My evolutionary process is ever changing. After trying on an office space for a few months, I’ve realized that it doesn’t quite fit me. So I’m stripping down my studio apartment to the bare essentials to accommodate what I call a “hotel chic” aesthetic. It’s all about less but better.
Apparently, it’s been about 15 years since Joseph Abboud showed a collection on the runway. His name hasn’t really come up on my radar in a long time, except when I’ve seen his name in collaboration with Men’s Wearhouse in ads on the sides of city buses.
In the second season of the resuscitated New York Men’s Fashion Week that took place in the first week of February, Abboud not only popped back up on the grid, he won. His brutally elegant Fall/Winter 2016 collection was filthy with rich fabrics and textures cut into classically British tailored silhouettes with an American flair. Wools, tweeds, velvets. And he really punched up the accessories with a decidedly masculine flourish. “Rugged dandyism,” he called it. And the healthy-looking, well-fed, full-grown models were part of the statement: no hairless, prepubescent waifs, and yet no overly-bearded hipsters, either. This was no bro collection. This was a fantastic collection of clothes for real men.
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Baz Luhrmann’s brand of screen story. My memories of Moulin Rouge and The Great Gatsby recall cocaine-paced tapestries colored in a muted Skittles palette and laced with ecstasy. Audio/visual orgies for the attention-deficit set, pumping at 130 beats per minute.
The Get Down, Luhrmann’s new project for Netflix, looks like something infinitely more interesting to me. Set against the backdrop of the broke and broken New York of the 1970s, the show is a Bronx tale of a different flavor, telling the story of the birth of disco, punk and hip-hop.
Fragrance is the intangible accessory. I’ve written about smelling good (or at least smelling clean) from a personal grooming perspective several times here, but I’ve never written about ambient fragrances.
I imagine most people don’t consider the way a room smells unless it’s bad or overpowering, like many hyper-scented retail spaces I’ve experienced. But our sense of smell is a strong one that consciously or subconsciously ties us positively or negatively to our experiences with people, places and things. For that reason, I’m very sensitive to aroma and I’m a big fan of a room that smells nice.
In this episode, I talk about Jessica Jones, a great new original Netflix series that is also part of the Marvel universe. Like its terrific “brother” show Daredevil, it takes place mostly in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC, in the wake of the alien invasion incident from The Avengers.
Speaking of Hell’s Kitchen, I was recently sentenced to a day of community service after being stopped on Ninth Avenue by NYPD for making a rolling stop through a red light on my bicycle. In the interest of safer streets in the city, NYC has implemented an initiative called “Vision Zero,” which I wholly support with its interest in safer streets for everyone. However, ticketing bicyclists is an exertion of energy and resources toward the wrong target, in my opinion.
I’m also putting the finishing touches on my December 2015 Spotify playlist for your enjoyment.
Thanks for listening!
I had the pleasure and privilege of being interviewed for the September issue of W42ST, the magazine for and about Hell’s Kitchen, the New York City neighborhood I’ve called home for nearly twenty years.
As a bicycle rider, I’m a fan and a practitioner of the “Idaho Stop,” a practice in which a bicyclist makes a rolling stop or a pause at a stop sign and a full stop at a red light, then proceeding if the coast is clear. Essentially, for bicyclists, a stop sign is treated like a yield sign, and a red light is treated like a stop sign. For the operator of a 30 pound bicycle with no blind spots as opposed to a 4 ton SUV with plenty of them, it’s reasonable and logical.
Hell’s Kitchen has a lot of barbershops. Most of these barbershops are designed with an unfortunate formula that includes bad lighting, ill-considered furnishings and a front window showcasing photos that look like grooming images from an International Male catalog. A guy who is sensitive to his surroundings and looking for a good and fairly priced haircut in a handsome, masculine and tasteful setting would be challenged to find a positive experience in Midtown West. Until now.
When Alec Baldwin took his podcast to television, it turned into an imitation of Charlie Rose on what looked like a discarded diner set from a soap opera and it didn’t work. The podcast form was perfect, and I’m thrilled Here’s the Thing is back where it belongs. I have been a fan since its beginning. Intelligent conversation with really interesting people, and this episode is no exception. Tennis legend John McEnroe talks passionately about growing up, fatherhood, elitism, New York City and, of course, tennis. Great listen.
For years, Clarence Eckerson from Streetfilms and Hal Ruzal from Bicycle Habitat in NYC have been collaborating on a short (and very helpful) web video series called “Hal Grades Your Bike Locking.” Clarence asked me to come along for the newest installment so Hal could grade my bike locking. I won’t reveal my grade until the full video comes out on May 5, but I will say that it was pretty consistent with my GPA.
In this teaser/outtake, Hal and I each share a brief story about having a bike (or part of it) stolen.