Give Everything You've Got

The bow on the left came off the bench today. It is really something very different and is superb for an evening cocktail party whereas the bow on the right would be paired magnificently with a grey pin striped suit, perhaps on a wiry haired architect or bohemian intellectual. Perhaps you. In which case, how do you describe yourself?

Shop. 

Very Dapper - Our Majestic Black Bow Tie On David Campbell At Channel Nine, Sydney

There is a natural elegance about traditional black tie which needs no introduction. It has survived as an institution for so long because it elevates men in the most tasteful and understated manner and without distracting our attention from the femininity of a woman who might be in the presence of the man. This works for same sex couples too. I am inclined to feel that if one goes black and white, the other ought to go peacock.

Shop either black tie or peacock. 

The Parisian Gentleman - The Book - By Hugo Jacomet

Hugo Jacomet is being rewarded for his hard work and dedication in the blogging and menswear sphere with a book by Thames & Hudson in the same name as his blog. The book is a celebration of the luxurious craftsmanship and elegance behind some of the most highly regarded tailoring houses and brands in Paris which form the foundations of Parisian menswear and style.

If you were to write a book on Parisian menswear I could think of no fitter voice to deliver this insightful look into houses such as Berluti, Cifonelli, Charvet, Camps De Luca, Marc Guyot and Smalto to name but a few.

I highly recommend purchasing this book as my preliminary reading has found it to be very inspiring.

You can purchase the book here.

Photo Source: Thames & Hudson, The Parisian Gentleman 2015

Oppenheimer Strikes Again - He's Looking Beyond Fashion Now. Much Deeper In Fact.

My dear friend Oppenheimer used to feed me so much scintillating stuff on menswear. He introduced me to the Agnelli cuff. He has taken me to all sorts of half-baked tailors and forced me to try their services. He has put new brands under my nose and poo pooed the peacocks before they started fanning their feathers at Pitti and he ear marked fads long before they were to fade.

Last night we were conversing on Whatsapp and he was being exceptionally difficult and stonewalling my efforts to break the ice. Somehow we landed on spirituality and he mentioned Alan Watts, a man I'd never heard of. 'Another Viktor Frankl' I thought and rolled my eyes - until that is, a You Tube link popped up in my window and when I clicked through to this....

My dear Oppenheimer has struck gold again, this time philosophically.

The Resurrection Of Alexis Zambrano - From Metals And Stones To Paints And Brushes

Life is a series of resurrections - this is a statement I have heard reiterated by a film director to a friend of mine, it is what I have read endlessly about the career of David Bowie and Madonna and it is witnessed in pretty much every interesting human being I have ever attempted to read about. You are not one thing, so it is unlikely that you would therefore be able to apply yourself to one thing all your life and never evolve from that moment in time/space. The most fascinating people I have met in my journey so far are those that are constantly evolving and changing. That's not to suggest that they are a turn coat or that they are whimsical. No, that's a different kettle of fish altogether. I am referring to those people that continue to explore themselves throughout their lives. 

Recently I noticed that Alexis Zambrano, one half of the team behind M. De Phocas that we wrote about many years ago, had moved on from his menswear accessories and jewellery brand and moved into painting. There is nothing unusual about that, except that I found his paintings to be exceptional for someone who seemed to have a relatively quick metamorphosis. So, I asked him to share more of his sea change with our readers.

Alexis Zambrano, changing artistic disciplines

Alexis, can you tell our readers about your upbringing, your education and how you came to evolve as a creative into painting?

I was raised up in Monterrey Mexico where from an early age I was exposed to collecting as well as creating art by my family primarily. I was never very interested in sports, I played tennis and did track and field, but my main interests have always leaned towards the arts.
While my friends would go to football I would go to painting, piano and sculpting lessons. Funny how life is, I now share my painting studio in NY with Aldo Chaparro, my sculpture teacher from when I was in the 4th grade.

The focus of your jewelry brand in accessories was about elegance and beauty for men which came at a time when so few were in that space. Nowadays it seems over-crowded. Can you tell us how you feel about menswear post the dandy renaissance?

I think it is wonderful men have more and more options every day from which to pick from! The lack of thought-provoking menswear accessories is exactly how M.de Phocas came to be, we were constantly looking for interesting lapel pins or cufflinks and would have a hard time coming across these pieces so we just started creating them.

Can you tell our readers about what are the most magnificent things you have experienced in Mexico and how that influences your art work?

I find my artwork to be a pictorial reference of my interests, so Mexico is definitely present. One of my greatest passions in life has always been collecting; all sorts of things like minerals, art, antiques you name it…

There are superb collections in Monterrey that I was exposed to since a very young age thanks to family and friends. Objects ranging from fossils to ivories, art to antiques constantly provoked and stimulated my senses in my youth. Being surrounded by these objects day to day helped develop not only my desire for collecting a wide array objects but more importantly an ability to spot something special.

When I met you once you were very neat and tidy and everything on you was exactly in its place, including your leather gloves which poked perfectly out of the top pocket of your overcoat. You struck me as a perfectionist, is this something you would agree with and do you take this approach in all aspects of your work?

The act of dressing is something I greatly enjoy, it is another way for myself to communicate to the world the way I feel at the moment. I take the same pleasure in conveying feelings and interests through my art yet I wouldn’t consider myself a perfectionist.

I like making things work in a timely manner. I am not the type of person who does things over and over until they are perfect because I find it impossible to find perfection, particularly in a work of art. I like undertaking tasks cautiously and performing with quality, but I don’t really fuss or obsess over them.

Can you tell us about some of your contemporary influences in terms of menswear designers and men of style that you think our readers should know more about?

Menswear has developed exponentially in the past 10 years and we are fortunate to be living in a time where men have such a great spectrum of options from which to dress from. A designer who constantly pushes the bar who I admire as an artist is Thom Browne, I find his shows to be art performances, experiences not only meant to commercialize the clothes but to make the spectator feel something.

Style is something very personal and objective, who am I to say if its good or bad. I enjoy seeing men who dress to feel extraordinary not mattering weather that outfit was seen this season on a runway or major magazine. Someone who comes quickly to mind with his unique wardrobe is a dear friend and fashion blogger James Andrew who constantly surprises with unique ensembles.

Thom Browne - Photo Source: NYmag

In your opinion what are the best menswear stores in New York that you would recommend our Australian readers visit when next in Manhattan?

Apart from the large department stores like Bergdorfs and Barneys, I would highly recommend Paul Stewart for their wonderful accessories, Beckenstein’s Bespoke for their impeccably tailored suits, Holland and Sherry Bespoke for their incredible array of curiosities, clothing and accessories as well as The Sock Hop a charming little shop in Soho specializing in socks.

Designing a canvas and setting out how you will move an idea from a sketch book into the physical act of painting must be similar but very different to sketching a cufflink for example. Can you tell our readers how you engage one differently from the other and some of the challenges you have faced moving disciplines?

They are both different processes. In my paintings I usually start out by creating small collages. I get cut outs from auction catalogues, old text books, brochures etc. and create compositions which convey what I am trying to illustrate. I later use these small collages as references in order to start creating my large scaled paintings.

In jewelry I had a business partner, which changed the whole dynamic. Whenever one of us would come up with an idea, that would get bounced back and forth until it would evolve into something we were both exited about. This idea would go on to a sketch pad, afterwards wax models were made to see if it worked in scale and moved on to metals and precious stones form there.

These are two very different processes mainly because there were 2 creative minds compromising in one vision, moving disciplines has definitely been a challenge but not one that I have seen as something difficult. Painting has been a part of my life for such a long time changing to it felt very familiar, like going back to riding a bike after a couple of years of not doing so.

What are the things you most cherish about living in Manhattan?

The pace of life in the city. Living in Manhattan is a very unique experience due to its constant evolution. You can meet someone new everyday, dine at a different restaurant, see new exhibits, anything your heart desires. If it it exists, New York can usually offer it. This constant development helps cultivate many aspects of life that aid me in staying productive.

Anastasia - A New Silk From Le Noeud Papillon Of Sydney

An origami elephant silk was what was delivered to me when I requested that Alarico Arenosto, a Milanese who was spending some time in Sydney and freelancing as a graphic designer for me, work on a silk where the elephants were not forced to have their trunks up and where there were two parent elephants and a baby elephant. This was because I was to expect a child later in that year and at that stage I don't think I knew what sex it was. Having a child is possibly the most significant change that has ever taken place in both my internal and external world. Selfish people are forced to confront so much in themselves. What a shock it was. But what bliss. I don't think there is anyone else in the world I'd rather spend time with than my daughter. So, when recently I found this old design which was shelved in a folder on my computer, I decided it ought to see the light of day and I am so grateful and happy for the involvement of the team at the silk mill whom I gave some creative leeway to interpret the design in terms of colours. The resulting silk is very sophisticated. We, and I mean the silk mills, myself, the designer Alarico and the men and women that cut and sew our silks together, hope you like it.

More silks will follow. Keep an eye out on the website. 

If Liberace Were Around Today He Wouldn't Hesitate For A Moment - Le Noeud Papillon's New Silk Eye Shades

Le Noeud Papillon's silk eye shades - made from pure silk so they won't irritate your ski

Mostly these silk eye shades are a private pleasure. I mean, not many people will ever see you wearing them in the privacy of your own bedroom. But then, why not have them as an accessory on your next long haul flight. Was it not some famous menswear devotee like Oscar Wilde that said something like 'you either have to be a work of art or you have to wear a work of art' . How much beauty will you give to the overall look of the aircraft cabin when, as some other passenger through a foggy altitude haze makes his way past your seat to those awful urinals, is arrested by the beauty of your silk eye shades as you dribble your way to Honolulu. Of course, you won't care what you look like, because our eye shades will have effectively blocked all that out. No no, you will be dreaming like a child of some happier place a long long way away from your uncomfortable chair.

Shop them

Where To Buy Custom Made Or Bespoke Bow Ties In Sydney - Don't Overlook Us - Le Noeud Papillon Of Sydney Studio In Sydney's Vaucluse

The custom Studio in Sydney's Vaucluse is designed to be a one on one experience for those looking for a specific silk, either printed or woven jacquard, to be turned into a custom made tie or bow tie or else for those looking for custom made shirts, Moth Of Sydney collared t-shirts and more. We are open to the public by appointment - you can either call +612 8001 6684 or else email bow at le noeud papillon dot com

It would be unfair to ourselves to suggest that we are just like any other tie brand - we are most definitely not. Designing woven jacquard silks from the ground up, creating and developing new patterns in ties and bow ties, generating new screens for our screen printed silks and developing new collars and cuffs for shirts every other week does make us a hands-on business with a level of service we haven't experienced in other menswear retailers across Sydney. The downside is you might leave with a bit of thread on your suit or else you may find we don't have quite the dark chocolate mahogany furniture you'd expect in one of the more exceptional boutiques on Castlereagh Street in the city, but then we make up for what haven't spent on our fit out with the highest quality cloths and construction. Higher than any other brand in the world as far as we can tell.

So if you are looking for a custom made shirt, tie, bow tie, suit, smoking jacket, scarf, collared t-shirt, pocket square, braces or anything else that you believe we might be able to make for you, why not stop past or book an appointment. We guarantee that even if you don't buy anything, you will have a wonderful time and you will learn something new. And, for international customers who can't make the Studio, try us on whatsapp and we will be able to show you silk and patterns on the fly.

Phone us: +612 8001 6684
Email Us: bow at le noeud papillon dot com
Whatsapp Us: email first
Book online: www.lenoeudpapillon.com 

As A General Rule, You Should Trust The Opinion Of Those That Wear Hand-Tied Bow Ties

George P. Shultz is one of the most prominent men of the 20th Century that wore hand-tied bow ties. He was the 60th United States Secretary Of State and if you recall he was the butt of one of Don Rickles great gags at the 2nd Inaugural for Ronald Regan. On finding this video I felt compelled to post it as it's very relevant to today's geo-political climate and only bolsters my opinion that as a general rule we should listen to men who tie their own bow ties.

The 'Ace' Behind 'Ace Rothstein' - The Costume Designs Of John A. Dunn

It is hard to believe that the film Casino is already 20 years old. It feels like yesterday that I watched it and bought the soundtrack.

Last night I happened to catch it running on a local television station and my God I was filled with a rush of inspiration and had forgotten just how wonderful the suits of this film were. The costume designer was John A. Dunn who recently did the costumes for Boardwalk Empire. You can see a video below with Dunn who makes it abundantly apparent that you don't stumble through a wardrobe like Casino or Boardwalk Empire, it is methodical and requires a lot of diligent research.

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We are starting to get weighed down with a bit of stock so pretty soon we will be wanting to clear off existing cut stock to make way for new silks. If you like our Dutch Auctions and if you want to own a Le Noeud Papillon bow tie, it's time to consider joining our mailing list. 

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The Suit Leng Made - Our Final Act Of Purple

It all ends today. All of it. It is my final act of purple. For those few of you that have watched me dabble in the colour of 'wisdom and a search for a meaningful life' you will know that I have gone high and low in search of it. We have seen Ottoman silk weaves come through, bright satins, mid purple satins with geometrics, contrasts, yellows with purples, purples with lilacs as well as watch straps and umbrellas that we accumulated along the way. 

Like all wonderful things it must come to an end and so it is concluded with this commission which now sits in the window of Le Noeud Papillon's window as an homage to the wonderful Sydney tailoring team of Leng Ngo and Gennaro Scuro and as an homage to the roped shoulder (though perhaps we fell a little short Leng, you should have followed my instructions!) and sweeping peaked lapels of the bespoke tailor / dandy deity of Edward Sexton. 

The suit was half lined because we used a heavier English merino wool coming in at 320 grams. Unfortunately the colour dictated the wool so there was no opportunity to get a lighter weight in the same colour having searched high and low through the branded bunches. 

I have placed the suit in the window with a shirt made of our recently acquired bolts of Carlo Riva shirting which is soft to the touch and light on the skin.

But today, after declaring my passion at the beginning of the year for Roman purple, I have finally decided to let it go and now you are all invited to stop past our Studio in Vaucluse and pick up a tie or bow tie in this colour of wisdom and meaning and not, as it has often been maligned, as the colour of sexual frustration.

We May Ride Once Again On The Sheep's Back - The Vitale Barberis Canonico 2nd Wool Excellence Awards

The Vitale Barberis Canonico  (VBC) Wool Excellence Awards was held on Tuesday evening in Sydney. The gong was taken out by Des Manning and his team at the property 'Miena' in Tasmania that runs 12,000 Saxon Merino sheep.

The awards night was the second held by the team at VBC which offers $50,000 in prize money to the winners. How exactly the winners are decided I am not sure, but effectively it is a reward for working with VBC consistently to produce fine micron wool. The programmes which these smaller sheep farms employ are specifically designed to get consistent production of high quality super fine micron wool out of farms which are located predominantly in Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.



The wool is then purchased by agents acting on behalf of groups such as Zegna and VBC and those companies which act as weavers that are contracted to make wool on behalf of bunch service companies such as Scabal, Loro Piana, Dormeuil, Holland & Sherry and more.

I was fortunate enough to sit with the buyer for VBC, Mr. Davide Fontaneto, who wore a product of their collaborations with Australian farmers. His suit was a very flat finish twill in black with a white pin stripe. It weighed 200 grams and was a super 160's fibre Australian merino wool. The notched lapel suit still looked as good as new and yet Davide informed me that it was in fact 10 years old and that he had been working with VBC now for over 14 years.

Fontaneto explained that once the wool is packed up in a bale at the farm level it is transported to them directly through the port of Genoa and delivered by truck to a factory that VBC co-own with other companies that is located approximately 20 kilometres from the town of Biella. There, the combing and scouring takes place and it prepares wool to a what is commonly referred to as a wool top by going through various stages. At first the wool is processed into a batting, where the hairs are cross directional and are in what would appear more like a felt in the hand. As the wool is processed further through combing to remove the short hairs and to slowly get those wool fibres all moving in one direction, we arrive first at what is called a roving and, then,  finally at a wool top where all the fibres are somewhat twisted and moving in one direction, making them perfect for the next stage of turning them into yarns on spools. You can see some of that processing in this video.

You can dye wool at multiple stages throughout the process of making a wool fabric. In fact you can piece dye fabric after weaving which can be appropriate for some blends of fibres or for the versatility of playing with a palette of colours each season. However, often wool is dyed at a wool top level before weaving the tops into yarns. Seated next to me on my right on Tuesday evening was Matt Jensen of MJ Bale and he explained to me that the Italian cloth companies will often take a 'pantone' like approach to preparing wool for weaving in which they try to cover all their bases. By dyeing ten types of blues and ten hues of navy along with a good deal of other colours such as greens, yellows, greys and purples, the weaving companies can use at a yarn level combinations of colours to create effects in the wool. Jensen himself was wearing what he said was a twill construction  article 427 VBC wool which was a blend of navy and a mélange. A mélange is a term which is applied to having multiple colours of fibres blended together at a yarn level so that it is, well.... a mélange . Fontaneto explained that if you wanted to create a green to the eye, you did not necessarily have to dye a yarn green, but instead you could use yellow and blue fibres to achieve a similar result.

Fontaneto said that Australians still had a lot to be proud of. He said that merino wool from our country was still the best in the world, bettering nations such as New Zealand and South Africa. This was also reiterated by Alberto Barberis who spoke briefly to introduce the awards and who pleaded with the audience that if Australia wished to protect her sheep industry then we needed to form a group. His words seemed lost on the audience but in my opinion he meant that in order to sustain a long term viability to our high quality standards and production then we needed to form a hub or organization similar to the wool top processing and fabric weaving community of Biella in Italy where, by forming themselves into organizations and structures, they were able sustain long term productivity and creativity in an industry that has been heavily hit by competition from markets such as China. Biella is for wool what Silicon Valley is for technology.

Alberto Barberis - suggested Australian premium Saxon merino wool growers form a group in order to protect the industry. 

With the price of high quality wool currently at around $22.00 AUD per kilo, the industry itself is faced with enormous challenges as the cost of farming increases and viability of the industry is being threatened by new markets for wool. The likes of VBC cannot continue to process and weave fine wool cloths if Australian farmers give up on breeding and rearing high quality Saxon Merino wool sheep.

As for the Australian climate, I asked Fontaneto what he thought might be the ideal ensemble for the Australian businessman. He said that given the climate in Sydney he thought that trousers, a jacket and an open linen shirt were they way to go in a Sydney summer. He suggested that Australian men should engage more in Mohair wool, which he said combined the best properties of two great wools (merino sheep and goat). The long and strong nature of merino wool fibres and the open and more breathable nature of mohair which allows you to stay cool all day. He suggested that Australian men would benefit from 1/2 lined suits and that mohair/merino blends offered less crumbling and creasing throughout the day. From the VBC collection he recommended that our readers look for the Revenge collection and specifically to article 5592 and the 511 double ply.

When I asked Fontanelo who would make his dream suit in Italy he said that he fits off the rack suits perfectly but that if he were to choose a tailor it would either be Brioni or Caraceni.

Coming Soon To Le Noeud Papillon

It is very hard to stay fresh in this business. If you spend enough time looking at what everybody else is doing then you can often stymie your own creativity and in many instances you can lose your confidence and your identity chasing the modal audience. There is that old economics anecdote about ice cream vendors on the beach and as to where they will place their stores in order to capture the most amount of revenue, and the answer is that both stores end up being in the very centre of the beach as close to each other's customers as possible.

However, we have always wanted to create a unique identity and that was endorsed when we ran a Survey Monkey in which most of our customers requested that we spend more time cultivating unique limited edition silk designs rather than staying on solids and weaves.

Below is one of our new designs, it draws partly from space, partly from nature and partly from Australian indigenous culture. How it will look as a bow tie we won't know for a while yet but suffice to say it will make an extraordinary scarf if the design does not lend itself to a bow tie, which I am fairly confident it will.

It is hard to stay fresh as I said, but I feel more and more inclined to pursue things which relate more to Australian culture moving forward to try and separate what we do from our English, French, German and Italian counterparts. After all, a bow tie must tell a story and ours is most definitely an Australian story. 

A new bow tie silk design coming soon from Le Noeud Papillon Of Sydney

To Our Suppliers And Our Customers - May They Never Meet On Instagram

In a really great piece by Wei Koh of The Rake Magazine the owner of the world-renowned shirt maker Charvet of Paris, Mr Jean-Claude Colban, said that when his father took over the business after being one of the main suppliers of the world's oldest "chemisier" he was finally able to use the front entrance of the business he now owned. As Colban says in his own words: “At the time, he rarely visited the old Charvet shop on 8 Place Vendôme. That was because there was a rule that all suppliers had to use the back door. It was rather nice that on the day he purchased the brand, he finally walked in through the front door.”

In years gone by there were distinct lines between suppliers, wholesalers, retailers, customers, workrooms, weavers, manufacturers, cloth merchants and so on that prevented each from meeting the other with the hope that the industry is protected by pockets of knowledge being what glued the various people in the industry taking a clip on whatever function they performed. Over time as businesses try to vertically integrate what they do from top to bottom they spend a great deal of time cultivating relationships from the profiles of their workers right through to their Instagram page tagging customers. Marc Jacobs recently spent a good deal of time on his Instagram creating profiles on his floor staff. The superlative shoe maker Gaziano & Girling has a profile page for their best artisan shoe maker. Tailors show off their customers and their creations. Materials suppliers and workrooms that make items often "like" the products they make on their customers pages. It served to remind me of a now famous letter written by one of the most highly regarded Sydney tailors and his shirt maker upon learning that his shirt maker was trying to start his own label. The gist of it was "when your supplier is trying to steal your customers it's time to cut ties" - although by 'cut ties' he did not mean the silk variety. 

The point being is that quite often these days you have to be wary of who is liking and following your content on Instagram. If they are not a competitor trying to ascertain your competitive advantage or to find out who your core customers are then potentially it is your customer looking to connect the dots about how you do what you do. It is therefore only fitting that I propose a toast:

"To our suppliers and our customers, may you never meet on our Instagram! Bottoms up! "

Famed Parisian shirt maker Charvet of Paris - the old rule was that suppliers used the back door. Source: Wikipedia

Some Things In Life Are Free - Our Dick Carroll For LNP How To Tie Instruction Cards

For a limited time we are offering these for free. Order yours - www.lenoeudpapillon.com 

Leng Bespoke - Why Having A Workroom In Sydney Matters

In an effort to engage more of Sydney's tailors and MTM services to write more content for this blog I recently engaged the services of an MTM programme in Sydney, which I don't need to name, and during the course of the fitting from a block made suit I said "now about the size of the trouser band, I feel this is too narrow for my stomach" to which there was a pause and it was met with the response "we can't change anything like that".

The salesman then suggested to me that they were working on allowing more changes like that to occur but that I was limited to lapel and pocket details and sleeve buttons but the basic overall template was what was on me as they measured. 

These MTM programmes are excellent price points for your every day knock around suit or even for that matter if you were going to buy all your groomsmen a suit instead of renting, but they are limited. Below you will see some of the details of the trousers that Leng Ngo is making for the purple suit we commissioned. The larger waist band on the trousers is finished with an "inbuilt belt" if you like which sweeps around to the side. There is a single pleat in the trousers exactly where I asked for it to be and the cuff, lapel size and roping is as we agreed upon in the specifications too. 

But what is more important is that if for whatever reason you don't like what you see or if it's not as you requested, there is an opportunity to make changes, something which you cannot truly get with an MTM service. You can keep an alterations person on hand to try patch things up but ultimately, the person that will make those alterations didn't cut the suit and didn't sew the suit.

There is the old adage, pay once, cry once. I do believe that holds true for many things including a new suit for spring. See Leng's work in progress. 

The Apple Watch Cuff By Le Noeud Papillon Of Sydney, Custom Made Shirts For The Next Generation Of Elegant Men

Our new Australian Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, instructed us when he addressed  the media recently after the bloodless coup to remove sitting Prime Minister Tony Abbott, that our country needed to embrace a 'disruptive' market place and embrace the changing face of business in the face of a modern global economy. 

To do our bit we have come up with a cuff for the Apple watch. This cuff is designed specifically to the dimensions of the Apple watch and allows the wearer to look at his screen, an addiction most of us suffer from, without having to lift up his cuff. It's a window to keep you connected, to your calendar, your phone calls, the number of steps you've walked and how far you have to go to reach your destination.

However, we have fused it with Carlo Riva fabric, some of the oldest looms making fine cotton shirting in the world, so that it is in effect 'Old World meets New World' . Carlo Riva cotton is also famous because it took wooden shirting cotton weaving machines and used new technology to re-calibrate them and get them working for the 21st Century.

In effect, the cuff and the cloth are all embracing change. We hope you are pleased Mr. Turnbull. Now if Mr. Tim Cook would buy out our company, we are open to mergers and acquisitions....

Book an appointment with the Studio. 

Apple watch dimensions according to Grail Watch

In time for summer, two lovely new fabrics from world renowned fine shirting cotton maker Carlo Riva

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

Those that we revere in music, art, literature, film and dance are often the ones who step out of the confines of comfort and seek new horizons. They are not afraid of experimentation, they are not afraid to fail. In that zone and in that zone alone is where you'll find that thing which sets you apart. 

Below is a bow tie which most men might recoil from. It's burgundy Loro Piana velvet contrasted with a crimson limited edition Zig Zag silk by us. 

How you would wear this bow, only a few will know. We hope that few find us.

www.lenoeudpapillon.com 

Dreams And Meditations Are Our Most Fertile Grounds

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree:

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

   Down to a sunless sea.

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round;

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!

A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,

As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,

A mighty fountain momently was forced:

Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst

Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,

Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher’s flail:

And mid these dancing rocks at once and ever

It flung up momently the sacred river.

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion

Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,

Then reached the caverns measureless to man,

And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean;

And ’mid this tumult Kubla heard from far

Ancestral voices prophesying war!

   The shadow of the dome of pleasure

   Floated midway on the waves;

   Where was heard the mingled measure

   From the fountain and the caves.

It was a miracle of rare device,

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

   A damsel with a dulcimer

   In a vision once I saw:

   It was an Abyssinian maid

   And on her dulcimer she played,

   Singing of Mount Abora.

   Could I revive within me

   Her symphony and song,

   To such a deep delight ’twould win me,

That with music loud and long,

I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread

For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

Have magnificent dreams with our new silk eye shades - www.lenoeudpapillon.com

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