left brain

Winter 07 DG

I love the mohawk boy and the near emaciated boy standing with an extreme crew cut in the second photo.  Sigh.

holy SHIT photoshop !

It is pretty incredible how much work goes from changing the woman or man into the model we all see and believe is real.  I do definitely believe NYC has some absolutely beautiful people in it, many of which I am sure are models since everyone here thinks they are, but this following video is just jaw dropping:

Now if we could just have "photoshop corrective lenses" and the world would be so much more beautiful. :P

Banana anyone?

If you thought American ad campaigns were sometimes a little harsh (like that whole hair incident in the DG ad) then look at these, from Sisley:

Justin's new fashion line

Justin Timberlake (yes, I am writing about him again) and Tracy Ayala (his "best friend") showcased their clothing line this week which will be available at Bloomingdales come mid-November.  Now, if that isn't a reason to go, I don't know what is.  It's called William Rast (after both of their grandfathers).  Yes, adorable... and hot ;)

From the MusicForum:  Stylewise, the clothing is described as a little bit country and a little bit Hollywood, combining down-home Tennessee touches with upscale prices. While the line is actually designed by Juan Cervantes, Timberlake had a lot of input, drawing inspiration from his faves Marc Jacobs, Alexander McQueen and Tom Ford of Gucci. The singer also acted as the fit model for the men's clothes, Timberlake's fashion rep said.

So far, William Rast is a 60-piece line that focuses on jeans, T-shirts, polo shirts, cashmere sweaters, corduroy blazers and outerwear. The women's jeans come in three fits, the men's in four, with two fabrications and three washes. The women's jeans have metal-trimmed wooden buttons, the men's have leather buttons, and both have drop pockets with a "W" logo on the back pockets. Other touches include yarn-embroidered logos and wide-contrast stitching.

Timberlake and team are rolling out the gear to buyers next week, so that they can stock it in Bloomingdale's and high-end boutiques such as Fred Segal, Kitson and Atrium starting November 3 (they've already snagged the coveted window spot in Bloomie's for the launch). If all goes well, they hope to expand the line, adding headwear, intimate apparel and men's suits in the next year or so. And if things go really well, they'd like to open their own stores, starting in Memphis and Millington, Tennessee, where Timberlake grew up.

Parker Shinn, the new face of CK

I very clearly understand that this blog spits out a lot of hot boy comments, features hotties every Friday along with handfuls of other times but every once in awhile isn't it time to step back from it all and wonder?

Calvin Klein has found his new model, replacing the old "hunk" we have all possibly come to have know, with a "has to be anorexic boy" by the name of Parker Shinn make 99% of American.  (more photo's if you follow the link to his modeling mgt's website).  He will be showing off their new brand called Calvin Klein 365 which seems to be an everyday (hence the 365) clothing line.  Needless to say, he is cute but he isn't what America looks like or is anywhere near what any American male looks like.  So beginning to model for the "everyday" line seems just a little hypocritical.  Kleins newest sex obsession is some waifish 18yo boy from San Diego, who if compared to every male in America will make them certainly look overweight.  Not that we are that far off, but in all seriousness, how has the fashion world, or society as a whole, gotten into such an obsession with the underweight teenage male (or girl for that matter) that rarely ever do we see a healthy person in an advert anymore?  Healthy was considered uber-popular until like 1950 when everyone in the fashion or paparazzi-culture decided to fast, do coke, or something else equally as ridiculous.  What is up with that?  Not only does plastering this kids image in every teenage magazine, billboards, online websites, movies, etc etc make the average (or beautiful) American feel like a lazy insecure oaf but it ends up costing a serious toll on society.  If the trend is to look like a waifish plebian then how is it most of Americans are overweight?  Does anyone pay attention to the advertisements that hit them 8x every 15 seconds?  Maybe not then, huh?

The Mohawk

For Matt :)  I had this moment when I was in college and seriously acting the out of control art student into rough sex and what not.  It seems that everything risque, wild, and "hard" is becoming a lot more mainstream and "been there done that."  It's like verything gets sucked into American culture and then gets vomited back out as cliche.  Like watersports for example, and I am not talking about water skiing.  When did piss become so popular with little twink boys or the boring AF crew?  Do they even understand what it means?  Seriously?  I once said this same exact thought at brunch less than a month ago when everyone was kinda chit chatting to themselves and I basically burst out with, "I am so over watersports.  Everyone is doing it.  It is just so cliche now."  Needless to say I turned a few heads.

The Mohawk Becomes, Well, Cute - New York Times.

Perhaps it was the wave of stylish men in New York and Los Angeles in the late 1990's who gelled their hair into luminous crests known as fauxhawks who paved the way for more extreme versions as a popular summer look. Or perhaps the Mohawk has re-entered the vocabulary of stylists who operate far from the barbershops near St. Marks Place, the city's historic thoroughfare for alternative style, thanks to the well-documented and ever-evolving Mohawk of one man, Maddox Jolie, 4.

Maddox, the adopted son of Angelina Jolie, is a regular face in the pages of Star and Us Weekly, and in the way of so many trends born in the pages of celebrity magazines, he has done for Mohawks what Harry Potter did for round spectacles. They are often wider and flatter than the Mohawks of the 1970's London punk scene and are worn naturally, without a glutenous product.

Some are curly and extend down the back into mullets or are gently buzzed along the sides. The result is a hybrid of looks, including the mulladour - half mullet, half pompadour - or as in the case of Maddox Jolie, the hawkapoo, referring to the popularity and cutesiness of certain curly mixed-breed poodles.

"Like a lot of things in beauty, what was considered ugly last week is probably going to be beautiful next week," said Howard McLaren, the creative vice president of the Bumble & Bumble salon in New York. Mr. McLaren is an advocate of the modern Mohawk, which is also making a comeback on skateboarders in Santa Monica, Calif., and among hipsters in Hoxton, London's answer to the meatpacking district in Manhattan.

"Everyone should have one at some point in their life," Mr. McLaren said. "The first really cool one I saw was about five years ago in Paris when the designer Jeremy Scott shaved one side of his head and wore his hair off to the side. It was floppy and not all gelled up, trying to be some kind of fin."

"Everything begins on the outside, and eventually America brings it to the center. It's hard to take."  Mohawks were once a signifier of aggression, a visually intimidating extension of the human backbone, or so Celtic warriors believed. They yanked out the hair along the sides of their heads to appear scary to the Romans, who thought they were barbaric. The Mohawk owes its very name to a hardy American Indian tribe who plucked their hair into a strip in times of war. But the battle is over.

Thanks to their youngest adopters, Mohawks are now merely adorable

Royal Elastics.

As I have written about before, Royal Elastics is a great company.  Their shoes are not only tremendously hip but overly comfortable.  I chose the black ones (after debating the white style you can see from the photo of Tom wearing them) and have to say that even though they look like Samurai shoes, I love them.  In fact, I love them for looking like Samurai shoes.  I highly recommend you head over to their website right now and get a pair before the rest of the world catches on and makes them Nike or Puma (though I am pretty sure that they as a company would be psyched).  Also notice that they are on the right hand column of "what I think is hot."  So run along.

It is just hair

Everyone has blogged about the "DG racy ad" story in the last week and I have held back my comments until now.  I found the photo of the racy ad online at the end of last week and blogged/posted it only because I thought it was hot and that it would hold some readership (and by that I mean viewership for a weekend that was I going away).   I wasn't the first nor the last but I do believe that their ad campaign is actually when viewed in its entirety, not that bad.  In fact, it got your attention and more importantly the media's, which I do remember from my days in marketing classes is their hope and dream.  The "hair down there look" is honestly.. racy, overtly sexual, pushing the limit, will never been worn on a street in public, but hot as hell.  All of the free publicity over it seems to be for nothing.  No one wears low rise pants that low.  In fact, DG's ad campaign this summer season was basically on the idea of "how low can you go" so this doesn't seem to be that surprising to me.  And even though I think that DG is trying to create a trend with it, I am waiting (ever so patiently) to see someone do it (and the gorgeous guy, not the fat clueless loser) and then walk into a very hip bar and pretend that everything is fine.  And then.. I will wear my jeans exactly as shown.

To give you the view of a red wing state we don't need (by that I mean the conservatives) check out: HoustonChronicle.com - Dolce & Gabbana ads have sunk to a new low which basically starts off with looking at how Calvin Klein moved fashion photography to the present day with 6 story high, Nair smooth, waifish models showing us their underwear to DG showing us some hair.  CK crossed a boundary line for sure.  DG just played the game.  The idea that DG sunk to a new low is just pure crap.  And the idea gross?  Come on!  Woman flaunt their breasts in every which way from Sunday.  Who cares if a guy has hair and is willing to let his jeans hang so low that it shows?  Is it sex appeal?  Absolutely!  Is it new?  Hell no!

modellaunch.com

Go there or modellaunch.com now.  It is fantastic.  The website not only has hot boys to look at but also parties to look at, very good advice on grooming tips, clothing trends, and the whatnot.

This picture to my left though is not from the site.  Believe me, its worth it.  This photo which I think is really beautiful (something about the lines, the anger in the working class guy outside the window, the boy and his jeans, the fire escapes.. awesome) is about how I work more then most Europeans.  Which pisses me off.  Have I mentioned lately how much I love this country?  Or that its about time the middle class gets really really REALLY pissed at the Republican rich.

Andres Velencoso Segura, totally lickable

Model Launch features in article titled, Andres Velencoso Segura: Conquistador, about Andres who is a sometimes hot as fuck model.  Haha.  Check him out if you think these pics are tempting.  Though, I think these are his best.   Oh well, post soon about my weekend.