mobile logo
Thom Browne Beauty
September 11, 2013
TUTTLEMODE

Get Your Kit On: Overview of NYFW Spring 2014

Gentle reader,

I, for one, am a little confused about the announcements about the new iPhone 5c and 5s yesterday.  The 5s is going to be stronger, thinner and faster and will come in subdued gold, silver or gray with super luxurious leather covers for this model because the geniuses at Apple have finally realized that they have been missing out on the hugely lucrative market of iPhone covers.  The 5c, on the other hand, incorporates a glossy new plastic case available in five bright colors and a matte rubber case in a bunch of other bright colors (sold separately, of course) so that you can make that thing as colorful as you possibly can.  From the launch video, it appears that the iPhone 5c

Continue reading
By James Tuttle
1
0
Jason Wu
December 26, 2012
TUTTLEMODE

Seven Moments from the Year in Fashion

Gentle reader,

I hope you’ve emerged from Christmas relatively unscathed this year.  Ours was lovely, spent with my parents and a veritable army of relatives who descended upon their house at the edge of a tiny Central California town yesterday afternoon.  Fifteen or so of them were aged twelve and younger and the sea of presents that we adults brought to quench the youngsters’ thirst for licensee products threatened to engulf the living room.  Many of us managed to remember which of the little ones loved Disney princesses and who was a big fan of Angry Birds, but the most interesting gift and one that stole the spotlight for several minutes after I opened the box was an ancient taxidermied squirrel clutching a hundred dollar bill.  Um, thanks, Dad.

Scott’s mother and sister joined us there this year for the first time, coping admirably with the crowd of friendly strangers, and when it was all over, my aunt thanked them for “bringing a little class” to the family, though, she continued, “that’s like bringing a cup of water to a forest fire.”  I was once horrified but now find it rather amusing that my relatives see themselves as untamed rednecks when they are actually very polite, articulate, WASP-y horse people, though they may own perhaps a few too many guns between them.

Well, there’s that dead squirrel, too, so my aunt might just be on to something.

Continue reading
By James Tuttle
1
0
Gucci FW 2012
November 14, 2012
TUTTLEMODE

Just Gowning Around: Dressing for the Holidays 2012

Gentle reader,

I felt a little superficial attending a fashion book party last week while our friends in New York were bailing themselves out of a hurricane only to dig themselves out of a snowstorm a few days later.  If know my New Yorkers, though, they’d all want to know what to wear when the extreme weather conditions subside, so I coaxed my party cohort DJ Martinez into her best Bananarama-circa-1983 look and made the best of it.

We were the first guests to arrive at Melrose Avenue’s BOA Gallery so I got a chance to check out the book and sample the VeeV açai liqueur cocktails before everyone else got there.  The book, Style Protocol by Reinaldo Irizarry, seems to be a good basic men’s guide for dressing.  There are tips on choosing the right shoe, tying the right tie and mastering the choice of shirt for your needs, and I’m sure all of those are helpful.  I’m just not sure it’s anything you couldn’t find during an evening of Google searches and it’s odd that it seemed so basic considering the fact the very charming Reinaldo and his friends showed up to the party in dinner jackets that appeared to be made from various upholstery fabrics.  Hmmm.  But the book is cute and could be a good gift for someone who is challenged in the area of sartorial basics.

Dj Matinez James Tuttle

DJ Martinez and me.

Another area that may be challenging is dressing for those elaborate One-Percent holiday parties now that the Ninety-Nine Percent have triumphed at the polls.  I’m the last to mix politics and fashion but I was taken aback when I saw a couple of my most beloved clients the morning after the elections looking like they were ready to cut a bitch.  I simply reminded myself that I chose to vote for my civil rights while they were voting for their bank accounts so I couldn’t really hold a grudge.  “That’s why we live in a democracy,” I assured them with a smile, and they went on their not-so-merry way.

Continue reading
By James Tuttle
2
0
Marc Jacobs SS 2013
September 12, 2012
TUTTLEMODE

S/S 2013 COLLECTIONS: Back in Black (and White) in NYC

Gentle reader,

I’ve been trying to be less dismissive of New York Fashion Week lately.  Really, I have.  I love New York City and I know that many people there work so very hard to put on all these shows.  It’s also an election year so I feel like I should just generally be more patriotic, but it always seems like the truly directional designers always show in Milan and Paris.  Like, if Mrs. Prada shows drop-waist dresses one season, guess what kind of waists everyone is going to show the next.  But, no matter what the waist, she ain’t showing them at Lincoln Center.  And did you ever see a full-size fucking train loaded with models and Louis Vuitton luggage pull into a tent in Bryant Park?  Yeah, I didn’t think so.

New York always seemed like the place where D.J.-turned-designers and reality TV stylists-turned-designers were more likely to find a place on the roster, and prior to this season I’d never even heard of the other two-thirds of the people that were scraping together a million bucks to send their shit down a runway.  Imagine my surprise, then, when I consulted the schedule of this year’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week and saw some names that I not only recognized but also couldn’t wait to see what they’d come up with.  The Rodarte girls and my old boss Tommy Hilfiger brought their collections back from Europe and the Pierre Balmain line was going to show here, too.  I’m not sure what caused the westward migration but I’m thankful the only bright spot of my week wasn’t just the glittery drag catwalk that is The Blonds.

Continue reading
By James Tuttle
1
0