New Blog

Another discovery, this fella goes to the trouble of antiqu-ing his penny loafers, which is aceness in itself. Anyone, who risks a new pair of brown shoes with 2 coats of black polish and wears them in the shower to break them in, is alright by me.

Pure Style: End Of

This fella has just got it, end of argument.

Ralph Lauren Rugby

There is something about the secret society connotations of this that has really caught my eye. Plus as far as I can tell, I haven't seen anyone wearing it in London or in any shops. I'm going to the US in a couple of months, I am definitely picking up one of these. That is unless we are overrun with this by October.

Steve McQueen & Prefab Sprout

I can remember never really being sure about Prefab Sprout, I think it's because they were on a live recording of the ITV programme Get Fresh with Gaz Top I went to see; and it left me with a feeling that they must be a bit naff.

As time went by, and if you can remember Get Fresh, that will give you an indication how long ago we are talking. I revisited them and fell in love with them properly, through their Best Of album. Which is of course fantastic in it's own right, but when you consider that 5 or so of the tracks came straight off Steve McQueen and that 'Bonny' is not even on the Best Of, that's when the mark of how fine this album really is.

It is also a neat fit, that I have recently begun a small Steve McQueen style obsession: Persol, chambray, Sanders Chukka boots, baracuta etc etc. When I next pass through Duty Free, I'm picking up a bottle of Eau D'Sauvage as well.

Anita Berber

As I have now definitely reached the period in my life where the policemen are younger than me. I view hooded youth and their borderline anti social behaviour with a marginally pitying demeanour; and let out a loud melancholic sigh at 'Celebs'

I recall a phrase commonly used in my youth 'you didn't invent it you know'. Nothing illustrates this more than Anita Berber, who as a performing artist in 1920s Berlin would according to Wikipedia.......

Her performances broke boundaries with their androgyny and total nudity, but it was her public appearances that really challenged taboos. Berber's overt cocaine use and bisexuality were matters of public chatter. She was allegedly the sexual slave of a woman and the woman's 15-year-old daughter. She could often be seen in Berlin's hotel lobbies, nightclubs and casinos; she would walk around naked except for a sable fur, carrying a pet monkey and a silver brooch full of cocaine, while flaunting her lesbian lovers—removing the barrier between performance and normal life. Besides being a cocaine addict, she was an alcoholic.

Take that Heat Magazine, nobody's got a pet monkey in this week's issue I'm sure.

2nd Magazine x Take Ivy

Fantastic scans of the 2nd Magazine's feature on Take Ivy http://forums.filmnoirbuff.com/viewtopic.php?id=6309&p=1