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44 Articles

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

“True nobility is exempt from fear.”– Marcus Tullius Cicero This magazine cultivates the cause of living like a king. Exquisite attire, the finest food and drink, sublime design, beautiful vacation destinations, magnificent transport and accommodations – these things are integral to leading a regal life, and as such, central among The Rake’s subject matter. But The Rake isn’t just another “men’s luxury” magazine, given to glorying in the outlandishly lavish. Good taste and discretion dictate otherwise. Considering the presently tempestuous economic climate, to indulge in the sort of hyper-materialistic, onanistic celebration of ridiculous diamond-encrusted tchotchkes that many “luxury” publications are prone to would be tactless, tacky, and vulgar indeed. And as Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel once put it: “Some people think luxury is the opposite of poverty. It is not. It is the…

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

JAMES SHERWOOD An authority on matters sartorial, Sherwood is a style critic for the Financial Times, International Herald Tribune and Independent on Sunday, and author of the book The London Cut: Savile Row Bespoke Tailoring — curating an acclaimed international exhibition of the same name, in addition to superintending Savile Row fixture Gieves & Hawkes’ archives. He has, for five years, served as the BBC’s fashion commentator at Royal Ascot, and is the scribe responsible for Louis Vuitton’s annual London City Guide. This issue, Sherwood (who recently launched his own website, www.james-sherwood.com) delivers a portrait of Swinging London tailoring icon Douglas Hayward (p 152) and a report on recent revelations in England’s sartorial heartland (p 190). TIMOTHY EVEREST Iconoclastic tailoring virtuoso Timothy Everest learnt the bespoke arts apprenticing with the legendarily eccentric English…

LIVE LIKE A KING

“The only reason they come to see me is that I know that life is great — and they know I know it.”— Clark Gable (1901—1960) Few stars of the silver screen provide as ample a testament to the transformative powers of the suit as Clark Gable. Described in an early review as being “young, vigorous and brutally masculine,” Warner Brothers boss Darryl F. Zanuck put it another way, succinctly stating of Gable: “He looks like an ape.” Yet it was precisely this rugged quality, offset by elegant attire and bearing, that formed the core of the actor’s appeal to the general public — in spite of his polished appearance, one could tell that beneath it all, Gable was no mincing thespian. Here was a real man — a “lumberjack in evening…

LIVE LIKE A KING

It’s hard to believe nowadays, but go back a hundred or so years with your air-compression anti-shock sports watch on your wrist, and you’d be tarred, feathered and drubbed out of your private club. You see, back then, wristwatches came mostly on satin ribbons and were exclusively the province of the fairer sex. Wearing a wristwatch to meet the boys for a cigar would have been tantamount to showing up in size 13 Jimmy Choos with a swipe of fetching, kiss-me-quick Chanel Red Flame 69 peeping out from under your moustache. Not only were wristwatches pretty much unthinkable on a gentleman, they were most definitely not taken seriously as timekeepers; as late as the 1930s, a German watchmaker’s professional journal derided them as an unfortunate and ridiculous fad, and expressed devoutly…

THE ART OF WITHDRAWING THE POCKET WATCH

In Bushido — the code of the Samurai — an inordinate amount of time is dedicated to perfecting Mugai Ryu: the Japanese art of drawing the sword. The art of withdrawing the pocket watch can be similarly honed to perfection, resulting in an act which may have an interesting effect on the opposite sex. Says Cristina Thévenaz, CEO of the women’s watch brand DeLaneau, “The act of withdrawing the watch — the intimacy of the gesture, the studied grace of this act — is extremely arousing to me.” How do you extract and check your watch with such insouciant grace? To begin with, the pocket watch is always worn facing you. The following should be accomplished in one gesture: With your thumb and forefinger, grasp the bow (the piece surrounding the…

THE ART OF WITHDRAWING THE POCKET WATCH

There’s a reason the smartest names in men’s elegance — including Tom Ford, Ralph Lauren, Timothy Everest, Mark Powell and Ozwald Boateng — all regard The Thomas Crown Affair, the 1968 Norman Jewison-helmed film starring Steve McQueen, as one of the most influential moments in men’s style. To this day, the film remains one of the most empowering intersections between masculinity and sartorial expression ever captured by the camera’s lens. Think back to the era in which it was born, and you’ll find that the film defiantly went against the grain. Late ’60s American cinema was focused on gritty social realism. To put it in perspective, a year after The Thomas Crown Affair, an X-rated movie about a male street hustler titled Midnight Cowboy would win the Academy Award for Best…

THE SOCK SUPPORTER Of late, there’s been quite a trend within men’s fashion circles to promote socklessness, even when wearing the sturdiest of footwear — benchmade brogues and the like. While we’ll concede that when wearing shoes crafted to make socks unnecessary — moccasins, slippers and such — one should feel free to eschew hose, when suited up, and so probably sporting traditional footwear made of sturdier stock, this writer would argue that one would be wise to ‘put a sock in it’. The reasons are several-fold. First and foremost come practicality and the avoidance of pain. Wear no socks with a sturdy men’s shoe, and you’re virtually guaranteed to return home following an average day’s traipsing to suffer several agonising blisters. A far-from-appealing proposition. Secondly, there’s the matter of maintaining…

REVOLUTIONARY THINKING

Though our dedication to classicism dictates that we generally hold to the maxim “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” and we’re adherents of the principle of not reinventing the wheel, here at The Rake, we’re all for advancement, innovation and pushing of the proverbial envelope. This magazine is, after all, “the modern voice in the rebirth of classic men’s elegance” — ‘modern’ being the operative word. So it is that we greet the arrival of Armrevolution — a producer of innovative, mechanically intricate cufflinks — with considerable interest. Eschewing the complacency that has, for a century or so, left the core design of cufflinks untampered with, Armrevolution has disregarded convention and gone back to the drawing board to create a series of exquisitely crafted cufflinks (usually hewn from the finest…

REVOLUTIONARY THINKING

Oliviero Bottinelli is the youngest person to sit on the iconic Swiss watch brand Audemars Piguet’s board of directors. The honour was bestowed upon him thanks to his incredible work as the brand’s CEO for Southeast Asia. In the time that he’s lived in Singapore, he’s spread the religion of Audemars Piguet throughout the realm and beyond, drumming up a following that veers on the near-fanatical. He’s also been instrumental in creating some of the brand’s most famous limited editions, including a tantalum Royal Oak Offshore with Sincere Watches, a black platinum Millenary MC12 Tourbillon Chronograph with The Hour Glass, and a forged carbon case Royal Oak Offshore to celebrate Singapore’s inaugural F1 race. Bottinelli is also a fixture on the social scene. To paraphrase the film Field of Dreams, throw…

Banked dramatically on its side, flying four sails under a raging southeasterly tailwind, the 80-foot ketch Stormvogel glided gracefully in the direction of the pastel-coloured hilltop district of Porto Maurizio, Imperia. With nothing but blue skies above and the deep azure below, the vision — freedom personified — was enough to make a grown man, or at least this man, weep for early retirement. In Stormvogel’s wake trailed dozens of other classic yachts, all varnished woods and glinting metal, hulls painted navy and cream like a Ralph Lauren advertisement, timber masts bobbing skywards. Imperia, on the Ligurian coast near Genoa, Italy, may not have the same jaw-dropping vistas of the Amalfi Coast or Sardegna, but as Stormvogelcrew member, Hong Kong photographer Guy Nowell, succinctly put it later, “Racing on a…

THE ART OF TIME

It used to be that a wristwatch had a familiar iconography. Round dial, a pair of hands and a strap. But in the last decade, a new breed of timepieces have shape-shifted and hurled themselves into a wilful rebellion against time-telling preconceptions. What have emerged are watches where the primary objective is no longer to tell time, but to evoke emotion in the way they’re portrayed. This transformation professes a marked similarity to the rapid evolution of painting at the end of the 19th century. And in both instances, the catalyst to the change was, ironically, the introduction of new technology that almost sounded their respective death tolls. Before the advent of the camera, the worth of a painting was based on how accurately it represented reality. Michelangelo’s ability to recreate…

THE ART OF TIME

Whisky dilettantes with pretentions to purism will often scoff at blends, insisting that single malts are the only Scotches worthy of imbibing. “Baws,” as my Hebridean kinfolk would put it (or “Bollocks”, as the scurvy Sassenach might say). Though many a malt makes for a majestic dram, there’s also no shortage of execrable malts on the market — and, conversely, while certain blends are barely fit to polish your shoes with, others are ambrosial elixirs that will put many a highfalutin malt to shame. One of the finest blends available is Johnnie Walker Blue Label. This pricey potation contains a cornucopia of rare whiskies aged up to 60 years, which, in their marriage, form a symphonic tipple so smooth and subtly nuanced that even the vodka-swilling whisky-phobe will be instantly seduced,…

PETIT ARISTOCRACY

We are not lap dogs. I’ll say that again — we are not lap dogs. Our larger forebears were bred to hunt badgers and were known in ancient times as Dachs Krieger (badger warrior). In packs, we hunted wild boar and even wolverine. Today, those instincts are fiercely alive in me as I stalk that wily beast known as Strasbourgian foie gras with black truffles. Those of us of the more proportional ‘miniature variety’ were bred to hunt rabbits, our low stance and strong front paws allowing us to chase them deep into the insidious underbelly of their warrens, where they plan the destruction of mankind. The long-haired miniature dachshund’s calmer introspective nature comes from our genetic alliance with spaniels, and our admiration for Voltaire and the Age of Reason. Much…

PETIT ARISTOCRACY

Men and women have very different approaches to shopping. The way in which males and females undertake the task of acquisition would seem, in many ways, to echo the division of labour in prehistoric times — men hunt, women gather. Though we’re loath to generalise, observation (both from life, and programmes popular with our partners such as Sex and the City) would bear out that, typically, the female of the species is content to spend endless hours trawling the stores, often with no clear goal other than to enjoy the shopping (read: gathering) experience, picking up whatever random items happen to take her fancy. The male, however, will usually set out on a shopping expedition with a clear, specific goal in mind — whether that be the purchase of a new white…

OUR FAVOURITE CARLA

Former supermodel, pop star and now, France’s First Lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy boasts many of the qualities we admire in a woman. She’s well bred (the high-born heiress to an Italian industrial fortune), well read (her second album featured interpretations of poems from W.H. Auden, Emily Dickinson, Dorothy Parker and William Butler Yeats, among others), well maintained (the 41-year-old looks easily a decade younger) and extremely well put-together (during her modelling career, Bruni strutted the runway for top houses including Chanel, Dior, Givenchy, Lagerfeld, Lacroix, Yves Saint-Laurent and Versace — testament to her luscious looks, as if a glance at her picture didn’t provide proof enough). This multilingual beauty has — in her new role as wife to France’s President Nicholas Sarkozy — also proven as adept at receiving international dignitaries as…

OUR FAVOURITE CARLA

“At the Bulgari Resort in Bali, you’ll find resort relaxation at its most resplendent.” Inexplicably, some people insist upon filling their vacations with taxing activities, rushing around to take in an array of cultural or touristy sights, engaging in all manner of energetic, action-packed pastimes — hiking, biking, water skiing, skydiving and the like. No doubt they return from their ‘break’ even more exhausted than they’d been before. In our opinion, time away from the pressures of professional life is far better spent indulging in glorious indolence — basking in the sun in an idyllic tropical paradise, waking at 11 to waste away the day sipping delicious cocktails, supping superb foodstuffs, gazing upon a nubile companion’s moist, bikini-clad form, all the while ensconced in beautifully designed, luxurious accommodations… the BlackBerry permanently…

JET SET: WATCHES FOR THE WORLD TRAVELLER

STEALING HEARTS IN EVERY PORT — THE ZENITH CLASS OPEN TRAVELLER MULTICITY “Variety, she’s the spice of life,” said a very wise man, and he was right. It’s genetically proven that men aren’t supposed to be tied down, but are meant to roam the world, engage in impassioned dalliances, and drink from the cup of life all its abundant riches manifest in the genetic miracle of the female form. There’s that raven-haired temptress in Ibiza and the samba queen in Rio, that hard-charging female polo player in Buenos Aires, and the sublime professor of postmodernist philosophy in Helsinki. But how do you keep track of each of them, to wish them all the sweetest dreams, as they’re lying curled in bed in the latest token of affection from La Perla you’ve just…

JET SET: WATCHES FOR THE WORLD TRAVELLER

On the bedroom walls of countless boys during the 1980s, cracked and aged with the patina of time, loomed the image of an automobile that merged futurist sculpture with the incandescent fury of a longitudinally positioned V12 engine. And while many of the accompanying pin-ups changed over time — favoured bikini babes and pop-stars fluctuating with the whims of taste and trend — the automobile remained, the dream of this most awesome of supercars a rare constant in the capricious adolescent consciousness. The car in question, of course, was a Lamborghini. The fact that these posters often pictured the most popular Lamborghini model of the period, the Countach, accompanied by a salacious, scantily-clad female, is apt. ‘Countach’ is a Piedmontese exclamation usually reserved for local womenfolk exhibiting extraordinary genetic fortitude; the…

Examining the year of Valextra’s birth is key to understanding this eminently modern luggage-maker’s unique values. In 1937, the hedonistic excesses of the Roaring ’20s were but a distant memory; the world had been in the grip of the Great Depression for nearly a decade, and even among the wealthy, displays of ornate, ostentatious affluence were frowned upon. Reflecting this reserve, the elegant functionality of the Bauhaus, the sleek lines of Art Deco at its most restrained, the linear simplification of Cubism, and the forward-thinking of Futurism intermingled to dictate a design approach characterised by clean, minimalistic lines devoid of Rococo artifice and showiness. In keeping with this atmosphere of sleek Modernist austerity, Valextra set out to create products transcendent in their purity, whose only deviation from the tenets of Futurism…

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

The pieces of unyielding, lifeless fabric hanging from the necks of legions of men can hardly be called ties, but can more aptly be viewed as hangman’s nooses, as these men plod inexorably toward their sartorial death. And herein a parallel with the fairer sex can be made. Because if a mass-produced three-fold tie is as stiff and intractable as a frigid spinster, the artisan-crafted seven-fold tie is as quicksilver and sentient as the seductress — it moves with the same subtle magic expressed in the posteriors of Brazilian samba dancers. ARNYS CRAVATE D’ATELIER Arnys’ Cravate d’Atelier is made in homage to a past era when all neckties were seven-fold without any interlining. To achieve ties of extraordinary substance and exquisite handle, Jean Grimbert, the brand’s proprietor, has created a double-faced silk…

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

TOM FORD COUNTRY TWEED THREE-PIECE SUIT Leave it to Tom Ford to transform a suit normally reserved by the British aristocracy for stomping through sodden marshlands, chasing after small defenseless woodland creatures and blasting them into nirvana, into an ultra-luxe contemporary uniform dripping in sex appeal. All the details are here: the flapped patch pockets, the lapel that allows you to button it up at the neck, and the action back, cheekily lined in louche velvety suede. Then, of course, there’s the Tom Ford cut and form that intentionally alienates the more Rubenesque among us (unless you pursue his made-to-measure programme). But those anointed to wear his clothes will feel themselves cloaked in a mobile symbol of male virility. Because Tom Ford doesn’t make suits — he sculpts fertility symbols out…

TROUSERS: PRINCIPLES OF FIT AND PROPORTION

THE FOUNDATION OF CLASSIC ELEGANCE Ask any boxer and he’ll tell you: the power of a punch, much like the art of enduring style, begins in the legs. The legs have been mythologised and worshipped as symbols of virility since time immemorial. While it may have been Atlas’ shoulders that bore the weight of the world, it was his legs that formed the linchpin of their support. Look at a Bernini sculpture and you’ll see how, in ideal form, men’s legs were exaggerated in thickness and muscularity. And there’s good reason for this, because until the 16th century, men’s legs were essentially on display to the world and were considered a source of considerable allure to the opposite sex. In ancient times, tunics and togas worn by men exposed their bare…

TROUSERS: PRINCIPLES OF FIT AND PROPORTION

CHECKLIST FOR TAILORED TROUSERS

WAISTBAND Snug but not tight with a few fingers’ room for the expansion of your abdomen when you sit. Also, the waistband should sit at the natural waist and not the hips. SEAT This should be snug with some allowance if you carry a wallet in your back pocket, but the seat should never be so snug that the centre seam rides up between your buttocks. FRONT CREASES These should bisect the knees and lend strong vertical lines to the trousers. HIPS Even on fuller-cut trousers, the hips should fit well and never be excessively loose. On plain-front trousers, they should fit snugly but without creating strain lines. TROUSER FORK The majority of men wear their trousers far too low in the vein of homeless men trying to shoplift turkeys in their crotches. The fork of your trousers should…

THE GOLDEN INTERSECTION — THE SUIT CLOSURE & WAISTBAND

One critical area in assessing how well a pair of trousers and a coat marry, relates to the position of the waistband relative to the suit closure. Fashion has pulled the coat and trousers into greater polar opposition than the Democrat and the Republican. Your goal, like Barack Obama’s, is to forge a union between them. There is a tendency today for all the elements of the coat to be elevated, but for the waistline of trousers to be dropped. While a high-lapel gorge, breast pocket, fastening point and higher waistline make for a nice modern silhouette, you want to avoid having the waist of your trousers so low that an appalling gap of shirt is visible between the fastening point of your coat and the waistband. Conversely, it is also…

THE GOLDEN INTERSECTION — THE SUIT CLOSURE & WAISTBAND

IN PRAISE OF THE SLEEK TROUSER LEG

The secret to several style icons’ subtle yet perceptible stylistic swagger comes not from their coats, but from how their legs were majestically cloaked in perfectly cut cloth. And for many of these men, erring toward the side of the sleek, the result was a certain rakish poise. While the Duke of Windsor was a devotee of Frederick Scholte’s larger-volume, drape-cut suit coats, he famously had his trousers tailored by different makers — at first, Forster & Son of London, and later, H. Harris of New York, creating slim-cut trousers that succeeded in lengthening his legs and making him seem far taller than his actual height of 5’7”. Another proponent of the sleek trouser leg is the Duke’s nephew, Prince Michael of Kent (above). While his double-breasted, wide-lapelled coats, high collars…

IN PRAISE OF THE SLEEK TROUSER LEG

THE VERSATILE GREY SUIT Wool/silk St. James-fit three-button suit in mid grey from Alfred Dunhill BROKERING IN BERLIN Engineered-fit cotton shirt with barrel cuffs and mother-of-pearl buttons from Dunhill Navy Beckett woven silk tie and cotton/nylon blend herringbone socks from Thomas Pink Venezia Croco cardholder in nero and Classique shoes in nero Venezia leather from Berluti Calfskin leather belt with steel logo buckle from Prada Reverso Duo in stainless steel with black alligator strap from Jaeger-LeCoultre CAROUSING IN MONTE CARLO Engineered-fit cotton shirt with barrel cuffs and mother-of-pearl buttons, and Alpaca wool fedora hat, both from Dunhill Calfskin leather belt with brushed steel buckle from Salvatore Ferragamo Albiso calfskin leather loafers with enamel and silver buckle from Bally Cosmograph Daytona in 18K white gold with black dial from Rolex LUNCHING IN CHELSEA Slim-fit Egyptian cotton shirt, woven silk pocket square and Tribeca-striped socks, all…

What’s the deal with functional buttonholes on a suit sleeve? I’ve noticed everyone doing this now, even J. Crew and Banana Republic on their new suits. But is there really a purpose to it, or is it just a fashion? Also, am I supposed to leave two of these buttons unbuttoned, as I’ve seen a lot of Italian men do? Functional buttonholes have become very popular as they are seen as signs of a handmade suit. Traditionally, you see working cuffs on bespoke suits, which will have a four-buttoned cuff with only the two bottom buttonholes opened. Iwas once told that it was vulgar to leave one’s buttons undone, as this is something a gentleman wouldn’t entertain. Having said this, if one is wearing a blazer and jeans in a casual…

Master Compressor Diving Chronograph watch in titanium from Jaeger-LeCoultre. On her: Solid black bikini from Salinas; red acrylic sunglasses from Gucci. On him: Cotton striped shirt with double-buttoned cuffs from Raoul; paisley printed silk pocket scarf from Ralph Lauren; wool blazer with crest buttons from Brooks Brothers; bespoke cuffed flat-front cotton twill trousers from Eddie Chow; calfskin leather loafers from Loewe; dual-tone woven leather band from Tod’s. When kicking back aboard your sloop, in your lightweight kid mohair coat and white linen slacks, a dainty dress watch is a little at odds with the elements. What you need is a gentlemen’s sports watch — water-resistant enough to brave the overflowing flutes of champagne or the occasional spilt martini, and of course, impervious to spillages when applying suntan oil to any sea minxes. Herewith, we present…

WHAT BOND CAN'T HAVE THE JAEGER-LECOULTRE AMVOX2 DBS TRANSPONDER

IT’S AN ONGOING CONUNDRUM FOR GENTLEMEN. When asked by our tailor what kind of hip and inner pockets we want for our suits, our minds are borne back to the overwhelming bric-a-brac that populates them. Moreover, we begin to dream of a kinder, better world — one that liberates us from wallet, sunglasses, mobile phone, PDA, house keys and the unholy space-consuming trinity of cigar case, cutter and lighter that will have us clunking like the Tin Man from ‘The Wizard of Oz’. The literal gravitas of these objects deforming the sleek lines of our whisper-thin cashmere sports coat is downright demoralising. But the chief culprit amongst these mass-adding villains has to be the car key. In an act of certain irony, the smaller and more spritely the car, the…

WHAT BOND CAN'T HAVE THE JAEGER-LECOULTRE AMVOX2 DBS TRANSPONDER

THE RISE OF A ROMAN EMPIRE

Prologue: As a newly-liberated Rome collected itself in 1945 after the traumatic experience of Mussolini’s Fascism, the Second World War and the Eternal City’s occupation by the Nazis, two avant-garde sartorialists — an Abruzziborn master tailor, Nazareno Fonticoli, and charismatic salesman, Gaetano Savini — left their jobs at a gentlemen’s boutique on Via del Corso to set up their own elegant store, complete with tailoring workshop, in nearby Via Barberini. As it transpired, menswear would never be the same. Ambitiously calling the fashion house Brioni, after the Adriatic islands of the same name favoured as a luxury destination by European aristocrats, the entrepreneurs shared a vision to capitalise on the ever-pervasive hunger for post-war hope and optimism. Their agents of change were exquisitely hand-tailored garments — double-breasted coats, winter coats, hunting…

THE RISE OF A ROMAN EMPIRE

SHIRT STORIES: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A CHARVET DEVOTEE

“Charvet is the greatest artist in creation!”— James McNeill Whistler French shirt maker Charvet’s legend is immense, large and uncontainable. It runs like an overflowing river crossing epochs, insinuated into the greatest works of literature, and infused into the sartorial vocabularies of the world’s best-dressed men. At one time or another, Charvet has dressed Gary Cooper, Édouard Manet, W. Somerset Maugham, John F. Kennedy, the Duke of Windsor — the list goes on. And while allegiances to tailors are asserted within national boundaries — it’s hard to imagine Prince Michael of Kent rocking that Rubinacci — the universal affection for Charvet knows no bounds. Indeed, if Gatsby had been less inclined to nouveau riche exhibitionism, he would have replaced Turnbull & Asser for the place that artist Jean Cocteau called, “where…

SHIRT STORIES: A YEAR IN THE LIFE OF A CHARVET DEVOTEE

DOUGLAS HAYWARD: THE TAILOR OF CINEMA

expectations were spectacularly low for working-class boys like Douglas Hayward born in London in the 1930s. When his mother died, Hayward discovered every pound note he had given her hidden in ice-cream boxes under her bed. A letter that accompanied the banknotes read: “The money is to get Doug out of prison when they finally get him.” Mrs. Hayward simply could not believe that a humble tailor could earn the money, fame and circle of friends Doug had amassed through honest means. And yet, 500 of London’s brightest and best gathered at Mayfair’s Farm Street Church in May 2008 to celebrate the life of a man who was as well connected as he was loved. For over 40 years, Hayward had ruled Mount Street as the head-cutter of British and international…

DOUGLAS HAYWARD: THE TAILOR OF CINEMA

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

Composed by the legendary George and Ira Gershwin, the song ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’ first appeared in their 1926 musical Oh, Kay! A standard for artists including the colossal Ella Fitzgerald and the commanding Frank Sinatra, the piece took on a different emotional hue when channelled by Chet Baker. Immortalised by the West Coast ‘Cool Jazz’ prince in his seminal 1953 album My Funny Valentine, Baker’s rendition was full of poignant yearning, tender romantic avarice and soulful spiritual hunger. He transfused the song with the electric currents of his own tormented soul and transubstantiated it into sonic opiate of the highest order. Here, The Rake reinterprets this seminal composition, equally inspired by its rich emotional content and by the famous portraits of Chet Baker captured by the late, great William Claxton. There’s…

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

THE PRINCESS DIARIES

Continuing on from last issue’s patr iarchal odyssey, Travels With My Father, former infant-phobe, now proud dad christian barker expounds on the euphor ia (and anxiety) of fathering a ‘little princess’. Six months ago, someone special came into my world. I hesitate to say I love her more than my wife, but… well, it’s a different kind of love. Incomparable. Unconditional. Boundless. She makes me feel alive, gives my life renewed purpose. I see her when I awake, and unfailingly break out into a great big grin. She’s truly the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Flawless. Gorgeous. And my wife doesn’t mind me spending time with this new, much younger love — quite the opposite, she encourages me to be with my little darling as often as possible. In fact,…

THE PRINCESS DIARIES

LET’S GET LOST: VENICE THROUGH THE EYES OF JANEK DELESKIEWICZ

Let’s get lost, lost in each other’s arms Let’s get lost, let them send out alarms For six decades now, the Hotel Gritti Palace has been the Venetian destination for visiting dignitaries, world leaders, movie stars and artists. Legendary American author Ernest Hemingway described this most gracious and historic of properties as “the best hotel in a city of great hotels.” British scribe W. Somerset Maugham, meanwhile, was inspired to gush, “There are few things in life more pleasant than to sit on the terrace of the Gritti when the sun about to set bathes in lovely colour the Salute. For at the Gritti you are not merely a number; you are a friend… and when you seat down to dinner at the very same table that you sat at the…

LET’S GET LOST: VENICE THROUGH THE EYES OF JANEK DELESKIEWICZ

NOTES FROM THE ROW

Angus Cundey, the legendary chairman of Henry Poole & Co., is old-school Savile Row. Wine with lunch is gratifyingly non-negotiable as we meet at the table reserved daily for him in the local Italian restaurant behind Poole’s. He is regaling me with one of his characteristically sage ‘Canterbury Tales’ about Savile Row. “A few weeks ago, one of our more prominent American bankers appeared at Poole’s and declared, ‘I don’t want to see you guys going under, so though I don’t need a new suit, I’m going to order one.’ Somewhat ironically, it was reported a week later that his was one of the banks bailed out by the US government.” The moral? Don’t underestimate your tailor: particularly when Henry Poole (with no little help from Baron de Rothschild) was famed…

NOTES FROM THE ROW

THE ROYAL TREATMENT

There’s no sense in sporting a sublime Savile Row suit, bespoke Jermyn Street shirt and Northamptonshire-handmade shoes, only to spoil the look by paying too little heed to the all-important minutiae of presentation. Even the finest footwear will fail to impress unless kept spic, span and polished; suits and shirts, meanwhile, must always be well pressed, free of stain and soiling. But the importance of minimising wrinkles, maintaining cleanliness and maximising polish extends further than one’s attire, and into the personal realm. To wit, a man’s hygiene and grooming need to be assiduously attended to — nails scrubbed and trimmed, skin slathered with masculine scents, lotions and tonics, and hair (wherever above the collar it may sprout) brought tidily into check. This, the gentlemen of traditional London clubland knew full well…

THE ROYAL TREATMENT

This is it. The Mecca of all shoe culture… the fount from which the world of well-heeled elegance springs. To enter Berluti’s Paris flagship boutique is an experience so thrilling, so reverential that even as you breathe in the heady opiate of perfectly tanned leather, your mind struggles to take it all in. You need, at the very minimum, an hour to properly look through the various shoe styles, to examine the nuances of toe shape, waist and heel of each pair that is displayed like a gleaming array of sculpture in leather. Démesures, Bottier, Dandy Sauvage, Elégante, Tatoués, Guerrier, Esprit de la Couture, Lasso… the names ring through your mind like a hallowed liturgy. Beyond the styles, the endless choice of patinas is bewitching, beckoning you to fall into…

SENÉ AND BE SEEN

Sené is one of those characters who look like they stepped out of a Jean-Pierre Melville film. His swagger, his audacious style and his relentless energy are all part of the personal fiction and rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack that defines him. Meet him, and you’ll be swept up to join him in his messianic mission to inject passion, wildness and poetry into men’s elegance. Who is Gérard Sené? To paraphrase Walt Whitman, he is large, he contains multitudes, and so does his shop on rue Danielle Casanova, just around the corner from Place Vendôme, that is best described as a toyshop for grown-ups. There’s a prevailing rock vibe evinced in the handmade sterling-silver death-head cuff links and the array of custom-made deerskin motorcycle jackets on display. Sené’s ground-pounding Harleys are always…

SENÉ AND BE SEEN

Much has been made of the way in which the economic doldrums we’re currently experiencing are driving a reappraisal of luxury consumption, inducing upper-market customers to seek out lasting value and more subtle expressions of exclusivity. “There is 100 percent a move towards things that are less branded,” noted Saks Fifth Avenue’s Lincoln Moore in a recent interview with Condé Nast’s Portfolio magazine. “The customer is saying, ‘I don’t want to be vulgar. I don’t want to be obvious about the money that I’m spending if I am spending money.’” Big, brassy logos are out, replaced, instead, by a more subtle take on luxury. Exotic leathers are key to this trend. To wit, items such as this superb ostrich-skin jacket from Spain’s Loewe, bespeak a subtle sumptuousness, whispering (rather than screaming) exclusivity. But…

AGE AND GUILE GET THE GIRL

A good friend of mine once took his then 22-year-old girlfriend to a friend’s barbecue in Sydney. There, the couple encountered Simon, a mincing, sarong-wearing American of some vintage — perhaps early 40s — with an athletic build, salt-and-pepper hair and an unshakeable air of invincibility. My friend, then a man of lowly self-esteem in his early 20s, smelt a rat. “Oh my, don’t you look healthy,” purred Paul to my friend’s girlfriend, his amphibious eyes giving her the more-than-once over. Over the next four hours, this seasoned dallier held court; an Oscar-deserving performance for all the female company to relish. Think Michael Caine in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels — well-oiled, conniving and suave. The men saw right through him; the girls thought he was charming. As he left later on, Paul…

AGE AND GUILE GET THE GIRL

GREET EXPECTATIONS

Next time you see a newsreel depicting Prince Charles on tour, exchanging pleasantries with hurricane rescue teams or berobed former colony chiefs, check out the effortless ease with which he handles introductions. Clock the poise — the subtle forward-lean that implies warmth and interest without invading personal space; the no doubt phatic but seemingly engaging conversation; the perfectly timed handshake that waltzes elegantly along the line between formality and friendliness. Bona fide Royals are, of course, rigorously trained in the etiquette of meeting and greeting, and it’s little wonder Charlie-Boy can make a shaven squaddie outside a Wal-Mart in Mississippi feel like a New Year’s Honour listee. But what about the new regal classes? What about celebrities? Working in magazine journalism, you get to harvest a lot of information about the…

GREET EXPECTATIONS

BEAUTÉ ET LA BÊTE

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”— Oscar Wilde I’ve heard it all: Horror stories about errant luggage being swallowed up into the black hole of the Charles de Gaulle international airport, only to have them break through the spacetime continuum and arrive on Mars… 100 years in the future; bursts of outrage over maître d’s who eject American patrons for the simple act of asking for ketchup to accompany their fines de claire. But I love France. I love its cuisine, its cinema, its unwillingness to pay parking fines… but in particular, I love the tradition of beautiful French women mating with plainly unattractive men. As I fall into this category (I’ve been told I look like a befuddled Shar-Pei in a…

BEAUTÉ ET LA BÊTE

STAMP OF APPROVAL

They say acting’s all about positioning and timing, and film veteran Terence Stamp was definitely born at the right place at the right time. With pinpoint accuracy, he breathed his first in circumstances that lent his life story a veneer of old-school Cockney romance. Stamp was born the eldest of five to a Thames tugboat captain father and housewife mother in Stepney, London, in 1939 — a time when the gritty romance of the East End was confined to a tight radius around this very spot at the region’s heart. Evacuated to Plaistow, Essex, in the wake of the Luftwaffe’s merciless pummelling of London’s east, Stamp became part of the movement that stretched the East End — geographically, culturally and linguistically (hello, Jamie Oliver) — into the Home Counties. He was…

STAMP OF APPROVAL

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