On The Street.... Michael Macko, VP Fashion Director, Saks Fifth Avenue

I'd like to send a big shout out to Michael - he was just promoted to VP-Fashion Director at Saks. Bravo Michael!

On The Street.... Michael Macko, VP Fashion Director, Saks Fifth Avenue

I'd like to send a big shout out to Michael - he was just promoted to VP-Fashion Director at Saks. Bravo Michael!

On The Street.... Michael Macko, VP Fashion Director, Saks Fifth Avenue

I'd like to send a big shout out to Michael - he was just promoted to VP-Fashion Director at Saks. Bravo Michael!

Pretty Daytime Shoes Under $100

No wonder I hardly buy shoes. It's so hard to find stylish and cheap shoes that don't look cheap! Even with the many choices on the internet, this was still no easy task. Anyways, this summer, I'm loving shoes made of woven leather, patent leather and bold colours. So here are some of my favourites from this season's offerings which are under US$100 (about 53 pounds according to today's currency rate.)

Free People Knotted Leather Ballet Flats -Love the strong blue. Clashing colours can totally lighten up an outfit.

I really like this pair of Dolce Vita Woven Toe Wedge from Urban Outfitters. If only the wedges weren't made of cork!

Silver sandals by Seychelles. Again, I like the woven leather and the perfectly-comfotable kitten heels.

50s inspired pumps by Seychelles. I'm not too sure I like the colour, but I def like the design.

More woven leather! This one is more boho looking. Pumps by Guess.

Moving on to patent leather: Steve Madden Pumps.

I could image this pair of Miss Sixty sandals matching the oh-so-fashionable black/ grey jeans.

Caged Flat Sandals by Top Shop. This may be boring looking, but it'll probably match all the outfits you throw together this summer. (Not to mention that slight copying of Prada SS06's shoes.)

I normally hate plain wooden wedges, but I really like the prints on the fabric and the design of the straps. Sandals by Seychelles.

These gingham sandal-pumps by Bebe are so cute that I can even ignore the terrible cork sole. Gingham is one of the trends that some of you might be liking this summer. For inspiration, go check out Dolce & Gabanna SS06 collection.

OK I'm cheating but I couldn't resist adding in two pairs of evening shoes. This sophisticated pair of stilettos by BCBGirls is the perfect choice for dances.

These Top Shop pumps are fun and elegant. This is def a possiblity for those who want something more that plain black pumps. (And since black pumps are everywhere, I wasn't bothered to find a pair under $100.)

On The Street.... & The Short Of It, New York

On The Street.... & The Short Of It, New York

On The Street.... & The Short Of It, New York

Marching with the band

It really seemed entirely normal to have a son marching with the high school marching band on Memorial Day.



Robert marched with the Mount Pleasant High School Oiler Marching Band in the Memorial Day parade. Not bad for a kid who’s still in seventh grade, at least for a few days.
Robert doesn’t get nervous, at least outwardly, but I knew he was a little apprehensive Monday morning. It was new, after all, but he’d practiced his music, rehearsed with the band and was wearing his new band T-shirt.


Summer marching’s hot, and the band members were clad in the blue-and-gold Oiler Band T-shirts and khakis at the Rite-Aid Pharmacy parking lot at the corner of Mission and Broadway. The temperature already was in the mid-70s when we dropped Robert off at 9 a.m.
When the parade started at 10, it only had a block to go, to the World War I and World War II memorials at Broadway and Kinney. The memorials are erected on the street medians; no one seems to recall why.
The next stop was the main event – the Korean War memorial at the Town Center. This has been the object of controversy for some time. The terrible flag-eating tree is still there. The U.S. flag and the POW-MIA flag, were, of course, flying at half-staff, and had then been an east wind, it would have been a serious embarrassment.


But there was no wind, and a crowd of about 500 people gathered for the parade and the ceremony.
Robert was all business as the Oilers marched down Broadway. They gathered in a semi-circle around the speaker’s stand at Main and Broadway, and played “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The band wrapped up the ceremony with a medley of all five services’ marches – and it was done.
It's Led Zeppelin in the fall.
I’d been running around getting some great shots – covering the event for the Sun. Unfortunately, the camera’s memory card turned out to be defective. At least we found that out now instead of when Kat would be trying it in Europe. Kissy Missy’s camera worked just fine; these are her photos.

The Story Behind The Style - Harlem

I had been in Harlem for a few hours and just hadn't found anything to shoot. I finally gave up and decided to head back to Soho. After walking a few blocks down Madison Ave ,around 120th street, I see this gentleman - I literally stop in my tracks. I introduce myself and ask to photograph him. He says yes in a voice that sounds exactly like Ray Charles speaking voice. As I'm shooting he is telling me proudly about his community work and an upcoming Harlem bike race he is helping to organize. As I finish shooting I ask him about the suit he is wearing. I guess I was expecting to hear something about how he bought the suit back in the 70's and has been wearing it every Sunday since then. That is definitely not the story I got.

"I got this suit in 1990, I was dealing drugs then and one of the girls I sold drugs to threw this suit at me as payment. She would usually steal $20 or $30 bucks and give me that but this time she just threw this suit at me"

I can't make this stuff up, I can only hope to remember it until I can write it down. His story was not hard to remember.

The Story Behind The Style - Harlem

I had been in Harlem for a few hours and just hadn't found anything to shoot. I finally gave up and decided to head back to Soho. After walking a few blocks down Madison Ave ,around 120th street, I see this gentleman - I literally stop in my tracks. I introduce myself and ask to photograph him. He says yes in a voice that sounds exactly like Ray Charles speaking voice. As I'm shooting he is telling me proudly about his community work and an upcoming Harlem bike race he is helping to organize. As I finish shooting I ask him about the suit he is wearing. I guess I was expecting to hear something about how he bought the suit back in the 70's and has been wearing it every Sunday since then. That is definitely not the story I got.

"I got this suit in 1990, I was dealing drugs then and one of the girls I sold drugs to threw this suit at me as payment. She would usually steal $20 or $30 bucks and give me that but this time she just threw this suit at me"

I can't make this stuff up, I can only hope to remember it until I can write it down. His story was not hard to remember.

The Story Behind The Style - Harlem

I had been in Harlem for a few hours and just hadn't found anything to shoot. I finally gave up and decided to head back to Soho. After walking a few blocks down Madison Ave ,around 120th street, I see this gentleman - I literally stop in my tracks. I introduce myself and ask to photograph him. He says yes in a voice that sounds exactly like Ray Charles speaking voice. As I'm shooting he is telling me proudly about his community work and an upcoming Harlem bike race he is helping to organize. As I finish shooting I ask him about the suit he is wearing. I guess I was expecting to hear something about how he bought the suit back in the 70's and has been wearing it every Sunday since then. That is definitely not the story I got.

"I got this suit in 1990, I was dealing drugs then and one of the girls I sold drugs to threw this suit at me as payment. She would usually steal $20 or $30 bucks and give me that but this time she just threw this suit at me"

I can't make this stuff up, I can only hope to remember it until I can write it down. His story was not hard to remember.

On The Street.... The Long Of It..., New York

This young lady's dress was the most beautiful soft shade of lilac. The color is what caught my eye from about a block away.

On The Street.... The Long Of It..., New York

This young lady's dress was the most beautiful soft shade of lilac. The color is what caught my eye from about a block away.

On The Street.... The Long Of It..., New York

This young lady's dress was the most beautiful soft shade of lilac. The color is what caught my eye from about a block away.

On The Street.... Black Summer, New York

This is a great example of how to wear black in summer. The fabric weights were spot on but more important was the overall fit - shorter, slimmer and more athletic makes black seem less oppressive in the warm months.

On The Street.... Black Summer, New York

This is a great example of how to wear black in summer. The fabric weights were spot on but more important was the overall fit - shorter, slimmer and more athletic makes black seem less oppressive in the warm months.

On The Street.... Black Summer, New York

This is a great example of how to wear black in summer. The fabric weights were spot on but more important was the overall fit - shorter, slimmer and more athletic makes black seem less oppressive in the warm months.

On The Street.... Daisy Of A Dress, New York

On The Street.... Daisy Of A Dress, New York

On The Street.... Daisy Of A Dress, New York

Adam Kimmel

Last week I saw Adam Kimmel's collection for the first time. He really has hit the trifecta of accounts with Colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and Bergdorf's in NYC. If he gets 10 Corso Como he should just quit because it is all downhill from there.

Adam's collection is based on real workwear fabrics (the kind the super in my building wears), and he has played those against super luxe fabrics like cashmere or fur. One of Adam's smartest moves was knowing that if you are going to use very basic fabrics then production has to be very good, so the manufacturing is done in Italy. The outerwear is particularly good - think stylized Carhartt (the heavy cotton coat with a squirrel fur lining was very interesting), and the jackets and suiting have a deliberate quirkiness to the cut. I can see why his collection appeals to the more advanced stores.

I asked Adam about the prices and he said, in a mater-of-fact way, that they were "all over the board". He felt no need to overprice the workwear fabrics just so they fell in line with the cashmere groups. As long as he stays mostly with speciality stores this strategy should work. Only when he begins to court the more price structured department stores will he begin to have to deal with the questions of where do they place him. With such a wide price range he could be placed in designer in some stores, or contemporary in others, all depending on which part of the collection they buy into more. He could even have to move by season within an existing account depending on the buyer's presentation, but that would really be a pain for everyone so it will be a challenge for him.

With that said, Adam has set himself up in a really great position for future growth. He has been able to charm some of the worlds most discriminating stores with a collection of very proletarian fabrics and the most luxe fabrics. Going forward he has the whole world of fabric (at all price points) to begin layering into his collection. If he continues to build a reputation as a "quirky fabric guy" he can add everything from denim to super 120's and still have it fit his aesthetic without seeming like he is selling out or stretching to get a lower price point. A designer like Thom Browne, for instance, has set such a premium on luxe and tailoring that he has given himself very little room for expanding into new fabrications or price points. If he begins to add layers to his collection that are anything less than the original, won't it seem a little like "Thom Browne Lite"?
To me Adam has really set himself up with an almost perfect business model. Sure, anyone could think of it but to actually do it is so, so difficult.

This is another one of those dance-of-the-young-designer that I think is so fun to watch. It will be really interesting to see what choices Adam makes and if he can turn this early success into a "big time" or at least "long time" business. After all who am I to say that "big time" business should be his goal? Maybe Mr. Alaia has had it right all along.

Not to put more pressure on you Adam but we will be watching.

Adam Kimmel

Last week I saw Adam Kimmel's collection for the first time. He really has hit the trifecta of accounts with Colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and Bergdorf's in NYC. If he gets 10 Corso Como he should just quit because it is all downhill from there.

Adam's collection is based on real workwear fabrics (the kind the super in my building wears), and he has played those against super luxe fabrics like cashmere or fur. One of Adam's smartest moves was knowing that if you are going to use very basic fabrics then production has to be very good, so the manufacturing is done in Italy. The outerwear is particularly good - think stylized Carhartt (the heavy cotton coat with a squirrel fur lining was very interesting), and the jackets and suiting have a deliberate quirkiness to the cut. I can see why his collection appeals to the more advanced stores.

I asked Adam about the prices and he said, in a mater-of-fact way, that they were "all over the board". He felt no need to overprice the workwear fabrics just so they fell in line with the cashmere groups. As long as he stays mostly with speciality stores this strategy should work. Only when he begins to court the more price structured department stores will he begin to have to deal with the questions of where do they place him. With such a wide price range he could be placed in designer in some stores, or contemporary in others, all depending on which part of the collection they buy into more. He could even have to move by season within an existing account depending on the buyer's presentation, but that would really be a pain for everyone so it will be a challenge for him.

With that said, Adam has set himself up in a really great position for future growth. He has been able to charm some of the worlds most discriminating stores with a collection of very proletarian fabrics and the most luxe fabrics. Going forward he has the whole world of fabric (at all price points) to begin layering into his collection. If he continues to build a reputation as a "quirky fabric guy" he can add everything from denim to super 120's and still have it fit his aesthetic without seeming like he is selling out or stretching to get a lower price point. A designer like Thom Browne, for instance, has set such a premium on luxe and tailoring that he has given himself very little room for expanding into new fabrications or price points. If he begins to add layers to his collection that are anything less than the original, won't it seem a little like "Thom Browne Lite"?
To me Adam has really set himself up with an almost perfect business model. Sure, anyone could think of it but to actually do it is so, so difficult.

This is another one of those dance-of-the-young-designer that I think is so fun to watch. It will be really interesting to see what choices Adam makes and if he can turn this early success into a "big time" or at least "long time" business. After all who am I to say that "big time" business should be his goal? Maybe Mr. Alaia has had it right all along.

Not to put more pressure on you Adam but we will be watching.

Adam Kimmel

Last week I saw Adam Kimmel's collection for the first time. He really has hit the trifecta of accounts with Colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and Bergdorf's in NYC. If he gets 10 Corso Como he should just quit because it is all downhill from there.

Adam's collection is based on real workwear fabrics (the kind the super in my building wears), and he has played those against super luxe fabrics like cashmere or fur. One of Adam's smartest moves was knowing that if you are going to use very basic fabrics then production has to be very good, so the manufacturing is done in Italy. The outerwear is particularly good - think stylized Carhartt (the heavy cotton coat with a squirrel fur lining was very interesting), and the jackets and suiting have a deliberate quirkiness to the cut. I can see why his collection appeals to the more advanced stores.

I asked Adam about the prices and he said, in a mater-of-fact way, that they were "all over the board". He felt no need to overprice the workwear fabrics just so they fell in line with the cashmere groups. As long as he stays mostly with speciality stores this strategy should work. Only when he begins to court the more price structured department stores will he begin to have to deal with the questions of where do they place him. With such a wide price range he could be placed in designer in some stores, or contemporary in others, all depending on which part of the collection they buy into more. He could even have to move by season within an existing account depending on the buyer's presentation, but that would really be a pain for everyone so it will be a challenge for him.

With that said, Adam has set himself up in a really great position for future growth. He has been able to charm some of the worlds most discriminating stores with a collection of very proletarian fabrics and the most luxe fabrics. Going forward he has the whole world of fabric (at all price points) to begin layering into his collection. If he continues to build a reputation as a "quirky fabric guy" he can add everything from denim to super 120's and still have it fit his aesthetic without seeming like he is selling out or stretching to get a lower price point. A designer like Thom Browne, for instance, has set such a premium on luxe and tailoring that he has given himself very little room for expanding into new fabrications or price points. If he begins to add layers to his collection that are anything less than the original, won't it seem a little like "Thom Browne Lite"?
To me Adam has really set himself up with an almost perfect business model. Sure, anyone could think of it but to actually do it is so, so difficult.

This is another one of those dance-of-the-young-designer that I think is so fun to watch. It will be really interesting to see what choices Adam makes and if he can turn this early success into a "big time" or at least "long time" business. After all who am I to say that "big time" business should be his goal? Maybe Mr. Alaia has had it right all along.

Not to put more pressure on you Adam but we will be watching.