RFT Slideshows

We've got fashion. Yes we do.

Yeah, we were pretty shocked, too. Who would've thought that Cardinals t-shirts and Blues caps were the height of modern fashion? (Then again, Jon Hamm has been photographed wearing a Blues cap. Ah, Jon, you give us class!) But there it is, in another one of those scientific polls we love so much, this one courtesy of Bundle.com. They promise "unbiased, data-driven ratings," so we know we can trust them, unlike those malicious East Coast snobs at the Daily Beast.

And so there we are, ranked at number 14, nestled between Fort Worth and Ft. Lauderdale. And no, there are more than 15 cities in these rankings, thankyouverymuch!

More >>

Illinois businessman Shahid Khan, during his "Midwestern magnate" phase.

​When last we saw Shahid Khan, he was wishing Stan Kroenke success with ownership of the Rams. It was a magnanimous gesture toward the rival who had pipped him at the post on a business deal, and Khan was the very image of a successful and gracious business magnate. The suit was natty, the tie was perfect; he wore "serious" glasses and had the sharp boutonniere to add a spray of color to the look. And his hair -- his hair was a thicker Jack Donaghy power cut, the kind of coiffure suitable for a man who had the world by the throat.

And then Khan successfully purchased the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the tightly-buttoned businessman succumbed to the party vibes of that beachside den of vice.
More >>

Fisher (right) schools Tucci on modeling.

​One of the perils of not having cable TV is that you'll find yourself watching some truly horrible programming because, well, nothing better is on. Such was the case last night when I sat through an hour of the new CW reality series Remodeled on Channel 11.   

The show centers around a guy named Paul Fisher, a supposed hot-shot in the modeling world who claims to have launched the careers of Naomi Campbell, Stephanie Seymour and countless other supermodels. In Remodeled, Fisher flies around the nation sharing his vision and expertise with hapless modeling agencies in America's "small towns." In last night's show, Fisher and his androgynous, Goth henchman, Joseph, touch downed at Lambert Field and (after getting lost in an incredibly staged scene in East St. Louis) find their way to Sharon Tucci's Centro Models in downtown St. Louis. 
More >>

Ian Froeb

Update December 15: Crews are currently inside tag and its two neighbors, Chipotle and Noodles and Company, to clear out the toxic smoke smell. Both restaurants will be closed till tomorrow. Rearrange your dining plans accordingly.

Inside the store, many of the clothes are still intact. Fortunately yesterday's disaster seems to have been more smoke than actual fire.

-------

Timeless Authentic Garments (tag), a used clothing store in the Delmar Loop, caught fire this afternoon. No one was injured, but smoke continues to pour out of the store's open door and hover over the street.

The cause of the fire is still unknown, though word is it started in the back room and may have something to do with the fact that the store is flanked by two restaurants with gas grills, Chipotle and Noodles and Company, and that it contained plenty of vintage clothing made from polyester and other flammables.

In 2008, the year it opened, Riverfront Times chose the store as Best Place to Buy Used Clothing.

More >>

image via

Update December 8: Vogue Italia has since removed the top right photo from its website because, according to the website Fashionista, it's been turning up on pro-anorexia websites as "thinspo," or inspiration for not eating. Over at Jezebel, fashion writer (and former model) Jenna Sauers compared the final picture and a behind-the-scenes video and concluded that the photo was not Photoshopped, it was Kloss, being a model and posing at a weird-ass angle.

------

When Riverfront Times hung out with Karlie Kloss, three years ago, the St. Louis-raised supermodel (Webster High, represent!) was bouncing on a trampoline. This week Kloss, now 19, closed the Victoria's Secret fashion show and posed for a magazine pictorial without her wings...or much else. Since the photos were by Steven Meisel for Vogue Italia, you can be assured that they are eminently tasteful, though probably still NSFW. They're also kind of encouraging: There's way more muscle than bone on display, which gives credence to Kloss's claim that she's a snack addict and stays thin by exercising. Still, we can't help but sigh. They grow up so fast!

A few more (clothed) photos after the jump.

More >>

Photo by Ashley Atkins

Dazzle Me Twice opened its doors October 21.

​Looking to add outfits from designers such as Armani, Chanel and Fendi to your wardrobe but don't have the scratch to do so? Well, St. Louis fashionistas, have we got some good news for you.

Dazzle Me Twice is a new high-end consignment shop in the Central West End that aims at helping you look marvelous for less.

Marty London opened the store late last month as a way to take advantage of the ongoing recession.

"It's interesting. It kind of runs the gamut, but I think that in this economy there are an awful lot of people that want to look at consignment. Especially, when you have beautiful things like I do," she says.
More >>

OCJ Apparel

There's no better place to show off your school spirit than your ass.

If the eighties taught us anything, it was that there's no better place to show off a fancy logo than your ass. And for most people, there is no fancier logo to flaunt than that of their dear, dear alma mater.

Greg Adams is like most people. During his college years at Texas Christian University, he amassed an extensive wardrobe of purple-and-gold TCU shirts. Alas, he had no bottoms to wear with them, except for sweatpants with TCU emblazoned across the ass. Which, as Adams notes now, you can't exactly wear when you go out at night, or even to games. Well, if you are a person of taste and style.

So in the fall of 2009, during his last semester of college, Adams teamed up with a Tyler Fleming, a classmate who happened to be a graphic designer, and started up Original College Jeans (OCJ) Apparel, a company that produces classy-looking jeans with collegiate logos embroidered on the rear pockets. They are currently available at six universities, including Mizzou, in two washes ("Deep Indigo" and "Victory") and two cuts (skinny and bootcut).

Sadly, he cannot wear any of OCJ Apparel's products. So far, they're all for women.

More >>

Alex MacFarlane

Daily RFT doesn't know jack about cars. So when STL Motorsports called a press conference to roll out an obscenely high-end vehicle last week, we knew whom to send: Alex Macfarlane, the local 27-year-old whose attempt to win an outlaw cross-country car race in 2010 become the subject of our feature, "Cannonball Re-run." Here's what he reported back to us:

It was no surprise that STL Motorsports' premier event for the 2011 Lamborghini Aventador on Friday had so many adolescent boys in the audience. Really, I'm surprised that there weren't more adolescent boys in attendance.

Ferraris and Lamborghinis need to exist for the same reason supermodels need to exist: Even though a young man will probably have neither in his life, it's enough to know that they're out there.

And make no mistake, the evening was devoted to the ultimate expression of automotive pornography: a 700hp, $400,000 supercar capable of performance almost beyond comprehension and composed of exotic materials like carbon fiber, alcantara and the infant teeth of pygmy rhinoceroses (JK).

More >>

​For the second time in as many days, thieves have smashed through the windows of a St. Louis area clothier and made off with merchandise.

Today's robbery occurred at Blues, a fashion denim retailer in the 6700 block of Delmar in University City. KTVI reports that the thieves smashed through the glass doors around 5 this morning and left with clothing in two getaway cars.

Around the same time yesterday thieves in the Central West End drove a pickup truck though the doors of a clothing store along Maryland Plaza.

The break-ins are reminiscent of a 2008-2009 crime spree in which thieves smashed their way into at least fifteen area businesses in search of flat-screen TVs.

More >>

Jennifer Silverberg

Jeff and Mary Clarke and a few of their clients: Cat McGrath, Kayla Travers, Karlie Kloss and Katie Fogarty.

This week is Fashion Week in New York City, which does not mean Missoni at Target as it does here, but instead tall, skinny girls walking down runways showing off the designer clothes that will hit stores next spring. ABC's Nightline seized the moment by running a special last night that focused not on the clothes, but on the girls that wear them, called "A Not So Glamorous Model Life."

Among the villains plaguing these poor young innocents are the modeling agents that pay them next to nothing and force them to live in communal apartments, photographers who demand hand jobs in exchange for work, a sleazy club promoter named Isaiah who lures the girls into the bedroom of his SoHo apartment with the promise of a free meal (to supplement those meager earnings)...and Jeff and Mary Clarke, a husband-and-wife team of modeling scouts who run an operation out of their Dardenne Prairie, Missouri, home called Mother Model Management that Nightline portrays as a cross between America's Next Top Model and a gulag.

Riverfront Times also ran a feature on the Clarkes and their most famous discovery, Karlie Kloss, back in 2008. We saw the Clarkes as warm, supportive and protective of their clients, even the ones who decided to quit modeling. They also gave the girls food. It was quiche -- and no one threw up afterward.

More >>