Men.style’s Spring ’09 preview just went up and it looks like next year is going to be interesting. The names are all familiar—Condé Nast has clout for a reason, after all—but they all seem to be working just outside their comfort zone. Band of Outsiders shows up looking uncharacteristically yachty, Duckie Brown has a depressive moment, and Shipley & Halmos indulges their inner corporate raider. It’s good to know nobody’s getting too comfortable.

The outfit that really caught our eye was this vertical-striped number from Patrik Ervell. The stripes are a little on the carnivalesque side—coincidentally, Adam Kimmel has some matching pants—but it’s just bold enough to work, especially paired with a banker’s collar and neutral pants. Well played, sir.

Part of the genius of the internet is that almost any idea can find a home there, even ideas that seem best suited to stand-up routines and Wes Anderson movies.

For instance, The Toaster Museum.

When we first heard about this, we were understandably skeptical, but the overall effect is something like stumbling into the garage of an obsessed collector. The model above is from Munich circa the 1920s but others include the first stripped-down General Electric models or the obscenely flowery items marketed to 50s-era housewives. The high ticket models can go for up to six grand on eBay, so we hope there’s an alarm system.

The man behind the museum speaks»

Man is a complex creature, and plumbing his desires and fears can be a terrifying and eye-opening journey.

Unless, of course, it’s a survey.

The good folks at AskMen.com have done the latest work—for science, naturally—and rounded up 75,000 men for a comprehensive survey of the less-fair sex. The result is worth a look, so we’ve rounded up the most eye-opening numbers for your perusal.

Click through to learn the horrible truth»

We don’t do much show-going at Kempt, but we couldn’t resist a post or two on the upcoming Capsule show. The semi-annual hootenanny is one of the best places to spot up-and-comers, and one of our favorite stops every year. This year’s crop includes Endovanera, Public School, Clae and Loden Dager, along with a handful of others we don’t even know about yet.

The show is happening 10-7pm this Monday and Tuesday in Angel Oresanz with over 60 labels attached. If you’re in the neighborhood, you just might see us there.

If not, we’re sure you’ll hear about it.

Whether it’s insurance adjusters, WWII-era engineers, or just plain old WASPs, designers are always looking out for the next look they can make their own. And with white suits popping up more and more often as a summer staple, we have a suggestion that may surprise you.

Mormons.

Think about it.

More on the inevitable rise of Mormon-chic»

With sockless weather in full swing, we’ve been rediscovering an Iberian alternative to mandals or the usual deck shoe. Welcome to the wonderful world of espadrilles.

A footwear tradition in the Pyrenees—where rugged ventilation is a necessity—espadrilles date back to the 1300s, but recent years have seen them adopted as a unisex shoe by high fashion crowds. While they’re a common sight on the streets of Paris, they’re still catching on stateside. The trick to the canvas wonders is the braided jute rope bottoms, both surprisingly soft and slick enough to keep the shoes from getting too funky over the course of the summer.

More on the rope-soled moc»

Apparently the Rogues Gallery folks have kept busy since we last checked in. They’re expanding beyond the world of brick and mortar into the magical world of online sales, with a few online exclusives to sweeten the pot.

For instance, these nautical hats, which should go well with those deck shoes we noticed a while back. There are also a few T-shirts, a key fob, and an inexplicably shiny bag available as exclusives, along with the rest of the nautically minded stock.

Happy sailing?

With summer in full force, you may be looking for lightweight suits. Aside from the Wolfen white suit, your choices are mostly going to depend on your knowledge of the fabrics involved.

In that vein, allow us to repeat a bit of wisdom from A Suitable Wardrobe. Instead of putting stock in the weight of a fabric, you might do better paying attention to the weave. Woven properly, even heavy cloth can be allowed to breathe. Summer fabrics are likely to have “fresco” in the name, or something similarly breezy-sounding, and they can be made heavy enough to avoid too much flapping.

Not to mention the dreaded crumple.

The good folks at Bluefly have finally done something to get our attention: they’ve just launched Tailor, an online shop dedicated to our kind of menswear. Sadly, it’s not actually tailored, but they do have a tailor on staff giving advice, along with IM-ready personal shoppers.

More on the online store»

The phone wars have been heating up for a while, resulting in a bumper crop of cool gadgets and racking up a few casualties along the way. First the RAZR, then the iPhone…then the Diamond?

With Motorola’s phone division a distant memory and Apple looking surprisingly shaky, Microsoft is aiming to clean up with its Diamond, a new handheld that handles all the usual webbery but possibly with slightly more panache. And a full ounce lighter, which is what has the gadget-heads excited.

More on the Diamond»

For all your attention to style, you probably haven’t considered the appearance of the thing you spend the most time looking at: your computer screen.

Luckily, the internet’s hungry designers are way ahead of you. Kitsune Noir has launched the Desktop Wallpaper Project to expand your options beyond the usual corporate logos and snapshots.

More on the Desktop Wallpaper Project»

Flipping through our weekly quota of glossy mags, we noticed Michael Bastian’s rules of style in Details. We’ve been fans of Bastian’s since he left his post at Bergdorf Goodman to pursue designing, but we couldn’t resist the chance to give his rules a little polishing.

See how Mr. Bastian’s rules stack up»

The much-feted Sartorialist is starting to develop a running commentary. And it turns out, there’s a lot you haven’t noticed. For instance, color.

Wear Me Palettes is the pet project of a Swiss design student, who spent three months copying, pasting, and matching colors to develop a database of sartorial hues. It’s a worthy study, as many of the outfits (this one, for instance) make themselves through sophisticated and subtle use of color.

As PSFK notes, the most popular colors are blue, white and brown, while gray appears in just less than half of the photos, which is either a fact about current fashion or a sad statement on New York weather.

Tsujiguchi Hironobu may not be a household name just yet, but it’s definitely not from lack of inspiration. He’s the patissier behind two boutique chocolate shops in Tokyo—Mont St. Clair and Le Chocolat de H., for the internationally-inclined—but this foray into concept desserts was what caught our eye.

More on our favorite kind of pencil»

In an interesting development, yesterday’s Thom Browne show eschewed the usual “military” and “post-apocalyptic rock star” themes so popular these days in favor of a carnival vibe, complete with a feathery ringmaster to introduce the show.

(This Refinery 29 post offers a good overview of the madness, and it’s from a familiar face.)

In short, Fashion Week just got a little bit more Cirque du Soleil.

As many will tell you, it is possible to live your entire life without needing a shoe horn. Of course, this is also true of combs, aftershave, and corduroy. In other words, you don’t know what you’re missing. Generally, two hands and some basic motor skills are all the equipment you need to bring your shoe and your foot together, but as you wander…