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Can I tell you about… Matt Albiani’s book Lifeguard on Duty. On a recent humid May evening, dapper dudes and PYT’s gathered at Bergdorf Goodman Men’s Store for Matt’s book launch and drink to the start of summer. The party was hosted by mens designer Michael Bastian whose Spring 09 collection coincidentally was also inspired by lifeguards.
All of Michael’s friends and colleagues showed up to enjoy the mini hamburgers and vodka lemonade being passed around as well as peruse Michael’s collection and Matt’s prints from the book which were on display.Roopal Patel, Bergdorf’s fashion director was the epitome of bohemian chic in Thakoon’s long floral print dress and Bastian’s publicist, Eugenia Gonzalez Ruiz-Olloqui wore a hand-made Mexican cotton mini caftan, exposing her mile long legs! Rugby designer and fellow blogger Antonio Ciongoli also scored sartorial points by wearing his father’s vintage briefcase.Amidst the craziness, the film crew from the reality TV show “The City” was also filming one of their episodes at the party. Whitney Port, one of the stars of the show was busy trying to look as ‘candid’ as possible while sipping her drink and casually chatting with her friends.I asked Michael about his Spring collection and what inspired him to reference lifeguards in particular. “We intentionally set out to capture the whole spirit of Lifeguards and what they represent. I can’t speak for the rest of the world, but if you grew up in America, lifeguards always embodied the perfect easy summer lifestyle. There is also a movie we referred to a lot from the ’70s called ‘The Lifeguard’ with Parker Stevenson and Sam Elliott. You realize pretty quickly men’s swim shorts weren’t always these big baggy disasters that look like you’re trying to hide something. “
I’ve included some images from Michael’s Spring 09 collection to illustrate his point.He added,“It was a pure coincidence that Matt Albiani was coming out with his Lifeguard book at the same time as our Lifeguard collection. Back in July last year, I was telling a friend in the business about the collection, and he said ‘Wow, that’s such a coincidence– I just got an e-mail regarding a photo book that’s coming out next year on Lifeguards– they must be in the air.’ We then tracked Matt down and asked him if he’d like to possibly team up for a couple events in the spring and he said sure. I always think events like this work better and are more interesting when you combine a couple different but related ideas, such as a new book and a fashion collection.”It seemed like more people were coming than going because it was getting pretty hot despite the cool drinks. I ran into designer Prabal Gurung and stylist Sam Spector. Prabal had just come back from India and Nepal,totally inspired. Ummm, how could you not?!

As the crowd swelled and the heat rose, me and my friend photographer Tetsu Kubota decided to skip out. I bought the book, had Matt sign it and we headed downtown for another party. But that’s another story!