Alright. Let me start this off with two facts to stroke Mike’s ego.

1: I had a suspicion, and just confirmed this: Mike was the FIRST person I followed on Instagram.

2: I can say, without doubt, that without Mike’s help when I arrived in NYC, I would not have been able to get to where I am today.

Ok, let me explain the second fact, as the first one is clear. Mike is another of my friends from the motherfucking World Wide Web. A series of 0’s and 1’s. A fashionable Comrade Ogilvy. I had no proof that this person really existed before meeting him in person in New York City.

I remember VIVIDLY trying to meet up with Mike nearly immediately after I arrived in Manhattan in January of 2011. Before January/February/June/September were OBVIOUSLY fashion week, I messaged Mike and asked him to hang. He was in Paris. OBVIOUSLY. He told me about his day: Shows. Parties he was DJing. Girls. I was jealous. OBVIOUSLY.

If you recall, I could not, for the life of me, get a job interview in NYC. I remember voicing my frustrations to Mike in a DM on Style Zeitgeist, and him replying simply “Leave it to me.” I recall thinking to myself, “how is this guy going to help me get a job at a hotel.” OBVIOUSLY, my decade of experience is worth more than any recommendation a stranger could give. OBVIOUSLY, I hadn’t been in New York long enough to understand the power of one’s network. I had an interview with Tommy Saleh at The SoHo Grand Hotel just days later, thanks to Mike.

Tommy interviewed me by simply taking my resumé, never looking at it, seeing I was thin(ner than I’ve ever been since) and wearing clothes which he knew to be niche, meaning that I must be niche. I was hired based seemingly solely on what I was wearing and based on Mike’s (whom I think I’d still not yet met in person) word. New York is WILD, man.

Ok, right, so this isn’t supposed to be about me…sorry. So, my debt of gratitude is paid, and we won’t mention all of the years of Mike the Fashion DJ, wearing Julius + Rick Owens, and later, head-to-toe Paul Harnden, and we will move on to the present day, Mike the Watch Dealer.

(Warning: Watch joke incoming).

Time flies. It’s 2023 and I’ve long-since fled NYC. I come back two times a year for New York Fashion Week, and with Context as the excuse, I hit up Mike. You see, Mike is a cat person, and I had to come to shoot Tamago, and Mike too, I guess. It was BOILING hot in the East Village, and I dripped across Lower Manhattan to the respite of Mike’s AC.

I asked Mike to explain to me this whole watch world he had become such a fixture of. He explained it in the context of the fashion designers which we had both once coveted. It mostly made sense to me, but I’d still choose my Garmin which I’m sure is appalling, if not blasphemous, in Mike’s eyes. I need to know my pulse, steps, and body battery. Rarely do I need to know the actual time.

I want to pet Tamago, whom, against my wishes, remains hidden behind Mike’s bed and only comes out after Mike coaxes her. I desperately want to make a joke about Tamago being the only girl in Mike’s bed in a long while, but I’ll refrain. Oops.

A few days later I meet Mike at Chen’s in Chinatown to see how this whole thing works. When I arrive, Jerry Lorenzo (another future Context subject), is inside and buys a watch, I believe with Mike’s assistance. I photograph Jerry with his new watch, at his request, and he heads off to the airport. Mike shows me around Chen’s like he owns the place (insert Jewish landlord joke here) and after we walk over to Colbo for a coffee. Note: when I first met Mike, he did not drink coffee at all. Only Diet Coke.

We arrive and there’s a few guys sat out front, whom I later find out to be friends of Mike: Phil (Mr Enthusiast) Toledano, Scarr Pimentel, and others turn up. They all take turns at taking the piss out of Mike, so I immediately like them. Phil unboxes a watch while Mike, a nearly 40-year-old man, makes a Tik-Tok of it. This is real life…

Ok I’m done. Mike got me here. I took these photos and told these stories because I wanted to. But I always knew I needed to publicly thank Mike for connecting me with Tommy back in the day. For helping me to get the job I needed, in order to pay my rent and buy camera gear. For letting me join the priority boarding to London before I had earned Gold SkyMiles status (let alone before becoming a SkyGod with Diamond!). For making me feel like I was always welcome at fashion parties where he was playing cliché music to poseur fashion people who thought it was, in fact, niche music. I’ve told a lot of stories about other people who have helped me to get to where I am now, but without Mike’s help in the very first days of my New York experiment, I may have never even had the opportunity to meet many of the others at all.

Thanks, Mike.