Ankles Away.

Coco Rocha rockin' her ankles on The Sartorialist.

A new fashion highlight zone has arrived this summer. It's the ankle. I'm sure many of you have been a fan of the thinnest part of your legs for a nice, long time, but fervent ankle adoration has reached a fever pitch of late. The City streets are filled with rolled pants cuffs shortened just so they reveal that sexy, sinewy spot. There are also a plethora of cute little flats with ankle ties, straps, and other adornments in shop windows and on all the hip kids.



Chinese Laundry flats from endless.com, $59.95

While the ankle strap shoe is certainly a holdover from the gladiator sandal trend, it is a pleasant, slightly more sophisticated break from those ubiquitous, buckle-happy, leg-climbers. Here are some hipper-than-thou (or perhaps not hipper than you!) ankle fans snapped by The Sartorialist.

The thing about ankles is that most ladies have gorgeous ones. I know, I know, there are some of you who insist that you have dreaded cankles, but mostly this is a very forgiving, flattering feature on women. So decorate those ankles, show 'em off, and strut 'em proudly. Me and my big girl thighs couldn't be happier about this trend! I love showing a little leg, as long as it's close to my foot...ha.

Pretty Petals, Stompy Boots

Devon, my cooler than cool best friend in high school, had these awesome flowered Dr. Martens, and seeing them on the feet of a stylin' somebody snapped by The Sartorialist in the maelstrom of fashion week double, triple, quadruple confirms that the 90s are back in bold fashion. You need some blooming boots for yourself. You can troll the internet for the out of print pattern seen in the photo above, or you can check out the slightly updated patterns on offer at the Dr. Martens online store. Flower from the feet up.

They Run This Place.

The Sartorialist does his most amazing work during the various world-wide Fashion Weeks, which I guess actually happens to be more weeks out of the year than not. And, let's face it, The Sartorialist can do no wrong in my book. He's done particularly right in snapping two photos of fashionable kiddliewinks here on the mean streets of New York.

I have a soft spot for kids who dress themselves, and while the jury is still out on whether these two have personal stylists to handle their wardrobes, I will still enjoy the possibility that they in fact picked these getups themselves. How much do you wanna bet that someday in the future there will be a Pre-Tween Vogue on the stands? I would wager my perfect fitting jeans. That's serious.

Soften the Edges

Am I obsessed with the Sartorialist? In a word: Yes! He makes me happy. What else can I say? He has such an incredible eye, and people watching is my absolute favorite past time (well, that and singing along to Christina Aguilera songs at the top of my lungs while driving really fast). His blog creates a new venue for my voyeurism. And he's incredibly handsome.

Anyways, he snapped this lovely lady in Paris and commented on her beautiful mix of hard angles and softness. I agree, I'm loving the asymmetrical hair. Even though I've seen it in so many iterations over the years, she makes it look like a fresh idea.

Images: The Sartorialist

Camera Shy

This sparkly little lady outside the Gareth Pugh show seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the interest in her superb style, but the attention was definitely deserved. Leave it to a four year old to outshine the fashionistas and get snapped by the Sartorialist!

image: The Sartorialist for Style.com

What a Difference a Day Makes

As posted below, I love The Sartorialist. However, in the last 24 hours a phenomenon has come to light that disturbs me. It can only be termed as "Sartorialist Baiting". As New York Fashion Week approaches I'm seeing leggy girls on bikes all over the city. See, Schuman has a thing for girls on bikes and I think these ladies are pedaling around tempting the god of internet fashion to make them blog icons. But, something's off: The outfits are askew, the colors clash, the accessories are cloying, and the bikes are wobbling. If I had Schuman's chutzpah I'd be snapping them and calling them out for their faux-fashaionista behavior. But, I'll leave it to Scott to continue to post the naturally qualified and ignore all the fashion fakery. Here are some of Scott's snaps of the beautiful on bikes:

Close Clothes

I saw the guy on this T-shirt, a Gap designed, screenprinted repro of Chuck Close's portrait of composer Philip Glass, on the street in NYC the other day. It was so strange to recognize someone from a decades old painting. Must be even stranger for him to see his head on cotton t-shirts all over town.

The image above is one of the many captured by The Sartorialist, Scott Schuman who is my modern day fashion hunting hero. Seriously, I think Schuman is changing the way people dress. Tailored, pulled together looks with that certain something extra that pushes them into the realm of chic are taking over the city. I think I have Schuman to thank for all of the eye candy.

His eye for the beautifully dressed, especially men in suits, has schooled many in the art of wearing it well. He's revived the reverence for the dandies and has given a new generation the permission to take their uber refined sense of style out into the public realm. A three piece suit for a bike ride, or a dog walk? Of course. His shots are so well lit and clean, and his eye for the most interesting gal or guy in the crowd is impeccable. Here are some of my favorite sightings from his site: