225BatonRouge.com

Last November, we premiered a new kind of publication for the Capital City, something unique and exciting to read that helps residents and newcomers discover Baton Rouge. We hope 225 has delivered the goods for you. Judging by the strong and overwhelming response, we believe we have.

But in our quest to keep uncovering new things in Louisiana’s newest metropolis, we are ready to launch 225’s companion Web site.

The Web site reflects the new Baton Rouge. It’s dynamic, it’s innovative and it’s definitely on the edge. It’s destined to become your favorite resource for things to do, see and enjoy in the Capital Region.

Dining, music, movies, arts, nightlife, plus sights to see, weather and a calendar of events. Not only that, our new site lets you search for restaurants, clubs or live music, peruse photo galleries, vote in 225 polls, as well as read the stories from current and past issues of 225 the magazine.

You’ll be able to check today’s headlines from Daily Report, and even register to become a 225 reviewer, posting your own comments and opinions about local restaurants.

Plus 225BatonRouge.com will bring you bloggers, citizen journalists who will share their Web journals with you.

Not enough for you? How about this: This month we will introduce yet another first—225 Select. This is an e-mail that will be sent to subscribers every Wednesday. You can check out our editor’s picks for the weekend. We’ll also give you an advance notice on choices of stuff to do a few weeks ahead. We don’t want you to miss a thing.

And it’s free! You can sign up for 225 Select at this link. (Sign up by March 2 to qualify for a prize drawing.)

A peek inside

Once again, we’ve brought you a diverse plate of people, pictures and stories this month. In these pages, you’ll learn about the first book published about serial killer Derrick Todd Lee, the young woman helping to make boys into men as head of the Young Leaders Academy and you’ll find out where some of the best authentic Mexican taqueria food can be found. Search for all those stories on this site.

And an emerging music festival happens in March. Gas Food Lodging is where Baton Rouge finally snags some of the hip and popular bends bound for the huge SXSW music festival in Austin.

Fashions fade, style is timeless

Whether your credo is dress for success, dress to impress or dress for less, one thing is for sure: The clothes you wear can speak volumes about you. Right or wrong, anyone from your prospective employer to your customer can and will judge you by the threads you wear. With spring right around the corner, we take the opportunity to answer some vital questions and to demystify fashion in 225’s Spring Guide to Fashion.

For example, have you ever received an invitation to an event but couldn’t figure out the dress code? Or maybe you did know what to wear, but your spouse didn’t. We’ve all been there. That’s because dress codes have become so fragmented that no one seems to agree anymore on what they mean. So we sent our writers, designers and photographers to crack the code on dress codes.

But we didn’t stop there. We asked around town and found eight local people with distinctive senses of style, people who know how to dress right. While they all love fashion, their styles are as individual as the proverbial snowflake. We photographed and asked them to share their secrets to dressing well. It all starts on page 36.

Speaking of fashion, Esquire Magazine also took a look at “the United States of Style” in its March issue. Among the most interesting and funny tidbits:

• The short-sleeved shirt has no place at the office unless you wear a name tag, in which case you probably have no choice in the matter.

• Things from your closet that do not go together: socks and sandals; boots and suit pants.

• Hairstyles that have names should never appear on your head–the mullet, the wedge and the fauxhawk, for example.

Esquire also asked the women staffers at Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and Harper’s Bazaar to reveal what women want their men to wear. A few highlights from the survey:

• The most flattering color a man can wear is blue (41.9%), or whatever matches his eyes (35.5%).

• The sexiest thing a man can wear is rugged jeans and a white t-shirt (67.7%), or a tuxedo 22.6%.

• The most common male fashion crime they witness: Pants that are too short (32.3%).

As you kick back and read this issue of 225, remember the words of the great gridiron philosopher Deion Sanders, who said, “If you look good, you feel good. If you feel good, you play good. And if you play good, they pay good!”

Time to go shopping!