There’s something about Miami, the badly-dressed epicenter of the Northern Hemisphere, that seems to affect even the most sensible of men. Take Glenn O’Brien, the weathered and usually well-put together “Style Guy” of GQ fame.

In town this week for the round of shindigs, O’Brien apparently left his dress sense in his other pants.»

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

Yes, we know what you’re thinking: What the hell is he doing here? Certainly no-one in their right mind would call larger-than-life art world provocateur Julian Schnabel well dressed, but you’ve got to admit he’s got a lot of style—inimitable and even unenviable as it might be. When he first started wearing pajamas in public we were more than a bit skeptical; but when he threw some cashmere on top we started to see the light.

He not only owns this look (like anyone else wanted it), but he’s really making the mad genius thing work.

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

The restaurants bearing the Mr. Chow moniker are known as much for their haute-chinois cuisine and glittering clientele as their sophisticated, understated elegance. Small wonder then that the real Mr. Chow embodies the latter perfectly.

We’ve never had the pleasure of dining at the original London location, opened in 1968, but the super-stylish New York outpost on E. 57th St. is one of our favorite restaurants in the world. The man behind it all, Michael Chow, is also an actor of note and an art collector extraordinaire whose portrait has been painted by David Hockney and Jean-Michel Basquiat, among others.

More on Mr. Chow»

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

Looking through the past week’s party pix we were struck by this classic triptych of extremely influential characters. At an opening of an exhibition of photographs by Mikhail Baryshnikov the other night, the coolest dude to ever don a pair of ballet tights was flanked by fellow icons Julian Schnabel and Lou Reed.

We’d watch that show»

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

When it first came out in 1973, Lou Reed’s tragic rock opera Berlindisappointed fans who’d been expecting an upbeat follow-up to his glam opus Transformer. Left to gather dust, it took twenty years for critical opinion to come around and finally dub it a masterwork.

Larger-than-life artist/auteur Julian Schnabel had, of course, always been a believer»

Shorts. The final frontier.

Men.style is chiming in today on the growing threat shorts pose to today’s workforce. Previous salvos have come from Gawker, and (our favorite) David Colman of the NYT.

Of course, what men.style only hints at is that, for Gawker and Condé Nast (and we suspect the fashion desk at the Times), office clothing takes on a somewhat different meaning. After all, how can they expect old Coles to write trend pieces about cutoffs when he’s can’t wear them himself? That kind of trendiness is what they pay him for. The same goes for anyone else who happens to be in the trend business—leading to the dreaded Schnabel effect—while the poor folks in the rest of the office are stuck in white button-ups for the rest of their lives.

As the old saying goes, there are three kinds of tie on Wall Street: solid color ties, diagonally striped ties, and ties that set your career back five years.

We shudder to think what they’d make of a shorts-suit.

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

Seems we were way out ahead of the curve when we praised Julian Schnabel pajama clad magnificence back in January and handed him an unexpected MOTH. Some of you scoffed at the time, but several months later Schnabel’s signature style is all the rage in menswear circles, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The paper reports that designers including Michael Bastian, Bottega Veneta, Dolce & Gabbana, Giorgio Armani and Prada are now all flogging various versions of haute sleepwear made to worn in public. (Schnabel’s own, by the way, are made by his wife. So what does this all mean for the man on the street? Will we soon be able to go straight from bed to the office?

Well, no»

Photographed by our fearless lensman, Patrick McMullan.

Good old Julian Schnabel. The minute everyone started copying his signature pajama look, the larger-than-life art world provocateur shelved ‘em in favor of something even shabbier.

The other night at a screening of nouveau western Appaloosa hosted by the Cinema Society and Vanity Fair, Schnabel showed up to rub elbows and such with Jessica Lange in a plaid flannel shirt and a pair of board shorts.

We’re sure this is just a temporary measure until the p.j. trend cools off a bit. Of course, since flannel workwear shows signs of a flare-up as well this season, he may be out of the frying pan and into the fire, sartorially speaking.

On the Patch: Avoid the soul patch at all costs. [Magnificent Bastard]

In the Schneighborhood: A Continuous Lean’s Michael Williams gives tips on being Julian Schnabel. Step One: become shaggier. [Selectism]

Part of the Routine: Advice on the daily writing routine from various successful writers, including the famous men’s style blogger Franz Kafka. [Daily Routines]

Watching Out for VC: The venture capital machine creaks to a halt. Here’s hoping you haven’t had any good ideas lately. [TechCrunch]

Pajama-inspired lines are just starting to blossom into trendiness, but it’s always nice to see one take things in a different direction.

American Viceroy is a new line with the sleepwear-inspired tagline “Made for Daydreaming.” It’s hard to come up with a better slogan for daytime pajamas, but they’re more interested in Wes Anderson-style youth culture than Schnabel-esque scene-making. The references are all pitch-perfect—J. D. Salinger, Cat Stevens, Pavement—and it doesn’t hurt that they’re drawing on real tailoring prowess for the deceptively simple outfits. One caption proclaims, “we got in fist-fights to make sure that shirttail was right.”

Don’t worry, boys. It shows.

See more of the line»

Save Faris: Anna Faris is consistently more interesting than her movies…with the possible exception of Scary Movie 4. [NYMag]

All You Want to Do Is Talk Talk: Steve Monaghan loves Talk Talk, as all true 80s aficionados must. [Selectism]

Hard Times: To put the recession in real, visceral terms: Julian Schnabel has had to sell one of his Picassos. It’s frightening stuff. [Luxist]

For Shame: We’re starting to get worried about Gary Coleman. [Vulture]