Holiday gifts for men - 5 gift ideas under $50!

Starting tomorrow morning the rush for buying holiday gifts (in the US) is ON! Black Friday, Cyber Monday or maybe just...... crazy December! The biggest gift buying month of the year is in full speed so i thought I'll put my 2 cents in and offer you guys some more gifts options that i have found to help you with your search of the right gifts for your love ones, coworkers business associates and anyone else you will be gifting this season...
In this first post - 5 GIFT IDEAS UNDER $50.....

1. BLACK AND LIGHT BLUE PLAID SKINNY 2" NECKTIE - $2.49 on  Amazon

This Contemporary stylish tie will make a great gift for your secret Santa coworker, also available in other colorways.

Style icon of the week - Lenny Kravitz

When it comes to rocker style (which i personally love) the first person who comes to mind (nowadays) is Lenny Kravitz! Over the years he established himself as the definition of Rocker style - fitted pants, fitted T's, leather jackets and boots (he likes them with hills), while accessories such as sun glasses (day or night time), scarves, fur pieces and off course jewelery are always welcome...
Although it sounds like a pretty straight forward style for a rocker what's sets Lenny Kravitz apart from the other God knows how many rockers out there is that he knows how to put it all together and do it in a sophisticated way while still making it look natural and comfortable. That takes an eye for a style, a strong personality to follow your heart and a creative mind which it looks like he was blessed with all three, add his good looks to the mix (and maybe lots of work out), and the end result is a consistent, strong individual and inspiring style. Kravitz has founded a design firm named Kravitz Design, stating if he hadn't been a musician he would have been a designer.....

For me it all started with his music (we picked his song You Belong To me as our wedding song, the bass line

Style icon of the week - Bryan Ferry

Growing up Bryan Ferry was one of my favorite musicians (as the front man of Roxy Music partnering with likes of Bryan Eno or in his own solo career), but on top of that his glamorous dandy sense of style was instrumental in the development of my personal style (i can't tell you how many times as a teenager i tried to straiten my hair in trying to copy his hair style....it never really worked for more than 10 minutes....) and quite honestly i still wish that at his age (he celebrated 65 on September 26th) i would look and dress like him... Bryan Ferry can teach us a lot about style and how to dress, especially on how to wear suits and still look young, edgy and always... elegant! So for all of you out there who are required to wear suits in your daily life watch and learn....can you imagine bankers, lawyers and alike dress like Bryan Ferry? sporting suits in bright colors like red, fuchsia, lime green and gold.....what a stylish and beautiful world would that be....

Whether in his lyrics or his stage presence Bryan Ferry always had a unique majestic finesse, somewhat imperial and more than once melancholic in the way he sings, moves and dresses yet it all seems very natural for him which makes him very inspiring (i guess the fact that he is still dating girls half his age is probably as inspiring (if not more) for guys out  there...).
A big contributor to his style was the British designer Antony Price who is known for his glamorous evening wear and suits and was actually the architect behind the Roxy Music pop retro-futurism style, for both the band members and the Roxy girls. A style that was inspired by 1950’s glamour and his own futuristic vision of part human part mannequin, making Roxy Music into an aesthetic experiment rather than just a musical one. Price also dressed other musicians such as David Bowie and Duran Duran but Brian Ferry was definitely the perfect match for his designs.
Nicky Haslam described Brian Ferry's sense of style the best "He was more likely to redecorate a hotel room than to trash it"

Style icon of the week - David Bowie

Well this next style icon does not need any introduction and in all honesty any extra word will just get in the way.....For me he is more like the style icon of a generation (or i should say of few generations...) than the week....David Bowie for me is one of the best musicians, artists, style icons and personalities out there (after all he is British......).....for a guy who influenced the world of music and fashion the way he did its kind of hard to decide what to concentrate on, so i decided to post the Bowie that i like which is the tailored Bowie, the cleaner and sharper one who is in suits, jackets and coats rather than the earlier avant-garde /theatrical outfits he sported back in the day....although i do like some of the suits and jackets with the big shoulders and big lapels he wore back than as well so i included some of these as well.... scroll and enjoy! much more photos after the jump.....

Style Icon of the week - Tom Waits

In my mission to provide you with more inspiration and tools to use for your own personal style, I'm starting today one more tradition which i will call Style Icon of the week. In this weekly post i will zoom into the style of a man (be it famous or not) that inspires me and hopefully will inspire you as well.
Week one is featuring one of the most unique musicians/artists/personalities out there. A pure legend! Someone with a very strong and distinctive musical style that is easily translates into his personal style - Tom Waits!
Well, first before i continue on, if this is all new to you and you haven't heard about him or his music, here is my warm suggestion...get the movie Down by law (Jim Jarmusch), staring Tom Waits along side John Lurie and Roberto Benigni and featuring his music as the soundtrack...(this is one of my favorite movies).

His musical trademarks are both the use of unusual instruments (his favorite is the Chamberlain Music Master 600, its an early analog synthesizer that contains inbuilt samples of everything from galloping horses to owls hooting) and his voice which was described by critic Daniel Durchholz as "sounding like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car.".....what else there is to say other than... if that's what his music like, you can o nly imagine what he dresses like????

With Porkpie hats and worn pointy boots the Tom Waitsy style (as my wife Brooke calls it) is a reflection of an extraordinary innovative talent. A style i would describe as a drunken casual, vintage dressy, melancholic, with a just got out of bad hairdo, and just like his music... always amusing! ...... nothing less expected from a musici an that his favorite sound is bacon frying in a pan!
Tom Waits to me is definitely a style icon! He might not be a fashion forward one or a flushy, designer savvy one but never the less a unique individual with an inspirational personality that tells the Tom waits story so clear and so well!... and that's why he is an icon!