anthonymcgrath405 / 12/02/2013

Jean Paul you spoil us – “Le Beau Male” by Jean Paul Gaultier

Eighteen years ago Jean Paul Gaultier, the legendary French fashion designer, unleashed a fragrance upon us which was to go on and be as recognisable and synonymous as his trademark breton tops, a fondness for wearing kilts and suicide blond hair. “Le Male” irreversibly shook up the world of scents by introducing an unprecedented masculine archetype: the sensual sailor with a soft heart, to accompany this launch came an Ad campaign which equally shook up the world and is still remembered with fondness today, see above.

Time doesn’t stand still and Gaultier who is known for his forward thinking nature too has evolved Le Male into LE BEAU MALE ! Gaultier returned to the original creator of the fragrance, Francis Kurkdjian and challenged him to recompose a new fragrance to fit in with third millennium.

“I really wanted to reclaim ownership of the formula. With hindsight, some things were obvious. Preserving the original structure and unfolding of accords while stretching the note to the maximum,” Kurkdjian explained.

The scent is an unconventional mix of an excessive dose of mint which gives off an unusually intense freshness, this is then rubbed with Mugwort, used in ancient times as a talisman against poisoning and sunburn, also sometimes known as ‘felon herb’, releases an aura close to that of rtemisia absinthium, it’s deadly botanical cousin. Lavender maintains its role as the backbone of the fragrance. Orange blossom and clary sage accents give the fragrance a boost of bursting energy. The palpable sensual qualities of the musky base creates a freshness that makes men hot, not in an unpleasant way, but in a primeval way. Phew !

anthonymcgrath405 / 11/02/2013

LOVE is a many splendored thing ! As long as you get the right gift – Valentine’s Day Gift Guide

(Sorry Loyal and trusted reader, this was meant to be Friday’s post, but due to Yahoo mail being, crap, it’s been delayed to today, sorry for the inconvenience).

Love it or Loathe it, there’s no escaping the fact that next week, in fact February 14th to be exact, is St Valentine’s Day. The one day of the year that you have no excuses and by golly you better not forget that Romance isn’t dead. Mrs Mc is exceptionally lucky in the sense that being married to my good self, everyday is like Valentine’s Day, or so I tell I keep her. But don’t worry if your still feeling the pinch from Christmas and in the words of Simply Mick, “Money’s to tight to mention”, we, as always, have searched far and wide for great ideas for the your loved one. Now don’t get me wrong, if you can afford it, whisk her away to Venice on the Orient Express for a romantic weekend or purchase her a pair of diamond earrings, think less Elizabeth Duke and more Chopard and you will literally be drowning in brownie points. BUT, as nice and as much as we may like to be able to offer this gesture, reality can often get in our way. So, here are a selection of great gift suggestions, that will get or keep you in the good books;

The Diamond Scented candle is guaranteed to excite, delight and fingers crossed surprise, as inside every fiftieth candle is a real sparkling spanking diamond !!!! by Paulina Leonor at Selfridges.

Paula Rowan Gloves come in a multitude of colours, not only RED, but it is Valentine's Day.

Paula Rowan Gloves not only come only in the finest leather but in a multitude of colours, not only RED, but it is Valentine’s Day.

You treat your good lady to these day of the week underwear by Stella McCartney and she’ll love you 24/7, now thats a promise.

It might seem cliche to us, but trust me the ladies love Mulberry and this Heart purse ticks all the boxes, nuff said.

As always M&S have the answer to your prayers all wrapped up. Send that special someone an extra special Valentine’s gift; this red rose hamper includes a magnificent pot of red Kordana roses, a bag of love heart chocolates and Italian sparkling rosé wine for an all-inclusive gift to someone you love, chocolates, booze and flowers, you know her so well.

I know I’ve gone on about these before, but this is what Mrs Mc will be getting as a little gift for Valentine’s Day. These Eley Kishimoto X Clarks, see not so sensible now are they. Another unlikely collaboration that works so well, will be earning me get out of jail cards !

Give her the gift of time this Valentine’s Day, this Rotary Ladies verbier watch looks so much more then its price tag. Only thing is you can’t be late ever again !

As the release for Boss Nuit Pour Feme, says, "This will be your night." There are lots of great fragrances around at the moment. But word to the wise and check what kind of perfumes she like and go with one from the same family, so if she likes Musky scents DON'T go for a lil Floral number, trust me.

As the release for Boss Nuit Pour Femme, says, “This will be your night.” There are lots of great fragrances around at the moment. But word to the wise and check what kind of perfumes your good lady currently wears and go with one from the same family, so if she likes Musky scents DON’T go for a lil Floral number, trust me.

You can’t go wrong with jewellery and big isn’t always better. The ladies do like nice delicate, tasteful pieces like this bumblebee from Ted Baker

One last gift idea and normally I just would stay clear of gift vouchers, but these are no ordinary vouchers. Like everything Liberty do, these have a distinct individuality about them that any lady would find hard to say NO to.

One last gift idea and normally I would recommend staying clear of gift vouchers, but these are no ordinary vouchers. Like everything Liberty do, these have a distinct individuality about them that any lady would find hard to say NO to.

anthonymcgrath405 / 07/02/2013

To Boldly go where no Clothing range has gone before – Denham launch Official Training Kit for Astronauts

Michael Mol, Co-Founder of SXC

Some time last year The Space Expedition Corp (SXC) contacted Jason Denham of the Dutch based denim brand, Denham regarding the opportunity of developing an official training kit for their future astronauts on board their commercial flights. The brief was to develop an integrated training kit expanding on concepts which had already made appearances in their past collections, where Denham had worked with ideas regarding future-utility and their concepts to fuse historical research with progression and invention.

Now the result of this partnership is an integrated capsule collection including the Bernal Type 3 jacket, the Liner Type 3 insulator and the D-SXC pant. Participants in SXC’s space program receive the set exclusively in the company’s signature blue. The designs are also part of Denham’s F12 collection in classic black and slate grey.

Denham is not the only exciting partnership SXC has forged for this year, in collaboration with the Unilever grooming brand Lynx/Axe have launched a global partnership, where winners of a competition can become part of their global Lynx or Axe Apollo Space Academy. This is where entrants will be prepared for the ULTIMATE challenge of actually travelling into space, resulting in 22 lucky winners boarding a Lynx suborbital spacecraft sometime in 2014 on a SXC mission into space !!!!!

www.lynxapollo.com/

The Denham/SXC Astronaut Training Kit

anthonymcgrath405 / 06/02/2013

Wear it like Beckham – H&M Bodywear’s new David Beckham Ad – Competition Time

Regardless of whether you’re a Manchester United Fan, Paris Saint Germain, LA Galaxy, Arsenal or even Melchester Rovers, you can’t dispute the fact that Mr Beckham is a rather sickeningly good looking man. So when I was asked to attend a screening

Messers Beckham & Ritchie

of his new TV Ad campaign, directed by none other then Guy Ritchie, yes the ex-Mr Ciccone, I kinda had preconceived expectations as to it was going to be like, Black & white, arty angles and in all honesty well and truly up its own arse, if I be so frank. Now what I didn’t expect was a great classic Ad, showing Beckham’s true self deprecating side and essentially well and truly taking the Michael out of himself (please judge for yourselves below). Now, all this is to promote, as though it needed it, the new Spring collection of David Beckham’s Bodywear range, or to us mere mortals, underwear, in partnership with H&M launching today. New colours added to the collection including more utility tones and the range will be sold in around 1800 H&M stores in 40 countries around the world plus on hm.com, so I think you might be able to get them. But if you are in doubt, we at Clothes make the man have managed to get a hold of 10 pairs of these underwear, kindly modelled by young Dave above, for the first 10 lucky people to sign up to follow Clothes make the man –

All you need to do is follow us here at Clothes-make-the-man.com by –

1) Returning to our home page and in the subscribe to Clothes-make-the-man.com box on the left of your screen

2) Input your email address

3) An email from the blog will be sent to you and you MUST open and confirm that email.

anthonymcgrath405 / 05/02/2013

A KIN-dred Spirit – KIN by John Lewis

This month sees the stalwart of British Retailing John Lewis launch its first and in certain quarters anticipated and in others dreaded (other retailers), Lifestyle range KIN. Designed in its entirety by the in house Design team the range stretches right the way through from Ladieswear into Childrenswear and Menswear.

KIN is described as, “A hard-working weekend wardrobe that comprises of contemporary, fresh and affordable high quality pieces with a distinctly Scandinavian minimalist feel”.

With its Tailoring element, KIN is really stretching out to a customer John Lewis hasn’t actively chased before, the 30 and 40 somethings who have taste in what they wear and the brands they invest their money in. With this demographic certain factors are paramount when getting them to part with their hard earned cash;

1) Cut – The cut of the garments has to be contemporary, well tailored and flattering.

2) Design – He’s very different to his Father. Design, the way things look, feel and peer approval is very high on his check list. Looking good is of equal importance as any or all of these factors.

3) Quality – Although this Man is as interested in an investment piece as he is a bargain, he HAS to know it’ll last.

4) Cost – With the general cost of living going through the roof, with mortgages, kids and putting food on his family’s plates the right price is Ohh so important to this customer.

With all of these elements in mind the in house team has designed KIN to appeal to men who appreciate quality, clean-cut tailoring at a competitive price. The collection is John Lewis’ most contemporary own brand formalwear offering to date, with a strong focus on detailing throughout including buggy lined jackets, high-notch lapels and AMF stitching.

Champion of the range from conception has been, Tom Saunders, Menswear Formalwear Junior buyer and model of the mens suiting, no less, he says of the collection;

“We wanted to create a tailoring line that provides our customers with wearable pieces, whilst still following the clean and simple aesthetic of KIN. Designing KIN in-house allowed us to really develop our formalwear offering and create a minimalist collection of formal and semi-formal pieces designed to fulfil the lifestyle needs of our younger customer.”

johnlewis.com

CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN