example of what superb styling and casting can do for a collection. Bucking the trend for tiny prickish looking white boys Tisci’s team went for a totally foreign (to Paris fashion week) look evocative of the street in an ingenious and hyper sexual way. The overall effect gave a contrast and balance between hard and soft that echoes the styling of the late Ray Petri (a for sure sign of a coming revival of the era). The clothes themselves play with notions of good taste v.s. bad taste, masculine v.s. feminine, and if not for the presentation could possibly be construed as tacky. But that’s the fun of fashion and it’s that sense of humor and daring that Tisci is bringing to the house. And lest we not forget, sex sells.