BlackBook Magazine

One man’s “coach door” is another man’s “suicide.” Vintage car enthusiasts know what I’m talking about. Most import companies, dating back to the 1930s, featured at least one luxury automobile in their stable that was designed with suicide doors, meaning those that hinged on the trailing edge closer to the rear of a vehicle. In other words, the car door handles were positioned side by side, and opened like one-way saloon doors, or butterfly wings. “Suicide,” as a word and as an action, is not pretty, so most American car salesmen refer to that design as “coach doors.” The Brits leave well enough alone.

The Foot Fist Way sends up the sporting life, while Son of Rambow gives a sly take on Stallone.

Hilarious, hard-edged, and surprisingly dark, The Foot Fist Way is a breed of sports comedy unlike any other. On the surface, it looks deceptively like a poor man’s Will Ferrell vehicle, chronicling the predictable fall and rise of a delusional half-wit. But The Foot Fist Way is distinguished by an unusually genuine concern for notions of honor, and a scabrous humor that is miles away from conventional studio fare.

Scarlett Johansson
Anywhere I Lay My Head (ATCO)

We know what you are thinking: Don Johnson, Heartbeat. But you are wrong, oh, so wrong. Scarlett Johansson’s first album, Anywhere I Lay My Head, is one of the happiest surprises in years. On this inspired collection of Tom Waits covers, Johansson’s famously oak-smoked voice is a natural cousin of the Roches, John Cale, and Sinead O’Connor. David Bowie, who sings backup on two tracks—“Falling Down” and “Fannin Street”—adds splashes of cream to this perfect cup of hot, dark New Orleans coffee. —Alison Powell

It’s official: size matters in car design. Only instead of ever-bigger and brawnier gas-guzzlers, it’s the little guys who now rule the roadway.  Nowhere is this more apparent than in the new Land Rover LRX. Long known for its size and off-road power, the iconic all-terrain brand is going mini (well, mini-er). Six inches shorter and almost eight inches lower than an LR2, the LRX was conceived as a premium car, designed to appeal to customers who want the benefits of a 4x4 and the presence of a larger vehicle, but don’t want to be held personally responsible for the disappearance of the ozone.

It’s lotion meets motion with 'Monster Garage' host Jesse James’s new ‘product’ picks for men.

James, getting buzzed, from Jesse James and His Beautiful Machines by Nathaniel Welch.

Jesse James is about to blow the lid off a few biker stereotypes at a Kiehl’s store near you. The 39 year old is best known as the host of the Discovery Channel shows “Monster Garage” and “Motorcycle Mania,” and for the celebrity-heavy client list of his Long Beach, California bike shop, West Coast Choppers (Kid Rock, Keanu Reeves, and Shaquille O’Neal, to name a few).

May is for horses (and a stable of great design books).

Walking into Ralph Lauren’s massive, incomparably opulent Polo flagship on Madison Avenue is like time-traveling back to the last gasp of the Gilded Age, a Gatsby-esque glimpse into how the other half died. The Rhinelander Mansion, as it’s properly called, has not been (as many suppose) preserved in aspic from the Vanderbilt Era. In fact, the place was basically gutted when Ralph bought it; interior designer Naomi Leff did the rest, articulating Lauren’s vision so magnificently that he barely blinked at the multimillion-dollar tab. That’s just one of the many projects picturesquely presented in Naomi Leff (Monacelli Press, $60) by Kimberly Williams, the first of the decorous design-oriented offerings this month.

Freeze Frame: Tom Palumbo sizing up Tania Mallet, 1962.

We love France in the springtime, and Paris 1962: Yves Saint Laurent and Dior, The Early Collections—out in May from Rizzoli (176 pages, $75)—offers an insider’s view of just such a season in fashion history. On assignment for Esquire during Paris Fashion Week, Jerry Schatzberg captured moments of glamour and drama—including candids of Diana Vreeland, Helmut Newton, and Hiro—providing a vivid portrait of a bygone sartorial era.

Watch out! This season’s new faces are bold, beautiful, and yes, timely.

Styling by Bryan Levandowski Prop Stylist Stephanie Bohn

Click here for full gallery!

Clockwise from top: Cartier ($11,600), Coach ($398), Glam Rock ($2,195), Cartier ($16,300), Burberry ($795), Meccaniche Velocie ($5,500), Coach ($998), Louis Vuitton ($9,850), Emporio Armani ($345).

Stepping backward in time with forward-thinking fashion, on location at the rustic Freemans lodge.

Styling by Bryan Levandowski

Click here for full gallery!

From left: Sweater by D&G, jacket by Z Zegna, pants by D&G, shoes by Gucci, shirt and tie by D&G, watch by Cartier.

Eddie Izzard makes his living ‘talking total bollocks.’ But the star of FX’s ‘The Riches’—currently touring a new stand-up act—absolutely hates making lists. (We nudged him.)

1 Nazis
2 Death
3 Rabies
4 Helicopters that don’t work
5 Not being able to turn right on red
6 Extremists