CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

A man’s home is his castle and that phrase has never been more appropriate than at this current time. In this age of self isolation and social distancing, nesting and staying home, is essential, I mean basically it can save lives!

Over the years I’ve always been attracted to quirky and unusual accessories that your wouldn’t necessarily exact for them to create. Some of the stand out items I have in my collection include a Chanel Basketball, Gucci, under Tom Ford’s reign ice cube tray, Versace ashtrays( Now’s there’s a good story), A Paul Smith signature stripe football, Prada Skis (yes you’re read that right), I know I am a bit of a magpie, I just can’t help myself and more recently I’ve been attracted to usual items from a whole new age of aspirational brands. Check these bad boys out, and the great thing is, they are all available from KLEKT website !

Supreme ENO DoubleNest Hammock Woodland Camo (SS19)

Supreme never fails to surprise when it comes to random home accessories. The SS19 collaboration with famed outdoors manufacturer maker ENO saw the introduction of DoubleNest Hammock. Dropping in two colourways, the DoubleNest is complete with a large Supreme logo on the inside and a box logo on the outside. Given how much time you’ll be spending in the garden this year, now’s the time to invest in a hammock.

adidas x A Bathing Ape Gold Camo BAPE Football (2019)

adidas and BAPE have one of the strongest relationships in streetwear. Since first collaborating in 2003, the two have cooked up some of the hottest sneakers and apparel in existence. 2019’s celebrated the Super Bowl, with an exclusive collection that featured BAPE’s APE motif across sneakers, apparel and accessories. Whether you plan on throwing it in the garden or in the house (not recommended), this American football will definitely keep you occupied during the lockdown.

Off-White x IKEA Markerad Wooden “CHAIR” Virgil Abloh (2019)

In 2019, Virgil Abloh joined forces with IKEA to create a range of affordable furniture, made specifically for those looking to kit out their home on a budget. This Off-White x IKEA Wooden Chair will make the perfect addition to any home, showcasing your fine taste and penchant for a bargain. Now is the perfect time to start elevating your home with carefully curated items, and what better way to start than with this?

Supreme Diamond Plate Tool Box (FW18)

Supreme has the perfect addition to any hypebeast home in the form of this diamond plate toolbox. The design comes complete with a removable tray and has large capacity storage that means you can store all your tools without stress. Now you can flex around the house whilst you repair. Win-win right?

Off-White x IKEA “TEMPORARY” Wall Clock Markerad Virgil Abloh (2019) 

Probably the most fitting home accessory to have at the moment is this Off-White™ x IKEA clock. Virgil Abloh’s design takes the classic clock and adorns the word “TEMPORARY” across the middle; a friendly reminder that the current situation won’t last forever. If you’re gonna watch a clock at home, you may as well make it this one.

Understandably, it’s a challenging and uncertain time at the moment with the outbreak of Coronavirus (Covid-19),  Tamara Willner, a registered nutritionist  with Second Nature, an NHS-backed ‘smart diet’ which allows people to diet at home through an app, has qualified dietitians who can comment on topics ranging from what to eat to boost your immune system, to eating healthily while at home. The digital programme is more relevant now than ever, particularly with practising healthy habits to keep our bodies as healthy as possible.

The recent government advice regarding the outbreak of the Coronavirus means that the majority of us will either be in social isolation or socially distancing ourselves from public places. Isolation of any kind can be extremely frustrating and negatively impact our mental health as well as our physical health.  

The goal of this post is to support us, who are currently well and in isolation or social distancing to remain feeling positive and healthy.

Between stress around uncertainty, working from home, and reduced social interaction, emotional eating might be particularly prevalent in the coming weeks.

Emotional eating occurs when food is used to soothe or suppress negative emotions such as isolation, anger, boredom, or stress. Often comfort or emotional eating ignore feelings of physical hunger that come from an empty stomach. The most common foods craved are usually ultra-processed, such as biscuits, crisps, chocolate, and ice cream. These foods are scientifically engineered to quickly target the pleasure receptors in our brains (https://www.secondnature.io/guides/nutrition/cant-stop-eating-junk-food).

Most of us experience emotional eating at one time or another. However, when emotional eating happens frequently, and food becomes the primary coping mechanism for a stressful situation, it can affect our health and mental wellbeing.

As emotional eating can be more likely when we’re isolating ourselves, these practical steps can help us navigate away from emotional eating episodes:

1) Know your trigger

Keeping a food diary of what we eat, how much we eat, and what we’re feeling when we eat can help us identify what triggers comfort eating. For some people, it’s boredom, whereas for others it’s stress, anxiety, or sadness.

2) Find a new outlet for emotion

Once we know what triggers our emotional eating, we can find other simple activities at home to manage these without food.

The best tasks to do to take our mind off food are cognitively challenging ones. This means going for a walk, meditation, or taking a bath may not be effective ways to distract ourselves. However, something that engages your brain can be a better distractor, such as sudoku puzzles, crosswords, brain training apps, chess or scrabble, calling a friend, playing a board game, listening to a podcast.

3) Be prepared

We can prepare for when we feel compelled to emotionally eat by noting down some ‘if/then’ scenarios. For example:

– ‘If I’m bored and feel the urge to buy unhealthy snacks, then I will do a crossword puzzle for 10 minutes’

– ‘If I feel lonely and start craving crisps or chocolate, then I will call my friend for a quick chat’

– ‘If I feel anxious and overwhelmed, then I will pause and read my book for 10 minutes.’

We can also prepare our environment, by avoiding having large amounts of ultra-processed foods (e.g. crisps, biscuits, ice cream, chocolate) in the house.

Instead, buying healthier wholefoods to snack on will mean we’re less likely to overeat and they’ll keep us feeling more satisfied. Stock up on things like:

– Unsweetened peanut butter

– High-quality dark chocolate (85%+)

– Frozen berries

– Natural yoghurt

– Plain Ryvita crackers

– Olives

– Mixed nuts

– Seeds

– Hummus

– Carrots

– Eggs

– Hard cheeses

4) Take away the guilt

It’s important that we don’t harbour feelings of guilt when we do experience an episode of emotional eating. One way to do this is to avoid labelling foods as ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘treat’ or ‘syn’.

This can foster a negative relationship with food and create an ongoing cycle of comfort eating. Instead, we can class foods as foods that we enjoy every day and foods that we enjoy less often

Your face is your identity and an important aspect of your personality. You may workout, eat healthy, and get all the necessary supplements to maintain a fit body, so why neglect the largest organ of your body, i.e. your skin. It is time to break the stereotypical beliefs and acknowledge the fact that skincare routines are not strictly for women. Men should look their best too and age like fine wine. Have you ever wondered why celebrities like Keanu Reeves and Johnny Depp look so young and radiant at their age? Yes, you guessed right! Taking care of the skin is a priority in their daily regime, because it’s that handsome face that makes the money. If someone tells you that skincare products are only for girls, file a lawsuit for ‘discrimination’ against them.

You don’t have to spend hours catering to your skin and neither will it cost a fortune. A few minutes each day and a handful of bucks per month is all you need to get that ravishing look. Upgrade yourself from the shower gel you purchased on sale, your roommate’s hand-wash, and the shaving cream a colleague gifted on your last birthday. The skincare routine I am going to narrate is a simple one; I will not be including any serums or masks in it. Get started with this easy regimen and you may advance later as you become a pro or are prepared to take things up a notch.

Step 1: Cleanse

The first thing to do when you wake up in the morning is to apply a facial cleanser. The cleanser will help get rid of all the oil, microbes and grime that accumulated in your pores during the night. Take a small amount in the palm of your hand and massage it over the face for thirty to sixty seconds. It will unclog your pores, remove the oily shine, and prevent skin breakouts. Wash the face afterwards with your regular soap or buy a men’s face wash for greater commitment.  

Step 2: Exfoliate

Exfoliation helps eradicate dead cells and impurities that embed deeper into the skin. These contaminants block pores and give rise to a variety of issues, including acne, blackheads, and skin blemishes. A chemical exfoliate or face scrub must be applied once or twice per week; let it be extra treatment for your skin on the weekend. If your skin is excessively oily, you may increase usage to three times a week. Chemical exfoliates are suited for sensitive skin, whereas scrubs have grainy particles that work well on tough skin.

Step 3: Moisturize

Soaps, aftershaves, cleansers, and scrubs tend to remove the skin’s natural oils, leaving it dry and squeaky clean. A layer of moisturizer will keep your skin hydrated throughout the day, preventing a coarse or patchy surface. It also provides a protective film that obstructs invasive bacteria and dirt from entering the pores. Many people do not like the feel of moisturizers, especially those with sensitive or oily skin. The trick is to go for a light and unscented moisturizing lotion instead of a heavy moisturizing cream having a strong fragrance. Your skin will quickly absorb it and you won’t experience any stickiness.

Step 4: Sun Protection

Harmful UV rays from the sun can cause burns, darkening, dry patches/spots, and even accelerate the process of skin aging. People who have to work outdoors all day long, such as construction workers and lifeguards on a beach, are constantly exposed to the scorching sun; if you can relate, invest in a sunblock or sunscreen lotion with SPF 30 or above. People who mostly work indoors and only see the sunlight for brief periods can settle for a moisturizer having sun protective properties (about SPF 15 is sufficient).

Words by Peter Minkoff

Having a traditional nine-to-five job might be a template we’ve stretched too thin, and it’s time for something more flexible and exciting, something that will actually help you accomplish your financial and creative goals at one go. Men in this day and age have so many different options to choose from, and thankfully, you can even try out a few of them before you discover your true calling. However, instead of going into trial and error as your system of elimination, perhaps this is a better way to do your research and look into the options that appeal to you the most.

We’ve listed a few that might ring true with your entrepreneurial nature, so that you can evaluate your skills and expertise and try your hand at something that has potential to bring you joy as well as profit. Here are a few opportunities for a business that every man in his 30s will love!

Express yourself through photography

Artistic jobs are everywhere, but an adventurous man should look for a business that grants him the freedom to get creative and the chance to earn a solid, stable living. Enter: photography! If you have the expressive authenticity, you can put your skills to use at parties, gallery openings, weddings, corporate events, you name it.

You can, of course, specialize in a wide range of photography styles, and you should always invest in high-quality equipment that will ensure the end product is superb.

Start your own artisan cafe

Foodies are everywhere, and with more travelers and digital nomads traversing the globe, you’re looking at an extraordinary expansion of your target demographic if you try your hand at managing a cafe or an eatery – or a mix of both!

To run a coffee shop successfully, in addition to the right managerial skills, you should invest in the right cafe POS system that will help you automate a wide array of processes and eliminate human error. Plus, it will make it much simpler for your customers to enjoy the experience without any hassle and various payment options at hand. Give your cafe the edge it needs, and you’ll be able to run a business that will attract locals as well as globetrotters.

How about a career in fitness?

In recent years, and considering the current pandemic, more people are turning to a career in health and wellness one way or another. For men who are passionate about nutrition, regular exercise, and other healthy habits, you can actually use this momentum to help people get back on their feet health-wise, and establish yourself as an expert in the industry.

Luckily, this expansive industry boasts quite a wide array of categories you can try to fit into, pardon the pun, from offering customized nutrition programs, training plans, all the way to online guided classes, a men’s skincare selection, etc.

Teaching and tutoring

Another career opportunity on the rise for men is online teaching, especially for native English speakers, since more people are looking for classes they can take online and tailor to their own schedule. This is a brilliant chance to build your own website, showcase your teaching credentials, and build a unique program for passing on your knowledge to interested students.

Of course, languages aren’t the only subject matter that your global audience will find alluring, so you can adjust your curriculum based on your own expertise and create workshops and seminars to share your skills.

Become a life coach

Are you good at listening to people, recognizing their problems, and helping them find effective solutions? Becoming a life coach means that you’ll get a chance to give people wings and to help them accomplish their own unique goals in life. However, instead of a generalized approach, it’s best to select a specific niche, much like in all other business sectors.

Perhaps your business ventures are a great learning source for future entrepreneurs? Or maybe your degree in psychology can help you guide people to find true happiness and fulfillment. Maybe your exceptional organizational skills can help people strike that fine work-life balance? In any scenario, it’s best to narrow down and cater to a specific, targeted audience. Just make sure you invest in the right credentials and accreditations to inspire trust in your future clients.

Although there are dozens of other options that can turn into quite profitable businesses for a modern man, these opportunities are considered to be on the rise, especially once the global health crisis settles. Instead of taking a few chances, this is a brilliant way to do your research and discover a business model that will bring out the best in you and help you grow as an entrepreneur in the years to come

Words by Cameron McLauchlan

Welcome to a different kind of #SomethingForThe Weekend, where this week we’re swapping shopping for streaming. Under these uncertain circumstances the list of watchables below will hopefully give you some well deserved distractions from the

stresses we are all experiencing with the virus. We hope everything is keeping safe, well and healthy.

This was one of the films last year which I failed to go and see at the cinema, something which I regret now after watching it at home as it would have definitely been a worth while journey. Aside from the star studded line-up which includes Daniel Craig, Chris Evans and Jamie Lee Curtis to name a few, the film possess a strong ‘whodunit’ plot which unlike many other less punchy films, keeps you hooked until the very last scene. This is a must watch if you haven’t already and one for the whole family!

The film is available to rent/purchase on Apple TV, Sky Cinema, Youtube Movies and more!

2)   Killing Eve, Season 3, (2020) – 15

If you’re running out of series to watch and haven’t yet started Killing Eve, I hope this post can be the polite nudge that gets you to give the series a go! It’s probably my favourite series to ever come out of the BBC. The storyline of the first two seasons involves a global chase between ‘Villanelle’ a Russian paid-to-kill assassin and British Intelligence agent Eve Polastri.

The mis-en-scene of the series is truly unique which makes it all the more enticing to binge. I wouldn’t want to give anymore away about the plot with the third season’s first episode airing only the Monday just gone, with the remaining episodes dropping weekly. All of Killing Eve is available exclusively on BBC iPlayer.

3) McMafia (2018) – 15

Another great series to come out of the BBC, bond front runner James Norton plays a legitimate banker who runs his own investment firm. His unfortunate family tie’s to the Russian mafia spark a series of events which blur his investment decisions and associations across the world.

The series which unfolds in some beautiful locations across the globe shed’s a light on some of base-level crimes which underpin some of the wealthiest figures in the world. No loose reference to the real world I’m sure. This series of 8 episodes is available on Netflix for your viewing pleasure! Definitely one to start now or add to the list.

4) Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989) – PG

BBC are doing a brilliant job at keeping us entertained through the lockdown and this is now accretion. The entire saga of Indiana Jones films available to watch now on iPlayer.

I had to pick my personal favourite of the 4 which is The Last Crusade, number 3. The film which introduces Indiana’s father played by Sean Connery, is a comical match-up that really made the film a classic. I’m sure I don’t need to outline the storyline of Indiana jones to anyone reading this, but it is the ultimate adventure thrill ride in each of the 4 of the films. Particularly this one! All available on BBC iPlayer.

5) Tiger King : The Aftershow (2020) – 12

Following on from huge success of one Netflix’s many viral originals series, the additional 8th episode is now out of Netflix. If you haven’t watched the show yet I don’t doubt you’ve had a friend tell you to watch or speak about it with you. The show which is centred around the crazy world of big cats in the United States end’s in a monumental fop are lands many of the main individuals in hot water. Being as cryptic as I can for anyone reading who hasn’t yet seen the first 7 episodes.

The 8th episode titled ‘The Aftershow’ is filmed via a FaceTime set-up, with follow up interviews with some of the main characters from the previous series! Definitely a must watch for any fans of the previous 7 episodes

Hope everyone stays safe and healthy and remember we’re all in this together!