#2222 The facts of life

Bent Van Looy of The Jante Law and Das Pop fame, in New York yesterday.

 1. Back in June last year I was heading to the Kris Van Assche show at the Paris men's collections when I got a little lost. Spying a cool young guy whose style bore a striking resemblance to Tin Tin's, I said hello and asked if he knew the way. He was heading there too so we walked together, and as we walked, we talked. Like Tin Tin (and Kris Van Assche), he was from Belgium, and it turned out that he was Bent Van Looy, the lead singer of Das Pop (a famous electro band whose drummer just happens to be a Kiwi – Matt Eccles of Betchadupa fame). A year later, Bent sent me an email to invite me to the Man Tradeshow here in New York to check out his new label The Jante Law. Much like New Zealand's Tall Poppy Syndrome, The Jante Law is a Scandinavian set of ideals that encourages the masses to keep status quo. (Law number one is 'Don't think you're anything special'.) The clothes are brilliant, and I'm going to shoot them for the blog in the next couple of weeks. Watch this space.

2. Also excellent at the Man show yesterday – Études caps, Lacoste Live's new Hawaiian print shirts, Quit Mad Stop's swimming trunks (which I anatomized for Park & Bond a few weeks ago), Won Hundred's mottled cut off sweaters and Officine Generale's insane tailoring (see here and here  – excuse the blurry photos, the camera operator had a shaky hand). In a week filled with an infinite amount of menswear tradeshows here in New York, that was a bloody good start.

3. Remember when you were a kid and your Mum would help you with your homework and you'd get all annoyed with her? Don't carry that into your adult life.

4. The first time I heard Kanye West's Mercy I wasn't a fan, but then they played it three times at this club I went to in the weekend and now I'm obsessed. Get in the game.

5. I've had the same blog format for two or three years now, and it's time for a change. I'm about to start redesigning over the next couple of weeks and your tips, suggestions, ideas and criticisms would be much appreciated. Please leave them in the comments below!

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