Safari wear

Rohan of the UK have an extensive line of high quality outdoor and travel wear.

The classic safari outfit as conceived by Huntsman of Savile Row was made for Clark Gable for use in the movie Mogambo in 1953.

Linen

My favourite fabric for summer cothing is linen. It is the coolest wearing fabric, all natural and has been used as clothing material for millennia (Egyptian mummies were wrapped in linen). It is derived from the flax plant which grows throughout Europe and north Africa.

There are grades of linen from extremely light to heavy Irish linen.

David & John Anderson make some of the highest quality linen fabric (and they also make some of the finest cotton fabric available). Their Lino 130 Tf is the finest linen available, weight 104/112.

Lino 130 Tf

They also make the best linen/cotton blend, the Zephir 170 Lino 55% linen, 45% Egytian cotton, weight 84/92.

Spence Bryson of Portadown, Northern Ireland specialize in linen manufacture. Used and recommended by AskOkey. Also recommended by AskOkey is Maison Hellard located in Assat, near Toulouse. He discussed these in connection to the heavier weaves he used for a safari jacket though they also may make lighter weaves.

Another fine manufacturer of linen and linen blends is Carlo Riva now owned by Fermo Fossati. Carlo Riva is sold by The Merchant Fox, London. A bit of a quirky company, they will not sell to just anyone — they have to know how the fabric will be used. 

A shirt of Carlo Riva material

Irish linen, of course, is well known. Moygashel and Spence Bryson are two of the best.

The Rake Magazine

Given that GQ has become a woke, pathetically worthless magazine, the Rake, a fairly recent magazine devoted to gentlemen's style, is the finest available. Their byline states: "the modern voice of classic elegance." See their website which includes the magazine and the accoutrements of the stylish lifestyle.

Watches

Switzerland is still the home of the finest watches in the world. Many brands are renowned: Rolex, Patek Philippe, Chopard, and Piaget. Rather than the exuberant (or, less charitably, ostentatious) multi-feature and/or bejeweled watches, I prefer a classy, more restrained, style.

Vacheron Constantin makes an elegant minimalist design in the Patrimony.

And at 4.3mm, the Vacheron Ultrafine 1955 is one of the thinnest mechanical watches available.

The watch mechanism itself is only 1.64mm thick. A fantastic feat of engineering!

---

For years my favourite watch brand has been Blancpain. Not as plain as Vacheron Constantin's Patrimony but still understated elegance.

My favourite is the Villeret Ultraplate with Roman numerals and a date function. 

If I was going to step up to more complications, I would choose the Villeret Quantième Complet with month/day/date and moon phase.

---

This is an interesting creation from A. Lange & Söhne of Glashütte, Germany: an analog version of a digital watch.

---

The various functions on a mechanical watch beyond the hands that indicate the local time are referred to in the industry as complications. The above Vacheron Constantin Ultrafine 1955 has no complications; the Blancpain Villeret Ultraplate has one and the Quantième Complet has four.

Another standard complication is the chronograph which is basically a stopwatch or timer function. Repeaters are watches that chime out the time, usually activated by a lever on the side. Watches can have dual time settings, typically with the addition of a second hour hand, set either to a selectable second time zone or to GMT as the reference. More unusual complications are a power reserve indicator, world time indicator, and the very unusual planetarium which shows the position of all the planets.

World Time

Power reserve indicator (upper left)

Planetarium

But the king of watch complications is the Vacheron Constantin Reference 57260 with a record 57 complications! It has 2800 individual parts and took 8 years to assemble. It has two faces, one shown below. This was a bespoke watch made for a single client. The sale price was confidential, but has been estimated at about 10 million dollars.

---

There is another level of fine watchmaking: those discreet makers who only make a few very expensive watches per year. One of the most lauded is Philippe Dufour who makes only about 10 watches per year. When he started, his watches sold for $150,000; they now start at $600,000, and he has made only 150 watches so far. One of his early, much sought after, Grande et Petite Sonnerie models recently sold at auction for $7.63 million. Other exclusive watchmakers are Rexhep Rexhepi, Denis Flageollet, Kari Voutilainen, Sven Andersen, and F.P. Journe.

Philippe Dufour
Grande et Petite Sonnerie

F.P. Journe
Tourbillon Souverain Clr. 1403

Kari Voutilainen  
Copper Observatoire  

---

And if you are going to have a high quality watch, why not have one of the highest quality watch straps that is available from Jean Rousseau of Paris. They have a huge selection and also do bespoke bands. With bespoke bands you get a choice of material, backing and stitching. Kirby Allison has a couple of videos on buying and using Jean Rousseau watch straps.

Tan leather        

Semi Matte Alligator

Salmon Mustard

    Burgundy leather

Tying a Tie

There are a vast number of knots for ties. The type of knot used changes with time as styles change, and with personal choice. The material type and weight also determine which knot is best. For example, a heavy woven fabric would be greatly oversized with a full Windsor knot.

The typical knots used today are the Half Windsor, the Full (aka, Double) Windsor, the Four in Hand, and the Old Bertie. I typically use the Half Windsor and occasionally the Four in Hand.

Here are a few videos on how to tie various knots.

The above diagrams and others can be found at the Real Men, Real Style website.

Some instructional videos:
The Full Windsor
The Half Windsor
The Old Bertie
The Four in Hand

Kirby Allison has a good video on tying a bow tie.

Braces

For formal wear a set of braces is essential, but even for regular suit trousers the braces provide a much more comfortable fit than a belt. One of the best manufacturer of braces is Turnbull & Asser of London. Another is Albert Thurston who make a large variety.
Below find a sample of Turnbull & Asser braces.

Black

Blue

Silver Paisley

Sky Blue Paisley

The Bespoke shirt

An interesting article from the Permanent Style website on 21 bespoke shirt makers noting the different approaches each takes. In London, for example, he notes that Turnbull & Asser and Emma Willis tend toward traditional styles whereas Budd can be more contemporary and innovative. Note that his preferred style is Italian so he is less enamoured of British and French tailors.
Of Italian tailors he notes D’Avino of Somma Vesuviana (near Naples) and Luca Avitabileas of Naples with Simone Abbarchi of Florence as a good place to start. Many of these bespoke tailors also do made-to-measure and ready made shirts.

Of French tailors Charvet in Paris in most noted.

Budd are one of the top shirt makers in London, located in the Piccadilly Arcade.

Budd shirt selection

Turnbull & Asser are an old establishment shirt maker holding a royal warrant.

Pale blue cotton	Blue and white	Pink and white

Harvey & Hudson have also been around for many years.

Kent & Haste, noted gentlemen's tailors, share accommodations with Stephen Lachter, maker of bespoke shirts.

---

Emma Willis is one of the leading bespoke shirt makers in London. According to her, “A man just needs three beautiful white shirts and three beautiful blue shirts. A mixture of button cuff and double cuff, so you have some formal shirts too.”

Emma Willis MBE

For Willis, a fine bespoke shirt is worth the expense: "It’s like a bottle of wine – if you use quality materials and make it perfectly, it will get better with age. Our shirts last longer than others and get smoother with time."

Read the full article in the Ettinger Journal.

Emma Willis, 66 Jermyn St, St. James's, London SW1A 1HD

---

Made-To-Measure

A cheaper alternative to the truly bespoke shirt is the made-to-measure which can come close to a custom fit. Typically this is achieved by taking multiple measurements: collar size, sleeve length, shoulder width, chest size, stomach size, and hip size. The shirt makers typically have a large selection of fabrics that can be high quality, and the shirts are well constructed.

• Charles Tyrwhitt, London
• Turnbull & Asser, London
• iTailor

Recommended by Patrick Boyle, Tailor Store is an online company that makes bespoke shirts based on an extensive set of measurements that the buyer submits. They seem to have much more customization than the above made-to-measure suppliers; you can select collar and cuff style, tail length, back and shoulder style, pleating, button colour and thread colour separately, as well as monograms. Available in cotton and linen blend in a large variety of fabric colours and styles. Prices are from about $160-260. Use the Patrick Boyle link to get a 25% discount on your first purchase.