Now that the industry is digging up history at an alarming rate—1962? Check. 1977? Check. 1991? We’re working on it—it was only a matter of time before we lapsed into full-blown Renaissance Fair mode.

In fact, that moment may already be here.

The New York Times style section has just devoted a full 1500 words to steampunk, beginning what trend-watchers call the “lame” period of the trend. The article name-checks Alexander McQueen and Nicolas Ghesquière of Balenciaga as potential fashionista surrogates of the style, but until we see them bust out the top hats, we’ll be skeptical»

Any brand with a decent bit of history behind it is bound to have a few stories in its files. Take, for instance, Rolls Royce’s famous hood ornament, a statuette with enough history to have a movie deal behind it.

The movie is The Silver Ghost, set to star Christian Bale and currently making the pre-production rounds. But the story itself is better than you might think»

A Message to You Rudy: Ska style rises again. [Men.Style]

Thinking Ahead: The warm months are almost here, which means you should start shopping for Fall (but of course). Ransom will give you a head start. [Hypebeast]

Primary Colors: Obama is the Burberry candidate. [Radar]

Slip of the Tongue: Whoops. Someone let the beans spill about the new Black Fleece store. [The Life Vicarious via Racked]

Criminal Minded: The slicked-back men of America finally have a voice. [The Onion]

Deal Alert: 70% off at the APC Brooklyn store from Wednesday through Thursday. [Trash Bag Aesthetics]

Stuck on Sinatra: Plunk down your 42 cents for the best dressed stamp ever. [Gothamist]

Who Wears Short Shorts?: In the Summer, hemlines actually become relevant for men. [Independent UK]

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

Sex Pistols svengali Malcolm McLaren is one of Thom Browne’s biggest fans. Perhaps the subversive nature of Brown’s sartorial spin appeals to the old saboteur. McLaren’s been a firm believer in épater la bourgeoisie since the SEX days.

More on the mogul in the wild»

Round ice cubes seem like something we should have been doing for decades now, but it’s a lot harder than it looks. Luckily, Japan has finally weighed in.

The Japanese company Taisin has put together an ice press that molds an cubes into spheres, leaving you with a perfectly un-rocky sphere of ice, perfectly sized for your highball glass. And since spheres melt more slowly than cubes, an ice baller is more than a novelty for dedicated on-the-rocks Scotch drinkers.

As always, there are imitators, but we aren’t convinced. After the full drill press treatment, just freezing seems like cheating.

via BoingBoing

Petal Pushers: Yes, we admit it, we love flowers, but there’s a limit, people. [NYMag]

The Razor’s Edge: Men’s Vogue takes on the razor blade arms race. [Men’s Vogue]

Con Job: Sit down with Converse’s creative director. [Coolhunting]

The 75 Skills Every Man Should Master: We’re solid with about 58 of these. [Esquire]

Bowery Mission: Rogan Gregory opens a new store on the Bowery, serves the local cocktail. [Refinery29]

In a Huf: A skate-punk brand grows up. [Coolhunting]

Silver Foxes: Black, grey, whatever - as long as our hair stays on our heads, we’re good. [NYTimes]

Porn and Politics: The Italian Parliament is starting to look more and more like a strip club. [Radar]

Oh, and remember to call your mother on Sunday. There’s nothing wrong with a ladies’ man admitting that he’s also a momma’s boy.

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

When he last made the MOTH scene at the Tudors premiere, Irish actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers was decked out in a killer custom-tailored midnight blue dress suit by John Galliano. For the Met Costume Institute Gala the other night, he one-upped the basic black tie crowd in a similarly more-sartorial-than-thou suit designed by Nicolas Ghesquière for Balenciaga.

More on Mr. Rhys Meyers»

It’s official: Kempt favorites Shipley & Halmos have just moved out of the “young upstart” phase, and into the “industry darling” phase.

On May 20th, the ex-Trovata duo will bring home the National Arts Club’s Young Designer Award, the label’s first award since launching in January. The label specializes in trim-fitting suits and summery shorts—just now coming into season—but extra touches like Oxford-cloth boxers give the line a playful edge. More recent obsessions have included black gingham and bowties.

A few of our favorite pics from the S&H kids»

A Free Man: Spend time with Taavo Somer, the crunchy-but-crisp creator of Freemans. [NYMag]

Keep it Simple, Stupid: A preview of the stylishly restrained new label Dillon and Co.. [Men.Style]

Price Check: So what exactly is selling at Steven Alan these days? [We Are The Market]

Vocab Test: The ABCs of denim. [Complex]

Super Bling: Seems the Super Bowl ring is a bit much for some of the New York Giants. [WWD]

Stink in a Can: No matter how brilliant this ad is, we’re still not using body spray. [Fleshbot, NSFW ads]

Backseat Driver: From the seat of his town car, Style Guy gets all political on us. [GQ]

Time Machine: Smart shoppers can buy the limited-edition Mercedes SL63 AMG and an IWC watch for free. Bargain! [Hypebeast]

Ah, 1962. Drink it in.

A Continuous Lean has posted a handful of J. Press catalogs from back in the day, offering a firsthand peek into a style more than a few designers are currently chasing. Apparently the early 60s preppy look didn’t play out quite the way you imagined. For instance, cable-knit sweaters were much, much bigger than you think»

Seems when it comes to sunglasses, Kanye West is the man to follow. Since the release of his new album, the hip-hop product ho has been hosting pics on his blog featuring fans from all over the world wearing his 80s-tastic “Stronger” specs.

Sensing a market opportunity—the man is a player after all—West has teamed up with Aussie hipster outfitters (and Assembly-goers Ksubi for a line of sunglasses under the rapper’s Pastelle fashion line.

More on Mr. West’s latest endeavor»

Scarlett Johansson Engaged: [Hands over ears] Nah nah nah—We can’t hear you—nah nah nah. [Radar]

Dirty Sanchez: Blue-eyed, honey-blond men’s fashion reporter Amanda Brooks digs the ‘stache. [ Men’s Vogue]

Zips or Laces?: Why choose? [Refiney29]

Not So Fast: Okay, so maybe Hedi Silmane isn’t teaming up with Diesel - but you can’t blame us for being excited. [WWD, 2nd item]

At Home With The Style Guy: This is how Glenn O’Brien rolls. [NYTimes]

Power Hour: Seems ACL has a “Woman of the Hour” to complement our “Man of the Hour”—personally, we think Chan Marshall goes with anything. [A Continuous Lean]

Stripes on Demand: Inside the bespoke team visit to Paul Smith’s Soho store. [NYMag]

Babystrangles: In this video, hipster model Irina Lazareanu chokes and stomps walking heroin depot (and sometime singer) Pete Doherty to death with her high heels, fulfilling several of our darkest, unspoken fantasies. [NYMag]

We don’t do this for just anyone, but our buddy John is having a shindig, and we thought we’d spread the love.

Goodies after the jump»

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

Here making his second MOTH appearance, the multi-talented André Benjamin (aka André 3000) stole the show at the Met Costume Institute’s gala Monday night.

What won us over was his beautifully-cut cream shawl-collared dinner jacket with a subtle tone-on-tone glen plaid pattern, which could be from his Benjamin Bixby line, though it looks a little on the formal side—perhaps Ralph Lauren or Brioni is a better call—worn with Hollywood-waisted dress trousers, velvet evening slippers and a perfectly-proportioned pointed-end black velvet bowtie. His signature flourishes were apparent in the straw fedora, pearl shirt studs and a somewhat faded-looking but nonetheless brassy boutonniere»

This week’s Monocle features a story on a London store called Albam that has made its name by promoting local production—meaning within the UK, or failing that, within western Europe—in favor of the higher profit margins but questionable labor conditions of East Asian factories. It’s a common enough tale, but we couldn’t resist a little peek at how things work across the pond.

More on Monocle’s local crusade»

Home Maker: In a last-ditch effort to save the housing market, Petra Nemcova has branched out into sexy, sexy field of real-estate development. [NYPost]

Separated at Birth: While Ashley Olsen made the Maxim “Hot 100 List,” Mary-Kate was left off the tally of the world’s hottest tail, thus solidifying her place as the “ugly one.” [Hollywood Scoop]

The Legion of Superheroes: The bright stars of society and fashion enjoyed the spandex and cowls on display at the Met Gala. We’ll just go ahead and presume our invites got lost in the mail. [NYMag]

Under the Burka: Islamic fashion designers just can’t win. [Turkish Daily News]

Vote Thin!: Barack Obama represents a, “shining new hope for skinny men,” and political marginalization for fatties. [Guardian UK]

Fitting End: Tailor to Sir Roger Moore and Ralph Lauren, Douglas Howard passes away at 73. [DNRNews]

Cool Britannia: English men are turning down sex in growing numbers, leaving more for the rest of us sloppy Yanks. [Men.Style]

It looks like Mr. Teller is up to his old tricks again, seducing the lovely Ms. Maya Arulpragasam into this voluptuous pose for the latest Marc Jacobs campaign.

That’s M.I.A., for the non-Pitchfork-educated. She’s been climbing the charts, soundtracking movie trailers, and getting big-upped as this year’s future of rap (according to Nas, the future of rap circa 1992). Add in a little subcontinental glamour and she should be the perfect spokesmodel, right? Well, almost»

We’ve always enjoyed Kate Moss, even in her current post-marital phase. And the last time she got together with Agent Provocateur, we had nothing but good things to say.

Unfortunately, Moss’s latest collaboration with the lingerie brand seems to have gone off the rails at some point. But as train wrecks go, it’s pretty spectacular»

Long, Strange Trip: Our beloved Keef gets the weepy video treatment. [FashionIndie]

Watching the Detectives: In the In the Criminal Justice System the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups. The police who investigate crime and the tailors who dress them. These are their stories. [New York Times]

The Wright Stuff: This Grandpa Simpson mash-up is about as close as we want to get to national politics these days. [VanityFair.com]

Abboud Face: Meet Joseph Abboud’s newest label, Black/Brown 1826. [DNR]

Sensible Shoes: Armand Limnander’s picks for socially acceptable sneakers. [The Moment]

The Gospel According to Paul: Loden Dager designer shares his theories on manhood. [Dejour]

Heresy!: Tim Gunn tears apart the new Polgymaist chic—not like he wasn’t going to hell anyways. [AOL]

Pabst Can Coffin: And now we can die. [HuffPo]

Storage is always a problem for a well-kempt gentleman of leisure. Ideally, he carries no more than fits in his pockets without bulging. But of course, this fashion rule came into being before the Blackberry, so perhaps it’s time to revise.

Treading just the right line between duffle bag and murse, this leather messenger pack (from J. Crew of all places) adds a retro touch to the standard shoulder bag. That means no nylon or plastic, just hand-stained leather and copper rivets. It’s the sort you might have seen on a mailman’s shoulder in the 60s.

So it should match your lapels perfectly.