Best Dressed City in Canada?

Guess which Canadian was named Best Dressed by the September 2011 edition of GQ?

*drum roll*

Toronto.

That's gotta smart to many Montrealers who undoubtedly consider their city to be the most stylish and best dressed. Some Montrealers still cling to this dated stereotype that Hogtown is still a  dull, whistle-while-you-work WASP-y city with little to offer other than a job at CIBC.

Montreal has historically, unquestionably been the style Capital of Canada, but times have changed. Toronto long ago surpassed Canada as the centre of finance and commerce, but it's only been in the last 20 years that Toronto has begun to surpass Toronto in artistic and cultural output and in particular, the world of style and design. Just witness the popularity of the Toronto International Film Festival, the construction of landmark public buildings (such as the ROM and opera house), the ascendancy of Toronto-based fashion designers, etc.

As an aside, the article recommends several Toronto clothing shops and restaurants which were obviously taken from an earlier travel article on Toronto from it's sister Conde Nast publication (which I also reported on).

-The a

Tweezers: The Good and the Bad

Over the past two years, I have been noticing a trend on the runways; more specifically, on models. This fall season in particular, it has become all too apparent that thicker brows are back in style. Magazines and style sites have been promoting the darker and thicker brow to all fashionistas. I say: Finally! It's about time!!! My worst pet peeve when it comes to beauty has always been over-plucked brows. It actually sometimes saddens me to see how some girls literally butcher their brows to thin little lines that they pencil in (yuck). Even worse, permanently tattooed brows have become all too trendy for those who plucked everything out. 

My brow obsession originated in my high school art class when I had a project due on drawing different eyes. As I began to draw and analyze what makes the eyes and the face symmetrical, I slowly realized that the brow had a big part to play in "framing" the face. As a result, I decided to compile a few examples as to why I think brows play such an important role and somehow are considered the most unessential part of the face.

In my opinion, aside from contouring the face, eyebrows that look natural and untouched give an appearance of freshness and youth. 

In a Vogue interview, Natalia Vadianova credited her grandmother for keeping her from plucking her eyebrows when she was a teenager. As a result, many agents loved her unique look - especially her brows.

I mean, seriously, can we picture Brooke Shields in The Blue Lagoon with thin little brows? No, I didn't think so either.

I am not saying that brows should not be plucked at all. It is very important to groom them; but one should always know the limit or else.............

...you might end up looking like these clowns.

As for the males reading this post, just pluck out the uni brow BUT (and I mean it) don't try to give your brows an arch or a contour unless you are in the running to be on a Jersey Shore episode. You have no business devoting too much attention to that area on your face. Unless you want to resemble "Jake" down here.

- Marichka

Most Definitely Not Born That Way

K, I really don't know anything about women's makeup or other beauty techniques. I can really only speak from a guy's common sense perspective.

As we all know, one cannot sift through the news without stumbling on some headline on Lady Gag Lady Gaga (and I do hate to add to the pile of stuff about her).

The latest headline: Lady Gaga in a photoshoot without makeup!

"Boy, this is gonna be juicy!", I thought.
Wrong.

The photo shoot depicts LGG looking more beautiful than ever.

Who knew that beneath her theatrical makeup, LGG actually had the features of a Nordic beauty?

Obviously, this is nonsense; Here are some images I googled of the Lady without makeup.

To be fair, these images are also deceptively atrocious, and I don't mean to pick on Gaga. I suspect that her her "true" appearance probably lies somewhere in the middle. However, I find the promise of a makeup-less photo shoot to be completely deceiving when the photographer uses other photographic technical wizardry to make the subject appear more beautiful than she is.

There is no point in shamelessly promoting a no-makeup photo shoot, only to enhance the photo through other techniques (such as unnatural poses, creative lighting, and airbrushing).  The entire premise of a no-makeup shoot is to allow the viewer to get a more realistic perception of what the subject would look like in her natural condition. Sadly, this seems to be part of an unfortunate current trend within the publishing world.

Thou hast betrayed me for the last time, Judas.


-The Scandal

Ralph's Rave Reviews

Ralph Lauren has launched its Black Label Denim campaign to include atrociously baggy jeans. Not even this model (who sports an uncanny  resemblance Christian Bale) can pull it off. I really wonder what Ralph was thinking.

Maybe he was influenced by those absurd Raver pants from the 90's and early 2000's?

Unlikely.

That said, in recent years, YSL Rive Gauche has busted out some pretty baggy pants.

However, I can sooner see the aesthetic merit to loose fitting dress pants than I can with denim.



-The Scandal

Throwing Pitbull to the Dogs

The rapper/hop hop artist Pittbull usually performs in either a suit and tie or at the very least, a blazer.

I cringe a bit most of the times I see him, but I don't know why. Maybe it's because he resembles Dr. Evil a bit too much.

Sure, there are a few things that I can point to, such as the poorly shaped Windsor tie knots, the stuffy vests, the ugly dark-on-dark shirt/suit combinations, but at the end of the day, I can't quite put my finger on what exactly it is about the way he dresses that makes Pitbull look so awkward in his suits.

He looks like that mail-room guy forced to wear a tie, or the 21 year old guy at the hotel front desk that just hasn't grown comfortable wearing his cheap suit and tie, or the Woodbridge kid wearing a poorly fitting suit for the first time at his high-school Prom. I thought the same thing about Eminem when he wore a suit during the Encore tour (ca. 2004).

While I give the guy credit for trying to add a touch of class to his often shabbily dressed craft, most of the times he misfires.

I suspect that  part of the problem lies with the fact that  a suit and tie is not the most appropriate attire for a hip-hop performance. Sure, it can work well for other musical genres such as jazz or big band, but for hip hop, a suit and tie comes off as overly formal and/or stuffy.  If a suit is to be worn at all, it ought to be somewhat more theatrical than the businesslike attire favoured by Pitbull.

Time for Pitbull to put his suits to sleep.


-The Scandal

Smarty pants

I bet you've never seen pants like this:

The photo is of South African golfer Gary Player, who wore these pants at the 1960 Open Championship to show his support for ending apartheid. Player stated the pants were ‘a quiet protest, of bringing white and black together".

Actually, I've previously commented on a pair of hideous Duckie Brown Pants that reminded me of Batman villain Two-Face's ensemble. Player's pants would've been perfect this Star Trek pair:

I'm typically a fan of two-tone clothing and accessories, whether they be dress shirts with white collars, or two tone shoes.

The pants however strike me as a little too bold. I certainly couldn't pull them off, but that doesn't mean there isn't someone who could.

-The Scandal

Faux-hawk Faux-pas

I typically restrict all of my posts to the topic of men's style, particularly clothing. I never wanted this blog to be about say, some great sushi that I had last week,  or a fascinating article I might've read in the paper about Indonesian currency policy. But this post is a bit off the beaten path.
I'm sure you're all familiar with the faux-hawk hairstyle, made famous by David Beckham at the 2002 World Cup. The haircut became wildly popular in the ensuing years to come, especially in Europe.

There are many variations on the style but essentially, the hairstyle is shorter (if not shaved) on the sides and thicker/fuller in the centre of the head.

Obviously, the word "faux-hawk" is a not-so-clever play on the word "Mohawk", implying that the hairstyle is a sort of false Mohawk.

I've begun to notice a disturbing trend of guys sporting fawx-hawks even though they're balding in the crown of their heads.  These poor saps have no idea how foolish they look. If you're going to shave the side of your head and leave the middle part thicker, you will obviously draw attention to the centre portion of your head--and it better not be bald.  Also, if you're balding, you're probably too old to be sporting a faux-hawk anyways.

I saw some putz at the gym guilty of this offence and I couldn't resist surreptitiously snapping a photo of him (although admittedly it isn't very clear).   The sides of his head are actually shaved in a diamond pattern --this doesn't show up in the picture-- but you can clearly see that he is thinning in his crown. As Mr. T says: "I pity the fool!"

To me, this haircut is almost as bad as those bald guys who sport mullets as if to say "Ladies, I may be balding, but I can still grow a sexy mane of hair!ROARRR!"

I don't mean to pick on bald guys, just those who make poor choices. Pick up any men's magazine and they'll be chock full of suggestions of how best to style a balding head whether it's a receding hairline or a thinning crown.

-The Scandal