CR Men issue 12 Spring/Summer 2021

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CR MEN, ISSUE 12 SPRING/SUMMER 2021

President and Chief Executive Officer: VLADIMIR RESTOIN ROITFELD Founder and Creative Director: CARINE ROITFELD Special Guest Editor: HONEY DIJON Creative and Editorial Consultant: ÉDOUARD RISSELET Managing Director: MEGAN WRAY SCHERTLER Editorial Director: NATALIE SHUKUR Art Director: OLIVER SHAW Graphic Design: CATALOGUE Executive Producer: SASHA BAR-TUR Casting Director: PIERGIORGIO DEL MORO, GIULIA MASSULLO Talent Director: CREATIVE CASTING AGENCY Market and Accessories Co-Director: MARIE CHEIAKH Market and Accessories Co-Director: JULIAN ANTETOMASO Illustrator: JAMES LACEY Copy and Research Editor: EMILY JENSEN Production Coordinator: ERIC GUBNITSKY Digital Editor: VIENNA VERNOSE Digital Assistant: CHRISTOPHER AKINTONDE Executive Assistant to the President and CEO: ANNA WELLS CROWLEY Executive Assistant and Paris Office Manager: ELISA THERRIAUD Interns: EMAN ALAMI, ALYSSA DAVIS, ANA ESCALANTE, REBECCA JOHNSON, CAROLINE KLOSTER, POLINA KUZNETSOVA, MAYA LAYNE, AYESHA LE BRETON, MICHELLE LEE, MAVERICK LI, WILLOW MALSCH, CATHARINE MALZAHN, JACQUELINE NAVAS, OMOKANYISOLA ODUSANYA, KENNEDY ROESE, KENNEDY SMITH, MATTHEW VELASCO Special Thanks: BENEDICTE BATAILLE, CLEMENT CAMARET, DOLLY COHEN, SAM HOLT, YOUSSEF MARQUIS, JIM SCHACHMES, JEFFREY SCHNABOLK, EMILIE URBANSKY, ALEXANDER WERZ Publisher: FABIO MONTOBBIO, ROCK MEDIA Advertising Manager: PAMELA SIRONI, ROCK MEDIA International Editions Publisher: JEANNETTE CHANG Managing Partner: ODIS MANAGEMENT Press and Communications: NIKE COMMUNICATIONS Pre-Press: PH MEDIA, part of MY LOGICAL GROUP ralph@phmedia.com Print Production: LOGICAL CONNECTIONS, part of MY LOGICAL GROUP greig@logicalconnections.co.uk Distribution: LOGICAL CONNECTIONS, part of MY LOGICAL GROUP adam@logicalconnections.co.uk Controlled Circulation: LOGICAL CONNECTIONS, part of MY LOGICAL GROUP jim@logicalconnections.co.uk

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“CR Fashion Book” is used by CR Fashion Book LTD. under license from its owner. Copyright 2021.

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ONE WAY TICKET When you’re packing for adventure, excess baggage is the only way to roll

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IN-FLIGHT RITUALS Personal travel peculiarities

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J BALVIN Surfing different waves Natalie Shukur

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THE TERMINAL A liminal space where time stands still

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TEGEL AIRPORT A symbol of hopes and dreams Camille Okhio

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THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT Meet Mark Bryan, the mechanical engineer with a penchant for pencil skirts and heels

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SHAPE SHIFTERS Mark Bryan in conversation with Mr. Pearl

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Photography EMMANUEL SANCHEZ MONSALVE

Fashion MARION KELLY

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Luca wears Shirt JIL SANDER Top (underneath) GMBH Shorts ISSEY MIYAKE Sandals BIRKENSTOCK Sunglasses LOUIS VUITTON Bag (in hand) BOTTEGA VENETA Bag (in lap) TELFAR Bag (on shoulder) stylist’s own

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When you’re packing for an endless adventure, excess baggage is the only way to roll.

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Seth wears Shirt THEOPHILIO Shirt (underneath) CELINE HOMME BY HEDI SLIMANE Shorts REESE COOPER Tights and socks FALKE Sandals DIOR MEN Hat STÜSSY Backpack THE NORTH FACE Blanket GREG LAUREN Bag TELFAR

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Jordy wears Jacket REESE COOPER Shorts LOEWE Bags BRANDON BLACKWOOD Jackets (in hand) THE NORTH FACE

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Seth wears Top PAUL SMITH Jumpsuit (worn as pants) ISABEL MARANT Hat L’ACADEMY Bag (on chest) BALENCIAGA Backpack PRADA Bag (attached to backpack) BRANDON BLACKWOOD Bag (on suitcase) BSTROY Suitcases RIMOWA

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Luca wears Top BALENCIAGA Shorts PAUL SMITH Sandals MICHAEL KORS Jewelry SHINY SQUIRREL Suitcases RIMOWA

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Jordy wears Shirt PIERRE BLANC Pants WALES BONNER Bag (around neck) A.P.C. Bag (green) TELFAR Bag (brown) MICHAEL KORS Bag (white) stylist’s own

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Seth wears Jacket LOEWE Hoodie TELFAR Pants DSQUARED2 Shoes BIRKENSTOCK Hat STÜSSY Bag MICHAEL KORS Suitcases RIMOWA

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Luca wears Jacket A.P.C. Top, shorts and boots DRIES VAN NOTEN Top (underneath) DIOR MEN Socks FALKE Jewelry SHINY SQUIRREL Bag (under right arm) SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARELLO Bag (on lap) LOUIS VUITTON Bag (under left arm) TELFAR BAG (underneath) SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARELLO Suitcases RIMOWA

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Luca wears Top BALENCIAGA Shorts PAUL SMITH Sandals MICHAEL KORS Jewelry SHINY SQUIRREL Suitcases RIMOWA Shirt and bag (on suitcase) SAINT LAURENT BY ANTHONY VACCARELLO

Hair GONN KINOSHITA Makeup ERNEST ROBINSON Production JESSICA TJENG Location TWA HOTEL AT JFK AIRPORT

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People’s travel peculiarities are a very personal thing. In the liminal space between the clouds and the ground, time stands still, and one is inspired to dream, to reflect or maybe ust knock oneself out and pray for a smooth landing Honey Di on asked some of her fre uent flying friends to share how they take to the air

THEASTER GATES: ARTIST What’s the first thing you do when you get on the plane?

I organize my carry-on and get my plane accoutrements together: wires, chargers, papers for grading, the book. I basically make a temporary home on the plane.

Do you have any flying rituals?

Well, the rituals have changed over time.

I used to be an O’Hare Airport food concessions guy, and at Midway, I’d go with Potbelly’s. These days, I’m trying to change all that. I have the Naomi Campbell approach now. No food, lots of water, and maybe a shot of something if I want to sleep a bit. I used to do a few shots or a good business class mixed drink, but that’s its own addiction. These days, I tend to hit a cold press with heavy ginger and call it a day.

Sometimes, if there is a good vino situation, I’ll hit a glass of red. I have the noisecanceling Bose headphones, usually pumping some Frank Ocean, Tracy Chapman, or Keith Jarrett. Because I fall asleep easily, I just try to make sure that I’m hydrated, not too hungry, and always with a good book.

What do you wear when you travel?

Chelsea boots, yoga pants, and a comfy sweater with one outer piece of swag.

Favorite luggage?

Prada, honey! All the time! Although, I often get a new piece of luggage every time I leave the country.

How do you pass the time on a flight?

Mubi, etflix, and sketching. I tend to doodle a lot and make lots of plans. I also just stare out the window and wonder.

What’s the first thing you do when you get off the plane?

I thank the LAWD! I try not to turn my phone on immediately and take a few last minutes of quiet time before the logistics work begins. Plane time is sacred.

If you could fly anywhere right now, where would you go?

I would be in the South of France with people who I love.

Do you have any in-flight rituals?

No alcohol. I try not to eat at all unless I’m on a really long flight and then I eat as it takes up time. I will definitely pop some CBD/THC relaxing gummies and if it’s really long I will pop a Xanax!

What’s your packing style?

I’m a minimalist. I try to pack only a carry-on.

What’s your relationship to flying these days?

I used to love to fly and now I hate it, mostly because the airport experience is so rotten.

I stopped flying months before C I because I felt it was getting crazy for me with too much traveling and I’m very worried about global warming, so I didn’t want to add to that.

KENNY SCHARF: ARTIST What’s the first thing you do when you get on the plane?

Read the New York Times.

What do you wear when you travel?

I like to wear super-comfortable clothes like sweats.

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Where do you like to sit on the plane?

Two words: business class. It sounds bad but I’m six foot two and I actually don’t fit in seats these days!

If you could fly anywhere right now, where would you go?

Australia and hailand. I always spend my winters there and miss my dear friends Herman and Wan.

STEFANO PILATI: DESIGNER, RANDOM IDENTITIES What do you wear when you travel?

Layers of cashmere and crocodile loafers with heavy, hand-knitted socks.

If you could fly anywhere right now, where would you go?

I would like to get in a Star Trek transformer and go to Tahiti, the Seychelles, or the Maldives. I’ve never been to those places, but I love tropical paradises and they look fab!

SETH TROXLER: DJ What do you wear when you travel?

I have these big Carhartt chino pants that I love. It’s the perfect mix of business and comfort.

Do you have any in-flight rituals?

I never eat the landing meal and try not to eat the food generally. For years I only had hot water with lemon when I landed, and it helped so much with jet lag.

What’s your packing style?

I did a design collab with Horizn Studios and we made DJ bag. I’m biased but I think it’s the best travel DJ bag out there.

How do you pass the time in-flight?

I read; I find planes very relaxing. And it’s some of the only time I have to be on my own away from technology, so I cherish it.

Do you have any rituals when flying?

Be by myself. The less people and the faster I can get in an out of the sky the better. Also, I have been wearing a mask and drinking oneand-a-half liters of water for more than ten years. I don’t like anything served on planes right now.

DANIEL LEE: CREATIVE DIRECTOR, BOTTEGA VENETA What do you wear when you travel?

Some comfortable trousers and a hoodie I can pull up over my face. But I also love the plane pajamas and always put those on.

Do you have any rituals on the plane?

It’s good to have some face wipes, moisturizer, and lip balm. Plus a toothbrush at hand.

What’s your packing style?

I take as little as possible. I don’t like to be weighed down. It’s also fun to buy new clothes.

What’s the first thing you do when you get on the plane?

Brush my teeth, get comfortable, and try to sleep as fast as possible.

Do you drink champagne? Pop a Xanax?

I often take a sleeping pill.

What’s your packing style?

Maximalist, obviously.

What’s the first thing you do when you get on the plane?

Ask the hostess to check that my luggage is safely loaded.

What’s the first thing you do when you get off the plane?

Turn my phone on and smoke a cigarette.

How do you like to pass the time on a flight?

Thinking, reading, sleeping, watching movies or docs, and listening to music for all of the flight.

If you could fly anywhere right now, where would you go?

NYC because I miss seeing my friends there.

How do you like to pass the time on a flight?

I try to sleep for as much of it as possible as I’m bored very easily. After an hour awake in the chair I’m frustrated.

If you could fly anywhere right now, where would it be and why?

I’m dying to go to Japan. I want to get far away!

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J BALVIN

With his own private jet, diamonds for days, high-streaming hits, and sold-out stadium shows, Colombian reggaeton star J Balvin is at the top of his game. But, he tells CR MEN, none of that really matters if you don’t have inner peace.

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Earrings (throughout) J Balvin’s own Grillz (throughout) DOLLY COHEN

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J Balvin is on day eight post-recovery from COVID-19 when we speak in late January, a period he refers to as “six months of hell.”

There’s a sleepiness in his eyes and a touch of raspiness in his voice. His hair, usually cropped close and dyed in rainbow hues and playful patterns, is now in its natural state, grown out on top in a tuft of lightly frosted curls. We meet over Zoom—him in Medellín with tropical foliage in the background, me in New York, a city the thirty-five-year-old reggaeton sensation has also called home since he moved there in his twenties and took odd jobs like dog walking and roofing to make ends meet.

Balvin spent much of the lockdown at his serenely minimalist, Japanese-inspired retreat in the mountains outside of Medellín, which he calls The Temple: “A house should be a place where you can rest your spirit. I’ve tried to create places that feed my soul, not my ego.” It’s an idyllic antidote to the otherwise hyper-hued warp-speed juggernaut that his career has become. “It’s inspired me in a lot of different ways,” he says of his time in quarantine, which forced him to stay put in his native Colombia. “I was like, either I go crazy or I have to be more creative and try to be moving all the time and thinking about music and thinking about ways to connect to the world. That really helps me a lot.”

In pre-pandemic times, Balvin, a.k.a. José Álvaro Osorio Balvín, could be found jetting around the world, playing sold-out shows like he did at Madison Square Garden in 2019, and making history as the first reggaeton act to play Coachella’s main stage as well as the first Lantinx headliner at Lollapalooza that same year.

Balvin was the third top streaming artist of 2020, right behind Drake and his collaborator and fellow música urbana star Bad Bunny. His is a level of affluence and stratospheric stardom that entails front row seating at fashion week, private jet transportation, an enviable contemporary art collection, collaborations with Pharrell, Rosalía, and Cardi B, and, perhaps most emblematic of his breakthrough success in the US, a limited-edition signature J Balvin Meal at McDonald’s.

No matter the state of the world, if Spotify listening data is any barometer of the collective psyche, the majority of people are looking to escape through the kind of bombastic beats, rousing rhythms, and catchy choruses that Balvin serves up in quick succession. Although his career has seemingly exploded in the past few years, his deep and varied discography shows a prolific catalog that dates back to his first single release in 2006.

His music, traditional Puerto Rican rhythms infused with pop, dancehall, hip-hop, and rap influences, is infectious, hip-swinging, head-bopping stuff. Where I live, in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, Balvin’s songs blare out of car stereos and blast from stoop party boomboxes, and were a bright note in the soundtrack to a summer of discontent.

“It’s the sound of the new Latino generation; the youth,” says Balvin when asked why he thinks his music has so zealously captured people’s attention. “The youth are like a virus . . . if you’re a dad and your kids are listening to reggaeton all the time, you’re going to catch it, same with your grandma. It’s going to keep growing, and

I think it’s definitely just the beginning of a new history, and it makes me very happy that we made part of that history.”

History and legacy are of great importance to Balvin, who bows down to the genre’s pioneers such as Daddy Yankee, Wisin, Don Omar, and Tego Calderón. “There’s a lot of OGs out there, and there’s a lot of them that are still relevant and working and killing it,” he says. “So, they inspire me a lot to just keep working.” Breaking with tradition, Balvin sees himself and Bad Bunny as the misfits of the genre. “We were the weird ones, the different ones, with different colors in my hair every time. It’s the fact that we’re adding something new to it; we’re doing something that wasn’t happening before in the Latino market.”

Reverential to reggaeton’s roots while pushing its boundaries, his generation has not only crossed over into the mainstream but infiltrated—and now dominated—the US music market. Balvin and his compadres such as Bad Bunny are achieving dreams that people thought were impossible, he says. “Like, I have my own Jordans, or being at the Super Bowl, or being the most streamed artist on the planet. And, singing in Spanish—we want to cross over, but we want people to cross over to us, too. That’s the real thing we’re doing. I’m not doing music in English. I’m not saying I hate it, or I don’t respect it . . . but I just want to keep elevating the Spanish language around the world and bring another vibe.”

His relationship with the fashion and art worlds are another facet of his bricolage approach that further underscores his crossover appeal. “You know, rappers did this before, with the collabs with Murakami and things like that, but never in the Latino market . . . I was the first one who started working with KAWS on a chain, and with master Takashi Murakami doing the [Colores] album cover, and doing a lot of jewelry with Ben Baller . . . just trying to be creative and show different sides of this stereotype that we used to have as Latinos.” Most recently, he joined the Givenchy family as the perfect ambassador for creative director Matthew Williams’ graphic printed shirts and deconstructed tailoring. “I love to collab,” he says. “One of my mentors is Pharrell Williams, so I think I got one of the greatest mentors I could have when it comes to cool things and collabs, and nice vibes, and spirituality, too.”

I ask him about his impressive timepiece collection, which has been frothed over and ranked by fans online. “Let’s say I’m one of the few that doesn’t flex on this game,” he says with a laugh. “I love everything that is this lifestyle, because I’ve been dreaming of it ever since I was a kid. But at the end of the day, that doesn’t give me happiness. If I’m what I have, the day I don’t have it, so what?

Who am I? I’m no one? The day I die, I want people to be like, ‘He was legit. He was around all these things that people dream of, but he never changed, he was just something beautiful.’”

His interest in clothes, in art, in cross-pollinating with other artists, belies ostentation and serves to create a culture beyond music, something Balvin mentions multiple times during our conversation.

“It’s always been like that, since I was a kid,” he says. “I always wanted to impact and connect to people, not just through music. We can inspire this new generation to be more open-minded.” He cites

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hip-hop and irvana, whose songs were the first he learned on the guitar as a kid, as early influences. He even has a tattoo of irvana’s smiley face with x’d out eyes on his knee. “Kurt Cobain was always one of my biggest inspirations in everything, in fashion—his fashion was the last thing, but it was amazing—in music, and the way he created a new, different type of generation in music. And at the time I didn’t even understand what he was saying, I didn’t know nglish, but I was just vibing to it,” he says. Later on, Balvin got heavily into hip-hop and started rapping in Spanish. Again, it was the holistic nature of hip-hop culture, “as graffiti, as break dance . . .” that became a north star for Balvin.

Soon after, he discovered reggaeton, “and it just blew my mind,” he says. “Since then, I’ve been loving different types of vibes.

Like, I love reggaeton, but I love trap music. r I can do a ballad, a pop song, I don’t have a problem as long as I feel comfortable with what I’m bringing to the table. And that’s basically what I’m doing, just being me.”

Moments before our interview, Balvin’s label sent over two tracks from his forthcoming as-yet-untitled album, the follow up to 2020’s monster hit, Colores. hese tracks feel a little more sensual and low-slung, I offer. “My last album was a color concept, and I had to be more closed creatively, because I was just focusing on a constant,” he says. “ his album that we’re doing, I just want to show versatility and that we can surf in different waves.”

Indeed, while Balvin’s technicolor stylings—which extend to his music videos, album artwork, and cartoon-es ue stage sets replete with giant bobble heads and kawaii characters—are bursting with the saccharine energy of a packet of Skittles, there’s a more somber and contemplative side to the artist that he’s begun to reveal lately, especially when it comes to his struggles with mental health.

In September last year, The Boy from Medellín, a documentary about Balvin directed by Matthew Heineman, debuted at the oronto International ilm estival. It followed the singer during the week leading up to his sold-out homecoming stadium shows, which happened to come at a time of political turmoil with protesters filling the streets in an uprising against right-wing Colombian president Iv n u ue. Balvin appeared to be the only entertainer not canceling gigs at the time and received his first major backlash, most fervently on social media, drawing him to take a political stance in support of the protests—a bold move for a mar uee name. he film also highlights Balvin’s ongoing dance with anxiety and depression. Sitting at a conference table with his business manager and two assistants, he discusses the impending sold-out show at Medell n stadium while writing his to-do list, which includes exercise, meditation “make that double meditation so I don’t forget” and seeing his parents. In the candid scene, the singer reflects on a time before he had these coping mechanisms in place. “All my dreams . . .” he says, flipping through his notebook. “ inety-nine percent have been accomplished.” His manager wonders why then, is he so nervous “In uerto ico, I was in a bad state of mind,” he says, shaking his head. “ esterday at the gym, I started to get that

sensation again. And I thought, fuck, this shit is back.” He describes the feeling as “like you’re not there. Like you’re not in your body. verything outside is K, but not inside your mind. It’s hell for real.

It’s a fear of fear. And only when you focus on the present, can you trick the brain.” hese days, Balvin gets up at the crack of dawn to meditate for twenty minutes, followed by an hour of cardio and an hour of weights. He doesn’t drink alcohol. His coffee is decaf. And for all the panache he put into his rendition of “I’m lovin’ it,” it’s hard to imagine a Big Mac no pickles with medium fries, ketchup, and an reo Mc lurry passing his lips. “I’m just looking at ways I can elevate myself and my world,” he says. “I’ve made a lot of mistakes . . . like I bet me and you, being face-to-face, I have two million more mistakes than you for sure.” I counter that he’d be surprised.

“I don’t know, I think I have more,” he responds with an eyebrowsraised smile. “ he fact that I’m open about all these things is because I came to the world to be of service, to show the youth and teach

“I always wanted to impact and connect to people, not just through music. We can inspire this new generation to be more open-minded.” them. Sometimes people think that depression is being sad and it’s not that. ne thing is being sad, and depression is a chemical imbalance in your brain. Something that is more powerful than you, even if you have everything. What’s everything verything’s health. verything’s inner peace.”

“When I was on my way up . . . you know, I still feel that I’m an up-and-coming artist every day,” he continues. “At that time all these artists had the perfect life—nothing bad happened, everything’s beautiful, you know luxury, girls, guys, concerts, happiness, popping champagne bottles. eah, that’s nice, but they never showed that they were fragile, you know I don’t feel weak when I talk about my weaknesses. hat just makes me human.” or someone already at the top of his game, it seems that chemical imbalance, that glitch in the matrix, has allowed him to foresee what could happen if the balloons burst, the colors fade, the seams start to fray, and the diamonds lose their luster. And so now, perhaps, Balvin can just sit back and enjoy the flight.

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Empty airports, long layovers, and flight delays are an in-between space where time stands still

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THE TERMINAL

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Berlin’s Tegel Airport—a much-loved brutalist relic of the last century finally closed its doors in November 2020.

Despite its small size, slightly molding exterior, and nofrills terminals, it became the capital’s fourth busiest airport and one of the city’s most symbolic architectural icons, whose legacy endures.

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In 1999’s On the Natural History of Destruction, W. G. Sebald writes about the annihilation of German cities and nationalistic identities post World War II. Immediately following this crushingly expansive destruction was a period of rebuilding, where new ideas and a new feeling of moral responsibility could take root. What couldn’t be fully addressed psychologically was done so architecturally, through the reconstruction of Germany’s specifically Berlin’s public spaces. A particularly sentimental example of this kind of structural undertaking is Berlin’s recently shuttered egel Airport. egel’s mottled concrete facade and musty interior welcomed those partial to a nostalgic, stress-free traveling experience. Contemporary additions such as cheap, tiled flooring and the introduction in 2018 of low-cost party airlines like Ryanair and easyJet only marginally interrupted the building’s ascetic ambiance. or most travelers, watching egel’s looming, two-tiered tower come into view as they approached their drop-off inspired feelings of comfort and belonging. Indeed, in the 2017 statewide senate parliament elections, Berliners were asked in a referendum if they wanted to keep egel operating, despite the projected opening of Berlin Brandenburg Airport which finally happened in ctober 2020 . he people voted yes—much to the horror of politicians and policy-makers. he airport’s beginnings as a purely functional stopgap are consistent with the memory it holds for most who walked its halls. uring the Berlin Blockade in , the rench military authorities in charge of egel ordered its expansion into a modest military base and airport, with one uni ue feature—a , 66-foot runway, then the longest in urope. At the time of its opening, egel connected West Berlin to the rest of the world, and continued to do so when the Berlin Wall went up in 6 . It played a substantial role in the economic rehabilitation of West Germany, while East Germany, still under Soviet rule, remained mired in regressive post-war regulations. egel served commercial airlines through the 0s and onwards, though only those headquartered in the UK, US, and France

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three of the major victors of WWII were permitted. rom the ’ 0s through 0, most flights out of L were to big cities within those nations. Restricted though it was for West Germans, travel outside of the country was even less viable for inhabitants of East Germany, especially once the Berlin Wall was built. he brutalist style and functionality of egel is what has endeared it to international aesthetes for the past fifty years. he airport’s current structure was conceived in 6 by architects Meinhard von Gerkan and olkwin Marg. his was the duo’s first public commission (they won a competition to build the airport based on an untested design . heir relative inexperience was likely at the root of their simple, efficacious blueprint for egel’s central building—an octagonal terminal with negative space at its center and airplane gates arranged like tentacles on each facet of its exterior.

Visitors moved through a looping internal passageway, with arriving passengers only one hundred feet from their departure gate. his meant you could be dropped off and reach your terminal with rare haste, or be picked up less than twenty minutes after you landed, something unheard of in most major modern airports.

In tandem with the demolition of the Berlin Wall starting in and concluding in , and the subse uent reunification of Germany, egel and all other West Berlin airports’ travel restrictions were lifted. Lufthansa, KLM, American Airlines, Swissair, WA, and United Airlines initiated flights to Berlin, among a number of other international airlines. egel grew to become a symbol of a bygone era of German efficiency. Situated as it is in the middle of the city, its contemporary context is one of centrality and interconnectedness. egel served not just as a symbol of unity, but as an anti-capitalist answer to the modern airport—devoid of the luxury retail enticements and restaurants designed for tedious multi-hour layovers that most present day airports and travelers favor. Much more than an airport, egel is likely to hold architectural, emotional, and social significance in whatever form it takes in the future.

Words CAMILLE OKHIO 018_CRM.indd 53

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Meet Mark Bryan, the mechanical engineer-turnedInstagram sensation with a penchant for pencil skirts and heels.

THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT

Top JORDANLUCA Shirt (underneath) and tie POLO RALPH LAUREN Skirt BOSS Tights FALKE Shoes MIU MIU

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Jacket, skirt and shoes MARNI T-shirt SUNSPEL Tights FALKE

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Jacket ISSEY MIYAKE Shirt GANT Skirt MAX MARA Tights FALKE Shoes KKIRA FEET Ring Mark’s own

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Mark Bryan is a Texan mechanical engineer who works in robotics packaging and lives in Germany with his wife of eleven years. Bryan came to global attention last year, when his Instagram went viral after he started posting images of his daily outfits in his signature “hybrid” look: traditionally men’s tops paired with pencil skirts and stiletto heels. The sixty-one-year-old father of three loves Porsches, coaches American football, and believes that clothing has no gender.

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“I’ve always had a thing for high-heeled shoes,” he says over Zoom.

“It started back when I was in college forty years ago. I had a roommate that was sort of a girlfriend, who was as tall as I was, but she loved to wear four-inch heels, so she was naturally always taller.”

Bryan’s then-girlfriend encouraged him to try on her heels and he’s been wearing them on and off ever since. “I wore them with jeans, but I grew up in a fairly small West Texas town, so I wouldn’t walk into a country western bar wearing high heels,” he says. Four years ago, he added skirts to the mix. “My main message is that I don’t feel any different when I’m wearing a skirt or when I’m wearing pants. To me, it’s just a piece of cloth and a fashion style. It has nothing to do with sexuality or anything like that.”

Standing six-feet tall without heels, and possessing a lean, athletic physi ue, Bryan cuts a striking figure in his ensembles.

“I call it my hybrid style because it’s kind of half masculine and half feminine, like electrical charge,” he says. “For some reason, I tried dresses and they just didn’t fit—the shoulders, the neckline was never right, and the sleeves were always too short.” The pencil skirt idea came to him watching Meghan Markle’s character Rachel in the American legal drama Suits. “I always liked the way she dressed,” he says. “She wore pencil skirts and white blouses, so that was my inspiration. And I thought, Well, I can do that with a men’s shirt and still maintain some masculinity. I don’t really consider it crossdressing because I think clothes should be more gender neutral: I’m not crossing anything.”

Bryan, whose Instagram following was at 270,000 at the time of going to press, has been inundated with positive messages from people around the world. “I’m not surprised that I get a lot of men that say, ‘You’ve opened my eyes,’ or ‘You give me the courage to be myself.’ But the surprising thing is that I get a lot of women too that say, I want to wear men’s clothes and you’ve helped me find the strength to just not care what people think.’ I also get a lot of mothers that have young sons or daughters that want to wear [different] clothes, and are showing them that you can wear anything without shame.”

While Bryan’s particular brand of androgyny motivates others, it’s improved his own life, too. “I’m getting old, so I’ve noticed that I’ve started to slump over, and wearing high heels, you have to stand more upright. It’s actually given me a little bit of confidence inside, too, not only confidence in what I’m doing with fashion , but also confidence throughout what I do during the day.”

Bryan’s iconoclastic style made us think of Mr. Pearl, who famously wears a corset twenty-four-hours a day, seven days a week (except when bathing), maintaining an eighteen-inch waist. The fashion industry’s premier corsetier since the early 1980s, Mr. Pearl, now fifty-nine, taught himself to make corsets in the traditional way, a fascination sparked as a young boy growing up in South Africa, where he would lace his grandmother into her undergarments. Mr. Pearl moved to London in his twenties, where he worked as a dresser and costume designer by day, and was a nightclubber and performer at night, befriending fashion editor Isabella Blow and performance artist and club promoter Leigh Bowery. He moved to Paris to pursue his career as a corsetier after meeting designer Thierry Mugler at the Love Ball in New York and went on to work closely with Alexander McQueen. He has also created corsets for the collections of John

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Galliano, John Paul Gaultier, Christian Lacriox, and Chloé as well as custom pieces for Dita Von Teese, Kylie Minogue, and Kim Kardashian, a process that can take anywhere from one to six months, with a minimum of three sittings.

Here, Mark Bryan asks Mr. Pearl about the artistry and practicalities of corset wearing.

Mark Bryan:

I’ve noticed a bit of resurgence in corset wearing by women. Or is it just my wishful thinking?

Mr. Pearl: There are some very dedicated corset wearers of both sexes, while others may be influenced in the short term by popular trends. Throughout history, what constitutes a fashionable silhouette has varied. But to those who follow corsetry, it is not simply a question of fashion, more the form and function and effects achieved through the correct foundation.

MB: If a person like me has a hard time working off that fat around the waist, is a corset going to help?

MP: If you wear it daily and wear a belt to exercise, this will bear results after some time.

MB: Are men’s corsets designed differently from women’s?

MP: Yes and no. The male body is generally less supple than the female, and of course there are the obvious anatomical differences to make allowance for, but the basic principles of construction are the same.

MB: If wearing a corset, how can you disguise it without wearing bulky shirts? What do you do with all the strings? Can you be stealth while wearing a corset?

MP: Planning your look is important. To achieve this, you would need a corset of fine mesh and to ensure that the lacing is tucked in and cut short, possibly a Skims (or equivalent) stretch body over it. Of course, your choice of garment and fabric on top should be carefully considered!

MB: If you can get past the early months of corset wearing, do you have to continue wearing one, or does it all cave back in when taking it off? Will you still have a somewhat slimmer waist in summer when you can’t wear a corset to the beach?

MP: The longer you train with a corset and belt you will benefit from the results of a contoured, slim waist. If you discontinue the training, you will gradually lose the trim waist.

MB: Have you experimented with carbon fiber rods or other modern materials for stiffness?

MP: I use purpose-made metal spiral boning. But there is nothing to compare to whale bone (actually, cartilage, the use of which has been banned for many years), which has a 360-degree axis and “breathes,” warming with the body to give a glove-like fit.

MB: Do corsets offer and lower back support as well?

MP: A well-fitted corset always supports the spine and abdomen, enhancing the alignment, hence their use for orthopedic purposes.

MB: If you have seen my pictures, how would I look better in a corset?

MP: Well, you enjoy high heels, and they complement corsetry so I suspect you would feel further elevation and feel greater pleasure.

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“Even though most travel has been on hold for the moment, we can still dream and fly in our imagination and look forward to how fun and how glamorous it will be to travel again.”

— HONEY DIJON SPECIAL GUEST EDITOR

Parker wears Clothing LOUIS VUITTON

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Photography LOUIE BANKS

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CR MEN 230x305 F - MSS21 SP 5 INTERNATIONAL - On sale date: 4 MARCH