Here are a couple of hand picked trends for this season, featuring beautiful photography and a reinvention of classic looks. Magazines like Esquire show how it’s possible to rework the fashion image of your favorite icon, like James Dean, and bring it into 2011. Also let’s not forget the importance of accessories, in this case, ties and new shoes.

Man in Charge: Bring Back the Suit

Pair it with this set by Daniel Dolce:

Tips from Esquire: Get the Right Fit

If you’re a member of the one-size-up, I-like-my-jacket-roomy club, the DB suit is not for you. The jacket should hug your sides, the sleeves should be cut slim, and the shoulders should have as little padding as possible. The close fit you get with most of today’s double-breasted suits is essential for pulling it off.

Tips from Esquire: Give the DB Suit a Chance

Used to be that wearing a suit to work was an act of submission, of following a code. But today it’s more like an act of aggression — that in a world in which suiting up is increasingly seen as optional, wearing a suit, much less one of the new breed of slim-cut double-breasted suits, brands you a maverick. The DB suit is swagger incarnate.

 

Style Icon: James Dean

How can I work plaid in with a tie?? Here’s how:

Shirt and Tie (Plaid)

Get it from CLM: It is true that you can’t have enough ties in your wardrobe. The important thing, however, is having classic, good quality ties that will not fall away (or out of style) due to the impetuous tides of fashion.

And where would we be without shoes? I’ll tell you one thing, you wouldn’t get very far. Don’t be afraid of a little color in both the shoes and the pant. We personally love this bright-ish brown hue of these loafers with the blue pants:

Loyal Reader, we’ll be back soon!

 

 

What is the recent news for OWS?

From every conservative, large corporate angle, OWS protesters receive negative criticism. But that doesn’t mean they are going to stop any time soon. Fox 5, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and other conservative tycoons, uninformed as they may be, are chumming the movement up to a bunch of yuppie kids without a definitive cause. Maybe they failed to read all the detailed initiatives and collective ideas from the OWS website. Maybe they only follow their own news. Whatever the case, take a look at this protester’s surprisingly elegant response to a Fox 5 News reporter’s questions:

Today, November 3rd, 2011, The Port of Oakland was shut down by protesters, almost paralyzing the busy port with activity. All eyes have been on Oakland since the former US Marine was injured by the Oakland police during a protest.

The Guardian.com reports the following:

“Maritime area operations will resume when it is safe and secure to do so,” the port said in a statement. A port spokesman said officials hoped to reopen the facility on Thursday morning. Protesters, who streamed across an overpass to gather in front of the port gates, stood on top of tractor-trailers stopped in the middle of the street. Others climbed on to scaffolding over rail tracks as a band played a version of the Led Zeppelin song Whole Lotta Love, using amplifiers powered by stationary bike generators.

“The reason I’m here is I’m sick and tired of trying to figure out where I should put my vote between the lesser of two evils,” student Sarah Daniel, 28, said at the port. The anti-Wall Street activists, who complain bitterly about a financial system they believe benefits mainly corporations and the wealthy, aim to disrupt commerce with a special focus on banks and other symbols of corporate America.

Protesters, prior to marching on the port, also blocked the downtown intersection of 14th street and Broadway, where ex-marine Scott Olsen was seriously wounded with a head injury during a clash with police on 25 October.”

TOMORROW IN NYC, Meeting at CUNY’s The Graduate Center at 34th and 5th ave for a general assembly. 6pm, November 4th on the 8th floor. This is in an effort to plan for the student week of actions Nov 14th-21st (http://studentweekofaction.wordpress.com/), the city-wide day of actions on the 17th and the student mobilization around tuition hikes on the 21st. Every small organization counts! Let education be the first milestone.

 

 

Modern conveniences have done a lot for mankind–but they’ve also taken a lot away from us. Some things are just better…in their original style. There’s something rushed and hurried about our modern appliances and we rarely have time to simply stop and enjoy the process of an activity. This post is an ode to the past, a nod at nostalgia, in hopes that you reincorporate these little treasures into everyday (or monthly) life.

Record Players: the soothing scratches, the jukebox feel, the tiny needle strumming along…music is just there. As opposed to it electronically radiating from a computer speaker, where it was downloaded illegally on some canceled website. Plus records are super cheap now, around .25 cents if you’re lucky. So go visit your neighborhood record store, if it hasn’t been shut down yet.

 

Herb Crushers: Remember seeing your grandmother crush herbs by hand? Suddenly, and slowly, the kitchen would start to smell of a fresh garden…the churning action at the table, the wooden bowl, the scraping of the crusher. Memories.

 

Candles vs. light bulbs: the eternal glow of the candle, reading at night, wafting natural light from the other room. Plus mix the scent action and you have one amazing antique invention.

Sponge baths: Sure the invention of the modern shower is great, but the activity of cleaning oneself has been reduced to hurried, frantic motions, instead of the alternative: boiling water on an open stove, mixing it with room temperature water in a big bowl, and bathing yourself “naturally.” Try it not just when the electricity or hot water goes out, but on a random Tuesday. You feel ultra-cleansed afterwards and super relaxed.

 

Old Fashioned Soda Pops: the shape of the old glass bottle, the candy/general store feel, the cracking open of a metal cap, the real sugar vs corn syrup. Our standards of soda products have decreased over the past twenty years and it’s no surprise that one gets a real treat in an old fashioned Coke or Cream Soda. The bottles can be used as decorations afterwards around the house, by putting fake or real flowers inside.

Pen and Paper: good old fashioned parchment and ink. Ah! Before the type writer, printing press, and obviously computers, people…wait for it…wrote by hand. Normally by candle light at that. Poets would say the Great Muse actually travels from the top of the head, down the arm, and through the hand. Not enough has been said about the laborious joy of free writing and the surprising creativity that can come from it. Plus it won’t hurt if you work on your handwriting a little..

(Read more…)

 

 

So it’s almost hibernation time. That means you should grab a book, some warm whiskey and tea, and curl up by the fire (or the heater). But going into the library or Barnes and Noble to pick out a great book out of thousands? IMPOSSIBLE….unless you subscribe to Cufflinks’ Favorite Girl: ehm…yours truly.

But before I list off some good reads, be aware that I am biased. I don’t particularly think all of these books are the best specimens of literature in the world, but a must-read-to-be-in-the-cultural know, kind of thing. A mix of classical and contemporary novels, philosophy books, etc.

Top Ten Books for Now

1. Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert: Don’t stop reading the list now. I put this first because it’s style and form are nearly perfect, if that’s ever possible in literature. Norton has a great translation from the french, so be careful which version you chose. Story of an unhappy young woman who marries a country doctor, and finds herself fantasizing about everything else life has to offer: riches, temptation, glamor…sex. Flaubert worked his @$$ off on this one for years…and of course it was first banned for obscenity, lala. Read it.

2. The Trial, by Kranz Kafka: a relatively short narrative on the life of K. who gets caught in the whirlwinds of a deranged bureacratic system, showing the absurdity and ridiculous natures of our own modern power structures.

3. On The Road, by Jack Kerouac: a cult classic, originally written on a long scroll in a breathless, speedy style, the main character travels around the country with his wacky and adventurous friend Dean.

4. The Symposium, by Plato: a discourse on the nature of love. Basically a bunch of philosophers sitting around getting drunk talking about how “love” originated. Pretty interesting stuff.

5. Middlesex/Virgin Suicides,by Jeffrey Eugenides: Obviously these are two different books, but his work is just so amazing that you should read both. A contemporary writer who luckily is still with us and working on another novel, the prosody of these novels is…exceptional, lyrical, and awe-inspiring.

6. Tropic of Capricorn, by Henry Miller: Yes, that brute of a writer. He holds nothing back, a connoisseur of the world, a sex crazed, maniac of a man…banging on his Parisian typewriter in the early 20th century. Lice, roaches, sex houses, and abundance of women all included.

7.Still Life with Woodpecker, by Tom Robbins. A modern, adult fairy tale. One of the funniest books I’ve ever encountered.

8. Hidden Messages in Water,by Dr. Masaru Emoto: A scientific study of water molecules with a spiritual spin…Emoto photographs water molecules from around the world, which are subjected to certain kinds of music, energy, etc. Eye opening account of the importance  and power of water.

9. Bhagavad Gita,by Unknown. A traditional Hindu text, originally written in ancient Sanskrit, follows an exchange between Krishna and solider Arjuna. Insightful and beautiful. (circa 3000 BCE…wow)

10. Beyond Good and Evil/Birth of Tragedy, by Nietzsche. Either book will do, or both if you can. His work is dense, hard to get through, but worth it in the end. You’ll find yourself referring to him or others using his ideas as a reference point throughout your life.

 

 

 

Men can easily get a bad rep for not wearing a Halloween costume. it can show a lack of planning, confidence, and make one seem rather…dull. Don’t be in the “Dull Club” this year. If you haven’t planned something for tonight/tomorrow/or Monday, try any of these quick, humorous choices:
1. God’s Gift to Women
*Dress yourself in all black, take old wrapping paper and tape it around you, put a giant tag on your head that says “To: Women, From: GOD”

2. CD Burner
*String together numerous old CDs, put them around your neck, and carry a big lighter.

3. Quarter Back
*Photocopy a picture of a quarter and tape it to your back

;

 

4. One Night Stand
*Cut a hole, for your head, inside a large old box. Attach book, tissue box (or simply used tissues), and lamp/candle.

5. Paper Shredder
*Carry around a bulk of paper. If someone asks you want to are, start frantically tearing up the paper into shreds.

6. Nudist on Strike
*Wear regular clothes. Attach a large sign to your chest that says “Nudist on Strike!”

7. Cereal “Serial” Killer
* Wear clothes that are kind of rugged and torn. Carry a bloody knife and have blood on your clothes. Attach labels or actual little cereal boxes all over your outfit.