Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia, Has Died at Age 66...

December 26, 2016, 10:28 am

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Franca Sozzani, Editor-in-Chief of Vogue Italia, Has Died at Age 66...

Editor of  Vogue Italia, has passed away after a yearlong illness. She was 66 years old.Sozzani was at the magazine's helm for 28 years and had recently received the Swarovski Award for Positive Change at the British Fashion Council's Fashion Awards in London.The editor was famous for her groundbreaking and sometimes controversial photo shoots, on subjects as diverse as plastic surgery and domestic violence. Sozzani produced Vogue Italia's 2008 Black Issue, which exclusively featured women of color. Supermodel Naomi Campbell told The New York Times then, "Franca doesn't realize what she has done for people of color. It reminds me of Yves [Saint Laurent] using all the black models."

 

Sozzani was a global ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme and creative director of Convivio, the AIDS initiative founded by her friend the late Gianni Versace in 1992, among other philanthropic endeavors.Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue, said in her tribute to Sozzani, with whom she was very close: "In private, Franca was warm, clever, funny, and someone who could give the Sphinx a run for its money when it comes to keeping a confidence. 

 

She was also the hardest-working person I have known, and with an envy-inducing ease with multitasking. She made everything she worked on appear effortless, regardless of whether it was an event for several hundred; a whirlwind trip to Africa to support the continent’s emerging designers; or the creation of yet another newsworthy, provocative, and utterly spellbinding issue of Italian Vogue."
 This fall Sozzani's son Francesco Carrozzini premiered a documentary about his mother. Franca: Chaos and Creation details Sozzani's story, from her childhood in Mantua to her rise as one of fashion's most creative and respected figures. It is a touching homage to Sozzani, who died in Milan.

Franca Sozzani with son and film director Francesco Carrozzini at the premiere of his film Franca: Chaos and Creation, in October 2016 in New York City.

 

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Icon: George Michael dead at 53!

December 26, 2016, 10:47 am

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George Michael, the creamy-voiced English songwriter who sold tens of millions of albums as a member of the duo Wham! and on his own, was found dead on Sunday at his home in Goring in Oxfordshire, England. He was 53.

A police statement said: “Thames Valley Police were called to a property in Goring-on-Thames shortly before 2 p.m. Christmas Day. Sadly, a 53-year-old man was confirmed deceased at the scene. At this stage the death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious.”

Mr. Michael’s manager, told the Insidersthat Mr. Michael had died of heart failure “in bed, lying peacefully.”

 “It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period,” his publicist Connie Filippello said in a statement. “The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage.”

 

 Mr. Michael was one of pop’s reigning stars in the 1980s and ’90s — first as a handsome, smiling teen-pop idol making lighthearted singles like"Wake Me Up Before you Go Go" with Wham!, then arriving as a grown-up pop sex symbol with his 1987 album “Faith.”

  But Mr. Michael grew increasingly uncomfortable with the superficiality and relentless promotion of 1980s-style pop stardom. He turned away from video clips and live shows; he set out to make more mature statements in his songs, though he never completely abandoned singing about love and desire.

 

Mr. Michael wrote supple ballads, like “Careless Whisper” and “Father Figure,” as well as buoyant dance tracks like  "Freedom 90" and "I Want Your Sex." For much of his career, including his best-selling albums “Faith” and “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1,” he was also his own producer and studio backup band. Much of his music drew on R&B, old and new, but his melodic gift extended across genres.

 

He won a Grammy  in 1988 for “I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me),” a duet with Aretha Franklin, and “Faith” won the Grammy for album of the year. In Britain, he was showered with awards, and in 2004, Britain’s Radio Academy said he had been the most-played performer on British radio from 1984 to 2004.

 

In 1998, Mr. Michael came out as gay after being arrested on charges of lewd conduct in a men’s room in Beverly Hills, Calif. He had long lent his name and music to support AIDS prevention and gay rights. During interviews in later years, he described himself as bisexual, and said that hiding his sexuality had made him feel “fraudulent.” He also described long struggles with depression.

During the 2000s, Mr. Michael’s output slowed; his last studio album of new songs was “Patience” in 2004. In later years he put out individual songs as free downloads, encouraging listeners to contribute to charity. But in 2006, 25 years into his career, he could still headline stadiums worldwide.

 

George Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in East Finchley, London, on June 25, 1963, the son of a Greek Cypriot restaurateur and an English dancer. In 1979, he and a schoolmate, Andrew Ridgeley, played together for the first time in a ska band called the Executive. That didn’t last, but they continued to make music together — nearly all of it composed and sung by Mr. Michael — and began releasing singles as Wham!, cultivating the image of carefree teenage rebels in songs like “Young Guns (Go for It!).”

Their 1983 debut album, “Fantastic,” reached No. 1 in Britain; in the United States, their 1984 single “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” became ubiquitous on MTV and reached No. 1. In 1985, the duo became the first major Western pop group to perform in China as part of its world tour, and Mr. Michael appeared at the Live Aid charity concert, telecast worldwide, joining Elton John to sing Mr. John’s song “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me.”

 The worldwide 1984 hit “Careless Whisper,” credited in Britain to George Michael solo and to Wham! featuring George Michael in the United States, signaled a turn away from perky teenage fare. Mr. Michael’s status as a top British pop star was confirmed by his appearance on Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” the 1984 all-star benefit single for Ethiopian famine relief.

In 1986, Wham! dissolved, with a farewell show at Wembley Stadium. Mr. Michael had a No. 1 hit with “I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me)” before releasing the album “Faith” in 1987. Its first single, “I Want Your Sex,” reached No. 2 in the United States, though it was seen as too risqué by some radio stations; Mr. Michael made an introduction to its video clip stating, “This song is not about casual sex.”

 “Faith,” which hinted at both gospel and rockabilly, reached No. 1, and the album included three more No. 1 hits: “Father Figure,” “Monkey” and “One More Try.” It has sold more than 10 million copies in the United States.

 

But for his next album, “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1,” released in 1990, Mr. Michael set out to jettison his pop persona. “I’m not stupid enough to think I can deal with another 10 or 15 years of major exposure,” he told an interviewer at the time. “I think that’s the ultimate tragedy of fame, people who are simply out of control, who are lost. I’ve seen so many of them, and I don’t want to be another cliché.”

The autobiographical "Freedom 90" declared his independence from the pop machine; he wasn’t in its video clip, which had supermodels lip-syncing the lyrics. The album also included a No. 1 single, the ballad “Praying for Time,” and has sold two million copies in the United States, but after the blockbuster of “Faith” it was considered a commercial letdown.

 

Mr. Michael entered a protracted legal battle with Sony Music over his contract, and was unable to release another album until 1996. Its title, “Older,” was an unmistakable signal that he was no longer directly courting the youth market; he was 32 years old. The album was an instant hit in England and Europe — it had six hit singles in England — though it was less popular in the United States.

After his 1998 arrest, Mr. Michael released a greatest-hits album with two new songs; one, “Outside,” set its video clip in a men’s restroom. He made a 1999 album of cover songs, “Songs of the Last Century.”

 

In the early 2000s, Mr. Michael released songs protesting the invasion of Iraq, including the 2002 “Shoot the Dog.” His last full studio album, “Patience,” was released in 2004, full of introspective ballads.

Mr. Michael returned to performing; he joined Paul McCartney onstage during the 2005 Live 8 benefit concert. In 2006, he performed a world tour, paired with another collection of hits, “Twenty Five,” which included new duets with Mr. McCartney and Mary J. Blige. He continued to release individual songs sporadically, and in 2014, he released “Symphonica,” a collection of standards and his own songs recorded with an orchestra on a 2010-11 tour. During that tour, he collapsed with nearly fatal pneumonia  and was hospitalized for five weeks; he wrote a single, "White Light,"   about the experience.

 

Mr. Michael had been planning an expanded reissue, due in 2017, of “Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1,” paired with a documentary, “Freedom,” exploring his musical, personal and legal struggles.

“I never minded being thought of as a pop star,” Mr. Michael told GQ in 2004. “People have always thought I wanted to be seen as a serious musician, but I didn’t, I just wanted people to know that I was absolutely serious about pop music.”

 

George Michael's Too Funky

December 26, 2016, 11:27 am

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“Moulin Rouge Meets Vegas!” An Oral History of George Michael’s 1992 “Too Funky” Video

 

 As we continue to assess the Fall 2016 season, we’re left wondering: Where’s the fun in fashion these days? 
And nowhere was that fun more in evidence than in George Michael’s 1992 “Too Funky” video. “It was the height of fashion,” says performer Joey Arias, of the moment in which it was shot. “Everybody wanted to be those supermodels vogueing the runway!” 

 

(Or, as Michael would say, “Everybody wants a lover like that.”)
Looking for a good time, we decided to put together an oral history of “Too Funky,” which more than holds its own against the MTV- and fashion-friendly "Freedom 90" with its cast of supermodels Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, and Tatjana Patitz.

 

A rallying cry for individuality, “Freedom! ’90” became fashion history when it was lip-synched by the supers on Gianni Versace’s runway. “Too Funky,” with its Anne Bancroft voice-over, is lighter fare lyrically. Visually, it approaches the Baroque, especially in contrast to the squatter-like set of “Freedom! ’90.” Evangelista was the only returning member of the cast, but she was joined by top models including Nadja Auermann, Tyra Banks, Estelle Lefébure, and a “cast of thousands” culled from clubs on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Michael hired Thierry Mugler—the French dancer turned designer known for his dramatic silhouettes and audacious showmanship who now goes by Manfred—to shoot the video. Lefébure, who says she’d be happy to repeat the experience, describes the creative team of Mugler and Michael as “two masters with strong personalities and visions.” Inevitably, they came to loggerheads.

 

 The atmosphere, says performer Julie Newmar, quickly became one of “hysteria, lots of smoking and raw nerves.” By the end of the shoot, Michael was longing for his freedom from Mugler, and Mugler was learning that sometimes clothes can unmake the man.

 

Thankfully, art triumphed in the end. “Too Funky,” because of its costume drama, is guaranteed to make you smile and hit replay.

EMMA SJÖBERG WIKLUND (model who wears the motorcycle outfit and robot costume in the video): The “Too Funky” video was made to raise money for AIDS research. Somehow I think George Michael was then in a conflict with Sony, so he was not able to do any albums before his contract was over . . . but he could do this song, “Too Funky,” that was put onto the Red Hot + Dance album.

 

 I know that George wanted to work with Thierry Mulger because his shows were a bit like cabarets—it was more like going to a theater show; it was extraordinary. Mugler always had big surprises . . . there was always some kind of music combined with these incredible outfits. The video was a charity job; we all did it for free.

DANILO (the video’s hairstylist): George knew Naomi, Christy, Linda . . . all the girls, who were all the girls who walked with us [in Mugler’s camp]. And who didn’t know Thierry at that point? We had incredible stars walking our runway and an eclectic mix of phenomena going on. George was fully aware and would show up at shows because [Mugler] was the show to be at, you know. It was an amazing event socially. Also, I think Thierry and his views on sexuality and sensuality were things that very much titillated George because I think he was bound at that time in his life.

 

JOEY ARIAS (a performer who plays the video’s couturier): George Michael contacted Mugler, and Mugler came up with the storyboard, which he does very beautifully, with Stefano Canulli, who does all the final drawings, and presented this to George, and George gave approval. He said: “Yes, this is it!”

 

DANILO: We all donated our time. It took place in Paris and Thierry Mugler and George Michael were the directors, they collaborated. George brought the song and Thierry brought the visuals, that’s really how the collaboration came down. As far as the work, we busted our asses and it went on for three days. We were all so passionate about it. There was an interesting element going on there, too. Because the directors were butting heads, we the collective said: “You know what? This is all about AIDS. It’s not about anything but that, we need to move ahead.” So we really tightened as a group even more then. It was a blast, and it was very hard work, and I never tire of looking at it, it’s so well done.

 

JULIE NEWMAR (Catwoman actress and sometime Mugler model who plays a midinette who goes mad): Mugler wanted to show that the backstage of a couture show was hysteria, whereas in front of the camera it was all glamorous and cool.
ARIAS: Mugler’s characters were superhuman. No one’s just mediocre, it’s all about superhumans: the thinnest and the tallest and the most extreme and the most beautiful. But [it is also about] adoring the human form, not making fun of women or males. Mugler loves the form and he loves to push how far it can go.

DANILO: The last 10 years of Mugler [the designer left his namesake house in 2003], I was his head hairdresser. I would go to Paris for two weeks to prepare, and I had my own salon and I just built wigs and built wigs . . . this was one of them, but this one had its own category because it was more of a theater wig. The inspiration was Mugler, Marilyn, Dietrich—all of those things—and a contemporary finish. So it had that wave and the curl [that is] a little bit like a Nike swoosh . . . It’s so expressive on its own. That particular wig . . . became very iconic for [Linda]. It had a helmet quality to it [and was treated] with wig varnish so that it never moved.

 

SJÖBERG WIKLUND: I started working as a model in Paris around 1989. I had a background as a dancer from Sweden. Because Mugler’s shows were very theatrical, he wanted us to do things like dance or act or pose or look like insects or whatever his vision was. It suited me very well as a person, and we got along very well. And of course he wanted people to be able to walk in his shoes—that was one of the most important requirements! They were very high and not always made for walking, but they looked fabulous. I was very fortunate to be working with him for many years and to be wearing some of these amazing pieces that he did [including the Harley-Davidson bustier that would later feature in Beyonce’s Sasha Fierce visuals]. On the runway it was Niki Taylor who wore it, and then I got to wear the motorcycle in the video. [Mugler told me:] “You should have chewing gum, and you should play with it, you work it.”

ARIAS: Connie Fleming is trans. She used to be at the Boy Bar and Mugler saw her [there]. It was on Eighth Street and every week it had this drag show—really big productions, amazing. And so Connie Girl came out—in those days she was like a size 3 and she was in like 9-inch heels, almost like ballerina shoes—and she came out and she did these kind of flips, flipping up and down and twirling, and the place went insane and Mugler was like: “Oh, my God, I gotta use her,” and then put her on the runway. So that’s her with that Cowgirl suit.

ARIAS: I’d met Mugler in 1980 with Klaus [Nomi]. It wasn’t until the late ’80s that he’d start popping around some of my shows, and we started talking about this and that, and then I got an invitation to come to Paris [for “Too Funky.”] That was the first time we actually worked together.
He wanted me to be the couturier, the Edith Head character. I was the one bossing people around. When we first met, he had me in a pantsuit with a low-waisted belt, and then we were talking and he just said: “You know what, I don’t think so, we’re going to put you in a long tight skirt instead.” [I wore] a pleated chiffon skirt almost to my ankles, almost, maybe like three-quarters past my knees, with a pearl corset and then a tight black knit sweater with the jewelry, some kind of necklace wrapped around and some fetish shoes from London.

 

The character was great. Mugler said, “It’s kind of like me. You’re going to be me, but Edith Head. You’re going to be in charge of this house, and you’ve got to put your foot down and really do these things. When I say do that, do it. When [I say] rip that dress, you rip.” It was that beautiful white dress [Linda wore]. There was a scene backstage where I go up to her and [tug] and Mugler goes, “No, no, no, no, no. Please, like this,” and he just went up and went riiiiippppp. I said, “Oh, okay, no problem.” So whenever he said to do something, I just went for it, and he was laughing and said, “Yeah, exactly!”

 

ARIAS: Julie was supposed to be one of the girls backstage. She was fed up with being back there, she was like a revolution. She snaps, she goes berserk, and that’s why I’m trying to slap her to calm her down. I was doing pretend acting and she said: “No, you’ve got to get me going. I want you to really push me and slap the hell out of me.” And I said, “Really?” And she turned around and just slapped me. She goes, “Like that.” I was like, “Okay!” So I shook her. She goes on the runway and I’m trying to stop her, [and there are] all these women walking out in full-on couture, and she comes running out and I’m trying to stop her and she throws that robe off and she’s all latex and she takes over the runway. It was kind of like the ugly duckling that bursts into the beautiful swan.

 

NEWMAR: I was dressed as a midinette, wrapped in white. Mugler had me pushed out onstage, thus embarrassing my character and exposing me out on the catwalk. Someone grabs my white jacket, thus exposing my naked ambitions. I am now in a black vinyl bodysuit, so I throw myself down on the catwalk, my legs in a wide-open split, and this, to my surprise, ended up in George Michael’s version of the video.
DANILO: Julie, who is an amazing woman, [was] hitting it, doing splits on the runway. I think she was 60 or 65 when she was doing that.

 

ARIAS: Julie said, “I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this, but please make sure you get it because I’m only going to do it once, and if you don’t get it I’m very sorry.” I think she walked out once just to make sure the lighting was right, and then they got her into position . . . and then she came out . . . and she kicked and rolled and flipped and did what she did in one take and the place went insane, insane.
NEWMAR: The rest of the production was hysteria, lots of smoking and raw nerves. On the second night real trouble arose. They had gone over the $1 million budget, and I remember holding the producer in my arms, he was weeping from nervous helplessness, exhaustion. That’s when George Michael took over.

 

ARIAS: At one point, two days or three days into it, [George said,] “Okay, I got what I need.” And Manfred said, “Okay, but I’m not done. I’m still shooting and we’ve got two more days.” And George said, “No, I think we’re done,” and there was a big fight. [Manfred said,] “I’m not done.” [George said,] “I said we’re done.” . . . Then George said, “Well, you know what? I’m the one who is the superstar here, not you.” And then Mugler just snapped. There was this fight and everyone was sitting there like, “What the heck is going on?” And then Linda Evangelista was kind of the go-between, and there was a meeting in the back for two hours, I think, and then they both walked out arm in arm and I could see that Manfred was a little like mmmm, but they were like laughing and they said, “We’re going to continue shooting and we’re going to finish this up.” And then George started looking behind the lens and he put those [stills] in himself later on.

 

SJÖBERG WIKLUND: The robot I will never forget because . . . it was made on my body and they had to make a plaster. I still have a picture of it, actually, when I’m fully em-plastered with a corset under it, and then it was literally made in this chrome with little hooks to close it. I know the feeling of a chastity belt after wearing that.

 

Thierry always had a very clear picture of every outfit from every angle, from what wig Danilo was supposed to be doing . . . what model should be wearing [it] . . . how the makeup should be done . . . every detail. [There] would be like 10 or 12 fittings for the outfit; it wasn’t one fitting. You would literally sit half the night in Mugler’s design room and wait for your time. It was fun, but it was crazy if you think about  it: All these fittings for one outfit for the fashion shows.

 

[The robot] was an amazing piece that was really handmade, and of course it didn’t stretch. I was always quite bruised after wearing it, because it had to stay up somehow and so it was kind of tight, and then there was the helmet that was literally made on the skull. Before going out on the runway, of course, you couldn’t have any fingerprints on it, it had to be polished. I remember people with cotton gloves and literally things to clean the windows with to polish the chrome.

                              

ESTELLE LEFÉBURE (a top model who plays a femme fatale in latex): George really respects women, you can feel it. He was directing me, saying, “You look [even more] beautiful if you do this or that.” How many days of your life does George Michael tell you this? It was amazing.
Thierry asked me to play the role of femme fatale: sexy and irresistible to any man. I used to do all Thierry’s shows. [His woman was] powerful, determined, extremely feminine, [a] sexy soldier. For the video, he asked to accentuate that even more. [My outfit was] outrageously hot and my hair was horsehair . . . so hot! Doing a show with Thierry is working with one master; doing a video with Thierry and George is working with double pressure, as you work with two masters with strong personalities and visions. It was one of the most impactful bookings I’ve ever done. People still remember me in that video, with my name written, like Linda, Nadja, and Tyra. It’s a reference, it had a massive impact, even on my life. I’d love to shoot another one.

 

NEWMAR: There must have been 100 of the world’s most beautiful models flown in for this production. There was Linda Evangelista in her white feathers—what gorgeousness. The video is as hot as can be.
DANILO: One of the things I’ve had the pleasure of creating and building and doing structurally is [Linda’s] feather headdress. I went to the maison de plume there in Paris where the family—they did Louis’s, they go so far back. They go into early 1700s, that family. They have extinct feathers in their drawers. This is Paris, where they really take the art serious. I picked all those ostrich plumes that we created into that [headdress]. It’s that kind of detail that goes into everything: working, sketching, drawing, fabricating—all the components.

 

DANILO: I don’t know if you’ve had the pleasure of looking at the director’s cut as opposed to what went out to the public, but a battle ensued at the end of it, that’s why it says “directed by ?” at the end, because George sort of overrode with his power, [it] being his song.
That said, it was an amazing event. Those were the days. We were a family. We were the Muglers and we’d done so much together and to have an opportunity to work in a medium that was contemporary and fresh and fun and push the envelope on many levels—all of that supermodel glamour . . . it was a fashion show on steroids. Moulin Rouge meets Vegas meets this level of chic sophistication.

 

Jarrod Scott: Premiere Interview

December 26, 2016, 11:50 am

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He has the body of a Greek god and abs of steel that Herb Ritts would have loved. 

Australian of Italian and German descent, there’s a lot more to Jarrod Scott than meets the eye. However, what does meet the eye appears to be serving him very well. Shortly after being scouted, he began a blossoming relationship with Givenchy that led to a campaign with Jean Paul Gaultier fragrance and a Vogue Hommes International cover. Now, he has a fire burning within him, to keep on achieving in a fashion world which he has quickly become adept in. It would seem Jarrod Scott has a lot more to show us. 

 

Jarrod, tell us, how did you start your modeling career?Jarrod Scott: Well, I was actually scouted not so far from Indonesia, in the Philippines back in October 2011. It all got going straight away and before I knew it, I was walking for Givenchy in January 2012. It was much more than I expected when I first got into modeling, and I never thought I’d be where I am today. Although I had a lot of goals to start out with, I have many more and won’t stop until I’m satisfied.
What made you decide to commit modeling full-time?JS: To put it simply, because I ran out of money while in the Philippines! Thankfully though, my agency was very supportive in helping me get back on my feet again. I had no choice but to model in order to make my way back home to Australia.

 

Did you have any preconceived ideas about the fashion industry before you started working?
JS: Honestly I had never thought about it in too much detail; however, it had always intrigued me. When I started, I had absolutely no idea and was thrown in the deep end by going on set with top photographers, stylists, designers and models. I wanted to know who I was working for and so I made sure to take the time to meet my employers and build relationships. I continue to find it very interesting how clothes shape our everyday lives.

 

 Who is your favorite designer?JS: I really get along with Karl Lagerfeld. He’s obviously an icon in our industry and is always in a happy mood. He loves talking about anything and has plenty of good stories to tell.
 Who is your favorite photographer?JS: Well, I’m not sure if I have a favorite photographer as every shoot is so different. However, I’ve had the pleasure of working with some I really admire—Sølve Sundsbø, Mark Segal and Alasdair McLellan, to name just a few.

 

Photo-shoot or runway, which one do you prefer?JS: I definitely love being on set, getting to make amazing pictures. I don’t really do many shows but always enjoy the buzz.
What is the most exciting project you’ve been involved in?JS: My most exciting job was doing the movie for the Jean Paul Gaultier fragrance.
 “I continue to find it very interesting how clothes shape our everyday lives”

Jarrod Scott Male SuperModel

December 26, 2016, 12:06 pm

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 Aussie born of Italian/German decent, was scouted by a photographer whilst on holiday in the Philippines.
Jarrod launched his international modelling career walking for Givenchy AW12 in January and has since shot Vogue Hommes International with David Sims. Look out for Jarrod this year as we sense a very exciting major campaign on its way!
Age: 27Birthplace: AustraliaEthnic Origin: Italian/GermanNickname: JazzHow were you scouted: In the Philippines by a photographer who then passed me into an agencyBest feature: My relaxed attitude and energy I have when on setFavourite grooming product: I never use anything. No moisturizer, nothing.

                       
Favourite food: CoconutHobbies: Cooking, fishing and Xbox when I get the chanceFitness Regime: 30 minutes of isometric core then I run 8kmFavourite Movie: Too many good ones are made to just have one favourite!What was the last track you listened to on your iPod: 30 Seconds To Mars – “Hurricane”Guilty Pleasure: NutellaDislike: LeechesDream country to visit: Galapagos Islands or Bora BoraIf you got to relive one day in your modeling career it would be: I’d rather create a new best moment

                              
 Who are your idols: Mohammed AliWhat was the last thing to make you laugh out loud: Watching Ray William Johnson on YouTubeOne word to describe yourself: Ambitious
 Height: 6’1.5″ | 186cmWaist: 32″ | 81cmCollar: 15.5″ | 39cmShoes: 10.5 UK | 45 EUHair: Dark BrownEyes: Brown

 

Jarrod Scott: The Life a Male Model

December 26, 2016, 12:25 pm

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Jarrod Scott's life changed after a holiday in the Philippines, when his chiselled physique caught the attention of an agency scout. In a few short years, his profile has catapulted - first Givenchy creative director Riccardo Tisci tapped him to walk in his A/W '12 show, then campaigns for some of the biggest names in fashion - think Hugo Boss, Tom Ford and H&M - followed. He was even (though unsurprisingly - we mean, look at him) chosen to be the face of Jean Paul Gaultier's Ultra Male fragrance. If the shoe fits...
He's bagged numerous magazine covers in the years that have followed, appearing in GQ, L'Officiel and most notably, the coveted Paris Vogue Hommes (see that particularly controversial cover below). Clearly very comfortable in his own skin, he was recently shot stark naked for acclaimed fashion photographer Mariano Vivanco's book, Portraits Nude Flowers.

 

Now based in New York, Scott touched down in Sydney this week to walk in the David Jones S/S 2016 show. Below, he lets us in on what his life in NYC looks like - consider this an insider's glimpse into the real life of a really, really, ridiculously good-looking male model.

"Because I don't work a usual 9-5 job some nights I just stay up really late and sleep in until 10am or 11am and sometimes even 12 noon. I feel spoilt when I sleep until that late though, because time is such a luxury.

 

"I usually have breakfast at home and then walk to go get a nice coffee in Soho. I'll aimlessly walk the streets window shopping and writing down ideas that I have for all kinds of things, from my racecar to bikes and my house that I'm building back in Australia.
"In summer I work out in the evening about four or five times a week; either running or riding depending on how I feel. I tend to ride more now because it's less stress on my joints - all the road running takes its toll. If I don't have much time, I'll ride around Central Park, but if I want a big ride I either ride upstate to Piermont or Bear Mountain, which is roughly 100-180km depending on how far I go. Or, I will ride from NYC out to Montauk early morning and have lunch there then go back on the train in the evening.
                                            
"Most nights I usually end up cooking myself, so I can control what I eat and get into a good pattern, which helps me to stay on track! There's still so much about NYC that I'm learning and I'm finding new places to eat, drink and have fun all the time. It's a very busy city!
"I also spend a lot of time at my local aquarium shop in the lower east side, buying corals and building my aquarium at home. Having a reef in my lounge room makes me feel closer to Australia."

                                

Guys, it's time to shave your butt!

December 26, 2016, 12:57 pm

≫ Next: For Men Only: Shaving Body Hair

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'Tis the season to trim the tree. And by tree, we mean that tree.
But before you start manscaping, keep someone else in mind: your friend from the other side. It's time to say hello to him, too.
Yes, we're talking about your butt.
"Thanks to Snapchat and sexting, people are more conscious over their appearance, and this includes the butt," says spa educator Ben Brown. Brown, who works at Bliss Spa, says shaving the buttocks region is hardly a new request, but has become more accepted and popular among men this year.

 

Vanity and hygiene are two of the reasons. You're removing hair that could be caught with bacteria or areas that haven't been properly wiped; that alone, friends, deserves a trim under the chimney.
"Not only are men finding that it's more hygienic, but it's also more sightly and attractive," Brown adds.
Plus, it's more comfortable to sit on a bare butt. "Think about it: Clothing is a lot tighter now with men wearing skinnier things, like jeans," he says. "That's a lot of friction there. The more hair you have, the more uncomfortable you are."

If you think it's a little risqué, don't fear. It's becoming "the new norm" for men, says Brown. While seeking a professional is your best bet, he has a few DIY tips on doing it in the safety — and privacy — of your own home. 

 

Take a bath

 First things first. It may seem obvious, but cleanse the area properly. The easiest method is to sit in a bath and let things soak, allowing pores to open up. Trust us: It'll make things a lot easier in the end. Take time, luxuriate and clear your mind for what's ahead.

 

Mirror, mirror

 Brown recommends taking a mirror to get through every crevice. Sit on the toilet seat — or even your bathroom floor — with legs open in a squat. Place the mirror below and start getting at it. 

 

Option 1: A close shave 

 1f you're going for the razor, make sure your blade is sharp. A dull blade will get the razor twisted and tangled — and nobody wants that. Lather yourself up with a nice gel or shaving cream and make sure your skin is taut.

Keep the skin from folding by lifting one butt cheek at a time; generally, a quick shave-and-go method is best. Just make sure you're very careful and extra gentle with the "rosebud area," Brown says — that is, the anus and its surrounding area.

 

Option 2: Wax on, wax off

 The best way to get all your hair off at once is using a wax.Think of it like a Band-Aid: simply place, wait and feel for the wax to bond with the hair. Generally, you'll only have to wait a few minutes — then pull against the grain of the hair, Brown suggests.

Option 3: Use an electric razor

 If you're clumsy and not into waxing, have no fear: An electric razor may be your best bet. Because of the settings on each razor, though, it won't trim past a certain point — so even if you're whacking away, the device will show restraint. 

 

Manage that itch 

 It's natural to feel a little sensitive after a close shave or wax. To help cool things down, try jojoba lotions or essential oils.

"Moisturizing right after is important," Brown says. That said, though, make sure that everything stays super clean and completely dry in the upcoming days. Moisture can cause bacteria and itching.

Avoid hair removal chemicals

 Stay away from instant hair removal chemicals like Nair, and don't go tanning immediately. "Your pores are going to be super open, so lay off any tanning for two to three days as it's super sensitive," Brown says. Noted.

Shimmy, shake, celebrate 

 

For Men Only: Shaving Body Hair

December 26, 2016, 6:27 pm

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Many men have hair on their buttocks and around their anus–it’s quite normal and natural. The hair on your butt does serve a purpose; it helps minimize friction and chafing while also keeping the area ventilated and dry.
However, a growing number of men are removing their body hair, including their tail feathers.
Some people ask, why would someone want to do this? There are a number of horror stories about pubic shaving, but for men who can master the art, it is well worth the reward.
Removing body hair can make you look and feel clean, plus it can also be sexually arousing and stimulating not only to you, but to your partner (that is of course if your partner prefers a smooth bum–some don't).

 

Recommend Shaving Supplies for Shaving the Butt

Before you begin, you'll need to make sure you have all the things you'll need. Here are the recommended shaving supplies:

Shaving Tools

When it comes to shaving your buttocks, you're going to need a few tools.
For most body grooming you do, you can generally use just an electric groomer or a manual razor. But, in the case of shaving your buttocks, you really need both to achieve an effective shave. The electric body groomer is great to remove hair on the cheeks, but usually too big to get around the anus, so you need a manual razor for that area.

Philips Norelco Bodygroom Pro

The Norelco Bodygroom Pro is the #1 best selling body groom on Amazon–a huge favorite among well-trimmed men.
What I like about this unit is the dual end shaving it offers; the shaving head at the top is great for close shaves, and the trimmer at the bottom of the unit with the hair guard is great for trimming down hair.
You can use this unit to trim down the hair on your buttocks before shaving with a razor. If you just want to shave your cheeks, then you can use the shaving head to achieve a closer shave, but you won't be able to really use this unit "between the cheeks."
This unit retails for about $70 and is a great investment for all your body grooming needs.

 

Wahl Micro Groomsman

If you don't have a lot of hair on your buttocks or you are in between trims, then you can use something as simple as the Wahl Micro Grooms to cut down the hair.
This unit is great when there is just a little hair that needs to be trimmed but if the hair is thick and long, then you're going to want to use the Philips Norelco Bodygroom Pro above.
This unit is also small enough that you can use it around the anus. If you're wanting to avoid a manual razor altogether, then you should pair this with the Bodygroom Pro, and both should be able to fulfill all your grooming needs.
This unit retails for about $8 on Amazon.

 Schick Quattro Titanium

If you want a close, super smooth shave, then you're going to need to use a manual razor (after you have trimmed down the hair with a body groomer).
I highly recommend the Schick Quattro Titanium razors; I think they are one of the best manual razors you can use for body grooming. The blades are wrapped in wires to prevent you from pressing too deeply into the skin, thus minimizing nicks and irritation, like razor bumps.
Eight cartridges will run you about $15 on Amazon.

 

In order to properly shave your bum, you've got to be able to see it.
Line of sight is the most difficult problem with shaving your butt, so a mirror is a must have, and I'm going to show you some tricks for how to use it (see instructions below).
You will need a decent-sized handheld mirror to properly perform this task. I recommend this large 11" mirror by Goody that retails for about $7 on Amazon.

How To Shave Your Butt

Follow these step-by-step instructions:

Step 1 - Shower & Dry Yourself

You want to make sure you don't introduce any new bacteria to your skin while you are shaving, so thoroughly clean your body and then completely dry off.
A hot shower or bath is recommended–this will help soften the hair and prepare your skin. Be sure to dry off with a fresh towel as a re-used towel my contain bacteria.

Step 2 - Clean & Disinfect Your Razor

While I recommend you start with a fresh razor, if you happen to be using a razor that's relatively new, then you first want to make sure your remove any existing debris and bacteria.
You can remove hair lodged between the blades by running the blade under a heavy stream of water or gently tapping the razor on the base of the sink. Once you've cleaned the razor, pour a little rubbing alcohol over the top of the blades to kill any bacteria.
If you're using an electric groomer, you can clean the unit by opening the razor and removing stray hairs. To disinfect the unit, dab some alcohol onto a cotton swab and wipe the blades.

Step 3 - Trim the Hair on Your Buttocks

If the hair on your butt is long, you are going to need to trim it down so you can effectively use your manual razor or body groomer. A clogged razor will make your shaving more difficult and could create some painful snagging as hairs get stuck.
If the hair is thick, then I'd recommend using the Phillips Norelco Bodygroom Pro. If the hair is light and thin, then you should be able to use the Wahl Micro Groomsman.

Step 4 - Apply Shaving Gel to Your Buttocks

Squeeze a small amount of shave gel into your palm, add a little water, and then apply to one of your buttocks (just one, not both); next, rinse hands clean and dry them. The reason you want to apply to just one cheek is so that you can easily pull them apart without your hands slipping–this will make it easier to shave.

Step 5 - Shave Your Buttocks

Wet your razor blade with cold water and begin shaving the hair on your buttocks. If you're using a body groomer, then just begin shaving.
If you want a close shave, then shave against the grain; if you tend to be more prone to skin irritation, then you may want to shave with the grain.
Ideally, you should be standing up with your butt facing the mirror in your bathroom; this will make it easier for you to see what you're doing without straining your back too much.
As you shave, the razor will do the work, so it only needs to be pressed lightly against the skin. For those using a manual razor, rinse the blade frequently in cold water (cold water minimizes redness) to dislodge any hairs that are stuck. If you're using a body groomer, then frequently remove any excess hair from the blades and comb.
If by chance you nick yourself, you can use a styptic pen to stop the bleeding.

Step 6 - Shave Between the Cheeks

Shaving between the cheeks is the trickiest part as it's the hardest to see. This is why you need a handheld mirror for this step.
Once you've shaved your butt cheeks, it's time to shave between the cheeks. To do this effectively, lay a handheld mirror on the floor, facing up. Then, squat above the mirror, and begin shaving.
Continue to rinse your razor frequently to prevent the cartridge from becoming clogged. If you have just a light amount of hair growth around your anus, you can use the Wahl Micro Groomsman personal trimmer instead.

Step 7 - Rinse Your Buttocks

After you’ve removed all the hair and are satisfied with your shave, rinse any excess shave gel and stray hairs off with cold water. You may also want to use a non-irritating body wash.

Step 8 - Dry Yourself Off

Pat yourself dry with a fresh, clean towel; using an old towel may introduce bacteria onto the skin.

Step 9 - Apply Antiseptic to Your Buttocks

Apply a generous and even amount of antiseptic/razor bump treatment to your skin. This treatment is best applied right after you rinse your body. Allow the antiseptic treatment to dry before applying any body powder or putting on clothes.
Depending on your skin type, this may or may not burn a little. You should apply the antiseptic for the first few days after you shave, every day.

Step 10 - Apply Body Powder to Your Buttocks

Now apply body powder to your bum; this will keep you dry and fresh, plus prevent any chafing or itching. You should re-apply the body powder every day.

Step 11 - Exfoliate Your Buttocks

After a few days have lapsed, you will need to start to exfoliate your butt to prevent ingrown hairs and skin irritation. Using an exfoliating cloth will help loosen the hair and remove dead skin cells. You will need to do this every few days, but not every day in most cases.

Additional Information

While you're at it, you might also be interested in my article about how to shave your genitals.

What method of hair removal would you prefer for your butt?

• Manual Razor
• Electric Body Groomer
• Hair Removal Cream
• Male Brazilian Waxing
• Laser Hair Removal

 

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The 16 Steamiest Gay Sex Scenes in Soap Operas

December 26, 2016, 7:08 pm

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Same-sex love scenes once proved too scandalous for much of mainstream TV, but in the sex-driven plots of soap operas, gay and lesbian characters have enjoyed some moments of intimacy worthy of a parental warning. With the push to crowdfund a fourth seasonof steamy gay soap Dante’s Cove, surely more heat is on the way. Until then, here’s a list of some of daytime and prime-time soaps’ steamiest same-sex moments to date.

 

1. Will and Sonny’s First Time (Days of Our Lives)
When Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis, young gay members of two major families on the long-running soap Days of Our Lives, got together, it showed that commitment to the characters’ sexuality than was more than a sideshow. When the two consummated their relationship for the first time, sensuality took the spotlight in a tender and undeniably steamy moments in 2012. The romance wouldn’t last, with Will controversially murdered on the show last year, but viewers at least got this moment. As Sonny put it, “perfect’s the word.”

 

2. Nuke Explodes (As the World Turns)
Sometimes called American soaps’ first gay super-couple, Luke Snyder and Noah Mayer were romantically linked on the since-canceled As the World Turns, but waited about two years between a first kiss in 2007 and finally doing the deed in 2009. AfterEllen even set up Consummation Clock to see how long it would take before Nuke was allowed to detonate. While the final moment was tame compared to others, the steam cred here is all about the anticipation.

 3. Jude and Zero’s Shower Score (Hit the Floor)
Considering the sports world’s dearth of out athletes, it was a bold move for basketball-centric soap Hit the Floor to introduce bisexual forward Zero and couple him with Jude Kincade, the team owner’s initially closeted son. The athlete brings his moves — and a marquee player six-pack — to a memorable shower scene between the male lovers in a 2014 episode.

 

4. Desperate Housewives
Desperate Housewives' out creator, Marc Cherry, made no secret that the Van de Kamp family stood in for his own, but it still stunned many viewers when son Andrew was revealed to be gay. How? Neighbor Susan, looking for her daughter, burst into a pool party and went on break up a couple necking in the pool. Initially shocked to find a male swimsuit on the deck, the bigger surprise came with the realization it was Andrew in the water with a friend he brought to the party.

 

5. One Life to Live
 One of daytime soaps’ first love scenes between two gay men took place in 2009 when Oliver Fish and Kyle Lewis stripped each other down while candles burned in the foreground. “Is it always gonna be like this?” Fish wonders aloud as fireworks explode in the afterglow. The soap got canceled two years later, so no. But on YouTube? 

 

 6. Putting a Lesbian Spell on You (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
The first lesbian sex scene on a prime-time soap came when Willow and girlfriend Kennedy climbed into bed together on Buffy the Vampire Slayer in 2003. Proving the show definitely had grown past its high school phase, Sunnydale’s friendliest witch moans as Kennedy kisses her neck; then her eyes pop open conspicuously as a hand drifts under the covers. Bewitching.
Always.

 

7. Beach Babes on the Sand (The O.C. )
Bisexual Marissa’s first true exploration of her attraction to women on The O.C. came on the sands of California when Alex caught up with her there. While there would never be a love scene, despite Mischa Barton filming plenty of sexy time with her male partners on the show, this scene provided some waterside spark nonetheless.

 

8. Going Down to Mexico (90210)
Teddy struggles with his sexuality through much of 90210, first denying attraction after hooking up with Ian and then failing at a relationship with Marco. But it’s in this wild hookup in Mexico where he bumps into Tripp that Teddy finally embraces his gayness. While the scene cuts out as soon as the two men reach a hotel room, the heat from bar to bed is almost enough to boil the cocktails.

 

9. Strawberry Surprise (Dante's Cove)
A date in the park goes from sweet to steamy in a classic Dante’s Cove moment where Kevin Archer and Toby Moraitis end up rolling atop the picnic sheet. The men start by feeding succulent strawberries to each other, but soon Kevin is full-on licking his lover’s nipples, his head drifting suspiciously below the camera’s view. It’s this sort of passion that has made viewers hungry for a new season of the show for years.

 

10. Lurking in the Lair (The Lair)
Before Dante’s Cove, there was also plenty of LGBT love on The Lair. David Moretti and Jared Gray boiled the steam up in this third-season scene after getting turned on by some old-fashioned vampire chat and an allusion to the Monkey’s Paw.

 

11. Living Amor a VidaBrazilian television audiences never saw two men kissing on the air before 2014. The Rede Globo soap changed all that when Amor a Vida’s Felix and secret lover Niko lock lips in the finale, then apparently run off to start a family. The physical affection had been hinted at for years, but the final smooch was a true show-stopper.

 

12. One Way of Breaking It to Mom (Coronation Street)
The introduction of Sian Powers in the British soap Coronation Street offered the chance for Sophie Webster to explore her own sexuality. Two years after the start of a relationship, things get heated in a 2011 episode where the two ring in the New Year in sapphic glory, repeatedly making love in Sophie’s bedroom at her parents’ house. The risky move gets interrupted when mama Sally Webster bursts in, bringing a whole new tension into the room.

 

13. Just Like This Tattoo (The L Word)
What’s steamier than some office sex? While coworkers try to find Shane McCutcheon at her TV station workplace, she’s actually discovering the tattoos on the body of her lover, Carmen de la Pica Morales, in one of The L Word’s earliest (and hottest) sex scenes.

 

14. Lover’s Spit (Queer as Folk)
When Brian and Justin finally reunite in a season 3 episode of Queer as Folk, the climax of the show proves meaningful but hardly tender. Having sex on an office desk, there’s an eagerness and meaning greater than the hookups that served as a signature to this Showtime soap. Heat and joy turn up in maybe the show’s peak moment of passion.

 

 15. Minx in Motion (All My Children)
Bianca Montgomery was a celebrated LGBT treasure in American soap All My Children until the show’s end in 2013. When she first went to a hotel room with Marissa, it was the first time a lesbian love affair played out on daytime TV. More important, it resulted in a steamy romp in the sheets. “I can't believe how great it was,”  Bianca says afterward. Audiences agreed

 

16. Hookalindup (The Good Wife)
Anytime bisexual Kalinda found a reason for a hookup, it certainly brought about a steamy episode of The Good Wife. Her off-again, on-again relationship with Lana likely brought the most heat to the show, including in this season 4 episode where it’s clear the agent is using a variety of techniques to keep her lover in the bedroom.

The Phenomenon of ‘Bud Sex’ Between Straight Rural Men

December 26, 2016, 7:28 pm

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A lot of men have sex with other men but don’t identify as gay or bisexual. A subset of these men who have sex with men, or MSM, live lives that are, in all respects other than their occasional homosexual encounters, quite straight and traditionally masculine — they have wives and families, they embrace various masculine norms, and so on. They are able to, in effect, compartmentalize an aspect of their sex lives in a way that prevents it from blurring into or complicating their more public identities. Sociologists are quite interested in this phenomenon because it can tell us a lot about how humans interpret thorny questions of identity and sexual desire and cultural expectations.

Last year, NYU Press published the fascinating book Not Gay: SexBetween Straight White Men by the University of California, Riverside, gender and sexuality professor Jane Ward. In it, Ward explored various subcultures in which what could be called “straight homosexual sex” abounds — not just in the ones you’d expect, like the military and fraternities, but also biker gangs and conservative suburban neighborhoods — to better understand how the participants in these encounters experienced and explained their attractions, identities, and rendezvous. But not all straight MSM have gotten the same level of research attention. One relatively neglected such group, argues the University of Oregon sociology doctoral student Tony Silva in a new paper in Gender & Society  is rural, white, straight men (well, neglected if you set aside Brokeback Mountain).

 

Silva sought to find out more about these men, so he recruited 19 from men-for-men casual-encounters boards on Craigslist and interviewed them, for about an hour and a half each, about their sexual habits, lives, and senses of identity. All were from rural areas of Missouri, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, or Idaho, places known for their “social conservatism and predominant white populations.” The sample skewed a bit on the older side, with 14 of the 19 men in their 50s or older, and most identified exclusively as exclusively or mostly straight, with a few responses along the lines of “Straight but bi, but more straight.”

 

Since this is a qualitative rather than a quantitative study, it’s important to recognize that the particular men recruited by Silva weren’t necessarily representative of, well, anything. These were just the guys who agreed to participate in an academic’s research project after they saw an ad for it on Craigslist. But the point of Silva’s project was less to draw any sweeping conclusions about either this subset of straight MSM, or the population as a whole, than to listen to their stories and compare them to the narratives uncovered by Ward and various other researchers.

 

 Specifically, Silva was trying to understand better the interplay between “normative rural masculinity” — the set of mores and norms that defines what it means to be a rural man — and these men’s sexual encounters. In doing so, he introduces a really interesting and catchy concept, “bud-sex”:

 

Ward (2015) examines dudesex, a type of male–male sex that white, masculine, straight men in urban or military contexts frame as a way to bond and build masculinity with other, similar “bros.” Carrillo and Hoffman (2016) refer to their primarily urban participants as heteroflexible, given that they were exclusively or primarily attracted to women. While the participants in this study share overlap with those groups, they also frame their same-sex sex in subtly different ways: not as an opportunity to bond with urban “bros,” and only sometimes—but not always—as a novel sexual pursuit, given that they had sexual attractions all across the spectrum. Instead, as Silva (forthcoming) explores, the participants reinforced their straightness through unconventional interpretations of same-sex sex: as “helpin’ a buddy out,” relieving “urges,” acting on sexual desires for men without sexual attractions to them, relieving general sexual needs, and/or a way to act on sexual attractions. “Bud-sex” captures these interpretations, as well as how the participants had sex and with whom they partnered. The specific type of sex the participants had with other men—bud-sex—cemented their rural masculinity and heterosexuality, and distinguishes them from other MSM.

 

This idea of homosexual sex cementing heterosexuality and traditional, rural masculinity certainly feels counterintuitive, but it clicks a little once you read some of the specific findings from Silva’s interviews. The most important thing to keep in mind here is that rural masculinity is “[c]entral to the men’s self-understanding.” Quoting another researcher, Silva notes that it guides their “thoughts, tastes, and practices. It provides them with their fundamental sense of self; it structures how they understand the world around them; and it influences how they codify sameness and difference.” As with just about all straight MSM, there’s a tension at work: How can these men do what they’re doing without it threatening parts of their identity that feel vital to who they are?

 

In some of the subcultures Ward studied, straight MSM were able to reinterpret homosexual identity as actually strengthening their heterosexual identities. So it was with Silva’s subjects as well — they found ways to cast their homosexual liaisons as reaffirming their rural masculinity. One way they did so was by seeking out partners who were similar to them. “This is a key element of bud-sex,” writes Silva. “Partnering with other men similarly privileged on several intersecting axes—gender, race, and sexual identity—allowed the participants to normalize and authenticate their sexual experiences as normatively masculine.” In other words: If you, a straight guy from the country, once in a while have sex with other straight guys from the country, it doesn’t threaten your straight, rural identity as much as it would if instead you, for example, traveled to the nearest major metro area and tried to pick up dudes at a gay bar. You’re not the sort of man who would go to a gay bar — you’re not gay!

 

It’s difficult here not to slip into the old middle-school joke of “It’s not gay if …” — “It’s not gay” if your eyes are closed, or the lights are off, or you’re best friends — but that’s actually what the men in Silva’s study did, in a sense:

As Cain [one of the interview subjects] said, “I’m really not drawn to what I would consider really effeminate faggot type[s],” but he does “like the masculine looking guy who maybe is more bi.” Similarly, Matt (60) explained, “If they’re too flamboyant they just turn me off,” and Jack noted, “Femininity in a man is a turn off.” Ryan (60) explained, “I’m not comfortable around femme” and “masculinity is what attracts me,” while David shared that “Femme guys don’t do anything for me at all, in fact actually I don’t care for ’em.” Jon shared, “I don’t really like flamin’ queers.” Mike (50) similarly said, “I don’t want the effeminate ones, I want the manly guys … If I wanted someone that acts girlish, I got a wife at home.” Jeff (38) prefers masculinity because “I guess I perceive men who are feminine want to hang out … have companionship, and make it last two or three hours.”

 

In other words: It’s not gay if the guy you’re having sex with doesn’t seem gay at all. Or consider the preferences of Marcus, another one of Silva’s interview subjects:

A guy that I would consider more like me, that gets blowjobs from guys every once in a while, doesn’t do it every day. I know that there are a lot of guys out there that are like me … they’re manly guys, and doing manly stuff, and just happen to have oral sex with men every once in a while [chuckles]. So, that’s why I kinda prefer those types of guys …

 

It [also] seems that … more masculine guys wouldn’t harass me, I guess, hound me all the time, send me 1000 emails, “Hey, you want to get together today … hey, what about now.” And there’s a thought in my head that a more feminine or gay guy would want me to come around more. […] Straight guys, I think I identify with them more because that’s kinda, like [how] I feel myself. And bi guys, the same way. We can talk about women, there [have] been times where we’ve watched hetero porn, before we got started or whatever, so I kinda prefer that. [And] because I’m not attracted, it’s very off-putting when somebody acts gay, and I feel like a lot of gay guys, just kinda put off that gay vibe, I’ll call it, I guess, and that’s very off-putting to me.

 

This, of course, is similar to the way many straight men talk about women — it’s nice to have them around and it’s (of course) great to have sex with them, but they’re so clingy. Overall, it’s just more fun to hang out around masculine guys who share your straight-guy preferences and vocabulary, and who are less emotionally demanding.

One way to interpret this is as defensiveness, of course — these men aren’t actually straight, but identify that way for a number of reasons, including “internalized heterosexism, participation in other-sex marriage and childrearing [which could be complicated if they came out as bi or gay], and enjoyment of straight privilege and culture,” writes Silva. After Jane Ward’s book came out last year, Rich Juzwiak laid out a critique in Gawkerthat I also saw in many of the responses to my Q&A with her:  While Ward sidestepped the question of her subjects’ “actual” sexual orientations — “I am not concerned with whether the men I describe in this book are ‘really’ straight or gay,” she wrote — it should matter. As Juzwiak put it: “Given the cultural incentives that remain for a straight-seeming gay, given the long-road to self-acceptance that makes many feel incapable or fearful of honestly answering questions about identity—which would undoubtedly alter the often vague data that provide the basis for Ward’s arguments—it seems that one should care about the wide canyon between what men claim they are and what they actually are.” In other words, Ward sidestepped an important political and rights minefield by taking her subjects’ claims about their sexuality more or less at face value.

 

There are certainly some good reasons for sociologists and others to not examine individuals’ claims about their identities too critically. But still: Juzwiak’s critique is important, and it looms large in the background of one particular segment of Silva’s paper. Actually, it turned out, some of Silva’s subjects really weren’t all that opposed to a certain level of deeper engagement with their bud-sex buds, at least when it came to their “regulars,” or the men they hooked up with habitually:

While relationships with regulars were free of romance and deep emotional ties, they were not necessarily devoid of feeling; participants enjoyed regulars for multiple reasons: convenience, comfort, sexual compatibility, or even friendship. Pat described a typical meetup with his regular: “We talk for an hour or so, over coffee … then we’ll go get a blowjob and then, part our ways.” Similarly, Richard noted, “Sex is a very small part of our relationship. It’s more friends, we discuss politics … all sorts of shit.” Likewise, with several of his regulars Billy noted, “I go on road trips, drink beer, go down to the city [to] look at chicks, go out and eat, shoot pool, I got one friend I hike with. It normally leads to sex, but we go out and do activities other than we meet and suck.”

 

While Kevin noted that his regular relationship “has no emotional connection at all,” it also has a friendship-like quality, as evidenced by occasional visits and sleepovers despite almost 100 miles of distance. Similarly, David noted, “If my wife’s gone for a weekend … I’ll go to his place and spend a night or two with him … we obviously do things other than sex, so yeah we go to dinner, go out and go shopping, stuff like that.” Jack explained that with his regular “we connected on Craigslist … [and] became good friends, in addition to havin’ sex … we just made a connection … But there was no love at all.” Thus, bud-sex is predicated on rejecting romantic attachment and deep emotional ties, but not all emotion.

 

Whatever else is going on here, clearly these men are getting some companionship out of these relationships. It isn’t just about sex if you make a point of getting coffee, and especially if you spend nights together, go shopping or out to dinner, and so on. But there are sturdy incentives in place for them to not take that step of identifying, or identifying fully, as gay or bi. Instead, they frame their bud-sex, even when it’s accompanied by other forms of intimacy, in a way that reinforces their rural, straight masculinity.

It’s important to note that this isn’t some rational decision where the men sit down, list the pros and cons, and say, “Well, I guess coming out just won’t maximize my happiness and well-being.” It’s more subtle than that, given the osmosis-like way we all absorb social norms and mores. In all likelihood, when Silva’s subjects say they’re straight, they mean it: That’s how they feel. But it’s hard not to get the sense that maybe some of them would be happier, or would have made different life decisions, if they had had access to a different, less constricted vocabulary to describe what they want — and who they are.

 

More & More Straight Guys are giving up "Bro Jobs" and engaging "Dude Sex"!

December 28, 2016, 3:46 pm

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What is dude sex? And how is it different from gay sex? Let’s find out…

Tony Silva is a researcher at University of Oregon who recently did a study on the growing phenomenon and just published a paper called Bud-Sex: Constructing Normative Masculinity among Rural Straight Men That Have Sex With Men about it.

According to Silva, dude sex (or “bud-sex”) is when two guys, usually from a rural area and who identify as straight, hook up together in a discreet, NSA sort of way. They have wives. They have kids. They consider themselves to be heterosexual. But they’re also able to compartmentalize sex in a way that allows them to occasionally bump uglies with other guys without complicating anything.

 

Silver interviewed 19 white, rural, straight-identifying men who say they’ve had dude sex. He found most of them on the pages of Craigslist’s M4M casual encounter ads. All of the guys came from socially conservative and predominant white populations in Missouri, Illinois, Oregon, Washington, or Idaho, and most of them identified as either “exclusively” or “mostly straight,” with a few identifying as “straight but bi, but more straight.”

Silva spoke with them for about an hour and a half each, and what he learned was pretty interesting.
Many of the guys said they engaged in dude sex as a way of “helpin’ a buddy out,” relieving “urges,” or simply experimenting and/or satisfying curiosities without experiencing any sexual attraction for the person with whom they were experimenting.
Silva also found that dude sex guides their “thoughts, tastes, and practices. It provides them with their fundamental sense of self; it structures how they understand the world around them; and it influences how they codify sameness and difference.”
In other words: it helps them scratch a certain curiosity itch while simultaneously reaffirming their heterosexuality because, now that they’ve tried it, they realize that man-on-man sex isn’t for them… Or maybe it is… It’s all about learning and growing as individuals.

One thing Silva noticed was that most of the men were seeking other men like them–straight-identifying, married, etc., etc.
“This is a key element of bud-sex,” he writes in his study. “Partnering with other men similarly privileged on several intersecting axes—gender, race, and sexual identity—allowed the participants to normalize and authenticate their sexual experiences as normatively masculine.”
By hooking up with guys similar to them, Silva noted, many of the men didn’t feel their heterosexual identities were threatened. But having sex with a gay man somehow made them feel more gay. In fact, a handful of subjects said they were turned off by “effeminate faggot type[s]” or “flamin’ queers” who were “too flamboyant.”
“If I wanted someone that acts girlish, I got a wife at home,” one subject said.

“A guy that I would consider more like me, that gets blowjobs from guys every once in a while, doesn’t do it every day,” another subject said. “They’re manly guys, and doing manly stuff, and just happen to have oral sex with men every once in a while. So, that’s why I kinda prefer those types of guys.”
Other reasons the men said they preferred to have dude sex as opposed to gay sex was because it happened quicker and didn’t involved lengthy email exchanges, or they felt there wasn’t the threat of the other man becoming emotionally attached to them.
“I think I identify with them more because that’s kinda, like [how] I feel myself. And bi guys, the same way. We can talk about women, there [have] been times where we’ve watched hetero porn, before we got started or whatever, so I kinda prefer that.”

Other men reported that they enjoyed the friendship part most, and that the sex was just sort of a naturally-occurring afterthought.
“We talk for an hour or so, over coffee,” one guy said. “Then we’ll go get a blowjob and then part our ways.”
“I go on road trips, drink beer, go down to the city [to] look at chicks, go out and eat, shoot pool, I got one friend I hike with,” another guy explained. “It normally leads to sex, but we go out and do activities other than we meet and suck.”
“If my wife’s gone for a weekend,” a third guy said, “I’ll go to his place and spend a night or two with him … We obviously do things other than sex, so, yeah, we go to dinner, go out and go shopping, stuff like that.”
You know? Stuff like that.

 

Curious Straight Guy Absolutely Cannot Stop Fantasizing Another Dude

December 28, 2016, 3:49 pm

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A “straight” guy on Reddit is in a total bind… He can’t stop daydreaming about messing around with another dude.

 

“OK, so I’ll start with saying I’m not gay,” the post begins. “I’m not attracted to men or ever wanted to have sex with another guy.”
                      
 Got it. You’re totally, 100 percent not gay. Now, please continue.
“But,” the man says, “I do find other men’s penises a big turn on.”
Wait, what?
“I’ve often fantasized about comparing my penis to other guys,” he confesses, “and masturbating around another guy or guys but never acted on it.”
For someone who’s “not gay” that sure sounds pretty gay to us, but we digress.

 

“I’d like to know how I could make this a reality, are there any sub-Reddits or sites that cater to this sort of thing?” the man wonders. “I live in Yorkshire in the UK and have been told by females and males a like that I’m a good looking guy (also fairly well hung) if this helps to know.”
“Any of you point me in the right direction?”
                   
The advice quickly comes pouring in:
“If what you say is true just make a profile on Grindr,” one person advises. “State what you are looking for and be specific.”
“Use a torso pic,” someone else adds, “and put ‘straight bicurious’ as a headline or something.”
“A good place to start with this is a video chatting site,” a third person suggests. “There are sites such as pinkroulette, manroulette, etc. that let you jack off with other people online. You don’t need to show your face or anything so it’s pretty safe.”
Followed by some taunts:
“First, try admitting to yourself you’re not actually straight,” one person suggests.
“‘I’m straight, but I find other men’s penises a big turn on,'” someone else teases. “1+1=7?”
                      
And then there’s this:
“By ‘eck lad, stop faffing about, folk round ear be playing pop when ya vague! … Make sure you’re up front with what you want and don’t lead them on. Lads can just be as bad as lasses for getting attached especially if it starts being more than a one time thing!”
 What advice do you have for this guy? Share your thoughts in the comments section below…

 

“Straight” Dude Walks In On Gay Roomie & Realizes He, Too, Is Homosexual

December 28, 2016, 4:10 pm

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A straight man named “Mike” says he walked in on his gay roommate “Alex” making out with another dude and felt a funny sensation.
“I thought I was going to throw up,” he confesses in a recently-deleted Reddit thread. “I felt bad for being as disgusted as I was, since there’s no good reason for me to have a reaction like that.”
Afterwards, Mike couldn’t get the image of Alex swapping spit with another dude out of his mind. To make matters worse, every time Alex brought a new guy home, Mike would “just start feeling like shit and wishing that the guy would leave.”

“I can’t stop thinking about what these guys might have done to him even though I don’t want to imagine that,” he writes. “It makes me really uncomfortable and grossed out.”
It didn’t take long for Alex to start picking up on things. When he asked Mike why he’s been acting so strange lately, Mike froze.
“I didn’t know what to say,” he says. “I want to keep him as a friend, but he’d be hurt if he knew that whenever I think about him with other guys it disgusts me. How do I deal with this? I’ve never been homophobic, but I’ve suddenly developed some kind of homophobia where just the idea of my roommate’s sex life makes me uncomfortable.”

 

Well, what a difference 72 hours makes. Because a few days later, Mike updated his original post to make yet another confession:
“The day I made the post, I met up with my sister Laura,” he explains. “She read the whole thing and said it sounds like I have a crush on Alex. She talked me through it and we confirmed I’m not as straight as I thought I was.”

Mike continues: “The next few days were mostly me sitting on my ass trying to wrap my head around everything. I was scared of messing up our friendship and losing him, but I was even more scared that I might just let this pass without saying anything and then he gets a boyfriend and I have to see him with another guy.”
So he sat Alex down and told him everything.
“We talked,” Mike says. “In the end we agreed to maybe try something out, and we kissed. Never kissed anyone with a beard before, so…interesting experience, but also really good.”

 

“Since then we’ve kind of been easing into the whole dating thing,” he continues. “We had our first proper date last weekend and it was incredible … At home we still do our normal thing, but sometimes we get distracted. Last night I almost burned dinner because I had to kiss him and we got kind of carried away, haha. We’re taking the whole sex thing slow though since I’ve never done anything with another guy before.”

 

“Honestly,” he concludes, “I can’t remember the last time I was this happy, and I never would have expected this when I made that first post … Funniest self-realization in the world? Plot twist: It turns out I don’t have any problem with Alex kissing guys if it’s me he’s kissing.”

 

Sam Asghari: Britany Spear's New BF!

December 28, 2016, 4:15 pm

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It’s a considerable step up from Kevin Federline. It’s also a considerable step up from any other man on the planet.

It looks as though Britney Spears is now officially dating Sam Asghari, that fitness model who’s prominently displayed in her “Slumber Party” video, as well as the video for Fifth Harmony’s work from home.

 

Spears and Asgari posted a joint Christmas message for fans on Snapchat that made everyone faint and cry and swoon. 
Britney has herself a guy who's not just really easy on the eyes ... he's a gentleman too.
Britney and Sam Asghari  did dinner together at Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ in L.A. on Saturday, and her laugh and smile say it all -- she's having a good time with this one. 

 

Brit's "Slumber Party" music vid co-star posted a pic of the couple doing sushi last month, but when he quickly deleted the post ... we wondered if it was anything serious. 
Our Spears sources confirm what these photos show -- it is. Serious, that is.

 

Not a ton of guys out there who look like Sam, and also open car doors for a lady.

Europeans Dress Better Than Americans

December 28, 2016, 4:36 pm

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I stated on Twitter the other day that North Americans dress badly and it ruffled a few feathers. I don’t even see this as a debatable point. The evidence speaks for itself. Put someone from Europe next to someone from America or Canada and it’s game over. No need for discussion. However, people wanted me to explain my viewpoint, so here goes.
North American ‘style’ is lazy and unoriginal for the most part. (I did mention I was gonna ruffle a few feathers, right?) I lived in Canada and the States for years and not a day went by where I was not completely underwhelmed and unimpressed by the style choices of the majority of people there.

 

When I lived in New York, I found it laughable that it considered itself to be a ‘fashion capital’. Everyone dresses the same. It’s like a uniform. You can even break it down by ethnicity. Most white people wear Gap or Banana Republic and where I lived in Spanish Harlem (a predominantly black and latino neighbourhood), I was pretty much the only one not in Rocawear or Baby Phat. And before you get your knickers in a twist, I do realise that not every white, black or latino person falls into these categories.

 

Every outfit is a variation of jeans and T Shirts. Oh except when they go to work. For work, men will wear what they call, ‘dress pants’ (which I think is a complete oxymoron, but whatever). Show me an American man that doesn’t own at least three pairs of these  and I’ll give you the £5.72 in my bank account. They’ll team that with a ‘button down shirt’ – Americans make the distinction that the shirt has buttons, because they need to know up front that it will require some effort to put it on. Like I said, North American fashion is lazy, so wearing a shirt with buttons is a big deal.
And of course, everything is ill fitting. I think the concept of tailoring has completely escaped North Americans. Mens pants are always too baggy. Naturally, American men refer to European style trousers as ‘gay’ because they are what they consider to be ‘tight’. In actuality, those are how your trousers are meant to fit. Ladies clothing on those shores never seems to hug the form correctly. But, it would require time and effort to change those things and that would infringe on the time they get to spend in their jeans and T Shirts, so why bother?

 

In New York I was complimented on my clothing on virtually a daily basis, probably because I put some effort into my style. But there really is no excuse to dress badly in NYC – there are boutiques selling nice clothes (which, I’d like to point out, they import from Europe), but I guess JC Penney or whatever, is easier for most people. God forbid you make a little effort or stand out from the Gap uniform!

 

In Toronto, I despised shopping. Everything was the same. Even boutique stores that were two doors away from each other were stocking the same dresses (which really just comes down to poor research and business skills on the part of the shop owners).
The whole theme in North America seems to be casual comfort. And, due to the growing obesity problem, there soon won’t be any other choice.

 

But a great deal of this is cultural. Here in England, we are lucky enough to have the rest of Europe as our playground. From a young age, we go on holidays to France, Spain or Italy and get to absorb all the different styles there. Our style is a constant fusion of what we are lucky enough to be surrounded by. Since most Americans don’t have passports, well, I’m sure you can see where I’m going with that one. Few people on the planet dress better than French women or Italian men. There’s experimentation, there’s flair and there’s a genuine desire to always look your best.

 

Don’t get me wrong. Of course there are people on this fair continent who are yet to master the art of style and the constant cheapening of fashion through discount stores is definitely having a negative effect on the way people dress, but that’s a whole other debate.

 

If North Americans are honest with themselves, their favourite designers are most likely, European. From McQueen to Missoni – we produce the best. You’ve either got it or you don’t and when it comes to fashion, we Europeans definitely have the edge.

 

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How To Dress Like An Italian..........

December 28, 2016, 5:04 pm

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When it comes to clothes, Made in Italy is synonymous with tangible virtues of quality, craftsmanship and design. It’s far harder, however, to put one’s finger on what it is exactly about the way the most stylish of Italian men dress that sets them apart. What are the sartorial quirks that result in Italian men being so heavily represented on street-style blogs? This very question was part of what inspired Mr Scott Schuman to set up The Satorialist in 2005 – he wanted to record the way that men in Italy’s big cities dress in order to decode their tricks and understand how they do it.
                  
A decade later and the world of men’s style has changed immeasurably, with street- style shots of men in Milan and Florence as influential and eagerly anticipated as the latest looks from the runways of Paris and London. With nothing more at their disposal than great clothes, superb taste and enviable self-assurance, men such as Messrs Lino Ieluzzi, Luca Rubinacci and Simone Righi have become menswear superstars. What is it about the way they update classic outfits that works so well? How do they achieve that distinctly Italian look, at once careless and artfully put together?

   

To add a touch of Italian swagger to one’s personal style requires a brief study of both the small things (such as sleeve lengths) and the big things (fabric and colour choices) that the men there do to achieve their winning looks. Because wherever a man lives, there will be something he can learn from the world’s most stylish nation.

 There are many paradoxes in Italian style. One is the idea that putting on a suit is always inspired by the wish to look smart. Try replacing the word “smart” with the word “good”, because formality isn’t the priority here. This is why cotton and linen jackets, which are seldom seen in traditional British tailoring, are such a major part of Italian style (of course the climate plays a part). 

 

In this shot at least three of the men – and possibly all of them – are wearing cotton or linen jackets. None of these guys are wearing clothes that fall into the category of conservative business dress but all of them look cool. Men fixated on looking “sharp” will be appalled by the wrinkles that are an integral part of wearing cotton and linen but those wrinkles help to make an attractively relaxed impression on the people around you.

 Find a tailor who can execute a 

“shivering break”

 

 A man needn’t have a huge wardrobe, he just needs the right clothes. And one of the reasons for this is that it takes time to get clothes just right, as the two gentlemen in this photograph amply demonstrate. It’s highly unlikely that when they first tried on their trousers they were the perfect length. They’ve spent time having them tailored so that they sit at exactly the right height in relation to the shoes – the trousers on the right just kiss the wearer’s chestnut-coloured double monks, while the chalkstripe trousers on the left exhibit the perfect “shivering break” – when the hem meets the shoes’ vamps without rumpling – and well-judged chunky turn-ups. The lesson here is to find a skilled alterations tailor, build a relationship with him or her and assiduously have your clothes altered to fit.

 

You know what they say about a 

big sports watch

The frequently noted fact that the late Mr. Gianni Agnelli, one of the most stylish Italians of the 20th century, wore his watch over his shirt cuff shouldn’t lead lesser mortals to conclude that this is a quirk worth emulating. Much more interesting is the knack Italian men have for sizing their watch bracelets and straps so that they grip the exact spot where the wrist meets the hand. This has the effect of keeping the watch in place, rather than allowing it to spin around the wrist, while fixing it sufficiently far enough down the arm as to be permanently visible (which was presumably the motivation behind Signor Agnelli’s affectation). The ideal timepiece for such horological flourishes is a vintage Rolex sports watch, perhaps a Pepsi Bezel GMT, an early Submariner, an Explorer or – for the very well heeled – an early Daytona.

 

The blazer is your canvas, 

the accessories your brushstrokes

 The Italian stylist Mr. Robert Rabensteiner sets his own dress code, which makes his decision to wear a classic, navy-blue, double-breasted suit rather interesting. However, rather than looking as if he’s wearing a stiff, corporate uniform, Mr Rabensteiner crucially alters the impression he makes with a few key tweaks. The first comes in the form of the soft and perfectly fitting shoulders, the second is the absence of a tie and the third is the way that he’s popped his collar. The jacket’s fit suggests the suit may be bespoke, in which case we applaud Mr Rabensteiner’s decision to go for hip pockets without flaps as these give a sleeker look. The navy jacket is a key element in the Italian wardrobe.

 

Develop your own style signature 

 It’s hard to recommend particular quirks to emulate, because the whole point is that quirks should express individuality (“He’s ‘the crazy sock’ guy in accounting!”). However, in this shot we see a number of popular Italian tricks. The first is the turning back of shirt cuffs over the jacket’s sleeves. Note the way the lengths of the shirt and suit perfectly correspond. The same turn-back reveals at least four bracelets piled up on the wearer’s left wrist. In the background the man in the blue hound’s-tooth jacket has unbuttoned a couple of his cuff buttons (this gesture originated so men could demonstrate that their jackets had working buttons, giving the impression that their clothes were bespoke). Note the juxtaposition of the working buttons and the wallet chain, an accessory we first saw worn with tailored clothing by Milanese style icon Mr Lino Ieluzzi. The challenge here is to find subtle individual idiosyncrasies without straying into the realms of ludicrousness  (we think chain wallets usefully push at the boundaries, while ankle bandannas are a step too far).

 

 Italians are generally too smart for full workwear looks but have a knack of introducing elements of it into an outfit in a way that looks entirely coherent. In this shot Mr Alessandro Squarzi, a fashion consultant, effortlessly combines crisp white chinos, a gingham button-down shirt, a Wabash fabric waistcoat and a vintage US Army overshirt. It’s an outfit further distinguished by the crocodile (or is it alligator?) belt buckle, but the lesson here is how Mr Squarzi uses well-fitting vintage pieces to give his outfit visual depth. The effect is interesting without being attention-seeking and one of the reasons for this is the harmonious combination of the colours – in particular the mix of olive green and white.

 

Because Italian style is so distinctive it’s tempting to assume that Italian men wear loud clothes. In fact the best of them do the exact opposite, as this group of gentlemen proves. Far from employing eye-catching, neo-dandy flourishes such as gaudy bow ties or boldly coloured chinos, they are dressed in subdued shades of sand and stone, with pale-blue shirts and grey ties. Despite the ties and the tailoring, the impression made is a casual one thanks to the bare ankles (a tan helps), the cotton cargo pants and the brown shoes. This might not be the ideal look for a day spent in a lawyer’s office but it would be ideal for a weekend lunch in a decent restaurant.

 

How Japan Beat America At Its Own Style Game

December 28, 2016, 5:28 pm

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An interview with author W. David Marx, whose new book outlines the rich, complex, and straight-up wacky history of Japan's relationship with American style

Right now, the men's fashion scene is a diverse zone of awesomeness. Labels from around the world create new spins on classic menswear, or forward-thinking designers just invent new visions of what men can and should wear. And one place in the world that's definitely happening right now is Japan. The country hosts some of the most cutting-edge labels and ones that produce the most traditional menswear pieces. But for much of its sartorial history, the way Japanese men dressed was set by what Americans had worn years prior. 

 

From perfect replicas of military jackets to denim made on old-school shuttle looms, the men's style scene in Japan was, at one point, a time capsule of classic Americana. But what caused that shift post-WWII? And how did it come to be that Japan often produces better versions of distinctly American designs (see: the bomber jacket, all forms of denim) than we do? A new book, titled Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style, answers these questions while unpacking this fascinating relationship between these two far-flung cultures. We spoke to the book's author, W. David Marx, about the early days of Japan's fetishization of Americana style, its influence on modern-day streetwear culture, and how Japanese and American men's fashion magazines (like, say, GQ) are still worlds apart. 

 

Let's start with the title. What is Ametora?
The word “Ametora” means “American traditional” and started in the ’80s in Japan. But it generally means American East Coast, classic, elite clothing. It’s a combination of Ivy style as well as British items like fisherman's sweaters. It’s anything you’d see on East Coast campuses in the U.S. But I kind of want to reframe the word in this context of, anytime a Japanese product or brand makes American clothing or makes something new, it becomes Ametora. The word “tradition” is too linked to just East Coast style, but now things like hip-hop style and California surfer style are also in some way traditional American style. 

 

In the book, you introduce [the book] Take Ivy as one of the first major influences on Japanese style.
Ivy started it. And you’re starting from scratch. At the time, Japan wasn’t getting much influence from America, because it was so closed off to the world. After [World War II], you couldn’t go overseas very easily for about 20 years, until around 1964. And even then, it was super expensive until the late ’80s. Take Ivy was one of the first books that brought American style to Japan. After that, the commercial world started picking up on hippie style and outdoor style, but Ivy is really where the system starts, and I think that’s why Ivy League style has become so venerated. It’s not just a certain style of the ’60s, but it was the start of the men’s style in Japan.

I think a common perception is that Japanese men, post–World War II, simply wanted to dress like Americans they saw, but your book says it’s not that clear-cut.
There were tons of American soldiers in Japan from about 1945 to 1950, but they were always in uniform, and that made an impact on people, but it wasn’t something that could be easily replicated. Jeans were showing up in certain markets, but they were incredibly expensive. So even if you thought Americans were cool, it was really hard to dress like them. It wasn’t until the 1960s that Japanese brands started making versions of everyday American clothing. But until Japanese brands made the products themselves, and put them in a Japanese context like magazines with Japanese models, did those clothes really pick up. 

 

The book also seems to reframe the relationship between American and Japanese style less as a one-way influence, but more as a dialogue. Is that right?
I would actually say that until recently it wasn’t a dialogue. It was mostly one way in the sense that Japan got very into it, and when Americans would see that Japanese men were into it, they would get a little weirded out. The clearest example of this is in the 1980s movie Mystery Train. The first part has these Japanese kids wearing all of these Teddy Boy clothes, and they come to Memphis and they want to see the glory of Rock ‘n’ Roll Memphis and are disappointed when it’s not what they expected. And the movie kind of makes fun of that, but Americans have always been uncomfortable because they think it feels forced. I think a lot of Americans were dismissive of it because they thought Japanese men didn’t understand it. But around eight years ago, with the rise of menswear blogs, American men started to include these versions of American gear, and it became a dialogue. And often now, Japanese brands might not be considered superior, but are doing something interesting. And Japanese labels have even become a standard, in a way—for instance, if a stylish American guy is looking for dress shirts, he might go to Kamakura. I also think it started with A Bathing Ape, when you actually had a Japanese brand in the American pop-culture consciousness.

So it was Harajuku culture that led to Japanese brands being judged on their own merits?
Yeah, especially once Bape opened its own New York store in, like, 2003 or 2004. But the whole culture of reselling, and this is nothing against James Jebbia [owner of Supreme], but that whole reselling culture really started in Japan in the ’90s. A lot of what we’re seeing now is very much based on the Japanese model. That goes everywhere, from menswear blogs showing guys how to clean garments to order a bespoke suit to the sort of manual aspects you never used to get out of American fashion magazines, to just waiting 14 hours to get products. These things were all super normal in Japan, but weren’t in the United States until recently. But there’s just more stuff in Japan today. Fashion is just more important to the average man. 

 

In general, how do Japanese men consume men’s fashion differently than we do in America?
I think, at the very beginning in the ’60s, if you wanted to wear Ivy League clothing in Japan, none of your elders would have it or wear it. So you relied on these magazines to tell you the right way to wear it. So men used media to tell them what to buy. In the ’70s, you start to get these magazines that have 20 pages of Red Wing boots in them, and into the ’80s it continued. Today, the older the magazine skews, the less manual aspects there are to them, they’re more just general ideas. For instance, Popeye [one of Japan’s most popular men’s fashion magazines] is much less prescriptive these days as Japanese men have much more confidence in what to wear and how to wear it. 

 

What’s always stuck out to me is just how product-heavy Japanese magazines are. Just pages and pages of laydown shots, which makes them fun to look at even for someone who doesn’t speak Japanese.
Well, what’s great is that they allow you to shop before you get to the store. You pick up the magazine and see, oh, Visvim or Junya Watanabe did a cool jacket, so you call the store and ask, and then you go to the store to get it. So having your product in the magazine is extremely important in Japan. The speed at which things sell out in Japan is incredible, because people across the country are picking up the same magazines and everyone wants the stuff in the magazines rather than the stuff not in the magazines. And it’s to the degree that I’ve heard multiple times, whether it’s Jun Takahashi [of Undercover] or Nigo [of Bape], complaining about the fact that kids would only buy the color of the tee they were selling if it was in the magazine. But there are also a lot of Japanese guys who don’t want to just follow instructions. 

At the end of the book, I make the point that the whole menswear-blog scene of seven or eight years ago started because the whole culture of dressing up has sort of disappeared for American men. So young guys couldn’t just go to their dad and ask, “What’s the best suit to buy?” because their dads don’t know. So they had to start from basics the same way Japanese men did in the 1960s. 

 

Is the online-shopping and social-media world less important to Japanese men than it is to Americans?
I would definitely say so, and I would also say that these Japanese magazines have done way less about moving online. A lot of the best GQ content today can be found both online and in the magazine. And there’s a lot of content that’s just online and not in the magazine. But in Japan, print is really the culture that matters.

As for online shopping, it’s gotten a big boost recently. [Japanese department store] Beams has basically all of their stock online. Zozotown also sells tons of brands that you can buy online, with pretty good return policies. But for a long time, the reason the reseller scene was so big in Japan was that there were these little shops in the middle of nowhere that would travel to the big cities, buy the stuff, and sell it back in their small towns. But though e-commerce has taken off, I think the reseller scene is still insane. As for social media, it’s important, but hasn’t taken over the way that the magazines have control over what people buy. 

 

Do you think that American men’s newfound interest in clothes over the past few years is in some ways related to the fact that Japanese labels have made great American products, like jeans?
Well, Thom Browne didn’t need to look to Japan to make his suits. But once American men saw how much was going on in Japan, it was more a catalyst for that interest in clothing. When American men wanted to look at pictures of Aldens or Red Wings back in 2007 or 2008, those pictures were in Japanese magazines. If you wanted to see a military jacket from the ’60s, you were more likely to find a real McCoy’s replica of the jacket than the actual vintage one. Or, like, if you wanted to see what Levi’s looked like in 1955, that was in a Japanese magazine. So I just think that when Americans became interested in their own heritage, the resources they needed to learn about it were in Japan. And Take Ivy is the perfect example of that, as it’s a book made by Japanese people about American style.

Also, it seems the best American-inspired products, like military jackets or North Face parkas, were and are only available to buy in Japan.
Absolutely. I guess I’m also taking for granted the fact that America has really caught up in terms of certain products. Like, you don’t have to buy Japanese denim if you want quality raw, unsanforized denim. A lot of American brands make them. But Japanese denim did sort of take over in terms of being the most reliable vintage-y-feeling selvedge denim, but also Cone Mills would have never started making their selvedge again had they not seen Japanese brands pulling their selvedge looms. The whole Levi’s Vintage Clothing brand started in Japan before the United States, about two years prior. At first the idea of raw selvedge was seen as a crazy Japan thing, but then they realized they could do it in the U.S. But I don’t want to take anything away from the U.S. and say that Japan caused this revival. There was also a large influence from Hong Kong, specifically Hypebeast, which created a bridge between products coming from Japan and the United States.

Where do you see the relationship between American and Japanese style going in the future?
At the end of the book, I talk about people who are taking this relationship in whole new directions. The beginning of the book is about Japanese men copying American style, the second part is the massive importation of American clothing into Japan, but the new brands now, like Visvim and Engineered Garments, are designers who understand the history and understand the references, but are trying to make something new. When you see a Visvim shoe, it looks like a Visvim shoe. So there will always be brands just making replica versions of old American products. I think the next step is this whole new wave of creativity. 

 

Top 5 Most Expensive Pairs of Men's Underwear

December 28, 2016, 5:57 pm

≫ Next: 12 Style Lessons We Can Learn from the Italians If you can't beat them, copy them.

≪ Previous: How Japan Beat America At Its Own Style Game

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At the Comfortable Boxers Company, we pride ourselves on our affordability. That got us thinking: What ridiculously expensive underwear is out there? Why is it so expensive? Is it worth the price?
So we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 most expensive men’s underwear. These are five pairs that start at $60 and catapult to a tear-inducing $165. From Swiss cotton to Italian silk, these undies run the gamut.
But are they worth it? Let’s find out.

5.   Tani Boxer Briefs($60)

Tani claims that their underwear sets a new standard, aiming for “sophistication through simplicity.” They’re targeting the posh crowd with their boxer brief that’s as Swiss as Helvetica, IKEA, and meatballs.While these are the least expensive pair on the list, we think it’s still ridiculous to drop six Hamiltons on one pair of underwear. 

 

The Swisstouch is made of 92% Swiss cotton, but even if it was made in Switzerland, it’s still cotton,Which isn't nearly as comfy as modal. (Tip: For $60, you could snag 4 pairs of the flagship boxer briefs.  You’d even get free shipping! However, there’s nothing peculiarly Swiss about them.)

4.   Frigo No. 1 Exclusive Boxer Briefs($100)

The ad copy for Frigo No. 1 Exclusive Boxer Briefs claims that the future of underwear is here. In addition to the “state-of-the-art fabrication” and “Coolmax wicking,” the briefs have a “next-generation waistband,” whatever that means.

While it sounds like a space-age discovery, the actual specs are old hat. Made prominently of nylon, the boxer briefs don’t offer anything revolutionary. They’re advertised primarily as an athletic garment––maybe Derrick Rose could afford a pair (see #1).

 

3. Oakley Carbon-X Underwear($135)

Warning: These underwear aren’t for the faint of heart. They can withstand the heat of a 2000º blow torch without getting hurt, and they’re worn by NASCAR drivers. At a jaw-dropping $135, it’s no wonder these underwear double as firefighters for your sensitive parts. (We know, we know, they’re long bottoms, but they’re still underwear.)
The Carbon-X underwear is a good idea––if you’re planning to go running through fire in nothing but your skivvies. While the idea is good, it doesn’t apply to casual wear. So unless you’re afraid of your rump melting, go with a cheaper pair.

2.   Versace Barocco Animalier Brief ($150)

It’s no surprise that the second most expensive underwear on this list comes from fashion behemoth Versace. Unlike the ad copy for Frigo boxer briefs, Versace’s description is barebones. The underwear features a Greca Medusa detail, elasticated waistband, and Barocco Animalier print.

While the brief may conjure up images of ancient philosophers and brave Grecian warriors, its price tag conjures up images of an empty wallet. It’s not even made of hand-raised spider silk; it’s made of viscose, a type of rayon.

All in all, the Barocco Animalier doesn’t live up to its name (whatever its name means). At least there’s complimentary ground shipping.

1. Derek Rose Bailey Pure Silk Classic Boxers ($165)

Derek Rose (not to be confused with Bulls point-guard Derrick Rose) is one of the most expensive luxury brands of men’s underwear. Their Bailey boxers are made of “Italian pure silk” and cost a painful $165. And that’s without tax!

For that price, you’d assume an 80-year-old Italian tailor crafts these by hand in his Venetian villa and delivers them to your door. (Sadly, there’s no evidence to support this.) While silk is one of the most luxurious fabrics, we have a hard time accepting the hefty price tag.
The sales page doesn’t even boast any unique qualities; instead, they claim the boxers are the epitome of sophistication. You’re better off wearing a bowtie and speaking in a British accent.

 MY advice? Instead of choosing ridiculously expensive, choose ridiculously comfortable.

12 Style Lessons We Can Learn from the Italians If you can't beat them, copy them.

December 28, 2016, 6:31 pm

≫ Next: Debbie Reynolds dead at 84!

≪ Previous: Top 5 Most Expensive Pairs of Men's Underwear

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The Brits have funny teeth, the French have berets and baguettes, and the Dutch have their penchant for short-sleeved shirts and pulled-up white socks.

Every nation comes with its own lazy stereotypes attached, but for one country, the cliches aren't all that bad. Virile and invariably well-dressed, Italian men are probably the most stylish bunch out there (sorry, Spain). Here, fresh from Pitti Uomo in Florence and men's fashion week in Milan, we dissect the 12 key style lessons we can learn from our natty cousins across the Atlantic.

 

1 | It's possible to look good in a vest

The mistake most men make when sporting a padded vest is to think of it as an outer layer. The trick, as the Italians understand, is to treat it as an inner sheath—an insulating layer worn over your shirt and beneath your jacket. Opt for something close-cut in a neutral shade, choose a matte fabric (never, ever "North Face-shiny"), and team with an open-neck white shirt, a deconstructed Brunello Cucinelli blazer, and a pair of slim-cut washed jeans for a relaxed, long-weekend-in-Rome look.

 

2 | Never take off your sunglasses. Ever.

If there's one thing the Italians know, it's that everyone looks better in a pair of sunglasses, even when it's raining... or when it's dark. Follow their lead and never take yours off—just make sure you find the right pair for your face. If you've got a round jaw, opt for a square or rectangular frame. Square jaw? Round frame. Unsure about the dimensons of your face? Choose an aviator. An aviator suits everyone, as the Italians well know.

 

3 | Investing in high quality clothing will always pay dividends.

No country boasts a higher proportion of well-dressed billionaires than Italy. Just look at Patrizio Bertelli of Prada, Giorgio Armani, or Diego Della Valle of Tod's. All of them are incredibly wealthy and all extraordinarily stylish. Dress like these men and you'll be on your way to your first million in no time. Promise.

4 | An espresso and a cigarette is the only way to breakfast.

How do you think Italian men manage to fit into their size 36 suits and super-slim jeans? (And how do you reckon they look so good in street style shots?) It's all about an espresso and a smoke first thing in the morning.

5 | Texture is key.

If there's one thing that Italian men understand, it's that details matter. Instead of wearing a matte poplin shirt with a flat mohair suit, a stylish Italian will play with texture and wear a soft cotton jersey shirt with a deconstructed houndstooth cashmere blazer and a boiled wool overcoat. Contrast in texture is the key to a successful outfit.

 

6 | Sprezzatura is the only Italian you need to know.

In addition to ciao, and maybe pronto (mainly because it sounds cool), the most important Italian word you should have in your vocabulary is sprezzatura. Translating to "studied carelessness," the term perfectly encapsulates the stylish Italian man's way of dressing. Your clothes should look as if they've been thrown on without a thought (even if you've spent four hours in front of the mirror deciding which trouser length works best with your loafers). Just remember: looking effortless is a balancing act. If you're verging on peacockery, you're doing it wrong.

 

7 | Men can also wear color.

Visit any major city in Italy and you'll notice that the men wear as much color as the women. The key is to choose washed-out, soft shades. A dusty pink sweater with a soft blue blazer and cream chinos, for instance; or a brighter blue suit with a white shirt and indigo overcoat. Pick one slightly bolder shade and team with more traditional colors to keep things from getting out of hand.

 

8 | Embrace your hair while you've got it.

More often than not blessed with thick waves of dark, coarse hair, Italian men know better than to clip it all off before its time. Make like them and embrace your hair while you've still got it—the likelihood is it won't be around forever.

9 | Structure isn't everything.

Though the Savile Row tradition of super-structured tailoring still has its place, the Italian look—softer and more closely cut to the body—has never felt more relevant. The masters of Italian tailoring—see Giorgio Armani, Brunello Cucinelli, Kiton, Corneliani, and Ermenegildo Zegna—all embrace a softer cut, and so too should you. Opt for a suit with a deconstucted shoulder, a half-lining (or no lining at all), and a tapered trouser.

 

10 | Layering is your friend.

Just as texture is important, so too is creating a sense of depth with clever layering. Italian men won't think twice about wearing a classic shirt beneath a knitted overshirt, beneath a vest, beneath a blazer, beneath an overcoat—and neither should you.

 

11 | Don't think of your swim trunks as underwear.

Perhaps its because we don't see the sun as often as our Italian counterparts, but we tend not to take care of our swimwear. If you think of your trunks in the same way as you do your boxer shorts (a boring everyday essential which no one is ever likely to see), you're going to look terrible on the beach. Instead, do as the Romans (and Florentines, and Neapolitans) do, and treat your swimming trunks with as much care as you would your suit. Your fellow sunbathers will thank you.

 

12 | Embrace the power of a perfect pose. 

Look at any street style shot from Florence or Milan and you'll notice that not only are Italian men immaculately dressed, they also have posing down pat. The imperceptible turn of a foot, the artfully placed hand on a knee—never have an entire people been so ready for their close up.

Debbie Reynolds dead at 84!

December 28, 2016, 8:59 pm

≫ Next: Debbie Reynolds on Elizabeth Taylor Stole Her Husband

≪ Previous: 12 Style Lessons We Can Learn from the Italians If you can't beat them, copy them.

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Debbie Reynolds dead, actress once known as "America's Sweetheart" was 84!

 Debbie Reynolds, known in the 1950s as “America’s Sweetheart” and later as a show biz trooper and “triple threat” dancer, singer and actress, died Wednesday, one day after her own daughter’s death. She was 84.

 

Her son, Todd Fisher, said Reynolds died Wednesday, a day after her daughter, Carrie Fisher who was 60.
“She’s now with Carrie and we’re all heartbroken,” Fisher said from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where his mother was taken by ambulance earlier Wednesday. 

 

Reynolds had a long career in Hollywood that spanned over four decades, with her first starring role in “Singin’ in the Rain” at age 19. She starred in dozens of films in the 1950s and ‘60s, and eventually had her own short-lived sitcom, “The Debbie Reynolds Show.” 

 

Her personal life, though, also dominated headlines -- her highly-publicized breakup in 1958 with husband Eddie Fisher (who left for her for Elizabeth Taylor) has been called the Pitt/Aniston/Jolie scandal of its time. And later in life, her daughter frequently wrote about their lives, with Reynolds saying in a 2010 interview that “there is nothing [Carrie] keeps to herself.”  
                    
She was born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas – giving her the languid drawl that would help define her image as the ideal American wife. Reynolds moved to Burbank at age 7, where she was a model Girl Scout. At age 16, she entered a Miss Burbank beauty pageant contest to win a free blouse and skirt, and won – which landed her a contract with the Warner Brothers for $65 a week. 

 

Reynolds landed the starring role in “Singin’ in the Rain” without any formal dance training – and opposite dancing legend Gene Kelly, who was 20 years her senior. She told CBS Sunday Morning in 2013 that they danced for “10, 12 hours every day – there were no days off.”  

As she old CBS News’ Mo Rocca in 2013, her “heart hurt” as she wondered if she could keep up. “Could you keep up? Were you going to fail?” Reynolds described how she felt. “And Gene Kelly kind of scared me, because he was the boss, and he was brilliant, and he was a wonderful teacher. He had to teach me. And to be given a little kitty cat, and expect it to be a lion, it didn’t happen overnight. I had to work, work, work without question.”

 

Similar to her character Kathy Selden, “Singin’ in the Rain” propelled Reynolds to Hollywood stardom. She appeared in over a dozen films in the 1950s -- including “The Tender Trap” and “Tammy and the Bachelor”-- and her personal life also dominated headlines. She married singer Eddie Fisher in 1955, with daughter Carrie born in 1956 and son Todd followed in 1958. The family had become bona fide Hollywood royalty.

 

But it was short-lived. Reynolds had been longtime friends with Hollywood siren, Elizabeth Taylor. Reynolds described the early days of their friendship to CBS Sunday Morning, saying “”Elizabeth was really a gal, you know? She was a dame… She was funny. She was really a bawdy broad. And I loved being with her. We had a lot of fun together.”

 

Reynolds and Fisher were close friends with actress Taylor and her husband, Mike Todd, and Fisher rushed to Taylor’s side when Todd died in a plane crash. Fisher eventually left Reynolds, and the breakup was front-page news --Reynolds beoming the public face of the wronged wife.
 Taylor and Fisher married, but the marriage ended in divorce in 1964, after Taylor had an affair with actor Richard Burton. Reynolds said she had predicted that breakup. 

 

“’You’ll last a year and a half,’” she said she told Fisher. “’And she’ll throw you out as soon as she meets somebody really funny.’  … Elizabeth liked men that were really terrifically funny. He laughed -- of course, he thought it was not true. I said to him, you know, ‘It’s just ridiculous, can’t break up a marriage for this affair you’re having with Elizabeth because she’s never going to keep you there with her, because you’re not enough for her. You’re just not enough.’ 

 

He laughed -- of course, he thought it was not true. But he found out when she threw him out that it WAS true. She DID throw him out.”
Reynolds, though, eventually forgave Taylor and wrote in her memoir that “In the long run, Elizabeth did me a favor.”
“She had her good side,” Reynolds has said of Taylor. “At least once she got over her sex drive.”  

 

Reynolds rebounded from the breakup, starring in over a dozen films in the 1960s, including “The Singing Nun,” “How the West Was Won” and “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” She headlined her own sitcom, “The Debbie Reynolds Show,” but it only lasted one season.

 

Her personal life, though, was still in turmoil. She married shoe designer Harry Karl in 1960 and then real-estate developer Richard Hamlett in 1984. Both ended in divorce, and both left her financially ruined.
After the 1996 breakup with Hamlett, she was forced to auction off her vast Hollywood memorabilia, including Laurel and Hardy’s car, a restored chariot from “Ben Hur” and a guitar from “The Sound of Music.” 
In 2000, Debbie said that she “won’t even date … I can’t afford it.”
Reynolds continued acting through the 2000s, including a recurring role on “Will and Grace” and the award-winning HBO film “Behind the Candelabra.”

 

Although her daughter’s semi-autobiographical book “Postcards from the Edge” seemed to portray a fraught relationship between Reynolds and her daughter, Carrie Fisher told The New York Timesin 2010 that she “loved being her daughter.” Reynolds eventually bought a house that shared a driveway with Carrie Fisher.
Reynolds’ granddaughter, Billie Lourd, is also an actress.

 

Carrie Fisher, who openly spoke about her struggles with mental illness, wrote that her mother 
taught her how to “sur-thrive.”
“You know, I’m not a person that cries a lot,” Reynolds told CBS Sunday Morning in 2013. “The only reason that I get emotional is, it’s so wonderful that I can’t believe that I have this life and live in this country so great, that I always well up. You know, there’s a huge feeling inside that just pops forward.

 

“What is it people say? I cry at a good steak. Well, I don’t cry at a good steak. But I sure do cry for all the lucky things I’ve had happen to me.”