this is fyf

Did your umbrella fall apart in the wind this morning? Maybe try the Camo Umbrella.

There is something about carrying a $3.99 umbrella that you bought from a "corner entrepreneur" that is rather disheartening, isn't there?  The worry is that you will lose your umbrella so you don't invest in it leaving you with a damp construct of nylon, aluminum and molded plastic permeating your soul with thoughts of mass suicide.

The rule with umbrellas (and sunglasses too) is that if you spend too much money on them, then you are likely to remember them.  So instead of being falling into the background of black umbrella-toys, consider standing out with camouflage.  (Ha!)  Polished maple and an industrial framework will help you remember this $204 beauty whether it be in the back of a cab or under your seat at Northern Spy.  It's made in London, and you know how it rains there so it must work, right?  Buy yours!

Colette the Artist replies to Lady Gaga's ripoff of her 1980's work.

Did you see the Lady Gaga windows at Barneys this past holiday?  Neither did I or anyone I know.  As Down with the Slant's Mac put it, "Who are they pandering to?"  Apparently though some folks did go up to Barneys and recognized what they saw.  The windows ripped of the work of Colette the Artist, whose work spans four decades.  Colette was alerted to the forgery and went uptown to discover if it was true.  Her artistic reply is in the video above.  

Picasso may have said "Good artists borrow; great artists steal" (but probably didn't).  Lady Gaga and her "body of work" is more like taking the canvas of a great work up to a subpar Canon copier and calling it art.  It cheapens the original work and states an utter contempt for art.  Gaga is a Tumblr of a human being.  

For Your Friends, the 2011 gift guide: Give Amyl

There is a personal rule about men over 30 never wearing shirts with pictures, words or logos on it.  Rules have a purpose.  In this case it is to restrict the wearing of pictures, words or logos to those which are so amazing that the rule can be broken.  Such is the case of this "Amy L Nitrate" shirt from Curateur's Luke and Rodrigo.  The recipient will receive quite a rush, no?  (And it's just $20!)

For Your Friends, the 2011 gift guide: Give Liz

Do you have a mom/sister/ladyfriend/muse that would appreciate something from the wardrobe of Elizabeth Taylor?  Maybe the pale green Valentino silk blouse pictured above would do the ticket.  Bidding on it currently stands at $150, which is a rather good price for a Valentino blouse most days.  It's part of the Christie's online collection from Taylor's estate.  Bidding ends in four days, so take a look now!

Do not go shopping at midnight on Friday.

In a move of desperation, many stores are opening Friday at midnight.  This is a time that one should either be sleeping off a meal or doing cocaine with a friend to work off the calories of a meal.  Seriously though, to rip people from their Thanksgiving holiday is shameful.  Stores such as Wal-Mart, Abercrombie and many others that are screwing their employees don't deserve your patronage.  This is all the more reason to shop with small businesses this holiday and every day.

Here is current information about Lady Gaga.

1.  Here is a picture of Lady Gaga's former residence from when she was a struggling artist living in destitution on the Lower East Side in an apartment that is about twice the size of most studios on the Lower East Side.

2.  She is doing a Thanksgiving special on ABC.  A "celebrity" chef has been hired to reproduce her family recipes.  You will not be watching.  Mary J Blige will stop by because she and Gaga have so much in common.

3.  Barneys has turned their holiday windows this year into Gaga's Holiday Workshop.  They've also emptied the fifth floor of the men's side and turned it over to Gaga merchandise.  Happy shopping.

For Your Friends, the 2011 gift guide: Give Shuffle

 

The iPhone has no place on the gym floor.  It's bulky and distracting and simply not conducive for either weights or cardio.  Go back in time to the simpler days of just enjoying your music (not the shit the gym is playing) and getting a good workout.  A tiny powerhouse holding 2 gigs of music, the shuffle is ideal.  Granted you will have to assume that the recipient has some decent headphones as Apple still has those really awful ones.  It's $49 and available in silver (and some rather vibrant colors that really won't match anything else you are wearing).  Give it to your friend that goes to the gym just to post pictures of himself at the gym to Facebook and Grindr.

For Your Friends, the 2011 gift guide: Give One-of-a-kind

Is there some awful stuff on Etsy?  Yes, absolutely, but there is the occasional find as well.  Take for example the very simple and sweet ornament above.  Now it's not proper for a gift guide to show something that only one person can buy, but who's a fan of properness?  If it is sold, the maker has other cute simple cross-stitched items or your can search things out.  The one thing you can be sure of is that no one else will be giving the same thing.

Housing Works' "Fashion for Action" sale is in full effect.  (It's one of the best sales of the year.  Be sure to check it out!)

For Your Friends, the 2011 gift guide: Give Mapplethorpe

Starting in the early 1980's and continuing until his death, Robert Mapplethorpe shot amazing pictures of flowers which are collected in Mapplethorpe:  The Complete Flowers.  Described as intense, erotic and moody, the book captures all of these images in one place.  Much more welcome than flowers at a holiday dinner party, the 256 pages of colar and duotone photographs make for a wonderful gift for just about anyone.

Turns out The High Line was always gay.

Everybody's favorite strolly stretch The High Line always had some gayness about it.  The two fellows who are baby-daddies to the project (both gay!) have a new book out on the subject and have been talking about the project's origin:

The project combines two things gays love: design and preservation. I've been looking for that quote by Herbert Muschamp, where he says the secret behind the preservation movement in New York City is gay men and rich, straight women.

Read more.

Sample sales are everywhere!

First off go to Jack Spade (online only) for 75% off a nice assortment of bags, bags, and other things.  Then head uptown to get jazzy with some Gauthier, Moschino, and Cacharel at the AEFFE Showroom Sale (Thirty West 56th) running through Saturday.  While you're up there head over to Gant since it's one block away (Twenty West 55th) to see if you can find some Michael Bastian or Rugger mixed in with the rest.  Head back downtown to support smaller lables at the Peregrine showroom (89 Fifth, Suite 902).  Actually?  Start at Peregrine and then head uptown from there if you have any cash left.  It's the right thing to do.

UPDATE:  Margiela!

The Yves St. Laurent sample sale started yesterday.  The J Press sample sale starts today.  They both end tomorrow! 

The Hermes sample sale begins tomorrow.  Get in line now, and you might just be out the door by the time it ends Saturday.

Hirsute bargain available.

 

If you like pictures of hairy fellows, and if you like coffee-table books, and if you like sales, you might want to check out powerHouse Arena's skid sale.  Hairy, pictured here is just $11.00!  And there are lots more bargains to be had.  Check it out.

Via Brokelyn

Glow in the dark jeans are now available at Barneys.

It is my decision to not have an opinion of these.   Do you like them?

Via Geek Chic

John Bartlett has closed shop in the West Village.

Reasons to not buy collaborations between fashion designers and discount stores:

No. 1:  They're patronizing.

FYF After Dark: Assorted Euro/"Natural"-ish/"Non-traditional" (given mainstream porn is your standard)/Vaguely hipster-ish hotness on sale.

Paco y Manolo are a photographic duo who have a magazine called Kink that's celebrating its fifth anniversary with a sale on past issues. Some issues are not as cheap as others and some come with a photographic print of the main subject of that issue, but all can be found here.

To my eye, these guys have a great technique that has resulted in images that strike just the right balance between art, porn and beauty.

Information on buying their photography available here and an additional and easy to navigate selection of their photography here.

Some favorite images of mine, including the uncensored version of the photo above, after the jump ('cuz they NSFW. 'Course!)...

J. Crew sample sale is on.

It started yesterday (my bad) and runs through Saturday.  

It features Spring and Summer collections, so it's all wearable now.

260 Fifth Avenue (between 28th and 29th)