Street Style: All the Color at New York’s Gay Pride Parade

Coming just days after the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and reinstated Gay Marriage in California, Sunday’s cloudy Gay Pride Parade in New York was one of the largest in recent years. Headed by grand marshal and DOMA plaintiff Edie Windsor, it was a literal celebration of the week that was, full of families, couples, young kids, partying singles, and everyone in-between dressed in traditionally over-the-top rainbow garb. From anti-frackers to ascendant trend-setters, the Cut caught up with some of the parade’s viewers along the route and marchers themselves to ask them about the pride, DOMA, and their hopes for the future. 

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Street Style: Just Going for It at the Men’s Shows in Milan

As evidenced by the garden-inspired prints, primary colors, and even one Dancing Bear sweater, the stylish set at Milan Men's Fashion Week wanted to have a bit more fun than in their besuited days at Pitto Uomo earlier this week.

On the last day of the shows, men and women embraced the Pantone color wheel under the Milanese sun with punchy blazers, vibrant linen pantsuits, and in Anna Dello Russo's somewhat-restrained case, a tangerine Dior dress. The Cut sent the photographer Youngjun Koo to home in on the younger fashion set that had been let loose in Europe, pairing silk suits with turbans, colorful dresses with Day-Glo sneakers, flora platforms (and the return of flatforms?), and even a cheeky Jil Sander brown-paper-bag-as-clutch. Click ahead to enjoy it all.

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Street Style: Just Going for It at the Men’s Shows in Paris

As evidenced by the garden-inspired prints, primary colors, and even one Dancing Bear sweater, the stylish set at Milan Men's Fashion Week wanted to have a bit more fun than in their besuited days at Pitto Uomo earlier this week.

On the last day of the shows, men and women embraced the Pantone color wheel under the Milanese sun with punchy blazers, vibrant linen pantsuits, and in Anna Dello Russo's somewhat-restrained case, a tangerine Dior dress. The Cut sent the photographer Youngjun Koo to home in on the younger fashion set that had been let loose in Europe, pairing silk suits with turbans, colorful dresses with Day-Glo sneakers, flora platforms (and the return of flatforms?), and even a cheeky Jil Sander brown-paper-bag-as-clutch. Click ahead to enjoy it all.

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Street Style: The Most Dazzling and Mystical at the Mermaid Parade

This Saturday, Coney Island transformed into a sparkly, sequin-filled dream hub for mermaids, mermen, and every wild variation of sea creatures, sea gods, and sea goddesses to celebrate the Mermaid Parade's 30th anniversary. The Cut's Bek Andersen hunted through masses of fake hair, pounds of makeup, mermaid tails, and netting to snap some of the best looks from the event. An orange fish, a lady in a lobster fascinator, Captain Jack Sparrow, and humans colorful merpeople were all dressed in seashells, fishnets, mossy plants, and sequins that stole the show. And from the sheer amount of hair chalk and pastel-colored wigs present in the crowd, this Mermaid Parade could have doubled as a My Little Pony convention. (There was a unicorn head spotting, after all). Click through the slides to see body paint, body parts, flashy makeup, and tons of fearless humans strutting their stuff as they frolicked down Surf Avenue.

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The 5-Year-Old Boy Who’s Become an Instagram Style Icon

Style Icon. Get familiar and take notes. That was the tweet last year from Ugo Mozie, a stylist who has worked with Chris Brown, Beyoncé, and Kelly Rowland. Attached was a photo, which I thought would be his newest client. Instead, there was a tiny trendsetter wearing different outfits: a tailor-made jacket with a Tom Ford pocket square, a Dior shirt, Diesel jeans, and a Gucci belt, then an AllSaints leather jacket with Gucci shades. This was my first introduction to Alonso Mateo, a child who has become an Instagram megastar thanks to his small suits and Frankenstein haircut. Almost every photo of him now makes it to the network’s Popular page. There are now five fan accounts dedicated to his style, two of which have appeared in the last month.

Right now, he’s 5. That makes him the latest in an Internet lineage of child-style icons, from Matthew Weiner’s son, Arlo, to Alexander Wang’s toddler niece, Alia, who is often spotted at his fashion shows. Add to that Hudson Kroenig, the son of model Brad Kroenig who became a Karl Lagerfeld muse when he was 3; the pageant-esque preteen Thylane Lena-Rose, who was shot for French Vogue when she was 10; then there’s Suri Cruise or Maddox Jolie-Pitt and plenty of Hollywood spawn who wear Lilliputian luxury and get shot by paparazzi, often sticking out their tongues. But what’s different about Mateo is that his parents aren’t famous, nor was he discovered at fashion shows or in magazines. Instead, he’s a social media phenomenon. “What first caught my eye about him was his confidence,” Mozie explains now. “His clothes were exceptionally tailored, drop-crotch pants, his hand in his pocket — that stood out to me.”

As crazy as it sounds, Mozie and thousands of other fans think the kid’s got swagger. He poses nonchalantly, looking away from the camera and smiling charismatically. Many of these shots are selfies, naturally, which he snaps in front of a mirror. In one image he wears a Crewcuts shirt and slim-fitting Crewcuts pants, Gucci horsebit loafers, and a Gucci belt. My boyfriend would look great in that. And he’s 29.

Usually, these images first appear on his mother’s feed (@luisafere): Luisa Fernanda Espinosa, a freelance stylist, started posting the pictures last year and now has more than 127,000 followers. There are now 230,000 photos catalogued of her son on Google Images — more than some B-List celebrities — wearing everything from his “favorite” AllSaints motorcycle boots (which his mom nabbed in several sizes before their kids line was discontinued), to designer blazers, tailor-made drop-crotch pants, and his classic Ray-Ban aviators. They’re the kinds of outfits some adults like wearing: Recently, Espinosa learned that the boyfriend of one of her son’s teachers had been taking cues from “this stylish kid on Instagram,” not realizing he was his girlfriend’s student.

Born and raised in Monterrey, Mexico, Alonso lived there with his parents until two years ago, when they moved to Laguna Beach. His mother has contributed to Harper’s Bazaar Mexico and Latin America. His father is the owner and CEO of a private equity firm. Through that, they have the money to buy their son a wardrobe worthy of a Brant brother. Through her fashion work, Luisa has kept tabs on every new and expensive high-end children’s line. They shop together as a family. And like any fashion obsessive, young Mateo follows trends: Right now, his favorite is high-top sneakers, like the Jeremy Scott ones he pairs with jeans and cool sweatshirts.

“I love suits, sneakers, and sunglasses,” the boy told the Cut in a recent phone conversation. “I like to dress like my dad, because he has cool suits.” To accomplish that, mom brings him to Kitson Kids, Dior, Gucci (“for leather jackets”), Stella McCartney, Bon Point (“French couture for kids”), Nordstrom, H&M (“for amazing basics”), Little Marc Jacobs (“amazing”), Dolce & Gabbana (“great”), and even Target. “As long as it’s nice quality, I’ll take it,” she says.

Each morning before school, mom and son head to his personal walk-in closet, where one wall is dedicated to shoes. He’ll tell her which pants and shoes he wants, and then he might choose a T-shirt. “I’ll say that’s a summer tee and we’re in winter,” she explains. “I’ll help him coordinate outfits so that they make sense, but mostly it's him.” When they leave the house, fans might ask to take his picture. But like most young kids, even those dressed less ostentatiously, she says her boy can be a bit shy: “Sometimes he’ll turn down a fan and say he’s too tired.”

Not everyone wants to see a child dressing like this, so some of those photos online are now tagged with comments from critics: “You only teach him material stuff,” they’ll write, or “he’s just a spoiled douche bag” — a loaded insult for a 5-year-old, one that suggests they find these photos exploitative, or that they encourage creepers. “I think people usually judge right away,” Espinosa says, defending her choices. “When we go shopping, if he wants loafers just like his daddy and I can afford them, I get them. We’re fine raising our son. He’s always polite, he’s grounded, he’s a sweet boy.” Others question whether his taste in fashion is “too much for a little kid,” say that he looks like “a miniature adult,” or that he should simply “enjoy his childhood.”

But what if he already is? Espinosa says she lets him keep doing it (and doing it on his own volition, she insists), because he’s just having fun. Often, she adds, the pictures materialize because the kid just loves being in front of the camera. He now produces his own shoots: “I have my own iPad 2 and iPod,” he told me. And even Mateo’s mom admits she’s still trying to figure the behavior out: “I don’t know if it’s because he’s an only child and he’s surrounded by so many grown-ups that he kind of wants to replicate what everybody around him is wearing?” she asks. “I don’t think he really notices he’s fashion forward. He’s too young.”

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Street Style: Swagger and Blues at Pitti Uomo

One of the greatest double standards in fashion is that women get judged for wearing stilettos and short skirts in the snowy environs of February fashion week, but stylish and international men still descend on the Pitti Uomo tradeshow – in Florence, Italy, where temps are in the 70s and 80s – wearing three-piece dandy suits and jeans thicker the Marlboro Man’s, yet no one accuses them of ignoring the weather. Perhaps because all that hypothetical sweat can be hidden beneath the layers of workman’s chambray, linen tailoring, embroidered floral shirts, and Neapolitan-style jackets preferred by Nick Wooster, Luca Rubinacci, and Angelo Flaccavento (whom the Cut’s resident man may or may not be patterning his current look from).

While some of these men and women shot by the Cut’s photographer Youngjun Koo look like time-hopping train conductors or Mast Brothers chocolatiers, it’s the rich shades of blue in denim, suiting, neckerchiefs, and oxford shirts that tie it all together, especially when paired with big and burly beards that, once again, seem to be on the trend ascent. All the better to catch the humidity, we say. Click ahead to experience the insanity yourself, and take notes from the women who are out-dressing men in their billowy pleated trousers, vests, thick silk ties, and boater hats.

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Street Style: Young and Bold at London’s Grad Fashion Week

Graduate Fashion Week 2013 ended its four-day run in London yesterday, and in addition to rolling out the top looks by fashion's most talented graduates from all over the globe, it also attracted over 20,000 incredibly stylish guests to the British capital. The Cut sent photographer Victoria Adamson to snap some of the boldest looks from the attendees. Among the top trends spotted: turquoise hair, overalls, nose rings, chunky silver rings, and giant leather bags. And as for men, you'll still be wanting to slick your hair back this summer, Michael Pitt–style. Click through the slideshow to pick up some summer-style inspiration from the diverse crowd overseas.

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Street Style: Staying in New York City on Memorial Day

We talked a lot about surfing and getaways last week, but a quiet day off in the city can be one of the more enjoyable moments of summer. Luckily, the sun finally came out on Monday, and a few of the people out and about in Manhattan did their best to enjoy it in short dresses, crop tops, and statement sunglasses, but many stuck to a wardrobe of layers that felt reminiscent of San Francisco: jeans, ankle boots, scarves. Cut photographer Bek Anderson captured the lazy mood and cute accessories of the Memorial Day Staycationers, getting one lovely, androgynous ballet dancer in high-waisted shorts, sneakers, and a silk bed jacket to do an impromptu performance. Click through the slideshow ahead for all that and more.

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