The Established Man

We're moving!!!

2011-08-23T03:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a year since The Established Man pondered apparel or places to gorge on primarily baked-goods. But now we are back and in a new home. See you there

theestablishedman.tumblr.com

London Fashion Week

2010-09-19T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Established Man have been dipping in and out of shows all weekend what with the fashion circus fresh in town from New York. We popped into the Topshop Unique show yesterday for their crazy print, sparkly seventies-fest in the old Eurostar Terminal and then popped back to the tents at Somerset House for John Rocha's elegant paired down aesthetic. We were big fans of Charles Anastase's show, held at the Old Sorting Office. This talented Frenchman gave the ladies a dream wardrobe for next summer along with some shoes that would dwarf many a tower block. We've just got back from Michael van der Ham's conceptual show, a flurry of bold colours and contrasting materials, think futuristic with a clean elegance.

French fancies

2010-09-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

Summer holidays have definitely come to a right royal end but we're still enjoying the plethora of goodies that our jetset friends are bringing back with them. Of particular note are these rather charming mini-carambars from France. Perfect for those of us who struggle with the full size versions of this bon bon and fear the onslaught of dentures as a result immediatement

New season in New York

2010-09-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

The winter wardrobe is out in force here in London town but for our fashionable friends in New York a warmer front is lingering. Whilst the women's wear shows are in full swing with plentiful partying to match, got to love the Alexander Wang party in a parking lot this season after last season's petrol station fiesta. But it's not just the preserve of ladies this week, there's a generous dollop of menswear to be had.

We were loving the whites, pale blues and overall summer nonchalance of Phillip Lim's collection. Tim Hamilton carried on with his classics, simple yet sporty and an emerging trend seems to be cut off sleeves so all down the gym gentleman... pronto! We loved Steven Alan's deck party, all the more if you rock a lovely ocean-going-liner to complement those rolled-up trousers and overall holiday vibe. Rag & Bone was a loose-fit, pale grey, blue fest along with strong camels and ochres hinting towards a North African jaunt, we particularly liked the patchwork blazer...a summer staple surely?

It's a wrap

2010-09-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

What with London Design Festival in full swing anytime soon we're rather looking forward to a visit to the Taschen Store in Chelsea and not just to peruse some fine art titles to line the shelf space that we don't have.

Rose Reeves, the London-based designer and overall connoisseur of good taste has accumulated quite a fine collection of the wrappers used to make buying an orange all the more special. With a heap of rather graphically stunning designs this will be one juicy show to see.

Wrappers Delight
23rd Sept to 6th Oct
Daily 10am-6pm / Wed & Sat 10am-7pm / Sunday 12-6pm

Taschen Store
12 Duke of York Square
London SW3 4LY

Fancy a cuppa?

2010-09-15T15:20:00.000-07:00

We love a good flick through Apartamento Magazine here at The Established Man towers, it's one of our favorite reads so when news reached us that for London Design Week 2010 they were taking over a mews in our neck of the woods we got very excited. Even more so on learning it will be filled with coffee related wondefulness and some other truly fine goodies to be had. What a treat not to have to travel miles but only moments for some temporary treats.

FoodMarketo
Coffee & Friends
20-26th September / 10am - 7pm
8b Egerton Garden Mews
SW3 2EH

Lunchbox

2010-09-12T05:25:00.000-07:00

Get past the rather long wait for a table and we are huge fans of Polpo on Beak Street, fantastic food, good value and a little bit of NY comes to London town. So we're rather looking forward to a soiree at Polpetto above the French House on Dean Street. With only 30-ish covers it would be rather nice to do a little private dinner there with one's nearest and dearest...

www.polpetto.co.uk

dreamy

2010-09-12T05:17:00.000-07:00

So far the jaunts around town to splurge...a little that is, not vast sums...on some fine winter garbs have been unfruitful so we're thinking a fine scarf might by just what the Doctor ordered and at a rather lovely soiree we found it. Two savyy girls about town proclaimed their pre-order goodies from Christopher Kane had arrived including two very soft, very marvellous cashmere scarves. It might just be the only way to get through a British winter without a flight to the Southern Hemisphere.

What a tart

2010-09-12T05:13:00.000-07:00

September is in full swing and the bramble bushes are oozing juicy blackberries...this calls for a tart extraordinaire!

How very true

2010-09-12T05:08:00.000-07:00

Love it...

Hubba Hubba

2010-09-08T01:21:00.000-07:00

Oh look what just arrived in our inbox. We are lusting over a Mulberry Henry...yes please Mrs. Mulberry. Perfect for a weekend jaunt, post gym hometime or just a nifty bit of bag action of the male variety. Yum yum

Northern lights

2010-09-05T14:53:00.000-07:00

Winter coat watch here at The Established Man HQ has been rather unfruitful so far, that is until we remember long-standing American classic outfitters Pendleton. Get past the Elvis look-a-like and this is one fine jacket for the colder months approaching and will certainly light up the darkest of days.

Space games

2010-09-05T14:43:00.000-07:00

Fashion might well have gone all lunar this season so what better for a Sunday afternoon than a jolly good game of Blast Off.

Out of this world

2010-09-01T16:37:00.000-07:00

The lunar world is having a moment so we're rather tempted to add a Christopher Kane space tee to our Autumn Winter shopping list..shame we missed the pre-order day..that'll teach us!

Drool

2010-09-01T16:30:00.000-07:00

We've got Wednesday cravings....for Paris and Rice Pudding...not at the same time but in equal amounts....and the latter with a large dollop of fine jam from Fortnum & Mason.

Where the wild things go to play

2010-09-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

We love a good bank holiday. Whilst most of this country flee our shores...bye bye thank you very much...we like to hang around. It's a nirvana, nobody is around, you can park, eat, play and not wait for anything; that is until you arrive in Reading, that less than glamorous town just west of Heathrow. We popped along for the Festival, duly popping back to our own bed each night, and despite a little precipitation it wasn't anything a fine pair of Hunters and a battered old Barbour couldn't handle.

Our favorite bands of the three day teenage mud-fest are numerous but particular nods go to Two Door Cinema Club for an amazing set in the big tent and with a mid afternoon crowd bigger than we've ever seen at a festival. Blood Red Shoe's rocked out superbly. Kele, oh he of Bloc Party fame was a star, shame it wasn't dark and at a grimy venue..even better. The Drums with their Brooklyn hipster rock were spot on and had us want to go surfing all night long. Dizzee, was, well just Dizzee, what more do you need! The Libertines took us back a few year and were still on fine form. Arcade Fire headlined on the Saturday and showed us what true professionals were after a shambolic Gun's & Rose's disaster the night before...like a car crash it was so bad. LCD Soundsystem showered us with electro, dance mash fabulousness. Delphic kept this going and had a massive tent of underagers going for it at 4pm on a Friday afternoon..nice and Foals showed they still had it in them. Not bad for a weekend's work.

After all these musical forays thank god for a backstage cup of tea, a lovely loose green variety that came as a surprise and a brownie the size of our faces. We also bumped into the charming Alistair Guy, fashion photographer and charming man about town filming for the Channel 5 show 'Push'.

Temperate limbo

2010-09-01T15:52:00.000-07:00

The bank holiday is over, the children of those poor souls that have them are back at school, the traffic is getting worse and with it the temperature too. We are freezing, to the near point where stray fingers approach the boiler here at Established Man towers in a bid to turn the central heating on. Blankets are being prepared, shawls from the hills of Darjeeling readied and coats being sourced and dry-cleaned. We thought an Indian summer would prevail, how wrong we were! There's two words on our minds and its 'the Caribbean'.

So its time for autumnal layering in a grand way. Light knits, silk mix cashmere's, cotton-cashmeres, cardigans in light wool along with battered old military jackets or mac's seems to be the way forward. There have also been some evenings where nothing but a nice bit of padded Moncler feather-down could be better or a winter coat from Rag & Bone...anything to stay warm!

End it NOW

2010-08-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

Campaigns against individuals, institutions and the rest are not our style here at The Established Man but so strong are the sentiments attached to this particular subject that we couldn't not have a jolly good grumble, it would be criminal not to bearing in mind everyone we talk to is in agreement and aghast. The Evening Standard, London's very own paper continues to slide into decline, a shame as it used to be our favorite afternoon read, but now we never seem to be able to find one and when we do the utter sense of disbelief that kicks in after reading Richard Dennen's utterly shambolic column in Life & Style is enough to make us want to be illiterate.

A 'total heap of tosh' is what one friend of The Established Man called it the other day and this also arrived in our inbox... 'the single worst thing written ever written by anybody, ever'. To us its a waste of paper, ink and eclipses other writers of much more talent and wit. Neither funny or ironic, it name drops endlessly and tries to be so cool its tragic as well as being totally disrespectful to the subject it touches upon. One hopes Mr. Dennen might close his laptop, put away his pens and leave us all alone as soon as possible before the real revolt begins amongst London's evening paper readers.

Night Vision

2010-08-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

You might think the monsoons of Mumbai had arrived in London this afternoon. This deluge of cats and dogs has had us lusting after the comfort of baked goods, as ever, and who better than our food God Nigel Slater to inspire us to whip up the classiest carrot cake recipe around. Needless to say it went as quickly as the rain poured down.

Brogueish

2010-08-25T15:21:00.000-07:00

Finding shoes for us gentlemen can be a rather tedious experience. There's either smart or casual and coming across a laced-gem is a rarity even after trawling the best of menswear outlets so on a trawl of the charity shops the other week we were rather chuffed to stumble upon a fine pair of Loake brogue. Harking back to Oxbridge, tweed blazers, Pashley bicycles and battered leather satchels they cost less than the bus fare to find them! Quids in.

Oh la la

2010-08-22T15:25:00.001-07:00

A rare August invitation on Friday as we wafted over to Somerset House for a live feed from operatic nirvana, Glyndebourne. There really is nothing quite like sitting in their grand courtyard after a long day of labour. So it was a treat of all treats to see that Fortnum & Mason had supported the event and baked for us all. We particularly enjoyed this pudding bonanza that ended up with us at the end of the evening along with some fine teas and jams. Who needs the Ambassador and some Ferrero Rocher.

Playlist

2010-08-22T15:07:00.001-07:00

There's a lot of new musical antics around at the moment and our ears have been kept aptly contented. Klaxons seemed to die a death and have thankfully re-appeared with a fine album and first single, Echos. Similar to the first album but with a development in their sound they are high on our wishlist for the Reading Festival this coming weekend where we'll be avoiding stumbling over teenagers out of their minds on more than musical highs.

Another band we've always been a big fan of are One Night Only. A regular on the Burberry Prorsum playlist for shows during fashion week their new material has these boys coming out stronger than ever and expect some fine live action to be had. Our amazon order has already gone in for their hotly anticipated album released tomorrow.

Kids club

2010-08-22T14:41:00.001-07:00

Don't get us wrong there's no harm having a quick perusal and occasional purchase at Gap, or The Gap to our American readers but the times we actually whip out the plastic and buy anything are as rare as sighting a red squirrel. Plain boring is often a major factor or lack of sizes. So during a Saturday morning trip to the Kensington branch yesterday we expected to come away empty-handed yet again.

That is until the basement came into our line of vision and some fine shirting and wintery knits caught our eye. It was only when an eager member of staff asked how old our children were that the realisation that this was in fact the GapKids section of the store fell into place. Not that this mattered one bit, and with a quick rummage for the all important 13XXL range, surely meant for obese school children, we came away with some perfect fitting shirts, an oatmeal chunky knit cardigan and nearly nabbed a subtle plaid wax jacket; and all with the benefit of being machine washable. Oh to be a child again.

Feeling bookish

2010-08-22T14:35:00.000-07:00

What a terribly muggy and overall grotty weekend its been. Looking out the window at The Established Man towers the rain is pouring down and the summer comatose appears to be drifting into an Autumn awakening. So this being a night to be in we stumbled upon the writings of young writer and poet Alex Lister. Her blog Pirates & Fireflies is perfect for a steaming cuppa and a slice of something nice. A book of her poems would make our day.

http://piratesandfireflies.wordpress.com

A/W Wishlist cont.

2010-08-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

The pining for some new season finery only gets stronger here by the day. After a proper camel coat from Prada or J+ we have set our sights on some fine knitwear from Burberry Prorsum. Of particular lustworthy-ness is this fabulous bit of shoulder action with a naval twist. The ladies might well have had their shoulders catered for over at Balmain, now finally us gents get some of the pie.

Musical fairs

2010-08-19T16:33:00.000-07:00

Summer festival madness is still in full swing and whilst we're off to Reading next weekend to a scene akin to a Skins party, avoiding the teenagers high on certainly more than life, word reached us that Frieze Art Fair are hard at work programming this year's installment of Frieze Music.

With a hint to the early days of the fair and its music choices this year presents two contrasting evenings. Friday 15th October sees everything go a little disco as Hercules and Love Affair along with some special guests take to the stage and give us a glimpse into their second highly anticipated album at Debut, aptly situated underneath the arches in London Bridge.

On Saturday 16th October everything gets a little more mellow as Baby Dee perform with The Elysian Quartet at Shoreditch Church for a candlelit soiree and end on an ethereal note as the finale to Frieze week.

Tickets £15.00 plus a booking fee
http://www.seetickets.com/frieze/

Wrist Action

2010-08-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

A bit of tongue in cheek never did anyone any harm, so we were in our element when a wrist band was slapped around our wrist as we entered Vintage at Goodwood this weekend only to see that it was a mock-watch similar to stickers that we had as kids.

Those canny keepers of fine timepieces at IWC certainly had us all wanting a more solid version after wearing our plastic versions all weekend. After a perusal of their fine boutique and a glass of bubbly we're saving our pennies for the real deal.

A/W Wishlist

2010-08-17T15:47:00.000-07:00

It might well be mid-August but there's already a hint of the Autumnal in the air. A morning jaunt on the office wheels this morning had us shivering and very swiftly pondering what might be crucial winter wardrobe additions over the coming weeks?

There's been a distinct number of good camel coating coming out of the menswear shows earlier in the year and we have our eyes on this Prada number. Soft, well-tailored and the perfect length we can certainly envisage this an easy dress-up, dress-down kind of coat. If that's hitting a little high above budget our attache in Tokyo tell us that a certain Ms. Sander has some very fine examples arriving in a certain Japanese fashion chain in early October. Top tips.

Guilty Pleasures

2010-08-17T15:38:00.000-07:00

We're not averse to other blogs here at The Estblished Man towers and of late 'People I see on the Street' has been our daily, oh my god moment. Written by a sassy, i-phone carrying-type about town we are aghast but hooked as to the daily sights and snaps of the general public around the streets of London. We just hope that we don't end up on there...and that the victims might consider perhaps purchasing a mirror.

http://peopleiseeonthestreet.com

Drive-in

2010-08-17T15:29:00.000-07:00

The trend for popping-up doesn't seem to be going anywhere so this being the case at least someone is doing something interesting with it. Take one destitute petrol station in Clerkenwell, some budding architecture students from Cambridge with a penchant for film and you have The Cineroleum. We've got a thing for petrol stations since Alexander Wang's party held in one during New York Fashion Week, A.C.E

Running until mid-September this is one jack in the box that keeps true to what pop-up is really about with a cultural twist.

www.cineroleum.co.uk

South Coast Classic

2010-08-17T15:01:00.000-07:00

August is a month for fleeing London town. The streets around The Established Man HQ are desolate to say the very least, the hoards have decamped to beaches across the world and in many respects long may they stay there, anything for some continued peace and quiet hence our slow re-engagement with blogging fully again. But that didn't stop us taking a cheeky jaunt out of town this weekend for a celebration of everything bygone at Vintage at Goodwood.

All put together rather nicely we slipped down just in time to get our groove on to Earth Wind & Fire on Saturday night and then popped back on Sunday to explore the shiny classic cars, a huge selection of vintage dealers selling, well, everything, a pop-up high street with stores more impressive than their true counterparts and have a jolly good people watch. With a distinct ease to doing anything and there being no twelve mile hikes to get to the car park or campsites this was certainly the most civilised festival we've been to and long may it continue. Top marks all round.

Music Maestro

2010-07-21T17:01:00.001-07:00

We can't stop listening to Two Door Cinema Club be it on ipod, in the car, at the gym, or here at Established Man towers and with no festival fun looming despite some fine antics at Somerset House music last week what with The XX and Florence + The Machine they are keeping our summer souls in full swing.

www.twodoorcinemaclub.com

Re-Establishment

2010-07-21T16:45:00.001-07:00

It's been an awfully long time since The Established Man whipped up some new post antics. The main reason being a temporary shutdown due to a much needed sojourn in foreign climes. Like Michael Palin on acid we've been globetrotting as much as budgets, and blags, will allow. Thanks for the Club Class tickets BA!!!! Three months in India got us hooked on being eternal nomads, who needs a VW camper van and the like when a Muji weekend bag from the its nineties inception will do and nada else!

Then it was onto St. Tropez where the facelifts have only got all the more feline-esque and despite the fact that Uncle Karl; that's Lagerfeld dahhhhhling to us meer mortals, was holding court with the Chanel resort show the day we landed. It's still enjoyed at best during out of season, consider going over the next few weeks and you face traffic jams worse than the opening of a new Ikea and beaches filled with floatillas reminiscent to a block of flats on Brighton seafront only in the water..these Russian bijillionaires are only getting richer after all.

Away from St. Tropez it was off to NY for some pre-heatwave June action and as per usual the place continues to trump London on every card laid down, expect some tipoffs of new haunts to come.

In the meantime Summer has arrived in London town, for how long is anyone's guess, but enjoy while it lasts. The Arabs have landed, Knightsbridge is awash with Arabic numberplated Ferraris and other petrol guzzling monsters bemusing both us locals and the traffic gestapo; Mount Street is doing a brisk trade too as the ladies lunch and shop like no tomorrow, well if the back garden is an oil field why bloody not!

Now that we're back, broke and grounded expect the reestablishment of The Established Man!

Earn your stripes

2010-02-09T14:11:00.000-08:00

It seems to have got somewhat chilly outside there in the real world away from The Established Man towers, where rest assured it's as toasty as can be, but we can't help thinking about the summer. One hope's its only a mere turn around the corner and we're there but this being the Great British Isles who knows really?

As soon as the air starts to get warmer here we're the first ones to perform the grand swap and jig our wardrobe towards shorts, espadrilles and plentiful lazy shirts and tees. A sure fire staple of our day to day wardrobe is the venerable and classic that is the Breton top. Here's a favorite with the girls at Vogue when they're not writing features on Poo..weird that one no? But it's a unisex, ageless garment that anyone can happily whip on; and no you need not a drop of French blood in you to wear one, trust us.

There are so many guises of this shirt of the sailing fraternity that you'll be spoilt for choice and especially this coming season, its a fan for the buyers of both ladies and menswear. For the true original head to Arthur Beale on Shaftsbury Avenue who stock the Saint James' version but on the fashion front there's no let up with A.P.C, H&M, Uniqlo and Topshop all putting there versions out there. Reiss did a fine red and white version last year we grabbed in duty free en route to the South of France, we like a winter version in the Albam chunky knit with shoulder buttons and how can we forget the Prada take on breton several seasons ago with their fish print shirts and accessories. Crown on the fashionable front must be to the Comme De Garcons PLAY version...perfect for Valentines too what with the little red heart keeping its beady eyes out.

Welsh Rarebit

2010-02-08T14:52:00.001-08:00

After spending a fair amount of time behind the wheel or being driven of late we've become hooked on a host of songs whilst sitting in the gridlocked streets of London town. One such band is Band of Skulls, whilst sounding like they've been touring the States for years and have a heritage in Nashville these plucky young songsters hail from a more modest Wales...who'd have thought? We love 'I know what I am'. Catch them on tour this month.

www.bandofskulls.com

Staying in is the new going out

2010-02-08T14:46:00.001-08:00

We love a good interiors moment here at The Established Man. World of Interiors and Elle Deco are always a must read and we care about our homes as much as anything else and quiet possibly a damn sight more. So its no wonder we spend a fair amount of our time also reading the Man Make Home blog. Here's a stylish, yet modest, take on chic living. We're sure its authors are as high on the sartorial barometer too. Go maketh immediately!

manmakehome.com

Flatlands

2010-02-08T14:26:00.000-08:00

The Established Man has been having some downtime the past week or so and much needed it was. We ventured to new lands when it comes to places we've not been and pottered up to Norfolk for a couple of days sampling some fine local auctions brimming with all manner of oddities and vintage this, that and the other. We also found time to pop into the infamous Hare Arms and sample their award winning Steak & Peppercorn pie and it was mmmmmmm dreamy! But now we're back, and whilst longing for country air and long walks expect some more entries soon.

Watch it!

2010-02-02T00:51:00.000-08:00

A fine bit of wrist wear should never be scourged upon and The Established Man's favorite timepiece of the moment must be the Limited Edition watch in collaboration with Japanese retailer Beams and Tyler Brûlé's current project Monocle. With a run of only 200 you won't see too many others on your travels and we speak from experience when we say it gets a lot of looks. A hefty number of people have mistaken it for a Rolex or just grabbed our wrist and said 'oooh where's that from?'

Coming in a livery of olive or dark green this is a light little number but very hardy with an underwater range of 30 meters yet spares you the task of having to behave like Rambo to match its capabilities!

Don't be such a tease

2010-02-01T15:46:00.000-08:00

Those boffins at the Audi secret underground bunker in Bavaria..spoken 'Bavaaaaariaaaaaaaaaaaa' are not content with just designing a nice motor, now they're playing the joker with us. Who'd have thought that German car designers had a sense of humour? But they've been having a wail of a time of late with all their teaser videos on YouTube of the soon to be released A1. Think of it as Audi's answer the the Mini and the oompa lumpaa's at Audi might be the car equivalent to Edna from The Incredibles with all their hush hush talk and darkened lighting.

We're all up for being teased but we've already seen the car they talk of so secretly and light so carefully so to only highlight its flanks. Justin Timberlake was papped filming his commercial as the Ambassador for the Audi A1. We won't be opting for the wasabi green interior trim Audi seem to be very proud of and we're not convinced by their current obsession with 'running lights'. Yes they might mean little Hubert see's Mummy in her Q7 outside Hill House at school pick-up time but there's an element of Chav's on a night out at your local B&Q car park for some tyre burning. Not something most A4 Estate drivers will be doing anytime soon surely...unless our fathers have taken up a new pastime beyond shooting and reading the Racing Post?

Final judgement on the A1 can only be passed when we see it in the flesh and get let loose in one but for the moment we have our reservations on boot space and image, who will buy this car? The motor of choice and Established Man stablemate is a filth covered A3 that has done us proud for years. It's the sort of car one can pull up outside Scotts and Sean the Doorman will greet you and happily park yet after your slap up fish supper you can tootle off to that party in Hackney between a crack den and a whore house and it will sit happily amongst the delights of the East End attracting no unecessary attention. If the A1 can prove itself we're in but for the meantime we're sticking with 2 notches higher.

Jersey Boys

2010-02-01T14:53:00.000-08:00

Mondays are always a quiet day here at The Established Man HQ. Long weekends in January are de rigour to deal with the onslaught of depression and debt..my oh my its bleak times here. So this afternoon we thought we'd perk ourselves up with a staff outing to the Kings Road a mere hop, skip and jump from our 42nd floor office resembling Dr. Evil's lair just lacking in mini-me and silver latex; perhaps we can work on that in the future?

Needless to say there's not an awful lot left on the Kings Road that inspires anymore. Gone are the days of Rock and Roll, sixties swingers and Dandies walking Tigers along the pavement. Thankfully we're at the less glamorous end of this long London street and at the section that has remained as independent as possible. A sure stop shop is the aptly names Shop at Bluebird. Think Collette comes to Chelsea with a bit of English eccentricity swirled in for good measure. It might be owned by Belle Robinson..that's Mrs. Jigsaw to you and us but don't expect a hint of that malarkey going on here. This is the concept store model to a tee, choice cuts of menswear jostle with some prime womenswear and there's some ripe bits of homeware to be sampled too...we LOVE the John Derain decoupage pieces and Jonathan Adler ceramics. We left the credit card at home for this very reason.

Having a good rifle through the menswear we noticed some touchy, feely, we want you NOW sweaters. The jersey thing has been going strong for a long long time but in past seasons thanks to the likes of Alexander Wang, NY's fashion dahling of the moment its having a real moment right now. The high street does it well occasionally with classics from Gap and H&M. COS do their thing but we're never sure about the fit despite loving the retail experience. Kitsune had some fine French fancies on the jersey shore in grey and navy with a little emblem on at waist height depicting the Eiffel Tower naturellement!

The gentlemen have been given a slight back seat at The Shop at Bluebird since its inception a few years ago but through clever buying and careful curating of the space its still a visit worth while. Alexander McQueen's McQ label is aimed at younger, more casual gentlemen yet we rather lusted after his text sweat in a faded blue. All rather pricey but very nice, in the same vain as the Peoples Wardrobe sweater we bought when it was still around that blew our student loan...oh those were the days.

Whilst we're quite happy to Lord it up in SW10 wafting around like a Hedge-funder's bit of stuff on the side with a Black Amex in her hand the truth is we love a good bargain at heart. So we crossed the street and did a bit of charity shopping too, much more our price range. Jersey and slouchy sweats are items we come across on the charity shop circuit all the time and its cheap and often just what the Doctor ordered. We love our 80's Dash-style ski number in grey with Miami mint green and pink t0 complement the true hideousness. If that's not enough our Desert Orchid kids one from a charity shop in Sussex is a treat, always a winner much like its motif! And both were 50p. Alistair Darling will be proud

Banging On

2010-01-31T15:08:00.001-08:00

Banging away

2010-01-31T14:58:00.001-08:00

The Drums

January is a time for all things new...resolutions, debt, diets, jobs, horoscopes and the rest. This is all superfluous to us, what we do like during January is the chatter that revolves around new bands for the year and one of our current favorites is New York band The Drums. There's a distinct hint of the West Coast fifties surf-rock about them from the very word go..the track 'Let's go Surfing' being a clear hint obviously but then it goes a little post-punk eighties. On the surface it's pop-friendly Indie but chip away a little and there's plenty more fun to be had...look out for their renowned live sets on the NMW Shockwaves tour next month. Check it out on our handy player above...

Duffle Trouble

2010-01-31T14:04:00.000-08:00

We mentioned the resurgence of interest in the Duffle coat a while back and have since seen it become more and more widespread on both the catwalks and on the street. For such a logical piece of outerwear it seems a mystery as to why it was really restricted to Indie bands and boys on vintage vespas for such a while. This very traditional of coats might herald in it's name from a town in Belgium called Duffel where the course, thick woollen material was produced but it was the English who decided it might be a bright idea to turn it into a fine winter coat. Like many a British icon..Burberry Mac anyone...it has a bit of the military history to it and one can see why. They must be one of the most functional pieces of clothing we own here at The Established Man towers, with their secure toggle fastenings in horn or wood, along with a hefty hood and a length traditionally long enough to protect your thighs when atop a horse or scooter, its no wonder they are back on fine form.

For the quintessential Duffle coat look no further than Gloverall. These are the Rolls Royce's of the Duffle coat ticking order and are certainly enjoying a heightened interest in their designs that have been worn for sixty years. Whilst the offerings might be limited the Original Monty is the coat to go for. With its unvarnished wooden toggles, chunky cuffs and large pockets its every bit the original. Rather a shame there's not more offerings in terms of toggles, pockets and colours. Perhaps another collaboration with Dover Street Market might woo them again. We're not entirely sure if we'd squeeze into a children's version but if we did then we would be snapping up a kids version in dark green quicker than you can say 'do your homework'

Away from the English traditions of the Duffle there's some fair competition blowing in from the mainland. Spring Summer is not normal duffle territory but on a quick jaunt to the new A.P.C store on Dover Street the other day we spied a navy fine weather version. Perfectly set-off with some nice tan leather and rope ties along with light wood toggles. The epitome of French chic. But don't just think it's A.P.C from across the channel who's playing the Duffle game. On a recent trip to Paris to stock up on everything stuffed and the odd box of butterflies at Deyrolle we went into a branch of Monoprix for some brioche and came out with several nice items of clothing. Hardly what one expects when the quality of supermarket clothing here is so pitiful. It was a near keeling over experience we had when we spied a tip top Duffle coat for sixty Euros that has done us proud all winter. In a deep indigo navy and cashmere mix with horn toggles it even got the sign of approval from the world's finest Duffle coat wearer; the honorable Paddington Bear.

Red sock brigade

2010-01-30T17:36:00.000-08:00

Since our little jaunt to Florence and Milan several trends are emerging and we're seeing them appear more and more on the streets around The Established Man Towers. One of these is the hiking boot, the stablemate of the Ramblers Association no doubt, and something they see less as a fashion object and more for functionality when walking Hadrians wall or drinking tea out of a thermos. But for us we're interested in them as a trend and with a fair few shows in Milan devoted to the great outdoors...D&G, Moncler anyone? Its clear how they complement this slant on men's style for the winter months.

For the fashion-informed those clever gentlemen over at Oki-ni have already cottoned onto the trend and are selling the Norwegian made Avoriaz Mountaineering boots on their site. These are the creme de la creme of the hiking boot world meaning the slightest puddle in Soho and your feet will be dry as a bone.

We're sure a trip to your local Millets might be worth a trip..just avoid all that nylon pac-a-mac rubbish.

Got Baggage

2010-01-30T17:29:00.000-08:00

Following our mini-rant-come-ponder about luggage for the 'weekend away' invitation we were quickly reminded by our Japanese bureau that we must include the brand Porter which we're pretty sure is available in Selfridges. A fan base of Japan's finest fashionistas is surely a gold star seal of approval.

Save our Skin

2010-01-30T17:22:00.000-08:00

The weather in London town has gone bitterly cold again. Boy did we have a shock when we came downstairs this morning to see the remnants of snow on the pavement. Surely not again? Our poor overworked hands are suffering and resemble sandpaper. Thank the Lord that Kiehl's have just the answer. We buy their Ultimate Strength Hand Salve in bulk during this time of year. Slap it on and soften up.

Paris je t'aime: Dark Dior Days

2010-01-30T16:58:00.000-08:00

Sitting round the circular runway, lit by a harsh steel framework of strip lights we wondered whether the Parisian equivalent of Gladiators was about to begin whilst we Blackberried away until the Dior Homme show began. Any signs of a steroid-popping Lycra-clad muscleman were quickly dismissed as a dark moody soundtrack alluded as to what was about to step out. Black, black and more black were definitely the plat du jour on this menu and the waitress wasn't going to let you order anything else. Although that's not to say that there weren't plentiful options of the type of wear to be had.

For example if you need a parka jacket that is so outwardly billowing in its fit then here you had it. As per usual there were some fine suits some with two-layer panels and interesting trousers to complement. Plenty of drop-crotching as seen at Dries but this time cropped intensely above the heel and worn with boots, lace-ups and black socks. Thom Browne's reach still resonates perhaps? Skinny ties slimmed this looser fit down in addition to the slim collars on shirting but overall things were a lot looser than seen in previous Dior days..what would Hedi Slimane think about all this we pondered? There was certainly a feel of a schoolboy who'd outgrown his uniform but had decided to pinch his Dad's coat and told everyone to just sod off in elements of this collection.

Out of the darkness emerged a grey period that appeared even looser with easy cashmere outerwear and slouchy, yet slick suiting.

Those devout Dior Homme fans will be pondering whether they can let loose themselves after seeing this. Ben & Jerry's anyone?

Paris je t'aime: Cut & Shut

2010-01-30T16:03:00.000-08:00

Our Man in Milan has morphed into Paris je t'aime and after a few days of worrying he might well be in the Seine or still shopping at Collette in comes a barrage of runway low downs from a few days front row in Paris. So here you have it...

There's nothing more tantalising in the fashion week schedule than a Dries Van Noten show, here's a label that has kept core to its roots since its inception, always with a distinct twist of Belgian brilliance. It's no wonder a fair share of The Established Man staff here have a hefty collection of Dries from season's past and present. One thing we could never do is take the kitchen scissors to our beloved Dries cardigans, military jackets and fine suiting but for Monsieur Van Noten that's exactly what he did. Was the location in a garage with cars et al for last season's show a hint towards the cut & shut style that was so vividly seen this time around? Van Noten took the contrasting collars and textures we'd already been seeing in Milan and Paris and took them to another level in his inimitable way.

The traditional men's mac seemed like the perfect starting block for some prime scissor-sharpening action to open the show. The resulting effect completely changed the visual representation of the outerwear in question. It's a brave man who will wear such a piece we imagine, but its totally do-able and very elegant. We're in Paris after all. With camel-coloured arms and belting paired with a main body of black the main corpus seems to become more slender and the arms elongated. It's a grand trick of the eye and a clever piece of engineering on the part of the designer.

From here on in it became one great big textile mash-up. There were plenty of simple options...striped shirts with plain sleeves, subtle navy mac's with black arms, white jersey's with navy sleeves, a charcoal and white strip blazer with navy sleeves. And then there were the more bold, complex pick'n'mixes like the school blazers in rich Yves Klein blue's with bold white stripes or a red & white ticking yet with their arms hacked-off to make way for a thinner lighter white and grey striped pairing. The bold stripes carried on down to trousers too.

For this was not to be one great big cut and paste showdown though. Amongst these juxtapositions there was some classic Dries to be had. Our winter coat list for later this year is already filling up just from this show. A dark grey single-breasted, knee length number caught our eye as the hand-held lighting homed in and aimed at it on the runway, given a slight cut and shut by the addition of a belt more commonly seen on a mac. Duffle coats, puffa's, a french mustard pea-coat and tweed overcoat all piled on in frantic note-taking. Then there's the suiting and smarter wear, often in a deep navy in this instance. Blazers were often worn with jersey bottoms, low in the waist and tight on the calves, high and low in one. A hint of the military came in olive green's, knee-patches and external pocketing.

The concept of vivid textures next to one another and colours alternating isn't a new one by any means this season but Dries Van Noten created a language of his own via one that has already been expressed on a fair few occasions over the past week.

Paris je t'aime: YSL

2010-01-29T01:26:00.000-08:00

It seems than no quicker than a flash and already the men's show have uttered their au revoirs. The ladies have arrived for couture..and already fashion editors are getting frustrated with 13 year-old bloggers blocking their view due to home-made headwear. Thankfully us gents don't have to compete with mini-power fashion blogger Tavi front row, and her huge bow hair clip to match, at a Dior couture show...no things are far more civilised in our fashion weeks.

So Paris rolled on swiftly after our stint in Milan and with a slightly differing take on what to expect next season. Over at YSL Stefano Pilati kind of did his own thing when you place it amongst the show we'd seen already. Ok, so its not as crazy and put on a limb as a Vivienne Westwood or Dsquared show but it held it's own, yet subtlety keeping a very alternative view on men's dressing. This was a looser collection than a lot of the skinny skinny stuff we've seen in general so far. Here things were altogether looser, more billowing as opposed to drainpipe and stick thin. There was an soft hint of the industrialist about it with bib-fronted overalls. Yes there was a slenderness to the fit and we're not talking walking marquees but with the large overcoats, hareem pants..a nod to Yves Saint-Laurent's time in Morocco perhaps...and less constricting fastenings along with a colour palette of blacks and greys gave it a French nonchalance that was certainly appealing.

Bag Check

2010-01-29T01:19:00.000-08:00

Its a Friday so that means for some of The Established Man office a weekend away. The country looms for some, others a trip to the sea and then there's those flash swines who fly off on a 'mini-break'. How Bridget Jones of them! It's all very well this moving around and jetting about but a whole different kettle of fish erupts as soon as you consider how to pack and more importantly what will cocoon your trusted items for casual nirvana?

Tumi is a favorite but we find it rather dowdy for weekend bag territory and a little bit corporate...fine for roll-on's and Long haul but for a couple of days we'd rather go down the Ally Capelino, Paul Smith and for that classic twist perhaps a bit of Longchamp maybe? There's always Raf Simons for Eastpak, or Rick Owens...or you could be uber-uber and flash a bit of Goyard about.

Easter Promise

2010-01-29T01:06:00.000-08:00

New reaches us that Muji are soon to launch their skincare range here on these very shores. We thought it was a myth, this very simple yet effective range from our favorite Japanese lifestyle store was only available in two of its stores in Japan. However come March it will be here. Expect a suitably unisex take on looking after your pores. Bearing in mind the current climes it can't come soon enough as we slap another bottle of Khiels on our sun-starved faces.

Your country needs you

2010-01-29T01:00:00.000-08:00

The Established Man support Nick Hornby's entry for the Spitalfields Sculpture Prize. He get's our vote all the way.

Vote here www.spitalfields.co.uk/vote

Introducing Mr. T

2010-01-22T18:17:00.000-08:00

Whilst Vogue might have Miss. V, Style.com the likes of Derek Blasberg (YUCK!), Tatler its Bystander pages and the Daily Telegraph the ever glamourous Celia Walden, party coverage is a serious profession for those who take a pile of invitations to be an afternoon of hardcore diary management and flurries of phone calls. So we are pleased to announce 'Mr. T' to The Established Man team. Think of him as a male Miss. V only he's not interested in your daughter's birthday party or any sort of supposed women's charity lunches for those who live in SW1, SW3 etc..we know your game ladies.

No Mr. T gets all over the shop and refuses to even contemplate writing copy. Garbled messages down the telephone will only do on whatever handset he's been given by whichever mobile phone company want him on side. We very rarely meet him properly..for he works a room like Nicky Haslam's mini-me and is thus off in a flash.

Alas its January some expect to find him on a beach in the Bahama's topping up his perma tan before returning for awards season and fashion weeks galore. When in Paris he's found at Le Baron were the door staff all know Monsieur T and over in New York...a regular jaunt but 'such a pain without Concord'... his favorite haunt is the Boom Boom Room atop the new Standard hotel, just ask for Mister Tee and they'll know if he's there. But rest assured if there's a party to be had he'll be there and loves a good lowdown the day after. Checking in with his numerous PA's (the turnover is on a par with Kelly Cutrone's interns) this week it seems Mr. T is away for the forseeable future but he'll be...or we will be...reporting on his behalf.

Let the parties commence.

We're tweeting...finally.

2010-01-22T18:06:00.001-08:00

Yes, we've done it..'everyone else is at it, so why bloody not!' was there general view here at Established Man Towers.

We've got enough ornithologically themed creatures dotted around here to sink a ship..stuffed barn owl anyone? Cased seabirds? Egret? So it seems wrong to not be sounding off every five seconds like a C-List celebrity on speed. Here we go.

Follow us on twitter...

https://twitter.com/establishedman

Our Man in Milan: Ciao Milano & Bonjour Paris

2010-01-22T11:37:00.000-08:00

Gucci

Moncler Gamme Bleu
href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_OkY1zYoOa_8/S1pYkh98-uI/AAAAAAAAAPA/OEg_84BaLu8/s1600-h/McQueen.jpg">
Alexander McQueen

Bottega Veneta

Just as soon as men's fashion week here in Milan appears to have begun we're already dashing to Linate airport to make the flight to Paris for yet more menswear shows. So Milan is over and what a crazy few days. Whilst we got our blog on about a few shows there's a fair few Our Man in Milan has not yet mentioned. So here's the comprehensive lowdown on what we saw for Autumn/Winter 2010.

Over at Gucci we were expecting a highly sexy, sassy, glamorous Gucci of seasons past so we were surprised to see it toned down slightly this time around by Frida Giannini. Not the first impression one got in the mirrored runway. Yes the cut was as sharp as ever and the loafers certainly crept in, teamed with skinny turned up trousers; something the Sloanes of South West London will not be incorporating with their Gucci loafers that's for sure! As Nirvana soothed us all out paraded yet more camel-like tones on calve length outerwear, slick suiting and plenty more. Darker than seen at other shows but equally as sophisticated. These were paired with navy knits and trousers, Giannini is a dab hand with the colour charts clearly. Outerwear came in a variety of guises from suede, fur, and ostrich skin to a bold leopard print jacket...OK so it was true Gucci at heart. The knits got bolder in a kind of native Indian-American way and the polo neck appeared under sports jackets hinting to a bygone era when a Gucci double G was a symbol of wealth and class as opposed to unashamed brashness. With some fine man bag action...some of it clearly not destined for the real man about town...and a finale of jewel-like velvets in rich purples and burgundies there's certainly a box of delights to be had at your nearest Gucci store next season.

Puffer jackets are usually not our thing here at The Established Man. Put it down to memories of Pony Club for the posher members of the team here and a night out in Croydon for the rest of us mere mortals. Either way they don't feature heavily in our wardrobes. They seem to consistently appear on the sale rail at Uniqlo who seem to be obsessed with the things. But when the puffer jacket in mentioned in the same sentence as American designer Thom Browne, as well as the recently relaunched house of Moncler its hard to be disinterested. So off we trundled to the Moncler Gamme Bleu show for what must have been one of our Milan menswear highlights. A Thom Browne show in New York has always been a spectacle and Browne didn't fail this time around. To the noise of trumpets the models awoke from their camp beds in long John's sporting some fine red, white and blue liveries and assembled their outfits in front of us all. After being checked over by their Sergeant that all was tip-top we were treated to a show where the pen never seemed to leave our notepad. It was Moncler all the way but Browne's design touch was ever-present. By playing with the ideas of a goose-filled padded jacket and tweaking it and turning it on its head Browne created a conceptual but wearable collection once you broke it down. Ok, the striped trousers and coat in dark grey and black might appear like a prisoner on the run but separately they of course work. Moon boots took the boot trend to another stratosphere for those winter months meaning you might need another cable car just for your footwear when on the slopes in Gstaad.

This outdoorsy theme carried over into D&G land too it would appear. Had there been a lack of lighting at their show one would've thought the Milan sumo wrestling association were on a day out from the silhouette cast from some serious layering. God how those boys must have been sweating. There were knits akimbo in a plethora of fair-isle, one on top of the other...then there were boiler suits in goose-down, bobble hats, scarves..you name it, it was in there. We pity the soul who happens to share a chairlift with anyone who decides to embody the full D&G look next season..its going to be a squeeze and that is an understatement.

Pringle of Scotland is a label that we tend to overlook; golfing jumpers don't do it for us. Yet things seemed to have taken another turn at Pringle and under the creative guidance of Claire Wright-Keller its certainly not looking bad. Opening the show with a comical animation by artist David Shrigley was refreshing to see a fashion house not taking themselves so deadly seriously. It was British tongue-in-cheek at its best and made us proud to be from the British Isles. But then it got down to the business of clothes and the joviality of the cartoon quickly gave way to a darker, harder-edged collection. With an entree of moody black on black looks there was the potential for this to resemble a Costume National show but this darkness grew ever so slightly lighter, and by incorporating avantgarde knits things softened, but ever so slightly mind you. There were jumpers that could only be compared to a sort of black, furry bath mat one might buy in John Lewis, yet they really worked when teamed with suiting, leather and smoother textures. We loved the ombre, lighter knits that had subtle wafts of green or grey in them. Layering..always crucial for a winter collection was played with by outerwear being worn under suits and jackets. The odd snood and knitted long gilets carried on a weavers dream.

Rest assured a McQueen show will be a visual feast and Lee didn't fail one bit this time around. Complementing the quizzical womenswear show from September print was high on the agenda here. The backdrop said it all really...a sort of butterfly come paisley affair plastered everywhere. There were moments when models appeared to merge into the room such was the intensity of this print bombardment. With skulls, bones, snakeskin and the rest these were suits and other such wares not for the faint-hearted by any means. But again..break it down and it becomes reality for the everyday....when paired with a very simple yet well cut trouser say; it could and will work. However in this instance it appeared like a second skin on what appeared like mythical creatures from another realm.

Oh and we have to mention Bottega Veneta for their nod to Teddy-boys and everything Brighton Rock inspired. With hair to match the skinny-string bows and drainpipe bottoms this was a modern update on an era of vintage menswear at its best. Who would have thought a Bottega boy had such a bad side. Team with a vintage Vespa.

Ciao Milano!

Pringle of Scotland tell it the Scottish way when it comes to wooly jumpers

2010-01-20T14:34:00.001-08:00

Our Man in Milan: Day 2 - Less of the Jack & more of the Jil

2010-01-20T01:28:00.001-08:00

Don't get us wrong we're still devout fans of the Jil Sander from back in the day but it can't be denied that Raf Simons is doing a damn fine job at this house. For the Autumn Winter 2010 show it was suitably minimal both in colour and cut but with an applique touch about it. Suits, shirts and trousers were changed from their traditional guise by forms that resembled the shapes of a Calder sculpture Incorporated within the design. A soundtrack that was more Berlin nightclub than slick-cut suits and a day in Milan had us intrigued in the puffa jackets and thinking it was time to lose a few pounds.

Thermals at the ready!

2010-01-20T01:17:00.000-08:00

News reaches us that another cold spell is on the way....oh what joy! Cue frantic bumbling around for yet further Uniqlo Thermals..the only way to stay warm this winter. We can't guarantee that you'll suddenly be thrown into a similar scene to that of the Uniqlo Heatech ad campaign but get some and you will be warm!

Culture Vulture: To the North Jeeves....

2010-01-20T01:04:00.001-08:00

Our resident Culture Vulture has just returned from a whistle stop tour of the North..not somewhere one would normally run to on a jaunt in January...'he needs his head testing' was muttered by some of our colleagues...but it seems to have been a worthwhile tour. Nottingham is not a city one associates with the height of contemporary art and culture. It certainly doesn't roll off the tongue with MoMa, Tate Modern, The Guggenheim etc but last year Nottingham Contemporary opened to much praise and with two highly acclaimed shows.

The first is a major exhibition of David Hockney's early works from the 60's, 70's and 80's. During the times at which he was at the Royal College of Art and then discovered the promise of America and the glamorous New York on the East Coast and Los Angeles on the West Coast. Many an important work is included in this show and its a rarity to see them together in such fantastic surroundings.

Another show, by the LA-based artist Frances Stark is equally as brilliant. A very different exhibition, it complements the Hockney show perfectly. With her kooky collages and text works we fell in love with the pieces. The word play and objects and creatures used within her practice had us swooning over the limited edition to accompany the show.

Both shows end on the 24th January so make a last minute dash to the North!

www.nottinghamcontemporary.org

Our man in Milan: Day 2 - Mrs. P

2010-01-20T00:37:00.000-08:00

A little bit of a delay with Milan menswear updates...put it down to too many shows and not enough time to blog on...cue desperate calls from The Established Man office in London wondering where the next installment will be. Pah...do they not know the stress 'Our Man in Milan' goes through?!

It's not long until we swiftly head North to Paris so here's a few snippets from the Milan shows that caught our eye. Obviously a trip to Milan for some fabulous menswear is not complete without a trip to Mrs. Prada's show and this time in the large vaulted hall that she likes to call home for fashion shows it was as if we'd walked into some bizarre class or exam. With facts and figures scrolled across the floor along with some downright weird stuff..the yellow bar, the airline style check in desks and green 'thing' par example...and then a soundtrack bustling with Northern English Indie tracks all mashed up. We wondered what the hell was about to appear from backstage.

As to be expected these supposed hints offered no clue whatsoever and the collection, dare we say it, had a nod to Prada collections from a while back. All the classics a gentleman could ever want were given the Mrs. P touch. So cue camel, beige and black top coats and sports jackets with thick, double-collars in alternating textures...knit and sheepskin being one such look. There were plenty of suits and jackets in navies and greys, teamed with light blue shirts and knits...be they chunky or fine...in camels and pinks. We're not sure how wearable the knitwear will be bearing in mind it skirted a good inch or two above the waist; we're not aware of too many men willing to flash the layer underneath or even bare flesh..god forbid! But it plays with ideas of shape and perspective.

Away from all this classic Prada there were, thankfully, some more conceptual, with a twist items that had us cooing from our position atop one of the platforms. So there were more overcoats, both long and short but this time in a crazy psychedelic camouflage, much like that of the skin used on concept cars to disguise their true form from prying lenses. Then there were the shiny, latex-like coats with their white sheepskin collars, yet another juxtaposition of texture but also the natural and artificial.

What might have started off as being slightly preppy and mundane presentation soon became a more interesting and appropriately Prada affair. The show ended with the words 'To be continued' projected on the screen and we don't doubt that there are plenty more ideas swirling around Mrs. P's head to keep this going a long time yet.

A minor spillage

2010-01-19T13:35:00.001-08:00

We're sure the boffins at MINI HQ are not seeing this as anything minor, they must be furious that such treats have leaked out of the inner sanctum. Meanwhile here at The Established Man motoring desk we're rather interested in the possibilities of a MINI 4X4. We've known about it for quite sometime and seen psychedelic covered test vehicles in many a grainy image but here's the real deal courtesy of a MINI traitor! Bravo!

Day 1 - Our Man in Milan: Fabulously furry at Burberry

2010-01-16T13:49:00.000-08:00

Yes its that time of year, when fashionable gents, and ladies, of course, make their way to Milan and then flit up to Paris for the men's show. As usual Our Man in Milan is on the ground for The Established Man, and whilst we get soaked on the streets of London during this miserable January afternoon Day 1 seems to have started proceedings off rather well if the Burberry Prorsum show was anything to go by. That's enough from us..over to our Man in Milan.

Ah to be back in Milan, we do love a jaunt to the men's shows and whilst the last time The Established Man had us blagging...blogging... ahem.. our way into shows it might have been in the midst of a balmy July but there's certainly a fair waft of warmth on the runways to be had on this cold Milanese day. Today's A-star goes to Christopher Bailey at Burberry Prorsum, does this Yorkshire man ever get it wrong? Clearly not. We were in awe of the A/W 2010 collection and the opening soundtrack 'Stormy Weather', a suitably indie and English entree courtesy of The Kooks, summed it up with its lyrics of 'Love Love Love'. Boy did we LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

With what could have been the stragglers of school army parade or boys playing dress up in Laurence Corner before its sad closure the first looks were evidently military, thus setting the tone for the entire show. Over-sized camel coats, brass buttoned, collars turned up garnered the British confidence that Prorsum oozes these days. Out they came, long, short, double-breasted, single-breasted and occasionally zip-detailed teamed with skinny black jeans and what looked like fur-lined boots, worn as if they were wellington boots, jeans tucked in and unlike the dreaded-Ugg effect these actually worked, playing perfectly with a subtle, yet new set of proportions.

Under this barrage of fine outerwear lay denim, something we've not seen in a Prorsum show ever we think. Shirting was in a variety of blue-hues, with button-down collars and complemented perfectly when the camel gave way to moss greens as seen on a large raincoat and a fawn brown on the first of many trenches to grace the runway.

Texture was core to the collection and consistently changed. It started off with sheepskin, as seen on large collars and quickly enveloped an entire double-breasted coat or two resulting in a menswear equivalent of Mrs. Prada's women's collection from a few season's ago. Yet this didn't resemble a hand-held puppet at all. No, it was more the glamour of a cold night in Moscow that the goofiness of the Muppet brigade. This concept of juxtaposing textures continued in the precision cut trenches which almost resembled the body of a classic car in both their golden colour and surface texture.

The military gave way to simple, monochromatic looks, yet all the time those fantastic boots carried on through. Albeit it in differing guises and a dark brown version appeared too. These simple looks had us swooning over over-sized cardigans and simple round-neck knits, whilst really giving us the chance to admire the fine black jeans which will surely become a staple for many a well-tailored gent's wardrobe. The black and white moment gave into greys, navy's and a hint of suiting yet always with a slight military 'Stand up straight corporal'.

Of course the trench is key to Burberry and a show without them would be like a scone without jam & cream. Out they paraded; belted, pocketed in many a differing way but this was overshadowed by some fine finale pieces. The Army dispersed to make way for the Navy. A fine regatta of pea coats with their big collars, and glimmering with brass details. Bailey played with this brass, and like a swam of bee's to a honeypot these brass buttons were multiplied and gathered around cuffs and on the shoulders of a Navy knit jumper like a luxurious armour.

With that moment gone the RAF flew in, models striding down the runway as if they were about to pilot a Spitfire. A nod to both American and British air-force heritage, the classic flight jacket of leather and sheepskin was tweaked and given its Prorsum twist. Double collared, with buckles here, there and everywhere. If that wasn't enough they were then inverted to bare the sheepskin innards and leather trims playing on ideas of the engineering of such pieces and a subtle and unashamed rawness.

The fashion set can be a hard lot to conquer but Bailey and his many armies clearly won the war this time

But Mummy I want Pitti...

2010-01-14T14:47:00.000-08:00

January is a kind of dead month round here. The Established Man bureau resides in the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and we are pretty certain that over half of those the live nearby are either on a beach in St. Barts or on the slopes of St. Mortiz. One thing is for sure, they are not here. For us this time of year is a rest month before the crazy s**t kicks off, excuse the crass language but its the best way to illustrate what its about.

Yes, from mid-Jan onwards it becomes some sort of great fashion fest, first the men's shows in Milan and Paris and then a bit of New York for men's and women's shows and then back to London town for London Fashion Week. That's a good part of a month on the road doing the great fashion week rounds. But this is also the time of year for Pitti Uomo. A sort of menswear trade-fair, albeit a very chic trade-fair affair. With around 760 exhibitors, 930 brands there's a hell of a lot to see and its always impeccably well done, and low key...despite the Sartorialist snapping away.

Reports from the show so far are vague...'its hardly the trenches' was one response to this statement, whether they meant coats or war is unconfirmed. But all in all for 2010 here are The Established Man's top tips of what might be good in menswear to invest in.

- Duffle Coats ( Think Paddington Bear goes to Dover Street Market, Gloverall are our favorites)
- Hiking-influenced footwear (Seen on the street only this morning, expect to see on the runway in a few weeks)
- Denim
- Colour - (Globe-Trotter luggage in New York taxi yellow ought to be a good starting point, subtle!)

As per usual there's all sorts of collaborations to be had, A Ron Arad sculpture flaunts Notify jeans in the courtyard for example. Glad Ron had time to fit this in amongst a show for MoMA.

Yesterday as things kicked off Lars Nilsson debuted his collection for men. A suitable winter boot option was in view for us boys if this bitterness continues, think ski boot for the city. Shame you'll have to wait until next year to get it. Other than that there were some punchy knits in bright colours and a waft of outerwear to be gawped at.

Haunted House

2010-01-14T14:19:00.000-08:00

'Come down to Somerset House this evening, its going to be spooky', was the message that greeted us this morning here at The Established Man office answerphone. Spooky? Surely not? Halloween is long gone and haunted houses are a thing of myth on ITV2, god bless Yvette Fiedling. But Somerset House was in for a very different kind of spooky soiree as details revealed themselves in a clearer sense. That music lot always have to talk in tongues don't they.

No no, there would be no goulish antics or steaming culdrens, Vampire Weekend were going to play a half-hour gig on the balcony overlooking the ice rink and we promptly got ourselves down there pronto. You'd think those Vampire Weekend boys would have been in La La land drinking Horchata and enjoying some sun rather than a cold, wet, grey afternoon in London town. But what sun, or lack of was in the clouds was replaced by their set and the upbeat mood that transcended the cobbled stones of the courtyard at Somerset House.

With a mix of songs from their ledgendary first album and the new one titled Contra the crowd were certainly more than pleased to see them and responded in grand London style to 'Oxford Comma', 'A-Punk' as well as some new ones such as 'Holiday' and obviously 'Horchata'.

Bearing in mind the boys don't tour until a good month or so and its block to block sell out this was a golden opportunity to catch them at their best. Despite a loss of power towards the end, resulting in unanimous 'We can't bloody hear you!' and 'Come down here' chanting from the crowd they pulled it of and in the most special of settings. That's our kind of fright night.

www.vampireweekend.com
www.somersethouse.org.uk

UrggghhhhhUggggg

2010-01-13T02:39:00.000-08:00

As The Established Man emerged this morning from our layers of cashmere blankets, 9.5 tog, 4.5 tog duvets and an electric blanket so warm we thought we might have might been back in Bombay it came into our minds that footwear on a day such as this...one filled with snow, sleet and general slush...is not easy for a gentleman around town. Warmth is crucial, as is waterproof-ness and they can't look or resemble anything like the dreaded UGG!!

Men in UGG's is a contentious issue here at the offices of The Esablished Man. Whilst the verdict is unanimous that they offer warmth and comfort there is a healthy disagreement as to whether they should actually be debuted in public by a man. Yes you might look like a garden ornament from a semi in Croydon that has been touched with the gift of life or plainly just an idiot. Then there is the issue that they offer no grip, get soaked like a sponge within seconds and are worn by hideous girls with messy blonde hair from Fulham and Chelmsford alike...hideous in their own special ways... Cause for concern surely?

So it was with much enthusiasm yesterday that the subject of the day was 'other shoe options for a slush-filled day that are not an Australian Slipper'. Long, we know, but to the point in a kind of 'does what it says on the tin' manner. After one and half packs of chocolate hobnobs and 2 cups of coffee the competition was looking non-existent to slim. The only serious options we could contemplate came from our friends at A.P.C. Always ones to fine tune an item, last season was the second time they sold their sheepskin boots and as to be expected, they were a sell out. Oh those French, they always know a good thing when they see it. How we longed for a pair of the chestnut sheepskin boots to look after our sand coloured ones from last year, as well as a nice pair of blue, lace-up derbies. These are real winter boots for people with real style. Good luck finding them though..we've trawled but with no success so far.

www.apc.fr

Down the pictures

2010-01-13T02:20:00.000-08:00

Cold January nights haven't been, and never will be, the most alluring times to venture out and last night was no exception; good God no! But how things changed at the drop of a hat. Whilst busily tucking in to Roast chicken and potatoes to boot word went round that Two Door Cinema Club were on at White Heat at Madam Jo Jo's and The Established Man were on the list..oh what a damn fine treat.

So with the speed of a small Ecudurian mountain bird we hopped on the loyal steed that is The Established Man's Vespa and made our way into Soho. Expecting a loyal legion of teenage indie junkies, jeans so tight their blood circulation might be cause for concern there were no such antics. Heavyweight music industry types instead were order of the day, a clear sign that this is a definite band to watch for 2010.

The computers here at The Established Man HQ have been streaming their songs off myspace ever since we heard of them several months ago on a Kitsune record and it would seem word is getting round. Expect a UK tour very soon and a hefty bevvy of festival fun to come for the summer...if we ever get one! With songs like ' I Can Talk' and 'Something Good Can Work' these Northern Irish boys are the real deal.

Check it!

2010-01-13T02:10:00.001-08:00

'Get your blog on' must have been the words that spun around the head of that checked shirt, camera touting, overall naughty boy behind the lens Terry Richardson. Always one for a nice flannel shirt, even the dog Mick gets a plaid bed..Terry we're with you on that one...our Terry has launched his own blog. Entitled TerrysDiary expect a nod to that other ladies man firmly fixed front row, the delightful Olivier Zahm and his diary for Purple Magazine.

It would seem Terry has been a very busy boy already....shooting the likes of Freja, Daria and Aggy and then with pals William Eggleston and Orlando Bloom in St. Barts. Such a hard life.

THE ESTABLISHED MAN RETURNS....

2010-01-13T01:53:00.000-08:00

A rather belated Happy New Year from The Established Man and a smile to be back. Last year ended in what can only be described as a whirlwind filled with travel, the obligatory swine flu, poisoning from oysters and a waft of other such obstacles, oh and that old chestnut, needing to get out and actually earn a living. Well enough to allow us to continue to shop the Eastern promises of LIDL on a weekly basis, yet also take breakfast at the Wolseley, unsurprisingly not on a weekly basis.

As per usual we've broken every resolution we made here at The Established Man towers. Nail biting... still ongoing. Curb the chocolate and hobnob cravings daily...dream on. Early nights...a work in progress.

Much like our older posts The Established Man will continue to whisper away in its guise as a mondern day notebook for the man about town. Think of us as a little moleskin notebook filled with hand written notes of what we think is worth a nod.

The whole world continues to tweet like a blue tit in the midst of mating season but we're still abstaining for the moment...Stephen Fry has left..that's surely a sign?

Inbetweeners

2009-09-13T13:42:00.001-07:00

So Autumn is here there's no doubt, and as our friend the Sartorialist has noticed, as well many a men's fashion editor that its that funny time between being warm and cold. We're digging out the light knit pieces, think cardigans, simple thin cashmeres and grey hooded tops over tee's. Can our beloved espadrilles make it a week or two longer...feet in socks just feels so wintery.

Our favorite piece has to be a cashmere hooded top from Marc Jacobs, one the most discreet luxury items around and a godsend for any flight with an over-enthusiastic captain who insists the aircon be colder than the Arctic! Ours is a cheeky freebie from the mainline collection...with a price tag more than most people's monthly salary we'll stick to the Marc by Marc Jacobs variety next time we need to actually buy one

Brrrrrrrrr!

Eat me!

2009-09-13T13:34:00.000-07:00

The Established Man has just returned from a rare weekend in the country...hidden away amongst the rolling hills of Sussex. Ok there was an illegal rave on the Estate bordering The Established Man's country getaway, we weren't bothered had it not been for their appalling taste in music.

But one discovery that had us whipping on a pair of wellies and a couple of terries quicker than an illegal raver to a stash of cannabis was this seasons crop of blackberries. No, not the small communications device that makes every waking hour of our day a living hell, but the fruit variety that makes dreamy crumbles and warming jams. Our freezer is stocked. Let the crumbles commence.

BLOG ON

2009-09-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

We're back...after something of an absence. Put it down to exhaustion across the board...we've overdosed on Festival frivolities...The Great Escape, Glastonbury, Lovebox and Reading, our Hunter wellington boots have sprung a leak as a result! Add to that a lot of time spent in airports en route to here, there and bloody everywhere it seems. But its September time and like an inverted wild animal we're out of our summer hibernation just as Miss. Tiggywinkle and her fluffy friends chez Madame Potter go into hibernation. Bon Nuit little friends.

As the tendrils of Autumn reach ever further, growing thicker and thicker London town has woken up from its summer siesta. The children are back at school...as are their mothers who seem to drive an armada of tanks bigger than the year before, we rather liked the discussions on the Today programme on Radio 4 last week about school pressures and a particular purple protractor belonging to Arabella Weir's daughter... a purple protractor? We never had such coloured mathematical hardware back in the day.

So expect a bevvy of posts to come...every gallery worth their weight in white spaciousness seems to have had an opening from the East to the West and the fashion set have flown the flag just as high with a grand night out last week in honor of fashion night out. This week sees the fashion pack arrive in London and give it a month and it will be time for Frieze Art Fair..crazy times...but we think that in between these two mega events there might well be time for a little trip to LaLa land? Who knows.

We're walking in the air

2009-06-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

With the The Established Man offices on a skeleton staff back here in London town us mere mortals that have not gone to front-row it up in Milano or hopped in the Land Rover to Glastonbury to pimp it up backstage are busying themselves with thinking about summer holidays and thankfully our turn to leave our desks falls in a month's time as we pop over to New York for a while. And whilst we're not quite sure we can bear the extreme heat and humidity the newly opened High Line is the place to chill in between lunch at Pastis and a visit to some Chelsea Galleries. Its our favorite new spot downtown what with Beatrice Inn closing suddenly....

www.thehighline.org

Our Man in Milan - A grey day

2009-06-23T16:17:00.000-07:00

The clouds might have been blue over Milan yesterday but at Prada it looked like a downpour was brewing. Grey, grey and more grey dominated the catwalk. Not overly inspiring for a summer wardrobe but a key colour for Spring Summer 2010. Word of advice break it up with some colour or patterns like our Miuccia.

Our man in Milan - Day 2

2009-06-23T16:01:00.000-07:00

We do love a Bottega show here at The Established Man and as your man in Milan I am more than happy to frolic front row at such an occasion, Herald Tribune in one hand, blackberry in the other. Its not a bad life. Hell, the music desk at The Established Man towers are off to Glastonbury soon and I shall be Paris whilst they are knee deep in mud begging for a helicopter airlift outta there. Each to there own but as 'Our Man in Milan' I am here for some fashion forward, not camping in some old manky tent I last used when I was thirteen.

So back to Bottega, much more my sort of thing, Tomas Maier is always right on track and the show opened with the sort of wares one might take on a holiday to Kenya, deep greens and crumpled khakis hinted to a modern-day safari man, and then went a little Ibiza circa before the chavs moved in so whip out the tie-dye. This wouldn't be a Bottega show without some fine suiting and this must be the boys equivalent of Balmain in the shoulder department as Maier was obviously tuning our eyes onto the below the neck region; not in an eighties power-ballad kind of way though, more a subtle futuristic twist. Scarlett was the colour of choice and with exotic florals and a finale of denim's and deep blue tuxedos Maier seemed to go all over the world on a magical mystery tour with this collection. Wherever next?!

Glastonbury Wheels

2009-06-21T14:12:00.001-07:00

This is what we thought might do the job for Glasto should things get considerably muddy....cue a call to Land Rover!

Our man in Milan | "Roll up Roll Up!"

2009-06-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

No we're not talking about all the fun of the fair despite a penchant for a circus or two here at The Established Man. No no, the Milanese wouldn't know what a fairground was even if a spinning teacup hit them in the face. The only rolling up being done here would seem to be backstage at a plethora of men's shows, we've seen many a trouser rolled up for Spring Summer 2010 and its only day 1 of our Milan escapades.

We particularly like CP Company's take on how to rock a rolled trouser...take note.

Glastonbury countdown

2009-06-21T08:08:00.000-07:00

'In two minds', was how the office responded to the offer of an outing to this year's Glastonbury. After enduring Bestival last year and it's near warzone-like experience...think car parks that look like 100 tanks had rolled through and a campsite that resembled living hell on earth...it was not high on The Established Man's list of priorities to endure an exact replica but only four-hundred times worse and with just as many more festival goers. But what with a stellar line-up and sun predicted for Somerset we're already itching to hit the road and peace out for four days.

But what to pack, what to wear, what drive there in, what to see? All these questions! How to keep every technical device we rely on powered up? The dilemmas! Well we're packing our bags with a very basic kits...Levi's and uniqlo skinny jeans, a pair of hunters, a gap kids age twelve kagool, some Marc Jacobs tee shirts, the Barbour and a pair of espadrilles should do it, maybe a pair of city shorts should the sun shine will be our Glasto unform.

Top of our lists to see, Blur, Fleet Foxes and Dizzee Rascal so far...

More to come soon from the Glastonbury crew

Our man in Milan

2009-06-21T07:43:00.000-07:00

The month of June should be fashion downtime for The Established Man fashion desk, we thought we were off to Antibes for a bit of beach time as we were thrust onto the Easyjet flight to Milan, hey the days of first class on BA are officially ovah! But its good to be back in Milan and there is nothing better than jumping two seasons and perusing what we'll be wearing next Summer. So what's to be had, get pre-ordering gents as we're certain the waiting lists will be worse than a queue at LIDL.

We kicked off proceedings with home grown talent and Burberry Prorsum, always a winner at The Established Man towers, we were pondering how Christopher Bailey would triumph over his last collection for Spring Summer 09 what with those silky knits and 'in the garden crumpled macs' in earthy mustard's and aubergines. For Spring Summer 2010 Bailey's left tending to the borders in his glorious gardens and packed up the Land Rover and actually headed for the Borders it would seem. Things have got a whole lot more utilitarian to say the least. So cue lots of pocketing, strap details, wax cotton canvas jackets and the obligatory rucksack. Padded jackets whisked down the runway in a multitude of traditional styles thinking we might have to upgrade our Barbour versions pretty swiftly! There were wonderful moments that bore reminiscence to childhood, the bright red raincoats and pale blue jackets had us thinking the Burberry Design team had gotten a hold of our holiday snaps from 1983. Obviously this being a Prorsum show things sharpened up with suiting and mac's in lightweight lux threads in navy, grey, and beige's. There's always plenty of fine knitwear to be had too and in off-white's, greys and pastels summer 2010 is already shaping up to be the perfect English summer if Burberry has anything to do with it.

Aiya!

2009-06-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

Oh its been a long, we've been hiding away, what with Venice Biennial, Basel and trips here and there The Established Man offices have been a ghostown; tumbleweed included! But we're back, and glad to be back after a rather prolonged period of MIA. So what's on the menu, well with an appetiser of the men's shows in from our man in Milan and a main course of some Glastonbury loving, this week is going to have us hitting the ground running! And who will win Wimbledon, we've already got a punnet of strawberrys, two pints of extra thick double cream and some Ralph Lauren Wimbledon kit here to hand so we can recreate the fun here at The Established Man towers! Oh er we always wanted to be ball boys!

Its good to be back!

We're back

2009-05-10T11:56:00.001-07:00

Where we went we don't quite know..put it down to a chaotic Easter and a need to hibernate but The Established Man team have returned and the office as fresh as a Spring Day...with summer on the way the diaries are filling up, our passports are clutched, ready and waiting, for a flight to who knows where and of course all our top tips will be carefully filtered and placed on The Established Man blog.

This week we're all over the country...Monday in Manchester..Tuesday in London town and then the end of the week we travel to Brighton for some seaside action and The Great Escape Festival, check in here for constant updates on our journeys and what bands you really need to check out from the moshpits of Brighton's venues...we're sure we're getting to old for this sort of antics but for as long as those skinny jeans fit we're there.

Happy Happy Easter

2009-04-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

Wishing all our readers an Egg-filled-frenzy of an Easter. Have a blooming day!

Whatever next

2009-04-02T15:34:00.000-07:00

Uniqlo just keep those winners a-coming. Only last week we reported Jil Sander was taking a creative role within the company, previewing in the Autumn/Winter collection later this year and when we swooped by the Oxford Street store this afternoon we see those mischievous boys and girls at Opening Ceremony, one of our top New York shopping establishments, have been having a little Japanese too, so much so that they've produced a collection with who else but Uniqlo.

Think psychedelic plaids with a hint of the washed out nu-rave about them and some overall well-thought out touches in the pockets, patches and overall feel of the collection. We particularly liked the black rolled up at the cuff khakis and there's some good suiting to be had. With the days of 'everything half-price' trips to NYC thank the Lord we can indulge in some fine garments that won't break the bank.

Music makes the world go round

2009-04-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

So what's spinning in The Established Man jukebox this week....

We're loving Ebony Bones....The Muzik is our favorite track, with the high pitched eeks, buzzy beats, our feet have been tapping like the cast of Riverdance on speed.

Watch out for these guys on the Summer Festival ciruit..a guaranteeed track to get the crowds moving.

http://www.myspace.com/ebonybones

Princi Charming

2009-04-02T15:09:00.000-07:00

With London town being in a state of high alert the past few days its been a necessary thing to have a place of sanctuary. If its not the Obama's passing through Mayfair....a wait of half an hour in the cab..thanks very much....then its Sarah Brown in Covent Garden....stranded in a cafe for an hour....then there's the protesters who seem to have a rather nasty knack of hurling themselves at fast-moving traffic as The Established Man team collided head on with on yesterday duly displayed.

So with all these road-blocks, delays for passing dignitaries and heightened tensions we have spent the past three days in a row at our new favorite bakery and espresso spot Princi in the heart of Soho. Yes it might be full of media and advertising types at the peak of lunchtime but avoid that and the airy space, friendly and plentiful staff and delicious food will have you salivating like a dog on heat. We love the pistachio mouse cake, the salads, the American themed slice of, well, everything naughty! And to top it all its amazingly good value and open practically morning, noon and night. London's patisserie scene got a whole lot more nuclear.

Princi, 135 Wardour Street, W1F 0UT
www.princi.co.uk

Mind the Gap

2009-03-24T14:40:00.000-07:00

Those Monday nights still appear to continue to be anything but sacred it would seem. We had a night in planned with a classic Almodovar flick and some rather nifty Gap jimjams that should never be worn in daylight for fear of causing a major traffic pile-up but it was sod's law that our friends at Gap held a presentation of their Autumn Winter collection last night and we just couldn't resist a little nose to see what Patrick Robinson, their Creative Director, had been up to in the scented surroundings of the Flower Market in Covent Garden.

On first glance we thought he'd been still popping those lumberjack pills as with previous season what with those heavy knits in a host of rural-rugged patterns, a dark green plaid shirt and boots...big boots teamed with thick socks underneath, you almost need a moose in the garden and a clapped-out out Cheverolet Pick-up truck to complete this look. But it got a lot less rural and all the more urban, the tones got darker, the tailoring sharper and those boots became more subtle. A very nifty black leather jacket caught our eye...nothing like an investment piece during trouble & strife...there was also plenty of the 'DD' look that might well be back..that's Double Denim to those who aren't jean addicts. Then there were some fine winter coats being paraded about like a dressage horse strutting its stuff. A long black affair with detailing on the cuffs and all the time layered under more outerwear so cue leather and denim jackets under the more heavier coats.

After the winter we're emerging from those folks at Gap are certainly going to keep us suitably warm for the next one.

www.gap.com

Yeah Baby

2009-03-23T09:43:00.001-07:00

What are we listening too right now????

The new Yeah Yeah Yeah's track is today's melody of the moment, with Karen O's tones and some tip top backing we just can't help but tap or feet or dance like Turkey before Christmas...in private of course...

Poor Form

2009-03-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

It was with a sad face that our loyal steed for such Man about town action suffered some coughs and splutters at the beginning of the year, yes The Established Man Vespa, fondly known as Grand Tabitha had a little set back and was off the road for quite some time. We left her on the pavement hidden away whilst the Kenyan bush kept us occupied and she still has not forgiven us!

A mere youth in her scooter years she refused to start and had a loose wire and a funny this and that when the breakdown expert arrived on the scene. All this was within a frisson of being serviced previously by London scooter garage BMG who royally rippped us off when we sent our GT in for a service. Now in true style we penned a powerful letter in outrage at their uselessness and surprise surprise no reply! So two-wheeled riders beware the only thing BMG stands for is Bloody Money Grabbers!

Bon Maman

2009-03-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

We've gone all rural here at The Established Man HQ and decamped to the country for a few days. However not before sending all our Mum's some love and no we do not mean the advert heavy magazine of the moment! Thanks to our great friends at Laduree at Harrods for their last minute fabulousness! With their pastel pretty macaroons to entice us like a bunch of salivating Alsations we're sure our Ma's are loving those rose, praline, passionfruit, pistachios mini-feasts like a child at the Pick and Mix before Woolworths closed its doors forever....

www.laduree.fr

Hey Big Spender

2009-03-17T15:03:00.000-07:00

As we do every afternoon Monday here at The Established Man Towers, yesterday we rifled through the invitations for the coming week and sorted through the social diary, carefully plotting our course across London of an eve whilst trying to spend some time in our homes. Last night there were several options that were laid out on the boardroom table, we told you these Monday nights are no longer sacred. Had Air-Force Established Man been waiting at Northolt we'd have popped to New York for a party at Barneys in honor of Burberry and Christopher Bailey but this being pressing times we've cancelled our Netjets membership and swapped it for a Vintage Pashley bicycle, the savings we're making are enough to take breakfast at The Wolesely for the rest of our lives!

No last night was a London soiree with a dashing of Italian glamour to spice things up. Now we were far to young to have been invited Chez Gianni Versace during his reign in the Eighties hence why we never made it to his pad in Lake Como. We thought it only right we make up for it and pop along to an exclusive preview at Sotheby's on New Bond Street where much of Versace's posessions including art, furniture and collectables will go under the hammer on Wednesday. Those aproned Sotheby's specialists have taken great time to reassemble the objets as they were in that Lakeside mansion, hell its not like they've been busy of late so we're sure they relished the opportunity!

If such things as a pair of life size plaster-cast nude wrestlers, a bargain at $29,500-$50,000 estimate or some gilded bookcases belonging to a 17th Century Princess are on your shopping list then you better get bidding.

The Return of Jil

2009-03-17T04:35:00.000-07:00

Jubilation amongst The Established Man team this morning, since her departure from fashion and her own label in 2004, a rather messy one with Prada....we've rather missed Jil Sander and now the perfect pairing has been confirmed, Jil Sander will act as Creative Director for our favorite high street store Uniqlo with her first collection debuting this Autumn. Bring it on we say!

The Ripest Berries

2009-03-14T12:31:00.001-07:00

Burberry Brown Leather Bag

Mulberry Taylor Tote

Mulberry Eliot

All this talk of credit-crunch, recession, failing stocks and shares, Madoff and Stanford-esque cons, looming mass unemployment and doom in the retail sector has created a less than perky Spring season so far. It's certainly clear that there's something serious going on when the Financial Ministers of the world's G20 countries gather to discuss the issues and choose to meet in the small, suburban commuter town of Horsham in West Sussex. Their pockets have been clearly hit as badly as the British public if they're having to endure what must be one of the most boring and uninteresting places in the country; yawn-inducing doesn't do Horsham justice, it's as grey as the paintwork on a sea-worthy Naval vessel. Sadly for certain members of The Established Man Office it features on their Friday night train journey to the more rural and charming areas of West Sussex, thank God for ES Magazine to distract one from the monstrous commuter belt territories!

But this got us all thinking on the fashion desk at Established Man Towers yesterday afternoon, what might all these ministers be carrying their expensive suits in? Luggage is a serious issues for us frequent fliers and if its not the great spaces in Terminal 5 we're traversing then let it be that fortnightly trip to the country for some quality hermit time. In the past old favorites have been Longchamp, a huge navy weekend bag that thankfully bears little resemblance to those Longchamp bags certain echelons of the Sloane community like to patronise. The other option is an iconic Paul Smith weekend bag, perfect for hand-luggage on those well-known budget airlines us peasantry's travel by...Ryanair anyone? With it's heavy canvas printed livery of old suitcases one might unearth in a Brocante in Provence it almost tells its own story of discovery after finding it under a pile of clothes at New York store Takashimaya for a minute sum...we do love a bargain. Along with that we're a big fan of the Tote Bag and there's nothing like a goody bag that we can use and use again, thank you Frieze Art Fair for those Jack Spade bags way back in year dot, they're still going strong, unlike the truffles contained within!

So bag options aplenty but what with constant office gallivanting both on the domestic and international front our luggage options Chez The Established Man are looking a little tatty around the edges and its got us thinking about what might fulfil our Summer travels whilst being a good investment, we must do those G20 ministers proud down in delightful Horsham, obscene spending will be frowned upon and this must be an 'investment piece'. Thankfully such dilemmas can be solved on home turf...phew...for a moment there we thought we might have to decamp to Paris and a trip to Goyard! But no, our favorite kind of Berries have some freshly picked varieties and we're ready to gorge on them like an overweight child at a pick-your own on the finest of summers day.

Burberry aren't synonymous with their men's accessories when it comes to large bags but good old Christopher Bailey, he's not old at all we just mean we can rely on him for good things constantly, has come up with a small capsule collection of fine car-boot candy for the stylish gentleman traveller. We were drooling after the Spring Summer 09 Prorsum collection only the other day in the Bond Street Store, inspired by the garden and currently plastered across every magazine in Mario Testino's shoot at Petersham Nurseries and we think the Brown Leather Bag is the perfect match yet will last until eternity and surely get better and better with age like a fine wine, it's Dairy Milk shade of brown will never appear ostentatious and would be as happy in the melee of Mumbai to the manicured boulevards of Monaco. Other options feature the infamous Burberry check in an over sized sort of way, much like those over sized plaids for A/W09 we love and what with the revival of the Burberry house check at the Prorsum show in Milan last month snap up one of these and you'll be right on trend before the trend even hits.

Bin those Goji berries, enough of the super anti-oxidant properties of the Acai berry and do just shut up about the power of Blueberries. There's only one other berry we want right now along with a bowl full of Burberries and that's the Mulberry. Another great British brand, the arm-candy of many a stylish yet understated female and also a loyal male following for its men's bag options. With the departure of former Creative Director Stuart Vevers to Loewe a while back we were unsure the success of this very English setup would continue to roll on like a hamster in a cage. Of course Mulberry came up trumps and carefully placed accessories superstar Emma Hill in our Stu's position and hasn't the girl done good. In the old days the usual cravings at about 3pm in The Established Man offices would be for a chocolate hobnob, a Hummingbird Bakery red-velvet cake if we were feeling really greedy, a slice that is..not an entire cake! However with the gymkhana of men's accessories to check out on the Mulberry Website we now get a daily dosage to curb our lustings for a Mulberry Green Taylor tote, with its casual undertones, nothing like a bit of the grass-green and some fine leather there just for good measure this is one way to splurge like a fashionista yet appear like a recessionista and carry all that crap in some seriously stylish get-up. For those who need a little more of the enclosed feel then meet Eliot. No No not the bloke to sort out the boiler..that's Derrick, no our mate Eliot is another fine choice for some airport action. We love the woven canvas handles paired with leather and that Navy Blue colour way has Biarritz written all over it, understated glamourama, nothing we like more here. We better get saving for some serious manbag spending.

Motormouth

2009-03-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

Aston Martin DBS Volante

Audi TTRS

Audi A4 Allroad

New VW polo

Alfa Romeo Mito GTA

A trip to Geneva is not on our list of regular routes. Unlike New York, Paris, Berlin and Milan to name but a few there's just not much to tempt us there. Perhaps if we had a Swiss bank account as opposed to an imaginary one and the need to stock up on rare Swiss timepieces we might be there more often, but the only item we can really afford to enjoy there is the finest Swiss Chocolate, not a bad thing to purchase but there's little need to jump on a flight all the way when one can walk to the local Sainsbury's and purchase as much Milka delights as you can carry and even guzzle down a few of those purple bars whilst browsing the isles.

We'd forgotten here at The Established Man Towers that Geneva is the place to be at this time of year for the world's motoring minds convene to swoon over new models, both cars and women... and swap car-chit-chat, we like to call it chitty-chatty-bang-bang! Just beware replacing the C with an S in that little rhyme and you've a very different statement!

Arriving in Switzerland amid Geneva and its great lake it was easy for one to forget the fact that the motor industry is in meltdown worldwide and our expectations for the Geneva Motor show were dismal to say the least. We've been offered so many press loan cars over the course of this year we were wondering if car manufacturers had run out of space to keep all these cars and were palming them off onto us...we'll take a Range Rover Vogue TDV8, a Mini Cooper S convertible and an Audi RS4 thank you very much! But walking into the great halls of Motorville things seemed to be ticking along and whilst there weren't a huge number of exciting, wacky, 'never going to be made' concept cars there were vehicles to keep the motoring public happy and perhaps swoon over.

Audi's an office favorite here and there was a lot of excitement over the new Audi TT RS. After the success of the RS4 and RS6, in Avant form is the best we'll have you know, this pocket rocket has a lot to prove and we're chomping at the bit like a racehorse at Cheltenham to get in one and take it for a drive. We love the styling with its aggressive grill, led running lights and silver wing mirrors. Add to that a 2.5 litre turbocharged FSI engine producing 340 horsepower and this is car nirvana! Of course this being Audi expect quattro, so handling one can only dream of. Order one NOW!

On the subject of Audi and it's quattro technology we were impressed by the new A4 Allroad, a smaller sister to the Allroad based on the A6 Avant. Perfect for those whom might have a weekend retreat yet inhabit a more urban pasture during the week and don't want a full on off-roader. If it's anything like the bigger Allroad then this might just be the perfect car to get all those Battersea mothers out of their gas-guzzling BMW X5's and Mercedes M-Classes and realise how much of an easier city life it is with one of these...you can actually park them for a start! If Audi take the plunge and launch this in the US...do it Audi do it..go on...then they might just get the American public out of their Hummers and into their Audis.

City cars are something we monitor very closely here, since the birth of the Mini, Audi A2 and Mercerdes A-class the sector has gotten plusher and plusher over the years with people downgrading yet not willing to lose the gizmo's and luxury of big plush saloon cars. Volkswagen debuted its new Polo, the size of the Mark II Golf we must hasten to add, and its hard to spot the different between it face on and the just released new Golf. It's a smart car though and no doubt people in London postcodes commencing with an SW will be clawing each others eye's out for one and University car parks ("Daddy please") in St. Andrews, Bristol, Newcastle and Edinburgh will be awash with them in Navy Blue Black and silver..need we say any more!

For those who want something a little more fiery and unpredictable then until the Polo Gti emerges and we get the chance to drive the thing put your money into an Alfa. Italian's can be tricky and Alfa-Romeos are not spared from this statement but their new Mini-eating Mito is hot on the heels of the Mini Cooper S in its GTA form...with yet more aggressive styling, big spoilers and a 240 bhp 1.8 litre engine this will get you around the streets of Milan quicker than Concord with a stick of dynamite up its arse. For a gentler pace there's always Fiat for the beach car of the year. Yes the Fiat 500 is becoming as commonplace on the streets of London town as the Mini and the summer heralds the launch of the 500c, a sort of halfway house to being a convertible, with a retracting fabric roof that sits on the back of the car like ramblers rucksack we think that the Cote D'Azur will be awash with them, small enough to actually park on one's yacht don't you know!

After all this meandering around the stands and the deluge of brochures, goody bags and models cavorting with cars, we mean young women paid to pose by the cars...it was time to return to London town in the realisation that the time has come for everyone to perhaps trade down as opposed to up but still enjoy motoring from time to time..Aston Martin DBS convertible anyone?

Eau de Fantastic

2009-03-10T15:41:00.000-07:00

We're partial to a flick through many a men's style biannual; the now defunct Arena Homme, GQ Style, Man About Town, Another Man to name a few...no doubt there's plenty more hiding in the wings somewhere but its the one that does what it says on the tin, much like that of a tin of Baked Beans, that pleases us and has us leafing through with intrigue the most. Yes Fantastic Man, the Dutch based style bible with a cultural edge established by Jop Van Bennkom and Gert Jonkers a while back has been something of a collectable. If its not profiling Rupert Everett then its Tom Ford or perhaps Helmet Lang shot on his Hampton's Farm with the chickens. Thank the Lord for this different and more intelligent take on men's style and substance.

One would think that Jop and Gert had their hands full compiling quite such a book every six months but nothing seems to be beyond their reach and finally we can all actually smell Fantastic. A cheeky collaboration between Byredo Parfums and the original concept store in ever-chic Paris, Colette, has resulted in Fantastic Man having its own cologne. With hints of Bergamont, Caradmon, Star-Aniseed and Patchouli someone really has been sniffing around to create the perfect mix.

So who would've thought, now when someone asks the common question posed to many an Established Man staffer, "What are you wearing?" in reference to whatever Eau de Cologne one might have had a quick spritz of, the answer can simply be "Fantastic".

Culture Vulture

2009-03-09T14:41:00.000-07:00

Rebecca Warren
'Loulou' 2006
Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery, New York and Maureen Paley, London.

Carla Borel
'Even a Stopped Clock Tells the Right time twice a day' 2005

Back in the day it was a certainty that a Monday evening would be a definite night in for The Established Man staff. We'd all be sent home at a reasonable hour, turning off the Apple Macs before 6pm and saunter home with a distinct amount of glee across our faces knowing that one might able to catch up with close friends Ben & Jerry and any developments on the product portfolio in Vermont...Oatmeal Cookie Dough and Peanut Buttercup being office favorites. But alas no such luck has prevailed so far for 2009. What with fashion weeks galore, if we've not been in Milan then we've been in Paris and if its not been New York then its been here on home-turf... heavens knows why its called 'home-turf' as home barely featured during a packed out London Fashion Week. Thankfully the fashion pack are in Paris for the women's shows and London has returned to a vague sea of calm. Or at least we thought so, but then the invites continued to fly through the letterbox like something out of a scene of Bedknobs & Broomsticks and to our horror those sacred moments of utter Hermit-dom...a Monday night...are not spared.

So it was with a slight amount of huffing and puffing this evening, think schoolboy not actually wanting to go to school, that we boarded the loyal steed that is the office Vespa and took to the streets of London town as we seem to do every evening after a day in office. However tonight it was with a cultural air that The Established Man traversed the streets. Our first stop being the much-anticipated show at The Serpentine Gallery by British artist Rebecca Warren. As part of the YBA generation its no surprise to read that Warren is Goldsmith's educated, a Turner Prize nominee in 2006 and Saatchi was, and might still be, a protagonist. It was at the former Saatchi Gallery in County Hall that we really came to look at Warren's work in closer detail and found it hard to absorb; her reworkings and misappropriations of works by artists who are known for their figurative sculptures such as Degas and Rodin are harsh, aggressive forms that are only exaggerated further by the lack of them being fired in a kiln, suggesting that they might change and a sense of the process being somehow unfinished.

On the other hand there are Warren's vitrine works which are a totally separate entity in relation to the clay pieces. Here are carefully assembled wall works that contain detritus from in and around Warren's studio. It appeals to the inner hoarder and one questions the relevance of each object and its particular placement within these boxes. Seeing them juxtaposed with the works on plinths makes for a very different interaction with Warren's practice and after catching up with the art world fresh in from The Armory and dodging the bank of photographers gathered in the gallery spaces this is a show definitely worth seeing.

Now for most people that would be quite enough for a Monday evening and rest assured we were lusting for mushroom and rosemary risotto and a holey cashmere sweater but this was not the end. A brief ride through Mayfair, a nod to Sean on the door at Scott's...one of our favorite lunching establishments....and through the backstreets of Soho to the infamous French House for an exhibition of works by photographer Carla Borel. This colourful area of London is in Borel's blood and her series of intimate Black and White portraits of 'writers, flanneurs and bon viveurs' as she puts it displays a distinct affection towards her subjects. It only seems fitting that an exhibition reliant upon strange and tender encounters be held in such a venerable Soho establishment...a former workplace of Borel's. With their filmic quality and Borel's wonderful take on life this really is a very special show and this young lady is set to go far.

Rebecca Warren
The Serpentine Gallery
10 March - 19 April 2009
www.serpentinegallery.org

STILLSOHO
Photographs by Carla Borel
10 March - 5 May 2009
French House, 49 Dean Street, London, W1D 5BG
www.mypsace.com/carlaborel

Double Trouble

2009-02-27T03:53:00.000-08:00

Whilst Auntie Ethel might well have given you that organic honey which has been easing us through manflu from her visit to the Chatsworth Farmshop with the Tunbridge Wells Women's Institute last year its our favorite Auntie Miuccia from Milan that has been a busier girl.

We've been a fan of The Double Club since its inception and last week was no exception, it was the Fashion Week fave to host an A-list event, last Friday Chloë Sevigny and those lovely boys and girls from Opening Cermony hosted a dinner and a preview of our Chloë's latest designs for the infamous New York shopping nirvana and then if that wasn't enough care of London's Richard Mortimer...he of the now defunct Boombox and Ponystep...Ms. Sevigny took to the decks on that revolving dance floor and kept us dancing the night away under the neon palm tree...Good Job!

Hot on the heels of that came a gilded invitation from our friends at Another Magazine who hosted a dinner of A-listers...think Tilda, Kate, Daphne, Kanye...they were all there and it gave us the perfect chance to admire Carston Holler's work..he of the slides Chez Tate Modern which Auntie Miuccia now has in her office....cool Auntie eh....anyway back to Mr. Holler and his fantastic tiling, we imagined being at the bottom of a vast swimming pool in the Congo..the country for which this London Pop-up institution is inspired by.

Get in there whilst you can...like the best things in life it's not forever.

www.thedoubleclub.co.uk

Manflu Alert!

2009-02-21T10:17:00.000-08:00

Urgh the timing couldn't have been worse..the one week when London is awash with everyone and everything should ignite a strain of the worst manflu known to hit the offices of The Established Man in recent history; we've run out of paperweights such are the effects of the heavy amount of sneezing going on!

What to do in a situation such as this, try to carry on, but this evening it reached its limits and after a quick jaunt on the office Vespa...fresh air unblocks the nose beautifully..... the time has come to settle in for a night in...fashion week parties and dinners can wait...ooh how we were itching to attend the PUMA dinner at the Design Museum. But hey ho, its not the end of the world. Now it's time for downtime and recuperation.

So what are the stylish ways to survive the perils of manflu? Plentiful blankets and good bedding are crucial, we've just had a bit of a splurge at the middle-class housewives favorite Cath Kidston; no we're not having babies anytime soon! But go beyond the spots and florals and there are treasures to be had. We snapped up a Cowboy set of sheets, almost as soft at Frette sheets we'll have you know...and then we snapped up a Welsh Blanket to hibernate in. Bedding done, DVD's are crucial too and we're having a 'back in the day' moment here at The Established Man Towers at the moment...think vintage Disney and you're on it...we're loving a trip down memory lane, there is nothing like a bit of Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book to dispel February gloom and runny noses.

Whack the kettle on, slice some lemon, grate some ginger, get that organic honey Auntie Ethel gave you last Christmas, put it in a mug and pour the hot water over it to infuse..add whiskey if you've the luxury of not needing to drive anywhere and that should ease the pain in the arse that is manflu!

Our Man in Paris & Milan

2009-02-17T02:58:00.000-08:00

My oh my we’re in a fashion week overdose here at The Established Man, the office resembles an archivists bureau, not touched since 1974, such is the pile of papers to be sorted, and let’s not even begin on the backlog of letters and emails to reply to…why is it that the entrée to the year must always be so chaotic. Yes Sir, fashion season kicked off in grand style last month with the men’s shows in Milan swiftly followed by Paris tickling those male taste-buds.

Boarding the flight to Milan we expected a swathe of depression and glum looks from the front to the back rows, and let’s not even discuss the standing row! Thank golly gosh such fears were quashed within a few hours of show to show on the first day. Optimism reigns supreme in the fashion world at the moment and whilst not wanting to appear like some crazed banshees we avoided temptations to start a standing ovation and cries of “Bravo” at certain shows despite the reactive nature they ignited within.

So what’s on the horizon for next season, Autumn/Winter 2009/2010? No surprise to see an abundance of outerwear. If the teeth-clatteringly chilly winter we’re slowly coming out of is anything to go by, cue deep snow and icy pavements. Never easy to make a style statement in such climes…then we’re all going to need to wrap it up a little more and we’re not talking electric blankets here, although The Established Man team must profess a dark dark secret to owning one. No, no outerwear for the next round of winter months is oversized, undoubtedly to accommodate all that layering that’s going to be going on. The big winter coat is something of a staple for fashion houses and retailers alike and next season will be awash with plenty to peruse. From big black precision cut leather overcoats at Prada to deep pile Fur jackets resting on shoulders, crook-stylee at McQueen it appeared as if a modern-day armour for the modern-day man was emerging. Adam Kimmel drafted in all his trendy, arty New York hipster friends to model his latest collection of reversible coats that morphed into further separates of there own accord due to concealed engineering…cheeky Mr. Kimmel!

As the coats got bigger so did those lapels and the catwalks of Prada, Dries Van Noten and Yves Saint Laurent were awash with big lapels signalling a loosening of the very skinny silhouette that us fashion editors and shoppers across the land alike had become used to. A very clear conveyance that things were drooping came at Dior Homme, this is where skinny began with Heidi Slimane yet this season under the creative eyes of Kris Van Assche MC Pants paraded down the runways making it all the bit more ghetto fabulous.

Expect next Autumn/Winter 2009 to be a light show extravaganza in the illuminated wardrobes of fashionable gents across the land. There was plenty a gem-like colour to brighten up one’s day. Cue ruby suits at Lanvin, yellow trousers at Paul Smith, fuchsia pinks and cobalt blue undertones at Gucci, neon pink velvet tuxedos at Dolce & Gabbana and shaggy green cashmere pulls at Marni. You might well need to keep those Ray-Bans on even if it is -20° outside and pitch black.

The colour thing wasn’t just reserved to large blocks of statement tones...it carried on over into the finer details too, look out for many a contrasting trim, cue folded lapels in blood reds juxtaposed on a slim-fitting black double-breasted pea-coat at Burberry Prorsum, oversized plaids sneaked a peak at Missoni on their looser fitting pea coats; whilst over at Raf Simons the use of colour on particular panels was utilised in a more conceptual manner, playing with the shape of the body and redefining it through the medium of “Nelly the elephant” pinks and a blue one might see on a neoprene wetsuit in a Jaws movie, tricking the eyes interpretation of shape.

Having said all that there was still a swathe of black, black and more black on the runways this season. Goth’s rejoice! Its no surprise during such a severe economic downtown as the one we’re neck-deep in that fashion houses should appear more regal and stick to simple; black is the colour that defines it. Prada’s show in a weird carpeted pit started off like a boardroom of CEO’s had accidentally ended up in front of the world’s fashion press but it wasn’t long until the Prada undercurrent kicked in with laser-cut leather pieces and studded jackets, shirts and shoes giving it the edge. Dolce & Gabbana’s show was equally as black with a distinct nod to the Rat Pack and many a cinematic reference point, a flat cap signalling trouble and strife. Christopher Bailey’s collection for Burberry Prorsum was monochromatic-fest referencing the work of Photographer Bill Brandt whose images documented a Britain in depression during the post-war years. Yet more caps, snoods, a return of the Burberry house check…chav-free this time…and many a black suit, jacket and trouser. London’s boy of the moment Gareth Pugh debuted his first men’s collection, yet again heavy in blacks but in a variety of textures and with plenty of emphasis on the shoulder.

If black's not your thing then there’s certainly no need to worry, the other big colour that gained plenty of representation from designers this season is grey. Again it’s another safe bet in times of crisis yet just lacks that harsh edge that can appear in the all-black looks. Whilst Prada may have started off in a very dark place it was grey that lightened the show up a bit, albeit rather briefly. Kris Van Assche tightened things up this time around, having previewed a couple of chilled-out collections the past two seasons, but this time around Van Assche was cracking the whip! With a show opening of a drumming and marching-fest there was a definite military vibe going on and a fair bit of the greys, often a trio of whole bevy of shades combined in a look, so a light grey jacket, nestling beneath a prison-grey polo neck teamed with bird-feather grey trousers, Over at Yves Saint Laurent head honcho Stefano Pilati dazzled us all with a conceptual interpretation of his collection via a film featuring Michael Pitt followed by the traditional runway show had a flurry of grey tones on wide-fitting trousers that were then pinched with leggings at the calves and on big sleeves.

Whilst there might well be a fair amount of military going on next season, check out Lanvin’s lux uniform of trousers stuffed in boots and plenty of army echoes in a green military jacket. Just don’t expect the British Army to be swapping their regulation get-up for some French Fancies anytime soon! But things got a whole lot smarter and there were plentiful bow tie and waistcoat antics to smarten things up. Bottega Veneta took a geek-chic take with tweedy suits, a natty bow tie and thick rim specs lending to an air of the Oxbridge to proceedings whilst over at D&G it was a luxury-binge, one had to wonder if Stefano and Domenico had been a-sniffing those Sharpie marker pens such was the orgy of velvets, brocades paired with florals and printed tees that finished Milan fashion week, again many a bow tie and also the aristocratic cravat snuck a peek too. The cummerbund also emerged as being a key item too, seen in a variety of guises from fair-isle knit at Burberry Prorsum to a fold in those M.C pants at Dior Homme to give the effect of one.

The shape of things to come would appear that many a belt buckle will be being done up for the winter, it was cinched waists galore at all the shows, creating a very specific shape. Whilst jackets and knits with a banded waist might appear harder to translate into everyday wearability, the easiest transition for this look into the realm of the day to day will be in the heaps of trenches and mac’s that we bore witness to throughout men’s fashion week. Dunhill’s first ever runway show under the creative genius that is Kim Jones was a particular highlight and had a couple of rainwear classics, as did Louis Vuitton and Dries Van Noten.

Traditional fashion reference points were never far away, with a fair share of fair-isle knits and last Autumn/Winters runaway success of Plaid still featuring, albeit this time around those checks will be larger in their scale and in a less zingy palettes, the browns and caramels at Bottega Veneta and rich burghandys at Comme Des Garçons. Plaid will not be going away anytime soon, it’s merely morphed itself into a new state, slightly more understated and as a final finish to an outfit as opposed to being coated into check from head to toe.

Ok, ok so we should all be looking forward to cracking out the summer staples, donning the shorts, espadrilles and heading for the beach but with a feast of collections as reported we’re all chomping at the bit to get out sticky fashion mitts on MC Pants, velvet jackets, military boots, a traditional trench, some bow-tied elegance and an overcoat we can hibernate in when it all gets too tough.

Check in soon for an update from the menswear collections at New York and London fashion weeks.

We're back!

2009-02-17T02:56:00.000-08:00

Yes yes, we know, we've been a very naughty boy! But with fashion weeks galore..a sneaky trip to Kenya...come on we all need some sun at this time of year....as well as a roadtrip North for some culture vulture antics the old blogging took a backseat..we're sorry we won't do it again.

So expect a lowdown on what's hot for Autumn Winter 2009 as well as some motoring madness from the Geneva motor show in March amongst other notable style statements for modern day man.

Kate Mate

2009-01-16T02:05:00.000-08:00

We were feeling a little bit slobbish at Established Man Towers yesterday so just slung on an old tee-shirt...a cheapie from the Marc Jacobs Special Items range....perhaps an old man's cardigan over the top and a pair of Levi's super-skinny 510's. We thought nothing of it at all, and by no means were we trying to win any style stakes that might have been taking place in London town yesterday.

Rather weirdly wherever we went people were interested in the tee-shirt to our total bemusement. Then the penny dropped quicker than the Pound to the Euro... the mere mention of "Kate was papped wearing that same tee-shirt", finally dispelled the myth and with a quick google image search it would seem our friend Kate Moss was also perusing the Marc Jacobs store way-back when we snapped up our £12 bargain proclaiming "Naked Pictures". Bravo Ms. Moss, great minds clearly think alike.

As we were saying....

2009-01-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

It was only yesterday that we were proclaiming how Liberty prints were going to be big for 2009 and here's yet another massive, great big flashing arrow that the classic British floral print is definitely a look to rock for the coming year. Our friends at Nike have jumped on the floral bandwagon and released a strain of their old-school Blazer shoe that looks more like it came out of Chelsea Flower Show as opposed to Chelsea Football Club.

We're loving them big time. The pairing of a shoe designed in the early seventies with a fabric that might as well be associated with such an era scores a marriage made in heaven, and with a release date of Valentine's Day love is definitely in the air.

Available from Liberty, Dover Street Market and Nike Pop-Up store from 14th February