CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN

anthonymcgrath405 / 29/05/2013

A better class of Trainer -J.M.Weston Guethary Collection

I don’t want to tempt fate or equally the wrath of mother nature here, but summer, or even, warmer more timely weather must surely be only round the corner now. So we can finally put away our winter warmers for at least, please, a couple of weeks. Now to mark this long awaited climate change, the French luxury footwear house, JM Weston, have taken advantage of it, to slip away on a stylish and sporty getaway, travel naturally takes on the aura of seaside elegance, not not Blackpool or Bognor no. Michel Perry, the house’s artistic director, has taken himself and his imagination off for a stroll along the French coasts of the twenties, in search of the holiday destinations bustling with the Parisian jet set. His drawing pad intuitively came to rest in the Basque country, where he has chosen to let his pencil wander in step with his meanderings through towns and countryside.

Think stylish gentlemen in, tasteful, golf attire, lashings of fresh seafood and the best champagne, countesses at the races and fishermen at sea, village frontons or Art Deco villas, the Basque country clearly comes to the fore in J.M. Weston’s world. Two models have been born of this impromptu getaway: a tennis shoe and a soft ankle boot, by the name of “Guéthary”.

Perry’s most striking nod to the Basque Country lies in the addition of a natural woven cord around the sole of some of the footwear, in reference to the famous “espadrille” traditionally worn by the region’s chic residents. These models, all of which are mounted on a leather sole of the finest quality.

anthonymcgrath405 / 28/05/2013

Spec-tacular glasses – Archibald Optics

If like me and countless other guys out there you wear glasses you know what a minefield it is when it comes to picking a new pair. You know the score, your happy with your spectacles, it took you long enough to select the last pair so why do you need to put yourself through the agony of going to your optician, having to try on loads of pairs, feeling ridicules and thinking, can I not just have these again ? Ohhhh I got these 5 years ago, OK. Help is at hand, in the form of Archibald Optics, founded on the ideal of producing great eyewear that is both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Archibald Optics takes inspiration from the styles of yesteryear to create eyewear that is bold, brave and unique, while at the same time not running the risk of having you look like you bought a job lot of Elton John’s cast offs at his last car boot sale, him and David need the cash with that ever growing family.

Archibald’s USP is they aspires to bring quality eyewear directly to the customer, bypassing opticians and retail chains. So through our unique business model, they are able to charge the customer a more responsible price for eyewear designed in London and handmade by trained artisans at their manufacturing facilities in Fukui, Japan. However, the overriding bonus to this is, it can all be done from the comfort of your own home. So you can browse through their online collection and choose your 3 favourite frames. Not sure which style works best for you? Then why not use the Virtual Try- On System to see which styles suit you face shape best, see everything, all thought of.

Once you have narrowed your choice down to 3 specific frames, you create your own account, Archibald will then send you your 3 preferred styles to your abode. What you need to do then is over the next 5 days decide which frame floats your boat. After all that all you have to do is follow the easy-to-use directions so that can collect all your bespoke requirements, including prescription details. Eight to ten working days after your order has been confirmed, your personalised pair of Archibald spectacles will arrive directly at your doorstep.

anthonymcgrath405 / 27/05/2013

A lil Teaser for LC:M SS14

I can’t believe Lonodn Collections:Men, the third one, is nearly upon us June 15th it starts and I was sent this trailer for the proceedings the other day so I thought I would do the decent thing and share it with my loyal readers and in the process do a little flag waving for how great British Style actually is. Here you go folk;

anthonymcgrath405 / 24/05/2013

Hide behind those Shades – A Round up of the best Sunglasses around

A couple of weeks ago, I was lucky enough to take a trip to Sin City, Lost Wages, Atomic City, yeah you got it Las Vegas !!! Now, whilst over there blowing off some well earned steam and drinking my own weight in over priced alcohol, I took the liberty of killing two birds with the one stone and took along a selection of the finest sunglasses around for this Summer, when it finally arrives. We choose a number of Viva LasVegas’s finest, from in and around the Splendour and luxury of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Resort, to model these shades to give you a better idea of how they look on a cross section of face shapes, colouring and essentially looks. Take a look and let us know what you think –

Peter, Graphic Designer wears these fine sun protectors by TOMS.

Peter, Senior Graphic Designer wears these fine sun protectors by TOMS.

Ste, Software Sales Manager wears handmade shades by Triwa

John, Software Developer wears sunglasses by Lacoste Live

Karl, Man about Town, looking sharp in Michael Kors

Alex, Project Manager, wears none other than TOM FORD @ Liberty

Lauren, Mandalay Bay Manager, wears these unique shades by Police

Stephen, Research Director – Property, Sun’s so bright gotta wear TOPMAN shades

Lee, Digital Support Manager, looking almost Andy Wahol-esque in Ralph Lauren Sunglasses @ Liberty

Aidan, Pharmaceutical Study Manager in Retro Super Future Sunglasses @ Liberty

Ged, I.T. Project Manager, busting these clearly great sunnies by Superdry

Martin, Projects & Events Manager seen wearing Aviator style sunglasses by Givenchy

Dominic I.S. Manager & co-founder of ArtPrintMarket.co.uk wears the Aviator sunglasses by Ray Ban for Brooks Brothers

anthonymcgrath405 / 23/05/2013

Country roads take me home – Stighlorgan, A contemporary Irish Brand

Stighlorgan (pronounced Still-organ) is a contemporary Irish accessories brand which is rather reflective of a lot of the native population from time and memorial to modern day. Basically, although based in London they still very much see themselves as Irish. Set up by a group of friends all hailing from in and around the area of Stighlorgan in Dublin or Baile Ãtha Cliath, the town on the river, to give the city its correct gaelic translation. The sea not only plays an important role to Dublin’s fair city but to the Stighlorgan brand itself. To celebrate the launch of their Summer 13 line, they relaunched a limited batch of their peat green Roban backpack and to give them a completely unique look and feel, they’ve been washed by the Irish sea off the coast of Dublin. The bags were soaked and ‘sea-washed’ in rough sea on the diving steps at Salthill, near Dún Laoghaire, to give their signature Roban bag a new weathered look.

We recently caught up with Christian , one of the founding nomadic members from the gallic creative collective and asked him what the thinking behind the brand was,

” In simple terms, to begin waving the flag for modern Irish fashion. The Irish have a very particular way of doing things and we’re all very proud of that. I see real value to sharing the small differences in the way the Irish dress -or the differences as we see them at Stighlorgan I could say. There are already a wide variety of English brands, American brands, Swedish, Italian, Japanese etc, I think its high-time someone began to talk about the Irish aesthetic. I believe that if presented correctly it holds some really interesting and fresh insights into ways that you can put together an outfit and in particular to Stighlorgan; the accessories you can wear.”

He went on to sum up the brand and how it came about, far more succinctly then I could, so I thought I’d save myself the bother,

“One of my older cousins in Dublin who I recently spoke to about Stighlorgan and the progress the brand was making, said to me that in the 90s he had a dream of creating an Internationally known contemporary Irish brand. I found it funny that he seemed to have had the same desire to create something Irish that could truly have international reach. We’re already selling in Europe, the US, Russia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia and New Zealand. We’re getting closer to achieving that reach that me and my cousin dream of. In terms of the brand’s identity and future, we already have a really strong idea of what the Stighlorgan brand looks like. Each season we put together a collection that jumps ahead of the previous one -it’s an exciting feeling to better your previous season. We’ll keep up this momentum and keep evolving the brand. If we can create global recognition for an Irish aesthetic that’s very close to our hearts, we’d be very happy with that!”