Picture Postcard - Going away present

As you are off to the US I thought I thought I would whet your appetite for everything stars and stripes. What better symbol of everything that is good about our American cousins than James Franco? Here he is on the cover of Vogue Hommes International. I've not bought it yet but this cover is so much better than the previous one which had Pete Doherty gracing it! Thanks to Fashion Verbatim form making me aware of the new issue.

Not so sure that he is the new James Dean, I think he will be around for a lot longer! He certainly looks good in his leather jacket and his damn cool! I REALLY want a leather jacket and think I'll treat myself to one before Christmas! Anyway, enough of this you have a plane to catch! Have fun and buy me presents!

I'm desperately trying to think of something clever and interesting to say about this. I'm not sure about Mr Franco generally but he does look wonderful here- I haven't seen a man rocking the leather this well in a while, although I wouldn't be surprised if we see a lot more of it in the coming months. I may see if I can pick this issue up at the airport. Anyway, that's all from me for the moment as all I have in my head right now is the theme from The High Life

Much love

10/10 for 10 plus

Thank goodness we are finally in the season of new magazines. On today's visit to Borders I bought and fell in love with 10 plus. It's aspirational men's fashion but isn't done in the normal way. I have finally found some great fashion writing when it comes to covering men! The highlight thus far is Richard Gray's assault on fashion victims which made me laugh out loud a few times on the 134 bus home and consequentially a few stares from my fellow suitably glum commuters. He mentions both The Face and Depeche Mode on the very same page, I think I am in love. I will give you a quick round up of his top ten victims but will return to them and will both expand and illustrate them as soon as i get the chance.

1 - Fluro - 'it's over'
2 - Army Scarves - 'You're not in the Territorials'
3 - Pointy sneakers - 'These verrucas in leather just haven't moved on'
4 - Fat legs in tight jeans - 'God made the world round for a reason, and he wasn't wearing skinny jeans'
5 - Literalists - 'flicking through back copies of The Face and picking the wit out of the fashion pages, like crows pecking the eyes from carrion'
6 - Fashion irony - 'curse of the creative industry'
7 - Ad campaigners - 'victims who push, nay force a look by one particular designer, top to toe'
8 - Mediocrity - 'Mediocrity breads contempt'
9- Disconnected hair - 'Glasgow is the capital of disconnected hair'
10 - Jean Saggers - 'Get the balance right as the Depeche once sang'

Accompanying the witty and insightful words are superb editorials. I am just cursing the fact that this magazine has passed me by up until now but I guess there is always the back catalogue...

The joy of lists

Daniel Craig was voted Best Dressed Man in Britain for the second year running by GQ magazine. The pic of Craig in his short shorts was for EJ's benefit...reports from other other people in the cinema showing of Casino Royale say she was actually salivating at this point in the film.

Eliza is passionate about lists, she writes lists for everything and through her passion I am a big fan of writing all kinds of lists. My favourite list is my 'Clothes of the Month' list which details any items that I need to complement my wardrobe. Of course there are times when I'm out shopping and the tempting shade of a shoe, or the cut of a shirt will catch my attention and make me forget the list, but I always have the list in the back of my mind and it helps me...list are great. However, when it comes to other peoples lists, I'm not so keen. I pick up GQ from time to time now, for me it has been surpassed by Esquire and Arena in the everymans (allbeit slightly wealthy and middle aged) market, it has become the male equivalent of everything that is wrong with Vogue, far too many adverts, lazy styling and leaning far too far to the right (I'm getting political this morning!) This little rant is after GQ has published their '50 Best Dressed Men in Britain in 2008', for a great run down of the list go here.

With regards to their number one, I have little to complain about, I've talked about Daniel Craig recently - Craig dresses in Savile Row, he is always sharp and crisp, not very adventurous but he knows how to wear clothes well. Noel Fielding (for anyone who doesn't know he is the chap above) at number 2? GQ isn't meant to be picking someone like Noel Fielding; he certainly is an interesting dresser (a man who's never been afraid to wear silver space shoes down the local cafe) but one of the best dressed men in Britain he is not. Apparently he got the female vote. Which is surprising to me because I thought they might be angry with him for stealing their jeans in Topshop.

Now onto James McAvoy, I like the Atonement actor a great deal but he should not be anywhere near the top 50 best dressed men solely because of the cover he did for W. I could go on and on in this fashion but I will try and keep this short...

4th best dressed man in Britain...I'm packing my bag and heading anywhere else...

The Royal Family also find themselves surprisingly well represented, with Princes Philip, Charles, Harry and Michael of Kent all making the list, which was voted for by a panel of international judges including Tom Ford, Giorgio Armani and Naomi Campbell. Conservative leader David Cameron made the top ten, while Gordon Brown fell (or climbed, depending on how you look at it) to third worst-dressed. Can the Conservativeness of this publication being any more subtle?

I will stick to writing my own lists and will be miffed by other peoples....so let's start our own list...recommendations welcome...this is a democratic blog after all.

Is it bad that I've not actually heard of a lot of people on their list? I can't understand how David Beckham can be one of the best dressed men in Britain largely because he doesn't really live here any more. It seems odd that at number one they have someone who dresses so classically, while at number two they have someone who dresses out of a manic 8 year old girl's dressing up box (sorry, in the past year for some reason I've grown to really dislike Noel Fielding).

It's funny though, as much as I love lists, I don't really have a list of stylish men in my head, just particular outfits, films, photographs and moods in a gigantic collage in my memory. I guess for me that's a large part of what this blog's about, trying to pin it all down. Still, I'd love to know who's our readers' number one, or if indeed they have anyone specifically in mind.

Allowing time for your soul to appear

It might have been a miserable, grey Monday morning in January but looking out of the window this morning to see a quiet misty scene I could not help but think of the work of my favourite fashion photographers, Paolo Roversi. If only the Archway scene could have been a little more Area Homme like!

I have been seeking inspiration and flicking through fashion magazines and my scrapbook drawer one thing is clear: I can always turn to Paolo Roversi. These images may be old but this editorial has stand in memory more than anything else over the last few months and the reason for this is the mixture of clothes and Roversi's trademark photography. Roversi's trademark black and white photograpy using 8 by 10 inch Polaroids. When I grow up I want to be just like him.

As Nadar said many years ago, at the beginning of photography, 'Everyone can learn the technique of lighting. What is very difficult, and what you can’t teach is a feeling for the light, a sentiment of the light.'

Roversi is quoted as saying "When I take a picture using window light, I always think about what a long trip the light is making to reach my subject." I want to be this man.

His pictures are just wonderful... I first saw this shoot via Style Bubble back in October last year and I don't think I'm exagerrating when I say that it stayed with me more than any other shoots I saw last year. Added to the mental scrapbook even though the photographer's name was forgotten!

I do remember now that his photos were the best thing about that otherwise disappointing exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery... good choice Steve!