Now here is the second of the two "stories" I've "poached" from fashionologie. H&M has already begun to preview its 2008 Fall collection, just as the weather is starting to really heat up. Plus for the past two years I have had a very serious love hate relationship with the brand ( Madonna, anyone?), but lately, with the recent hiring of Rei Kawakubo to do a capsule collection, they seem to be getting back on track. And all this does is make me super excited for two reasons, a) an H&M just opened up here in downtown Montreal ( and its a big one), and b) fashion wise, I prefer Fall/Winter over Spring/Summer, mainly because I love richer and heavier fabrics as well as richer and darker tones. Plus I feel you can be a lot creative and inventive with the array of types of clothing and accessories available during the colder months of the year ( though one could argue that one should never need to try to be creative or inventive, but it doesn't make my statement any less true). H&M, it seems has taken a page from Forever 21's design principle and seems to have "borrowed" many ideas from the Fall runway shows, but its not as blatant ( except for the Chloé cone-heel shoes). There's a lot of pattern, but the colour palette is very sombre, mixed with some bright pieces, and you can see strong influences from Marni, Chloé, Stella McCartney, some March Jacobs, etc. But the clothes are beautiful and if this is what they're going to be selling in the very near future, it seems like I'll be making plenty of trips to the H&M down the street.
Plus, I love full skirts and patterned tights.

There are many more pics at Fashionologie

Hundred millions of people worship God, respect him and want to be him. Although we don’t have divine powers to create Adam and Eve in our backyards we dream of becoming a greater man than the neighbor living next door. Becoming an influential entrepreneur so high on the hierarchy that we can play basketball with the moon has been the life goal of many male two legged creatures on earth. The epitome of entrepreneurship is building an entire consisting of business spread across there different continents with you holding the control of all firms with an iron grip. It's time to examine life at the top.

Waving a business card as friend eating dinner with you on a Friday evening is a lost art. The business card has simply lost its status of giving people the perception that the owner is a big time hitter. With countless of internet site offering 100-250 business cards for a mere €/$4 a highly computer literate porn surfing 14 years old boy can order a batch tonight and have them in his bedroom on Monday morning.

In the midst of the business card left on the curb the pen is still left standing tall. Since the introduction of PCs handwriting is a lost art. Despite all the technology enabling us to live weeks without even touching a writing instrument, the pen is still one of the most powerful instruments in the world. All treaties, business contracts and marriages are still sealed with signatures using a good trust worthy pen. So what better way is there to awe fellow acquaintances and business partners by pulling out a silver 30 gram fountain pen out of your left chest pocket?

Premium writing instruments tend to be overlooked because people are content with the free pens they have collected from various banks, conventions and post offices. What the masses are missing out on is the efficiency of premium writing pens. Writing with some premium ball point pens is like ironing a silk shirt, 100% smooth with your soft hands barely having to apply any pressure because gravity and the weight of the pen does all the work for you. As a CEO you don’t want to do any unnecessary labor of pressing the pen hard against paper, slapping it or nudging the tip on your tongue just to get the ink flowing. Naturally the average man shouldn’t go off and buy a €8 000 Montblanc pen unless they are sitting behind a mahogany table with a banker's lamp on it like Hayden Christensen in the movie Awake.

Laying in the bed wrapped around in Egyptian cotton the morning begin with flicking through a news paper reading the headlines, latest acquisitions and scanning for any interesting news in the corporate world. After a breakfast drinking freshly pressed juice and eating croissants brought to your residence every morning by a catering company you jump into your standard attire, tailored suits.

With an appetite for three piece suits and double breasted suits you have an established relationship with a Savile Row tailor like Richard Anderson or Norton & Sons who served Winston Churchill back in the late/early 1900s. Naturally you don’t have to waste time visiting the store, instead, the store visit you at the office letting you browse through look books of new materials.

A) B)

C) D)

E) F)


Yes, trench coats are investment pieces that'll never go out of style, but there comes point when the idea of seeing another trench makes you wanna dry heave. So here are some lovely summer coats that can easily serve you well as trench alternatives.


A) Vanessa Bruno Athé, Collarless Swing Coat, $ 570.00 ( net-a-porter)
B) Mike and Chris, Rowan Biker Jacket , $ 260.00 ( net-a-porter)
C) Opening Ceremony Classic Flare Coat, $ 575.00 ( net-a-porter)
D) Forever 21 , Safari Drawstring Jacket $ 24.80 (Forever 21)
E) Anna Sui, Cropped Studded Jacket, $ 505.00 ( net-a-porter)
F) Day Birger et Mikkelson Cotton Cropped Jacket, ( net-a-porter)

This will be a short post because there is simply not a lot of info on this model out there, besides some of his most recent ad campaigns and editorials. But his pictures and general "look" is so captivating, I decided to post about him anyways. Patrick Petitjean is a French up and coming model who always sports a very burly, woodsman-like, beard. I stumbled across one of his pictures somewhere and he instantly become one my favourite male models. The only thing else I could find out about him was that he was born in 1984, and maybe he's an antiques dealer when he's not modeling. He's done editorials for British GQ, GQ Style, Arena Homme +, and has modeled for the Ungaro' SS08 collection. He was also the face of Gianfranco Ferre fall 2007 ad campaign. I like the mystique and I like the intensity with which he takes pictures. I don't usually post about models but like I said, he caught my attention. Plus I sorta love beards.

Images from: nymag.com
Bio info from: mymag.com and http://100malemodels.blogspot.com/2008/02/patrick-petitjean-in-malo-ss08.html

As The Style Box has already reported, this year's theme for the annual Fashion Cares fund-raising event for AIDS research, which last year took place in Toronto's Distillery Districts, is Halloween. Which is a little odd because its scheduled for November 1st but should inspire some truly awe inciting fashions and line-up of performers. So far the charity has raised over 10 million dollars since its inception in 1987 and if you're in the Toronto area, tickets go on sake September 6th. One of my favourite aspects of this event, besides all the money raised for AIDS research, is that a couple of weeks leading up to the event the Downtown Bay windows are always decorating in the theme of that year's fund-raiser. A couple of year's ago it was Bollywood meets Hollywood, and before that Moulin Rouge, and though I hated that movie ( yes I know I'm in the minority with that one) I love turn of the century Victorian boudoir fashions, so it still very much excited me. Michale King, chair of the event, has been quoted saying that the focus this year is to put the fashion back in Fashion Cares, which also excites and it should be interesting to see exactly how they plan to do this this year. Anyways, if you're not at all familiar with the event here's a video featuring Miss Dita Von Tease,who a performer at the event. pleas ignore the fact that the event was hosted by Jay Manuel. Enjoy!
Oh and For more info heres the web-site :
http://www.fashioncares.com/index.html

The latest prancing horse born in the stable of Maranello based car manufacturer is the Ferrari California. Developed to fill a void in the Ferrari Line up the California is a GT aimed to take on top selling sports cars like the Porsche 997 Turbo and Mercedes SL63 AMG. Powered by a 4.3L V8 the California will offer an exhilarating experienced with a roaring high pitched sound waves leaving the exhaust pipes.

Although the California will the typical sporty Ferrari experience with précis handling and a high sporty natural inspired engine, Ferrari have nurtured the California to be a tame horse. With a double clutch transmission the car will ensure fast but smooth gear changes as opposed to the sequential F1 transmission offered in the 599GTB and F430 Scuderia which use hydraulic pressure pushing gears for ultra fast gear changes. Additionally the 454hp California will come with a hard top folding roof making the car usable all year around. To make the car more appealing as a daily driver there are two backseats which sadly can only be used by hobbits…………….with detachable legs. Price is yet to be announced but has been said to land in the $/€165 000-180 000 region similar to the F430. As a bonus carbon ceramic brakes will be standard as opposed to being offer as a €/$12 000 option.

One might wonder why the car wasn’t named Ferrari Alaska or Tennessee. The name California wasn’t chosen because Ferrari fancies the accent of the current Californian governor nor because California account for close to 15% of Ferrari’s sales. Thought of as one of the most beautiful cars ever made the 250 California GT became the inspiration for Ferrari’s latest model. Instead of classy chrome details very chose the path of walking away from strict lines and have crafted the new California with free flowing organic lines. Radio DJ Chris for a record breaking $10.9 million.

The doors to additional contributors are now unlocked making it possible for those with fashion journalism ambitions to participate in evolving this blog. Bear in mind that this is a high fashion blog and not a street or formal wear blog, so your taste and perspective on fashion and lifestyle should be high compatible with the existing content here. On the other hand new ideas and suggests are highly welcomed as well.

Qualities sought after.

Passion: You love writing or you are suffering from verbal diarrhea and love expressing your opinion.

I has a crayon: Writing skills are naturally essential and it’s not just about stringing sentences together but fabricating material which is enjoyable to read.

Witty-ness: Preferable you are unofficially an artist who love painting pictures using words and know how to write with style and poise.

Welcome to the internet: Knowing your way around the internet is essential. Skills in Photoshop are highly appreciated.

Creativity: There is nothing I value higher than a great personality pair with the creativity of just randomly coming up with cool stuff. This blog isn’t a dry “Fashion Guide for Men” so those of you with interest should shine with bright character and flair.

The obvious: Fashion must be one of your biggest obsessions in life, high fashion in particular and like previous stated your perspective has to be compatible with material already available on the blog. Preferably you are already a blogger but those who aren’t are highly welcomed as well as long as they love fashion, know how to express themselves and pull magical articles and features out of a hat.

Interested? Hit me up with a letter at the email address listed on the right.

If there’s one celebrity who have, during the latest 12 months, become customary on the Paris and Milan fashion shows then it must be Kanye West. With a fetish for the initials LV, Kanye’s frequent visits on the front row of Louis Vuitton’s fashion shows have turned him into a front row hopper during fashion season.

With men’s SS09 fashion weeks commencing next month, Kanye’s mail box is probably cramped with glossy and nicely decorated fashion invitations from Louis Vuitton, Lanvin, V&R, Marc Jacobs, John Galliano and other designer’s the hip hop phenomenon has bonded with. Quite different privileges his super star status has granted him compared with us mortal who would have to beg and sent flowers to the PR-people in our contact lists in order to get a last minute invitation to a fashion show.

One might suspect that his front row fascination is all for flossin and the sweet sensation of spotting a chair with paper displaying your name, but Kanye’s admiration for fashion is genuine. Although sitting on first row comes with a high degree of status Kanye has throughout his music career expressed his love for high fashion with pretty styled hip hop outfits. Likewise with his music he walks down his own path. At fashion shows he tones down on the street wear but yet managed to put on a little show of his own with tasteful but yet fresh and vivid outfits.

Being a chameleon by adapting to different occasions without compromising your demeanor and character too much is a skill few people posses. Naturally Kanye’s taste in music will translate into his clothes but still he has his feet on the ground and managed to impress at both high fashion shows and at kick ass hip hop festivals.

New Richmond recruit Ben Cousins has been drug tested during his first 2009 training session. Crows call: Big season tipped for Hentschel Flying: Hawthorn break 30,000 members barrier--> Your say: Is Ben Cousins worth the risk?--> Play video: Cousins breaks his silence-->