Mass-market preppy outfitter J. Crew has apparently been running short on inspiration, so much so that they’ve turned to biting The Sartorialist’s style. Their spring preview just surfaced, and one of the shots (on the right) bears an uncanny resemblance to a pic the Sartorialist posted in June of ‘07 (on the left).

J. Crew’s main addition seems to be the sickly-colored blazer, but the poofy pocket square remains gloriously intact»

In the midst of rebranding, The Gap has launched The Sound of Color to help the kids really get to know those colors. Apparently red sounds like electro-pop and green sounds like Swizz Beats, who, fittingly enough, sounds like money.

It can’t help but seem familiar, but this ad (or microsite, if you prefer) takes a different tack than the old Salvation Army color scheme. Instead of trying to help the Gap’s brand—although they’re doing a little of that too—they’re trying to brand the colors. (“Hey, this sweatshirt’s green! I’ve heard about green!”)

It’s an interesting idea, but it’s wrong for a couple reasons»

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.

Belly Up to the Bar: Thank Бог someone out there is poking around Russian Elle for Bar Refaeli shots. [Goldenfiddle]

Casual Friday: We’re a little surprised that this internal memo from Interview on office dress code was even necessary. We could guess that this has something to do with the magazine’s new Capo di tutti capi, Glenn O’Brien—but then again, the guy doesn’t always hew to the rule himself. [Gawker]

Spice on Set: Failing fashion designer Victoria Beckham teams up with failing movie mogul Tom Cruise for what will almost certainly be Ben Stiller’s ugliest film since “Meet the Fockers”. [FemaleFirst UK]

Bowery Boy: Does John Varvatos even have time to design anymore with all these CBGBs questions? [NYTimes]

Cheap Shots: The best suits under $500 photographed by Scott “The Sartorialist” Schuman. [Men.Style]

Word Games: Watch as three out of four panelists stuff their feet straight into their mouths while attempting to define “Hipster.” [PSFK]

Shwing!: Tom Ford wants you to appreciate the human dingle as much as he does. [NYMag]

Cor Blimey!: Our favorite hero, Kristen Bell, livens up the pages of British FHM. [Hollywood Rag]

Out of the Gutter: Tom Ford manages to get through an interview without talking about penises or shooting an inappropriate ad. [Wallpaper]

Best of Both Worlds: These kicks are part sneaker, part boot—all color. [The Pipeline]

Dag Nabbit: So the new Penelope Cruz/Scarlett Johansson Woody Allen film won’t be two hours of lesbian kissing. We’re still going though. [Gawker]

Scott’s Picks: The Sartorialist’s guide to doing it right. [Brandish]

What Smells?: Joshua David Stein gets a rubdown courtesy of Unilever. No evidence of the “Axe Effect” reported. [The Moment]

It looks like our Mr. Avery is turning into a jack of all trades. After a quick spell blogging for Men’s Vogue, the man flirted with the idea of starting a celebrity styling outpost in New York. Unfortunately, it seems to have gone the way of disco.

Of course, not one to rest on his blades, Avery is already showing up on bus shelters throughout the nation as one of Gap’s new faces, alongside famous lensman Ryan McGinley and sartorialist Scott Schuman.

Playing for the Dallas Stars seems like such a step down.

We’ve been fans of The Sartorialist for a while, and we’ve never begrudged Mr. Schuman a few side projects, but he may finally have hit a sour note. His latest collab is this microsite with the usually reliable Gant label. The problem isn’t the clothes or the shots, but the people. In ten quick profiles, Mr. Schuman may have inadvertently captured everything that’s irritating about New York City.

Take, for instance, one MacDonald Steffen Huelster (pictured above). He describes his style as “One part Summerset Country Club, two parts Willow River,” which explains the buffalo, at least. But the impossibly preppy name, the WASPy affectation of referring to both of his parents by their full names (Hugh MacDonald Huelster and Christine Steffen Huelster, respectively), and the particularly obnoxious cred grab of referring to his borough as “Brooklyn, King’s County” all mark this gentleman as someone we would like to avoid at all costs. We don’t like to use the h-word; let’s just say it reflects poorly on the brand.

Perhaps an underrated perk of Mr. Schuman’s original blog is that all the participants are silent.

Much as we try to keep things classy, the bulk of the internet has always been composed of two things: pornography and pictures of cats. So when someone has a good idea—like, The Sartorialist, for instance—it’s a sure bet that it’ll filter down into one of those two arenas.

And now, the less interesting of the two possibilities has finally become a reality. Ladies and gentleman: The Catorialist.

The above image, by the way, is captioned “the power of men’s accessories,” and the sound you hear is the internet swallowing itself whole. As for The Nudetorialist, nobody’s snatched up the domain name yet, but it can only be a matter of time.

Whether it’s flash mobs or tumblrs, a good idea can only last so long before someone turns it to commerce. The Sartorialist lasted longer than most, but after last month’s Gant advert, a third party has turned Scott Schuman’s idea of street style photo-blogging into a full blown clothing store.

The British site Stitsh has a familiar look, but if you roll over any of the pictures, it’ll take you to sites where you can buy any of the items on the screen. Like a few others, we like the idea, even if it’s a little too focused on British streetwear brands for our taste. Can’t they get someone over to the West End?

Jacob Silberberg for IHT

For all the love—and occasional tough love—we throw The Sartorialist, it’s easy to forget that street style has been around for quite some time.

The Times has a pair of pieces reprinted in the International Herald Tribune today on Bill Cunningham, arguably the progenitor of street photography—at least as far as newspapers are concerned. Cunningham started snapping during World War Two, aided by a well-oiled bicycle and an eye for clothing. Editors had space to fill and Cunningham had content that wasn’t just another society ball.

His files are still mostly unpublished, spanning 60 years of spontaneous style and just waiting for a glossy retrospective from some lucky publisher. But for now we’ll have to rely on Cunningham’s more recent descendents to keep us up to date.

A few choice quotes from the photo pioneer»

Two States: If you needed a map of all 50 state mottos, here you go. A lot of them are really strange. [Cartophilia]

Clapped in Irons: Kempt favorite Scott Schuman ponders the ideal ironing technique. [The Sartorialist]

Going Mad: The threat of Mad Men without show creator Matthew Weiner is apparently real. Zombie Mad Men? Get worried. [Vulture]

Hair of the Dog: An annotated history of the mustache trend piece. [Gawker]

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]

After a while, the Sartorialist-style shots start to blend together, so it was about time someone brought a more personal touch to people watching.

Our candidate is What I Saw Today, which throws a few colored pencils and a playfully sketchy style into the mix. Street style blogs have always aspired to be a kind of notebook for designers, so making one that actually looks like a notebook brings a certain authenticity to the project.

And if it helps a few more people appreciate the subtle texture of a Chesterfield coat…all the better.

One of the brilliant things about personal style is it can float along independent of trends.

Most designers would never let a jacket this baggy onto a runway. But while the rest of the fashion world is busy trimming the sag off their cardigans, this Parisian gentleman is off refining his own rumpled look, thanks to a baggy blazer, a few loose scarves, and a perfectly grizzled beard.

And, for the moment at least, he has a style all to himself.