Month: July 2016

Composure Magazine – Armand Marciano For GM Studio LA

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In the latest print issue of Composure Magazine. An inside peek into the new high-end, contemporary line GM Studio by Georges Marciano and Armand Marciano with designer Cinzia Simone.

  • Read the full article here and make sure to pick your print issue and check out the celebrity interviews, top beauty picks and more fashion. 

An Excerpt From The Article

The Marciano brothers behind Guess — the must-have jeans of the ’80s — are back with their new women’s wear line GM Studio, where vintage inspiration meets contemporary, high-end details.

STORY BY MIN A. LEE

Since brothers Georges and Armand Marciano launched Guess in 1981, the clothing and accessories giant has seen its share of highs and lows, going from the pinnacle of the denim world, epitomized by its sexy black-and-white ads featuring the likes of Claudia Schiffer and Anna Nicole Smith, to struggling sales
and internal strife. Though the Marcianos have since left Guess — first Georges in 1993 and then Armand in 2003 — it was by no means the end for the creative pair. This July, they’ll be launching their new women’s wear line, GM Studio, with the complete collection launching in September.

And don’t expect any similarities to Guess — GM Studio is “contemporary and vintage-inspired from the ’80s and ’90s,” says Armand. Indeed, its buttery leathers and superfine fabrics of the denim pants, separates and accessories reveal that the new brand is aiming to propel itself to newer, more sophisticated heights.

Like its home base of Los Angeles, arguably the denim capital of the fashion world, GM Studio has a lot of design history behind it. Though it will only be eight months from the time Georges and Armand sat down to brainstorm some ideas for the new line to its official launch, with Guess’s former design director, Cinzia Simone, at the design helm, GM Studio’s influences stretch back through decades of fashion’s fads and trends. “My brother, Georges, has a huge library, a collection that he amassed for the past 25 years,” says Armand. “Same with Cinzia Simone. We went to her studio, and she showed us all she collected over the years, all these vintage pieces. Georges and I were impressed, so we combined them and were inspired by them.”

The Idle Man – How To Dress Business Casual

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New article written for the Idle Man up today, read the full piece here. Shop all your menswear needs with theidleman.com! 

An excerpt from How To Dress Business Casual – Min A. Lee:

Learn how to navigate the business casual dress code for your summer office attire. We put together our favourite pieces to keep you comfortable while maintaining a professional and smart appearance. 

Read more Men’s Style Guide features.

When it comes to dressing for your 9-to-5, the grey area between sleek tailored suits and getting away with denim is challenging. Depending on the work environment, business casual allows men a chance to express individuality without overstepping those bounds into losing respectability among their peers.

The challenge is finding what looks work best for your environment as well as your style, and keeping a balance between business appropriate wear, and a comfortable outfit to help you get through the day. With everything from business casual suits, shoes and trousers to choose from, we’ll help you through the minefield and help you find a look that will work for you.

What is Business Casual for Men?

Business casual. It’s a term that gets thrown around a fair amount, but what exactly is it? In simple terms business casual is similar to smart casual, but tends to relate more to your work environment, and so can adapt according to your surroundings. If you’re in a traditional office where people tend to wear suits and ties, then you might be more limited to what casual aspects you can incorporate into your wardrobe. However there are still ways that you can keep your outfit comfortable as well as smart, and this is what business casual is really all about.

Business Casual Suits for Men

Normally, when we speak of suits it’s about formality. In the case of business casual you can still pull off a tailored suit. It comes down to knowing your fabrics. Cashmere, silk and velvets are best for those evening occasions. Heavy weight wools even worsted wools are a no-go for summer. Aim for:

  • Linen
  • Cotten
  • Polyester

You may find these light weight fabrics wrinkle easier, but are much more breathable for the warm seasons. They may not have the luxurious appeal of fine wools, but you’re wanting for a more relaxed vibe to begin with. Keep the colours on the lighter side and the cuts well-fitted. If you really prefer dark grey and black, you can always lighten things up with a cool patterned shirt. Usually socks and suits go hand-in-hand, but you can skip on them for summer.

mens outfit grid smart business casual suits
PHOTO CREDIT: The Idle Man | SHOP: Suits

Business Casual Blazer

There’s more freedom that comes with using a blazer, single or double-breasted. You can pair it with different coloured trousers for personality. Though as with all men’s business professional attire—keep it tailored. You want to avoid looking unkept. Make sure the length of your trousers are hemmed properly.

On the other hand, this is the chance to explore different textiles. Generally, blazers are solid to help define them from sports jackets, and neither come with matching pants. We will go into the difference between the two later on.

Here’s some other style points to consider:

  • Pass on wearing a tie.
  • Sport a good quality t-shirt underneath.
  • You can get away with unbuttoning the collar.

Make sure that you follow complementary colour rules. Check out this quick guide to understanding the colour wheel. Having a chance to play with style doesn’t mean avoiding all the rules. You don’t want to clash.

outfit grid mens business casual blazer
PHOTO CREDIT: The Idle Man | SHOP: Blazers

Business Casual Jeans

The main question is, are jeans business casual? Yes and no. There are ways to make jeans fit into the mens business fashion category. Of course, this is if your office allows it.

First here’s what not to wear:

  • No distressed denim, whether purposely done for design or not. Distressing is strictly casual men’s fashion only. Your boss doesn’t want to see holes all over your pants and if you are dealing with clients on a regular basis, they don’t either.
  • No fabric that’s showing wear patterns around the knees and seat. Those pairs need to stay in your weekend pile.
  • No heavy whiskering or edgier dye jobs, such as acid washes. It doesn’t look as professional as it needs to be for men’s business casual.

With the blues, keep it clean and keep it dark. Summer tends to be the time for lighter blue washes, but darker is sharper. It looks more confident in the work place. You can go for monochrome blacks and blues or step out in high contrast with lighter tops and jackets.

If you really want to try colored denim, look for solid pale grey or beige, neutral tones. White is another option that can look savvy. There are a spectrum of jean colours out there, but the vibrant ones look more well-groomed when worn as a trouser.

Mainly, if you are going for jeans, everything needs to be immaculate. From the jacket to the shoes—make sure they all fit you correctly, nothing baggy, especially the jeans. Preferably keep to a blazer and a crisp button down to help take away the lax appearance of denim.

For more on dressing business casual follow the link above. 

 

Composure Magazine – Fashion Forward Fourth

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Story and layout for Composure Magazine.

To read the full story and shop all the links to your favorite styles, click here!

 

Audrey Magazine – Poshmark CEO Manish Chandra

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Looking back at interviewing Manish Chandra, founder and CEO of powerhouse app Poshmark.

Feature Photo: Poshmark’s Founders Clockwise From The Upper Right: Manish Chandra, Tracy Sun, Gautam Golwala And Chetan Pungaliya

By Min A. Lee

“With the holidays fast approaching, shopping for gifts can be stressful especially if you’re working with a budget and a short timeline.  However, we found a great solution for those on the hunt for womenswear, accessories, and shoes to give: Poshmark, a smart phone, as well as web-based, selling platform founded by CEO Manish Chandra, Gautam Golwala, Chetan Pungaliya, and Tracy Sun.  First released in 2011, Poshmark now boasts over 10 million items from over 5000 different brands that are available for sale and continues to gain new members rapidly.

You know how friends love to share their closets with each other?  Imagine being able to look through hundreds and thousands of closets full of designer brands, many of which are new and still have their tags.  We even found a lovely, brand new Rag & Bone leather trim moto jacket that originally retailed for $660 available for only $200! Even if you find a hidden gem that isn’t quite within your spending range, there are on-going sales and promotions and a streamlined option to negotiate with sellers on their listed price.  The ease, accessibility, and fast shipping make it highly appealing for shoppers.  You’ll be able to find that last-minute present just in the nick of time!  Also, some of our favorite style bloggers, like Wendy Nguyen from Wendyslookbook.com, can be found on Poshmark selling some of the luxury pieces seen on their popular blog posts.

While other shopping apps do exist, Poshmark is a leader with annual sales reaching to the hundred million range, all while being just four years in since its launch.  To learn more about this highly successful app, we asked CEO and Founder Manish Chandra to share with Audrey readers more about what inspired Poshmark’s creation, early challenges in development, and the future he envisions.

Audrey Magazine:  When did you first find an interest in fashion and e-commerce before tying it to your technology, education, and background?  Was there any specific inspiration behind Poshmark?

Manish Chandra:  My first foray into fashion was through my first company, Kaboodle, the first social shopping website. The idea to build that company came to me as my family was redecorating our house and found it challenging to share inspiration, ideas, and products with each other online. As Kaboodle began to take off and find success, we saw it was mostly women who gravitated towards social shopping, specifically around fashion which became a huge category for us. Beyond sharing inspiration and products, we saw a lot of women wanted to buy merchandise directly from each other, but the site wasn’t really built for that. Hearst Magazine eventually bought Kaboodle to add social and commerce into their media properties. After a few years with Hearst I knew I wanted to create a community-centric marketplace for fashion where women could easily share, buy , and sell all in one platform. The concept of Poshmark came to life one day in my wife’s closet when I saw how many of the items she had bought had never been worn, yet they still sat in her closet with tags on them. Fashion is a $350 billion industry in the U.S. alone and once items are bought and worn, they really don’t have an easy exit. The idea came back to me to create a social platform for buying and selling fashion but I felt like the technology wasn’t quite there yet. Then in summer of 2010, when the iPhone 4 came out, I saw within it the key to creating a community-centric marketplace – from the phenomenal quality of the camera to the the 24/7 real-time connection that the proliferation of smartphones provided.  I assembled a small team and we launched Poshmark in December of 2011.

With Poshmark, we set out to build a very engaged community of women who would come together in the app to shop each other’s closets. We took away all the pain points associated with buying and selling (payments, shipping, customer service, and marketing), creating an engaging and fun shopping experience that women could participate in no matter where they are. We made it simple and fun to take what’s in your closet and create your own boutique on your phone – leading women to upload the equivalent of an entire Nordstrom’s store worth of inventory into the marketplace every week.

AM:   What were some of the main challenges during Poshmark’s early days, from initial ideas to planning and finally launching the hugely successful app?  

MC:   The biggest challenge we faced early on was building an entire marketplace within a mobile app.  At that time, many people believed that a mobile app was just an extension of the web property and while important, was not critical to success.  We placed a huge bet, not only to go mobile first but to go mobile only.  Fortunately, we saw where the fashion consumer was heading and knew that in order to be successful at social commerce, they needed to be able to connect with one another and transact seamlessly from their phones.

AM:   Poshmark is built around not only consumership, but social networking. There’s a heavy amount of user-to-user interaction.  Do you feel that the “community” aspect is a large part of your app’s success?

MC:   Our community is at the core of everything we do at Poshmark. We took a very people-centric approach to building a marketplace.  It’s really engrained in our culture. For example, when we first started Poshmark, we used to host small events to recruit the first community members to learn from and listen to.  In the early days, we were excited to have five people show up to one of our events.  It was really about connecting around style and shopping each other’s closets.  We’ve implemented a lot of those opportunities to meet and connect in the app, for instance our virtual shopping parties which we host three times a day around different themes and categories.  The importance of nurturing this type of offline, personal connection has scaled as we’ve grown – participating in the Poshmark community is a lot like shopping with friends, giving you plenty of opportunities to discover and meet new people whose style you’d like to shop.  Sellers also help one another become successful, sharing each other’s items to their followers and mentoring new sellers as they join the platform.  And for the parties? We still host them all around the country, with attendance reaching up to 350 people.  Our community has also begun throwing their own meet-ups, taking relationships that start Poshmark into the real world, and supporting each other beyond just buying and selling.

To continue reading the full article click here!

poshmark3.jpg

All photos courtesy of Poshmark and Audrey Magazine.