All dressed up and no where to go... Except Zebulon?

MoMA lobby: 5:25pm

Madison x E59th.

Crossing Madison @ E63rd.

Cedar Hill in Central Park. 1:40pm

Steps of the library.

Standard L train fare.

CHEESBURGER with black and red PANTHER

Pictured above is the lead singer from The Panthers, Jayson Green, who leapt up onto the stage wearing a striking black and red plaid jacket during a Cheeseburger show at The Knitting Factory in NYC on 12/3/07.

This plaid news story was put together by the new PVP RRRI (Rock and Roll Research Intern) who we just hired to comb through infinite stacks of youtube videos and myspace profiles of band and band fans for instances of plaid occurrence at rocks shows around the world.
To watch the video of this event please go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6f8haluwYU

RED BLACK and BOOTS to MATCH

Corner of Wythe and N3rd, Outside Relish... gettin' on towards the end of another Sunday brunch shift.

RED and BLACK in the LAP

At the Angelika waiting to begin seating for the 4:35 showing of Vicky Christina Barcelona.

RED and BLACK and OVERCAST

Strolling through the park through a misting saturday rain.

BLACK and RED RADISHES

Perusing the produce a t the McCarren Park farmers market, rainy Saturday.

BLUE and BEIGE

Not only did we admire his plaid vest, we were exceptionally drawn to the backpack this guy had on, (unfortunately not adequately pictured due to his close clutching in the photo above and the crown platform as we de-trained)

BLACK and WHITE on Campus

Cutting Across the Quad, Columbia University just after1 pm.

BLACK AND RED and LARGER than LIFE

Bill board sized advertisement for J.C. Penny. W32nd x Ave of the Americas, Midtown Manhattan, USA

BLACK and WHITE lining.

Hood in Herald square.

COUNTERS: A new multi-media installation by Abby Manock opening January 10 @ Gallery Diet in MIami.

TIWILLTBAA: this is what it looks like to be an artist.

RED and BLACK, from track to track

In the tunnel between the L train and connection to the 1,2,3, at 6th Ave.

BLUE and BLACK: UWS BACKPACK

Corner of W110th and Bway heading North, just after 8:am.

BLACK and WHITE lies about the power of the sun's rays.

CAPTURED: Small child on wheels accompanied by parent (red shoes) who I over heard explaining to the young like-a-biker that the sun was very good for his skin. Seemed like the wrong way to phrase it, us having to wear sun-screen the way we do these days... hmmm, What do I know, I'm no parent. Anyway. Kid was wearing plaid pants. Columbia University Campus. 8:32 am

BLACK and WHITE

Yet another plaid sighting along the 14th Parallel.

REd and BLACK, BIPOLAR BEAR ATTACK!!!!

Visitor to Apartment 503 on the 5th floor of The 1850, a new luxury condo building on the corner of Albany and Wareham Streets in Boston's South End. Unclear whether our plaid guest was here to look at the art work the view or the interior of the oven.

PURPLE and ORANGE

Followed this guy for a few blocks before he ducked into the CVS on Washington Street in Boston's South End. Finally snapped this shot as he waited to check out, as if posing on purpose in front of a coordinated candy counter. Please Note, fellow voyeurs, this is the first ever sighting of the rare Orange and Purple variety.

BLACK and WHITE

Painting adorning the wall of the apartment at which we stayed whilst in Boston. Artist Unknown.

BUFFALO BANKS

This is my grandfather, W. Banks Tobey, known to my sister and I as Grandpa Banks. There are lots of stories about him that I've heard over the years which lead me to believe he was a pretty interesting guy. This picture was taken in 1983. He died of a brain tumor in 1987, when I was ten. This is how I like to remember him:

Diamond in the Rough

Killing time on the Upper West Side, I mosey on over to my most favorite Salvation Army, the one on 96th Street between Broadway and West End. I can usually find something in there, and I always enjoy the process of perusal. Today was no exception. I found this amazing plaid blazer: (pictured below) Apart from the massive shoulder pads, which I wasted no time in removing, and a very strange stain on the right cuff of the right sleeve which looks, unmistakably like blood, I think I scored my self a total gem!

Drive by capture

I took this while riding my bike! Metropolitan x Union (almost) wburg
brunchtime on Saturday sept 13.

[Richard] SEN and [Plaid] SENSIBILITY & and the ICP ORCHESTRA

Thumbing through last weeks TIME OUT NEW YORK (September 4-1-, 2008) I came upon the following article:

And in the same issue, a mere 44 pages later, I find another...

TATI and AZZEDINE ALAIA

At the suggestion of our dear friend Christiane, we have sent our interns into the archives to look up French fashion icon Azzedine Alaia and the chain of french discount stores, aka ""the mosh pit of shopping," called TATI. Curiously, neither has an official website that pops up on the Anglocentric version of google, but we did find a few tidbits which have made us thirsty for more information....

Although we found the above images, we have yet to pinpoint the intricacies of ALAIA's relationship to the buffalo check (no doubt called something different in France) The following biographical information provided by our friend Boyd Davis, Online Editor at www.fashionwindows.com, does start to create a platform for which a love affair with plaid could very well bloom, but the connection remains a mystery. If anyone has any information or photographs regarding TATI, AZZEDINE ALAIA, and our beloved BUFFALO CHECK (or it's French name) please email us at plaidvoyeurismproject@gmail.com

Azzedine Alaia learned about the human form when he was studying sculpture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Tunis. It was not until 1957 when he moved to Paris that he formalized his fashion career when he became an assistant to Guy Laroche. Starting 1960, he was designing and creating custom clothing for a very select clientele and finally in 1982 branched out into ready-wear. A year later, he started selling his designs in New York and in Beverly Hills (1983).
Nicknamed the "King of Cling" Azzedine Alaia practically invented the stretch mini, Lycra cyling shorts and the body suit that became inspiration to high street fashion design.
Azzedine Alaia knows the female body and understand how to display it properly. His clothes are a symbols of the fitness craze that started during the 1980s - trim, slim and fit.
A master cutter and tailor, Azzedine Alaia is also a perfectionist and works directly onto the body to get that perfect fit. He is also a master of draping and can create clothes that almost fit like a second skin.
Although he is not a recluse, his last proper show was in 1996. His atelier is not listed in any fashion house listing in Paris. Azzedine Alaia continue to cater to a very private clientele and still enjoy commercial success on his ready-to-wear line.

BLACK and WHITE

Hey Girlie! Watch out for that truck!
Union Square East, heading north just after 8:00am EST.

RELATIONS of the red and black AESTHETIC.

@ drawing center for Rirkrit's opening.
Sent in by CALL PAUL from her Verizon Wireless BlackBerry.

MEANWHILE, A FEW BLOCKS UPTOWN...

Spotted amongst the throngs of the see-'n-be-seen @ the opening of Leigh Ledare's You are Nothing to Me. You are like Air @ Rivington Arms. 9/11/08. around 8:00pm.

THE NEXT TWO WERE ACTUALLY CAPTURED ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH.

The following three plaids were captured in the inaguration of the new Taxter & Spengemann Gallery space which was part christening/ birthday party/ and stand-up comedy show. The new space was the Old Frank Stella studio which was as impressive as the rest of the evening was funny. Funny artists who aren't comedians doing stand-up? With a back up band called the Marshmellows, or at least that's what I thought they said their name was... Yeah, it was pretty funny.... I guess. HA HA HA.

BLACK and WHITE on the right, RED and BLACK on the left and MONKEY [ME] in the middle

Saw him sitting there as soon as I came through the turnstile at 3rd Ave. Pretended to check something on my phone white snapping the following shot:

The train came moments later and as the doors opened I saw RED and BLACK standing just inside. BLACK and WHITE and I boarded the train and there I was, sandwiched between two plaids in a jam packed 5:30 rush L train being dragging us all back to Brooklyn. I tried my very best to get a good shot featuring both of my bookends, but they were just far enough apart that I couldn't squeeze them into one frame while on board the train.

After de-training at the Bedford stop, I finally was able to capture them both in the same frame, though only a sleeve of RED and BLACK is barely visible on the far left.

E12th x 2nd Ave. Heading north.

First day of school @ Columbia university. Outside Dodge Hall (School
of the Arts)

WE'RE BACK!.... in RED and BLACK!

Back to school season means back to work, here at PVP headquarters. This here is a snapshot of a dear friend of PVP, who's ALIAS we can't remember, though he was featured in a trench coat and plaid scarf back in december or January, we think....( There is a fresh and eager intern checking the archives, as we speak...) In the mean time, from all of us to all of you, we're shoutin' out a hearty WELCOME BACK! We're back in the office with a well earned healthy summer glow and a refreshed, but thirsty thirst for plaid. So keep 'em comin'....

THIS IS JUST A TEST.

This is a test of the new PVP iphone mobile upload system. If you are seeing the plaid image above, we have made our first successful plaid upload via iphone, aka, the OFFICIAL HANDHELD WIRELESS DEVICE OF THE PLAID VOYEURISM PROJECT!!!!! HOORAY!

ATTENTION! PVP SYSTEMS FAILURE/SUMMER VACATION

My Dear Plaid Voyeurs,

As you may have noticed, we have been experiencing some technical difficulties in the last few weeks resulting from lost hand held plaid capturing devices. We are not sure to what this across the board lapse in memory is due, but seemingly everyone on staff here at PVP Headquarters has lost their cell phones at least three times this summer. We are taking this as a sign that we need to take a step back, a few deep deep breaths.....( As Willy Nelson says, breath from your heels...) get some fresh air, and take time to enjoy the beautiful weather. Everyone here is literally pawing at the door to get out and spend time out in the summer sunshine... so we are taking an office wide break.... a TPH, (Temporary Plaid Hiatus) if you will. When we get back, we will be fully MobileMe and iphone compatible!!!! (Enough whining, right?) Enjoy the waning summer everyone, and see y'all in Fall!

xoxo,
PVP

BLACK and WHITE

"Jetblue terminal 4 gate 16 JFK. Shoes!"
Sent in by CALL PAUL.

RED and BLACK

Dairy case. City Market, Burlington, Vermont. 8/7/08 about quarter to five.

TALL PAUL and YOU!

For those of us strapped to a desk this summer, it gives us great pleasure to travel vicariously through our friends' facebook photo albums of their various summer vacations. Some are more exciting and well documented than others, which is why we have been tuning in with each new upload to the photo trail CIGARETTE GIRL has been scattering on her road trip cross country. We are please to feature our favorite photo so far: the one of her and her four legged friend in the hands PVP hero, PAUL BUNYAN. Hey C-GIRL, which of the USA's many Paul Bunyan monuments is that? Good luck and safe travels on the rest of your adventure! We'll be watching...

CANAL and CHAOS

This quintessential Canal Street image was sent in by SWIRLY HENRY a week or so ago and misplaced due to the summertime memory lapse that has invaded PVP headquarters over the past few weeks. It's hot and we ain't got no AC, and people's minds are out lying on the grass in the park sipping Rose through a straw from a paper cup... Bottom line, there just ain't much plaid to be seen in August. However, We've been nosey, and through our anonymous sources with their toes in fashion, we've heard that Back to School is gonna be packed with it's fair share of our favorite fabric. So if you feel as though PVP has been slackin.... we have. We're the first to admit it. There's only so many times we can write about how we're seeing gingham before we lose our minds. It's too hot for that and we've already made allowances for our lack of air conditioning by letting the staff members at head quarters work in just their underwear, if they so choose.

So check out the scarves below, (according to recent NY Times article, the sales of these and other imports hawked on Canal Street may or may not be funding terrorism, but go ahead tourist Marjorie from Indiana, bring one back to the folks back home... it's SO New York!) Image courtesy of SWIRLY H, who braved the wilds of Canal Street on a Saturday in July to capture this image.

GREEN and BLACK

This fabulous capture was sent in with the following caption: "Opening in Red Hook!" via verizon wireless hand held mobile device to our email inbox from mystery phone number: 917-538-7595. Would the owner of this plaid capture please write in and let us know who you are, so you may receive the proper accolades for such a valiant act of voyeurism on our behalf. And please, for next time, don't forget to identify yourself with your plaid submissions. In any case, thanks again, Ghost Writer!

AQUA and BLACK

Bedford Ave x N 5th. Bedford Ave closed to car traffic today, and the people are out in droves. Including the crazy street performer with the rubber shark fin, the vacuum cleaner hose strapped to his ass and the fucking bunny ears that gives performance art a bad name. I guess there's room in this world for everyone... more room... for me to put between me and him with the street being closed and all. This plaid captured on Saturday, as I tried to get as far away from that guy as possible......posted on lazy lazy Sunday.

BLACK and WHITE

Northbound on 2nd ave x E9th St. Friday afternoon.