The Passing of Glenn O'Brien

I just got done writing about the troubles of  J. Crew, a company that helped raise me, only to sadly hear that Glenn O'Brien had passed away at the age of 70. I think older and more cultured people than I may remember him from his earlier life and work, but I simply knew him as "The Style Guy" from GQ. He authored a column that answered fashion and lifestyle questions sent in by readers for over 15 years, and his advice was one of the first unwavering beacons of wisdom I found early on - in truth, a large part of the reason I used to think that GQ was the authority on fashion and menswear. I had a lot to learn, obviously (including to stop reading GQ - especially after his departure from the magazine), but for a long time Glenn O'Brien was always there to subtly shape the way I thought about style while I sat on the toilet, one month at a time, with steady and insightful commentary - a young, impressionable period when I was struggling to establish my own views on style and how it could be more personal to me.

His Schott rider pictured above remains one of the coolest things I've ever seen on a man - a feat that relies largely on the man himself. He'll be missed by many style orphans who looked up to him as a true icon and in that regard, somewhat of a father figure.

"Style isn't fashion. Fashion is about what everybody's doing, what everybody's wearing. Style is about what you're doing, what you're wearing." - Glenn O'Brien