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" There is no shortage of well-dressed men in New York. I saw at least 2 percent of them on Wednesday morning at Steven Alan&amp;#039;s excellent presentation \u2014 an audience full of nice haircuts, Sorrel boots, and dandy suits. These spectators were as primped as the models on stage, who were styled in a way that&amp;#039;s become familiar: hats on the back of the head, droopy bangs, pegged pants, high-buttoned blazers. Even with the models&amp;#039; non-smiles, they couldn&amp;#039;t suppress the fact that they looked nice and freshly-scrubbed. This sort of clean aesthetic has also become predominant on street-style blogs, a digital garden full of young men who look like they&amp;#039;re borrowing from Daniel Radcliffe&amp;#039;s walk-in closet. But, while stars have the front-row seats and schedules that demand everything be styled just so, the rest of us risk looking like little boys. Boys who get excited for Fashion Week like it&amp;#039;s the first day of school and we&amp;#039;re waiting for someone to snap a photo. When anyone picks clothes because they know that Bill Cunningham might be waiting, every outfit quickly becomes a Jenga game of trends. Make one mistake, and it all topples over. What we call &amp;quot;street style&amp;quot; is not actually that at all these days. It is more of a lookbook presentation masquerading as democratic dress.  Back when designers claimed to be inspired by the city, there was a different kind of look that caught the eye. Mean Street Style. This man doesn&amp;#039;t wear anything conspicuous because he doesn&amp;#039;t want to be bothered. Mean Street Style has a no-bullshit utility. Its adherents do not own tweed vests or porkpie hats. Instead: a tough bag, good sunglasses, and solid footwear that helps you dodge the various slow and crazy people in the way. They may not smoke, but look like they are smoking, as effortlessly cool as Debbie Harry in the morning. Maybe this is still around but not being documented, because these people do not want their photograph taken. They just want their coffee. You see someone now and then, speeding by, but they are lost in a sea of N.Y.U. sweats, tourists in matching jackets, and those aiming for newfangled, Instagram outfit notoriety. It must&amp;#039;ve started dying off when &amp;quot;street style&amp;quot; became known as Street Style and people started taking pictures of themselves and others all styled up. Either that, or the streets just aren&amp;#039;t mean enough anymore. BUT STILL: Follow New York Fashion Week on The Style Blog and @ESQStyle "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a32944/street-style-new-york-fashion-week-2012/>