Tomboy Style: July 2011

SCENE | Carving the Mountains of Madrid

The Longboard Girls Crew is an international group of rad girls that love skating together. Simple idea, but truly incredible to watch. Big thanks to Taylor Cole for turning me on to LGC.

THE GRID | Tomboy Style Essentials

For the past four days, the fabulous Meghan Doherty and I have been putting together a master list of Tomboy Style essentials. We nearly exhausted ourselves creating this, but it is by no means exhaustive. Much of it is shop-able (with links below), but we really just hope you have as much fun looking at it as we did making it!

The Essentials Grid is composed of 92 items (what you see above is just a taste) that we feel won't let you down in style, comfort, or purpose. They're categorized four ways: The Standard, The Edge, The American, and The Import. Meghan favors the Edge/American columns whereas I skew more Edge/Import. What about you?

TAKE ME TO THE GRID!

UNIFORM | Banker Shirt

Photos of Mary-Kate Olsen in NYC via Olsens Anonymous.

SCENE | Off Speedway

Photos of Jaclyn Zamudio in Venice, CA. by Jobi Manson. More from the series here.

ICON | Ann Bonfoey Taylor

Photos of Anne Bonfoey Taylor in a custom Brooks-Van Horn military costume (she skied in uniforms from the Civil War as well as in her own tailor-made creations including a matador cape and hat) and in classic Western attire for riding by Toni Frissell via The Wall Street Journal, and via ARTBOOK (far right).

"Ann Bonfoey Taylor was a gifted sportswoman and had a discriminating eye when it came to fashion. She graced the pages of Town&Country, Harper's Bazaar and Vogue throughout the 1950s and '60s. Nicknamed Nose Dive Annie, she was an alternate on the Women's Olympic ski team, a flight instructor for the Navy in WWII and an accomplished equestrian and tennis player." —Charlotte Moss

For more photos and information on the style icon that is Ann Bonfoey Taylor:

A Fashion Icon Uncovered (Wall Street Journal, 5/2011)

The Other Ann Taylor (T Magazine, 2/2011)

Thanks Ash and Mrs. B!

Q&A | Corinne Grassini

Photos of the designer and her downtown L.A. studio space via Corinne Grassini.

I interviewed Corinne last week for a piece in the next issue of Foam Magazine and found out she is chock-full of tomboy style. In fact, long before she became a successful clothing designer, her first career goal was to become a professional snowboarder. Legit. Her label, Society for Rational Dress is a name inspired by Victorian-era reformers searching for clothing less constraining and more, well, rational than corsets and the like. In addition to her masculine/feminine comfortable/chic clothing, Grassini designs furniture and a home line that is pure brilliance.

Society for Rational Dress Reserve collection.

If not in Los Angeles, I would live...somewhere equally as sunny.

My dream holiday would be to...go on an around-the-world beach tour for a couple of months.

My current obsessions are...eating figs with goat cheese and honey; listening to old country music and wearing anything cashmere.

I channel my childhood self when I...am with my sisters and the dance party starts.

If I had to be outdoors all day I would... start it with a coffee on my deck, then go on a hike in Griffith Park followed by a swim at El Matador beach. It would end with all my friends barbecuing at one of our houses. I wish that could be every day actually.

My favorite quality in a man is...the ability to make me laugh.

My favorite quality in a woman is...the ability to be a good friend.

I'm terrified of...being suspended high above water.

My dream car is a...my 1972 black Volvo P1800ES.

Photo via Volvo 1800 picture gallery.

My drink of choice is...a glass of 2007 Grassini Cab Reserve.

My most important beauty item is...sleeeeeeeeeeeeeep! I know that’s not an item but it doesn’t matter what I do, if I don’t have enough sleep, no item is going to make me feel beautiful.

My celebrity crush is...Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands.

My friends and I like to...explore.

If I could go back in time for one decade it would be...just for a minute to be front row at a Tina Turner show in her heyday.

As a teenager I was totally into...straight edge, hardcore and riot grrrl music.

I tend to splurge on...home decorating and the new home collection by Society for Rational Dress.

The fact that comfort is my main priority in getting dressed in the morning...is what makes me have Tomboy Style.

SCREEN | Only Angels Have Wings

Jean Arthur and Cary Grant at the piano in Only Angels Have Wings, 1939.

Big thanks to Rebecca Crowther of Sacramento's Midtown Monthly for the suggestion.

ICON | Brigitte Bardot

Photos of Brigitte Bardot at her home in Bazoches sur Guyonne by Leonard de Raemy, 1977.

SCENE | Backstage at the Tower Theater

Photo of Joan Jett and Debbie Harry backstage at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, PA at a gig featuring The Runaways, The Ramones and The Jam by Scott Weiner, 1978.

UNIFORM | Summer Ride

Photo by Photo Media, 1979.

Shooting Aviators ($10); Hermes Belles du Mexique Twilly ($130); Silk Bromley Blouse ($80).

UNIFORM | LnA

Photo of LnA founders Lauren Alexander and April Leight via LnA.

California natives Lauren Alexander and April Leight started LnA in 2007 with the simple idea of creating the perfect men’s tee for a woman. Perhaps because in Los Angeles a high quality white t-shirt can be (love it or hate it) a real uniform, there's a huge cult following for LnA's staples "with a twist" out here.

UNIFORM | Street Surfing

Photo of the sisters at BuenoBueno by Lonnie Webb via A Well Traveled Woman.

Super Basic Sunglasses ($134); Woven Feather earrings ($16 for a pair); Honey Pintail 40 longboard skateboard ($195); Vans Authentic Lo Pros ($55); Built By Wendy "Dudes Gone Wild" tee ($45).

GEAR | Swatch Originals

Photo scanned from POP Magazine.

I am a Swatch addict. I love the Originals, The New Gent, and all the special editions. And I wholeheartedly believe there is no better timepiece on the planet for $50. Did you ever wear a Swatch? Would you wear one now?

Lemongrass Original on model ($50); Flaky Blue Original ($50); Striped Up-Wind Original ($50); Flaky Grey Original ($50); Just White Original ($50); Striped Rise-Up Original ($50); Green Trace Original ($50).

CONTEMPORARY | Eleanor Friedberger

Style.com interview with Eleanor Friedberger of the band The Fiery Furnaces. Tomboy rocker style at its finest.

UNIFORM | Charlotte Gainsbourg

Photo of Charlotte Gainsbourg by Luc Roux, 1988.

Bass Breck Wingtip ($79); V-neck pocket tee ($20).

ICON | Amanda Brooks

Photo of Barneys New York Fashion Director Amanda Brooks via Barneys The Window.

"Sometimes I feel more myself when I channel my inner tomboy."—Amanda Brooks

ICON | Cher

Photos of Cher by Michael Ochs, 1970.

"I've always taken risks and never worried what the world might really think of me." —Cher

UNIFORM | Shooting on the Boom

Photo via A Well Traveled Woman.

Chance boatneck ($60); J.Crew striped skivvies (currently out of stock); Tai bracelet with gold bar ($115); Kiehl's vital sun protection lotion ($20); Fujifilm X100 ($1,563)—drooling over this camera thanks to ACL.

UNIFORM | Army Jacket

Photo of model Kelsie Macray in Queens by Eric Ryan Anderson, an outtake from a shoot for Isabella Fiore's Fall 2011 line.

UNIFORM | Beach Walk

Photo of Blair Eadie of the fabulous Atlantic-Pacific originally found via A Well Traveled Woman.

Linda Farrow for Alexander Wang Zipper frame sunglasses ($390); Boyfriend chino short ($35); Hunter original rain boots ($125); Aubin & Wills Sarrington shirt ($70).

UNIFORM | White Tuxedos of the 70s

Clockwise from top left: Bianca Jagger in a Halston suit with Nathalie Delon, 1974; Yves Saint Laurent model in Paris by Pierre Vauthey, 1979; Jodie Foster in Paris by Christian Simonpietri, 1977; Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel on the film set of Rene la Canne by Christian Simonpietri, 1976.

It seems like white tuxes really had a moment in the 1970s. I don't know if I could pull one off, but I totally want one! Would you wear one?