Vampira Lives: Alabaster exhibitionist Dita Von Teese avoids the sunlight. We’ll share the darkness with her any time. [NY Daily News]

Time Travel: Men’s Vogue cast their eyes forward to the Patek Philippe exhibition at Tiffany & Co, offering us some jaw-dropping preview images. [Men’s Vogue]

Courting the Bro’ Vote: There are conflicting reports about who placed those Abercrombie & Fitch jokers behind Barack Obama at a campaign speech. If, as reported, this was the Obama campaign’s attempt to reach out to young voters, it redefines “going negative” in our opinion. [WWD]

Tomorrow Never Knows: The Moment stares into the future and, as Kempt icon Leonard Cohen says, it’s murder. That, and chairs made of stuffed animals. [The Moment]

Rocky Road: Our Gisele pairs up with Sly Stallone to film a Volkswagen commercial for Brazilian television. We’ve been scratching our heads all day on this one. [NYPost]

Check List: Señor David Coleman takes on the whole plaid-on-plaid mishigas. [NYTimes]

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]

Politicians are notoriously bad dressers—that’s a government salary for you—but if you’re enough of an icon, it doesn’t take much effort to become a style icon too.

After all, it’s called Kennedy chic for a reason.

The first contender to embrace the slim generation of suits (while his opponent is giving off slightly different signals), it’s no surprise that Obama’s a favorite for the GQ and Esquire crowd. Unlike the rest of the C-SPAN fodder, Barack manages to make suits look good. (Not so hard, really—but like we said, it’s a low bar.)

The overseas reaction»

Book Smart: Kate Beckinsale plays the “naughty librarian,” thus setting the Dewey Decimal System ablaze. [Hollywood Tuna]

Presumptive Nominee: Now that he’s locked up the primaries, it’s time to ask the important questions about Obama’s closet. [Brandish]

Problem Drinkers: Sip carefully: these wineglasses can kill. [NotCot]

Movin’ On Up: Atelier packs their bags for SHNOT. Gesundheit. [Racked]

Short Story: Ladies give you advice on swimsuit shopping. No banana hammocks allowed. [Refinery29]

There’s grassroots activism, and then there’s…this.

These Obamafied Air Force Ones were whipped up by a street artist known only as “Van,” and they’ve been making the rounds all day. They don’t quite rise to the level of Kennedy-chic; in fact, they throw the senator’s whole sartorial promise into question.

As a result, we’re throwing down the gauntlet and calling for Obama to denounce these irresponsibly ugly shoes. The American people deserve better than marker-soaked dunks marred by what one commenter correctly diagnoses as “wack execution.” Custom footwear may well be the largest challenge our next president will face. Unless we nip this in the bud, a McCain loafer can’t be too far off.

The senator’s office could not be reached for comment.

The Talented Ms. Teese: A chat with everyone’s favorite anachronistic pinup. Burlesque lives! [BlackBook]

In the Kitchen: Versace goes after the muppet demographic. [Men.Style]

Banksy in New Orleans: For the first time, graffiti is used to rebuild a city. [PSFK]

Union Suit: Barack’s suit is from the same factory as Hickey Freeman…change we can believe in, indeed. [The Cut]

He may lose the hockey mom vote, but it’s a safe bet that Barry is still the favorite among the graphic design crowd. So it’s no surprise the man has better t-shirts.

This one is our pick so far, splitting the difference between Andy Warhol and Shepard Fairey. It’s got more irony than most campaign shirts—after all, who wants to vote for a soup can?—and a little wit goes a long way.

So far they’re just online, although you can probably find one in person if you take a stroll through central Williamsburg over the next few weeks. As for a soup can-fueled bump in the polls…we’ll keep you posted.

Obama & Terry Richardson: Is that a campaign lawn stick or are you just happy to support me? [Kanye West’s Blog]

It Speaks: While we’d always imagined rings of fire, a crafty blogger reveals that when Anna Wintour opens her mouth it’s just a standard question-me-and-die British accent. [TheCut]

G Crew: The Gentlemen’s Quarterly toppers picked like well-dressed vultures through J. Crew’s fall offerings, comprising their favorite three looks for you to snatch up. [J Crew]

The Outer Gentleman: Head Porter adds a sophisticated touch to active gear for the sportier man. Fall ’08 features totes, wallets, key holders and camera bags in durable fabrics with a gingham print. [Hypebeast]

The recent presidential debate has been analyzed to death, but one enormous sartorial story went unreported. At this point, politicians’ only remaining outlet for personal style is their ties, but things can still get complicated, as they did Friday night.

In past years, the democratic candidate has worn a blue tie, while the Republican candidate wears a red, but this always made Bush come off as more dynamic and, well…visible.

This year, Obama broke the party line by choosing a patterned purple number, putting McCain in a potentially awkward position. He couldn’t stay with red or switch to blue without risking an awkward “twins” remark from moderator Jim Lehrer. Cornered, McCain took yet another stylistic chance and opted with a pencil-stripe tie, the first non-solid-color tie seen in American politics since the dandified days of Herbert Hoover.

A maverick indeed.

Vano Shlamov/Agence-France Presse, Getty Images

As part of Kempt’s ongoing election coverage, we thought we’d take a closer look at the older, less-Alaskan part of tonight’s Vice Presidential festivities: Joe Biden.

The best recommendation of the man comes from this photo, a snap from his most recent Georgian trip. Not only does he pull off the navy-polo-on-navy-sport-coat look that’s a staple of most over-60 wardrobes and find time for a well-folded pocket square, but he manages to out-aviator the actual aviators.

That’s what we call leadership experience.

We’ve already picked out our favorite Obama tee, but a real bipartisan approach means you need to reach past the Threadless crowd to the big-belt-buckle-lovers down south. Which is where this comes in, we assume…

Use Your Head: Barbara Kruger’s Spitzer cover is the magazine cover of the year, proving yet again that dick jokes are the best way to stay relevant as an artist. [Unbeige]

A New Man: The style of Paul Newman, including tips on growing your own well-groomed silver mustache. [Men.Style]

Barack in Style: The fashion industry pulls together behind Obama. We don’t see how that could possibly backfire. [DNR]

Half in the Bag: All the man-bags you will ever need. [Refinery29]

We’ve given a lot of attention to the presidential candidates’ clothes, but maybe we should have been paying more attention to their bodies…

The New York Times has a graphic of the heights and ages of the presidential candidates for the last 29 elections. Apparently when there was a significant difference, height won out 17 out of 23 times, and girth won out 18 out of 24 times. It goes a long way towards explaining the Taft presidency, but it may have more to do with sartorial details than the Times realizes. We don’t remember the last president big enough to bust out the double-breasted suit, but we can’t think of an outfit more presidential than that.

Of course, Obama’s just a hair under 6’2”, more than half a foot taller than McCain, which might explain some of the recent poll numbers.

The cereals are made by a couch-surfing service who wants hosts to serve them as a get-out-the-vote initiative. We’re not sure who’s being swayed by breakfast, but we’ll just come out and say it: we’ll vote for whichever one’s frosted.

The Boogeyman: A few politically minded jack-o-lantern templates in time for Halloween. [NotCot]

In the Trenches: A roundup of trenchcoats, in case the economy has you turning to gumshoe work. [Men.Style]

The Future is Now: DNR peers into the mysterious and terrifying future of men’s denim. [DNR]

Crossing Over: BoingBoing Gadgets crosses over from actual gadget-blogging to fictional gadget-blogging, but only three days a week. We promise to never ever do this. [BoingBoing Gadgets]

Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty

There are a lot of rules for gentlemanly behavior. Some are made to be broken; others are not. One often-overlooked rule that falls into the latter category is this: A gentleman should never gesture with his tongue.

Based on the above, it should be obvious why.

There’s been a lot of presidential merchandise, but beverages are only just starting to weigh in. This isn’t exactly Billy Beer, but we suppose times have changed to favor tea drinkers…

Pearl Fine Teas has launched dueling McCain and Obama teas, respectively a conservative black tea and a worldly African Red Bush Rooibos tea.

Remember friends, you only have a few weeks left to make McCain Cola a reality.

Strong Leadership: Apparently the fourth debate will be in the form of a pushup race. [Gawker]

The Grapes of Wright:The economy is taking its toll on classical modernist architecture. So it ain’t all bad. [Unbeige]

Pop-Art Popped: Unfortunately, our boy Murakami is feeling the pinch too. [Luxist]

Manning the Hoff: Phillip Seymour Hoffman continues to spawn disheveled, method-prone children. [Daily Intel]

In the wake of Palin’s shopping spree, we were glad to see Obama scoring points for having resoled his shoes along the campaign trail. Of course, the political blogs are spinning this as an example of Barry’s thrift, but we see it as the mark of a sartorially sensible gentleman. After all, if you liked a pair of shoes enough to wear them out in less than a year, you might as well hang onto them. And anyone with enough sense to buy welted shoes has our vote.

In other words, it’s just one of the many rewards of old world cobbling.

Political endorsements come and go, but the most important one by far comes from England’s most globe-trotting, martini-sipping secret agent. Yes, we’re talking about the Bond endorsement.

Making the press rounds for Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig has said that Obama would make a better Bond because he could “look the enemy in the eye and go toe-to-toe with them,” which we assume means he’s spry enough to chase some guy doing parkour. As for McCain, Craig says he’s more M material. “There is, come to think of it, a kind of Judi Dench quality to McCain.”

But he always seemed a little soft on SPECTRE.

via Slate

It’s hard to look good in the rain, but luckily we got some much-needed leadership from Mr. Obama.

Just make sure you’ve got a solid jacket. Don’t worry about a hat; that’ll just make you look like you’re hiding. Ignore the weather and get dramatic. You’re determined, you’re unflappable. You’re so in the moment, you don’t even notice the rain.

Of course, it helps if you’ve got a campaign staff waiting with a dry set of clothes.

The art tee business is getting pretty crowded, and new ideas are always in short supply. An outfit called The Affair has come up with one: limited editions.

This tee comes out of a closed batch of two hundred…impressive until you realize that the Threadless print runs aren’t that much larger. They just have the foresight to call the number up front, and stick to their guns when it sells out early. It’s the same gimmick that lets Shepard Fairey sell an Obama poster 350 times and the gallery owners of the world grab a slightly bigger piece of the pie.

If they’re going to be art tees, it’s time they started acting like it.

We aren’t much for sartorial projections, but we guess that’s why there’s a pundit class. And Chris Matthews is always game.

The curmudgeonly MSNBC anchor recently predicted the Obama administration would feature “thin ties…Well-turned-out men. No sloppiness. Just work… It will be zesty.” We’re not sure what “zesty” means, so we’re assuming he’s talking about purple ties.

Of course, you can’t fight city hall. We’re hoping for change, but the three-inch tie is so ingrained in D.C. culture, it’ll be hard to wean them off it. The look is not exactly current these days, but it’s still way too trendy for the capitol.

Give it a decade or so.

Belle du Jour: Kate Winslet steps into Catherine Deneuve’s shoes for the win. [FashionIndie]

Just for Kicks: What the world needs now, more than anything else, is crocodile skin sneakers. [Luxist]

The Writing on the Wall: A countdown of the top 25 parodies of Shephard Fairey’s Obama “Hope” poster. Sadly, Nate Dogg does not make the list. [Village Voice]

Dov Love: The cops are after Dov Charney, for all the obvious reasons. [PSFK]

Can’t Tell Me Nothin’: Kanye goes through his favorite Obama pics. In other words, if things turn south, we can expect one hell of a blog post. [Kanye West’s Blog]

Very Big Love: Tom Ford adds Ginnifer Goodwin to his stable. Of actors. For the movie. [The Cut]

Take a Bow: If you have managed to get through life so far without knowing how to tie a bowtie, this is the video for you. Live in fear no longer. [His Fashion Eye]

Industrial Camoflage: Graffiti meets civic beautification when fire hydrants are painted the color of their surroundings. We expect a lot of bruised shins. [PSFK]

All the Smiling Faces: Subway lover Patrick Moberg summarizes the nation’s forty-four presidents. Now that we look at it, a lot of them had pretty sweet mustaches. [Patrick Moberg]

Warren Peace: You can never have too many Warren Beatty appreciations. [AskMen]

We Be Villain: A talk with the new Bond villain. [Anthem]

How the Other Half Lives: Interior design expands into music, creating the playlist industry. Some day, this may be considered an actual job. [NYTimes]

Those Colors Don’t Screen: A quick, patriotic demonstration in screen-printing from the folks at Rogues Gallery. [A Continuous Lean]

We Hardly Knew Ya: Less than a week into unofficial presidency, Obama is already making JFK look bad. [Gawker]

The Pen is Mightier: Luxist counts down the ten most expensive writing instruments on Earth. But you’ll still lose it after a week. [Luxist]

But How Will it Play in Fargo?: Chuck Klosterman sets his sights on James Bond. Usually that works the other way around. [Esquire]

Dressing Down: The Gray Lady dissects Obama’s casual style…and somehow comes away with Jerry Seinfeld. [NYTimes]

Language Arts: A quick tour of Bond’s best sex puns. Plenty O’Toole, sadly, is absent. [Gawker]

High Occupancy Lane: A guide to having sex in small cars. Ah, to be seventeen again. [Treehugger]

Croc Hunter: It took a worldwide recession and the collapse of half a dozen major financial institutions, but crocs are finally over. It was worth it. [Reuters]

Finger on the Button: All the Obama buttons you ever wanted to see in one place. This is what thrift stores will look like 50 years from now. [BoingBoing]

Ford v. Walnuts: Tom Ford and Paulie Walnuts: Separated at birth. [Men.Style]

Garters on the Rise: Argyle makes a strong showing in this rundown of winter socks. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

Take Five: Winn Perry’s five tips for looking good. (None of them involve tanning.) [Portland Mercury]

On the Block: Christies in London is selling off some amazing stuff, including one of Paul Newman’s auto racing suits, Daniel Day Lewis’ iconic green suit from There Will Be Blood and the tux trousers worn by James Dean in Giant. Here’s hoping there’s still change in the pockets… [Men.Style]

Change We Can Believe In: Can you tell the difference between Obama and Bush just by looking at their tie knots? Probably not. [CityFile]

Popping the Bubble: Champagne sales plummet. No word yet on vodka, Dr. Pepper and Cheetos, but early signs look good. [The Economist]

Ten Little Nixons: Counting down the best Nixons to make it to the screen. We love a little Hopkins, but our heart belongs to Dick. [Vulture]

Half in the Bag: Shockingly, Carla Bruni objects to having her naked image printed on a tote bag. [The Cut]

I’m a Cole Man: A Continous Lean goes camping. [A Continuous Lean]

Eric B. For President: The impromptu open call for Obama’s inaugural getup yields some interesting results. Despite the FDR comparisons, no one tries the obvious wheelchair-and-blanket look. [FashionIndie]

In Praise of Egg Nog: Click this link if you want to see four eggs painted to look like the members of KISS. [BoingBoing]

Now that the inauguration’s in sight, Obama’s sartorial honeymoon may be coming to a close. It started with the Magnificent Bastard noticing some of his latest style choices including some decidedly Clintonian golfwear—hardly change we can believe in.

So far we’re inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, just like on his cabinet picks. But if he starts wearing Crocs and reading the National Review, we’ll know we’re in trouble.

As brands go, Obama’s doing pretty well, so it’s no surprise companies are jumping at the chance to associate with him. And if he’s the first slim suit president, there’s also the risk of becoming the first IKEA president. He’d better tread carefully…

In an attempt to sway the new President, the Swedish design magnate has set up a faux-oval office in D.C.’s Union Station to show what a Swede-furnished executive branch would look like. The web component is a virtual Oval Office dollhouse, but we have to say, without rounded couches, the options are pretty limited.

In this case, we’re hoping Obama goes with something a bit more… convervative.

Most of the pictures we run across don’t get much in the way of wide release, but this official portrait is currently being hung up at federal offices around the country, and it’ll likely be one of the main inspirations for mainstream suit-and-tie workers for at least the next four years.

What can we take from this sartorial moment? For one, upward-sloping ties are no longer even a little bit exciting. Once the president does it, it’s officially mainstream.

Otherwise…maybe the ultra-deep tie dimple is about to make a comeback?

The rush to the Obama brand continues…and it’s not all modernist Swedes.

Hennessy is producing a limited-edition cognac called “44” in honor of today’s inauguration, with a percentage of the proceeds going to the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. It only runs $30, but when you consider that the “limited-edition” includes 180,000 bottles…that’s a lot of education.

We can’t blame them for wanting to get in on the magic, but how historic can the bottle be when you’ll probably finish it before Jan 21 rolls around?

The fine folks at The Impossible Cool just put up this picture of our brand new president, with the simple caption, “Obama.” Well timed…and for once the word “impossible” seems perfect.

As it says a little farther down the page, “The style is the man himself.”

I Wish I Was… If this man is wearing a bulletproof suit, we’re going to have to give up on Washington entirely. Luckily, we strongly doubt it. [Wired]

The Greatest: The most expensive t-shirt in L.A. is a black cashmere tee that’s completely blank. As for how much…we don’t want to think about it. [LAist]

Runaways: The latest dispatches from Milan is heavy on the vagabond look and something called “Rat Pack zest.” [The Moment]

Been a Long Time: The last eight years, in convenient slideshow form. Goatees are involved. [Men.Style]

ScarMo: Scarlett Johansson tries being the new Marilyn Monroe. But where’s a subway draft when you need it? [My Fashion Life]

Red is the New Black: Has men’s fashion gone communist? If only we could have some kind of witch-hunt to clear this whole thing up. [International Herald Tribune]

Art Cribs: Inside Ruben Toledo’s amazing loft. That’s just how MOTHs live these days. [NYMag]

White Tie: The Obama administration makes its first style faux pas. At least there weren’t any diplomats around. [Luxist]

Our new president has already inspired his share of sartorial fawning but, as always, the British take the cake.

This column from the The Independent’s Howard Jacobson (via Balk) begins by wondering how our new president gets that dimple in his four-in-hand tie. Of course, we’ve always thought Obama was over-dimpled, but if Mr. Jacobson really wants it, all he has to do is pinch the front part of the tie before he pulls it through into the knot. But the tie quandary is just an intro to Jacobson’s musings on the nature of political style…and he ends up with one of the best quotes we’ve heard on the topic.

The question is, now that Obama’s leading the free world, isn’t focusing on his style just a distraction? Shouldn’t we put more faith in leaders too busy to care about how they dress?

The answer, as you might expect, is that style matters»

Style has moved fast enough for long enough that no designer would have trouble making an outfit to perfectly signify 1983, 1974, or 1962. In fact, more than a few designers have contented themselves to do just that. The technology of photography has been moving just as fast, but while fashion has been dealing in nostalgia for upwards of 30 years, the photographers are just starting to catch on.

Here’s a hint: iPhones are involved»

Hearts and Minds: Obama’s no jacket required policy wins over Esquire, may or may not be a Phil Collins reference. [Esquire]

Streets is Watchin’: Monk shoes continue to be awesome. Also, leather gloves. That is all. [The Sartorialist]

On the Job: Job-interview style, courtesy of Men.Style’s infamous vloggers. [The Choosy Beggar]

Prance By: Google accidentally kills a deer. Let’s just pray it was a hybrid car. [Gizmodo]

Although he’s made a few questionable calls, there’s still a lot of good will behind Shepard Fairey, especially when he’s helping out the newly minted prez. But now that the flush of the election is over, the Associated Press has decided to take a few shots.

Gentlemen, light your torches»

There’s been a lot of talk about Barack Obama as a style icon and there have been more than a few Lincoln comparisons, but so far nobody’s bothered to connect the dots.

Kottke tipped us off to this shot of the well-coiffed statesman, but there’s a lot more to like here than just his hair. Check out the peak-but-not-too-peak lapels, the floppy cravat, and the duster-style double-breasted jacket, for starters. And given the proliferation of ironic facial hair, we’re amazed the chinstrap hasn’t had more of a revival.

We call it “emancipation-chic.”

Confidence can come from many places, but wearing a four-in-hand knot under a spread collar is not likely to inspire it. So next time you’re speaking before congress, it might be a good thing to double check.

Our theory is that Obama’s change brought a lot more spread collars into the West Wing, but their knot haven’t quite caught up. For the record, gentlemen, if you’re moving to a wider collar, you probably want to upgrade to a Windsor.

Writing on the Wall: Evan Rachel Wood’s tattoos come out at the Oscars. [Bastardly]

Fashion Weak: Apparently someone at Fashion Week was keeping track of the more ridiculous utterances. We’re amazed they didn’t run out of notebook space. [Unbeige]

Bold Action: President Obama continues to make neckwear choices that can only be described as bold…by Washington standards, of course. Silver ties? In the White House? [The Cut]

Wholesale Nation: Now that the pricing dam has burst, will we ever pay retail again? More importantly, how much longer can the shoplifting dam hold out? [International Herald Tribune]

By Any Other Name: Rose Byrne thrills us with her knowledge of New York nightlife. [BlackBook]

The Fleecing of America: Black Fleece prices seem to be declining along with the Dow…but it doesn’t seem to ever go on sale. [The Life Vicarious]

Decline and Fall: A photoset proving Detroit is every bit as bad as you think. [Time]

Graphic Design We Can Believe In: The Obama graphic design team’s greatest hits. Apparently they’re averaging a logo a week. [The Moment]

We knew it was only a matter of time before Obama action figures started coming out of the woodwork. But we certainly hadn’t predicted this.

The full absurdity of the toy is best experienced in its original form (via Balk), incomprehensible Japanese script and all, but rest assured, it paints #44 in a whole new light.

If there isn’t an animated series in the works yet, there should be.

America in 3D: A few of the more ridiculous pictures from Obama’s first 100 days. [Gawker]

Two Tone: The case for black and white spectator shoes. For advanced students only, natch. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

Cocktail Commentary: Vanity Fair combines its two biggest strengths with a series of cocktail recipes cheekily named after current events. Think of it as urbane wit in liquid form. [World’s Best Ever]

The Newest Latest: Opening Ceremony’s latest lookbook inspires envy and desire. [SwipeLife]

Models and Bottles: The Met takes a look at the photographer model relation…and comes away with a significantly more chaste take than we were expecting. [The Cut]

Sign of the Times: A peek into the arduous design clash behind the interstate’s new typeface. [NYTimes]

A Verdant Glenn: Our favorite guy of style checks in with a new blues compilation. [Men.Style]

Free Throws, Free Trade: The first trick to inspiring economic confidence is sinking every single free throw. [Gawker]

From time to time, a gentleman’s eyes may wander.

This is not to be taken as a sign of his character, but as an optic reflex that results in a momentary suspension of the higher faculties. Neither priests, eunuchs nor husbands are entirely immune. And all things considered, the eye is one of the less dangerous organs.

So let’s not embarrass anyone whose wife might be watching.

Obama’s display of pitching prowess at the all-star game last night has inspired quite a bit of commentary, but we’re more interested in his taste in denim. Fastball or no, those jeans did seem pretty…dad-ish.

To be fair, the man is old enough to wear dad jeans if he so chooses, but we can’t help wishing he went with something a bit hipper. He could still do the windup in skinnier jeans, and he wouldn’t have to worry about getting the wrong kind of Reagan comparison. As for the shoes…maybe they were worried Adidas would read as too European?

Sure is Stange: Iekeleine Stange understands the value of mesh gloves. [Fashion Gone Rogue]

I Am Jack’s Rudimentary Grasp of Chemistry: Ten years later, Fight Club is still inspiring teenagers to do stupid things. [NYTimes]

On the Move: Photographs of metal cheetahs never get old. [Neatorama]

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough: Should Obama slow down? In a word, no. [VF Daily]