This week, Mark Shale was asked to submit two suits to the CS Men’s Book Fall 2011 Fashion Feature. I jumped at the opportunity to participate, but before I had a chance to ask some basic questions, the conversation went a little something like this: "When do you need the clothing by? 9 am tomorrow? That gives me less than 24 hours. Awesome!!" But first I was asked "Could we make it work?" and I answered a confident "yes!" In reality I was nervous about the crazy timing. Patric Chauvez, the stylist for this shoot, needed bold patterned shirts with equally exciting ties, and don’t forget the shoes, and he’d prefer a striped sock with greens and oranges…yikes! I’ve worked with Patric before and he has an amazing eye. Pairing busy prints in bold colors with an array of textures is his specialty. I knew he’d do wonderfully unexpected things with the clothing I gave him. I was really looking forward to seeing what magic he could work for this project.

But...two suits? Mark Shale has tons of suits, so why is this so difficult, you might ask? The suiting had to be a part of our fall assortment and not all of the pieces have arrived. This issue of the Men’s Book will be released in August. It’s mid-June and I’m looking for cold weather, wool suits....the retail fashion world and it’s crazy cycles! We're continuously working at least one season ahead.

Fortunately after some hunting, I found a few options to choose from. When ordering suiting for the upcoming season, our buyers request swatches and then full suits are made in each specialty fabric. I chose a gray glen plaid suit by Canali and a subtle blue plaid suit by Hugo Boss. With the help of Zach, (the Men’s Manager at our Michigan Ave. store), we paired these suits with some interesting checked shirts, bright paisley and polka dot ties. We topped it off with some great Magnanni shoes and a fun pocket square and we had two killer looks Patric would love.

The next morning I had to package up the clothing, check them out of the store on loan, and race over to the shoot. I found Patric in the lobby, just in time to submit our two looks. Cross your fingers that Mark Shale makes it in the spread - find us in CS Men's Book, which drops this August!