AllyG: So while watching the late night rerun of Etalk I caught them chatting about Philip Sparks, a Canadian designer pour le men. Now, I have a secret hankering for dudes that dress preppy. It’s not so secret now I guess. I’m constantly buying El Jeffe oxford shirts and v-neck sweaters from Winners. I even got him a cord jacket with suede elbow patches last year. Swooon!
However, I just can’t catch what Phil is throwing at me in his S2010 line. It’s…too much…
Dudes. I can’t find a way to put this eloquently. This is fucked. I can’t get past the hair.
Thumbs down, Fonzy. Thumbs DOWN.
I’m also not one for the whole androgynous look. Some people love it, I hate it. It reminds me of. This whole line just screams emo. Actually, it whimpers emo.
On an aside (it’s been so long since I said that!), this is how you ladies can get your own emo hair!
Can you imagine if your co-worker walked into his cubicle next to you wearing this shit? Seriously, where are you supposed to wear this? Does it come with the fishing thingy?
Now, I do actually dig the look below…
If you ignore the greasy hair and shorts. The greasy hair and shorts are nothing short of horrible. Now. Pair the shirt and blazer with a distressed (is that the correct term?) pair of jeans and I’m yours. Not really, I mean, I married, but hypothetically, I’d be there.
I went trolling on the web to see if I could find any reviews of the collection by smart people (i.e. people who actually know what they are talking about, as opposed to moi who talks out of my arse). Toronto Life called it a “Sophisticated, fresh and optimistic collection”. Let’s take another look, maybe I’m missing something.
Yah. I still hate it. Sending big kisses to the fishing tack box (correct name?) as a clutch idea, though!
Maybe I am not sophisticated enough to appreciate this. Ok, I’m clearly not sophisticated. To me, this guy looks like someone I worked with back in the day who wore mismatched jackets and pants, smelt horrible and talked to himself all day long. Maybe he was reminding himself to get his pants hemmed, who am I to judge?
Nice! I found something I actually would purchase for El Jeffe!
And correct me if I am wrong, L-A, but isn’t this something your pretend boyfriend Mark Ronson would wear?
Speaking of Ronson, did you hear that Sam Ronson totally unfollowed Lilo on Twitter? True story.
L-A: Poor poor Lilo. But the Ronson’s have just too much style for her. Or at least Mark does. Jeez he’s hott. That’s right, hot with two ‘T’s. Hott. Oh, and well dressed too.
Moving on, it’s been awhile since we talked fashion for the dudes. I’m with you on the preppy. And with you on that Philip Sparks spring collection. I hadn’t heard of Philip Sparks before today (I can’t watch eTalk to find out about these things. I have a serious aversion to all things Ben Mulroney), so I was intrigued to check out what he had to offer. And while I get where he’s coming from in theory, it’s just not working for me in practice. So, let’s take a look at where he says he’s coming from:
So, it makes sense in the context of these vintage Canadian Pacific posters (he writes that his inspiration came from the CP Railway ads of the 1950s). But even knowing this, I’m just perplexed to see these looks walking down the same runway:
So, while I’m getting the inspiration, it’s just too all over the map for my taste. I can’t dig the patterned shirt and the double breasted suit in the same collection. Just cannot. Although, I’m not really a fan of the double breasted suit, so he wasn’t really going to win on that one. I like the first outfit. Winter coat + shorts? Totally Halifax in spring. You know how it is. It’s the first sunny day in April and someone is desperate to break out their shorts, but really, the streets are still full of slush and it’s barely hitting 10 degrees (that’s celsius for our American readers…10 degrees in the States is -12 here and I don’t know anyone bold enough to try shorts in that cold).
Having said all this about his Spring/Summer collection, I’ve got to say, I’m kind of partial to his Fall ‘09 collection. Sure that’s old news in the fashion world, but since I’m bundled up with a blanket and hot chocolate, it’s still worth taking a look-see at now. Because I think it could satisfy your love of the preppy:
Why hello there Holden Caulfield! Dark plaid duffel coat + plaid shirt + trousers = preppy heaven.
Okay, an entirely plaid suit really isn’t for the faint of heart and is probably only suitable for dandies, Chuck Bass and Mark Ronson. But I like it.
ummmmm….well Philip, you can’t win ‘em all. I actually don’t hate the outfit of the fellow who is sitting down. I’m not entirely sure about the jeans with plaid cuffs – a little too LL Beany for me. The fellow standing? I don’t want to get all PETA on his ass about the use of fur, but he looks like he is being attacked by woodland creatures. The three fingered (three fingers? those are trigger finger mittens!) muskrat mittens actually look like muskrats eating his hands. Not kidding. Don’t believe me? Well here’s a muskrat as proof:
Take a blow dryer to that little dude, let him attack your hand and then you’ll believe me.
I do like his boots… not for dudes though, for me.
