Kanye West is 5′8″ — and he just busted out a great tweet about the change of season. And what it means for his wardrobe.
I’ve always felt the same way about autumn. Just never been able to put it so eloquently.
Check out my secondary blog — A Concise Men’s Lookbook — for the quote. And the furs, black watch, argyle…
My brother-in-law Chris is something of a Lil Wayne fan. He keeps petitioning me to feature the (currently incarcerated) hip-hop/rock star on Short Shrifted. Great idea; I’ve just never had the right opportunity before. But my new photo blog — ACML — is the perfect place for the 5-foot-6 rapper.
I’ve long wondered how you pull off ultra-baggy, hip-hop steez when you’re a short man — considering that loose-fitting clothing is a violation of Rule #1 in the short-guy style book of law.
Well, you know my feeling about style rules: they’re made to be broken. You just gotta tread carefully. Don’t want to end up in the the Fashion Big House.
Lil Wayne’s tack seems to be pairing baggy, low-slung jeans with comparatively form-fitting shirts. So while the pants shorten his legs, he’s also lengthening his torso. He also favors simple T-shirts and tanks (or no shirt at all), which further reinforce that lengthening effect, and draw attention to his slim, athletic physique. I think it works for him.
And you’ve got to give it to the guy. While Lil Bow Wow and Lil Romeo dropped the diminutive descriptors in their names as they got older, Lil Wayne maintains. Props for keepin’ it Lil.
A shout out to Chris, who became a journeyman electrician this month. I’m proud of you, man. This one’s for you:
I recently watched Time After Time on Netflix streaming. It’s a late-70s sci-fi movie where H.G. Wells hunts down Jack the Ripper in present-day San Francisco… via time machine! It’s an absurdly goofy little flick. But it’s got heart. And terribly dated special FX. It stars Malcolm McDowell [5-foot-8] as Wells and David Warner [6-foot-2] as the Ripper. The height difference is extremely noticeable in their scenes together. That’s how I realized McDowell is pretty short for a leading man, and therefore a candidate for A Concise Men’s Lookbook.
I love the tweed… but the steam-punk-Victorian-man-in-1970s-SF look is so over. And while he wears some pretty fashion-forward threads in A Clockwork Orange… they’re still too, uh, fashion-forward today. So for this week’s entry, let’s travel back in time — to his big-screen debut:
Set the chronometer to 1968: Malcolm McDowell in If…
Maybe you’ve heard of this new short-guy supergroup: Atoms for Peace. It’s Thom Yorke [5'5"] and Flea [5'6"].
When some official tunes and good images become available, I’ll put them up on the Lookbook. Until then, we’re gonna settle for Thom by his lonesome. Here’s a pretty interesting shot.
No, I’m not gonna post it here. It’s just one pic. I gotta give you some reason to click over to ACML, right?
Visit my new site — A Concise Men’s Lookbook — and see all the images by clicking on Leo’s eyebrows.
Leo Castelli [5'6"] had a rep for being a dapper dresser. He also had a rep for being the man who single-handedly “revolutionized the status of the artist in America and changed all the rules of the art market.” So says Leo and His Circle, a forthcoming bio by Annie Cohen-Solal.
A NY Observer review calls her book:
“a glowing tribute to Castelli, and portrays him not just as the steward of Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Roy Lichtenstein, James Rosenquist, Richard Serra and many other giants, but the single most dominant force behind the history of postwar American art.”
She takes note of his “darkened eyebrows, stormy eyes, and sensual lips” and at one point describes him as looking “seductive as ever in his English tweed suits, impeccable shirts, and refined ties.”
Check out the Castelli images I selected for your edification on my new photoblog: A Concise Men’s Lookbook.
What’s especially cool about this series is that it’s very apparent he’s dispensed with all the tricks on how to appear taller in photographs. The shot compositions actually call attention to his shortness. And he still looks good.
Finally, for those of you keeping track, I switched A Concise Men’s Lookbook from Tumblr to Blogger after the initial post last week. The Tumblr interface and layout just didn’t work for me. Bah.
Please check out the new layout/address and let me know what you think. Thanks!
I’m trying something new. An experiment of sorts…
Every Friday here on this site, I’ll post a link to my new Tumblr Blogger photoblog. My idea is to put together a lookbook of shorter guys with good or interesting personal style. From the images I collect, maybe you can draw inspiration for your own wardrobe.
Shortshrifted.com will still be my HQ, updated with all the posts you’ve come to expect. The Tumblr Blogspot series is a side-project — I’m hoping it’ll handle images better and be good for keeping them together in one place.
Check out my kick-off post for Short Shrifted’s Concise Men’s Lookbook:
Our Tony’s an East End boy, a diminutive scrapper with a heart of gold, an irrepressible hustler, a self-described pest. A failed jockey (“Better to be a has-been than a never-was”), but a dreamer nonetheless, cramming The Knowledge so he can become a London cabbie. It’s 1977, but he’s pure 1955 in James Dean knock-offs. It’s not the clothes; it’s the spirit.
And he’s just one character in Michael Apted’s brilliant decades-spanning documentary series Up! — a must-watch in my book.
After you visit the Lookbook, let me know what you think of the project/design/layout/images/etc!
Cheers,
Josh
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