My friend Jauretsi’s documentary film East of Havana —a look into the burgeoning underground Cuban hip-hop scene —is making its television debut tonight (May 30th) on the Sundance Channel at 10PM. If you are as interested in Cuban culture as I am, you will make sure to check it out.
I have been patiently waiting for my opportunity to post something on the prepfest that is Gossip Girl and last night I got my chance. Let me preface this conversation by saying that I generally toggle between PBS, The History and Military channels, so my fixation with Gossip Girl is as strange to me as it is to you. During last night’s episode my favorite character on the show —the J. Press scarf wearing Chuck Bass —was dressed in a beige and red striped linen necktie by my client Alexander Olch. Throughout the first half of the show, Mr. Bass was called in by Blair a la Michael Clayton to help rectifie one of Serena’s difficult situations, all while wearing another one of his ridiculously preppy outfits. The look consisted of said Olch tie, blue Oxford cloth shirt with a white Oxford cloth club collar, camel cardigan and plaid paints. It was Upper East Side preppy drama at its best!
Those are good words, Rocco Ciccarelli Custom Tailoring. What is better than just those words, is the place, the man and what he makes. This past week my friend Antonio told me he was going to Rocco’s for a fitting and asked if I wanted to tag along. He knew I was dying to check it out. Going to Rocco’s is like membership into an exclusive, hard to find club for the sartorially obsessed. This is especially true considering Mr. Ciccarelli makes suits for some of the most well respected and fashionable brands in the U.S. I naturally jumped at the chance to go and Wednesday we made our way out to Long Island City, Queens. My friend Mark was the person that really got me interested in seeing factories. A few years ago, he took me to a tie shop in Chelsea and I was hooked. That factory and Rocco’s are the meeting of two of my favorite things, manufacturing and clothing. The art and skill involved in making a suit of clothes is a special talent that is disappearing. That is one of the reasons why Mr. Ciccarelli and the people working for him in Queens, are so exceptional.
Mr. Rocco Ciccarelli
Everyone must be dying to see the new season of Mad Men. There are multiple Mad Men references in the April men’s mags and the show isn’t even doing its press assault for season two (schedule to begin airing this summer). I know for a fact that the cast is being shot for at least one major magazine, due out later this year. Do you know who is going to be the biggest benefactor? Michael Kors. Once the fall books start coming out (September issues hit newsstands in August, the same time the show starts up again) you will see the Mad Men inspired Michael Kors AW08 collection everywhere – it is going to be a PR perfect storm.
ACL stands with Vulture in support of Vampire Weekend’s cricket sweater styled SNL performance this past Saturday. The band’s quest to become the world’s preppiest musical group remains on track. Apparently, the “blogosphere” has their knitwear in a twist over the band’s insistence on dressing like my grandpa. After a recent outing to see The Virgins play in LA my friend Rob put it best, “preppy is the new hipster”.
As a PR guy I should be upset by that headline, but I’m not. I like to keep things pure and simple just as much as the public television station WHYY in Philadelphia.
Kempt had a good item on national Mr. Rogers sweater day.
I hate fashion trend stories. I hate runway photos for the most part too. I just don’t get much out of them generally. Over the past few years I have had a fixation with “The Ivy League Look” of boxy Sack suits and skinny ties. One of the first posts on A.C.L. was about the TV show Mad Men and my obsession with the style of the era. That being said, I have never really been too interested in Michael Kors. This season is different. For Autumn Winter 2008, Michael sent a bunch of guys dressed like Donald Draper and Roger Sterling down the runway and I loved it. The collection was The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. While I was looking at the runway photos, I found a trend and did a trend story. I never thought I would see the day when the dusty old Sack suit crowd would be influencing designers like Michael Kors. The question is, will his fall advertising campaign carry the inspiration further? Will he feature models stepping out of a 1961 Lincoln Continental instead of the usual private jet? Only time will tell…
I have two big obsessions out of Baltimore these days.
1. Rye Rye
2. The 5th and final season of the gritty HBO series The Wire. Here are the first four seasons in four minutes to get you up to speed. 
Lately I have been enamored with 1950s and 1960s New York. The new AMC series Mad Men has been a spark for my interest in the well-suited and gin-soaked era. The style of Donald Draper and Roger Sterling must have made its way to the inspiration boards of Thom Browne and maybe even to my good friend J. Press for Fall 2008.
