Redefining Style

Tomorrow marks the beginning of New York Fashion Week, the days during which wispy, long-legged ladies and carefully-groomed men with impeccably tailored suits saunter the streets of the city. Each time these fashion virtuosos descend upon Manhattan, I feel the sudden urge to revamp my wardrobe and delve into all of the fashion magazines and websites I love.

Last month, The New York Times published "Serious About Cool", a feature that I haven't been able to get out of my head since. Later retitled "Pushing the Boundaries of Black Style" for its online publishing, the article outlines the blog Street Etiquette, which is run by Joshua Kissi and Travis Gumps, 22 year-old friends from Mount Vernon, NY who work in Brooklyn.

The Times describes the blog, which is championed by the likes of Mos Def, as "a return to style as a source of dignity, a theme that has run through generations of black American style, from Reconstruction to the Harlem Renaissance to the civil rights era to the mixed messages of the hip-hop era."

As the article elaborates on the mission of the blog, it quotes myriad sources (from shop owners to a Barnard English professor to the creative director of GQ), all of whom sing the praises of the website.

In particular, the blog's amazing spread "The Black Ivy" (a portion of which is below) truly resonates with me. It feels simultaneously fresh yet vintage, and styled yet natural.

Indeed, Street Etiquette is pretty fantastic, and I highly recommend checking it out!

All images via Street Etiquette; "The Black Ivy" images photographed by Fred Eagan.