I first met Robert Spangle, a photographer who goes by the IG handle Thousand Yard Style, at the dandyism lollapalooza known as Pitti Uomo, around a decade ago. That period was peak #menswear: Instagram was relatively new, and Pitti had transformed from a bone-dry trade fair to a well-lubricated orgy of peacockery, with the world’s tailoring aficionados desperately trying to sartorially outgun one another and capture the attention of street photographers such as Tommy Ton, Scott Schuman, and indeed, our man Spangle. (Fallout Boy, if you remember it. Yeah, it was a terrible band, but it had this song that went “This ain’t a scene, it’s a goddamn arms race”, which just about summed it up.)
You’d see Spangle at the Fortezza (the 14th Century Florentine structure where Pitti is held), way off in the distance as his thousand-metre moniker suggests, crouching like a sniper with a long lens, capturing stylish fits, the wearers unawares—giving his imagery , spontaneous vibe lacking in many of the other street style snappers’ posed pics.
A lot of Spangle’s fellow lensmen of that epoch have gone on to create coffee table books documenting stylish metropolitan people looking stylish in a metropolitan setting. Cool, fine. Spangle took a different course for his debut publication, however.
“I’ve been working in fashion for a long time, and one of my theories is that style is an innate part of humanity and what makes us human; that it’s really something inalienable from the human condition. It’s not something that’s dependent on you living in a fashion capital, or even being from a really well-developed country, not even a country that has any kind of social stability. And I thought, ok, if I’m going to have this theory, I’m going to have to prove it,” he explains of the thinking behind his book Afghan Style, which was published last year.
“I had been to Iraq before,” Spangle says with no small degree of understatement—he’d visited to shoot conflict reportage in 2017 and several years earlier, serving in a reconnaissance unit with the US Marines, sussing out the lay of the land in advance of the initial US ‘surges’ of 2010. “I thought Afghanistan would be perfect as a place to prove or disprove this theory, because it was an incredibly poor country, and incredibly isolated—the conflict, the economic isolation and the harsh geography keep most people out. Certainly, this would be a place where, from a Western perspective, you’d expect to find absolutely zero fashion, zero style or any interest in the above.”
Spangle accepted an assignment for a magazine named Esquire (you may be familiar with the masthead, reader) and headed to Afghanistan for a four-to six-week visit. “Once I got there, I realised my theory was right, but my assumptions were wrong—Afghanistan is one of the best environments I’ve ever been in for photographing style, because the level of cultural style, and the value placed on cultural style, is just massive there. It’s everywhere, it’s in all directions.” When he returned from the journey, Spangle says, “I did the hardest photo edit of my entire life. I think I had, like, 120 images that I really couldn’t part with.” It was more than his assignment for Esquire called for. “So then I started thinking about a book.”
Spangle’s publishing plans were nearly scuppered when the Taliban re-took control of Afghanistan in late 2021. He felt the proposed book would lack relevance unless he revisited the country to see how the regime change had affected Afghans’ way of life—and to be able to get a more comprehensive picture of the landscape. Without a return, Spangle says, “I don’t think it would have been a complete document, because the security situation was so bad when I was first there that it was impossible to travel in the country.” He likens that initial visit to going to America and only scoping out New York: “You would get great style, and you would get people from all over the country, but you would not have a complete picture, would you?”
So Spangle went back and visited Afghanistan’s more out-of-the-way regions. What became apparent was, “Afghan men, across the board, are the most proud and self-possessed men I’ve ever met in my entire life,” Spangle says. “It’s kind of mind-blowing, because in the developed world, we always paint impoverished people as, like, grovelling. Yet, in fact, in Afghanistan, every single person you met wanted to look you in the eye and stand on even ground with you—whether they were unemployed, or if they were someone who was better off, like a warlord, they all looked you in the eye, treated you and spoke to you as a man, had total self-confidence.”
Something Spangle loved was, unlike the denizens of Pitti, these guys weren’t dressing for the camera, they weren’t busting rehearsed poses. Yet they looked outstanding. Literally. “How self-possessed these guys were, that blew my mind. And it also made them really easy subjects. I don’t think I’ve had an easier time photographing any group of people on Earth, including places like Pitti Uomo, where people want to be photographed, and I’m sure are practising in the mirror for it,” Spangle says. Afghan gentlemen, meanwhile, “They’re not putting on some kind of show for you. They’re not giving a practised smile—they’re just looking at you as if it’s only natural that you flew 5,000-and-something miles to come and photograph them.”
Just as it’s often the ‘éminences grises’ who stand out at Pitti Uomo—the likes of Lino Ieluzzi, Yukio Akamine, David Evans and Ignatious Joseph—Spangle says the more seasoned Afghan guys possess remarkable style. “There’s a lot of emphasis on maturity in Afghan culture,” he explains. “So young boys, boys, men, mature men: those are really, really big social demarcations in Afghanistan, and that definitely affects the way they dress. You’ve got guys who are like, probably 60-year-old horse hands, who I photographed a few seconds after they dusted off the places that they were sleeping on the ground the night before, using a tarp for a sleeping bag. And they look like a senior stylist at RRL or something, wearing a crazy tweed overcoat and a really cool vest. And for a guy who’s, like, working with horses and sleeping on the ground, they’re just immaculately presented.”
What can we here in Singapore learn from the way Afghan men dress and carry themselves? Clearly, confidence and self-possession are key. Make eye contact. Be a stand-up guy. Don’t be defined by your job or income. Plus, the Afghan sartorial stance—based around the timeless perahan tunban (an ensemble of long popover tunic shirt and loose trousers)—has proven, over the course of centuries, to be highly efficient in a hot, sunny environment. And Spangle says we shouldn’t shy from what some might describe as ‘cultural appropriation’. “I think cultural appropriation is basically what fashion is,” he says. “Fashion is doing what humans do, which is borrowing what we think is cool”—whether you’re gathering your sartorial inspiration from the dandies of Pitti or the horsemen of Helmand.
All photos courtesy of Robert Spangle.
This year's Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (or, you know, Coachella 2024) has been exceptionally remarkable, with headliners such as the eclectic Tyler, the Creator as well as powerhouse performers from K-pop group ATEEZ to J Balvin. Iconic ska band No Doubt also made their return to the stage after a decade-long hiatus.
Besides the notable lineup, Coachella is the occasion for festival dressing, and this year's did not disappoint. As arguably the most popular music festival in the world, Coachella drew a huge number of attendees over the past two weekends, with many dressed in their most eye-catching fits. The headliners and performers were put on outfits that matched the intensity of their setlist while celebrity attendees made sure they stood out in the sea of the Coachella-loving crowd.
Suits aren't commonplace at Coachella—this is not an award show red carpet—but folks like Jon Batiste switched it up with show-stopping tailoring. Everyone tend to be a bit more experimental in the way they dress. From midriff-baring top to streetwear-inspired looks, it was quite a spectacle to behold. In the gallery below, we take a closer look at some of the best-dressed men seen during the two weekends.
As a young stylist, I had always considered flying off to the fashion capitals for fashion weeks to be one of the pinnacles of my career. I had exalted it as a rite of passage—if I were to attend either London, Milan or Paris Fashion Week, it would mean that I’d made it.
I wasn’t naive to think that being invited to fashion shows would be all glamour. Fashion editorial life is (unfortunately) unlike what’s portrayed in the oft-referenced The Devil Wears Prada or even Robert Altman’s Ready to Wear. I was already reporting on the runway collections remotely, basing my reviews off of what I could see from livestreams as well as information from press releases. But I knew that being on the ground meant that my evenings would be spent doing the same with the added pressure of doing so after spending an entire day commuting from one show to the other.
The biggest draw for me was to be able to witness the show firsthand and actually see and feel the collections up close, months before everyone else does. It adds to the reporting and critique of a show. Watching them through a screen has its limits. Sure, one technically gets a much better view of each look as it walks down the runway thanks to steady camerawork, but a fashion show is much more than each individual look. The atmosphere—the music, audience and the scale of a set—completes the narrative that a designer is trying to communicate. And this, as much as technology has changed so much over the years, is a sensorial experience that falls short digitally.
To say that I was excited for my first official fashion week experience would be an understatement. At the same time, I was anxious. I’ve navigated Milan and Paris on my own before, but I’ve never had to rush for back-to-back appointments and shows during one of the cities’ busiest period of the year. Timing is everything and it’s not because I was afraid of getting to a show late (it’s fashion, hardly anything starts on the dot)—I was afraid of missing out a celebrity.
We’re all aware by now that celebrity culture is at an all-time high. Almost no big-named brand event is complete without the appearance of a number of celebrities, some of whom are official brand ambassadors. Brands—be it jewellery, watch or fashion—have been busy racking up top-tier Western, Korean and Thai faces in the past couple of years as brand ambassadors, all to give embodiment to their brand values while simultaneously attract the following that each celebrity commands.
It was a cold January in Milan. The Autumn/Winter 2024 Milan Fashion Week Men’s was the beginning of my two-week-long, non-stop fashion immersion. The Gucci menswear show was my first stop. It was creative director Sabato De Sarno’s first menswear collection for the House and I was in anticipation. I arrived half-an-hour early to the venue to find that I was not early enough. Not only was there already a sizeable crowd formed across the road behind a row of metal barriers, editors of publications based in Thailand, Hong Kong, Korea and my Singaporean counterparts were all flanking an imagined walkway right before the entrance to the main show area.
I managed to squeeze myself in, joining the rather civil queue of Asian press as we all waited for celebrity arrivals. Brands would typically provide a list of confirmed front-row attendees so we could single out those we’d want to approach for doorstop interviews or at the very least, film their arrival for social media. I went in completely blind for Gucci so I was rather awestruck by the sight of Idris Elba, Mark Ronson, Elliot Page and Jay Park. And when people I personally admire and follow such as male model Clément Chabernaud and musician Tamino walked in, the inner fanboy was very much in overdrive. The job comes first, however, and my phone kept trailing each of them from the moment they enter the space.
Yes, I am a glorified paparazzo.
No one stops to give soundbites as they enter a venue. It’s within the show set that the opportunities arise if you’re able to battle your way through the hordes of other press aiming for the very same. The Gucci show was my warmup. I didn’t get any save for a very muffled and quick hello by Elba, which wasn’t usable.
I learnt a thing or two from a very kind fellow celebrity-chaser. He introduced himself as we shared a mutual connection. He told me he is based in Paris but covers celebrity sightings for a publication in Singapore during fashion weeks in Milan and Paris. Having done it for at least six seasons now, the man has become a force to be reckoned with. He knew where to stand and wait for the perfect, clear view and seemingly had zero qualms about intruding the personal space of a celebrity. As an introvert, I was the exact opposite at the start but observed and went on to adopt a similar level of brazenness.
It was the only way that I was able to secure coveted soundbites from Korean actor and brand ambassador Lee Min-ho, Marvel’s Winston Duke, and latest brand ambassador Greg Hsu at Fendi. Prada’s Autumn/Winter 2024 menswear show was full of A-list celebrities—possibly one of the best curations out of the shows in Milan—and I was able to create content featuring Lee Jae-wook, Troye Sivan, Manu Ríos, Luther Ford, and Win Metawin. Lee was even kind enough to rerecord his once I discovered that the audio was off in the original and suffered a fleeting panic attack from it. At Loewe, I even managed to approach Saltburn’s Archie Madekwe for an additional soundbite to tease his then-unreleased February 2024 cover of Esquire Singapore.
“Did you get all the content you need?” a brand communications personnel asked as I was exiting a venue. It was a question I’d hear time and again throughout the two weeks. They were all trying to ensure I had the necessary recordings for Instagram reels that would reach as many people as possible. And if not, they’d assist in securing a celebrity’s time if possible.
I’m not going to lie. There were moments in the evening after a day’s series of shows where I felt semblances of an existential crisis. I would rather speak to creative directors such as Miuccia Prada, Jonathan Anderson, Kim Jones and the like to find out more about their thought processes behind the collections. I had questions after seeing every show but it wasn’t humanly possible to split my time. In the battle for social media views and engagement, creative directors, very unfortunately, don’t garner the same level of attention than even a wink by Korean actor Jung Hae-in.
“In the past, the editors’ biggest concern was getting captured by street style photographers,” a counterpart proffered as we were waiting for celebrities to slowly stream in at a show. The “past” was only about five years ago. And while I don’t necessarily agree with the sentiment (I’ve worked under editors who consciously dress to impress during fashion week while delivering elaborate collection reviews post-shows), I understand the manic evolution of fashion media. It’s no longer enough to deliver content at dizzying speed; content has to be relevant and with a guise of exclusivity.
Will this bubble ever burst? I don’t have the answer to that. But as along as there is a desire for content featuring celebrities that bring in social media engagements and estimated media values in the millions (at the very least), the fashion industry will be sticking to this formula.
The Spring/Summer 2025 Milan and Paris Fashion Week Men’s shows are coming up in a couple of months. And I’m ready, with my iPhone, my small Bluetooth enabled microphone and Esquire Singapore placard going: “Hi! I’m Asri, style director of Esquire Singapore. May I get you to say hello to our readers?”
The Gobi. It’s a vast expanse of emptiness and sand—so much sand—that spreads out into forever where the sky meets the endless horizon in a union of dust and sunlight. From the pictures, you’d imagine it to be tomb-quiet but the howl from the whipping wind says otherwise.
It’s hard to imagine such a landscape to be replete of life but travellers walked these sandy plains once and still. Except, in this day and age, SUVs and motorbikes leave their treads in the sand—signs of existence. These lay there as testament before, hours later, the wind would return the desert to its unblemished state.
For now, a Mongol herder—a sullen man, adorned in weathered leather boots and a dusty blue down coat bisected by a brown belt—leads his camels; trailing foot/hoofprints. They see a figure perched on a dune ahead. As the figure approaches, the herder brim his eyes with his free hand, while the other hand tightens around the reins.
The stranger, a tall foreigner of the Western persuasion, is attired in a white coat and slacks the colour of chocolate. He may look like a fish out of water but, here in this parched land, he feels perfectly at ease. Were this any other encounter, the herder would baulk at the stranger but this is a meeting that had occurred minutes ago. This is the second take before documentary photographer Chris Rainier, satisfied with the shot, directs them to another spot, angled in a way that the near-afternoon sun would flatter them.
It started at Luxor.
Two years ago, to commemorate its semicentennial anniversary, the Italian luxury lifestyle brand Stefano Ricci decided to host the celebration at the Hatshepsut Temple. As part of the Theban Necropolis, the temple is carved into the sheer cliffs of the Deir el-Bahari complex. The monumental architecture characterised by three terraces proved to be a fitting space for Stefano Ricci.
The two-day event culminated in a fashion show for 400 guests. Dr Zahi Hawass, archaeologist and former Minister of Antiquities and Culture, described the show thusly: “I have seen this temple more than a thousand times in my life, but Stefano [the namesake founder and brand chairman] made me see it in a new and different way. The fashion models began to come down the temple stairs, escorted by Egyptian warriors. We saw a great new fashion that the world had never seen before.”
The event created a lot of buzz but it also sparked an idea for a series; one that would take the Ricci family to far-flung corners of the world.
It's called the EXPLORER Project and it’s spearheaded by the sons of Stefano, Niccolò and Filippo—the CEO and creative director, respectively. Filippo said that the Luxor event alerted them to a new outlook in appealing to men’s innate wanderlust. Their clients are “dynamic, independent, powerful men” and the real luxury is to “have remarkable [travel] experiences”.
They started with Iceland. A land of contrasts, where glaciers meet black volcanic sands. The Vatnajökull Glacier—Europe’s largest ice cap—is an indomitable presence on the south-eastern horizon. For their AW24 collection, Filippo came with an intrepid crew consisting of hair-and-make-up artists, stylists, videographers, drone operators and models. They also roped in the expertise of Terry Garcia, CEO of Exploration Ventures, and the aforementioned Chris Rainier.
Terry leapt at the chance to work on the project. He cited the importance of exploration, especially in this day and age. They shot against the Skógafoss waterfall; along the black sand beaches of Reykjanesbær and Reynisfjara; the Diamond Beach, a sand beach next to Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon and the cavernous ice caves of the Vatnajökull Region.
The Galápagos Islands were the next chapter of the Explorer project but that wasn’t Stefano Ricci’s first choice. They were supposed to shoot elsewhere but unforeseen circumstances forced the crew to scramble for another location. They eventually ended at the Galápagos Islands.
We suppose there is some poetry to this. The volcanic archipelago was where naturalist, Charles Darwin, was inspired to develop his theory of evolution. In this place, where Darwin witnessed the adaptations of finches’ beaks, Stefano Ricci will adapt to shoot their SS24 campaign.
Terry Garcia is still on board but this time, Mattias Klum, photographer, and National Geographic fellow, helmed the photoshoot. Niccolò has decided to come along as well; no sense in letting the younger brother have all the fun. With the supervision of the Galápagos National Park Directorate, extreme care was taken in shooting in the archipelago’s fragile and unique ecosystems.
They shot at Santa Fé Island, a small gem in the Galápagos crown. There, the the sea lions and marine iguanas were nonchalant accessories to the photoshoot. The unique fauna (giant turtles) and flora (cactus and Scalesia forest) complemented the “nature tones” of the collection. This was also their first underwater shoot. On a boat ride out to Isla Guy Fawkes, Matthias said that the underwater perspective added another dimension to the story that they were telling.
That story is part of a bigger one. It’s post-Covid and the borders are slowly opening up. The pent-up agoraphilia that those mindful of quarantine have broken loose. It seemed serendipitous that Stefano Ricci managed to be in the thick of this sudden worldwide yen for travel.
For the AW24 collection, Stefano Ricci’s took to the birthplace of Chinggis Khaan—Mongolia. Aside the return of Chris Rainier as the principal photographer, for this expedition, they included the locals in their campaign, opened the expedition up to valued customers willing to join them and introduced exclusive material for their winter outfits.
First, the material. It’s made from the undercoat of the Hircus goats from Alashan. The fibre is collected through gentle hand combing on goats no older than 10 months of age in the spring. Then, it’s processed into a superlight and resistant cashmere: the Stefano Ricci Alpha Yarn.
Second, the inclusion of Stefano Ricci’s clientele in the project added another facet to the brand’s growing portfolio—that of a semi-bespoke travel agent. Stefano Ricci’s exclusive patronage is a by-invitation-only club. These valued patrons will have the opportunity to embark on this once-in-a- lifetime chance to evoke their inner Magellan (or insert your own ethical explorer alternative). Lorenzo Quinn, an artist known for his large-scale sculptures (one of his works, “The Force of Nature”, is found at Marina Barrage) is an inaugural invitee. In a reportage video, Lorenzo paraphrased the essence of exploration from the project’s motto, “[to] explore the world is to explore ourselves”. For an artist like him, this was a much-needed respite to stir the creative juices.
During the time in Mongolia, the group slept in gers (a Mongolian yurt); traversed the Flaming Cliffs; posed at the Chinggis Khaan Statue Complex; climb the many and winding steps of Aryabal Temple and communed with the Kazakh burkitshi (eagle hunters) in Altai. It is the latter that held great significance with Stefano Ricci; the family’s emblem is the eagle. It is this commonality that the Riccis donated to Kazakh Falconry Association for the preservation of the raptors. (Stefano Ricci also donated to the Charles Darwin Foundation at their last Galápagos project).
For a luxury brand, there is nothing luxurious in how the campaigns were shot. In fact, productions were closer to the point of discomfort. There have been a lot of unearthly hours to aspire to, just to catch the first light of the sun. They also had to contend with the local amenities in these far-flung corners. In their journey from Three Camel Lodge at which they resided, to the shooting location in the Gobi, the early morning darkness caused even the guide to lose his bearings.
But Niccolò had nothing but praise for the professionalism of his team. Everybody knows what they need to do. It’s a well-oiled machine, one that was honed during previous excursions. In classic Italian fashion, the smiles break through the sweat; the camaraderie flows easily.
A fashion house and the theme of travel... this isn’t a novel idea. Luggage brands like RIMOWA extolled the virtue of a well-travelled suitcase and Samsonite highlighted the “man on the go”. Coach had an air travel boutique inside an aeroplane. Japanese label, TEÄTORA, specialises in outfits to ease the rigours of travel—ie, packable T-shirts, jackets to fit carry-ons like a passport and/or an electronic tablet.
We leave off with a quote from Terry: “Exploration, yes, it’s about adventure, it’s about the unknown. But sometimes, exploration is about seeing an old place through new eyes.” And what better way than to view it through the lens of fashion?
A new trio of actors have ascended as the face of Prada's latest menswear campaign. The Spring/Summer 2024 menswear campaign features—for the very first time—Harris Dickinson, Troye Sivan, and Kelvin Harrison Jr. and lensed by Willy Vanderperre. All brilliant actors in their own right, just like how they each embody different characters from role to role, they portray the transformative nature of fashion coupled with Prada's penchant for stylistic juxtaposition.
We finally have a firm date for Dior Men's upcoming Fall 2024 runway show in Hong Kong. The show is set to take place on 23 March 2024—a break from its usual tradition of a December showing. While there isn't a show venue announced yet, it's safe to say that the fashion house will definitely not be taking over the city's Avenue of Stars that was the site for Louis Vuitton's show in November last year.
Pharrell Williams' first collection for Louis Vuitton has officially hit boutiques this week. And the collection's latest face—the first was a pregnant Rihanna debuted as a lead-up to the runway show last year—is none other than LeBron James. The professional athlete was already pictured with Williams' reworked Louis Vuitton Speedy back in October and made the announcement on social media almost immediately, but we now have the full slate of the campaign going live. And let's just say that it's about time that James is given the LV spotlight.
Saint Laurent's latest at Singapore's Paragon is a two-floor boutique that's unlike the others. The brand new design concept by Anthony Vaccarello is both raw and refined—quite like his creations for the House of late. Industrial grey concrete flooring is juxtaposed with grigio alpi marble walls and blue lumen marble as well as golden spider marble furnishings. The new boutique houses Saint Laurent's collection across all its categories and features a VIP room located on the second floor.
