Menswear Mondays ft. Jean Dujardin

I feel like I was the only person who didn't watch the Oscars last night (hello problem sets) nonetheless I did hear the good news that Jean Dujardin won 'Best Actor' for his amazing performance in The Artist. I'm not too surprised since he pretty much won every 'Best Actor' award out there for his role as George Valentin, but damn if it's not satisfying to see him win an Oscar as the cherry on top of the award season. I acknowledge that he looked great last night, though perhaps not so terrific that is it worthy of "an inspiration post" however I think he really deserved a congratulatory post (with a picture of Uggie no less!). Maybe I should start placing bets again on the Oscars since I totally saw this one coming and I called it last year that Colin Firth would win 'Best Actor' for The King's Speech...
Side note: I thought Gary Oldman looked a-m-a-z-i-n-g in Paul Smith.

Menswear Mondays ft. Patti Smith

GLORIA - PATTI SMITH

Here's another not so quite orthodox choice of Patti Smith! Words cannot describe how truly very awesome she is in all ways possible. Consider how much hype and image is used to sell music nowadays (ex. Rihanna, Lada Gaga, Lana del Rey etc.), Patti Smith's no bullshit raw authenticity comes across as amazingly refreshing since it all feels incredibly honest and true. No fancy ad campaigns or videos but plain ol' good music. To those who didn't read her autobiographical book Just Kids on her early artistic life with Robert Mapplethorpe (which you should by the way), she explains that her and Mapplethorpe never set out to live the typical "poor starving boho artist" life––they really just didn't have any money. Another reason I love her so much is her resourcefulness by making do with so little, and then to take it further by transforming something that is utterly ordinary to extraordinary. It takes great skill and taste to achieve what she is has done to what could simply have been boring sustenance. Her thrifty ways and creative spins on things is what makes her a major icon and inspirational figure to me. That and of course, her undeniable tomboy spirit.

Menswear Mondays ft. Jacques Henri Lartigue

Did I surprise anyone today by not featuring some well known old Hollywood star? Perhaps even more shocking is that Jacques Henri Lartigue is not the man in the photo but the one behind the camera. He's my new favourite photographer find of the moment and all of his pictures are equally fantastic so I urge you to check them out should you find the time. I found this photo perfectly apt in describing my current situation at school––trying to stay afloat of the flood of coursework, all the paperwork to hand in while simultaneously keeping track of the deadlines floating in my head––and still trying to look composed when I'm so not feeling 'it'. It doesn't help that the weather has taken a sharp bitter turn without the soft snow there to buoy the winter chill and lift the spirit. What makes it all the more worse is that after watching Maurice Pialat's A Nos Amours, I'm pining even harder for warmer days. I bet I can't be the only one feeling rather out of form lately, so I wish everybody a great start to a new week and look good while staying on top of their game!
Lastly, R.I.P. to Whitney Houston.

Menswear Mondays ft. Jean-Paul Belmondo

 PHOTO FROM DOCTOR MACRO

Welcome to a new weekly feature on the blog to provide some much needed menswear inspiration, which will star not only traditional menswear icons but also some prominent tomboys of the past as well (see Exhibit A & B). I thought this would be a quick and easy post (you know after so much writing in the last post, but noooooo it took forever just to pick one out of the huge arsenal of menswear inspiration photos I built up over break. I kept wondering if I should I start with the the obvious or the more esoteric and I finally settled on this gorgeous image of Jean-Paul Belmondo, whom you should know if you love 60s Godard and all that shit. It's not like wearing layers under the coat is a major breakthrough in style or anything, but I haven't seen a corduroy button down under a cardigan under a tweed jacket under a herringbone coat before––have you or am I the only one who missed the memo here? Belmondo makes layering with different textures of fabrics look so easy and effortless. Check out his films too while you're at it.