18/12/2015
Denim is a curious fabric. I can’t think of any fabric that is currently so torn with regards to which way it should develop. On the one hand the traditional denim companies are doing what they do, continually creating a better and more technical and high quality product. On the other hand you have the heritage-orientated companies taking development back to…
18/12/2015
The Vintage Showroom is a small vintage clothes dealer just by Seven Dials in London. The owners are Doug Gunn and Roy Luckett, and given the number of small vintage clothes shops around the world, or even London, the story could just as well have ended there. Except, Doug and Roy are finders and collectors extraordinaire, so the shop is…
17/12/2015
The smartphone has to be the curse of modern times. One dip in to your pocket and you know if anyone has phoned you, texted you, mentioned you, poked you, prodded you or in any other way attempted to annoy you. Also if anything has happened in the world, your car is unlocked or whether the book you reserved at the…
16/12/2015
A new laptop at work meant I was looking for a new backpack with the space to carry it. Packs with space for a full 17″ laptop are less common than the smaller capacity ones, and if you want it to look good as well, that narrows it down further. I frequently use my pack as a carry-on as well,…
13/12/2015
Shackleton Company – providing heroic menswear for today’s man Ernest Shackleton. Now that is a name indeed. You can sort of imagine a child with a name like that going one of two ways, either an antarctic explorer of heroic nature, or a Wallace (as in “… & Gromit“). In this case though we know Shackleton turned out the heroic…
11/12/2015
For me winter means boots. I know some people feel it appropriate to stride through the cold and dark, over the ice and snow, wearing the same flimsy, slippery and chilly footwear they use the rest of the year. Around here though we see winter as an opportunity to boot up. And boots must be real boots, no zips and…
08/12/2015
In the past two years I’ve bought some pretty decent denim. I could mention the Iron Hearts, all Japanese ruggedness, or the Livids, made by four hands in Norway, the Steel Feathers, designed in Norway and made by Japanese craftsmen, or the Tenders, quirkily British and hand dyed. This time though I wanted something even more different, and when I…
07/12/2015
This time of year I find myself constantly harassed, or occasionally asked, if there is anything I’d like for Xmas. “Peace and quiet, well-behaved children, and a pint of G&T” is rarely accepted as a response, as the asker was invariably after either something that could be purchased, or something that could be crafted on the basis of an empty…
06/12/2015
I’m always looking for things that have that added ingredient of different, be it a vintage car, a strange back-street caffe, or another jacket for the collection. Realm & Empire have been mentioned here a few times before, as one of a handful of British companies worth keeping an eye on. By some incredibly fortuitous dealings, R&E have managed to…
04/12/2015
Delving again into my stack of menswear books, today we have “100 years of menswear” by Cally Blackman. Cally is no novice when it comes to fashion, or writing about it, with at least 4 previous titles and a position as lecturer at institutions such as Central Saint Martins College. This professionalism is obvious when you take a look through…