Sartorialist Style Before Its Time...

Having been a follower and avid fan of the world famous Sartorialist blog, where everyday male and female walkers of pavements, roadways and exiting fashion show visitors the world over are photographed by Scott Schulman and documented online, i heard a book was to be released before New York fashion Week 2009.

Naturally it was a pre-order moment of style for any guy or girl, but before getting round to the pre-order stages on Amazon, I was elated to receive a copy of his book last night - 2 weeks early of its UK release! The soft back book collates the best of The Sartorialist's camera work from across the globe, with some insightful textual introductions to his more "muse" worthy street subjects. Each look is not representing a complete taste of style, but "elements" of a look which are inspiring and hope to inspire. The only slight disappointment, from a truely English perspective, is the lack of London City style captured on the pages, most are from Milan, Paris, Stockholm and New York - but who am i to complain, its the best £20 i've never spent!

Available from early september at Borders, Amazon and Liberty London, Priced at £20.

http://thesartorialist.blogspot.com/

TOM FORD & His Merry Materialed Men.

Time for a tale of style serious, and cautionary mixing of dress; presented is suiting by TOM FORD circ AW/09.

With his collections arriving each season with no surprise about how "on the money" they will be, the ex-Gucci designer manages masculinity in male dressing like no other. A tour of the 1950s power suiting era is the direction, but with an all round softer shouldered structure and feel.

Standout favorites are the grey suit with the super-wide pink check; the flashes of colour from the shirt and tie combination is English Dandy in all the right ways, and traditional ‘white picket fence’ widely cut plaid ties or knitted ties that have been specially created to finish at a point, rather than the expected blunt horizontal line. 

The cautionary part of this tale, should sit with the more "experimental" of the Gentry dressers. if you choose only part elements of this collection remember to go fourth with style notes in hand to ensure a carefully crafted look will compliment, not conflict, Sir TOM FORD and his merry materialed men.

Available from Harrods - http://www.harrods.com/harrodsstore/

http://www.tomford.com

Marc Jacobs High Summer Boots

I'm not religious. I never have been, and probably never will be. Being told the story of Mary & Joseph, their night in the stable, a donkey and three curious wise men bearing gifts in the night was all to good to be true and believe them not to have been so wise at all.

These items were treasures in their time, indeed gold still is, but this this story never really rang true to me as no one i have ever met just gives away worldly treasures to a stranger?

as set and to be honest would be like giving away a pair of Marc jacobs boots to a random passer by who looked like they might find a use for this precious

In our modern time we have little use for frankin sense and mer and gold is a very personal gift which should be recieved from a love one, not a random gifting, the likelt hood of 3 wise anyones arriving at your stable door with

similar story similar story happened to me the other day, as an editor friend brought me only one gift three gifts as a thank you for

Marc Jacobs is one of the greatest designers around. His name should resound in your ears with the sounds of brilliant mens fashion and if it is failing to do so at present, then look no further than the offering of boots below.

He is a man who is awfully busy, designing clothing, accessories, and shoes for Louis Vuitton, his own Marc Jacobs collection, and his de-fusion line, Marc by Marc Jacobs.

Keeping The Summer High with Orlebar Brown

Being the most unpredictable summer on record and thrown into day-to-day confusion of what to dress in, i have consciously decided not to relent into wearing a polo-neck and thick wool trousers when we are only in the latter stages August! Instead, i intend to keep the summer spirit on a high by introducing beachwear label Orlebar Brown to my casual weekend dress.

Since its launch back in 2007, OB has been doing swimmingly (couldn't resist) in the style and popularity stakes, and this season nothing is set to change. So many male folk seem to find all manner of ways to wear their ugly, unflattering shorts and look like a reject from the raggy-doll bin of modern day style, however no such faux par will materialise with these fine shorts.

The range consists of four British-made models with masculine names; Setter, Bulldog, Dane, and Beagle, all in a seemingly Fifties board shorts inspired design, but without the unforgiving high waistbands sported way back then.

From £120 www.orlebarbrown.com

b Store to launch ‘b magazine’

The Savile row based boutique of cool will soon be dressing up news stands across the country with the launch of its own Magazine. Simply entitled 'b magazine' the content will span over 100 pages and include the bands stocked at the store; from Damir Doma to Stephen Schneide. Due for release on the 23rd September to coincide with their back-to-back London Fashion Week show with designer Tim Soar, also stocked at b-store.

Available from – b store, Donlon books, Claire de Rouen, The Wapping Project Book Shop and Paul Smith Boutique (Albemarle Street).

http://www.bstorelondon.com/

A Happy Globe Trotter

An unusual post for Mr. Gentry; Globetrotter, the luxury maker of fine travel-wear, have partnered with Happy Socks, well sort of - whilst this is not a true collaboration of design, the quintessential luggage makers are their official provider for transportation and display cases at upcoming trade-shows. Not one to ever blog about a trade-show link up i thought the image of the sterling white case and overflowing colourful patterned socks made a true Gentry style offering.

Check out Globetrotter at http://www.globe-trotterltd.com/

Check out Happy Socks at http://www.happysocks.com/

Preparing for Launch // PETROU\MAN SS10

Nicolas Petrou, the talented Cypriot designer, graduated with an MA in Fashion Design form the prestigious Central St Martins school right here in London. Alongside working for various brands including his own (PETROU), and having a store on Madison Avenue no less, he is unleashing the PETROU\MAN collection for SS10. Not yet showing on schedule for fashion week, his collection is inspired by active men's sportswear but with a well tuned mix of patterns, prints, fabric textures and interesting reinterpretations of the classic jackets.

Mr. Gentry personal favorites are posted below, but to be frank the whole collection is worthy of a favorites gallery, so i strongly suggest a click through to the PETROU site to see all the wonder for yourself.

This is a designer who's name should be rolling across the lips of every Gentry man worth his style salt from here to New York and back again.

http://www.petrouman.com

A.P.C Dover Street, London

A.P.C, the popular french fashion label has arrived in London's Dover Street curtsey of headman Jean Touitou. The spacious store is arranged over two floors stocking the complete menswear and womenswear collections.

I can not really warrant wearing the title of major "brand fan" as i have only flirted with the idea of buying pieces from their collections, mostly due to the steep pricing compared to that of lux basics brand Albam, but i know the masses of A.P.C followers will be salivating at the first UK store opening.

A.P.C London is open now http://www.apc.fr/

The NSW Collection presents the M51 Parka

Nike. Nike. Nike? After recieving a number of email requests about the Nike/Loopwheeler blog posted a mere handful of weeks ago, i felt compelled to bring fourth another innovation from the world of Nike.

Mr. Gentry readers, i ask of you to take note and behold a very 007 flurry into fashion sportswear. Released upon us is a new Parka named the "M51" - the name alone should have you intrigued as to what innovational development has been born from Nike towers?!

Some history first though, which starts in the the 1950's, the Parka was spawned from military issue outerwear and initially designed for the freezing conditions of the Korean War. However the M-51 was quickly adopted as the uniform of a youth movement where the utilitarian style of dress appeared with groups such as the Teddy Boys and the Ton up Boys. This style found its way to the Rockers and eventually rested upon the tidy lapels Mods where it waterproofed its way into the style savvy as a modern aesthetic.

Now, with Nikes much added technical innovation, including "lazer cut pockets" and something called "Linerless 2L Storm-FIT" replacing the heavy cotton canvas of the original, it remains identifiably true to form whilst raising the bar for the rest.

Mr. Gentry awaits the next innovation.

Available from September:

http://www.nikesportswear.com/

A Mr. Gentry Crush

Behold a lamp to die for! British Designer Brendan Young uses crushed fizzy drinks bottles to make a sculptural lamp base - the result is an unusual practical eco-friendly design for the home of any stylish Gentry man (or woman for that matter). Each Little Crush table lamp is made using a reclaimed PET bottle and coated in matt black rubber. The inside of the shade is coated in a rich metallic gold which ensures a warm boutique feeling light emanates in all directions.

What's even better is its made right here in England and the price is only £158!

Available from http://www.wheredidyoubuythat.com

Man oh Man

As fragrance names go, Man, the brand new fragrance from Paul Smith, is a nice attempt at taking things back to basics - all in a masculine package that won’t look out of place in anyone’s bathroom cabinet.

Available in three sizes, exclusively at Selfridges and Paul Smith stores. From £24

Reflective Luxury from MARTIN MARGIELA

Martin Margiela, perfection in all he dares design (well almost all) and the Discoball wallet is no exception. Designed simply for credits cards and notes, this wallet screams simplicity in the most "show off" kind of way, where coins are banished to the bottom of an old pocket so not to disturb the liquid lines of the press-stud fastening. Priced at £209.00 it has delicate luxury written all over its reflective exterior and even comes with replacement mirror squares.

Available now from Oki-ni.

http://www.oki-ni.com

ALBAM : Modern Crafted Clothing

ALBAM, the brand of menswear basics that attracts an endless stream of gentlemanly dressers and regular guys too, are out shining their rivals in the US and Japan right here from their home turf.

Not to be mistaken for run-of-the-mill basics, Albam sets itself apart by having sound British design, just enough quirkiness, quality fabrics and simplified-technical construction - all bound together with a philosophy of “modern crafted clothing”, its the brand essential for everyman’s wardrobe.

Founded in Nottingham with only 7 styles in their first selling season, Albam has grown at a steady pace to include shirting, outerwear, shoes, jeans, t-shirts…the list goes on. With an online store presence and a first standalone in Beak Street, London (pictured above) this British minded brand seek only to produce their garments right here in England, and if they simply can’t produce it here they make sure its made as close to home as possible.

Further plans are set for a second store in East London and there is talk of a made-to-measure store also. Check them out online at:

http://www.albamclothing.com/

Jil Sander for Uniqlo Collection

images courtsey of WWD

Jil Sander, the trademark minimalist German designer, was announced to be designing a collection for Uniqlo way back in July. Then we heard she had joined the design ranks permanently to oversee the pretty much everything else to hit Uniqlo rails!

The new 40-piece menswear collection, simply named J+ Uniqlo, seems to already be causing wonderment as to why Jil hasn’t lent her full name to the tags of the new collection. The reason for this? she sold the Jil Sander name to the Prada Group years ago and left the label for good in 2004 and so Jil Sander will now be known to all as simply Jil.

This is just the first preview of the new collection and what we have seen so far has impressed, made up of structured woven wools, poplin cotton shirting and tweeds used to form what we hope to be a very well constructed collection. However without price information or even a sniff of a final release date, I will hold off giving the full Mr. Gentry review, but so far the girl done good!

Acceptable Sporting Fashion from NIKE Loopwheeler Holiday Collection

Sportswear. It can be a tricky and very choice look which few mange to pull off adequately enough inside the gym, let alone outside of it. However super brand NIKE and Japan's Loopwheeler have collided to add the "sports-luxx" treatment to our wardrobes with the NSW Loopwheeler capsule collection.

The range includes various items from jumpers and track-pants to the star of the lineup the AW77 (pictured above), which is more than a classic hooded top - this is innovative sports-fashionwear at its best and is practically handmade! Each garment is knitted on the brand’s rotating looms ensuring the yarn never comes under tension, which produces a relaxed fabric that is supremely soft. With a price tag of £180 (for the AW77) this may make you run for the hills but remember only a handful are made each day and there is a very limited run for each country.

So if your attempting to pull of a sporting look which avoids resembling Mike Skinner of The Streets, this collection is the best hope for all who are clueless on the sport-fashion front and suggest getting a piece pronto!

Available from Selfridges and NIKE 1948 Store, Shoreditch, London.

http://www.nikesportswear.com/1948

COMME PLAY dress up with the all stars...

Comme des Garcons have teamed up with Converse for this mini-collection of Chuck Taylors. The collection features four different styles which come in black or off-white colours and are available in hi (£205) or lo (£190) from Dover Street Market. Each style features the iconic COMME des GARCONS PLAY Heart logo on the side, marking a simple luxx addition to your summer footwear attire.

www.doverstreetmarket.com

Knit-one-pearl-two at Dover Street Market

Photographer Tim Walker has paired with London-based designer Peter Jensen producing a quirky capsule collection for specialised style-boutique Dover Street Market. The collection, in-store from September 2009, will be sold exclusively at DSM and showcases simple yet detailed items including the half cut floral patterned shirt (below), knitted sweaters, and various matching knitted accessories.

http://www.doverstreetmarket.com/