I probably should have been more concerned (or perhaps slightly annoyed) as she looked at me expectantly, awaiting an appropriate sympathetic response, considering I’m close to ten years her senior.

But my perspective is skewed. My personal style icon happens to be over 90. She’s 94 years old, in fact, as of last Tuesday. And while her heels may be a a bit lower to the ground these days, she is certainly not ceding any ground in the style department.

Some of my fellow fashion enthusiasts, like Cydney W., may venture a guess of Iris Apfel.

At 90, Iris is a muse for fashion designers. She once had an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum in New York dedicated to her wardrobe, and this year has had a range of colors named after her from MAC cosmetics along with a line of accessories from Jimmy Choo.

Iris is a solid guess. But my icon is my grandmother, Frances Lux, and she could give Ms. Apfel a run for her money.

While she does not require a warehouse to store her wardrobe, she did once coerce my grandfather into building a free-standing cedar closet (more accurately described as a ROOM) for her in the basement to house her hat collection, etc.

I believe my grandmother was born stylish. A former “runway” model for hometown fashion shows, she has always been admired for her fashion sense and she is certainly not shy about dispensing unsolicited advice. An example from a previous visit,”… with that top, dear, you should really put on a necklace, or let your hair down.” It’s been fun to trade zingers like these with my sister and cousins over the years.

Grandma Lux - A typical holiday Sunday ensemble

So, if I were to channel grandma Lux, I guess I would say to my friend, “Buck up, sister. Style knows no age.”

And then I’d point her to Ari Seth Cohen’s street style blog, Advanced Style.

Ari chronicles the stylings of the eccentric senior set in New York City and beyond. Here’s a video from Nowness featuring the stars of his blog:

Huffington Post

The other day some colleagues were giving me grief for whipping out an emery board and working on my nails during the day. I have an excellent excuse — I’ve recently broken a decades-long habit of biting my fingernails, and one of the ways I’ve done it is to buff them up a little when I feel the urge to gnaw them.

But I don’t think their teasing had so much to do with the sight of a man filing his nails — it was more that the activity brought back suppressed memories of a long-departed colleague who used to clip his TOENAILS in full view of everyone.

That got me thinking: what’s an acceptable level of public grooming? I don’t think anyone objects when a woman pulls out a compact or puts on some lip gloss. And nobody will criticize someone for glancing at their reflection in the window and putting some stray hair back in place.

But what’s going too far? There seems to be unanimity at Fast Horse that toenail clipping is an art best practiced behind closed doors.

Any readers have stories of those who took personal grooming in public too far?

And by the way — I’m not the only man to bring an emery board to work.

I interned at Fast Horse from January through June 2009 — and I’ve been here ever since. When Fast Horse hosts informational interviews or other gatherings, students often ask me what I did to land the internship and the key things I learned during my six months as an intern.

Here’s what I tell them:

Landing the internship. I quickly learned that Fast Horse wants people who wanted to work at Fast Horse. Duh, right? I bet every employer out there would say that they want candidates who want to work for them more than any other company. But not all candidates market themselves accordingly. I got past talking about my past internship experience and the things I learned in college and focused on why Fast Horse was the agency I wanted to work for.

I also didn’t give up. When an initial conversation didn’t lead to an immediate offer, I started blogging about trends and campaigns that were interesting to me. I sent links to Fast Horse employees as a way of following up. I also did my homework and put together “that little something extra” — which is required to land coveted marketing internships nowadays. I decided to send Fast Horse a few mock campaign one-pagers that showed some creativity.

This was all good, but as my colleague John Reinan frequently points out, my name is probably what sealed the deal. While my last name isn’t quite on par with Metta World Peace’s, “Let’s get Smith working on this” just doesn’t have the same ring to it as “Let’s get the Fiddler working on this.” So make sure your name can be used in this fashion and you’ll have a leg up on the competition*.

* not true

Key things I learned. Doing everything that is asked of you as an intern, doing it well, and having a good attitude along the way is very important and will be significant if you want to get hired on after the internship ends. I also think it’s just as important to do a good job on the work that you aren’t asked to do. Taking the initiative is key.

If you notice a new tool that you think the agency or a client could benefit from, go ahead and proactively write that idea up and present it to your supervisor. Don’t wait to be asked to research new tools. The fact that you took the initiative and presented an idea that could improve a campaign could very well be more memorable to your supervisor and boss than the idea itself.

Also don’t be afraid to ask questions. At the beginning of my internship, I was a bit reluctant to ask questions about things I thought interns should know. Curiosity and being vocal are good attributes that your colleagues will value. If you have any questions about my experience as a Fast Horse intern, feel free to leave them in the comment section or on the Fast Horse Experience.

Just this weekend I completed my annual, typically two-day project of purging my closet. My motto is out with the old and in with the new!

But with limited time and a limited budget, a girl needs focus. Lucky for me I have an in with some local experts. I put the challenge to them: Give me your one favorite trend for spring. The real challenge was keeping them to just one.

Here are their picks:

Amy Roark – Writer, Strategist, Trend Master, Editorial Refiner

The Look: French Kindergarten Teacher

You remember her. That impossibly lovely, always colorful teacher from your past. Now imagine she’s French. Combining some of the best of the S/S 12 — the Duster coat, the shirt-dress, vibrant sherbet colors, lady-like accessories — into a personalizable, somewhat zany vintage vacation sure to make everyone again hot for teacher.

(Images: the Sartorialist)

OK, so the total effect is a bit much. But in moderation..Hot. I love the quirky + vintage vibe made modern by the color and print combinations.

Molly Roark – Creative Director, Editorial Conceiver, Award-Winning Stylist & Product Designer

Lips Don’t Lie: Chanel’s Rouge Allure – Kensington 

If you invest in one lipstick this season, make it Chanel’s Kensington. A strong lip made an important impression on the Runway, and in our opinion never goes out of style. Nothing brightens a mood, or a complexion, better than Pink. Mute with a dash of preemptive lip balm or go for maximum saturation — and see who smiles back. 

Amen. As my grandma Lux always says, throw on a little lipstick and you can rule the world.

(Image: Alipstickaday.blogspot.com)

And, so you boys don’t feel left out:

Mike Head – Men’s Wear Designer, Stylist, and Regional Visual Guru for H&M

The Look: The James Spader (Early Edition)

The relaxed bad boy. With just the right hint of smug. Spring brings a laid-back approach to classic men’s dressing.  Washed cotton, unlined and unstructured jackets in jersey and linen, loose trousers, shirt-jackets and netted knits. A sun-bleached color palette — ivory, bone, mint, soft blues/greys — or very bold and bright: electric blue, raspberry, parrot green, orange. No literal nods to eras past or Gilligan’s Island, just casual and cool contemporary design with attention to fabric, finish and plays on proportion and silhouette.

(Images: Spader IMBD, Blue – M Margiela, Style.com, Soft – Lanvin, Style.com)

Steff! OK, maybe he was an ass, but you must admit … he looked hot.

Thanks to Amy, Molly and Mike from INVISIBLE OUTFIT. IO is a fashion collective based in Minneapolis. A group of aesthetically aligned artists and creatives, they challenge and surprise audiences through production of vanguard editorial, elevated trend research, original design and other collaborative creative experiences.

John Paton, CEO of the company that owns the Pioneer Press. Credit: INMA

The marketplace value of traditional journalism is zero. The business model of newspapers is irretrievably broken. And anyone who thinks differently is bringing a knife to a gunfight.

So says the man who runs a media empire that includes the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

John Paton is CEO of Digital First, a venture created to operate the holdings of two struggling media companies: Journal Register Co. and MediaNews Group (which owns the Pioneer Press).  Digital First describes itself as “a local news powerhouse with more than 880 multi-platform products in 18 states serving more than 57 million Americans per month.”

In recent years, Paton has become a powerful voice in the debate over the direction of the news industry. That may be because most of the news industry is battered and disoriented by the twin disasters that have befallen it over the last decade: the destruction of its business model by the Internet, coupled with the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Under those circumstances, anyone willing to stake out a firm position and advocate it vigorously is bound to become a thought leader – and Paton has been an unusually vigorous advocate for his view that the future of journalism is digital.

In a recent address to the Canadian Journalism Foundation, Paton made his case. Among his observations:

• “There is no general model for newspapers to replace the one the Internet just broke.”
• “What we know and what we traditionally do has finally found its value in the marketplace and that value is about zero.”
• “ ‘You’re gonna miss us when we’re gone’ is not much of a business model.”
• “Investors don’t buy into myth. They buy into math. If you want investors to take a long-term view on our industry or our companies, then you better give them a long-term plan that works.”

Paton’s solution is to focus on digital media above all else. Digital and print can work together, but digital has to be in charge. That’s a tough sell in an industry that still relies on print advertising for 80 to 90 percent of its revenue, but Paton hasn’t backed away from his position.

He also believes in getting regular people more involved in creating and delivering the news, breaking down the distinction between professional journalist and citizen journalist.

Regular people are already delivering news through Facebook, Twitter and other social media, he reasons. So why not give them a greater role – and hence a greater stake in – the traditional media that are fighting to maintain relevance in the digital age?

I haven’t subscribed to the full Paton, but I do think he’s a voice well worth listening to. Yet I can’t help but notice that the Pioneer Press hasn’t dramatically expanded its digital range. It may be that there hasn’t yet been time for Paton’s innovations to filter down.

But if Paton doesn’t put his theories into practice at the properties he controls, who will?

This is John Reinan’s weekly marketing column for MinnPost.com.

The Trails along Lake Nokomis Parkway

The Chain of Lakes in Minneapolis is but one of the things that sets our great city apart from other metropolitan areas. It’s our calling card, and it helps some forget we live through blizzards and ice storms five months of the year. But sadly, for many, the Chain conjures images of just a few bodies of water and their upscale surroundings.

On the edge of downtown, Lake of the Isles sits adjacent to the quiet and quaint Kenwood neighborhood, known for its beautiful old homes and lakeside mansions. Calhoun, named for a pro-slavery U.S. senator, is a summertime meat market with trendy Uptown stores, bars and restaurants within walking distance. And Harriet butts up against the very desirable Linden Hills area, rich with liberal values and, well, riches.

Southwest side of Lake Nokomis with a view of the Cedar Ave. bridge.

They’re amazing areas, every one of them, and we’re lucky to have them for their scenic and recreational value. But what of that other large lake sitting quietly out of the way in southeast Minneapolis?

Perhaps it’s a marketing problem…but nestled just to the north of Mall of America and MSP Airport, Lake Nokomis feels like the hidden gem of Minneapolis…an area time somehow kind of forgot. For five years, I’ve lived two blocks off its south shore, and if you’ve never stopped by (the lake, not my house), you ought to know what you’ve been missing.

By contrast, Nokomis lacks some of the accoutrements of its more well-regarded aquatic brethren. There’s no LA Fitness, no Chino Latino. There is no Nokomis Beach Club, where the trendsetters live and work out and no clubs where college kids congregate to be part of a scene. And if there is a single old-money mansion along Nokomis’ perimeter, I have yet to find it.

"You are here" at Lake Nokomis...a bit removed from the "other" lakes by more than just geography

Yes, Nokomis is comparatively sleepy and laid back. A seemingly disorganized conglomeration of nice and not-so-nice — but almost always older — homes. Retail establishments are few and far between. But don’t let those things fool you. Our little corner of Minneapolis has real character. A grittiness unlike other areas of the city. We’re largely blue collar and our neighborhoods are diverse.

Our homes hearken back to the days when Minneapolis sprawled southward to previously undeveloped farmland. These days, in the winter, our MAC-updated houses shield us not just from the cold, but from the flight patterns overhead.

Dog friendly Nokomis Beach Coffee will make you forget Starbuck's.

Spring, summer and fall offer some of the best outdoor recreation opportunities all around Nokomis and at nearby Lake Hiawatha and Minnehaha Creek. We have all the requisite baseball diamonds and soccer pitches to keep kids and kids-at-heart healthy and active, and grabbing a post-game cone at Grand Ole Creamery on Cedar is the perfect idea on a hot day.

When American Express created its Small Business Saturday campaign, Nokomis is exactly the area it was supposed to benefit. Passing up The Home Depot in support of tiny Nokomis Hardware just feels good. And in many ways, a trip to Bergen’s Supervalu is so much more appealing than Cub or Rainbow — good selection, nice produce and senior discounts I look forward to enjoying in a couple decades.

A great meal at al Vento should be near the top of the list of things to try in Nokomis, and Buster’s on 28th Ave. is an awesome little bar/restaurant with microbrews and the best burgers…maybe in the entire city. And to start any week off on a sweet note, you simply have to make a Sunday morning stop at A Baker’s Wife Pastry Shop.

Nokomis Hardware on 34th

A Baker's Wife Pastry Shop... and a cow

Unspectacular on the outside, Buster's on 28th is well worth the trip!

It might be interesting to see what a little marketing push could do for the Nokomis area. On the flip side, I would be nervous about what it would do to our neck of Minneapolis. The people are what make Nokomis the great place it is. You don’t have to be beautiful or rich. You can walk or jog or ride our trails wearing what you want while being as friendly or anonymous as you wish. We don’t judge in the Southeast. And while it’s often busy around our lake, it never feels like the insanity of the scene at Lake Calhoun. And that’s a great thing. Perhaps we want to stay just a little hidden.

Do not misjudge this post — I would never knock on the more “elite” lakes that have their own pages on Facebook. I love them all, and they make our town unique. But Nokomis just feels a little special. More homey. More real. So when summer rolls around, do yourself a favor on a warm, sunny day. Skip the trendier scenes of Minneapolis’ “other” lakes and spend a few hours in Nokomis. I guarantee you’ll be glad you did.

You have to try the meatball white pizza at Fat Lorenzo's. No really, you have to.

Seriously solid take-out at Singapore!

Great Chicago dogs at Chris & Rob's

Who wouldn't want this dreamboat more involved in Minnesota life: Nick Checco, 1993 Mr. Hockey for Bloomington Jefferson, and husband of our own Allison Checco.

The Minnesota state high school hockey tournament is once more upon us, and that’s the perfect opportunity to talk about a shamefully underused natural resource here in our great state: our growing supply of Mr. Hockeys.

Every year since 1985, one puck star has been chosen as Mr. Hockey: the best of the best, the official representative of the State of Hockey. (In 1993, that honor went to Bloomington Jefferson’s Nick Checco, who later married our own Allison Checco.)

They get a trophy of some sorts, their name in the paper and an occasional shout-out around tourney time. But shouldn’t there be more?

If hockey is the game that represents the true character of Minnesota, and these young men represent the best of hockey, then why wouldn’t we want them to continue representing us as they progress through life? We’re wasting a lot of great manhood here.

I think we need to incorporate our Mr. Hockeys into Minnesota life in a structured, ongoing way. A few ideas:

• Set aside two seats in the state House of Representatives to be filled by Mr. Hockeys on a rotating basis.
• Create a special branch of the judicial system, “Hockey Court,” to hear any non-fatal case arising from a bar fight. A Mr. Hockey will serve as presiding magistrate.
• Kick off each hockey season with a Mr. Hockey Opener, just as we kick off the fishing season with the Governor’s Opener.
• Include a Mr. Hockey as a regular panelist on public television’s “Almanac.” Just imagine this from Cathy Wurzer: “And now we turn to Mr. Hockey Tom Chorske for his thoughts on the highway bill.”
• Naturally, Mr. Hockey should have an official role in major community celebrations, such as the Aquatennial, the St. Paul Winter Carnival and all Fourth of July fireworks spectaculars.

We’ve got a couple dozen Mr. Hockeys right now, with a new one added every year. They’re in the prime of life. Let’s not squander them.

Even before I chose such a visually dependent career, my worst fear was always losing my sense of sight. Take my sense of smell. Make me go bald. I’ll even loose a leg before I would want to lose my eyesight.

This is one of the reasons I hate having migraines. These bad boys come about two or three times a year, and I was just lucky enough to have one this week. My symptoms are always the same, so I thought I would treat you all to a visual representation of what I experience.

First up are blind spots. One minute I’m watching TV, the next, I’m watching half of a TV. Anything I focus on disappears in the bottom right corner, like magic. Gone.

A few minutes later, tunnel vision sets in. Not only is the bottom right of my vision gone, but now my peripherals are closing in.

And a few short minutes after that, I will get those signature auroras. A long, shimmering strip of light, cutting through my eyes. I can’t see anything through it, and it’s still there when I close my eyes.

By now, I better have gotten some pain meds, water and a sandwich, because it’s at this point that the headache pounding against my eyes and forehead appears, and I get pushed to the point of extreme nausea.

Now it’s time to lie down, and attempt to sleep it off (even though every pillow suddenly feels like a rock) and pray that in 12 to 24 hours, the world will be right again.

This 1904 political cartoon depicts the business colossus of the day, Standard Oil, as a grasping octopus.

Only the wildest dreamers of earlier generations could have imagined the everyday wonders we take for granted in the digital age.

In our purses and in our pockets, we carry devices that are exponentially more powerful than the computer banks that once filled entire rooms. While standing in line at the bank or having a drink at the bar, we can instantly summon virtually any bit of knowledge that’s ever been created by the human mind.

We’re never lost. We never lack answers. We’re never out of touch, unless we choose to be. You can call it a blessing, or call it a curse – I call it both.

But we’re so enraptured by our digital devices, and how much easier they make our lives, that I think we’ve failed to notice how much control we’re ceding to a handful of increasingly powerful businesses.

In the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, at the peak of the Industrial Revolution, dozens of U.S. industries were controlled by trusts that squeezed out competition for the benefit of that era’s “one percent.” The biggest trust of all, Standard Oil, made John D. Rockefeller Sr. the first billionaire.

I thought about the trust era as I read through “U.S. Digital Future in Focus,” an annual report on digital media issued by comScore Inc. Why? Because the major players in the new digital economy are attaining tremendous positions of dominance. For example:

• Google has 68% of the Internet’s search traffic
• YouTube (owned by Google) has half the Web’s video traffic
• Facebook controls 28% of the Web’s display advertising and accounts for 1 of every 7 minutes consumers spend online
• Android and Apple combined have more than 75 percent of the smartphone market

I understand why these companies have been able to attain such dominant positions. Simply put, they earned their success by building a better mousetrap.

And I also understand that things can change quickly in the digital economy. It’s easy to forget that Facebook didn’t launch until 2004 and YouTube until 2005. In 2003, pre-iPod and iPhone, you could have bought a share of Apple stock for about $7. That share today would cost you about $520.

Meanwhile, Blackberry maker Research in Motion has lost nearly 90 percent of its market value in the last three years. And the Palm Pilot, once a leader in personal digital technology, is extinct.

So, change is a given, and maybe we shouldn’t worry about the prospect of a few companies controlling the technology and social networks that we’ve all come to rely on as essential to the daily routines of life and work.

All I’m saying is, if we’re going to turn over the running of our lives to Apple, Facebook and Google, let’s at least be aware that we’re doing it.

This is John Reinan’s weekly marketing column for MinnPost.com.

I know mine could. I tend to slack a little more during the winter months, blaming the dreary weather for my lack of energy and motivation.

I decided enough was enough. I recently turned in my gym membership for a nice little change of pace, the Insanity Workout. You get the comforts of working out in your own home (perfect for those cold winter days) and don’t have to pay monthly fees. What could be better?

I’ve played sports my entire life, so I figured, how hard could this really be? I got my answer pretty quickly when the fit test, the first part of the program that tests your strengths and limits, left me gasping for air. Within a matter of days, I learned how truly insane the Insanity workouts really are.

Is it worth it? I think that may depend on your personality. If you are a competitive person, then I would say yes. If you prefer more low-key, passive workouts, then probably not. If you strictly stick to the schedule, doing your workouts six days per week and eating right, in my opinion, there is no other workout that can even compare.

No matter how hard you may think you’re pushing yourself at the gym, I can promise you Insanity pushes that much harder. I never have been one to buy into the “home workout solutions” until I came across Insanity. It actually works and is well worth it. In addition to my Insanity workouts, I have re-dedicated myself to the sport of snowboarding as an added winter exercise for myself that’s a little more on the fun side. These two small changes have left me feeling a lot more energized and motivated on the cold and dreary winter days.

Have you tried the Insanity workouts before? What did you think of them? What are your methods for keeping the winter blues away?