Guest Dandy: Ray Frensham Ponders Colorful Laces

Our friend Ray Frensham sends us the following tale of his new obsession, brightly colored shoe laces.

Living in London as I do, I am rather spoilt when satisfying my whims for a quick visit “up town” into Piccadilly, Jermyn Street and St. James’s (as well as popping in for a quick afternoon tea with Her Majesty).

Last week, I came across something in my travels into Savile Row that, if these had been available before Christmas, I would’ve included them in my recent Predictions for 2012 blog. The fact that they are made by a friend of mine is merely an added bonus.

I’m talking about dress-shoe laces in a myriad of rainbow colors (the color-match in this photo below is probably the nearest to their true shades):-

These flat, waxed cotton laces are 29.5” / 75 cms. long and  are made by a new shoemaker-on-the-last Justin FitzPatrick (aka The Shoe Snob – see photo below) – a man from Washington but currently living and working in London. (You can read his own blog here.)

I dropped into Gieves and Hawkes (No.1 Savile Row), where Justin has his own space within the shop and saw them hanging there they were, next to his own-brand Natural Bees Wax Shoe Polish and Mink Oil Renovator that he also sells (apologies for my own fuzzy picture).

They come in eight colors (so far): black, brown, grey, navy, light blue, sky blue, purple and red/cherry.  At first I was a bit so-so about them, and spent some while running through my head wondering what coloured shoes I had would go with these laces. Then I saw these on the desk...

...and the scales fell from my eyes. I realised I should actually be trying to match the laces to my socks! Suddenly I found myself uncontrollably buying four pairs (red, light blue, sky blue and purple). And at £5 each colour, they are decent value for money.

Now they are home, you don’t realise how vibrant and great these look until you have them on your feet - and with the right socks.

You can buy them direct from Justin via his e-bay store. Justin FitzPatrick – the Shoe Snob: a micro-label to watch out for.


Editor's note: we here are Fine And Dandy are also big fans of bright colored laces. It's amazing how it can change an average pair of shoes. Several styles are available on our shop site.

 

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Guest Dandy: Ray Frensham's Stylish Men Of The Year

Part two of our friend Ray Frensham's second annual list of stylish men:

In this instalment I’ll look at my chums in Europe and beyond whom (I think) will be making waves in 2012 and to see how they are dressing for the imminent recession and the inevitable collapse of the Euro monetary system and general destruction of the world economy! Here goes:

Czech Republic: Matej Fouma 

Don’t jazz musicians have The most Cool publicity photos? (and most of them are still smoking – even today). Take Matej from Brno, barely 20 and already he plays piano, accordion, violin, bass, banjo, sax, clarinet and even trumpet. His youtube channel is recommended. More than good.

France: Aswad Al Masrahi 

Those of us who are familiar with Rose Callahan’s series of Dandy Portraits will be aware of dear Massimiliano Mocchia de Coggiola and his growing salon in Paris. But there are still a few Parisians not discovered. I’ve always known him as Alex, this barely-20 year old Tunisian already appears to be one of the leading lights of the Gallic Steampunk movement.

Steampunk, while huge in the USA, never really took off in Britain to the extent it did across parts of the Continent/ Alex is sort-of steampunk with an exotic Persian twist.

Germany: Henry de Winter (and Bobby)

“Henry de Winter? Oh, he’s a real Berlin character and he has an adorable dog called Bobby” – so said a realtor friend of mine in Germany. My Most Stylish Man of 2010 has continued onwards and upwards this past year. (Go to youtube, put in Henry’sname + Herr Ober ...and just enjoy).

I spent a couple of weeks in his presence during 2011 (especially the now-legendary New Year’s Eve celebrations at Boheme Sauvage – see us here in sober mood before the revels).

Henry started this year by hosting and performing at the Berlin premiere of The Artist movie and March sees him in Hong Kong (a fundraiser for the HK Cancer Fund), along with his regular domestic bookings. He just needs a proper Manager to take him to the next level (global).

The Netherlands: Mark Davids

Regular readers of the FineAndDandyShopBlog are probably familiar with Amsterdam’s Mark – when he posts a picture on the Formal Friday thread, you have to realise that EVERY day is a formal day for Mark. One of his big triumphs in 2011 was to return all his home plugs, sockets and light switches to Bakelite originals.

I met him twice in Amsterdam (I must’ve been a terrible disappointment to him) and we reunited in Berlin for the –now legendary – New Year’s Eve (see above). We clicked immediately and are now firm chums. Here he is on home ground in Amsterdam with his companion Barbara Balak.

Sweden: Mikael Sjolund

I’ve known Mikael (from just outside Stockholm) for a good few years and have seen him grow from a teenager onto a young adult who, with growing confidence, is expressing his fierce individualism fearlessly. And like a number of our new generation of Dandies, is attending textiles and tailoring classes and now making their own clothes. (He’s up for a possible internship with Karl Lagerfeld in Paris and I’m sure his love of stiff collars won’t go against him). Hands up! – it was me who introduced him to Brooks Brothers’ tie-back and French-back boxers (he’s now a convert and there’s no going back after you bond over boxers).  Definitely a name to watch out for in the future. (Have you finished my leopard-skin spats yet, Mikael?). Enjoy his blog.

Finland: Lassi Patokorpi

There must be something in the Scandinavian water... here’s another  student (of English) making his own clothes and living the retro life. Living in Tampere (just google-map it) he also runs a vintage clothing website and blog  that’s always worth a visit. And he’s barely 22.

Sharing the same head-size, I sent him one of my(surplus!) Bowler hats / Derby and he sent me some vintage stiff collars and we’ve been firm friends ever since.

Spain: Jose Fernandez-Pacheco

A few years ago I showed a young Jose around London during Fashion Week. He was a fledgling journalist then, wondering whether he should take his first presenting job offer on a Fashion TV programme in Madrid . He did.

So fast-forward a few years and we have... "Josie" (as he is now known), one of Spain’s premiere fashion stylists working in print, tv and movies and on peoples’ houses. I still remember the New & Lingwood shirts we bought – I remember it well.

Portugal: Ayres Goncalvo

It’s been a busy year for my tailor that I predicted great things for in last year’s blog. Moving from Savile Row to New York and then on to his home town of Oporto, he started his own label, Ayres Bespoke  - and that means Proper Bespoke -  with loads of good publicity and by suiting-up several members of the Portuguese Parliament. At least those guys will be able to tackle the financial maelstroms ahead looking good.

Apparently, both Ayres and I will be featured in a book by Portuguese photo-journalist Ze Cabral due out in 2012.

Italy: Luca Pavan Bresciano

...and before you mention it: no, it’s not Hercule Poirot. My friend Luca from Imperia in Northern Italy looks like that (and always has done).  He and I have endless discussions about everything from bow ties to moustache care, stiff collars to spats, monocles to tussie-mussies (look it up) . The man is a joy. He is also the man who introduced me to Gammarelli (the Pope’s outfitters in Rome – more about them in a later blog).

Singapore: Kevin Seah

A recent chum, I am learning more about him by the day. Not only one of the pre-eminent tailors in Singapore, Kevin is also the Far East distributor for Gammarelli (see above) – their socks are to die for. Stop Press news: it’s just been announced he will be making clothes for Courvoisier (no other details yet). A good year ahead? I think so.

Japan: Hironori Miyawaki

You would think this elegant chap had walked out of some Imperial Palace in 1920. Wrong -  this is Kobe (near Osaka), 2012. Another surprise is, he’s just about to start up in business as a Building Contractor. If he designs and builds as stylishly as he dresses, the ‘new look’ Japan is in safe hands.

My 2 Final Left-field Choices:

USA: George J Durham Jr.

Why do I choose George?: (i) his taste and style and (ii) his profession. He’s a funeral director, from North Carolina. I look at George and I think  “this is the guy I want to have bury me, and do it in style, with taste (and me looking sharp in my coffin)...and with a celebration, not misery.



 UK:  Alex Mendham

Another cool young musician, this time from the London-ish area. Barely 22, and already he’s formed his own 1920s/30s style dance Orchestra. How crazy is that? They are already getting strong word-of-mouth so check ’em out: AlexMendham.com It restores your faith in the youth of today!





And two Honorary mentions:
Diane Naegel (R.I.P)

We lost this lady to breast cancer, late 2011, and she was barely into her thirties. A leading light of the New York retro scene, she was also a noted accessories designer and ran the nighterie ClubWitsend. Not only did a light go out, the wind in our sails dropped when we heard the news. But her legacy lives on in the magazine she founded a few years ago: Zelda, Zeldamag.com  (Buy all five back-issues and subscribe for the next lot).

Most amazing woman on the planet who is not Lady Gaga or Madonna: Rose Callahan

Any reader of this blog who does Not know who Rose Callahan is, leave the room now. A New York-based photographer, her on-going Dandy Portraits project has been snapping us all – making me look palatable and all of us look great - and is due to reach print (yeah, I mean, a Real Proper book) sometime in 2012. - Bless you, Rose. We all owe you.

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Guest Dandy: Ray Frensham's Stylish Men Of The Year

From our friend Ray Frensham, his second annual list of stylish men, part one:

A little belatedly perhaps (explained in Part 2), I decided to follow-up my 15 Most Dapper Men of 2010 post with a Review of 2011.

This time I decided to throw the spotlight on my Stylish Men of the Year - outstanding people who (in my opinion) had ‘rocked my sartorial world’ during the past year. Any honours and plaudits come to me, any criticisms... it’s all Matt’s fault.

It’s in two parts: this one focussing on the USA and UK; the next part looking at Europe and more, together with my predictions for the Next Big Thing style-wise for 2012. So here goes.

Man of the Year – USA: Darren Criss

So there we all were, watching Glee and suddenly these Preppy Dreamboys come onto the screen with dreamy looks, a great voice and a stunning accapella version of Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream, and we are all asking: who IS this guy? This guy was Darren Criss.

Seems he’d auditioned three times for Glee without much success, so he went back to San Fran and worked on his fun-musical send-up of Harry Potter (see it on YouTube). Maybe they were holding out on him for something special...

And then came Teenage Dream and the whole world changed – his and ours. The rest is history: weekly performances, solo and with other cast members and almost taking over the show!, the Warblers album, awards and huge worldwide fanbase, now Broadway.

He’s handsome, stylish, got a great voice, dances, writes his own songs..... makes ya sick, don’t it!? (I once had a waist like that!). There’s even a fansite called Blaine’s Bow Ties.

Betcha don’t know this fact: although the musical tracks for the (visual) Warblers are performed by the Tufts University Beelzebubs (check ‘em out on youtube, especially their version of Alison or visit www.bubs.com) the Visual Warblers actually do all the backing and support vocals for the rest of the cast songs in Glee.

Ask Darren what the attraction is, and he’ll say “it’s the blazers”. We say “it’s a little bit more than that, hun”. It’s called talent.

I’ve pestered Matt to get Darren to be Fine & Dandy’s model for their next LookBook (now that he's is in NYC for the Broadway show How To Succeed In Business...). (Just keep that unruly curly hair heavily pomaded down and looking straight’n’shiny). Let’s hope he reads this and says “yes”.

Man of the Year – UK: Gareth Malone.

How can I explain to the non-believer the phenomenon that is Gareth Malone?

He’s a choral music teacher that goes round the UK forming community choirs from the most unlikely resources, like deprived housing complexes. But this year, and his recent TV series The Choir: Military Wives he’s hit the jackpot. He has now become the musical equivalent of David Attenborough – how can anyone NOT like him? Here’s how it went:

He first visited a military base and turned the wives – ‘holding the fort’ while their husbands were in Afghanistan – into a choir. Then the wives at a nearby military base wanted to form a choir too. So he did that.

Next he merged both choirs and they performed at Sandhurst Military Academy. Then he had the idea of the wives writing their own song, using lyrics extracted from their love letters to their fighting husbands. Composer Paul Mealor (William and Katherine’s chosen composer for their Royal Wedding) was brought in to add a melody and shape it into a song, “Wherever You Are”. They then performed the completed song at London’s Royal Albert Hall at the annual Festival of Remembrance (in November) – it’s out own version of Veteran’s Day.

That was the turning point. The public were clamouring for the song to be recorded. When the single was finally released, a couple of weeks ago, it was the fastest selling single in a  decade, trouncing the usual Simon Cowell upstarts and became the Christmas number 1 in the UK singles chart....and all the proceeds go to various charities for returning Service Personnel and their Families.

OK, so it may not be the most perfect choir you’ve ever heard, but there are moments in the ensemble singing which are, quite simply, sublime. The recording has touched a nerve in this country and it’s tears all round.

And it’s all down to Gareth Malone. He’s as cute as a button, he’s straight (married with a young child), is a gay icon (and totally cool about it) and he Really Rocks the bowtie-and-jeans look.....AND he’s still only twelve years old [OK, I made that last bit up].

Drakes (the upmarket London tie-makers) showed me the bespoke bow tie they are making for him – a rather dull plain tweed if you ask me...but I won’t hold that against him. Gareth Malone has shown us how one person can touch on so many other peoples’ lives, make a difference and be a force for good. (Not wishing to get too Kapra-esque about it, he embodies the spirit of Christmas).

I predict he will be given an award in the Queen’s Jubilee Honours list, mid-2012. Arise, Sir Gareth!

That’s more than enough for now. Part Two follows tomorrow.

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Guest Dandy: Flower Power

This is the first in a series of posts from guest blogger, Will Eagle.

With the onset of summer and the blooming of flowers in the garden, and some inspiration from this recent post we took a look at the wearing of flowers as a Dandy Detail. Don’t be a shrinking violet when it comes to wearing a flower in your lapel; simply think of it as another option to add some detail along with or in place of a pocket square or to complement your choice of tie.

Flowers are most often worn for special occasions like weddings where the Bride’s choice is in effect, but you don’t need an occasion to wear a flower as every day presents an opportunity to sport a bloom. During the day, if you’re in a traditional working environment, perhaps give a nod to British bankers with a red carnation with your pinstripe suit, or if you’re in a more informal space, pick something seasonal and personal to you and apply it to a casual jacket. Consider a Zinnia, a daisy like flower mainly from Mexico that comes in a variety of striking colors and patterns, and remember that something less showy or traditional will help avoid a wedding party look. A simple deep purple ‘Bachelor’s Button’ (Cornflower) or a small Chrysanthemum (often referred to as ‘Mums’) are light hearted picks for a tan or cream summer suit for an evening event.

I ran into this gentleman only this morning outside of College Park in Toronto (Yonge St & College St), who said “I like to think of flowers as men’s jewelry” and that he wore a flower in summer every day. His yellow daisy beautifully matches his bow tie and pocket square.

When choosing, look for something easy to wear, that is, something easy to pin on and not so heavy that it will droop significantly throughout the day. Closed buds tend to stay in shape and look fresher for longer than an already open larger blossom, which is why roses and carnations tend to be the most popular choices. Use the preservative solution from a florist (the kind you normally get attached to any bouquets, even gas store fare) to soak the flower a few hours beforehand to keep it fresher for longer and when you’re ready, pin the stem to your lapel ensuring you use your buttonhole to accommodate the base of the flower.

What’s your favorite flower to wear?


Will Eagle is a British Dandy residing in Toronto and his current flower of choice is an Aster. You can follow him on Twitter @willeagle.

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