Between 2005 and 2007, south african photojournalist Pieter Hugo documented an itinerant group of nigerian minstrels, called Gadawan Kura who travel the country performing shows with trained hyenas and other animals and are known as the Hyena Men.
The powerful imagery created by this body of work rests not only upon the supposedly savage tamed animals or its almost monochromatic desert surroundings but, to a greater extent, on the protagonists attitude and ornamented apparel. Colorful long skirts adorned with tassels and covered by some kind of strapped leather waist accessory, metal rattles over the ankles, headbands. All of this is mixed with massively common and urban contemporary pieces like tank tops or rubber flip flops. By looking at these pictures, we cannot help but to refer to the recurrent tribal/ethnic inspiration in the work of many of today’s top designers and brands.
These are highly influential looks that, whilst in its charismatic original offbeat state, assuredly disclose a few of nowadays trends.

Wes Anderson’s movie The Royal Tenenbaums is a real style manifest. From Chas’s tracksuit and sneakers to Royal Tenenbaum’s classic outfits passing thru Richie’s look, the characters in this movie (especially the male ones) possess a sense of panache that stands out. In fact, we wouldn’t be surprised if Richie was found to be an inspiration to Scott Sternberg’s Band Of Outsiders L.A. based brand, with his camel hair suit, headband and polo. Picking up the movie’s own motto about family we guess it can also be said that, Style isn’t a word… it’s a sentence.

In our research for record covers, one band we find to have a good cover history are the Pet Shop Boys. All throughout the eighties and nineties, and mainly due to photographer Eric Watson and designer Mark Farrow, their cover artwork was always great. On top of that, their sleeves constantly conveyed a certain trend about what was going on in fashion at the time and above all reflected the duo’s personality and style, with a flamboyant Neil Tennant taking the spotlight whereas a quieter Chris Lowe stayed in the background. The band’s image was celebrated in a book called Pet Shop Boys: Catalogue, published in 2006 as a visual retrospective of their career.

Scott Sternberg of Band Of Outsiders is commonly considered as one of today’s top emerging menswear designers. In this video, he shares some thoughts about the new set of imagery and emotion he builds for the brand and the fairly humorous way he approaches fashion, including his known love for Lego. This movie story was directed by credited editor Debra Scherer and inspired by Hal Ashby’s classic Being There, starring Peter Sellers. Crossing the border of fiction and nonfiction, Scherer’s process is described as a very personal, sophisticated form of storytelling which transcends the medium used with each movie being based on a true story.
Previewing the arrival of the AW10 collection at the store, here’s a little trip into Scott’s mind.

We can’t get enough of Jean-Luc Godard’s movies, or the classic 60s imagery and display of french parisian elegance he brought into his films. In Masculin Féminin, main character Paul wears a series of easy styles, with foulards and scarfs randomly complementing his outfits. Classic blazers and overcoats are shown with their collars up and worn over basic apparel like sweatshirts and polos. A wardrobe ménage, we’d say…

The Raf Simons AW10/11 collection should be ringing our door bell any day now. Until it does, here’s a video created by
Pierre Debusschere for Vogue Hommes Japan featuring some of the SS10 key pieces and also a couple old time favorites.

Remember Charles and Sebastian from Brideshead Revisited? Remember also Sebastian’s inseparable companion Aloysius (his teddy bear)? No clues?!? Ok, we’ll explain. As our current Sale Window is now full of shopping crazed stuffed little friends and since when we first found this photo, the duo from 80s tv series was what instantly came to mind, we put the two ideas together and this is what turned out. About the photo itself, the young men’s eminent looks with flawless hair styles, formal attire and relaxed attitude enhanced further by the countryside estate backdrop, all contributed to our Brideshead Revisited imagery flashback. About the teddy bear, whatever, these days even Lagerfeld has one…

Supposedly intended as “a message about the spirit, independence, and inner worth of today’s young people”, this CK ad campaign was highly polemic at the time. Today, fifteen years gone by, it still retains it’s original force. Considered gay by some or has having light porn references by others, this ad isn’t that far away from American Apparel or even Abercrombie & Fitch’s nowadays mainstream campaigns. Browsing thru our magazine archive, we can’t point out that many campaigns as being so influential as this one when it comes to fashion advertising.

Do you ever get the feeling not to be able to stand yourself for being so cool, while jerking around to the sound of repeated beats
and twitching guitars wearing dark suits with pale colored shirts and skinny ties? Well, some people do. We can only wonder why…

p.s. nice tie clip btw

Star Wars has been inspiration to Hong Kong based designer and illustrator John Woo to create a series of work. “He Wears It” features some of the most known Star Wars characters dressed up in hype designers clothes. Amongst them we found Darth Vader dressing Band Of Outsiders and Jar Jar Binks wearing Maison Martin Margiela.

Sometimes, and since the weekend’s so close, all we wanna do is put on a t-shirt, slip on a pair of trousers and… run the hell out of here!!!
On another note, and just in case you’re disappointed by our simplistic way of putting it, what we really meant was, sometimes all you need to look great is some simple clothes and the right attitude. Anyway, we’ll discuss that latter on when we introduce another of our new brands for next season… Until then, hasta la vista, Baby!
… by the way, this scene is from Leos Carax’s film “Mauvais Sang”. We’re gone…

Our Legacy established itself as a fine clothing brand focused on the history and quality of well made garments. They’ve also proven themselves as holders of great taste and if their clothes weren’t enough proof of that, the (look)book they’ve released along with photographer Viviane Sassen stands up for their good reputation. This beautifully made book is a specially made and well-built series of imagery with androgyny and beauty as the key principle. On another level, the guys (Richardos and Jockum) are also first class party throwers, the party at Le Baron during fashion week was smashing and we’ve discovered Jockum, besides creating great clothes, is also blessed with great musical taste and makes quite a sensation on the decks…

Here at Por Vocação, we’ve always had a soft spot for understated refined luxury and elegance. After all, that’s what classic style is all about. So, no wonder that one of our new brands for next season (SS11) is no other than Adam Kimmel. Jep! That’s it, Adam Kimmel!!…
After being on our watch zone for a couple of seasons, we decided it was finally time to go for it. We are obviously very excited about carrying his selected clothing line for, besides the somewhat bizarre inspirations he chooses, what we see in his brand is excellent cuts and fitting with top of the shelf fabrics that attest his unparalleled vision for contemporary menswear. Here’s a glimpse at Adam Kimmel’s singular universe, a video presentation for the upcoming Fall-Winter collection.