Here at The Rake we are proud of the opulent, some might say extravagant, production standards of our magazine. Its style and quality is always one of the first things that draws comment. Indeed, more than one competing publication has paid us the compliment of engaging in the sincerest form of flattery.
However, we understand that readers are busy people, sometimes pressed for time and baggage weight allowance. Several back issues of The Rake can weigh as much as a pair of shoes after all. With shoe trees. We are also aware that a subscription to The Rake can take a while to wing itself to those parts of the globe where it is not available on the newsstand.
It is with these realisations in mind that we launch The Rake Digital. This electronic version will be available every issue, allowing you to read the magazine on your iPhone, iPad or similar device. A series of links from the contents page allow you to jump to particular articles through the issue, as well as return to the contents, while a layout view means the whole magazine can be browsed at a glance.
In order to let you try out the new digital offering, we are making one past issue of The Rake, featuring Ralph Lauren on the cover, available for 99c (US) from today. Instructions for downloading it, through the programme Zinio, can be found below.
We hope you like it.
Download instructions
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Budd is one of those very rare things: a London shirt maker that still cuts its product on the premises.
Several shoe makers retain this connection to their workshop roots – Cleverley, Lobb and Foster’s being clear examples. And obviously scores of tailors across London still cut within sight of the customer – even if much of the making is done elsewhere, as with the cordwainers. But shirt makers have long been scarce. Even the number with bespoke operations is in single digits.
It was perhaps not surprising therefore that there was much wringing of hands when Savile Row tailor Huntsman took over Budd last year. This was a jewel in the Mayfair crown and needed a loving owner. Luckily Huntsman seems to be just that, perhaps not surprising given the recent steering of its own business and premises on Savile Row. Events, media involvement and collaborations have combined to make it one of the most modern houses on the Row in the past few years.
So Budd are getting used to the refit, including more modern white walls and an efficient shirt-storage system that gives the tiny premises much-needed space. The old bedstead has gone, but that couldn’t be helped. The cutting rooms upstairs are airier, with a great new fitting room, and senior cutter John Butcher has more room to swing his knife.
Perhaps most importantly for the future of Budd and London shirtmaking as a whole, a new cutter has been hired: Darren Tiernen.
Darren is rediscovering his love of shirtmaking with the move. He was a sales manager in his previous job at Dege & Skinner, which he left for Budd six months ago, but he trained as a shirt cutter at Bowring Arundel and then worked with great cutter Sean O’Flynn at New & Lingwood. So John will have help and from a very experienced hand.
There are rumours, too, of more innovations. Budd always had a reputation for cutting quite generous shirts for its customers. Perhaps it was style, perhaps the physiques of those customers. Either way, Budd’s ready-to-wear range will launch a new, slim shirt line in the next few months. It can only speak to a greater relevance of Budd among younger gentlemen, which is to be welcomed.
There are even collaborations. Budd is working with the new team at Fox Flannel, led by Douglas Cordeaux and new owner Deborah Meaden (of Dragon’s Den fame) to create beautiful dressing gowns under the mill’s new Merchant Fox concept. Using some of Fox’s wonderful windowpane flannel in cold-cheating 400-gramme lambswool, Budd is cutting these elegant gowns alongside its classic range, and taking orders for those wanting to personalise the piping or monograms available.
General manager Andy Rowley continues to be a mine of useful information on the various men’s accessories stocked around the store, making use of his 30 years’ experience at Budd. Then again he’s a fledgling compared to John’s 40 years, and both pale beside Budd’s 100-year existence.
Let’s hope nothing changes in the Budd philosophy for another 100.
Watch companies are always keen to draw on archive pieces and rare finds when they can. The inspiration is ready made and, if you're lucky, so is the audience.
The transformation can be hard to work successfully, however. Many pieces lose their elegance in becoming what are inevitably larger models, and the simple subtle details can easily be lost.
On balance, we think these new models in the Capeland and Hampton lines from Baume & Mercier succeed. While our favourite is certainly the inspiration piece at top - a piece from the 1940s with a definite Art Deco sense to its lines and styling - the new Hampton below also retains many of the subtleties of its single-push chronograph, 1948 inspiration. The chevé-shaped sapphire crystal, for example, reminiscent of early nineteenth-century galet pocket watches.
Tomorrow Berluti, the shoe brand founded over 100 years ago, will launch its first range of men’s clothing in Paris.
This has greater significance than just the small capsule collection of leather jackets, jeans and knitwear sitting in four stores and waiting to be presented to the industry. This is about LVMH betting on an idiosyncratic shoemaker with a loyal following to lead the company’s menswear. And it comes as rival group PPR completes its buyout of Brioni.
But enough about the industry. What are the clothes actually like? The Rake went down to the London store to have a look – though no images allowed; shame.
First of all, capsule is the right word. This is very small collection that will be joined by another small collection in February, before the full range is launched in June/July. It is also presented in rather fetching ‘capsules’ of steel-framed and leather-hung boxes.
The styling, thankfully, is subtle. It would be tactful to say that some Berluti shoes divide opinion. I have three pairs and I adore them. But others you couldn’t pay me to wear. It is with a feeling of relief that I say I would gladly wear these clothes.
Everything is dark, navies, greys and browns. There is a leather bomber jacket with very subtle patination of the deep-coloured leather. It has a grey jersey lining, cashmere ribbing and hand-sewn buttonholes.
There are two pairs of jeans, one in raw denim and one in a cotton/silk mix. They both have sewn-in waistbands, as on good dress trousers.
The construction details extend to the shirts. Again, navy, but with a hand-sewn gusset on the end of the side-seam and sleeves attached by hand. The side seam runs at a subtly different angle to the sleeve’s seam. These are shirtmaking details that will be new to the English.
Elsewhere we have silk/cashmere cardigans and a big, double-breasted cotton cardigan. A long-sleeved polo shirt too, in cashmere. Nice overlapping collar line on that one. Gauze scarves in reversible navy and brown.
Even without images, I think you’re getting the picture. It’s sombre, simple and softly styled. If this is Alessandro Sartori giving us an indication of things to come, we should be (quietly) excited.
[Image, Sartori (centre) with new chief executive Antoine Arnault (left) and Pietro Beccari, Berluti president]
As mentioned in the previous two pieces here, the brands at Pitti Uomo can seem rather homogenous. One consistent exception is Drake’s. The English company has a unique style that has been passed seamlessly from founder Michael Drake to current head Michael Hill, and it shines out from their distinctive navy booth across the floor of the Fortezza da Basso building.
The colour is hot. For an Autumn/Winter collection, there are some pretty vibrant colours here. Perhaps the idea is to try and cheer us all up. Whatever the intention, it comes across in strips of bright pinks, yellows and greens; the scarves are lined up on rails, one continuous run of patterns; the ties are thrown six or seven at a time over the necks of mannequins, their vibrancy running together.
Both scarves and ties come in hot tartans, often fuzzed or distorted in the cloth. Elsewhere the faded checks are reminiscent of old madras. One pattern in particular, a nomadic print, comes straight from the Drake’s archive – a pocket square from the 1970s that has been recoloured and reworked on a larger scale.
This is starting to feel like a list now, but it’s hard not to with so much to mention. Stay with it.
The texture and weaves of the scarves give particular depth to the details. The tartans are rendered in a boiled wool or a rougher woven cashmere: homespun, a thick weave than reminds one of a workman’s scarf, something reinforced by the patchwork effect. Others have a Scandinavian feel, their tight ripples throwing colour across the surface.
What else? Madder ties in a new variety of subtle recolours, four-knot grenadines for the winter (the smaller two-knot is more popular in summer), a new 22-ounce weight of silk, Shetland blankets you would actually spread on the ground (unlike precious cashmere), reversible ties, 70x70 wool and silk scarves. All new. All coming on the senses in a long rollicking list. And more than photographs can possibly convey.
Day 2 at Pitti and you’re beginning to get your eye in. Wake, shower, dress. Walk across a freezing city in stunning sunshine. Duck away from the photographers and squeeze through a crowd of preening, chatting humanity. Ignore the cheap ‘classics’, skip past the sportswear, refuse to accept any proffered leaflet, and zoom your attention in on...
Isaia's soft yet sharp tailoring
Isaia. The Neapolitan house of colour with serious sartorial nouse. Hand finishing more than hand construction, but still beautiful buttonholes, buttons and stitching details. The 8 mm stitch is apparently the new thing - big, looping stitches up the lapels that create a subtler raised seam. Nice trademark red pins in the lapel buttonholes too. And then we focus in on...
Fedeli's hand-knitted luxury
Fedeli. Like the swamp of grey cashmere elsewhere, except different, better. The showcase piece is a hand-knitted heavy hooded pullover. Hand knitted as in a woman with knitting needles and a big ball of wool. Seems very homely but incredibly expensive to do at scale. Real fur trimmings, beautiful suede details. This is best of the Italian-style knitwear and they’re opening up a store in London soon. As is, coincidentally...
Bright patterns at Zanone
Slowear. The conglomerate of Incotex trousers, Montedoro jackets, Glanshirt and Zanone knitwear. Each year one brand is picked to be exhibited at Pitti. Last year it was Montedoro, this year Zanone has a turn. Interestingly the colours are very non-Italian. Cherry reds and plum purples. Big double checks and Argyles. Apparently everyone in Italy knows Zanone so they’re not really reaching for that audience here. It’s the Middle East, Russia, China, and they want colour. All will be getting their own Slowear store following the success of the first one outside Italy, in Paris.
The movie made from Jules Verne's sci-fi novel gets a nod from Italian shoemaker Silvano Lattanzi
Lattanzi
Time for a change. First, the idiosyncratic detailings of Silvio Lattanzi. This season the shoe brand is keen to play with perceptions, and so they display a range of trompe l’oeil effects including drawings of famous film scenes, laces that seem to be bursting out from inside the shoe and buckles that aren’t really there. Then there are the white crocodile mountain boots. Someone has to experiment with these things, and it’s usually Lattanzi.
Cabourn's book celebrating the anniversary of Captain Scott's Antarctic polar expedition next week
Double-brushed Harris tweed from Nigel Cabourn
Second change of pace: Nigel Cabourne. Recently featured in The Rake, this one-man whirlwind of rediscovery is surrounded by fans of his adventuring and military garments. His staff, all young guys from the north-east of England like Nigel himself, model the ‘workwear suit’ in denim, the Red Wing collaboration in an old, particularly chunky last, and put on the down and parka jackets at Nigel’s instruction. There is no bullshit here; this is genuine passion.
Even with a selective eye, we run out of space to record all the brands we like doing things we like. So, briefly to mention that Kiton is showing only its younger CIPA line, which is very un-Italian: cordovan shoes and thick-knit overcoats; long-hair alpaca and camouflage rendered in jacquard. And Barbera, Gallo, Rota (great trousers), the list goes on.
Perhaps a rest, and a more reflective piece next week. Check back to The Rake online.
The Florentine trade show exhibits hundreds of manufacturers, many of them foreign but mostly Italian. Their aesthetic is consistent: grey cashmere jackets and padded coats; details in biscuit or chocolate suede. It is a huge volume of very nice clothing. But separating the wheat from the chaff, the Italian from the Chinese-made, is not easy. One solution is continuous recommendation. Ask one brand you know which others are made well and then follow the chain. And so The Rake wanders.
Link one: Inis Meain. A tiny company making traditional sweaters on the island of Aran in Galway Bay, off the west coast of Ireland. It’s not surprising they’re small really: the island is a slab of limestone about three miles across, 30 miles out to sea with 200 inhabitants. There’s no room for mass manufacture.
Set up 35 years ago, Inis Meain used to make rough, untreated sweaters as used by actual farmers or fishermen. Everyone said they were too rural; they smell like sheep after all. Now everyone wants authentic clothes again, and untreated sweaters are coming back in. Good show, we say. Those creamy Aran knits were only ever for dress occasions, for little boys at their confirmations. Nice to have real working clothes.
Link two: Bresciani. Maker of the finest socks in the world, all woven in a tiny factory outside Bergamo. A factory of 30 people, about a third of which are blood relatives. Our particular favourites from the show: new, intricate woven patterns using Bresciani’s specialised machinery. The patterns are intended to mimic old hand-knitted models. Except these are thinner, cooler and altogether more luxurious. (Watch out for Bresciani’s new underwear too. Not enough people make good underwear in Europe.)
Link three: A wander and a recommendation brings us to Piombo downstairs. The Milanese purveyor of all things soft, bright and unstructured is showing a cage of products, enclosed and bound within a black metal lattice. From out of the middle shines a purple felt double-breasted jacket with so little structure that the lapels refuse to stand up. Summer belts mix brown suede with a multicoloured wool that pops with Piombo’s trademark tones.
And of course iPad, iPhone, lap top covers. Everyone has them and they only get more lovely with the luxurious suedes and boiled-sweet colours at Piombo. Then again, bright yellow might not be that practical at the bottom of a leather tote.
Link four: Around the corner from Piombo is the smallest of the lot: La Portegna, comprising four craftsmen in Madrid and making butter-soft slippers and loafers that roll up into the size of a fist. Lovely vegetable-tanned leathers in the bags too, including (you guessed it) lap top covers.
Then there are the brands that The Rake already knows so well, such as Borelli (such beautiful shirts), Santoni (a pretty little house of coloured leathers) and Bonotto (a wonderful display of hanging cloths from the mill, draping shaded atmosphere among bright-lit bright booths). As we said, so much to cover and, the more we ask, so many recommendations.
But then there is tomorrow. Check back for the second report tomorrow.
THE RAKE team’s eyes are generally shaded from the harsh Singaporean sun by lunettes from either Ray-Ban or Persol, brands that satisfy our yen for the legitimate, heritage-rich, elegantly classic, and beautifully built. Testament to its fulfillment of that final criteria, the latter Italian eyewear manufacturer recently released a jazzy short film exposing – in the manner so beloved of this magazine – the handcraftsmanship behind Persol’s wares. Check it out here:
THE RAKE’s fashion editor Esther Quek and I recently had the pleasure of attending Ermenegildo Zegna’s celebrations in Beijing marking 20 years of the company doing business in China. As those of you with a basic grasp of math will realise, Zegna first set up shop (literally) in the Middle Kingdom in 1991, back when most luxury brands thought purely of China as something you put out at tea time – certainly not as the future of their business… which is very likely how most European luxury labels would describe China today. Having established a Chinese foothold early in the game, and built a reputation as one of the most recognised, respected luxury brands in the land, Zegna now has more than 70 stores in China, and a staff of 1000-plus, the country accounting for approximately half of Zegna’s sales. It was no surprise, then, to find the Italian cloth and tailoring titan putting on quite the impressive, pull-out-all-stops event to celebrate 20 years in China, with an extensive exhibition charting Zegna’s century-long history, a tech-enhanced fashion show, and a celeb-studded after-party that stretched on into the wee small hours. Check out Zegna’s video of the event (which fortunately doesn’t feature any footage of yours truly busting Disco Dad moves on the dancefloor to the strains of Zegna resident DJ, Coleman).
Following on from our previous report on the Rubinacci bespoke experience (see here for part one) we recently visited Mariano Rubinacci at his Mount Street, London, atelier for the first fitting of our vintage linen three-piece (more images after the jump). After the master thoroughly appraised the baste-stage suit, he literally tore it apart at the seams, deconstructing the shoulders, collar and neck before pinning them back together in better conformity to my shape. Sleeve length was also adjusted, the coat’s skirt nipped a touch, and the trousers slimmed down in the thigh. With the confidence of a consummate, vastly experienced craftsman, Mariano stated that after the requisite adjustments were made, no further fittings would be required, and he’d be able to ship the suit to me in Singapore. I currently eagerly await its arrival – and can’t wait to give the sharp summery ensemble its first outing in suitably old-school, colonial Singaporean surrounds. The Writers Bar at Raffles, perhaps? (One will, of course, have to stick to martinis and G&Ts – somehow I don’t think that creamy linen would react well to splashes of claret or Campari.)
As our intrepid photographer-at-large, Andy Barnham, valiantly navigates London Fashion Week S/S 12 to bring us beautiful photos reflecting English trends in threads for the coming seasons, we at The Rake thought it’d be appropriate to take a look back at his snaps from A/W 11 – clothing that the discerning gentleman can actually find in stores at this time, perfect for the currently cooling climes.
In another Macy’s I.N.C. video outing, Tom Stubbs looks at au courant styling for the three-piece suit (or ‘triple pizzle whistle’, as he may well put it, NY-LON style).
Posted Sunday 18th of September 2011 by Christian Barker
Our London-based fashion editor-at-large Tom Stubbs recently took up an assignment with US department store Macy’s as their I.N.C. brand’s men’s styling svengali, which will include all manner of internet-based video outings, the first, highly entertaining edition of which can be viewed here. “’Ave a butcher’s” – paying particular attention to the guide to sartorial cockney rhyming slang at the clip’s conclusion.
During Milan men’s fashion week in June, I took some time out from the frenetic catwalk-to-catwalk dash to visit the serene Via Montenapoleone atelier of Mariano Rubinacci and bespeak a suit (more images after the jump). Fortuitously, I had the rare opportunity to be guided not only by two generations of Rubinacci – the maestro Mariano, and his style icon son Luca – but to also call upon the advice of THE RAKE’s fashion editor, Esther Quek (it’s always good to get a feminine perspective, we find). Together, we settled on creating a light, summery three-piece, choosing a vintage linen – cream with a burnt orange check – from Rubinacci’s extensive cloth archive, the experience of having a bolt of material draped over my shoulder (complete with makeshift lapel) helping me get a better idea of what the finished garment might look like – a far superior way of doing things than the usual ad-hoc choosing from a miniscule bunch of fabric samples. The fact that Luca was wearing a waistcoat cut from the same cloth also assisted in visualising the end product (yeah, maybe I bit Luca’s style a little, but I’m certainly not the first one to do that; Rubinacci Jr.’s followers are legion).
Shots from this initial measurement and decision-making session appear here; additional photography tracking a subsequent early-August first fitting in London will be posted on the site shortly, and a proper feature on the full Rubinacci bespoke experience will run in an upcoming issue of THE RAKE.
Cabourn's book celebrating the anniversary of Captain Scott's Antarctic polar expedition next week
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