A blog dedicated to the interesting, scandalous, useful and cutting edge in the world of men’s style, fashion and grooming.
You'll know what we know.
With ties trending British, it’s a good time to have an overseas source.
A Suitable Wardrobe turned us on to Drakes London, a bespoke tiemaker that specializes in Albion-inspired patterns and skinny-but-not-too-skinny cuts. In other words, the genuine English article.
With social conscience becoming an increasingly valued part of a brand, it was only a matter of time before charities decided to get in on the action. That way, they can finally make some real scratch.
UK Vogue is reporting Oxfam’s first designer boutique in London’s Westbourne Grove. An all-star team of British designers contributed to the store, which combines donated designer clothes with unique and reworked pieces from the London College of Fashion. Of course, it’s all sustainable and fair traded to within an inch of its life. After all, they’re still about fighting poverty»
This week’s Monocle features a story on a London store called Albam that has made its name by promoting local production—meaning within the UK, or failing that, within western Europe—in favor of the higher profit margins but questionable labor conditions of East Asian factories. It’s a common enough tale, but we couldn’t resist a little peek at how things work across the pond.
Savile Row is rightly known as the world center of tailoring, but too often the attention falls on the expert cuts—which you can get a good-enough approximation of in Hong Kong or New York—rather than the heirloom fabrics that usually don’t travel farther than one shop.
Luckily, the internet comes to us all. And apparently so does tweed»
Monica Feudi via IHT
It’s fairly common for a writer to stretch a thin idea farther than they should. Generally, the worst that happens is a puffier-than-usual puff piece. But when a designer does it…things can get ugly.
Ralph Lauren has landed a contract with the U.S. Olympic team, outfitting 1500 athletes for the opening and closing ceremonies in Beijing. The past three games were outfitted by Canadian apparel company Roots Ltd., but the committee decided their designs were too informal, and chose the preppy stylings of Mr. Lauren.
As Fashion Week Daily points out, Ralph is getting fairly small fee for the outfitting—“less than $10 million” was as much as the reps were willing to say—but the move will let them make inroads into Chinese markets.
Ah, the rewards of patriotism.
Much as we like the Old Vegas ambience of some movie theaters, we’ve ready for something more forward-looking for a while now. And as it turns out, Hong Kong has been looking too. Welcome to the AMC Pacific Place Cinema.
With London slowly leaking history and Anna Wintour preparing to invade Milan, it may be time to find a new fashion capital. (Other than, you know, New York.) Allow us to suggest a dark horse candidate: Shanghai.
