It's Summer, and the Wardrobe Should Be Easy

Here at FA2L, we love summer clothes but ask a lot of them: they should be comfortable, hold up to considerable wear and tear and, above all, look effortless–when it's 90 degrees in the shade, no one appreciates tricky effects. But that doesn't mean abandoning fashion.

In other words, there are basics, and then there are chic basics. So instead of flip-flops (best kept for the beach), women might want to consider French Sole's comfy, quilted leather ballerina flats from Manhattan's new French Sole Comfort store. Men, if the occasion calls for a tie, should skip heavy silk and try cotton knit versions by J.M. Dickens. As for hats, they're not just good-looking, they're smart: they protect your face and scalp from the broiling sun. This one's by Rod Keenan, who imbues each design with personality to spare. Meanwhile, "the basics" have been left far behind in the wake of a stylish summer.

Polaroid photographs by Anthony Philip Festa, www.anthonyphilipfesta.com.

Burberry Prorsum: I'm Shopping As Fast As I Can

It's official: the fashion industry is jumping the shark by letting fashion junkies pre-order men's clothes and accessories that literally just came down the runway. Balmain did it last season–this time, it's Burberry Prorsum (ostensibly for Spring/Summer 2011). So you can buy a sharp cotton trench, a chic studded shoulder bag or a slim navy military coat now, and receive your order well before anyone else sees these products in stores. But it does beg the question–what's next? Perhaps brands will preview their runway shows, so editors, store buyers and other savvy customers can sit in the audience already dressed in the same clothes being shown on the models. By which point, the hamster wheel of fashion will be turning so fast it may all just become a blur.

Polaroid Echoes and Perfect Perfume Memories

Ben Gorham, the creator behind Stockholm-based Byredo, is a compellingly contemporary young man. He's tall, dark and handsome, but also heavily tattooed; his father is Swedish, his mother, Indian, so he grew up around the world; and he's a guy's guy who played professional basketball but then turned from that to dive into perfumery. FA2L was also happy to discover he's a smart conversationalist who enjoys discussing anything except his fragrances, which he generally prefers be allowed to speak for themselves.

Gorham's most recent creation is La Tulipe, which smells exactly like its namesake. There are notes of freesia and vetiver (providing a tenacious base), but the clarion call at the perfume's heart is as sharp, green and pretty as a bowl full of bright Dutch stems. This is no small feat: few, if any, fragrances are based on tulips. Not everyone will love it (soliflores, built around a single flower, are notoriously difficult to wear) but those who do will fall hard. Which is precisely what makes perfume so compelling: like Anthony Philip Festa's polaroid, it resonates in the memory, plays tricks with time and hints at moments, however fleeting, when you felt beautiful, witty or blissfully happy.

Photograph by Anthony Philip Festa.

Two Fashionable Heads Are Better Than One

Fashion–or, in this case, the fashion industry–is like a Russian matryoshka, one of those funny wooden dolls that opens to reveal another...and another...and so on. On one level, designers go about their jobs thinking up new temptations for wary shoppers; on another, deeper level, the industry reacts to trends having more to do with business models than skirt lengths.

For years now, the business side of fashion has been obsessed with collaboration, bringing two or more talents together in the hope they'll create something special. Think of it as fashion physics: one star plus another should produce a big bang. Sometimes it works (Hedi Slimane for Dior Homme), sometimes it doesn't (Isabel Toledo for Anne Klein) and sometimes, as with Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, the result is so much greater than the sum of its parts it becomes a fashion supernova. Very rare, of course, and usually unstable, but hot, hot, hot while it lasts.

FA2L's collaboration du jour isn't as hot as Karl's: in fact, it's much cooler. Tretorn, maker of Prepdom's favorite tennis shoes, let Comme des Garçons tweak its basic sneaker. We love the odd juxtaposition of labels, and the simple, understated shoes such subversive teamwork produced. Buy them now at Odin, NYC, and walk the fine line between The Preppy Handbook and Japanese fashion's avant-garde.