Beauty's Only Skin Deep but Nerds Help You Shop

FA2L is in awe of the very simple, very savvy website, Nerd Boyfriend. Using vintage photographs as starting points, the site reduces an icon's sartorial image to its basic components, and links readers to contemporary equivalents. This shot of James Dean playing Ping Pong, for example, will take you to J. Crew's heather poplin utility shirt; Steven Alan's short sleeve shirt; and James Perse's limited-edition Ping Pong table. We give the nerdy boy's communication skills an A+.

www.nerdboyfriend.com

Kesner, New York: A Store–and Refuge–For Men

Even men who don't like to shop will find bliss at Kesner, in Manhattan's West Village. Its owners, half-brothers Philip Silverman and Matthew Simon, named it after their grandfather, Alfred Kesner–and this nod to the past perfectly illustrates the shop's modus operandi. Kesner offers a sharply-focused, well-edited selection of men's clothing, accessories and grooming products that go beyond classics with the proverbial twist. Novices and dandies alike will appreciate its combination of old-school traditional and new skool contemporary, presented in a handsome, masculine setting. For the truly shy–or truly famous–there's even a plush, upholstered room for private fittings, complete with a well-stocked bar.

Thomas Trube, Kesner's Director of Operations, says that Fall's lineup includes Alexander Olch's sharp ties; jewelry by tenthousandthings; shoes by Schmoove; the debut of Caulfield Prep clothing; as well as pieces from the collections of Burkman Bros., Gossuin, Jean Paul Gaultier and Neil Barrett, among others. We suggest you begin your Fall shopping now (and, if you're out east, that you visit Kesner's new store on Jobs Lane in Southampton). Let the smart salesmen offer suggestions–they want to help you hone a personal style, rather than drown you in uncomfortable clothes. Times are tough, yes, but looking good is still the best revenge.

www.kesner-ny.com

Photographs by Anthony Philip Festa
www.anthonyphilipfesta.com

The Four Hundred (Plus) Bows of Alexis Mabille

Young French designer Alexis Mabille has strong credentials (he worked at Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior), but this 30-year-old is still an unpredictable talent. His combined men's and women's collections, presented as couture, rather than ready-to-wear, are full of ideas: sometimes, too many of them. But for every awkward moment, there's a corresponding vision of grace, as sleek young men stride down the runway like flashes of color and girls float by on clouds of chiffon.

Mabille also has a thing for bows: he tacks them to jackets, wraps them around necks and cleverly repurposes their shape for soft evening bags. These jewel-toned velvet butterflies are bows of a sort, but not ties: they're brooches, meant to be pinned on a jacket's lapel or perhaps the shoulder of a dress. And while there are probably few men these days with enough panache to wear any accessory made of velvet (let alone a butterfly brooch), we hope to see at least one. It could be just the thing to help a beautifully-tailored suit take flight.

www.alexismabille.com
www.studiohomme.com

In the Nina Ricci Big Top, Theyskens Takes a Fall

Producing cutting-edge fashion, even in the best of times, is a harrowing high-wire act. Business teams at the world's great luxury houses are expert jugglers, balancing production costs, overhead expenditures and advertising fees against revenue from clothing and accessories; makeup and perfume; and a stream of potential licenses. Meanwhile, designers must have talent enough to create exciting collections, plus the instinct to gauge how great a leap adherents will take each season. Talk about a circus! It's gaudy, backbreaking and glamorous by turns, with elephant pyramids, lion tamers, feathered ponies and spangled showgirls galore. High above the center ring is the house designer, who steps out on a wire season after season, show after show––and sometimes falls right off the tightrope.

That's what happened to Olivier Theyskens at Nina Ricci in March. Theyskens is a Belgian designer who's been hailed as a fashion genius, for his own collections (of which Madonna was an early champion: in 1998, she wore his clothes to the Oscars and VH1's Fashion Awards) and for his work at Rochas and Nina Ricci. FA2L remembers discovering some of Theyskens' first pieces in Paris and marveling that gowns and jackets so shockingly new could have as much presence and audacity as vintage couture. Unfortunately, audacity can be a problem: it whips fashionistas into a frenzy, but the house doesn't make money selling only front row seats. Rumors circulated for months that Theyskens and Nina Ricci would part ways (the brass at parent company Puig apparently sat him down after the Spring '09 show for a "talking to") and the extraordinary Fall '09 collection, unveiled on March 5, left no doubt. It was a thrilling parade of razor-sharp tailoring, glittering modern materials and death-defying platform shoes, but Puig's bean counters decided these dark goddesses were striding too far ahead of the curve. By March 10, Theyskens was out.

Obviously, many of the clothes Theyskens sent down the runway in that last show never went into production. In June, Puig held a fire sale of old stock and current samples--in other words, anything that might suggest Oliver Theyskens had ever worked there. The irony is almost too much to bear--in just a few seasons, Theyskens single-handedly put Nina Ricci back on the fashion map (from which it had been missing for decades). Meanwhile, a few pieces--including the skinny grey jacket and pants in the photo above--are arriving in stores. Check them out for yourself and, if they fit your body, your life and your budget, buy them. Then step out on your own daily tightrope in style.

www.ninaricci.com

Took Your Vitamins? Now Put Them On Your Skin

In 1927, Dr. Nadia Payot created an institute in central Paris catering to women's health and beauty needs. The original spa still exists, but, over time, Payot has broadened its reach (by opening outposts in Paris and around the world), its scope (through the development of exclusive products) and its approach: it now serves both men and women. Payot Homme's new Optimale line boasts vitamins, minerals and pulverized suspensions of semi-precious stones to "invigorate, rejuvenate and refresh" a man's skin. Our prescription? Use daily. Look and feel better.

(1) Effective Shaving gel (2) Soothing After Shave balm (3) Regenerating Care skin fortifier (4) Refreshing Eye Contour Care (5) Deep Cleansing gel (6) Energizing Care skin revitalizer.

www.payot.com

Stéphane Rolland, Couture & An American in Paris

His name is not well-known in the United States, but Stéphane Rolland is one of the few remaining couturiers showing Fall/Winter collections this week in Paris. He began his career at Balenciaga, then spent 10 years at Jean-Louis Scherrer before opening his own maison de couture in 2007. Intrepid young American photographer Patrick Armstrong was on hand to document Rolland's presentation in the Palais de la Découverte, including the sound check, the hair-and-makeup marathon, the hurry-up-and-wait that is part of every fashion show, and the final rush to congratulate and interview the designer.

Not every look that came down the runway on Monday was a success, but the collection held plenty of potential. Rolland says he's inspired by architecture, interior decoration and furniture design; occasionally, his clothes remind us of pieces by Pierre Cardin (though they're less rigid), the late Gianfranco Ferré (without that designer's grand gestures) or New York's Ralph Rucci. Rolland added spare punctuation in the form of sleek handbags and clutches. Given time (and feedback from clients) we trust he'll continue to strengthen his vocabulary, find his own voice and make even more distinctive statements.

www.stephanerolland.com
www.patrickarmstrong.com