I don’t go to philly much, but when I do I dance at the 700 Club. I might go dancing there this weekend with the little brothers.

photo is my little bro and via my flickr .

On tumblr I follow energetic entrepreneur friends and classically romantic old souls like my friend Mark. I am either going to channel this input into doing something really brilliant or spontaneously combust.

marklow:

If you’ve ever wandered aimlessly through New York trench-coated in the rain, bought a single ticket at an old movie theater no matter what was showing, rummaged through an old bookstore’s forgotten shelves for hours upon hours, stopped by a no-name bar and talked to another solitary figure who - as it would turn out - has a reputation for something you’ve always found fascinating, then gone out in the rain together for a cigarette and blown mythic smoke rings around a mythic skyline, then yeah, you should own a copy of this book, because you’ve lived here long enough and it’s out of print and hey, you’ll be out of print too someday. The cover reads:

This serendipiter’s journey sets an errant course through some of the city’s back alleys and boulevards to visit some determined individuals in the swarm of conformists.

Well spoken, Mr. Talese.

It’s ok to spend too much money if it’s for charity - ME

This is the last week of fashion illustration auctions, which directly benefit Fashion Targets Breast Cancer. Most of the illustrations are featured in Laird’s book Fashion Illustrations by Fashion Designers, with exception of the Isaac Mizrahi illustration above, which he created specifically for our auction and is, without a doubt, my favorite of the lot that have come across my desk.

Also this week, Betsey Johnson, Giambattista Valli, and Badgley Mischka.

Research I’ve been doing some study on cartouche design lately. I was looking for some airy, feminine type things and kind of stupidly requested this book of Belgian designs from the 16th century, a darker period in history some would say. Look closely you’ll see some demons having their bum spanked through some torture device. If this is something you might be interested in seeing more of (because who doesn’t love a nice Belgian cartouche every once in awhile) I would suggest visiting the New York Public Library research collection and requesting this book. .

The Amend.org benefit back in February went swimmingly and raised a lot of money for their child injury prevention program, currently running in Ghana. Look closely in the party pictures for erstwhile crank Andrew Krucoff, whose fervor that evening for child injury prevention in Africa reached a pitch befitting dark chocolate, canapes, and Alsatian Pinot Blanc.

Not pictured is my date who bought a chic pocket square and researched the perfect way to fold it for this occasion. (Blush)

Previously when searching for work inspiration from my desk I would peruse the 1940-1969 sections of the Vogue.co.uk cover archive , my favorites from that collection are above. However, this morning comes the happy news of the arrival of the Conde Nast Digital archive that all employees can access, which upon initial inspection has Vogue covers all the way back to 1894. I’ll be absent from from IM for awhile.

Paging The Sartorialist front row at India Fashion Week. Ran into Scott later in the day in the Chivas Lounge and had a convo something like this:

Me to Scott: What are you doing here? Scott to Me: What are you doing here? Me to Scott: Shit, I was going to start taking your seat.

I think the stance of these Eres mannequins is really strange. They just stand there poised as if to say, “I’m ready to have sex with you now”. I find that brand of submissiveness very un-French.