Hello, Nice to Meet You Generation Y

The question of Generation Y, or, better known as the "Hipster Generation", has been turning around in my mind over and over again and I've come to realize that I know very little intimately about this generation that follows mine. I see these hipsters everywhere. Standing alone, gathered in groups, in their Minis and Priuses, riding their one speed bikes, drinking skinny lattes, wearing skinny jeans and vintage clothing...Hipsters, please stand up and introduce yourselves to me!

My generation, Gen X, brought to the cultural forefront many different things: rave culture, minimalism, RuPaul, MTV, the early beginnings of video games and home computers, Prepsters, the pop supremacy of U2, Madonna, and Michael Jackson, leggings, Neo Soul music, and double denim dressing.

What's going on with Generation Y? Ok, I must thank you for the skinny jeans movement (I'm a BIG fan) and the return of vintage clothing popularity (especially designer vintage), high/low dressing, and eco-conscious products and practices. But tell me what is up with the unkempt hair and grooming (beards, moustaches, and goatees, oh my!!!), sub-par social etiquette, vapid demeanor and disdain for society and the global culture? Why has your infinite style potential become so homogenized and common (plaid shirts, for example)?  What about the push for the contemporary and edgy and original?

Perhaps my own (limited) personal experience with hipsters has left me a bit sour on you, or I feel like you co-opted things that were original or new to my generation (prepsters, for instance), or I have just grossly generalized you to such an extent that I can't see the forest for the trees but what I do see is so much potential that its unfathomable. I don't want to see it get lost in the mire. I want it to come bursting forth and shower over the world. I sense the change in you, Generation Y, the change that a future brings. Please step up and bring it: the newness, the difference, the individuality. I'm doing my part. Other members of my generation are do their part as well.I know some of you are doing your share as well. I guess this is my summit, my "Geneva Convention" in my mind here, and its just time to meet and shake hands and know each other and welcome each party to the Dawn.

-fggofstyle

Video: The Boys of Milan and Paris

This is a joyous and fun video from Jak & Jil's Tommy Ton and director Justin Wu of the male models from the Milan and Paris FW 2011 shows, having fun and offering backstages glimpses of the shows. Can you say, "Boys, Boys, Boys"!?! So much FUN!! Enjoy...
-fggofstyle


Boys of Milan & Paris FW2011 from Justin Wu on Vimeo.

New Year, New Decade 2.0

During this time of year, fresh off the heels of New Year celebrations and revelry, everybody starts talking about the changes the intend to bring in with them and implement. These changes, or resolutions, most of the time get lost and forgotten within months. We get bombarded by the media by "resolution stories" to the point of annoyance (to me).

I don't make resolutions, I make choices of evolution.
I intend to continue to change the way I conduct my life on many levels. I intend to make change in how I serve the world and my community. I intend to further embrace my creativity and my commitment to it and its expansion. I intend to strengthen my business so that it evolves and grows exponentially. I intend to grow my personal relationships and always express my love and adoration to those who are dear to me. I intend to continue to explore the scenes around me and share my point of view of it with you. I intend to always have an open heart, an open mind, and open eyes so that I will always see the good surrounding me, feel the infinite good around me, and to do it with my own style.

-fggofstyle

New Year, New Decade

Here is a great verse from George Michael's song "Waiting For That Day" that sums up this time for me:


"now everybody's talking about this new decade
like you say the magic number
then just say goodbye to
the stupid mistakes you made
oh my memory serves me far too well


don't you know that
the years will come and go
some of us will change our lives
some of us still have nothing to show
nothing baby
but memories"

It's strange to think of the past year, let alone the past decade. Time seems to keep trudging along, bringing with it much much change. In its wake, it leaves memories. It is these memories that I will think fondly of, no matter if the memory is of something difficult or painful or something happy and joyous. It is these things, these changes, this growth that helps me (and you) to do what we are really here on this planet to do: Evolve.

So to the New Year and New Decade I welcome its Evolution and wish for a Joyous, Prosperous and Happy New Year for everyone!

-fggofstyle
"look good, feel good, in style"

Happy Holidays

Wishing you a Happy and Joyous Holiday filled with Style!

-fggofstyle

RiRi's Lookin' Good: Two Vids (Icon Inspiration Project)

I'm really liking how Rihanna is styled in these two videos, "Only Girl (In The World" and "Rude Boy". Together, they are contrasting opposites at the same time showcasing the same thing, Rihanna's sassy and sex appeal. One is soft, the other hard, both musically and sartorially. Good job on the fashionable perfectionism, Ri!

-fggofstyle

"Influencers: The Documentary"

  I see influence abounding all around me all the time. I have often wondered how this visceral sense I have about it weaves its way into an intellectual and concise actuality. Its the contiguousness of creativity, I believe, and to me, thats beyond...good.

Please take a look at this great documentary about how creativity and influence thrives in our culture/world. Click *here* to view "Influencers: The Documentary", a film by R+I Films.

Enjoy!

-fggofstyle

Thankful

at the "Fashion is Art" Gallery Exhibit
wearing a print tank by Theory, top by Plastic Island, vintage Dior clutch
photo by Catherine Asanov

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful to you for coming here and being an integral part of my fashion world and for allowing me to share my world with you.
I truly hope that you continue to embrace my ethos of living: "look good, feel good, in style" and spread the feel good!

-fggofstyle

Indivisuality

I saw someone wearing the very same trench coat that I was this morning and it got me thinking about the saturation of great sartorial ideas in the market, and how it finally and actually trickles down to the masses. I began thinking of how this very different person could be wearing the exact same trench as mine, the one I wear with love to death. I began thinking of how, just the other day, I spied another person, very different in many ways, wearing an entire outift almost indentical to mine (different choices but same stylistic layout) and how *that* sartorial situation could have come to pass. I began questioning just how individual is my visual presentation, fashionably speaking. How does another person with a different life be attracted to similar fashion choices and keep their personal expression intact?
I think that fashion as an entire presentation is really a jovial carnival of choices. We get to ride on the ferris wheel of fashion and pick and choose when we want to get on or off, and to which heights we want to go. We also get to choose how we want to take these choices and present them to the world.  The whole carnival gets its joy from the revelry of its hall of mirrors, because at its center, fashion is visual, and it thrives on this point and grows and transforms from it. So what if another person makes the same choice as you do; its the freedom of it all that suggests it, begs for it, actually needs it to survive. It is a living, breathing entity of indivisuality, with many bodies, many minds, many expressions, many looks, and many styles.

I celebrate not only mine but your indivisuality; let it shine up the world and make you smile when you see another in the same thing as you. After all, its a reflection of you and your greatly smart fashion choices.

-fggofstyle

I'm A Comforted Creature

a look at the new CoC NYC boutique
(photo courtesy CoC)

In the grand scheme that is Los Angeles retail, there is a place amongst it that aims to be all about ease, simplicity, and comfort. One of my favorite boutiques here, Creatures of Comfort, is that place. The well edited and appointed boutique on Melrose is my go-to source for many of my favorite contemporary lines, like Alexander Wang, Zero + Maria Cornejo, Christian Wijnants, and United Bamboo (to name a few) as well as the best place to get a pair of Repetto's (their selection is fantastic and varied beyond the usual suspects). They recently opened a NYC boutique, which means their inventory has grown and now serves a bi-coastal contemporary/androgynous aesthetic. I've recently scored a few Alexander Wang items, my birthday outfit (a wonderful silk jumpsuit by Complex Geometries), a pair of navy and white United Bamboo ankle boots, and my fall season go-to jacket, an Acne silk/linen blazer (oversized a la Carrie Bradshaw in SATC 2), and some great pieces for a client's recent photo editorial. The shop girls are smart and very helpful and non-intrusive. They tell
me that the clientele is easy and comfortable and come in just to hang (all signs of a great store IMO). They have an online store as well but a visit to the store is a must. I tell you, I just adore this place!


Creatures of Comfort NYC 205 Mulberry St. New York, NY 10012


Creatures of Comfort LA 7971 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90046

-fggofstyle

Related articles

• Critical Shopper | Creatures of Comfort: Clothes Fit for Woman or Beast (nytimes.com)