As we near the end of Fashion Week, we’ve invited some friends and experts to join us in a lunchtime conversation about the origins  and current state of college fashion. We will be using the discussion tool Branch, and the conversation will begin in this post at noon.

Joining us:

Richard E. Press, columnist at ivy-style.com, former CEO of J. Press, consultant at the FIT Museum
Amy Levin, founder/creative director of CollegeFashionista.com
Lawrence Schlossman, editor at Complex and co-writer of the forthcoming book Fuck Yeah Menswear
Scott Lipps, president of model agency One Management
Mary Alice Stephenson, style and beauty expert
Peter Davis, editor-in-chief of Scene magazine

http://branch.com/b/ivy-style-and-the-state-of-college-fashion

Via FuckYeah Menswear.

The point at which the traditionally-unfashionable-overcompensating-men-obsessed-with-menswear trend seemingly reached fever pitch was in December, when GQ's website published an "Oral History of Menswear Blogging." The genre, seemingly a construct of a parody blog, is the furthest thing from it.

The article's participants and their self-serious tones inspired their own parodies. How could they not? Fuck Yeah Menswear to A Continuous Lean to Selectism and Valet and back, what was once a niche sub-genre of editorial output usually relegated to the front-of-book features of lad mags is now its own full-on genre of reading and writing glorified shopping catalogs for men. And not just men, but Men Who Traditionally Have Not Openly Embraced Fashion.

And now, the numbers exist to prove it. Menswear is back. Straight menswear, that is.

Stephanie Clifford at the New York Times reports today that men's clothing sales for the first three months of 2012 will hit a 20-year high.

In order to make this happen, euphemisms have been employed...

To get traditional women’s accessories to appeal to men, some designers are giving them manly names and styles. That’s not really a bracelet; it’s wristwear. And that’s not a purse, nor the dreaded murse, but a holdall.

And oh, there will be "wristwear." Yes, there will:

“Bracelets are on fire right now,” said Tim Bess, who analyzes men’s fashions for the Doneger Group, a trend forecaster. “I’d say it’s the No. 1 look for the young man.” Tateossian, a London-based jewelry designer, says sales of its men’s bracelets rose 30 percent in 2011.

And yet, still, despite all of this, there seems to be something unspoken about the re-emergence of men's fashion, which might be worth speaking:

The word "straight."

As in, the quote-unquote "menswear" fashion trend is primarily a euphemism in and of itself for "straight men and the clothing they buy."

After all, it would be obtuse to suggest that an entire men's fashion sub-sect has remained under the radar and out of clothing stores for the recession that men supposedly weren't shopping, let alone the last 20 years.

For example:

“It doesn’t look like you borrowed it from your girlfriend,” Nicolas Travis, 24, a business school student who runs the blog Style Flavors, said of the manned-up styles he prefers. “A little bit more bling, and you run the risk of it looking a bit more feminine.”

Who has problems appearing feminine and concerns about appearing as if they borrowed something from a girlfriend? Straight men. "Dudes." "Guys." Whatever you want to call them. But it's time to face the fabric:

The entire "menswear" blogging trend is a very politically correct misnomer suggesting that all men are finally discovering fashion for the first time since the loin cloth, which simply isn't true. An entire male population—that is, gay men—have been openly embracing fashion without any insecurity as to how feminine it makes them appear, who they borrowed it from, or what kind of heritage sourcing went into its construction.

It's been well-documented that gay consumers and their spending habits are "recession-proof."

A perfect corollary to this and the straight-menswear trend would be the "coming out" of the recession closet for straight men who want to buy clothing. Which exists:

The rebound in shopping may also reflect an improved jobs picture for men, who were hit disproportionately over the recession. The gap between men’s and women’s employment rates was about as high as it had ever been as the recovery started in June 2009. Only last month did the men’s and women’s unemployment rates reach the same level.

Time to call The "Menswear" Trend what it is: The Straight-Menswear Trend. To remove euphemisms from an entire art form and consumer market is a long overdue etymological evolution that, until corrected, makes the straight men who buy clothing, the people who make them, and the people who read about them appear as insecure and overcompensating in their masculinity as, well, before they apparently started buying clothing.

Men Step Out of the Recession, Bag on Hip, Bracelet on Wrist [NYT]

fkamer@observer.com | @weareyourfek

When 200 hundred people line up on Bleecker St. at three o'clock on a Friday to gain access to a flea market, it makes you ponder a few things, a couple being: what's inside? And is there really a recession going on?

What was inside 159 Bleecker was some rather fine American-made gents clothing, as part of the fourth Pop Up Flea which was open this past weekend. It was hosted by A Continuous Goldberg, which comprises of sartorialists Michael Williams and Randy Goldberg.

Over a couple of beers three years ago the two gents mulled over the idea of opening a store, after realizing they didn't have the time - what with both having full time jobs - they instead decided to open one for a weekend and invite all their friends.

"A lot of these brands we are just friends with," said Mr. Williams, founder of acontinuouslean.com, before adding, "We like what they stand for and we know the people behind them. We just wanted to share that with the people that read about them in blogs or buy their clothes in stores... you don't know who the guys from BillyKirk are but you come here and you meet Chris and Kirk and you get to chat with them, it gives you a lot more insight into brands."

At the Flea, each block's clothing whether it contained plaid shirts, stonewash jeans or vintage watches seemed to exude faultless attention to detail and the individual retailers glowed as if they'd made the items themselves, which in many cases they actually had.

Randy Goldberg, co-host and editorial director of getkempt.com, gave his take on things, "As you've seen menswear change over the last five years there's been an increased interest in how things are made and where they come from. All the brands that we have here really take a lot of care when they put things together so you get like minded groups of people, both venders and consumers."

Shirt makers Gitman Bros. has had a presence at Pop Up Flea from the very start, Chris Olberding was holding things up at their block, he explained how the market represented a one-off for him "I do the sales and I do the designs, but I usually only deal with wholesale customers, so for me the most important thing about this is interacting with the end user".

Indeed, there was certainly some sort of digital-age serendipitous quality to the whole shindig, people were shaking hands with hitherto faceless retailers and telling them how big a fan they were, up till that point the closest thing to a face they could conjure was the shopping cart icon on their computer screen.

“People rely on us now,” said Mr. Goldberg when asked about future plans, “You know, we're always thinking of new opportunities and new cities, but the idea of just making it an event is part of the attraction for us, we have a weekend here where we know all of the venders are going to be excited to see each other and talk shop and for people to interact.”

There is a juxtaposition of iconic brands and new independents, like HODINKEE – thee online magazine for mechanical watches – positioned right next to Levi’s. HODINKEE doesn’t actually sell watches, just writes about them however, just especially for the Flea, their founder Ben Clymer called up some friends who are watch collectors and they put together a vintage-only selection. Prices started from $150 and go all the way up to $6,000. “We wrote up these detailed descriptions, so people know exactly what they are and their condition,” Mr. Clymer said, before adding, with a slight tone of shock “We've actually sold a good few already. We just picked the stuff that we'd wear.”

Schott, maker of the classic motorcycle jacket popularized by Marlon Brando, were there for their third year. Next year sees them celebrate their centenary and Schott’s Jennifer Goldszer told the Observer happy they are to be involved “It’s a good family of brands to be with and we want to support American made products.”

Erudite shoe crafters Rancourt and Co. were doing their very first show of their own branded shoes at the Flea. For years they’ve made shoes for renowned brand like Ralph Lauren, Red Wing and Eastland. Their own brand is gaining a lot of attention and that was evident at the market, earlier this year they launched a fully functioning e-commerce site earlier, which is going “steady” according to Kyle Rancourt, director of Sales and Marketing.

There are few markets of this size that occur in the city that solely cater to men, its seems quite shocking, but the two at the helm don’t seem overly flustered about how they curate the selection, it seems “organic” they say. “As we meet people throughout the year we ad them to the rooster on a ad hoc basis, we don't have preconceived idea”, says Mr. Goldberg, looking at his partner and nodding Williams agrees “It's not about really letting people capitalize on this, we like the people we like and we want to support certain brands and makers, that's how it happens.”

Slate took a look at it in late October, and now GQ has landed an interview with the totally anonymous genius behind Fuck Yeah Menswear. Let's watch as it tries to pick apart the id of this steez-rocking, crispy, reblog-laden poet laureate of style Tumblrs.

GQ: Juelz Santana often brags on his Twitter: “I hopped up out the bed I don’t have to turn my swag on…it’s in my blood I don’t know how to turn it off.” But surely a dude has to spend some time and energy getting fresh in the morning, right? What’s the quickest and easiest way for a guy to turn his swag on?
FYMW: This all depends on how naturally crispy you are. Me, I don’t have to do shit, but that should be pretty clear at this point. The quickest and easiest way for your everyday wannabe herb? Read FYMW, obviously.

GQ: Should a man have any other hobbies besides looking fresh and blogging about it?
FYMW: Yeah, you want to diversify your activities. Throw in macking on bomb dot com broads and you’ve pretty much pinned down what I do on the reg.

And that's just a taste. When asked what his favorite "Wes Andy" movie is, instead of copping out and being all like "Royal Tenenbaums," FYMW responded that he/she only watches Face-Off. "The epitome of steez is Nick Cage’s face," the blogger explained. "No homme-o."

For those who need clarification, we'll let Kanye take it: "That's Dior Homme -- not Dior, homie."

Click for What Twitter Taught Us: A Social Network Cannot Kill Morgan Freeman

nfreeman at observer.com |@nfreeman1234