August 28, 2008 world of men's style / fashion / grooming RSS

KEMPT

A blog dedicated to the interesting, scandalous, useful and cutting edge in the world of men’s style, fashion and grooming.

TIP US!

PUBLISHER

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

CONTRIBUTORS

Sign up. You'll know what we know.

SIGN UP FOR UPDATES

You'll know what we know.

“Italy”
03/27/08 ·

LinkOut

Playboy Under Wraps, Emo Wars and Going on The Pill

dknymural_crop.jpg

White Wash: The massive DKNY advertising mural turned Soho icon at Manhattan’s Houston and Broadway is, like all the other signs of the neighborhood’s 80s heyday, not long for this world. [WWD]

NFL Lock Out: Football may ban excessive hair use, putting an end to those Thors and rastas of the gridiron. [Styledash]

Chaste Bunnies: The Philippine version of Playboy will be a fully-clothed, demure affair with, “maybe one nipple,” here and there. No fun. [Canadian Press]

Forever in Blue Jeans: Mike “Muffin Top” Albo searches for recession-proof denim. [NYTimes]

Panic at The Mexico: Emo kids are facing systematic beat downs south of the border and uniting to defend their rights and feathered hair. March on, wasted youth. March on. [The Daily Swarm]

Forged Signature: Refusing to let a little thing like legal permission hold it back, an Italian clothes maker bravely strikes out on its own to create the George Clooney collection. [WWD]

The Holy Grail: Bring on the male birth-control pill. [Altpenis]

03/28/08 ·

LinkOut

Man Hugs, Man Bags and Mendes

mendes_crop.jpg

Our Girl Friday: We don’t know if Eva Mendes posed for these shots before going into rehab and, frankly, we don’t care. [Maxim]

The Queen and The Princess: Carla Bruni visits England, making every first lady in history look downright homely in the process. [Telegraph UK]

San Francisco Treat: A brief and stylish tour of Fog City. [Refinery29]

Brotherly Love: We’re not sure if we believe in “bromance,” but we are sure we love ya, dude. [Men.Style]

“What’s In Your Manbag?”: Excuse me, it’s a European men’s carryall, okay? [Guardian UK]

Buying in Bulk: Shoppers snatch up Tim Hamilton shirts 20 at a time. Look for them soon on superfuture and eBay. [Racked]

04/02/08 ·

LinkOut

Grab Your Hoodie, It's A Very Athletic Wednesday

swimsuit_crop.jpg

Love All: One of the few eligible bachelors with a 155 mph serve is engaged to S.I. swimsuit model, Brooklyn Decker, which is a solid excuse for us to run pictures of her. Thanks, Andy. [ESPN]

Tailgate Party: In other sporting news, this is how 24-year-old, Heisman-winning, multimillionaire starting NFL quarterback Matt Leinart rolls. How ‘bout you, Brah? [Sunday Morning QB]

Local Uni-Watch: New York readers may have a chance to check out the Blue Jay’s new powder-blue throwbacks today and tomorrow. Still, no one’s got more baller style than this guy. [ESPN]

Swapping Spit: In the grand Gallic tradition of poor public hygiene, several Frenchmen invaded Manhattan and attempted to set a world record for kissing. Gross, right? [Fleshbot]

In The Hood: Blue-eyed, honey-blond men’s fashion blogger, Amanda Brooks, finds style and substance in the lowly hoodie. [Men’s Vogue]

фантастично!: Moscow Fashion Week just doesn’t translate to Western style - but God bless them Ruskies for trying. [YouTube]

Chinese Take Out: With its increased high-end offerings, improved manufacturing techniques (not to mention its low valuation of human sweat) China is poised to take on Italy in the luxe suit game. [WSJ]

04/16/08 ·

LinkOut

Italians, Socks and a Little Bit of Chung-Chung

tomford2_crop.jpg

Il Bue Che Dice Cornuto All’asino: Italy bans Tom Ford ad because of their long tradition of high-minded, unporny public discourse. [Radar]

The Distinguished Gentleman From Milan: In related news, Santo Versace, business manager of the family label, has joined Italy’s Parliment. [WWD, 2nd item]

“Masturbation Cuts Cancer Risk”: Well, in that case, maybe we’ll try it some time. [BBC]

Slip Ons: Socks for men without shoes. [Men’s Vogue]

Ripped From the Headlines: Our very own Jared Paul Stern is set to be detonated in effigy in an upcoming episode of “Law & Order.” We couldn’t be more proud. Also, Chung-chung. [NY Daily News]

Ring of Fire: Like a ribbon ‘round your finger, this accessory will remind you of appointments or anniversaries or burn you in the process. [Uncrate]

Beggars and Choosers: A probing piece about the difficulties of funding and presenting at Fashion Week. [Papierdoll]

Monroe Doctrine: The Marilyn sex-tape fantasy goes “pop” in 1,460 words. [Defamer]

Members Only: A jacket checklist for these windbreaker months. [Refinery29]

05/09/08 ·

LinkOut

Behind the Chucks, Floral Details and Skills to Pay the Bills

fop_crop.jpg

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.

06/12/08 ·

LinkOut

Fashion Masters, Confessions of the Damned, and Holding onto the Tie

seyfreid_crop.jpg

Flower Girl: Amanda Seyfried once starred alongside Lindsay Lohan. That wheelbarrow back there is probably a trade up. [Vanity Fair]

Four!: The “Worst Golf Fashions”? Oh, Time, when will you learn? The worse it gets, the better it is. [Time]

Save The Tie!: Hell of a lot easier than saving the whales, no? [Style Savage]

Man Talk: Shipley and Halmos discuss the finer points of male grooming—Joey or Van? It’s Van. [A Continuous Lean]

Mea Culpa: An Italian couple asks forgiveness for having sex in a church’s confessional booth, which we see as kind of pointless. We mean, once you’ve crossed that line, there’s really no reason to even try to go back—hell awaits. [Telegraph UK]

08/05/08 ·

Dept. of Corrections

A Few of Our Favorite Things

monocle3_crop.jpg

London-based Monocle (which, we hasten to add, is not a lifestyle magazine) has posted a front-of-the-book-style roundup that bears no resemblance to lifestyle journalism whatsoever.

Titled “Things to improve your life,” the multinational list includes Italian bathing clubs (pictured), an austere German day bed and Ambassador’s foot-hugging leather trainers. We’re all for self-improvement—we’re even willing to tolerate the dubious inclusion of Monocle’s local newsstand—but is this really what the good life looks like? We’ve taken our own crack at it with the must-haves on the left here, but we can’t help but think there’s something missing…

Maybe something to help put on all those shoes.

08/13/08 ·

Labeled

Declaring Vittorio

vittorioj_crop.jpg

For all the bespokery surrounding shoes and suits, there’s remarkably few limited edition operations on the tie front…which is why we’re so happy we’ve actually found one.

The tie-maker’s name is Vittorio J, and it turns out we’ve been admiring his work for much longer than we’ve known his name. He’s a staple of the shirt-and-tie boutique 20 Peacocks and takes appointments for bespoke tie service at Michael Andrews Bespoke, two of our favorite Manhattan outposts that just happen to be neighbors.

As you might guess from the name, Vittorio favors Italian styling over the British flair that’s currently popular, but most of their stock won’t look too familiar anyway. They specialize in exclusive designs and very small runs, sometimes making as few as two ties.

In other words, you can be sure they haven’t seen it before.