The Cannes Film Festival, which began today in the South of France, has always been more focused on artistic merit than the blockbusters of the Academy Awards; that makes for a much more interesting mise-en-scène in our view. The cool crowd has always gravitated to the Riviera for this annual cinematic happening, not to mention the chance to compete for those little gold palm fronds. Along with the Met Costume Institute Gala it's easily one of the year's most stylish events.
As Cannes enters its seventh decade, this seems like the perfect time for a slideshow of some of the most classic style moments in its vivid history, including this rouge carpet scene from 1998. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was nominated for a Palme d'Or that year and its star Johnny Depp sported a midnight blue shawl-collared dinner jacket at the premiere. Meanwhile his co-star Benicio Del Toro (right) stuck to a classic tux, while Depp's date Kate Moss looked kind of like she'd been attacked by an angry emu -- but in a hot way. Click below for the full parade of stylish stars.
Officine Panerai, founded in Florence in 1860, makes some of the most coveted wristwatches in the world. They only produce a limited number of timepieces every year, and there's usually a long waiting list for new models costing several thousands of dollars. The company is credited with perfecting the world's first underwater watches in the thirties; many have imitated its oversized style and the numerous devoted Panerai collectors around the globe are known as "Paneristi." Since 1996 the company has also produced a line of watches for Ferrari and serves as the marque's official timekeeper. An impressive new slipcased volume, called simply Panerai, about to be published by Flammarion, details the fascinating history of these beautiful watches.
Early on the company became the official supplier to the Marina Militare (the Royal Italian Navy), initially providing optical and mechanical instruments. In 1910 they began experimenting with luminous materials to make the instrument dials visible in the dark. In 1936 the Marina Militare asked Panerai to develop a wristwatch suitable for use by commandos under extreme conditions. Thus was born the oversized, water-resistant, luminous dial Radiomir, production of which began in 1938, cementing a place for Panerai in the pantheon of the world's great watchmakers.
A one-of-a-kind, oversized 1930s Patek Philippe chronograph that belonged to dashing Italian racecar driver Count Felice Trossi is expected to fetch close to $2 million at Sotheby's in Geneva today. Famed Fiat chairman Gianni Agnelli probably copied Trossi's habit of wearing his Patek over his shirt cuff, the better to keep time while winning the Italian Grand Prix, which Trossi did in 1947. These day's Trossi's name lives on mainly for automotive enthusiasts; his legendary one-off 1930 Mercedes-Benz SSK, now known as the "Count Trossi", is the star of Ralph Lauren's incredible car collection.
The sale also features several other Pateks including some extremely rare chronographs. Meanwhile, Christie's will stage it's own Important Watch auction in Geneva tomorrow, featuring two of the most important antique one-off Pateks ever to go ion the block: a stainless steel perpetual calendar with phases of the moon, and a platinum perpetual calendar with sweep centre seconds and phases of the moon. Both are estimated at an astounding $1.4 million - $2.4 million.
Selectism recently highlighted the Spring/Summer '08 Collection of John Varvatos amped-up Converse Chuck Taylors and Purcell Vantages. Apparently styles are veering away just a bit from the popular laceless Chucks, although they're not gone, with a return to the more traditional laced Chucks. Varvatos also styled hi-tops and added the Purcells.
This collection features shoe-like sneakers (you won't be playing basketball in these) made from a mix of leather and canvas. Hi-tops are lined in a material that resembles mattress ticking, but with better colors.
Try as I might, I could not find these on the Varvatos site, but Zappos sells a few dozen of what might be last season's styles for between $95 - $145. Converse also featured about the same number of styles, although, again, not from this collection. These ranged from $110 - $145.
Looks like you need to find a Varvatos store to be so very this season.
Thanks, David, for this tip.
Gallery: Converse Chucks and Purcells With a Varvatos Touch
At the Metropolitan Museum's star-studded Costume Institute Gala in Manhattan the other night, all the best-dressed men wore tuxedos by Tom Ford. While some fellows got creative with their black tie and others simply looked boring in notched lapel numbers, those who sported Ford's threads -- including Gisele Bundchen's football star beau Tom Brady, actors Djimon Hounsou and Jimmy Fallon, and A-list shoe designer Christian Louboutin -- were the evening's standouts.
Ford himself (pictured here with actress Natasha Richardson) went with a classic double-breasted dinner jacket with grosgrain lapels. Brady, Fallon and Louboutin all wore Ford's signature single-breasted peak lapel style; Brady and Fallon went the extra mile with matching waistcoats. Hounsou wore a black three-piece wool and cashmere suit which was equally elegant, as you'll see in the gallery below. Ford's suits start at about $5,000.
The history of the illustrious London luxury goods maker known today as Swaine Adeney Brigg goes back over 250 years. They've been supplying various items to Britain's Royal Family for 200 of them, and as those monarchs tend to be a traditional lot, the firm has basically remained unchanged in all that time. However, even this storied, not to say stodgy, company has decided it's time to freshen things up a bit. They recently brought in Alexander McQueen's former accessories chief Dominic Laurelli as design director to give SAB a much needed facelift.
Laurelli's first creation is the new St. James luggage collection. Laurelli tells us he drew on the understated elegance of 1920s luxury travel and the great Coco Chanel for inspiration, and says the St. James line is intended to be "synonymous with both traditional English leather goods and contemporary, modern style" (two words seldom heard around SAB). The collection is made from a durable anthracite tweed-like fabric with a water resistant backing and bridle leather detailing.
British couturier Hardy Amies, whose Savile Row shop opened back in 1946, is launching its first line of women's handbags this month. The new line comprises four key styles "inspired by traditional English luggage and the secret lives of female spies in the second world war," British Voguereports. The theme is fitting since the dashing Sir Hardy himself, who died in 2003, was something of a real-life James Bond, serving as an officer in the British secret service during World War II. The bags, which start at about $1,600, each come with their own code name (and, we suspect, several hidden compartments).
Amies had an illustrious career as a couturier, designing clothes for everyone from Stanley Kubrick to the Queen of England. A self-described snob, he was a world authority on men's fashion, and his house carries on in high style. Among his many stylish epigrams, he once declared that "Luxury lies not in riches, but in the absence of vulgarity." Though he didn't live to see them, we think he probably would have approved of these bags bearing his name.
With his newly-released Fall 2008 collections for Tumi, Nautica founder David Chu is continuing the revitalization of the travel brand begun when he was named its creative director last year. Since his appointment, Chu has launched various new collections including the Alpha, using Tumi's signature black ballistic nylon, and the upscale Townhouse Collection for men. He has given the company an image makeover as well with new high-style ad campaigns featuring supermodel Shalom Harlow and an array of classic sportscars (see above).
For Fall 2008, Chu has made an appropriately seasonal modification to the spring Townhouse line, which featured khaki cotton twill and saddle leather. The Fall collection is rendered in a gray covert cloth that's a hallmark of classic British tailoring. As a counterpart, he has introduced new designs for women as well. We're also big fans of Chu's eponymous luxury menswear line, which he started after VF Corp. acquired Nautica for $585 million in 2004. Obviously Chu, who personally made over $100 million on the deal, could have just retired then and there, but we're definitely glad he decided to keep working.
Generally, I'm no fan of a sandal on a man, but is it really fair to expect a man to encase his feet in leather prisons in the summer months while I run around in little wisps of footwear? And what about a dinner at a beachside restaurant on a warm summer night, a man should be able to enjoy a nice toe breeze off the water. Luxury men's retailer Gordon Rush has created the dress slide, a type of shoe normally reserved for women but made masculine with rich woven leather details. The slide comes in brown or black and sells for $265. It just might make you rethink mandals.
It's one of the economic vagaries of the business that storied British luxury goods firm Asprey of London no longer has any connection (save an historical one) with the actual Asprey family. After the 200-year-old company was sold to Prince Jeffri of Brunei in the '90s, family scion William Asprey decided to start his own firm catering to the aristocratic trade (Asprey had long held royal warrants). However, he discovered to his dismay that he was no longer entitled to the use of his own last name; while Prince Jefri subsequently unloaded Asprey to a hedge fund, William opened a beautiful shop in London's Mayfair under the name William & Son.
Under its new owners Asprey has gone in an increasingly fashionable direction, and while producing some beautiful things it has suffered financial setbacks from over-enthusiastic expansion. William & Son by contrast hearkens back to Asprey's traditional roots, and still maintains an air of clubby exclusivity in its Mayfair premises (pictured above), which stocks high-end jewelry, silver, watches, leathergoods, china and crystal. A key facet of the business is its bespoke service, which will basically fashion anything you like in whatever precious material strikes your fancy as long as you can afford it. More recently William added an adjacent gun room, where beautiful silver-inlaid shotguns can now be had for $100,000 and up. He is certainly following through on his promise to "maintain his family's reputation in the historic splendour of No. 10 Mount Street." And what's in a name, after all?
Prada revamps the tired boxy briefcase design, by giving it a softer shape and a more rugged look. The Glace'-Folding Soft Briefcase also doubles as a travel bag, it can be used for the office or a weekend get away... a must for the distinguished man on the go. Features include adjustable double buckle closures on both sides, and one center front push-lock closure. The inside has separate compartments with zipper closures to keep you neat and organized. Available at Barneys for $2,430.
Generally there's only so much inventiveness that goes into a belt buckle and what makes a belt special is the detail on the buckle. The L'A Mardaga belt buckle has that but Albert Mardaga has reinvented the belt buckle using a mechanism similar to the opening of a shotgun action. The belt buckle breaks open just like the hinge of a double-barrel shotgun does at the place where you load the bullets and a lever moves left or right to unlock the hinge. The belt buckle has the same basic style. And how's this for a cool feature, instead of having to unbuckle your belt after taking in a heavy meal, a quick press on the button in the doll's-head extension on the end of the barrels allows the belt to lengthen.
The first Mardaga belts sold at auction at Bonham's London in 2004 for prices ranging from £1,912 to £2,400. One of the first belts sold to the Royal Armouries Museum. Each belt is custom made. There is a choice of six leathers; elephant, alligator, ostrich, crocodile, lizard and buffalo; seven engraving styles and six styles of the oak and leather box.
Orbino Luxury Cases recently debuted the Arista case for Apple's MacBook Air. This bag is so clean and classic that I'd love to carry it even without a laptop, and with the rich color choices, I might even be persuaded to break away from my traditional black. Handmade by a single artisan in Orbino's Naples, Italy, workshop, the case is made from vegetable-tanned Tuscan leathers. Features include plush padding to protect your laptop, a gusseted front pocket, an iPhone/cell phone harness and an adjustable shoulder harness. The case is hand lacquered and has buffed, four-coat edging and hand-stitched detailing. Custom options to up the luxury quotient include being able to order a case made-to-measure and/or in limited edition skins such as crocodile, snakeskin and ostrich.
As we mentioned in our Classicist column on Anderson & Sheppard last week, dapper Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter is a devoté of the bespoke British tailoring firm. He proved the worth of a well-made suit with the black three-piece Anderson & Sheppard number he wore to the Tribeca Film Festival fete that Carter co-hosted with Robert De Niro in Manhattan the other night.
Carter, pictured here with New York's billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg (one of the guests along with Sigourney Weaver, Harvey Keitel, David Bowie, Jerry Seinfeld and others) looked quite dashing and much more svelte than on some previous occasions -- a fact which we feel is attributable more to A&S' fine tailoring rather than any newfound abstemiousness on the editor's part. After all, he does own one of NYC's trendiest eateries, The Waverly Inn, and we highly doubt he's ever presented with a bill.
In the May issue of GQ hitting stands this week, the magazine gets its hands on twelve of the most expensive items of their kind on Earth to evaluate whether they're really worth the price. From the $5,980 Toto Neorest 600 toilet to the $1.5 million Bugatti Veyron, they try to determine the difference between comically overpriced and extremely valuable.
If you have the money, the magazine says, some things are indisputably worth every penny. The Toto toilet for one, as well as the $64,950 Hastens Vividus bed, a $148,000 pair of ugly but awesome Wilson Audio speakers, and, yes, the Veyron.
Things that are more hype than merit, however, include $6,500 Cheval Blanc wine, $600 java made from the excrement of a coffee bean-eating Indonesian civet cat, the $30,000-per-night Ty Warner Suite at the Four Seasons in Manhattan, and $160 Kobe beef rib eye steak. According to author Benjamin Wallace, "I've had $18 bar steaks that gave me more pleasure." We're willing to take his word for it.
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