feria de antiguedades en San Telmo, Buenos Aires

Found these boys and girls exiting an antique market in San Telmo, downtown in Buenos Aires, as I was heading in. I made the mistake of forgetting people sometimes speak English in other countries, and remarked out loud, “Those kids are cool.”

And, naturally, they swung around, staring at me hard, until I explained SorryI’mNotAJerkAndIMeantIt,CanITakeYourPicture?

And then I did. They’re from New York City. I like his pleats and tapered ankles. I like her Crayola florals, and all of their sweet smiley faces, even if they were probably still leery of me.

How easy is it to make simple menswear look at once chic, easygoing and put-together? Irritatingly, but adorably:

Seen in Palermo SoHo, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Please don’t forget to look at his shoes. Click image for larger detail.

Reporting from Buenos Aires, where I’ve been a few days now. Took as long to run into handsomely dressed Argentines, but found them in droves in Palermo Soho.

Caught at Papelera Palermo

I ran into a favorite shop of mine, la Papelera Palermo. It is an explosion of beautiful handmade papers, gift wrap, notebooks, prints and books.

And on approaching strangers to take their pictures:

It’s nice to launch into a tentative Spanish tirade about UmExcuseMeDoYouThinkICouldPhotographYou and they’re all, huh? And then we speak English. She was from Australia, and said she found her shirt at Argentine store Complot. On a scale from 1 to adorable…

More to come!

Bundlebags!

Dear readers, meet Bundlebags. Bundlebags, meet readers. These sly, crafty delights were at that party last Saturday night, too, and they wanted to talk to you, but didn’t really know how to say hi. I told them not to worry, that I knew you personally, and that you totally thought they were cute.

And aren’t they, though?

Bundlebags were created in a traditional Japanese design to serve as the most multi-purpose reusable carry-all you might ever meet. Forget wrapping paper and disposable shopping bags. See here:

Wine for me, wine for you

Tie these guys to conform to the shape of whatever you’re hoping to tote around, or even wear the darn things as a sweet scarf:

Gianna models a Bundlebag

You see?

Adorable! Gianna’s crafty mother is the designer and creator of Bundlebags, which can be found in various Athens, Ga. hot spots, including Menagerie and Frontier.

According to its Web site, Bundlebags are available in handsome cotton, silk and vintage fabrics, and can be made reversible. For more ways to tie and use the Bundlebag, stop by Bundlebags.net.

For where to find Bundlebags and other questions, E-mail bundlebags@gmail.com.

Do you see that? It’s a sparkly mock turtleneck sweater worn underneath a quiet floral print cowboy-style button up. And Jesse’s just at work, serving you and me coffee. He is the low-fat whipped cream on your black coffee.

Seriously – I would wear these in big people sizes. They would completely make a Mad Men-style holiday party, you know?

Am I right? (I am.)

Guess what: Good news! I am the mayor, the governor, and the president, and I am hereby expunging any and all notions of the so-called fashion faux-pas.

(According to my Dictionary Widget, the informal use of ‘faux-pas’ connotes ‘boo-boo’ or ‘blooper.’ Adorable!)

As mayor, am having to make some nonsense cuts in WELIKEITHAUTEville. Tough times. So. Fashion Police – you’re fired. Fashion rules, same.

Because I’m making black-with-brown OK. And brown-with-navy, too. And black-with-navy, three! And wearing white whenever you want. (Speaking of which, if anyone can provide an accurate historical context for the Labor Day rule, you will be made Vice Mayor.)

The most basic point here is enough with cockamamy rules. On the one hand, bless their hearts, because they’re a lot of fun. Here is an “Accessories Faux Pas,” found on The Internet, for example:

Dark socks with white shoes. Also, white socks with dark shoes. (Think Michael Jackson.)

From Fashion Faux Pas: Dressing Mistakes to Avoid.

Wrong again, womensfashion.suite101.com! Saw this done about two days ago and it was beautiful. (Full disclosure: my dark socks, my white shoes.)

The only rules worth subscribing to are shape shifters with great flexibility and relativity, that prefer to delicately suggest rather than prescribe. (Unless it’s something about wearing what fits your body, because that is the truth.) From what I can tell, fashion — much like other arts and fun — has a lot to do with testing and stretching boundaries, when not totally disregarding them to begin with. So why establish rigid, mutually exclusive rules? Maybe to later have something to break, but otherwise, forgetaboutem.

In the middle of browsing through Spring 2009 ready-to-wear shoes.

Wouldn’t these:

Chanel Spring 2009 RTW - Oh, Karl

Go just perfectly with this:

?

Am determined to define what it is about a singular, solid pigment in primary colors that has me fixated as of late.

I am talking red lips and nails. And sweaters. Completely unnatural color, but bold and bright and entirely itself, to be studied. To fall into, deeply. Like minimalism, maybe. Like this:

Aurelie Nemours - "Quatre fragments droite rose XI" (v 131)

And this. And this is where it walks around and flattens itself against walls for pictorial illustration:

K is not an it. She says she looks like a frog or something here.

Great color on the denim. Great sweater. And a good mixed-patterns-vs.-cohesive-palette duel. Necessarily have to add that Joe knows how to dress his body. Allow me to explain. One of the biggest mistakes in dressing oneself is throwing one’s shape and proportions out the window in favor of a trend or idealized outfit. Don’t do it. Get to know your figure and work with it. It’s important. Joe works slim jeans well. He found the right ones.

This is a topic deserving of greater discussion than I can fairly allot in this context and using Joe as an example. However, I’m going to call attention to the fact that I feel uncomfortable calling attention to the way Joe’s clothes fit his body, for fear of making him uncomfortable. But isn’t nearly the whole point of clothing the fit of the garment on one’s body?

And would this nervousness figure into this kind of post if I were writing the same thing about a woman? “This woman’s dress flatters her figure.” Totally normal. I don’t think it would, because it’s somehow more natural to discuss the female body in relation to fashion. Or at all. Let’s have a discussion.