Bow Ties Sydney, Australia - Le Noeud Papillon - Specialists In Self Tying Bow Ties


With over 2 million page views, Le Noeud Papillon's blog continues to provide lovers of bow ties with unique stories and content relating to menswear through interviews with industry icons and vignettes into topics relating to suits, shirts, shoes, ties, designers, weavers and much more.

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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Final Days For Submissions For Our Ex-Presidents Bow Tie Portrait Competition

It is really very easy to enter the competition. Download the sketches from our previous post on the blog. Drag and drop a chosen bow tie from the Le Noeud Papillon website onto the portrait. Change the background. Post to your wall on Instagram. It should take you no more than three minutes if you know what you are doing. If you don't know what you are doing, maybe ask for some help. One app we recommend is Photoshop Mix which you can download from the app store. 

Final submissions should come in by midnight the 24th December 2016 AEST.

The winner will receive 500AUD cash wired to their account. Not a bad earning for three minutes of your time. But you'll need to do better than the ones below, which are pretty good if you ask me!

Merry Christmas and wishing all our blog readers and friends a happy holiday!










Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Dear Women - Here Are A Few Tips On Buying Good Presents For The Men In Your Life This Christmas

"I don't know what to buy him, he's so difficult and picky"
"I bought him a beautiful pair of slacks last year and he never wore them so I don't bother anymore and I just get him a voucher"
"I spent three days searching for him and in the end he hated the colour so I'm not doing that again"

I hear a lot of this, especially women coming to the Studio. This year, for my own family, I gave them a list of websites that they could shop at with the links to the brands I liked and I said 'anything from these websites on these links I will gladly accept.

This year I have created a potential buying list which will feature some of our own products and some from makers and websites I like. Click to enlarge the image to see the details. Here goes:



1. Canclini woven jacquard voile shirting - white with a kind of givenchy-esque geometric repeat, this understated but very beautiful fabric is ideal for shirts, shirt dresses for women, pop-overs and pocket squares. Canclini does not sell directly to the public but you can order their cloths through most reputable shirt makers. Reference 6738 0012 0101 . For more information go to: http://www.canclini.it

2. Aristotle Onassis may be dead but his sunglasses live on as legendary examples of eccentricity and a certain globe trotting swagger. Designed for Aristotle Onassis by French maker Francois Pinton, these glasses can be got from A Suitable Wardrobe in Texas. https://www.asuitablewardrobe.com/

3. Cutting up a limited edition Le Noeud Pocket Square for the sake of making a one off pair of silk eye shades was easier said than done. These eye shades are lined with a felted wool and the rear strap is enveloped in silk to ensure supreme comfort. Silk is made up of  fibroin and sericin, two proteins very similar to human skin which is why humans find silk so natural against the skin. Ideal for long haul flights, sleep ins and siestas. www.lenoeudpapillon.com

4 The silk is designed using the golden ratio principles to create a set of rolling waves fit for any summer outing. The silk is reversed with Mongolian cashmere by Zegna and finished with hand-tassels. www.lenoeudpapillon.com

5. On December 10th 1786 a strong gale wind forced the Danish ship "Metta Catharina" to seek shelter in Plymouth Sound in England but the prevailing winds forced the ship to break anchor and it struck Drakes Island before sinking. In 1973 a group of divers on Plymouth Sound found the wreckage which contained leather hides that originated from St. Petersburg. These reindeer hides had survived two centuries and been preserved in the black mud. The divers retrieved the leathers and in turn George Cleverley of London has turned the hides into unique products such as shoes, belts and leather trays and boxes. This stunning belt is a small piece of history - a time when the leathers were soaked in pits of willow bark and curried with birch oil. They are finished with unique cross hatched grain which has been embossed by hand. Find out more: https://www.asuitablewardrobe.com/

6. Iconic shoes are few and each maker holds onto a number of distinctive designs which often form the basis of the shoe makers DNA. When it comes to loafers you might think of Berluti's 'Warhols' or Lobb's 'Kiplings', or my absolute favourites, the standard penny loafer from George Cleverley with it's magnificent shape of toe box. A newer kid on the block but no less captivating is Gaziano & Girling, which many today refer to as 'the greatest shoe maker in the world'. These are their unique loafers, the 'Antibes' model, ideal for day to day wear and absolutely ideal for the Australian summer. https://www.gazianogirling.com/

7. Sloane Angell used to be a shoe designer for Marc Jacobs before he started his own brand 'Mercer Market'. Sloane is very talented and in his spare time he makes ceramics of equal distinction to his t-shirts and illustrations. We commissioned him to produce for us two designs in 2016, both of which were extremely well received. This scarf is hand-made in the south of Italy by artisan makers who specialise in reversing silk with cashmere and finishing the scarves with tassels. www.lenoeudpapillon.com

8. There is something about a velvet bow tie that prohibits many men from wearing them. It takes a certain type of personality to pull it off. A certain flair or charisma is needed because you can't fake a velvet bow tie, you either have the personality or you don't. This one is exceptional, made from a Holland & Sherry velvet and finished with a purple satin and green polka dot by Le Noeud Papillon. www.lenoeudpapillon.com



Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Richard Roxburgh For GQ Menswear Men Of The Year Awards 2016

My relationship with GQ Magazine was one of hostility when we began. It was just before the GFC and I was some pip-squeak parvenu who thought he had a self-entitled right to be featured in their magazine over and above the big European and American brands because I was making in Australia and because I was focusing on quality. In life I have learned that self-entitlement is a dangerous thing and can lead to great unhappiness. GQ often did nothing to support us and continued to remind me in emails that nobody could buy their content and if they didn't want to write content about us that was their God-given right ....

So in the end I spent a great deal of time writing my own blog content and generating my own following and hoped that one day they might see that I meant what I said. It was probably a good thing since it caused me to stay the course with keeping production small and local and trying our best to build our database one bow at a time. 

When eventually GQ saw that I wasn't mucking around they eventually included us in their magazine and this year, as it was last year, it was a privilege to see our bow ties on their Men Of The Year, not to mention this superlative shot of Richard Roxburgh which was styled by Brad Homes at GQ, who I think has a big future. 

And when we posted this particular image to our wall it was met with a comment from Brad who wrote 'best bow ties in the business'. We're still a niche marketed product, we're still making our bow ties in Australia, we still have no prospects of becoming the next Ralph Lauren - but hey, that's nice to know we got one product line right. Let us hope we crack the unisex market now with our silk eye shades!

Thank you Brad for the compliment and GQ for taking your time to appreciate what we do. It helped keep us on the straight and narrow. 


Why We Value Your Feedback

The internet is a strange place as you very rarely get to meet anyone face to face in my experience. The closest most get is by phone or online chat. But the simple fact is that for the most part some human interaction had to occur for your transaction to place. At one end is the customer with his expectations, at the other a supplier of the goods or services who is hoping to keep that customer happy and funnel them into becoming a repeat customer. So it doesn't matter how automated your systems are or how clever you are at marketing, you can't avoid that relationship and mostly what we really love about that is the final human interaction or that finesse of being in the hands of someone competent and capable - that is why I love buying perfumes from Hermes in the city.

Over time, it's not the customers that come for one thing and never speak to you again that you build your business on but those customers that feel comfortable enough to text you on whatsapp or drop you an email to tell your about a recent tailor they met on their trip to Italy. And it is for the most part these customers that keep you going, because, as I have said too many times before, a predominantly web based business can be a lonely place at times. It is for this reason that we encourage our customers to post our bow ties on Instagram and Facebook so we can at least see how they went, be it a wedding in Tulum, Mexico, or else the Botanical Gardens right here in Sydney. But it doesn't need to be that glamorous either, sometimes it's just seeing a bow tie en route for work.

Yesterday we received a wonderful email from a customer that had potentially been a disaster in the making. I will let Dafir tell the story but needless to say I am grateful he wrote in as I am to all our customers who stay in contact. There is no Le Noeud Papillon without you.

With my wedding imminent in late 2016 I had almost everything organised, almost. The theme was classic black and white and while I took great care and effort on having a bespoke tuxedo constructed for the big day I made the assumption that finding a nice bow tie to go with my ensemble would consist of a simple outing to one of any fine menswear stores in Melbourne.

You know what they say about assumptions don't you?

After searching high and low I realised, with one week to go, that finding the right tie, one that wasn't just a preformed, nasty, generic piece of shiny afterthought, was going to be tougher than I imagined.

After much research I stumbled across Le Noued Papillon's website and immediately called. I spoke with Nicholas and related to him my plight and exactly what I was looking for. He told me he might have what I was after in front of him and sent me a photo of this impeccable one piece diamond tipped bow. I purchased it and it was promptly sent to my home. Upon trying on the bow, to my dismay I realised that it was too short by 1-2cm. It was a gamble that didn't pay off as a one piece has absolutely zero tolerance and this bow was already made for a particular neck size which just fell short of mine. I spoke again with Nicholas, this time a little distraught as my wedding was a couple of days away, and he pointed me in the direction of P.Johnson tailors who might be able to help as they stock a limited number of his ties here in Melbourne. Upon entering their store, the day before my wedding, they were able to provide me with a tie even more suited to my tuxedo and one of absolute singular beauty. Nicholas immediately pledged to return my payment for the first tie upon receiving it back and wished me a happy wedding.

Now you see gents I go on about this and I'm sure some of you think I sound more like the bride than the groom (I'm actually a bit of a "bloke" to be fair) However if you place importance on quality then details like this definitely matter. You will not find better quality than this anywhere.

More important is the quality of service. The service you have shown me is so rare these days it is to be applauded. I would recommend to anyone looking for the best quality in both product and service to definitely reach out to Nicholas and his team at Le Noeud Papillon. You will not regret it.

All the best,

D. Ettakadoumi
Melbourne, Australia


Thursday, December 8, 2016

The Le Noeud Papillon Christmas Window With Thanks To Artist Peter Howard

Peter Howard used to run the best video store in Sydney, back when VHS and DVD were still required for entertainment. He used to write these fantastic reviews on post-it notes on the front of the DVD and they were so spot on that people would come from all around because they trusted his judgement. How did those days come and go so quickly? It was a wonderful congregation point that video store and a great way to touch base with people as it often formed a hub on a Friday night.

These days Peter works in retail and paints on the side and it was such a great chance encounter that we chatted not twelve months ago and decided to deploy his skills for the purposes of window dressing. He has since painted three paintings for our window, the last being hung yesterday for Christmas.

You can follow his work on Instagram at www.instagram.com/peterhoward1000 . He is a gun for hire - but not for any other bow tie retailers.... 

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and I think Peter did a good job of morphing yours truly into Santa Claus although in the end, nobody got to see my bow tie.




Wednesday, December 7, 2016

The Ex-President's Portrait Competition Continues - And Right Now You Will Be A Shoe In....

It would not take much to win our portrait competition and win 500 Australian dollars. Right now there has been only one entrant. The competition is really so easy. You take a portrait from our Ex-Presidents Series, which was completed with the help of illustrator Victoria Louise Watts, which you can follow through our page on Instagram (@lenoeudpapillon )  and then you grab a bow tie from our website, add in a filter or a background, like the one we chose below, and post it on your wall and tag us. I would estimate it's no more than two minutes of your time and right now you would be a shoe in with only one entrant. 

Yes, our competitions require a little more web work than others and maybe you might not know how to do such a thing on your smartphone but rest assured, most of them can. So if you don't know how, ask your children to help you. And with the winnings you can shout them all their first bow tie from Le Noeud Papillon :) .

Good luck!








Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Freshening Up Your Watch For Summer And Fixing A Perlon Strap With A Deployment Clasp

If like me you fell for the Instagram daily watch porn of men who take their beautiful watches and add a perlon strap with bangles etc, then no doubt you might have succumbed and bought some perlon straps yourself.

The fact is, they are cheaply made and for such a wonderful looking product to the eye, they are in fact a bit of a disappointment when they arrive. But you get what you pay for. They are finished with little metal clasps which, if you look at them closely, have the perlon threaded back and over through the loops.

It seems odd then that men are in such a rush to have a 50k watch finished with a perlon strap but the simple fact is that they look wonderful on instagram and really brighten up and funk up a traditional looking watch and give it a certain kind of summer chic.

I did not last a day using my perlons, not because I didn't like the look of them, but because I hate unbuckling a watch - period. And I will do anything to turn any old watch into one with a deployment clasp, I even do it with my Swatches that I wear for work during the week.

To cut a long story short, I managed to use a needle and a thread to add a deployment clasp to my perlon and it has reinvigorated my watch for the summer and given me a disposable style band so I don't thrash my exotic leather ones. Not that I wear my leather straps in the water, but I tend to get water all over me in the summer, be it on a boat or by the beach or simply working up a sweat from the heat.

The process was very easy so I will just post the photos below with a bit of a note. A small disclaimer before we proceed. I did this in between my usual jobs today so this solution is not rigorously tested and I used my own shoddy hands to sew it with thread lying around so please, if you have an expensive watch, do your own research before you go diving into the ocean with your favourite watch on using my technique.

Remove the perlon strap from the below average clasp it comes with.

Here I removed the other perlon strap I had previously attached. Note the deployment clasp knob is poking through the perlon to secure it. This can come off but as of today it didn't - could be just a spot of luck, but it did seem to grip ok. 

Now get some thread and turn back the perlon strap so that you can load a spring bar. (20mm is ideal)  In this makeshift instance I have given myself plenty of space to move. 
Now stitch, don't be like me, I had little prince fingers and I was nearly in tears but we got there. 
Hooray, you have attached your deployment clasp, threaded the the perlon through the lugs and you have fixed it to the clasp, adjusting it to your required length. 

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Like Falling In Love - Our New Silk Scarves Are As Natural On The Skin As If You Were Wearing Nothing At All

A few weeks back I reached out to a company in Italy that specialises in making half cashmere half silk scarves with hand-fringed tassels. I wanted to experiment with our latest limited editions. Three weeks later these wonderful scarves turned up in time for us to photograph them for our blog and Christmas emails. 

The cashmere used is a Mongolian cashmere that is sourced from Zegna cloth and the silks, well, they need no real introduction, they are the very same silks you receive in your bow ties. At $995.00 AUD they are not cheap, but then, nothing naturally this beautiful ever is.

Nine scarves were made in total, a small batch, but you will love them and hand them onto your next of kin as I doubt very much you will either wear them out or that they will ever go out of style.




Wednesday, November 23, 2016

The Ex-President's Portrait Series - Please Feel Free To Join In On The Fun - $500 To The Winner



We have not run a competition in some time so this one will be fun and doesn't require you to get off your arm chair.

We are offering $500 to the winner and entries close on the 24th December 2016.

To enter, simply download the attached image to your computer and then grab the bow ties on www.lenoeudpapillon.com that you feel most suit each particular president and then email the image to us or tag it on your own Instagram wall. We will pick out the ones we like the most and re-post them but only one will be the winner.

Good luck and if you struggle with how to drag and drop our bow ties onto this image then don't be afraid to email us and we can show you how it's done. Or just ask a friend that knows how to use Adobe.


OBAMA OUT - Let's Hope You Are Not The Last Great President Of The United States Of America

Eight years ago when President Barack Obama won the election I was trying to make out with a girl who was not really interested in forming a sexual relationship with me. She was a very attractive somewhat bohemian looking jewish girl and she was very well educated but prone to superstition. She said that her grandmother had forewarned her of a great leader who would appeal to the people's needs but would ultimately prove evil, and that her fear was that Barack Obama was that man. It was one of those strange moments where someone who is highly intelligent says something incongruent with their usual day to day faculties - and to be fair, it actually spooked me at the time.

Eight years on I have never seen this man be anything but noble in his language, in his appearance, in his ideas, in his hopes. When our own Australian political scene was plagued by back stabbing, political assassinations, attempted coups, scandals and poor judgement, it was nice to know that the commander of the world's strongest military and, to my understanding, still the world's greatest economy, was at least something of a Marcus Aurelius when it came to governing.

He is to be replaced by what looks like to be the premonition of that little old jewish grandmother's great demon, an orange oompa loompa who is currently enjoying the fruits of success as his Washington DC hotel gets booked out with other slime balls soon to be petitioning him.

Thank you President Barack Obama for showing us an example of how to behave, how to hold oneself with dignity and for pretty much being the embodiment of a Maya Angelou poem formed into a President. 



With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
‘Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.



Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Christopher Modoo Interview - Elegantly Dressed And Mannered

Christopher Modoo is the creative director of Chester Barrie and has of recent been working collaboratively with The Rake Magazine to produce unique pieces for their online store. I follow Christopher on Instagram ( @chrismodoo ) and have come to admire his personal style, especially his shirt and tie combinations and his ability to show restraint in dressing well.

He was kind enough to answer a few questions for our blog readers.

Christopher, out of all my suits that I have made with tailors I cannot definitively say which one out of them all I find the most beautiful, they all have their merits, much like a father finds it difficult to tell you which is his most beautiful daughter. Do you find this with your work as a creative director, that it’s hard to define which product is your favourite despite the fact that some sell better than others?

I create large collections every season and there will always be an element that will be my favourite. It could be a new style of shirt collar or a lapel shape, often it is a new fabrication. How commercial a product is rarely affects my emotional response towards it. There is always a surprise garment every season where a cloth “comes alive” in make, tailors beautifully and responds well to pressing or it may be that we were a little braver with the styling.

In my personal wardrobe, I have a lot of favourites and I am always looking for the perfect blue suit. I have tried different cuts and cloths but the perfect suit does not exist. But I enjoy pursuing perfection.

Christopher Modoo - impeccably dressed and sporting a four in hand knot with a dimple - the preferred knot of the refined Englishman.

In Australia the most revered days in our racing season are probably Derby Day and the Melbourne Cup. I am sure you have seen photos on social media of the event. Do you think you could offer Australian men a few tips for dressing for the races that might improve their elegance?


Yes, I have seen images on social media and the event is covered by the British press. I think elegance in dress is achieved by how you wear your cloths and behaviour. I attended Royal Ascot a few years ago and was fortunate enough to have tickets to the Royal Enclosure. It has one of the strictest dress codes for any sporting event but I was appalled by some of the behaviour.

In Australia there are fewer wool merchants that offer their bunches in the local market. Scabal, Dormeuil, Holland and Sherry are all present but many of those smaller and more niche wools are not commonly available through tailors. Can you recommend to our readers some wool cloth merchants that they wouldn’t otherwise know about, especially English mills that are likely not represented in our country?

The ones you mention are all very good and I have used all three. Dugdale are a typically English merchant that carry some really good honest cloths. They have a bunch called “New Fine Worsted” that is a great 2ply plain weave made with a robust fibre. It is a great workhorse and drapes beautifully despite only weighing 10oz/320g. They also carry a great traditional Cavalry twill which is traditionally used for trousers but makes for a great weather-resistant topcoat. Dugdale work with some of the best UK mills and are a proper merchant and not just a middle-man. William Halstead actually weave their own cloths but unlike most mills, they provide a merchant-style cut-length service. If you like mohair blends, they are certainly worth seeking. My particular favourite is a 60% kid mohair mixed with super 100s wool. We often use it for dinner suits.



I watched recently a video in which a man asked you whether it was not a faux pas to wear stripes and spots together and you responded that it wasn’t. Can you tell our readers what are some of the do’s and don’ts when it comes to matching shirts, ties and suits which you observe and some of the golden rules you might adhere to when dressing in the morning ?

You should develop your own style and try different combinations. I rarely wear the same combination of suit, shirt, tie and handkerchief more than once. I like mixing patterns and textures but a good piece of advice is to wear something neutral to balance a strong pattern, such as a plain tie with a bold-striped shirt. One of the most neglected areas that can make the biggest difference is how well the tie is knotted; a good compact knot that arches away from the neck with a dimple. And clean, polished shoes are essential. I always wear a pocket square in my breast pocket, even when I am not wearing a tie. As for spots and stripes, I love mixing them. I used to wear a lot of polka dotted ties in the 1980s/90s and I am starting to wear them again…usually with a butcher striped shirt.

I am finding it harder and harder to wear bow ties during the working week, I go between gym and my Studio, then out to suppliers and workrooms, and, when I get the chance, I duck into the city. Sometimes I feel I need four outfits for the day. When I do get dressed properly it takes me a good ten minutes, especially if I am tying my laces, my tie knot etc. I notice you are always impeccably dressed, so my question is, how do you manage that on days you are off to the gym or off to corner store? And, if you do dress down, can you tell us what you like to wear when you are in a relaxed environment?

In the modern world, we do not have the opportunity to change during the day. The modern man needs clothes that are versatile and can work at different levels. This is a creative challenge that I have enjoyed. A few years ago, when I was designing with Edward Sexton, we created something we called a “change coat”…a simple, tailored topcoat that could be worn at the smartest of London bars or to watch a football match. The connoisseur would appreciate the tailoring and the details such as the roped shoulder and expression in the chest but it did not make you stick out like a dandy at Pitti. To the average guy it was just a nice coat. Worn with a roll-neck sweater, dark jeans and Chelsea boots you had a perfect metropolitan uniform. In my most recent collection, I have presented a “blazedo”…a hybrid of a dinner jacket and blazer. Again, the key is versatility and it looks very sophisticated at an evening event but not out-of-place in the supermarket. Of course, one of the pleasures of our profession is that we are allowed to dress-up for no particular reason and I enjoy taking my time getting dressed but at the weekend at home I am in High Street jeans and sweatshirt…If I have unexpected house guests I will throw a velvet smoking gown over the top of them.


James Sherwood in a video once suggested that the only knot is a ‘four in hand’ with a dimple and that even the Duke Of Windsor didn’t wear a Windsor knot… Are you as rigid with your knots and can you tell us what Sherwood means when he talks about the dimple? Are you an advocate of 8 or 9cm ties to achieve the kinds of knots your wear?

I, too, am a bit of a “four in hand” snob and avoid the Windsor knot. The dimple is the small fold in the blade immediately below the knot. Ideally it is slightly off centre, it is important to achieve a good dimple from the first time you wear your tie and it will fall in place naturally in time. I own and wear ties with blades between 7.5cm and 9cm but more important is the shape of the tie, I like a semi-bottle shape that gives a good sized knot even on a slim tie. I am a fan of balance in my dress and there should be harmony between tie, collar and lapel.

The four in hand knot with a dimple, finished with a collar pin. A very sophisticated English Savile Row look.
I noticed recently you created a superb ottoman weave dinner jacket which was exceptional. Can you tell us a little about the cloth and the design in that jacket and how you go about considering a new project?

Thank you. I love formal dress. Before Chester Barrie, I worked for Ede & Ravenscroft who are a very traditional London outfitter where I was able to learn about correct dress. To break the rules you must first understand and obey them. The Ottoman cloth which I use for the facing is made with Mogador which is a sturdy blend of cotton and silk. I actually got the idea from a bow-tie! I usually make the bow to match the lapels but this project started as an accessory. I took some Mogador to our workshop to see if it could be used as facing and the results were stunning. Our suits have a soft roll to the lapel and this can be hard to achieve on a silk-faced jacket but the Mogador actually improved the structure of the lapel. This gave me access to a wider range of colours and one of the first projects was with The Rake magazine where we created a bright navy dinner suit. It is incredibly Rakish and has divided opinion. Traditionalists are saying a dinner suit can only be black or midnight blue but I think there is a place for colour in evening wear. Velvet smoking jackets and slippers were once never worn outside of the home but are now seen at parties and red carpet affairs. If Savile Row does not move on, we will only be suitable for dressing costume dramas. I have nothing against black dinner suits. I have three.
Most of my ideas are cloth-based and I spend a lot of time with mills looking at new designs. This will be my main inspiration. I have no formal qualifications and learnt my trade selling and fitting suits on Savile Row. Working with customers such as The Rake is easy as it is the classic Savile Row client relationship. A man often goes to the tailor as he can’t find what he wants off-the-peg. This is what The Rake is doing but on a slightly larger scale by creating unique pieces that draw on the brands heritage but with a modern, often subversive, stance.

It started with the bow tie and wound up being a tuxedo. The Chester Barrie Ottoman weave silk mogador tuxedo and bow tie which can be bought from The Rake Online

This sophisticated alternative take on a tuxedo challenges the status quo of Savile Row standards by offering a palette that is outside of the usual confines of black tie. With a generous peaked lapel and roped shoulder, this tuxedo is well matched with an oversize bow tie in the same Ottoman mogador to complement the proportions of the suit.

Christopher has developed the blazedo as an alternative to evening wear, merging the best of a tuxedo with a more contemporary look of a blazer, such as the patch pockets. 

I am still concerned about the death of the suit, that each generation is suiting up less and less and where then does menswear head if the role of the suit is defunct in the workplace and in social settings. Can you tell me what you believe is the future of menswear and some concepts you would entertain if you were allow your mind to wander off into the future?


The suit is dead. It is no longer standard dress and is now considered formal wear. But tailoring will survive and will still be relevant. The ability to create something three dimensional from a flat piece of cloth is an amazing skill that combines art with science.
I have always found the concept of the modern suit quite strange in the sense that having the coat and trousers in the same material it is somehow more formal than different cloths. Yet contrasting cloths are considered smarter for morning dress and white tie and perfectly acceptable for black tie.
Although I am an advocate of properly structured suits and I prefer a coat with a clean shoulder, full chest and roped sleevehead, I also can appreciate softer, unstructured tailoring. When I first joined Ede & Ravenscroft in 1999, we had an Italian buyer who purchased jackets from Isaia. This was my first introduction to this style of tailoring and I have enjoyed wearing variations of these models ever since; usually as sports jackets but sometimes as a suit. This style of tailoring will become more mainstream. But there will always be a market for proper tailoring as there will always be a market for mechanical watches, single malt whiskies and good cigars.

Christopher says that the world may no longer require suits to go to work but that there will always be market for tailor made clothes, just as the world will never tire of great whiskey, fine wine, mechanical watches and good cigars. 

Monday, November 21, 2016

Cambridge Christmas Markets, Sunday 27th November, Come And Get A Great Deal On Remaining Stock

This Sunday we will be practically giving away remaining stock at the Cambridge Christmas Markets in Sydney's Vaucluse. Come down and say hello and pick yourself or a loved one up something for Christmas. See you there on Sunday!


Skleer - All In One Skin Corrective Gel - Worth Trying!

I am not one to be in the world of men's skin tonics, I don't profess to moisturise and I seldom put sunscreen on unless its handy and I am at the beach. 

However, recently I had some sort of mark on my thigh. I didn't know if it was an in-grown hair or a rash or a bite and it would not go away. I tried vitamin e cream, I tried alcohol and antiseptics liquids, I tried paw paw ointment. None gave me any real results.

Recently I tried Skleer, a South African made product which includes eucalyptus oil, carraway oil, tea tree oil, cinnamon oil and cardamom oil in its formula. As a gel it seems to penetrate the skin and within a few days my sore was much much smaller and there seemed to be less inflammation and less visible irritation on the skin. I very much likes this product and I have since used it on my face and on my arms and feels good going on and really freshens up my face.

I very much suggest you try it and if it sounds like you, give it a go for a few weeks. It's not expensive and your skin will thank you.


Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Gone Fishin'

It is too easy to get trapped into a machine like routine and not stick your head up to enjoy that which you work for. I work to pay my bills and to enjoy life where I can. In the last few years I spend most of my time trying to keep up with my bills and not enough time getting right away from them. A friend, a few months back, explained to me the secret to his ability to make time to do things outside of work. He said “it wasn’t my idea, my cousin said to me, you book the trip, then, if you get close to the date and you can’t do it, you cancel, or you move the date out. But if you don’t book it, you won’t go. So, you need to plan it well in advance”.

The following evening an email came into my inbox inviting me to fish a remote part of Tasmania on a fly fishing expedition. I didn’t even think, I just booked the tickets and said to myself “if I can’t make it, I’ll just cancel”. But I had no intention to cancel.

We left very early one morning last week and arrived in Hobart just before lunch. There were four of us, old mates, on a road trip heading for the Central Highlands to a village called Miena where we were staying at a place called The Rainbow Lodge.

We arrived and found our bedrooms and within the hour a guide picked us up to head out onto our first fishing spot, Little Pine Lagoon, a place which says of itself on a placard located by the banks that it was the most famous trout fishing spot in Australia. I had fly fished since I was 15, having learned from an influential ‘uncle’ (he wasn’t really an uncle but more a close family friend) that in life two things that were really worth knowing about were fly fishing and jazz music. We were aesthetes, he and I, but he died of cancer some fourteen years ago and whilst I held onto the jazz he left me, I really didn’t give all that much attention to my fly casting.

My attempt to perfect the art of fly fishing had always been stymied by bush and trees since I had never taken the time to buy a boat. Trout fishing in Australian rivers or dams often means getting tangled and patience with untangling my line was never a virtue I held in high esteem, nor looking after such ornate gear. For a few years I switched over to spearfishing, a certain kind of Hemingway romance beckoned me, but after years of getting sea sick, as well as getting tangled in more lines, I had pretty much given up that art form too. Especially when I had come face to face with a three metre shark and if it weren’t for the fellow diver who pushed him off coming too close to me, I might not be writing this blog today.

It was quite refreshing that the first thing that was asked of me was to change into waders once we parked near the far dam wall, for I had never worn waders fishing before and I assumed it meant I would have less scrub to catch onto in my back cast. Some of the group, the more adept fisherman in our party, already had their own waders and were walking around like proud aristocrats in this somewhat similar landscape to the Scottish highlands - at least that was how I perceived them. I eventually got mine on and we began trekking through thick scrub made up of what the locals call ‘kerosene bush’ (because it smells like a fragrant kerosene and bursts into flames when you burn it) and another fragrant smell that seemed to be emanating from some form of an acacia. Through reeds, shallow brooks and more scrub, we penetrated our way onto the far side of the lagoon where we fished for rising trout who barely rose at all whilst a sporadic burst of sunshine followed by grey cloud made it impossible to work out whether to add or subtract layers of clothing.

The landscape I would like to describe as apprehensive, but really this is not the correct word. It looks more like an aftermath – as though the winter, the rain, the wind, the dry and the fire have all had their way with the landscape and what remains is that which was able to survive. Our guide, Craig, showed us photos of the landscape not six weeks earlier, where the entire lake and surrounds was covered in ice and snow and very little nature could be seen at all, enveloped in the kind of winter we Australians pay to go and see in the North.

This was a desolate place, so desolate, as our guide explained to us, that the native indigenous tribes only ventured to the highlands to gather possum pelts in the summer. So desolate that sheep were, as a general rule, only brought up to the highlands in summer for transhumance (the act of droving live stock from summer from lowlands to highlands – yes, it is a word) . As we fished the lake all I could think of was how hard the local flora and fauna had it. Not two weeks earlier I had been on the Great Ocean Road thinking the very same thing about a different part of our unforgiving country, that so much of what our flora and fauna endured in a typical year was outside the realm of what I myself would be willing to tolerate. I made a joke, to myself since there was no one in my vicinity as I cast my rod into a perceived fish rise, that if I were a wombat living in these parts I would certainly throw myself into the middle of the road and wait for the next passing car. And certainly, that is how I perceived the numerous road kills, from wallabies to wombats, that lined the roads in an around Miena and the lakes and rivers where the locals, domestic and international guests came to fish.

Towards dusk we realised that not one of us was going to catch a fish so we stopped for biscuits and some sterling hot filtered Illy coffee that our guide surprised us with. By now the hands were cold and everybody was craving mittens… I had a pair of soft brown leather gloves lined with cashmere that I had bought from Saks four years earlier. I was toasty and not relying on landing fish to make me happy, so I sat on a rock and soaked up the landscape whilst I gave my guide my rod. His casting was mesmerising, days later I was to find out he is considered one of the best in Australia.

At night we went to the local pub and ate a T-bone that was blue on the inside, washed it down with some lager, went back to a few more wines at our lodge and then crashed after a short but interesting conversation that ran in the vein of ‘locker room’ banter but falling short of anybody declaring themselves a ‘pussy grabbing celebrity’.

The next day we fished two lakes, one called Bronte, the other I forgot, and we were mostly unsuccessful but for a few piddly-diddley little trout too small to take home and bake. It was a magical day despite the lack of biting fish which were said to be reacting against changes in the weather and to a late start to the season. But a magic day fishing does not always require fish. There are the near hooks, the beauty of casting your line out to a soft rise just outside your range, then changing your cast moments later when another rise comes in closer on your left. The sheer beauty of looking at pines dotting the far bank whilst you wade between two tiny peninsulas of grassed soil that are met not ten yards off the bank by the stump of a tree that barely juts out of the brown tinted water. At your feet you see the rocks and the clouds your feet make as you tread carefully into deeper water. The art is to make sure you stay dry, stay focussed and stay untangled and with grace and poise you must flick your line, supposedly 11 to 1 on the clock (which nobody ever seems to do), hawling the line and whipping until you are ready to safely lay it in front of your fish. Then, depending on dry or wet flies, you have to employ patience or skill in seducing the fish. If then all these elements fall in your favour, if those skills and equipment all come together, coupled with a splash of luck, you will find yourself hooking a fish, but the journey does not end there, for bringing in the fish can sometimes be just as difficult as hooking it.

It was this aspect to fishing that I fell in love with once again, reminding me of that uncle that once spoke so fondly of jazz and recalling that there were some similarities. Like good jazz, a fly fisherman seems to hang softly in the wind, both gentle and sporadic, then aggressive and enduring. The way jazz is a sort of lofty idealism, so too is fly fishing, there are other, easier ways to fish, but none carry quite the same art or kudos. To catch fish on a lure, it’s still a skill, but to cash fish by a fly, is like asking a painter to sit down and paint en pleine air.

That night, without fish, without anything to cook back at our lodge, we once again headed for the local watering hole to order chicken parmigiana and sunk back beers, exhausted. I checked my phone to make sure Donald J. Trump hadn’t already been assassinated but as I feared, he was alive and healthy, albeit orange. I looked outside and thought ‘well, if all else fails, nobody will ever want to invade this spot other than fly fishermen’.

On our final day we fished a place called Penstock Lagoon which will be etched into my mind for a long time to come. Of course, that is because I had some mixed emotions on that day, some highs, something very low. At Penstock the morning looked and felt like another day of no fish. The weather was neither here nor there but we were told inclement weather was heading in our direction, which our guides told us was good for fish. By now, we were starting to disregard everything they said, about as much as the media needed to be disregarded as to who might win the US election. Yada yada, we thought, you guys said every time the ‘next place will have fish’. In fact, some of my compatriots were starting to look a little red with agitation. Meanwhile, I was still in my mode of being very laissez faire about the whole bit, suggesting I would be more than happy just be amongst nature. I was becoming that annoying pacifist that nobody wants on a hunting trip.

My old mate and I were on Craig’s boat when I stripped hard and felt my first trout fighting on the line. He was an aggressive little thing and for the most part I was doing everything right. I managed to bring him in reasonably quickly but when we got him onto the boat he was too small to keep and so I said hello and goodbye fairly quickly. I declared to my old mate, whose name is Mike, that my fishing trip was over. To catch and land one was good enough after three days. Then he hooked one and landed it. Then another. It was starting to look like the tide had turned on our expedition.

At lunch we all sat down for roast beef rolls and that winning but somewhat archaic hors d'oeuvre platter that you get on such trips of camembert, Jatz crackers, cabanossi and pickled onions and gherkins with a side of cashews. I am not being a snob, I was grateful to have food provided, but it does humour me when it’s served in those small plastic compartment trays.

After lunch both guides, Tom and Craig, were using the lunch break to practice their own skills. Deftly both would place their flies right in front of the trout and twice Craig brought in fish from the bank where none of us were able to secure a fish on the line.

There was a Telstra tower we were able to reach with our telephones and wanting to know about the US elections I had jumped onto Facebook. It was all the same news, it could wait. But then, as I scrolled down further, the photo of a recent acquaintance I had met, someone whom I had liked but had perhaps pushed away from me, had killed himself with an overdose of pain killers. Accidental or not, he knew the risks. Not four months earlier he had asked me to help him write his life so far on a timeline. It could not be said to be a straight out tragedy, there was much goodness in his life. But then he was bullied at school and his father had proven to be a great disappointment to him. I can remember how frank I was with him on the last time we spoke. I hadn’t had enough patience with him, in fact, I had told him to stop with the attitude and pull the tooth pick out of his mouth, enough with the smirk too.

It was after lunch that the weather turned very cold. As we drifted through the lake the fish were now more active with the weather choppy from wind and blurred from rain. My casting was now much more confident and I threw my line out and ripped my flies back as fast as I could. Without any particular reason and not being on any particular cast or rise, I found myself on a big fish, at first not recognising it’s size until it pulled at my line and make a run. Once my guide confirmed it was a big one I could not speak, as though everything from the last three days, the patience, the practice, lead to this moment, to bring in this one fish that by now I had glimpsed as he came to and from the surface waters. It took me near ten minutes to bring it into the boat, unable to utter a word with anyone that tried to communicate with me, feeling the line go taught and release, then taught again, but not too taught, carrying that pressure evenly to tire the fish rather than to over-wrought him with strength as my guide advised. There is a balance that must be carried out in your retrieval that is the art of showing restraint, of keeping the appropriate tension on to make sure your fish never snaps off.

Landed, my brown trout was 59cm and the biggest fish of the trip by 8cm. He weighed approximately 4 pounds. By far he was the ugliest fish of the trip, I hadn’t seen one less pretty. I loved it because it was mine and I was determined to eat him too. Slimy and forming bubbles on the skin I threw him into the holding tank. We fished on, this time my other mate was up front. He landed two more fish, bringing his total to four. The rain set in harder and we were now cold and rugged up under our waterproof jackets getting a good Tasmanian soaking with the wind now picking up too. The second boat pulled up and heard the news. They were resolved not to see me get the biggest fished and turned their boat back out into the inclement weather liked armed bandits.

We called it a day towards the early evening. We two got back to the lodge first and so prepared the first two fish with dill, butter and lemon.

When the others arrived the first fish came out of the over and we drank the last of the Asahi beer, poured out a bottle of Riesling and Pinot Noir and toasted the most successful least successful fishing trip that any of us had embarked on. We had intended to drink and talk crap until 3am but our flight was very early and, exhausted from another full day in the elements, we all crashed only to rise again at 5am to make our way to Launceston.

At the airport, one of my friends remarked “did you see Barry Humphries boarding the aeroplane?” . I had thought it might be him but I wasn’t sure. So when we docked in Sydney I made my way over to him at the baggage carousel and dropped him my card, explaining what we did. “I even once made a silhouette that looked like Dame Edna, pink on a lilac warp, it was stunning” I said, not mentioning that it took forever to sell because not everyone shared my enthusiasm for The Dame as a bow tie. He smiled “I’ll be in touch” he said, I hope by that he did not mean his property rights lawyer….

Tonight I am going to listen to jazz and think of fly-fishing and maybe spare a thought for my friend who didn’t get such an easy run in life.

Casting into risers off the lagoon bank

Preparing for the hike through scrub

My biggest catch. 

The scrub which lines the lagoons and lakes is often covered with snow. The kerosene bush permeates a lovely smell in the air.

Our guide Craig, a superb caster
First fish of the day.

#NOTMYPRESIDENT


Something tells me these guys would all be wanting to shut their eyes right now and pray that it doesn't all end in tears.... 



Monday, November 14, 2016

Merry Christmas From The First Lady ...

Over the weekend I posted a photo of Melania Trump both on my Facebook wall and on my Instagram account with the caption "Merry Christmas From The First Lady" . Ordinarily I think this is a fabulous photo and I would absolutely consider the products she was selling, be it eyeliner, diamonds, briefcases, hand-cuffs, stilettos or rugs... But Melania was now on path to becoming the First Lady of the United States Of America.

I was not 'slut shaming' her as one Republican voting type wrote on my wall, but pointing out the hypocrisy that if Michelle Obama, or for that matter Hillary Clinton, had been shot in such a manner, the whole remaining Republican voting white folk in the United States would be up in arms demanding an explanation. In fact, it was the Republican voting type that even had a name for it - until then I had no idea what 'slut shaming' was.

What I did find appalling, more than the Republican's comment, was that Facebook and Instagram removed both images without warning and with no explanation other than it did not meet their Community Guidelines. I think in the eight or nine years that I have been blogging and writing content on whatever I felt related to menswear and bow ties, this was the very first time I had been censored, and it did not feel right. It felt like my rights, and I am not even  a voting American, had been oppressed and compromised. Social media had meant that we are all connected to the same pipeline regardless of what country or continent we were on and yet here was a company willing to put a kink in that pipeline for the purposes of protecting the image of the spouse of a President-elect who had voluntarily been photographed for a GQ magazine shoot. I was not hacking her personal iCloud account, I was not using vulgar language. I was merely pointing out the hypocrisy and with alarming speed it was pulled down as content.

So, when a Republican voting type tells me it's none of my business to get involved in US politics I have to disagree. Your country has long used ours to follow you into conflicts we had no business in and your social media companies are now censoring my right to speak freely. It is all, sadly, interconnected.

As for Melania Trump, she is welcome to be my model for my bow ties any time she likes. I am just a little concerned she may not be the right fit for First Lady.




The Second Last Of Our Series Of American President Portraits - John F. Kennedy

It seems fitting to throw up John F. Kennedy for one of the final portraits of this series we commissioned. He watched as the Berlin wall went up, he presided over American involvement in the space race, he averted global warfare by negotiating a way out of the Cuban missile crisis and finally, he was on the right side of history with his involvement in supporting the Civil Rights Movement. 

All of this seems diametrically opposed to that which was spruiked by the Republican nominee in the lead up to the Presidential election. 

I was warned by a follower of our Instagram account not to get involved in US politics and to stick to bow ties. And whilst this is not a political blog and whilst I can see and understand most of the reasoning behind the choices Americans were faced with, both left and right of the spectrum, I cannot help but feel that many of the past Presidents, alive or dead, would be quietly appalled by the decision that American voters made.

Time will tell but I have included one small tear for John F. Kennedy, a tear shed for the country he fought for, and died for.

Our last portrait is yet to come. Stay tuned.


Thursday, November 3, 2016

Akira - Coy Up Or Coy Down - That Is The Question


For some time now I have been researching Japanese art and some of it has filtered into our backgrounds for bow ties. There is something so effective about their designs that translates so well into repeats for textiles and with that in mind I had initially tried to design The Great Wave Of Kanagawa as a silk. However, every time I went at it seemed too contrived. So, I found myself back in the realm of coy fish and the waves, which are similar in design structure to that of the The Great Wave Of Kanagawa but simpler, less white wash and bubbles which never get rendered well in woven jacquard silks. I was half way through when Alarico proposed his first iteration of the design and so I asked him to thrash it out and the result, which is probably more complex and more neatly finished than my own designs, is almost exactly what I was hoping for. The trouble is that as you try to finish a design there are so many obstacles that can occur between the design, the translation at the other end when it gets to Italy, the mills interpretations of your written instructions and then finally, what the actual jacquard loom spits out. This is not an exact science and there is room for error at every stage.

Today, however, I am happy. This is a very unique limited edition silk from us and I hope it will be received by our customers with the same enthusiasm. The first batch has been finished with our limited rose gold plated clips and you can shop them now on www.lenoeudpapillon.com

Post Script: Incidentally, last night when I sent off a photo to Alarico he said that he was upset I had placed the coy downstream, when it was good luck to have them facing up, he was adamant that the Japanese would want it that way... so I did some of my own research. And this is what one website had to say:

Upstream

You are currently in a battle or struggle and are still fighting obstacles but won’t give up.
You have overcome obstacles and have now gained the strength you need to continue against the current.

Downstream

You don't yet possess the strength to make it against the obstacles and move towards success.
You have already achieved your goals and overcome your obstacles, and you are no longer fighting the current.

On that basis, I kind of don't mind our coy swimming downstream, as I think it sums up bow tie wearers.