Real blogger style — minus the peacocking

‘I’m always changing, I change my wardrobe every four months. Seriously,” Izzy Tuason of the New York-based blog The Dandy Project tells me. It’s the type of thing that most people would file under Sh*t Fashion Bloggers Say when taken out of context. In fact, when you take the entire blogging industry out of context, it would be so easy to side with Suzy Menkes and dismiss an entire burgeoning industry as a mere circus. To a point, Izzy would agree: “A lot of it is about just getting attention. Some bloggers, especially the new ones, tend to put on a show.”

As he prepares to leave Manila for New York Fashion Week this evening, and with the recent news that IMG Fashion, the organization that runs Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, would start cutting bloggers from their list of invitees to shows, it seems there are many who have sided with Suzy Menkes over Susie Bubble, but Izzy sees it from both perspectives. “Do what they have to do, but I hope they don’t lose sight of blogs that matter, the ones they have relationships with and helped them grow,” he says. “Not to be a d*ck, but I’m confident that I won’t be uninvited to the shows because I have a good relationship with the designers themselves. The designers that I cover are mostly smaller and are menswear designers. Menswear is a very, very small family.”

You’ll notice that it’s the bloggers who focus on a very specific market, who understand the audience they’re speaking to, who thrive. Izzy conceived of The Dandy Project roughly five years ago, a time when blogging was relatively untrod territory, when interest in menswear was just beginning to spark. Like most others, he fell into blogging, working on it part-time while working in New York at creative agency Lloyd and Co. The way he describes it, he found that writing about and featuring menswear designers, especially independent ones, gave him a sense of focus. “I found that one niche I could really enjoy and excel at,” he says.

As men began to pay more and more attention to their everyday wardrobes, The Dandy Project became an invaluable resource for both advice and inspiration. He’s since been featured in the likes of Vogue Hommes Japan and Details, had his posts published in the Details Network, written for I.T Post (a website based in Hong Kong), White Magazine Australia and The Another Network, and has delved into fashion collaborations, most notably with shoe company Allen Edmonds.

In the same way that the fashion industry and his wardrobe undergo a quarterly reinvention, so does the business of blogging. If his life’s work appears to be precarious, that’s because it is, and Izzy will admit as much. “That’s something that I think about all the time. All these bloggers live their lives like this, but what are our lives going to be like in 15 years?” he posits. And what about the clothes he discards systematically? “I would save my favorite pieces for a period of time, then I’ll just dispose of them — I sell them or give them to my brother. Jewelry I get attached to, but shoes, clothes, no. Bags I don’t change; they’re so expensive.”

And they say bloggers don’t know how to edit.

YSTYLE: The weather aside, do you dress differently in Manila than you do in NY?

IZZY TUASON: I always end up dressing smarter in Manila: cutoffs and a tank top aren’t as well received as a crisp shirt and polished shoes. Filipinos love to throw balls, I always bring a few formal looks with me when I fly home.

Who are the independent designers that you follow in NY?

Siki Im. He has a dark aesthetic, but it’s not angsty. They’re just beautiful, poetic, simple, wearable clothes. Tim Coppens is a designer who uses tech fabric and pieces things together in a way that is just cool. Robert Geller has been out there for a while now, but he continues to create great stuff. He has a great sense of color. Tim Hamilton, my client whom I love, best captures the youthful angst of New York.

And in Manila?

Everyone’s asking me when I’ll be doing a collaboration with Rajo Laurel. We’ll see! Maybe. I like his work a lot. I also love my tailor, Toppers in Katipunan, he makes all beautiful things for me.

As a blogger, who do you follow?

Steve Salter of Style Salvage is huge in the London independent menswear designers scene. I like Stop it Right Now’s Jayne Min. Her sense of putting together street pieces with Céline, Givenchy and Marni is impeccable. There’s this one girl, she’s a friend of mine and a photographer for Billy Farrell Agency in New York. Her Instagram handle is @phamgela. Her shtick is that she wears gowns every day. Very exaggerated looks and all.

Who taught you how to dress?

My mother, New York and the Internet


Where do you shop?

In Manila, House of Laurel, Lanero, and my new favorite mall: SM Aura. In NYC, Assembly, IF and Beacon’s closet. Online, Ln-CC, eBay and forums on the Internet. 

What’s the last thing you purchased?

An olive green military peacoat from Yohji Yamamoto’s 1994 collection.


Most insane garment you’ve ever purchased?

A tunic with high double back vents (that renders it backless) by Siki Im.


Favorite city: New York Cityʉ۬

Favorite drink: Gin and tonic


Favorite labels: Yohji Yamamoto and Damir Doma

Favorite gallery: Gagosian


Favorite artists: Richard Serra, Robert Mapplethorpe, Seth Price

Favorite Sunday afternoon haunt: Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn


Favorite vacation destination: Tokyo

Photos by CHOLO DELA VEGA

Grooming by DON DE JESUS for MAC