Style

The Belmond British Pullman

The festive season is always steeped in nostalgia: small feet eagerly pattering down the stairs to find gifts under the tree, games of charades by the fire, home cooked Christmas dinners, the familiar rustle of the Christmas decorations box and a wealth of family traditions. What better way to mark the season, then, than a magical day out aboard the iconic Belmond British Pullman? While the glamour aboard the British Pullman is enough to delight even the most discerning traveller, the destinations certainly aren’t an afterthought. Journey into leafy Oxfordshire to the Belmond le Manoir for a magnificent Christmas lunch, venture to Canterbury for carols in the Cathedral or partake…

Protest Sportswear

We’ve sprayed precious powder in the Alps with Protest already, so we know what the brand stands for. Founded by a group of Dutch snow boarders, the label wants to help those who seek slopes or waves anytime, any place. Protest designs fashionable and functional sportswear for those who simply love what they do.  “We want to help people overcome whatever stands between them and their boards. A fresh perspective for all boarders. The beginners who aren’t quite sure if they’ve got what it takes. The masters who may have forgotten the pure joy of the ride. The cynics who have had millions of ads pushed down their throats. The workaholics with too…

Favourbrook – Royal Ascot

Britain’s social calendar runs from March if you care to take in the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, to September and finishes with London Fashion Week and Goodwood Revival. But for those of us who prefer our events to be a little more traditional and a little less frequented by this year’s batch of social media darlings, Royal Ascot is the pinnacle. Of all the events attended by Her Majesty, Elizabeth II, there can be no finer display of heritage and style than that of the five days of Royal Ascot held annually in June. This year, to help us navigate the gauntlet of the famed Royal Ascot Dress Code, we’ve…

Frances de Lourdes

Frances de Lourdes, a new brand of luxury tees and tanks in ultra soft, lightweight Italian cashmere and silks. The collection, designed and produced in New York City by 36-year-old Alejandra Echeverria, was born out of a desire for a refined classic tee. Echeverria, who notes that the name “Frances de Lourdes” is a reference to her mother and father’s middle names, respectively, was inspired to create an elevated version of her favorite vintage staples – the perfect tee.   A long time lover, wearer, and collector of tees, Echeverria set out to create a collection of timeless tees that she herself wanted and felt were missing from the market. Calling upon a decade’s…

Roger W. Smith – The Cradle of high horology

Horology is a huge part of my life. It’s my biggest passion. So, naturally, it pains me to say that not much in the world of watches blows me away anymore. The truth is, I have been very lucky. Many of the people that I am fortunate to call my friends happen to be some of the world’s most recognised collectors of horology. Living in Los Angeles also helps. With watch boutiques galore and a steadily-growing network of collectors, I find myself attending a watch-related event seemingly every week. Not only do I get to see, play with and wear some amazing watches, I get to do it with a…

Rogues, Strong Women and White Shirts

Alistair Guy is a celebrated Portrait Photographer who is a regular contributor to the likes of British Vogue, Harper’s  Bazar and i-D. With a portfolio of work that covers everything from fashion to portraits, Alistair Guy is known for shooting some of the world’s most stylish individuals. Not your ordinary fashion photographer, Alistair takes a unique approach by choosing to photograph people in the industry itself. His series of black and white photographs showcase exceptional men and women. Celebrated photographer Alistair Guy and Marcella star Nicholas Pinnock have joined forces to create ambitious exhibition English Rogues, which has just launched at London’s iconic Oxo Tower, celebrating Britain and the English pirates and scoundrels who helped build it.  The duo cherry-picked nine models, actors and rockstars who embodied the wild,…

Passavant & Lee

Jon Passavant and Benj Lee are hardly strangers to the layer cake of the fashion industry. This duo have fronted campaigns for Dunhill, Armani, Ralph Lauren and Levi’s to name a mere handful. Whilst on set in New York the two models met having spotted each other at the usual castings and calls and after three years of product development launched accessories brand, Passavant & Lee. Some years ago, we remember being huddled in the office around a No 25. Attache. It was arguable one of the most beautiful briefcases we had ever seen. The outer shell is crafted from aircraft grade aluminium and covered in a full-grain Horween leather finish, while…

Fairfax & Favor

Marcus Fairfax Fountaine and Felix Favor Parker. As the names suggest, we’re talking about a quintessential British brand here. At 24, Marcus and Felix established Fairfax & Favor to create footwear of a classic British style that had an understated, contemporary elegance.  The goal being to ascend to the heights of a leather goods company that were more approachable and ultimately more aligned to their audiences proclivities and tastes. The Norfolk based duo are curating a stable of classic pieces, not producing huge seasonal ranges. It’s the sort of brand that could easily become a wardrobe staple. Arguably every Gentleman should own a casual pair of Chelsea boots and every Lady a pair of suede…

Protest

Established in Holland in 1993, Protest have been going strong since the Americans lost the Mars Observer and Intel introduced the Pentium Processor. That’s right, Holland. One of the flatest places on earth gave birth to Protest Sportswear. They are the first to tell me that the Netherlands is the home to exactly five hills and fourteen waves. Officially. The Protest team is made up of sixteen international designers, each with backgrounds in sports and fashion and my word do they love to slide about. www.protest.eu

The Man Who Would be Stylish

Gentleman readers of The Review, a discerning and stylish audience I’ll wager, will encounter few of the sartorial uncertainties of this midlife clothes horse. Not for you the awkwardness of those ‘how do I stand so the tailor can measure me’ moments; none of that ‘what do I say to the barber after the “I’ll have a short back and sides and leave a bit at the front to gel” intro’; and I do not have to check back with you to deduce that you are unlikely to have blushed and hurried through Duty Free when the staff ask you if you would like any help as you finger a…

The Ed’s Christmas Stocking

Subscribers have been lucky enough to receive the Christmas Gift Guide, but here The Ed picks his best of the bunch. Launer Luxury Leather Wallet From £307, launer.com A beautifully-crafted leather wallet, made from lizard and black calf leather. Using its trademark traditional handmade technique, Launer ensures that every part of this indulgent yet tasteful wallet has been turned by hand to form its elegant finish, with space for eight credit cards.  1968 saw Launer issued with a Royal Warrant by Queen Elizabeth II, bringing the brand onto the global stage. Almost 50 years later, a piece like this is still fit for royalty.  Monitor Audio MA100 £450, monitoraudio.co.uk Monitor Audio continues to do what it…

BLT – Under Starters Orders

While I may not be a car fanatic, there’s certainly a car of choice: the Porsche 356 (C or A), of which there is a gleaming example spitting distance from the Brown in Town shop in the Bonhams marquee at this year’s Goodwood Revival – a car I wholeheartedly intend procuring when the time is right. But that time is not now. For the uninitiated, the Goodwood Revival is a nostalgic celebration of all things pre-1966, when the circuit was reopened, following its closure in the wake of Stirling Moss’s near-fatal crash in 1962. Of course, given that we have recently become parents of our second child, I fully appreciate…

STEP & REPEAT – Q3

Who? Emma Stone Where? Magic in Moonlight premiere, Paris Reminding us why the LBD is a perennial fashion favourite, Emma Stone encapsulated the mood of the roaring twenties whilst retaining a thoroughly modern edge in this Chloe dress from the Resort Collection. Vintage elements such as the drop waist and finger-wave hairstyle are cleverly updated with the addition of a sheer guipure dotted skirt and a fringe trim around the bodice that feels reminiscent of the paillettes seen at Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton of late. Velvet ‘Pensamoi’ Louboutins with red flower embellishments and an emerald take on a smoky eye keep the look youthful. With more than a touch…

WeSC

We are fast approaching that time of year: everything you invested in for last season’s ‘sliding about’ is in perfect working order, but there’s just something missing. Perhaps it’s that sense of capitalist validity, when you order a fresh new jacket or sneakers for the après snow season ahead. WeSC are a Swedish clothing brand founded in 1999 by a collective of skaters, boarders and clothing addicts, all working towards the same ideal. WeSC has an enviable list of what it calls ‘WeActivists’: musicians, skateboarders, snowboarders, and anyone leading their subculture really. We are huge fans of the letterman style, not to mention the tidy tortoise shades.  

The BLT – The Rules of Engagement

Ever since Adam utilised the proverbial fig leaf to protect his modesty, we have worn some form of clothing or another. Whether or not your vestments are designed to keep you warm, or indeed, if you are blessed with clement weather in your world, to keep the sun from scorching you, they are, or at least were, designed for the express purpose of protecting us from the elements. And, where sartoria is concerned, if you must wear a suit, or rather, if you prefer to wear a suit out of convenience, or indeed, necessity, tradition or simplicity, then there a few rules of engagement which will ensure that you are…

Jean Richard

Remember the chap who landed his stricken aircraft safely on the Hudson, becoming a US national hero and providing us with another YouTube video to stare wide-eyed at. He isn’t your everyday brand ambassador. You have to wonder how the team at Jean Richard approached Captain Chesney Sullenberger. Gently, one would assume, and with no sudden movements. No doubt by now the media have circled and dispersed. Another interesting choice is James Blunt. But Jean Richard are no-flash-in-the-pan, oh no. As the sister brand of Girad-Perregaux, they have worked hard over the past few years to really develop the brand and design. Jean Richard base their communication on four different…

Put up your Dukes

Bored of floating around on the fickle winds of fashion? I think that you need something reliable in your life. As a country boy, I work on the premise of ‘If it’s not in fashion, then it can never be out of fashion’. And I pride myself on my mantra of ‘Tradition, tradition, tradition’. However, contrary to what you may now think, we don’t just wear baggy-arsed red corduroy trousers with turn-ups at half-mast. When not slowly pickling oneself in port for the six months of darkness, the winds of fashion do occasionally blow through the ‘the sticks’. These winds tend to bring variations on tweedy classics and the odd…

The BLT: Power dressing

It is befitting, if you’ll pardon the pun, that I scribe this ode to power dressing from the uber-hip Hoxton Hotel, where I am surrounded by the stylish, the powerful, and the movers and shakers of my hometown. You see, when it was suggested to me that power dressing might be a good theme for this issue of The Review, I ironically thought it a dreadful idea, ostensibly because it conjures images of the gauche businessman of the 1980s in ill-fitting, chalk-striped suits – certainly for the majority of my peers anyway. But it conjures, for me, images of the greatest power-dresser of all time: Gordon Gekko, one of my…

InstaGlam

As the photo-sharing app cements its status as fashion’s darling, Theresa Harold helps you sort the wheat from the chaff. Something strange has happened to my Instagram feed. Where before there was a stream of carefully-curated and beautifully shot images, there is now a deluge of blurry snaps. Composition seems to have gone out the window, and every shot is either too bright or too dark. I am, of course, writing this mid-Fashion Week – New York’s to be precise. Soon, Paris, London and Milan will follow, and it will be a solid month before my Instagram goes back to its restrained and tasteful norm. It’s easy to see why this happens….

Upper Street

Let’s face it, we are all self-confessed fashion gurus in our own right. We all know a pair of shoes to match every outfit is a necessity, in order to really stand out at any occasion. Imagine being given the opportunity to design your own unique pair of shoes. Gone are the days of frustration, trailing from shop to shop to find the exact desired shoe. Not the correct shade or colour; not the right heel height; ‘these would be lovely, if only they were completed to an entirely different specification’; not flowers but stripes. The list is endless. However, going home empty-handed and feeling deflated because the current fashion…