The BKc

San Francisco, The Beautiful Struggle . . .

The Brooklyn Circus — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 02:43:41 +0000

San Francisco, The Beautiful Struggle: Shortly after Vegas we arrived in San Francisco with very little time to plan a test shoot with some young faces and a young local SF photographer Josh Farriar who only shoots film. This should be interesting we thought and it certainly was. The Bearded Man the planner he is, quickly went into research mode. He found out about the scheduled shoot the day we arrived in SF and a day before the scheduled shoot. A hundred questions and answers later, he had researched the photographers, researched the stylist, reviewed the faces and scouted some locations with Earl from the SF shop. Here are some previews of the shoot, they are actually behind the scene shots taken with our shop camera. Earl who is also a photographer in training served as our behind the scene camera. Come to think of it, most of the talent on set was in training, we should have called this series “Training Day” but “The Beautiful Struggle” worked out better. Stay tuned for the final shots. The BKc, Style + Character & The 100 Year Plan . . .

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Project Vegas, The Bearded Man Speaks on “Saying no” . . .

The Brooklyn Circus — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:57:53 +0000

Project Vegas, The Bearded Man Speaks on “Saying no”: As the business grows, saying “NO” has become one of the hardest things we struggle with. Emails with offers to collaborate, appear or be a part of projects here and abroad come faster than you can naturally manage them. We are very flattered to be a part of such an amazing environment, but we never thought that saying “NO” would be the hardest but most important thing to do. The Bearded Man is such a lover of what he does that he needs a team of people around him with “NO” signs. “Sorry we cannot get involved in this project, because we have too much on our plate, we are a small team and our Creative Director,The Bearded Man, aka Ouigi does not want to sleep”. Forget the 3am emails about a project or the 6am calls to review meeting notes. Which is where his lovely team of agents at William Morris Endeavor (WME) come in. They’ve done an amazing job so far at helping The Bearded Man manage his offers and grow as a brand and say Yes to more fruitful projects. We’ve had to pull him from conversations with people who literally want to re-invent the wheel.

Because we could not say NO to hosting a solo show at The Brooklyn Museum, continue to curate a section at Project NYc and Project vegas all weeks apart- we pulled some card tricks and made it all happen. Oh did we mention, the PF Flyer national campaign featuring The Bearded Man, we’ll tell you more later. With that said, we had to quickly recover from The Brooklyn Museum show, pack and head out on the road. Ouigi left NYc a few days after the Brooklyn Museum show for LA. He took in several meetings on Friday, attended Inspiration LA Friday & Saturday, shopped LA and made it to RoseBowl at 5am Sunday morning. After Rosebowl, we jumped on the road for the 4 hour ride to Vegas that same day. We drove into The Project Vegas Show for set up. The look on his face and his creative energy was that of the young Tasmanian Devil. Stay tuned for more pics of Project Vegas and The Bearded Man on the road. The BKc, Style + Character & The 100 Year Plan.

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Inspiration LA, The Bearded Man . . .

The Brooklyn Circus — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 07:13:26 +0000

Inspiration LA, The Bearded Man: Now I am starting to understand why some of my friends have a place in NYc and one in LA. Grant it I researched properties in LA for my bi coastal interest, but the allure of LA life always wears off a week or so after you find yourself in the rush of NYc life. But this time, something different happened, I actually got the chance to really understand that certain things I grew up around can only really be enjoyed in warmer climates. Take my love of motorcycles, vintage and old cars for example. I’ve had my Harley sitting in my office for a year and a half because I was too busy to ride it or the weather was not right. But in LA, the weather is almost always right and you are never too busy for a cruise. I came out here for Rin Tanaka’s Inspiration show and 2 business meetings, but I think I walked away with an even more important lesson about life, my personal taste and where I want to ultimately end up. Somewhere warm for certain, all greyed out riding my Harley, maybe not my current bobber but something comfortable with my beard flowing in the wind and a tweed BKc hat.

I remember spending summers in Pensacola Florida with my brother in law and sister and as a young lad he would school me on old cars, old music and lots of fishing. He spoke allot, so I am still processing some of the information 15 years later. But I never forgot his advice on buying American cars, “never buy a dodge if you are buying an American car”. I never researched that and trusted his wisdom and never did buy a Dodge. So when we came across this 1948 Dodge pick up and started falling in love with it, I could hear him in the background saying “it’s a dodge”. I walked away from the car and drove back 2 hours to Hollywood and came right to the computer to research his advice, I’ll let you guys know how it goes.

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Brooklyn Museum + BKc + Model casting. . .

The Brooklyn Circus — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:28:21 +0000

Brooklyn Museum + BKc + Model casting: As the weeks got closer to showtime we had some serious decisions to make. Do we continue to search for models through twitter, facebook and our previous database of “everyday people” interested in joining us on the runway or do we call on the pros. We thought long and deep, met for hours discussing the pros/cons and made the call. Yep! we literally made the call at 9pm to a photographer friend of the BKc, Marcqui Akin and had him call in a last minute favor. Call the agent who mentioned that he wanted to work with the BKc and see if he can get us some great faces for an upcoming show. It would be great if we can actually speak to him tonight and let him know our needs. A few calls later, The Bearded Man was on the phone with George from Red Models and the rest is American history.

Special thanks to the amazing cast of professional models, we showed up on time for fittings and were also on time the night of the event. This industry is infamous for horror stories, so work with the pros, they’ve normally seen enough to know how to shift to plan B. Salieu Jalloh our lead man/team captain opened the show to a series of ohhhs and ahhs, with his serious yet charming look and his confident padded shoulders. The emails and mentions we received about the models, lead us to believe that we made the right decision, after all the hours of meeting. We have so many more pictures to share with you from the show, if it’s too much let us know and we’ll TRY to stop. In the mean time enjoy the beautiful footage. Model selection can make or break a show and so we decided to dedicate this to all aspiring models, agencies and reps with a professional out look on things.

Models featured in the show: Salieu Jalloh, Samba Kone, Shawn Salemi, Robbie Morimoto, Ricky Owen, Justin Passmore, Kyle Bretz, Louis Mayhew, Joe Choi, Jordan Torres, James Hill, Caesar Stovall, Clifford Mamotte, Castile Cortez, Anthony Guzman, Woody Withers. Happy NYFW to all and book lots of shows.

SALIEU JALLOH in deep thought as he prepares to open the show.

Gigi & The Bearded Man inspects and touches up anything that may ruin a great shot.

The Bearded Man adds final styling touches to as they prepare to hit the runway.

Back stage is either a mix of dull waiting, lots of laughter or pure chaos. Any one of those could be the mood at any given moment and you have to be prepared for them. The boys are enjoying the laughter before the chaos.

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Brooklyn Museum + BKc + First Saturdays show . . .

The Brooklyn Circus — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:33:37 +0000

Brooklyn Museum + BKc + First Saturdays Fashion show presentation: Wow! what an amazing night, with over 13,000 people at the Brooklyn Museum for First Saturdays + BKc presentation. Featured above and below are aerial shots of the lovely crowd in attendance at the Brooklyn Museum for the BKc runway presentation this past Saturday Feb 4th. Stay tuned for a complete recap of the event, from backstage, on stage and over head. #100yrplan . . .

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Red Wing, SF In-store event wrap-up . . .

The Brooklyn Circus — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:47:43 +0000

Congratulations to Brian Guerra, our Red Wing Giveaway winner. He chose the no. 8111 Amber ‘Iron Ranger,’ our most popular style.

Red Wing, SF In-store event wrap-up: After the success of our first “Boots & Bourbon” event back in November where the focus of the evening was on ‘Boot Care’ and the character leather takes over time with proper attention. We decided to pair our second Boots & Bourbon event with Red Wing Heritage, a brand that embodies the BKc’s belief that “things look better lived-in.” The must have item of the night was the SF staff favorite and Red Wing classic “Iron Ranger” Boot. The evening was filled with partygoers wearing boots with different levels of age; some proudly sporting scars and scuffs to showcase the individuality and beauty of leather while others preferred to freshen theirs up by taking advantage of the on-site shoe-shiner Nick Acre. By the end of the evening the bottles of bourbon were empty and the once-filled bowls & plates of tasty bites by State Bird Provisions were clean. So thank you to all our guests who attended The Brooklyn Circus SF + Red Wing in-store event this past Friday and made it an enjoyable evening. Stay tuned for our series of SF and NY in-store events throughout the year. The BKc, Style + Character & The 100 Year Plan . . .

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Style Wars: Concluded . . .

The Brooklyn Circus — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 23:05:08 +0000

Style Wars: Concluded. After countless hours of crunching the votes, comments, and even double comments with name changes, we’ve arrived to a decision.
We’d like to start by thanking everyone who participated in Style Wars. To all of our contestants, congratulations; not everyone has the confidence and gusto to be put in the spotlight and we are grateful for your ability to be open. You were obviously chosen because your personal style has caught our attention. To our audience, this would not be possible without you. And we appreciate your feedback – We read and consider each and every one of your comments. When our contestants agreed to do the Style Wars segment, I am not sure some of them (or even our loyal audience) understood the scope of it: It is a challenge in truly understanding your style and being able to take ownership of your own personal style. This challenge is not about the next person as much as it is about you – and how you react to what others say about how and what you are wearing. Leave the long speeches to us guys, and leave the hate to the other sites or blogs and the fudging of votes to the Presidential race.

To the public: Ask yourself, am I confident enough about myself to be featured in Style Wars? Confidence welcomes criticism, cockiness runs from it. When you comment about someone’s look, be mindful of that.
To our contestants: Would you do it again, even if you did not garner the votes you wished for? And what would you do different?
With that said, The Bearded Man has decided to bypass the decision to announce an actual winner of this round of Style Wars. As a reminder that we, The Brooklyn Circus/BKc, stand for Style + Character, we will be re-launching another installment of Style Wars soon. Many of you understand the Style part, now let’s work on Character together. That being said – stay tuned for the next Style Wars as the opportunity will come sooner than later.

Would you like to be considered for the next Style Wars? Send us 3 images displaying your style “range,” keyword; ‘range.’ Also please send two paragraphs explaining why you should be considered. Disclosure: The word “swag” should not be included in your description of character. Send to: stylewars(at)thebkcircus.com
The BKc, Style + Character & The 100 Year Plan . . .

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Red Wings, BKc SF featuring the “Iron Ranger,” TONIGHT . . .

The Brooklyn Circus — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 23:24:58 +0000

Red Wings, BKc featuring the “Iron Ranger,” TONIGHT:
The Brooklyn Circus SF || 1521 Fillmore St. San Francisco CA || (415) 359-1999 || 6pm – 8pm
Red Wing Giveaways, Free Boot Shines, Complimentary Refreshments, New BKc Releases …

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Cardigan “Coach Pollard”: Style Wars . . .

The Brooklyn Circus — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:25:24 +0000

Voting ends Today (2/3) at 5pm EST (2pm PST). If you haven’t voted yet, please do now. All votes will be fairly tallied (all doubled up IP address and duplicate votes will Not be counted). Winner will be announced on Sunday 2/5.
Thank you for your participation!

Style Wars: Introduced in 2009 Style Wars has always been one of our most viewed and commented post to date. It was designed to exhibit personal interpretation of a chosen item through “Style + Character”. We made it a challenge because it was the best way to get our participants to put their best foot forward. The participants are self styled with the supervision of one of our resident stylist. All participants receive a fair shot at expressing their personal style through an item chosen by our team (the BKc “Coach Pollard” Cardigan). Up for this installment of Style Wars is #1 Colin Thierens (NYc), #2 Gregori Black (NYc), #3 Alan Maramag (SF) & #4 Anthony Calisterio (SF).

Click on comments to vote

#1 Colin Thierens:
How would you describe your style?
I would describe my style as a combination of different aesthetics that I like. And it extends beyond clothing. For instance, the colors and fabrics I like in my clothing are also reiterated in my home decor.

Who influences your personal style? musician,Tv personality, grandfather, neighbor?
I’m influenced by the creative and stylish people I interact with daily.

What style tip would you give to a friend or a foe?
I would suggest doing their best to make their style an extension of their personality. To let their style speak volumes as to who they are as well as who they’re not.

What magazine, websites, TV shows or movies do you reference for inspiration?
Big movie influences in my life are Coolie High and The Harder They Come starring Jimmy Cliff.

What does “Style + Character” mean to you?
For me Style + Character is that balance of looking good and being good.

#2 Gregori Black:
How would you describe your style?
I really look toward music and my own experiences to find inspiration to do anything. In my brief tenure on this earth I’ve learned that what you expose yourself to just increases the amount of people you can relate and make connections with.

Who influences your personal style? musician,Tv personality, grandfather, neighbor.
Style & Inspiration by Muhammad Ali. Don Draper. Bob Marley and Kanye West

What magazine, websites, Tv shows or movies do you reference for inspiration?
I read a lot of Japanese Manga. I also take trips to different parts of the city and end up having great conversations (thanks to open bars etc.) with different types of people.

What does “Style + Character” mean to you?
Everything

#3 Alan Maramag:
How would you describe your style? Urban Dandy. Soul Prep. Street Sophisticate.

Who influences your personal style?
Andre 3000, Ralph Lauren, Junya Watanabe, Tom Ford, Thom Browne, Daiki Suzuki.

What style tip would you give a friend or a foe?
If the way you dress will prevent you from getting a good job or getting noticed by your soulmate; it’s time to reevaluate your wardrobe.

What magazines, Tv shows, websites or movies do you use for inspiration?
That is confidential information.

What does Style & Character mean to you?
Style and Character means that style should be a direct reflection of your character by conveying your very being through your appearance. There should be PERSONAL substance behind why you wear your clothing a particular way. The moment you restrict yourself to hot trends, the opinions of others and the over-abundance of style rules; is the precise moment when your Style & Character is lost. Style & Character is refusing to give someone else the power to take away your creative freedom.

#4 Anthony Calisterio:
How would you describe your style?
My style is a timeless look with a splash of eclectic and unique pieces.

Who influences your personal style?
One of my biggest style influences growing up was Bob Dylan. As my style progressed, I moved towards a more tailored, Ivy-League look, and I took inspiration from the Roaring Twenties, utilitarian work-wear, and vintage and thrifted pieces.

What style tip would you give a friend or a foe?
Don’t be afraid to mix and match patterns.

What magazines, Tv shows, websites or movies do you use for inspiration?
Jay Clayton’s 1974 Great Gatsby Film, Steve McQueen, Andre Benjamin, and my Grandfather.

What does Style & Character mean to you?
Without character and self-confidence, style is absolutely meaningless. Style emulates through your character and personality, and style should be part of who are you in your daily life.

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Red Wings, BKc featuring the “Iron Ranger” . . .

The Brooklyn Circus — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:36:12 +0000

The BKc, featuring the Red Wing “Iron Ranger:” The success of Boots & Bourbon in San Francisco and in Brooklyn left us with the idea of making the event a constant on our event calendar. Shortly after the San Francisco event we received emails from several blog readers about bringing the event to Brooklyn and rightfully so. A funny thing happened, the emails poured in from those who missed the first SF event but also from those who experienced it, screaming “can I get an encore”. Well my good friends, we are happy to announce the Return of Boots & Bourbon. SAVE THE DATE: Friday Feb. 3rd, 2012 | 6pm-8pm | The Brooklyn Circus San Francisco.

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