A Frenchman in Lisbon - sober black

White jacket & white hat

White jacket is not something that many men feel comfortable to wear. White hat is not something that many men feel comfortable in using. But there are still some men that don’t seem to feel uncomfortable in using both, and if possible, at the same time

Fashion & Countryside

Day by day we’re more heedful and respectful to countryside. And that works to fashion as well. There are much more garments or accessories that we “steal” from countryside than we can imagine…

Speaking about stripes..

..I will always love blue & white

Stripes & stripes

Ericeira - Mr. Nicolau

After taking the photo I came to the conclusion that we all noticed Mr Nicholas the moment we arrived to the beach. This wonderful mix between Hemingway and the Latin man who makes the delights of women from Northern Europe wouldn’t be easy to ignore. In this portrait...the eternal Lacoste Polo-shirt he’s wearing is just a small detail

Lisbon Downtown - While she waits for a friend

Indiana

Cool hipnoise

The lovely contrast between glasses and tattoos

I always thought that a good balance of contrasts was the halfway stage to a beautiful scenario. I always remember Francisco, an huge mulatto that lived in the neighbourhood that used to wear impeccable linen suits or the baby face punk I used to see in the subway in my way to school. The tattoos, like it more or less, are a strong image, and when they concern to men, most of times seem aggressive too. The graduated glasses, no matter some design or marketing efforts, hardly loose they’re connotation of serenity, wisdom and labour. The two together are Alexandre. Here, the Fred Perry polo-shirt – more than enough by itself to create a post – it’s just a bonus. Everything else is Alex

Fashion and motorcycles

I had to walk back a whole block, have faith that the traffic restraints on downtown would do their job and take advantage of the color of the traffic light just to take this picture. After I turned my back around I thought “this is the second picture of a motorcycle that I take, and from the Taylor you should expect it to be a blog about fashion before anything else, or at least that it inspires itself on fashion to talk about anything else.” I turned around thinking about how nice that motorcycle was and about my apparently well succeeded posts where I didn’t just stick to the sheer aesthetic analysis of the clothes of those that got photographed. I took a turn at Rua Augusta, walked in at the MUDE (Museum of Fashion and Design) and the first thing I saw represented, even before a Christian Dior coat and jacket, was a Vespa 125. Presumptuously I thought to myself:

- "Not bad, for a guy that works at a bank.”

p.s. - did you liked the scooter? click here to know more

São Paulo in Lisbon

There are 2 main reasons why I don’t publish a post everyday: the first one, I’ll talk about it some other day; the other reason is the simple fact that people have the (nice) habit of walking along with somebody else. Interrupting any conversations saying “hey, I’m going to need your friend for 30 seconds” would seem a bit rude and evocative of the ungrateful job of those whose work is to stand on the door of night clubs deciding who goes in and who goes home. Digressions aside… this lady’s husband was too good looking and charming to let himself bother by a kid that, even before addressing her, asked him if he could shoot his wife. Well, don’t get fooled, it was up to this lady from São Paulo to decide, but we all know that when it comes to the person we love the most, we all become a bit more sensitive than we would be in any other circumstance. As for the rest, her husband had as much charm as he had good looks. It’s fun to take pictures like these.

Letter to Manel (Uniforms and Identities)

Dear Manel,
Some have the capability of intimidating others just for their presence, some have the ability of stopping traffic just for their walk and some have the virtue of never letting themselves be extinguished by what they’re wearing. When we’re wearing a uniform, we always loose a bit of ourselves for the piece of garment we wear. I’ve always felt a little bit less me every time I had to wear one. As you can imagine, for a guy that thought about doing a blog about rags, wearing the rags he didn’t choose can be particularly itchy. But you, Manel, you simply said to me “Sure you can shoot, I’m just doing my job”.
You sure were, Manel. And everybody looking at you could realize that if you wore a tuxedo for an evening out or bathing shorts on the beach, they would always see you. But me, I seem to pass through a multiplicity of egos when I go between coat and tie from Monday to Friday, and a baseball cap and a tank top shirt on the weekends. “Sure you can shoot, I’m just doing my job”. Yes you are, Manel, but all I’m asking is for you to give a 10 minute tolerance to that car and to forgive me for taking the “u” off from “Manuel”. I can assure you that I’m doing it with the same simplicity for who (sometimes) it’s hard not to introduce myself as “Zé”, instead of “José”, during work time. I have to go now. By 9 o’clock I have to be José again.
Best regards,
Zé

The Beauty of Fatherhood

My last memory of Ricardo has 13 or 14 years. We were both wearing tight pants doing Capoeira. Me, on the climax of my (pre) teens, and Ricardo, I suspect, on his first manhood years.
Times have changed. Ricardo seemed more good looking and happier. We can only blame Graça, Jorge and Rosa and their beautiful white hats. When I first started The Lisbon Taylor, it never crossed my mind to get a picture like this. Its beauty can turn a picture of a beautiful lady wearing an evening gown with a low neckline into something ordinary. Besides, I can’t think of anything sexier than these marsupial adornments.
PS: Interesting people create interesting projects. This couple opened up a store recently. I enjoyed it and (more important) Time Out also did. At Calçada do Carmo, 26-28.

Maria - shorts and half-boots

There are people that don't match up to our expectations. There are others, however, that what you see is what you get. That applies to Maria. So beautiful and so pleasant

My first turban

If you ask me for an exotic destination, the first country that comes into my mind is India. Besides, I have a hyper-romantic conception of the Indian woman and every time I think about its male version it always occurs to me that scene from The English Patient where the character played by Juliette Binoche starts drooling about Naveen Andrews (Lieutenant Kip Singh) washing his hair after we’d seen him carefully taking off his turban.

Some of the photos that show up here are concepts that I had previously designed in my mind and just waited for the right opportunity to materialize. The turban was exactly on of them. I must admit it was the turban that took me to Martim Moniz. This part of Lisbon and the idea about it that the people from Lisbon have sends me back to everything we cheer about London, New York and all of those big cities that serve as paradigms for the “melting pots” and the “multiracial societies”. The truth is that we tend to appreciate these sociological concepts better if they’re several thousands of miles away from our homes. This is just my own personal confession…

This all came to my mind the moment I walked away from Balbir Singh. I just never would have thought that his last name would be the same as the movie character responsible for my charming vision of the Indian man.

Smells like Summer

The Gentleman - lilac mood

Tropical Lisbon

I can’t think of any other European capital where sea diving and History can get along so well as in Lisbon. I can imagine, for example, that for those that live somewhere between the English Channel and the North Sea, the idea of being able to go to the beach in March or October can seem… tropical. Our Portuguese judgement tells us that anyone that loves a shirt like these should keep them religiously destined for a beach party or a vacation in the Pacific, but go and tell that to those that only have 1500 hours of sunshine per year.

Rossio train station - bohemian vintage

I’d read somewhere about a Titanic exhibition in Lisbon. The idea didn’t got stuck into my mind, but when I walked by the Rossio train station, I thought this was a good excuse to see the old (but renovated) station. Too bad the price of the tickets didn’t quite fit into my concept of killing time waiting for my lunch company to arrive. I turned my back to the shipwreck and faced Gonçalo. Well, the rest of the story, you already know…

Conference about style

Apparently these two gents were coordinating a fashion production right in the centre of Lisbon. For some reason I can’t explain I’ve found them a more interesting concept to work with than the model. I have to admit she was probably 7 years younger and 3 centimetres taller than me. Even so...

São Saturnino - green over green

An English lady at Guincho

How wonderful to see the effect that a single accessory can have on the whole.

4 ways to use your head

Chequers and coincidences

I’ve realised some months ago, reading a fashion editorial in Men’sHealth, that chequers are back for good. It reminded me of the shirt I (probably) took to a Pearl Jam concert in 96 and it made me realise that I’m not that immune to fashion tendencies as much as I would like to think I am. We’re done about chequers.

I like coincidences. They don’t leave me wondering about the good or bad energy of the universe, but I find them amusing. These two fellows are German. In 5 days, I’ve found them in two different places of the city. Ok, they’re designers, they’re here for the OFFF, but it’s still a funny coincidence. The thing is that I really enjoyed talking with these guys. More than a photoblog or a fashionblog, this is a peopleblog. Without nice people like these two guys The Lisbon Tailor wouldn’t have survived for more than two weeks.

The day Terreiro do Paço stood still

I heard a horn. Drivers never tended to go crazy about me walking on crosswalks, but I turned around by instinct. I saw two police agents, gazing, the same agents that had just missed two blatant proposals to get cocaine (from there to Rossio, the rule is the same: just as long as you don’t try to offer “dope” to the gentlemen in the uniforms, everything will go on just fine). The way they elbowed themselves reminded me of how we used to do it, in our pre-teens, every time we saw Mariana Cardoso, a girl from our school, walking in front of us. I held the camera firmly and took the shot. Some may like it, others may not… But the fact is Terreiro do Paço stood still.

Encore

“I just don’t know how you could not shoot him again”, my girlfriend said when, one day, going up the avenue, we found him walking the dog. That’s more or less the feeling I get every time I come across Luis. When he told me he was going to Paris in June, I couldn’t resist and suggested him “Until then, every time we meet I’ll take you a picture”. Here’s his answer. I win, you win and the Taylor wins. And I hope Luis wins too.

My (2nd) precedent

(Like my 1st precedent) I would like to publicly apologise to this lady and, at the same time, thank her for being here. I loved her look. I can only hope that someday she can meet this blog and also (who knows?) love it.

Campo Grande, summer look

So Indie

I don’t care much about labels, and even when I was 15 I still didn’t have much patience for that “urban tribes” crap that everybody kept identifying in every type of hairdo, length of pants, colour of underwear or in the number of times you pick your nose. But the truth is I have to name every post, or at least I think that their beauty and sense begins on the title itself. Hence, and taking into account the look of those that show up here…

Bahia de Alcudia and Magaluf, long shorts (male and female)

Port de Sóller - An English Lady in a "North-American" dress

"I´m just an old lady" she said. I just answered "Well...I love your dress and my girlfriend agrees".

Palma - the tourist, the girl and the street artist

United Colours of Vespa

I like Time Out and apparently Time Out likes me too

It feels good to see a young blog like this in an article in such an amazing magazine. Thank you TIME OUT Lisboa!

About a jacket

A few days ago my godson asked me for advice about what his first suit should be, and I told him on the telephone: “dark blue, two buttons and two vents”. The same suggestion I would give to my friends when - on the day before their first oral exam in college or their first job interview – they told me they wouldn’t like to wear the same suit that their mom had bought them one day for their cousin’s wedding.
Dark blue will always be my choice for a first suit. It’s possible that grey will come up as my second, but a checkered suit will surely be my third choice. When you buy a checkered jacket, you risk yourself to: a) losing another afternoon trying to find the right tie, b) having your boss looking down on you and c) getting complements from the only women in the world that will never stop doing it – your grandmothers. How should I put it… a while ago I saw a blog called this is our thing. Well, the checkered coat is definitely “my thing”.