The Dandy Project

Futur du Maroc

Izzy — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:18:32 +0000

Here’s a creative project I completed recently with a very talented photographer, my friend Alex Kirzhner.

Futur du Maroc means Future Morocco in french. I wanted to channel the feeling of Casablanca in the year 2050: not all that different from today. Spare, handsome tailoring, punctuated by little touches that are loosely Moorish, vaguely cyborg, all very moody and odd.

See the entire editorial featuring Marc Massa, Keith Hernandez, and Nicola Wincenc on The Fashionisto. You can see it posted on HommeModel as well.

My Old Calvins

Izzy — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:15:52 +0000

Alexander Wang t-shirt, vintage Calvin Klein jeans, Giorgio Brutini shoes

In the spirit of minimalism and my love for the 90′s, I decided to extract an old pair of mid-rise, stonewash, regular fit Calvin Klein jeans from the recesses of my family’s attic back home.

There’s something that feels sexy and suddenly fresh– in the way the jeans sit at the smallest part of your waist and how the looser, straight cut obscures the shape of the legs so often jarringly evident on men today in their skinny trousers.

stonewash and a silver wrench cuff by Husam El-Odeh

photographs by Hudson Shively

Mother

Izzy — Sun, 13 May 2012 16:58:16 +0000

Celine micro luggage tote in brown, gray, and green calfskin and suede

To the diamond of a woman who taught me never to live life half-baked, and who instilled in me the virtue of choosing to always be overdressed than underdressed: a handbag brown like your natural hair color, gray like mine, and may your girl-friends be green with envy. Happy Mother’s Day.

New Feet

Izzy — Thu, 10 May 2012 15:07:23 +0000

Getting these oxfords by Common Projects is like getting new feet—perfectly shaped, stacked-wood-heeled feet in the warmest shade of tan.

Common Projects tan leather oxfords

The beauty of skin-toned shoes is the gentleness with which they punctuate an outfit. I find them to be more useful than the more nondescript, but aggressively dark black shoes. Is there anything more versatile than naked?

Dries Van Noten pants, Marks and Spencer socks

vintage Calvin Klein stonewash jeans, FILA ankle socks

special thanks to Peter Poopat of Common Projects

The Casual Eau de Parfum

Izzy — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:35:12 +0000

Since I switched to wearing eau de parfum scents, stronger and more concentrated than eau de toilette, I’ve always been on the lookout for a good, everyday scent: potent, but not overpowering; wearable, but not forgettable. Le Labo’s Santal 33 has worked wonders for me, but when people were starting to be aware of my presence from half a street block away, my need for elusiveness prompted a time for change. When I was introduced to Six Scents, a line of perfumes formulated by the world’s best noses, in collaboration with today’s most interesting designers, I knew I had found my new fragrance.

fragrances from Six Scents Series Three

See, with my other Eau de Parfums, Tuscan Leather by Tom Ford, for example, dark and heady and intoxicatingly sexy, I feel a need to own up to the handsomeness of scent—grow a full beard, gaze into nothingness with smoldering eyes, make the world around me black and white and grainy and move in it like a French film star. A Six Scents fragrance has body; it’ll stay there, you can smell it, but it isn’t so strong as to define your day.

The brainchild of Seven New York's Joseph Quartana, Six Scents collaborates with today's most relevant designers. Series Two features a few of my favorites: Damir Doma, Henrik Vibskov, and Phillip Lim.

at the Six Scents showroom

an interesting installation at Six Scents, and a great summer fragrance: "Solar Donkey Power" by Henrik Vibskov, with notes of pine, moss, and incense that evoke the feeling of stepping into a hot tub on a winter's day

my new casual eau de parfum, a collaboration with one of the designers I hold in very high regard: Daisuke Obana for N. Hoolywood. He mixes distinctively Japanese green scents such as hiba tree and sugi leaves, as well as the scent of motor oil, which distinctly reminds him of the childhood smell-memory of engine oil in his father’s car. It's odd, and intriguing, but it works.

The Six Scents online shop

Shirt as Jacket

Izzy — Wed, 02 May 2012 06:08:52 +0000

When I was twelve, I had the audacity to wear my button-down shirts open with a white t-shirt underneath. I was the height of fashion then.

Jil Sander shirt, Uniqlo pants, 3.1 Phillip Lim bag, Dr. Martens shoes

I’ve taken to wearing shirts as jackets, especially on days I’ve got my hands full with my creative pursuits of styling or photography. It’s easy, and freer than a proper tailored jacket, and chest pockets prove immensely useful. Quilted shirts on these early spring days, lighter ones as the weeks pass.

the geometry of a quilted Jil Sander shirt

the new extension of my apartment: my white Phillip Lim 31 Hour Weekender

Dr. Martens laced up and under---just like the cool kids back then

photographs by Kyle Morrison

Clean

Izzy — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 04:21:18 +0000

I had been crushing on the Phillip Lim 31 Hour Bag—there was something about its perfect form, like a minimalist, barebones Birkin, and the succinct idea of a fold-over zip-up top that made it so difficult to get it out of my head. I paid a visit to the boutique in SoHo, hoping to dispel any of my feelings toward this bag. I sought out to look for questionable craftsmanship, say, a cranky zipper, or sticky leather, a poor rendition of the color, any flaw that would wean me off of this pressing infatuation, but I found nothing. Before I knew it, I was committed.

3.1 Phillip Lim 31 Hour Weekender in white

Morphability always gets me—it’s the little boy in me; I like my things to be multi-functional, like Transformers—and the multiple alternate ways by which you can form the bag (with the lips folded out to make an open tote, or unzipped and folded in to make a smaller, shoulder bag, or fully zipped and upright, slightly scrunched under the handle when full) left me deeply enamored.

the 31 Hour Bag's multi-functional zipped opening

Just like Birkins, there little signifiers on the 31 Hour Bags that help tell what particular model one is looking at. For example, leather zipper pulls are placed on the men's weekender bag, while cylindrical metal zipper pulls are in the slightly narrower and taller women's weekenders.

The bag's minimal design, hardware-light with nary a d-ring on any of the handles, unlined with nothing inside besides a leather zipped pocket, makes the large all-leather bag light as a canvas tote.

My new white bag, in leather ever so slightly nubby, the texture of bond paper, sits on my bed blank and pristine tonight. But with every drip of tea, every hurried landing on a photo studio floor, every crowded brush in the subway with a loud lady in a spiked jacket and her girl friend in damp, deep-blue indigo jeans—every nick and smudge blurred by every unexpected running through the rain to only God knows where, every day will scratch the story of my life on my once clean bag.

Lessons from Old Helmut

Izzy — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 19:27:38 +0000

I find myself looking back at so much of Helmut Lang’s work when he still designed for the company, and I feel like I’ve struck gold. As a high-school boy in the late nineties, I saw his bondage-strapped white shirts and pencil-pointy shoes and found them so plain yet almost so frightening; I thought to myself, “These must be clothes for very cool people.” I have the tendency to appreciate designers’ work only after they leave their namesake labels, so call me backwards, but it is worth noting how much he was ahead of his time, and I thought I’d share all this inspiration with you.

Subtly tweaked classic shapes with provocative detailing (and not that much color) make for very strong sartorial statements.

There is a DIY charm to the chaps layered over the pants, cut-up t-shirts strewn around button-downs, and spray-stenciled words.

Art and Fashion are sisters. (Robert Mapplethorpe photographs in Helmut Lang ads)

A little peek-a-boo never hurt anybody. (Helmut Lang Spring/Summer 2004)

And neither did a flash of silver.

There is beauty in absurdity.

And power in a strong photograph.

Subtle, odd, and somewhat obscured accessorizing can sometimes be the most impactful.

scans and photographs via The Fashion Spot and Superfuture

Rajo Laurel x The Dandy Project (Part I)

Izzy — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 06:37:53 +0000

Rajo Laurel is making me a jacket and I am very excited about it. I grew up watching Rajo’s designs steadily take over the Philippine entertainment industry. His striking, upbeat, and noticeably flattering dresses have revived many a falling star; he has since conquered American television, and is stocked worldwide. To have the talented Filipino couturier design me a jacket from scratch brings me so much honor; I can’t wait to share this collaboration with you. I wanted a light everyday spring jacket, with touches of a tribute to my Filipino heritage.

The Ivatan Jacket (clockwise): Rajo's sketch, Philippine rockstar Rico Blanco in a black barong, sample Ivatan embroidery, and a Jehee Sheen jacket (images via Rajo Laurel and Rico Blanco)

I wanted to try something that’ll be a loose take on the traditional Philippine garment, the barong Tagalog. Mine will be made out of black overdyed pineapple cloth (which I could most precisely describe as a more fibrous, more structured organza), with the vaguely chicken-scratch-esque embroidery in either black or cream, for higher contrast. I thought the single button and the pockets on the Jehee Sheen jacket would be functional; but we’ll be doing this jacket a little shorter for more punch. This one will take me quite easily from a day of shopping around the LES to dinner in Brooklyn.

a collage of handiwork by the Filipino ethnic group, the Ivatan (via Rajo Laurel)

The second, much dandier option, was inspired by the Philippine artist Juvenal Sansó. My parents own a few of his pieces, and I’ve always particularly liked his dreamy, distorted florals. I remember Rajo once did a ball skirt fully covered in the most vibrant Spanish roses in red, outlined in black, and I thought he could channel a bit of that into my jacket.

The Sanso Jacket: Rajo's sketch, paintings by Juvenal Sanso, Thomas in NYC (via Rajo Laurel, Naquem, and Stil in Berlin)

The jacket will be in a wool-silk blend, fully lined, and the embroidery will all be hand-done, with hand-painted accents. I love the way the belt bisects the floral embroidery, and though I staunchly resist color (I am considering having all the embroidery done in black), this casually belted bouquet of Juvenal Sansó cabbage-flowers in the deepest of jewel tones proves undeniably alluring.

the Juvenal Sansó painting in my parents' living room

I’m going to spend many a lunch hour mulling over which jacket option to pursue—a task inherently cruel. If only a boy could get all the custom-made jackets he could ever want.

Rajo Laurel at work at his studio (December 2010)

Which one do you think I should get?

Bare Basics

Izzy — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 17:43:10 +0000

I’m feeling very minimal now. Not so much the minimalism that will be a passing fad, but more about restraint and thoughtfulness in clothing oneself. This editorial by Danish photographer Jannie Stentoft for The Dandy Project perfectly embodies my down-day mood: bare basics that are scant but not obscene, relaxed but not lousy, young and moody and beguiling like a 90s Calvin Klein daydream.

cut-off shorts and a sweater that appears to have been slept in

a cut-out tank that is more nonchalant than non-existent

denim: slim but not skin-tight

Fashion is so much fun, but when all is said and done, men look best in perfect-fitting basics, no color, and not much else.

photographs by Jannie Stentoft