#2293 Michael Bastian's polo shirts for Uniqlo are sub $20 and awesome

I grabbed a drink with Tom Bull last night, and he showed up wearing a head to toe Uniqlo outfit – navy wool +J pants with one of the new Michael Bastian for Uniqlo polo shirts in a blue patterned cloth with Western detailing. The man looked good. Michael Bastian's collection of polo shirts for Uniqlo (which featured Tom in the campaign) dropped into store yesterday, and you've never seen a better summer shirt for $19.90. The fit, colours, patterns and fabrication are high end as opposed to high street (zing!), and I'd happily wear a good 50% of them any day of the week. Besides a few more photographs of the biggity wiggity diggity dog Tom Bull, I've included my personal favourites below. Only thing – get in quick. About half of them have sold out already. Shop them now!

#2292 Lacking menswear outfit inspiration? Check Les Fréres JO'

Back in the mid 00s when fashion blogging really picked up momentum, I used to scroll through dozens of personal style blogs every day of the week on my Google Reader (RIP). 90% of them were girls, 10% were boys, and while the vast majority of the womenswear bloggers kept on keeping on, most of the guys simply dropped off the map as they years went by. I guess failure to monetise resulted in disillusionment, or maybe it suddenly got uncool to take photos of yourself in your clothes. Must've missed that memo :-/ As a result, the internet is sorely lacking a full set of seriously good men's personal style blogs. Besides my go-to in The House of Majd, leading the charge is a French blog I just discovered over the weekend (thanks, once again, to Jake), named Les Fréres JO'. As far as I can tell, they're a couple of identical twins who dress just like your favourite French movie stars of the 1960s. I have no idea who they are or what they do, but I plan on finding out. Check them out. They fly.

#2291 I Like Out of Context and Out of Context Likes Me!

A couple of weeks ago when I was in New Zealand, I did an interview with ex-US correspondent, novelist, and all-round good guy Tim Wilson on his new show Out of Context. Before the interview, he asked me what I'd like to talk about, and I said that I'd be happy with anything so long as we didn't discuss trends (which I always think is the fashion equivalent to a comedian being asked to say something funny). First question: We all know what's cool, but what's uncool? Then: What's the most radical change we'll see in fashion this year? Watch as I try to dodge those, and other questions about what's hot, what's not, and what people should be wearing right now, above. For the record, I really do think enthusiasm is a trend that'll never go out of style. #Hallmarkmoment.

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#2290 Meermin's cordovan lace-ups are for the casual sophisticate

Oh my God, shoes. Following on from those awesome Vans, this week's obsession is a pair of cordovan lace-ups by Meermin (also discovered via Jake from Downeast and Out). I've had the page sitting open on my finder for the past 10 days and I can't stop clicking – these bad boys are the perfect combination of sophisticated and casual. I know that sounds vaguely ridiculous, but it's the truth – they're a devastatingly handsome pair of casual leather shoes that'll work equally well with rolled jeans, cuffed khakis or your favourite charcoal suit. There's something very 80s about these shoes. I can imagine Tom Cruise wearing them in his heyday with stonewash 501s and a Hawaiian shirt. Too fresh. Obviously they're the most expensive shoes the Mallorca-based company sells (thank you Murphy's Law), though at 320 euro, they're not exactly bank breakers. But, hey, if you want the look at a lower price, they do them in a darker brown for 160 euro. YOLO.

#2289 Maybelline NY to NZ Episode 7 with Katherine Lowe!

Winter has fallen on New Zealand, and I know what you're thinking: Time to bust out all my favourite black, cold-weather pieces. Think again! Just because it's getting chilly outside, doesn't mean you should neglect colour. Winter is the prime season to bust out your brightest clothes. In a crazy twist of quantum proportions, this week we're in Auckland, New Zealand, running around the city to some of our favourite retailers to show you how to do colour in the cold. We've enlisted the help of our mate Katherine Lowe of Katherine is Awesome fame to model the gears, and trust us when we tell you that you'll be so convinced by the end of it, you'll be running to the stores to stock up on strawberry red and inky blue and yellow and green and all the other colours of the rainbow. Do it! #noMakeupNoFashion

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