Benjamin's Gentlemen

Colour Of 2010: 15-5519 Turquoise

2010-01-15T10:09:00.000-08:00

We love Pantone, accept for those gift shop mugs, which depress us. Not as much as the Keep Calm and Carry On Mugs, but they're in the same yoga class. I digress: Pantone has announced its the 15-5519 Turquoise is the colour of 2010. As Kevin Bacon exclaims in Footloose: 'Jump back!'

While this trend is easily detectable in women's fashion, its completely absent in Menswear S/S Collections. Lanvin, Dior, 3.1 Philip Lim, D&G, Armani - everyone is avoiding this colour. Only Vivian Westwood has flirted with the tone for Spring Summer, and only with some small accessories.

Maybe Pantone should stick to mugs...

Viktor & Rolf for GQ Style Italy

2009-11-21T14:50:00.000-08:00

Viktor & Rolf have a playfulness that compliments their immaculate tailoring, and this really come across in this shoot they self-styled for GQ Style Italy. Wearing clothes from their fall 2009 Monsieur collection, the designers' eccentricity is expressed in the accessories - like these slouch socks.

VITSOE IN NYC

2009-09-14T14:36:00.000-07:00

As London sharpens its edges for London Design Festival, one of the UK's most respected design brands, Vitsoe, opens its new store today in Manhattan.

Best known for their Dieter Rams designed 606 Universal Shelving System - which can be found in London's Dover St Market, the Monocle Shop and design museums the world over - the new Bond Street showroom brings to life the full Functionalist Vitsoe family, and on a smart and pleasing domestic scale. Well worth a look if you're in the area.

GAMME ON

2009-06-25T02:15:00.001-07:00

Despite the aesthetic vearing dangerously close to Italian Fascist (a Mussolini wet dream), Moncler Bleu SS/10 show is a second victory for Creative Director Thom Browne and Remo Ruffini.

If you're not able to view the video here, follow this link.

FRED TIMES TWO

2009-06-19T02:08:00.000-07:00

A Wimbledon pandemic is looming large in London, and UK's finest sports herritage brand, Fred Perry, has two irons in the fire. The first is its much publised sponsorship of Andy Murray, the 22 year old (I know, he looks almost 30. So fit and yet so aged, non?) shouldering the burden of England's sporting hopes and dreams. This performance range is strickly for courtside, but a handsome collection.

We also have the brand’s 3rd collaboration with Raf Simon. The A/W 09 range features bold African colours: a welcome relief from the all-black collection. Again the focus is on the laural leaf logo, but there is a sense of fun with some saucy mesh vests, as well as some very nice moccasins (below). Yes please.

MY TIE

2009-05-17T15:30:00.000-07:00

I spent today on the London High Street, obstensibly to look at the new Mathew Williamson collection for H&M. As far as H&M collaborations go (anyone who saw the rubbishy Victor & Rolf offering will know what I mean) , the men's offering is pretty strong, although the prints are a little whacked.

The cut of the blazers are great, and the fabrication fairly high standard. It falls down on the knitware and the t-shirting, but all in all, good work Mathew.

Instead, I purchased this tie from Uniqlo (above). Far too much of my current wardrobe is from Uniqlo, but what can I say: it is classic with a preppy edge, high quality (the stuff lasts) and affordable. The rainbow completed my day.

BOYS CLUB

2009-05-01T01:41:00.001-07:00

Australia did need something like Academy For Men - a men's style publication attempting to push creative boundaries. The mission statement is completely grandiose: 'With strong leadership we will enable our readers to look beyond what they think is possible and achieve the unimagionable'. I mean, this is an online fashion magazine, not the fucking New Testiment. But, the photography is strong, and editor Rhys Ripper (if that is your real name) has greatly improved Issue 2 from Issue 1 - the kid shows promise. Also, its free, so lets all subscribe and acheive unimagionable.

WHOLESALE HOMOEROTICA

2009-04-24T04:42:00.000-07:00

I've always been astounded at how Abercrombie & Fitch have built a successful business by selling hardcore homoerotica to small town America. The hyper-sexualised Bel Ami billboards, the dim interior lighting and cruisy atmosphere, the buff, shirtless models at the entrance, the wholesome vintage soft porn frescos of collegiate boys rowing and playing rugby.

This billboard got me blogging after nearly a year. This scaffolding disguiser means shopper must actually walk into the male model's crotch. Literally entering a small hole in his jeans, and going direct for the genitals. Surely red-blooded American boys have got to realize what they are doing.

THIN EDGE OF THE WEDGE

2008-06-27T09:39:00.000-07:00

Louise the XVI was a man who understood the direct relationship between fashion and power. Images of the Sun King (above) show immaculate sartorial detail, from his coiffured head to his healed feet.

The Fendi wedge (below), seen at Milan Fashion Week recently, has grabbed a lot of attention in the mainstream media. It seems at every Men’s Fashion Week female journalists will pick out something outrageously unwearable and effeminate as a talking point. I don’t think Silva Fendi’s platform wedge warrants this status this year. Actually, the shoe is reasonably wearable, and I would argue that it isn’t effeminate – no more than a Cuban heel on cowboy boot, or the healed shoes worn by President Sarkozy.

And the benefits of the heel, that extra inch, and the flattering shape on the male leg, was something that clearly Lousie the XVI – as evidenced by this flirty pose - understood entirely

STYLE ICON: PRINCE MICHAEL OF KENT

2008-04-15T11:21:00.000-07:00

GQ is not a publication you would describe as being on the pulse (yes, Dylan, I’m looking for a humidor for my cigar collection and like to see the 10 best on the market). It doesn’t bring up anything new, but occasionally you are reminded of something old and brilliant. In this month’s Best Dress List, it was the sartorial splendour of Prince Michael of Kent (this year he made 34). The Queen’s first cousin, a decendent of and dead ringer for the last Tsar of Russia, Prince Michael has been doning the same splendid double breasted suits in shades and blue and grey since time began. He has a style entirely icon style, and we applaud.

BUYING GLASSES

2008-03-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

I have a confession: I’m obsessive about glasses. Making matters worse: I don’t need them. I’m cursed with perfect 20/20 vision, although that hasn’t stopped me spending money on them and wearing to job interviews, only to have to pretend I’d had lazar eye surgery when new employers become suspicious. I terrorise optometrists by trying on every pair; I have my eyes tested every two month in hope of signs of decline.

Three tips on buying glasses:

1. Don’t buy Luxottica brands.
Avoid Luxottica brands, including Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace (not that you would), and Chanel. This huge conglomerate make their premium product the same way they produce their cheap brands like Versus and Vogue. Same acetate, same lenses, same old shit.

2. Buy from small, boutique labels.
Avoiding the big boys and chosing smaller, handmade brands means you’ll have something orginial as well as a quality product. My favourite brand is Cutler and Gross (see above).

3. Paris is the best place to buy.
They have to best optometrists and most selection of interesting brands and styles.

NY STATE OF MIND

2008-03-19T04:05:00.000-07:00

Every now and then you receive an invitation that actually makes you angry that you chose London over NY when deciding on which metropolis to live in. If you chose NY and like men's denim, check it out on my behalf.

WE HEART GERT JONKERS

2008-03-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

The best men’s title of today is FANASTIC MAN. This isn’t an opinion. This is fact. And the coolest man in publishing, with the possible exception of Wallpaper* and Monocle founder Tyler Brûlé, is Fantastic's co-editor and founder Gert Jonker.

The man behind fagazine BUTT, Amsterdam-based Jonkers and his title presents us with a picture of the modern man we want to see - complex, cultured and interested. While other publications are still convinced that we have an obsession with cigars, golf clubs and concept cars, Fantastic Magazine give us an intelligent insights and a sophisticated approach to fashion.

"Menswear is so much about personal style – a certain kind of buttonhole, a specific kind of collar – whereas womenswear is far more concerned with fashion and trends," says Jonkers. "We're trying to look at menswear in an anthropological way.”

Jonker gets that for men, the devil is in the details – tie pins and shoelaces, and we don’t want Dylan Jones telling us we can’t wear brogues after dark.

THE HAIR APPARENT

2008-03-03T06:24:00.000-08:00

There has been a suggestion that the sharp, fifties inspired, pomade enhanced hairstyle popular today will thaw in the Spring Summer, with a looser, freer style in the ascendancy and a return to styling products such as moulding pastes and clays.

If there was no indication that the style was to tip into the mainstream in a major way, I’d agree that clean cut will be soon replaced by the next seasonal style. But two things tell me that it is going to tip - in a big way – and will be with us for quite some time.

The first is Mad Men. The series, billed as the next Sopranos, launched last night in the UK to great acclaim, and I think it could lead to a return to 60s sartorial splendour and not just lots of great haircuts. I think there will be far more to be said about this show in the future.

The second is that the hair care giants are pushing new pomades in a major way. Since they sponsor all the major hair competitions and stylists, as well as owning key salons, I think they have a vested interest keeping the style in the cultural currency.

NICE TRUNKS

2008-02-26T07:06:00.000-08:00

The Samsonite Black Label Collections are so-so. With the brand collaboration pandemic contiuing into 2008, you sometimes get the impression that that the creatives laughed all the way the bank, delivering something sub-standard – like McQueen’s Samsonite collaboration, which is conceptually strong, but ugly in practice.

Cleverly, this time around Samsonite has delved into its heritage, resurrecting pieces from the original trunk collection of the Shwayder Brother, the original founders of the Samsonite brand. The 20’s style cases have kept original features in tact but adding handy modern features like wheels.

Instead of bringing on a big name collaborator, they've just made great trunks. Chloe Sevigny has been brought on to spruke the bag and not actually design it. Remember that concept? And I want one of these trunks.

ONE SOCKLESS EVENING...

2008-02-26T02:49:00.000-08:00

I loved the no socks thing as soon as it arrived on the Ralph Lauren runway in New York 2006, and how trouser cuff rose to ankle reveling hights to flaut this new found freedom (chicken or the egg, anyone?). We've seen the look in louge and business, but this image from the Valentino Spring Summer 2008 shows how well it works with men's evening. Socks be banished!

TIE CLIPS AND WHAT IS ‘IN’

2008-02-21T07:28:00.001-08:00

I was with an acquaintance in a vintage store in Notting Hill, admiring an old Dunhill vintage tie clip. ‘Are tie clips back in?’ he asked, genuinely. I sound like a traitor to my profession as a trend forecaster, but I find this attitude – that something entirely timeless can be ‘in’ or ‘out’ – vexing in the extreme. It’s like with the brogue plague earlier this year. As much as the pressure mounted to take them off as every high street store brought out a £40 pair of rubber soled imitations, I point blank refused – ‘I will live through this’, I said, and I nearly have.

Tie clips, as this US GQ shoot shows, are ‘in’. These Gucci and Paul Stuart clips – or tie bars as the Americans call them – make these suits. But they always were in, and always will be.

MAN SHOW

2008-02-19T07:28:00.000-08:00

MAN, a collaboration between Topman and talent-incubator Fashion East, always gets my money for the most excited menswear offering from London Fashion Week. This was the 5th show and with an exception panel including Luke Day (Fashion Director ATTITUDE) Ben Reardon (Editor i-D MAGAZINE) and Tim Blanks (Contributing Editor STYLE.COM) it was no surprise they got it right.

Three new names where announced to show alongside Topman Design: Hans Christian Madsen, James Long and Kesh. Long got most of the attention on the night with his harness-like pieces made from sheepskin and leather, and featured already in Dazed & Confused, i-D Magazine, Another Man and Numero.

My favorite, however, was Hans Christian Madsen, whose pieces are informed by a 50s aesthetic with a minimal masculinity. His knitwear – and I love nothing more than good men’s knitwear – beat Long’s harnesses in the show-stealing arm wrestle.

Pictures: http://www.coutorture.com/1048563

TOM NAILS IT

2008-02-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

Tom Ford has always had very good taste in fragrances. He always wore Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet - the same fragrance Winston Churchill wore. Indeed his new Tom Ford for men is very simular to the traditional, masculine scents which the legendary Penhaligan's House produces. Tom Ford For Men has the classic woody, leathery elements, with a unique twist. Obviously the campaign, shot by Terry Richardson, is brilliant and I love fragrance. I wonder if what Tom is wearing right now?

VERSACE’S WINNING SS08 IN BARNEYS SOON

2008-02-12T07:25:00.000-08:00

Versace’s men’s SS08 – the first collection which showcased the influence of creative consultant Alexandre Plokhov – was the best men’s collection Versace has produced in seasons. Men’s Style.com tells us that it goes on sale in the US next month in Barney’s – an I’m thrilled because elegant double breasted suits and re-imagined cropped trench coats are superb and I’ve been wanting to see them in the flesh since the images came out.

ONII-KEI TAKES ON THE ESTABLISHMENT

2008-02-11T07:33:00.000-08:00

Fashion-savy men in Japan have been holding their collective breath for the opening of the department store Hankyu’s flagship Men’s building in Osaka. Hankyu’s Men’s- which houses Tom Fords first Japanese store and Louis Vuitton first men’s only boutique - attracted 180,000 shoppers over its first three days. While highest revenue went to the LV boutique, the brand earning the second-highest sales ended up being Buffalo Bobs — a leader the O-nii-kei fashion subculture, which pulled in a cool ¥9.9 million.

O-nii-kei – epitomized in Men’s Knuckle magazine — has evolved to become a more market-friendly version of the gyaru-o taste culture. The gyaru-o boys have grown up, swapping crazy face paint and garish clothing for aviator glasses, fur-trimmed nylon parks, buccaneer boots, bronzed hair, silver accessories and dark tans and as much silver as could be possible.

While Japan’s elite and publications including Popeye and Men’s Nonno continue to ignore the trend - due to it's working class origins, the huge success of Buffalo Bob's this weekend means the style is not going away, and hopefully the countries fashionista's will evolve it further.

DAUBAL DOES NOKIA

2008-02-08T06:24:00.000-08:00

I first came across Frederique Daubal’s work at Colette while in Paris. Her work has varied from collaborations with Paul Smith to exhibitions with GAS in Tokyo, but it is always distinctly hers. There is a sense of humour about her pieces which is complimented by a asthetic that is high graphic, while at the same time organic.

These is noticed considerable buzz in the blogosphere about a new phone on which she collaborated, the Nokia 7900 Crystal Prism. Here designs grace the back cover of the phone, and shows Nokia’s art department certainly has its figure on the pulse.

IN THE NECK - THE DEATH OF THE TIE?

2008-02-07T04:59:00.000-08:00

According to the legend, it was JFK’s objection to wearing a hat that finally relegated to the fedora to history’s dust bin of sartorial staples. Unlike every other President, ‘Hatless Jack’ - as he became known - appeared bareheaded at his inauguration, and the hat industry never forgave him. Of course Kennedy’s preference for going bareheaded was part of a trend that had been building for decades, and he only accelerated it. In fact, Kennedy actually did ware his hat to the famous inauguration.

Barak Obama’s aversion to wearing neckties is likely to create a similar urban legend with Obama framed as the tie killer. According to Wikipedia, ‘While still common as late as 1966, over the years 1967 to 1969, the necktie began falling completely out of fashion nearly everywhere, except where required. After a brief fashion resurgence in the 1980s, the 1990s saw the appearance of Internet-based (or dot-com) companies, where most workers did not feel the need for formal dress when facing clients’. While I wouldn't pin the tail on the dot com donkey, clearly changing workplaces is another factor behind the trend away from ties.

With neckwear of every variety popular on the catwalks this season, its easy to forget that for men across the board, ties are on the decline. It’s just a shame that these broad trends always seem to involve the casting off, and not adding on, of sartorial staples for men.

GUCCI BORES

2008-01-20T08:22:00.001-08:00

No one has been so bold as to say it was a flop, but Frida Giannini's latest offering was a bit ho hum. Inspired by Cossack rock'n'rollers, the eyeliner, velvet and hairstyles were see-it-all-before. I did like the gypsy wrap belts though.