Sharp Stylings #62: Stevie Wonder

We can learn so much from yesterday’s fashion icons.  And living in a post-Mad Men world means we can even enjoy aspects of current male fashions! Every Friday, I’d like to start your weekend off right with a little style inspiration from either then or now. Hopefully, my fellow Mod enthusiasts will find the whole or some detail of the whole to appreciate and maybe even adopt.

I admit it, I love color! And I love the colors that were coming out in men's clothing in the late 1960s. Sure, it was a sign of the influence of commercialized Carnaby Street, but it really did help revolutionize men's clothing at the time. And here's a perfect shot of Stevie Wonder tangled up in blues:
 

From http://www.who2.com/bio/stevie-wonder .

The double-breasted jacket Wonder is wearing here is hitting all the right notes for me: beautiful shade of steel blue, ticket pocket, low-enough button stance to give the lapels some room to breathe, and wide lapels with wide notches and a reverse-peak look.

Then, you add in a muted green, almost veering on grey, shirt with a longer collar, reflective of a late '60s/early '70s style. The multi-colored ascot, which appears to be tied around the collar of the shirt instead of his neck, not only ties (no pun intended) the whole outfit together but also includes other colors (purple, white) to make it pop out. Without that purple and white, the ascot may have just made this whole ensemble look too monochromatic (something I've fallen victim to many times in the past).

See guys... why settle for the staid black & white Reservoir Mod look when color exists? You really gotta hand it to Stevie Wonder's stylist at the time as it was most likely her or him who picked out this whole ensemble. The only thing that bums me out is that he wasn't able to appreciate those choices of color.

But, hell, I really don't think Stevie Wonder was worrying too much about clothes. He was too busy with work:

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Sharp Stylings #19: Jocelyn Armel

We can learn so much from yesterday’s fashion icons.  And living in a post-Mad Men world means we can even enjoy aspects of current male fashions! Every Friday, I’d like to start your weekend off right with a little style inspiration from either then or now. Hopefully, my fellow Mod enthusiasts will find the whole or some detail of the whole to appreciate and maybe even adopt.

A couple of weeks ago, I touched on the stylings of the Congolese sapeurs. In one of the articles, was a photo of Jocelyn Armel, standing here on the left:

According to the article, this gentleman owns a fashion boutique in Paris which is helping to push forward the dandy image of the sapeurs. Just dig on what this guy is wearing. I thought I knew how to use color in my clothes, but dang! This guy just schooled me!

First off, look at the electric blue of that suit... gorgeous, bright color that would stand out in any setting. Looks to be a 3-button jacket with slanted ticket pocket, too. Next up, the toned-down pink tie. I like my ties bright, personally, but the muted tone of his tie works perfectly to highlight the bright blue of the suit.

Now, for my favorite details of all: the pocket square and shoes! The puffy pocket square appears to have accents of a light green color which match so well with the aqua-green of this shoes... oh yeah, AQUA-GREEN SHOES!! Armel manages to bring together 3 great colors in one outfit: blue, pink, and green. Digest that for a minute...

Hmm... I'd say now's the time to start studying the color wheel!

One last bit of detail: looks like Armel's even got striped socks on and you know how I feel about those!

In Support of Style (and Color!)

[Mod Male is on vacation at this time so won't be able to respond to any comments.]

By the time this post goes up, we'll be walkin' the streets of London. Oh sure, you probably think I want to strut around Carnaby Street, but actually, I'd rather be window-shopping and wishing I could afford items in Ozwald Boateng's shop! One of Savile Row's flashest tailors, Ozwald lays down some interesting thoughts on style and use of color in the following documentary:

Take some time and dig what he lays down here. (And for you ska fans, you'll appreciate hearing about his background!) You can find the rest of the film on YouTube. Get to it!

Meanwhile, we'll be doing the tourist thing on the Thames.

Sharp Stylings #4

We can learn so much from yesterday’s fashion icons.  And living in a post-Mad Men world means we can even enjoy aspects of current male fashions! Every Friday, I’d like to start your weekend off right with a little style inspiration from either then or now. Hopefully, my fellow Mod enthusiasts will find the whole or some detail of the whole to appreciate and maybe even adopt.

There's a lot we can take from fashions and styles that aren't necessarily 'MOD!' Often, I see guys out there pullin' out the works and I'm not afraid to learn from them. A lot of Moddishly-oriented guys should take some cues from other stylish looks out there as well. After all, as Kevin Pearce wrote in Something Beginning with 'O' (1993), "Mods were magpies. They took the best from wherever..."

Take a look at the dapper happening right here with this gentleman, one Theodore Crispino:



Photo by Sarah Slobada at http://sarahsloboda.com/.*

Beautiful, muted browns with a waistcoat that reinforces the motif and a red/purple/orange paisley tie to complement the whole ensemble. Imagine how well you'd stick out walking around a club in a similar outfit amidst a sea of black suits and parkas. Sting would have nothin' on you! Another thing I like about this fellow's suit is the lapel peak. It just adds to the overall clean, 'sharp' vibe of the whole look. And the surgeon's cuffs... nice bespoke detailing to complete the image.

I understand many guys out there dig the simple, but classy black suit look. However, if you're going to go that route then you need to nice up the details. You can't just show up in an off-the-rack black suit, white shirt, black tie without making sure the shirt, jacket, or tie has some sharp detailing or, better yet, some bespokeness to it. Otherwise you're lookin' straight up Reservoir Mod. And a bland one at that.

My overall advice if you're going the black & white route: add a dash of color somewhere, either with the tie, a pocket square, or, heck, your socks. But even better, invest in some new suit colors!

*Sarah kindly granted me permission to use this photo so I encourage you to visit her site and blog, particularly this post for more shots of cool: http://sarahsloboda.com/2011/06/suited-up/