Easter is all over and with that we enter another period in our calendar, WEDDING SEASON!!! Yes whether it’s your own, you’re attending to duties as best man or an usher or perhaps you are in the lucky position of enjoying a party and meal at somebody else’s expense. Whatever the case, one matter is a certainty, you’ll have to wear a whistle, yes there’s a good chance you will have to invest in a new suit for the occasion.

We’ve worked with theStagCompany.com to bring you everything you could possibly need to know before making that all important purchase. Enjoy folks.

Spring 2016 seems to be bringing together some absolute corkers of collaborations, we’ve already seen Gieves & Hawkes X Orlebar Brown and then this week we see the launch of Whistles X Buddy. For this season the Premium high Street brand has collaborated with Japanese brand Buddy on a limited edition accessory and footwear collection.

Whistles, we are all pretty much aware and familiar with their simple, design lead understated, popular style, but Buddy, probably not so. Founded in 2012, Buddy are built with the concept of “make happy”, to be your buddy. All products are made in Japan, with the promise of,  “we hope to see your smile“. The brand focuses on pared-back silhouettes and functional designs. Known for their impeccable craftsmanship, they draw inspiration from their love of dogs and their ‘make happy‘ mantra. This collaboration with Whistles is their first  in the UK and this exclusive collection combines premium Japanese manufacturing with contemporary British design.
The collection, designed for both men and women, includes smooth finish white leather sneakers, suede trainers, a leather coin wallet in grey, a navy leather bi-fold wallet, two canvas totes in mustard and navy, and a functional roll top back-pack in grey.

American designer Thom Browne has been building up quite the reputation for himself over the last couple of years. He began his business with five suits and with a small by-appointment-only shop in 2001 and introduced his ready-to-wear collection in 2003. His traditionally based hand-made suits have evolved into collections recognised by museums around the world including the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Fashion Museum in Bath. Browne’s innovations in tailoring have been identified with impacting the paradigm of men’s and women’s fashion. His collections are available, literally across the globe not only through Thom Browne stores in New York, Tokyo and Seoul but at luxury designer stores, such as Barneys New York, Colette, Dover Street Market, Mr. Porter, Selfridges and United Arrows.

He was honoured by the CFDA (Council of Fashion Designers of America)Menswear Designer of the Year Award in 2006 and 2013, the GQ Designer of the Year in 2008 and the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in 2012.

This season he has worked with the Woolmark Company on a series of short quirky films across digital and social media titled ‘The Thom Browne Laboratory.’ These highlight a new ‘Cool Wool’ which Browne uses in his collection this season. The initiative and its satire-style clips demonstrate how the properties of merino wool can work equally well in the warmer months as the cooler ones, presented through the faultless tailoring of the man himself.

Additional to this Browne will include a combination of ‘Cool Wool’ and Woolmark-certified suiting and knitwear pieces in his Summer 16 collection as well as a selection of wool accessories such as ties, scarves, bags and shoes.

Browne is the first US designer to use ‘Cool Wool’ certified garments in a commercially available collection, demonstrating the benefits of wearing the fibre in both warmer or cooler climates.

In what has to be one of the most hotly anticipated collaborations for this season, we see Savile Row alnumi Gieves & Hawkes work with its Sackville Street neighbour Orlebar Brown. These two menswear colossi have drawn inspiration for their partnership from the pre-eminent Scottish explorer David Livingstone, yes, as in Dr Livingstone, I presume, Orlebar Brown has reimagined his meticulous hand-drawn maps onto a range of utilitarian clothing in an invigorating palette of navy, congo grey and limestone. Livingstone is one of the most popular national heroes of the late 19th century and owes his mythic status due to his pioneering expeditions and championing of multiple causes, from anti-slavery to social reform.

In fact a rather strange case of serendipity seems to entwine Dr Livingstone with the Savile Row Brand. When the public feared the worst for the explorer, Henry Morton Stanley was sent to find him by the New York Herald in 1871. Dressed in Hawkes & Co, Stanley found Livingstone alive and well, decked out in Gieves. Upon Livingstone’s death his body was returned to London to lay in repose at No.1 Savile Row – then the headquarters of the Royal Geographical Society – and since 1912 the home of Gieves & Hawkes. OMG !

The spirit of curiosity, exploration and discovery has been considered to provide practical functionality whilst remaining true to the precision and masculinity of Savile Row and these two brands.

The full ready-to-wear range includes a safari jacket, multi-pocket utility vest, cargo trousers, desert boots, along with T-shirts, swim shorts and, of course, because what expedition, whether that be to the Amalfi Coast or the Kalihari  desertpith helmet.

For us folk who live on these on these fair little Isles, unpredictable weather patterns and the uncertainty of what to wear is pretty much second nature. Nonetheless, it doesn’t make it any easier preparing for what the day ahead may have in store for you, particular in matters of a Sartorial nature.

With this in mind, Finisterre, the brand born out of answering the needs of hardy British surfers has for this season collaborated with Blackburn based, British denim specialists Cookson & Clegg to produce its first water repellent denim.

The brands first worked together last season on developing the Ovis merino wool blend jeans. For this season the two brands have brought together their collective expertise to continually push the boundaries of technical denim innovation by producing a product perfect for both the surfer and urban dweller alike. The new Anatis jeans feature a water repellent finish that not only mimics the way water rolls off a duck’s back without getting them wet, but are flurocarbon free and biodegradable. This finish wraps around textile fibres in a thin film that breaks surface tension, so that water droplets and mud simply run off rather than sinking in.