Friday, September 30, 2016
Thursday, September 29, 2016
The Reason For The Death Of The Tie Might Be In The Words Of Honoré de Balzac
Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting up with one of Sydney's more discreetly better dressed men. He is one of those aesthetes that takes the time to research and know about cloth before he makes a suit, a man who would take the time to know the precise difference between last styles offered by shoe makers. He is meticulous, I was once told by his wife, in every aspect of his life, from how he cooks and prepares his food to how he ties his laces.
We don't always agree on many subjects and to some extent his style is not always my cup of tea. He wears more grey than I like, his choice of blues for shirts is slightly off my own palette, his taste in shoes I find almost polemic. Yet, it is precisely our differences and his knowledge base which fascinates me and why I hold him in high regard. I can hold sartorial conversations with him that I can't with any of my other friends. I can take note of something he is wearing and in three words we both are able to articulate that we both understand the style and the history behind that particular fabric, cut, style or make.
Yesterday he wore a tie I would not do anything other than cut up and throw in the cabbage bin. It was a Drakes of London tie in a shantung silk that to my eye seemed like an old bit of rag turned into a tie. He showed it to me with great enthusiasm, along with some very beautiful silk grenadine ties by Tom Ford and Gallo of Paris. I loved both of the latter ties, but the Drakes I would only use for polishing my shoes.
At that point I made the remark "you know, I do not understand why you guys walk around the city with these drab and insipid ties, as though a plain shantung silk has any character in it" . He knew I had passed a shot across his bow but he was not going to rise to the occasion inelegantly and responded "in a work environment you can't walk around with such vibrant silks that you offer" and he stung me like a bee. I continued on "one of the things I find most appalling is the lack of character in ties these days. Men wear them to try and fit in, to be afraid of actually revealing any of their own personality. It reminds me of what Honoré de Balzac said with regards to the tie being the mark of the man and his individuality. I think he said that if the tie is ever standardized in design or knot then it will cease to exist because it is the only part of a man's attire that is his own creation."
At this point both of us agreed on one thing. Too many men in business and politics lacked any character when it came to what they put around their neck. With respect to that, we were both finally united in an opinion. I told him that I was interested in running for politics just so that I could be the first man to wear a pink suit in the Australian federal parliament. I think he thought I was serious. I think I might have been serious. "Why not?" I suggested. "Harry S Truman was a haberdasher that failed selling ties and accessories in Kansas so he went into politics" I said.
We parted company soon after but not before he picked up a bow tie and a couple of pairs of socks to match his beautiful rich deep blue silk dupioni cloth from Holland & Sherry suit that he was going to pair them with.
In the afternoon as I was serving a wedding party I was thinking on Balzac and that he was right in his conjecture. The tie will die when it ceases to be the individual's. When Balzac was around, people often made their own ties and tied them in their own way. It was before the world of long neck ties, before ties were bow ties even. As he rightly noted, most men did not have a hand in the work that was done by the tailor, nor a hand in the work that was done by the cobbler, nor even, by then, the shirt maker. Yet there was one thing he had a hand in, the tie, and it was up to him to source the right fabric and tie it in his own way. In modern society, we have lost that art, both the fabric, the cuts and the knots are all standardized - most being 8cm neck ties knotted in a four-in-hand in a variety of prints and weaves that are designed to fit in. It is that aspect of the neck tie that might in fact kill the whole art form, for if there is no individual expression in the suit, nor the shoes, nor the shirt, nor the even the tie, what then separates one man from the next?
In the words of Balzac:
“It is neither by study nor by effort that one is successful; it is spontaneously, by instinct and by inspiration that one ties his tie. A tie well tied is one of those traits of genius that is felt and admired but never analysed or taught. I would dare to say, with all strength of conviction, that the tie is romantic by nature: The day that it submits to static rules will be the day that it ceases to exist.
It is true that, of all the aspects of one’s dress, the tie is the only one to belong solely to men, the only one where a man can find his individuality. For your hat, your clothes and your shoes, all the credit is owed to the hatter, the tailor and the cobbler who have delivered these things to you in all their finery. There is nothing in them of yours. But, for the bow tie, you have neither help nor support. You are abandoned to your own devices. You must find whatever you need in yourself. The laundress leaves you with a heavy piece of fabric and you must use what knowledge you possess to make something of it. As though it were a block of marble between the hands of Phidias or those of a stonemason, a tie will only ever be as good as the man that wears it. In all truth, it is the tie that makes the man as it is through his tie that a man’s measure is revealed.”
We don't always agree on many subjects and to some extent his style is not always my cup of tea. He wears more grey than I like, his choice of blues for shirts is slightly off my own palette, his taste in shoes I find almost polemic. Yet, it is precisely our differences and his knowledge base which fascinates me and why I hold him in high regard. I can hold sartorial conversations with him that I can't with any of my other friends. I can take note of something he is wearing and in three words we both are able to articulate that we both understand the style and the history behind that particular fabric, cut, style or make.
Yesterday he wore a tie I would not do anything other than cut up and throw in the cabbage bin. It was a Drakes of London tie in a shantung silk that to my eye seemed like an old bit of rag turned into a tie. He showed it to me with great enthusiasm, along with some very beautiful silk grenadine ties by Tom Ford and Gallo of Paris. I loved both of the latter ties, but the Drakes I would only use for polishing my shoes.
At that point I made the remark "you know, I do not understand why you guys walk around the city with these drab and insipid ties, as though a plain shantung silk has any character in it" . He knew I had passed a shot across his bow but he was not going to rise to the occasion inelegantly and responded "in a work environment you can't walk around with such vibrant silks that you offer" and he stung me like a bee. I continued on "one of the things I find most appalling is the lack of character in ties these days. Men wear them to try and fit in, to be afraid of actually revealing any of their own personality. It reminds me of what Honoré de Balzac said with regards to the tie being the mark of the man and his individuality. I think he said that if the tie is ever standardized in design or knot then it will cease to exist because it is the only part of a man's attire that is his own creation."
At this point both of us agreed on one thing. Too many men in business and politics lacked any character when it came to what they put around their neck. With respect to that, we were both finally united in an opinion. I told him that I was interested in running for politics just so that I could be the first man to wear a pink suit in the Australian federal parliament. I think he thought I was serious. I think I might have been serious. "Why not?" I suggested. "Harry S Truman was a haberdasher that failed selling ties and accessories in Kansas so he went into politics" I said.
We parted company soon after but not before he picked up a bow tie and a couple of pairs of socks to match his beautiful rich deep blue silk dupioni cloth from Holland & Sherry suit that he was going to pair them with.
In the afternoon as I was serving a wedding party I was thinking on Balzac and that he was right in his conjecture. The tie will die when it ceases to be the individual's. When Balzac was around, people often made their own ties and tied them in their own way. It was before the world of long neck ties, before ties were bow ties even. As he rightly noted, most men did not have a hand in the work that was done by the tailor, nor a hand in the work that was done by the cobbler, nor even, by then, the shirt maker. Yet there was one thing he had a hand in, the tie, and it was up to him to source the right fabric and tie it in his own way. In modern society, we have lost that art, both the fabric, the cuts and the knots are all standardized - most being 8cm neck ties knotted in a four-in-hand in a variety of prints and weaves that are designed to fit in. It is that aspect of the neck tie that might in fact kill the whole art form, for if there is no individual expression in the suit, nor the shoes, nor the shirt, nor the even the tie, what then separates one man from the next?
In the words of Balzac:
“It is neither by study nor by effort that one is successful; it is spontaneously, by instinct and by inspiration that one ties his tie. A tie well tied is one of those traits of genius that is felt and admired but never analysed or taught. I would dare to say, with all strength of conviction, that the tie is romantic by nature: The day that it submits to static rules will be the day that it ceases to exist.
It is true that, of all the aspects of one’s dress, the tie is the only one to belong solely to men, the only one where a man can find his individuality. For your hat, your clothes and your shoes, all the credit is owed to the hatter, the tailor and the cobbler who have delivered these things to you in all their finery. There is nothing in them of yours. But, for the bow tie, you have neither help nor support. You are abandoned to your own devices. You must find whatever you need in yourself. The laundress leaves you with a heavy piece of fabric and you must use what knowledge you possess to make something of it. As though it were a block of marble between the hands of Phidias or those of a stonemason, a tie will only ever be as good as the man that wears it. In all truth, it is the tie that makes the man as it is through his tie that a man’s measure is revealed.”
 |
| Honoré de Balzac once predicted that when the tie is standardized or kept to 'static rules' it will cease to exist. |
The Groomzilla - A Relatively New Phenomenon Which Is In Part Justified
The stress of a wedding and planning a wedding is very palpable just by witnessing the frantic emails, phone calls and in person appointments that build up in a crescendo for all the tailors, alterations houses, boutiques and accessory makers during the peak season. In Australia that time runs between September and November and usually starts to ease off in early December.
The funniest aspect to it all is that grooms are in fact capable of becoming 'Groomzillas' before the wedding, a word I had never heard until a patron apologised by text for what he believed to be 'Groomzilla' behaviour.
The customer was being a little too hard on himself. His concern was justified. He had come to us with a last minute need for a self-tying bow tie in black velvet and his wedding was the following weekend. We put the bow tie in an express post overnight bag but for one reason or another it took 5 days to deliver the package. In the meantime, the customer was becoming increasingly agitated that his needs were not being met and so we offered an alternative solution if the post did not turn up.
Thankfully, the bag did turn up and the bow tie was happily received just in time for the wedding this weekend. However, it did remind me that the way to avoid being a self-labelled Groomzilla is to take the time to prepare for your big day.
Here are some tips for grooms :
1. Write yourself a to do list with variations on the points below and tick them off.
2. Get your suit pressed and dry cleaned a fortnight before the wedding. Get your shirt starched and pressed a week out.
3. Do not leave shoes to the last minute. Shoes are very important, look for them at least 90 days out from the wedding.
4. Buy a clothes brush and make sure you or your best man brushes your suit.
5. Practice tying your bow tie in the mirror a week before your wedding. If you don't want to tie it on your neck, try our technique for tying it on a table.
6. Polish your shoes or at least rub them down with a damp cloth if they are patent leather. Check that the heels and soul are not chipped, repair if needed.
7. If you are wearing studs on your shirt, count your studs and put them into a safe velcro pouch or one that closes securely.
8. Polish your watch.
9. Ensure you have the right socks for your suit - do not wear cheap socks on your wedding day. Over the calf is better.
10. If you are wearing braces you need to get the buttons sewn into your trousers. I highly recommend silk braces or else Albert Thurston evening braces. If you are wearing a cumerbund, make sure it fits around your waist and check it off.
11. Create a man bag or small secure bag in which to place all your belongings that you don't need on your person and give it to your best man, if he doesn't want to carry it, he's not your best man. Also put in your cologne, preferably in the form of a travel atomiser.
12. Book a hair cut. It's nice to wait in line and get a hair cut and a cut throat shave but if you want a proper hair cut you need to go to a proper hair salon.
13. Keep two pocket squares, the first should be silk or cotton for your breast pocket, the second, for the inside of your jacket, you should use to daub yourself if you get hot or sweaty.
There are no doubt more things to think about than just your kit, but remember, you are on show, not just for yourself but you are there to compliment your beautiful bride or partner to be, so make an effort to look good. Even if you are the scruffy type, look your best kind of scruffy.
Good luck,
team LNP.
The funniest aspect to it all is that grooms are in fact capable of becoming 'Groomzillas' before the wedding, a word I had never heard until a patron apologised by text for what he believed to be 'Groomzilla' behaviour.
The customer was being a little too hard on himself. His concern was justified. He had come to us with a last minute need for a self-tying bow tie in black velvet and his wedding was the following weekend. We put the bow tie in an express post overnight bag but for one reason or another it took 5 days to deliver the package. In the meantime, the customer was becoming increasingly agitated that his needs were not being met and so we offered an alternative solution if the post did not turn up.
Thankfully, the bag did turn up and the bow tie was happily received just in time for the wedding this weekend. However, it did remind me that the way to avoid being a self-labelled Groomzilla is to take the time to prepare for your big day.
Here are some tips for grooms :
1. Write yourself a to do list with variations on the points below and tick them off.
2. Get your suit pressed and dry cleaned a fortnight before the wedding. Get your shirt starched and pressed a week out.
3. Do not leave shoes to the last minute. Shoes are very important, look for them at least 90 days out from the wedding.
4. Buy a clothes brush and make sure you or your best man brushes your suit.
5. Practice tying your bow tie in the mirror a week before your wedding. If you don't want to tie it on your neck, try our technique for tying it on a table.
6. Polish your shoes or at least rub them down with a damp cloth if they are patent leather. Check that the heels and soul are not chipped, repair if needed.
7. If you are wearing studs on your shirt, count your studs and put them into a safe velcro pouch or one that closes securely.
8. Polish your watch.
9. Ensure you have the right socks for your suit - do not wear cheap socks on your wedding day. Over the calf is better.
10. If you are wearing braces you need to get the buttons sewn into your trousers. I highly recommend silk braces or else Albert Thurston evening braces. If you are wearing a cumerbund, make sure it fits around your waist and check it off.
11. Create a man bag or small secure bag in which to place all your belongings that you don't need on your person and give it to your best man, if he doesn't want to carry it, he's not your best man. Also put in your cologne, preferably in the form of a travel atomiser.
12. Book a hair cut. It's nice to wait in line and get a hair cut and a cut throat shave but if you want a proper hair cut you need to go to a proper hair salon.
13. Keep two pocket squares, the first should be silk or cotton for your breast pocket, the second, for the inside of your jacket, you should use to daub yourself if you get hot or sweaty.
There are no doubt more things to think about than just your kit, but remember, you are on show, not just for yourself but you are there to compliment your beautiful bride or partner to be, so make an effort to look good. Even if you are the scruffy type, look your best kind of scruffy.
Good luck,
team LNP.
 |
| Arrived on time... Phew ... To avoid becoming a 'Groomzilla' it's important to prepare yourself before your wedding. Write yourself a list like the points above and tick them off one by one to prevent the pre-wedding sweats. |
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
One Of The Greatest Perfumes For Men And Women I Have Smelt In All My Life - Bois D'Ascèse By Naomi Goodsir
A couple of months ago I was in the Strand Arcade visiting Robert from Strand Hatters. Whilst I was there I kept on him about an idea which seemingly no retailer was touching.
My idea, which I do hope somebody now does given that I am offloading that idea onto the winds of the internet in the hope that they reach some enthusiastic and hungry entrepreneur who is looking for something new to chew on, in a nutshell the idea is this... Travel perfume atomisers, which are the greatest invention since sliced bread, are now very cheap to buy, not more than $1 each I believe. If you were to curate a wonderful range of colognes and perfumes for each sex in a small boutique or kiosk, say a selection of the best of the best at the moment, you offer the customer a chance to choose the perfumes that they would like to try, you pump the perfume into an atomiser, then you charge them for the atomiser plus the percentage of the bottle used to to fill the atomiser.
This means that on scents from companies such as Creed, Santa Maria Novella, Tom Ford and other luxury brands, where the individual bottle is upwards of $300AUD, you can use and wear the fragrances in an atomiser form at a fraction of the price until such time as you are comfortable enough to buy a whole bottle. OR, you do no such thing, and just keep hopping between fragrances.
Robert wasn't thrilled with my proposal, it was too far removed from the superlative fedora and panama hats they sold, but he asked me to take a stroll across the Strand to another business that was selling men's perfumes and colognes, Men'z Biz, which is also a barber.
He walked over to the shelf and pulled down a tester and said "I wan't you to try this, tell me if you smell a bushfire".
Well, I'll be damned. As soon as the scent hit my wrist I could already feel the heat and scent of charred smokey embers whilst wild bushfire continued to burn in my peripheral vision. I could sense that dry arid air of an Australian summer when everything wants to burst into flames. I was so taken aback that I had to gather my senses.
"I cannot believe it. I cannot believe what that just evoked in me" I said to Robert.
"I know, it's wild", he said. He added , "She's Australian. Her name is ...... " - and I promptly forgot what he said, and the name of the perfume.
As fate would have it a few weeks back an attractive stylist who had a sort of Sophia Loren meets New York intellectual look about her came into our Le Noeud Papillon Studio in Sydney looking for clothes and accessories for a television commercial and she brought her friend with her, an eccentrically dressed woman with an extraordinarily unique style and manner about her that instantly caught my eye. Her hair was black and white, finished with a sailors hat in leather, big rings and bangles on her hands, some with beetles trapped in acetate.
As we talked and talked about all sorts of stuff somehow I came to the topic of fragrance and I asked them if they would like to smell the scent we were currently running. We meandered through that topic until I said "there is an Australian woman who makes this perfume, I tried it once, and it smells like an Australian bushfire". As luck would have it, the very same lady was who makes that perfume was standing right in front of me. "That's my perfume, my name is Naomi Goodsir".
Well, as many of our blog readers will know, over the years we've had a number of coincidences and lucky encounters, but this one had a certain level of serendipity about it that, contrary to all my usual suspicious and negative thinking, I felt was 'meant to be'.
She promised to stop by and return again and true to her word yesterday I had the pleasure of both women again at the Studio and this time I am now in possession of her wonderful scent Bois D'Ascèse - or what I would prefer to call 'Bois Des Cendres Australienne" ....
I am not much of a perfume describing type, so perhaps I just ought to shoot from the hip when I describe how it smelt for me. I sensed smoke, wood, tobacco, whiskey, amber, dried grass, rust, BBQ, church incense and perhaps some mixed spices.
Whilst Bois D'Ascèse is most definitely not an everyday scent and may not win over every passer by, it is quite possibly the most charismatic fragrance I have ever come across. If it were an actor it might be a Daniel Day Lewis, if it were a singer it might be a Freddy Mercury. This perfume is something of an outlier and whilst I highly recommend it, I might also add that it might be the kind of perfume you need to wear first before you fall in love. It might be precisely the kind of perfume that would work for my big budding business idea.
In the meantime, for those of you who trust my words - you can buy it here.
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| A scent not necessarily designed for Australia but containing a winning formula which conjured up a scent akin to an Australian bushfire - Bois D'Ascèse by Australian designer Naomi Goodsir |
Friday, September 23, 2016
Thursday, September 22, 2016
The Alarmingly Sad Truth Is - Sex Really Does Sell
For years now I have deep etched bow ties and stood them upright along side one another, like little soldiers, and published those images on my social media to excite men to consider a bow tie but to also offer them a close up and very intimate picture of the silks themselves. What I had hoped to convey was 'yes, these are genuine silk bow ties, they have a genuine design difference and yes, those are expensive materials that we have used'.
It's a difficult game. You wait for a long time in the hope that one out of one hundred prospective customers will recognise the difference and seek out your products.
In the interim, waiting for the world to recognise this, I walk through the streets of Sydney and I see the same old international brands populating the same old shopping centres selling the same old concepts. Most of it revolves around some central ideas - celebrity, sex, lifestyle and a unique and desirable life - are encapsulated in the products the brand is offering you to differentiate your life from the other men and women shopping the same said mall, witnessing the same branded image.
Personally, we had never tried such a technique to sell bow ties. I was curious: would sex and celebrity help my products too? The truth is, no celebrity ever wearing our product had ever increased our sales. Not local Australian celebrities, not even international ones.
But sex? The final frontier... And I needed to explore it.
Below you will see a selection of images we had done to try and sell a little more sex with our silks. I love them! They are cute and playful and most importantly, sexy.
I have absolutely no expectation as to whether they will increase sales, but what I do know is this - they have already garnered more talk on Instagram than six months of erect bow ties lined up one after the other.
In conclusion: Sex really does sell.
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Highly Recommended Television - The Roosevelets - A Ken Burns Documentary
For all my readers with plenty of spare time and an iPad or laptop, I highly recommend sitting down to watch the superb documentary series 'The Roosevelts - An Intimate History' by renowned documentary maker Ken Burns.
Not only does Ken Burns do a great job of sifting through the content and collating the stories that come from this dynamic family, but he also then magically brings it all to life through the inimitable voice of Peter Coyote in narration with Paul Giammati and Meryl Streep also providing wonderful voice overs for the words of Teddy and Eleanor Roosevelt respectively.
It takes a documentary like this to put all the pieces of a puzzle together in your head. As an Australian you read about Teddy Roosevelt and then Franklin Roosevelt, and you might then bother to make the family connection through a Wikipedia page - but nothing like this. Nothing about the heroes and heroines of the family, where the wealth came from, what education they had, what friends they kept, how they formed their world views etc. This is exactly as it is titled, an intimate history, and I highly recommend it to all our blog readers.
As we head towards another US Presidential Election, it is always exciting to look back on the past and to see what came before us before looking towards the future. The major events of the 20th Century were played out between relatively few characters and can often be whittled down to key relationships, such as that mutual rapport that came between Churchill and FDR.
One of the more jovial moments of this documentary series is when Churchill is staying at the White House towards the end of WWII. Both men are discussing the prospective establishment of the United Nations post the conclusion of the war. One observer remarked that they were like two school boys playing. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, unable to sleep and restless with ideas, wheeled himself across the hall and straight into Winston Churchill's bedroom where a pinkish Churchill was completely nude having just finished with his bath. So the story goes, Roosevelt apologised for intruding to which Churchill responded "There is nothing that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom wishes to hide from the President Of The United States" .
I have ruined one joke this week, I do hope that I just did justice to Churchill's quip. Regardless, this is great television and I cannot recommend it enough.
Not only does Ken Burns do a great job of sifting through the content and collating the stories that come from this dynamic family, but he also then magically brings it all to life through the inimitable voice of Peter Coyote in narration with Paul Giammati and Meryl Streep also providing wonderful voice overs for the words of Teddy and Eleanor Roosevelt respectively.
It takes a documentary like this to put all the pieces of a puzzle together in your head. As an Australian you read about Teddy Roosevelt and then Franklin Roosevelt, and you might then bother to make the family connection through a Wikipedia page - but nothing like this. Nothing about the heroes and heroines of the family, where the wealth came from, what education they had, what friends they kept, how they formed their world views etc. This is exactly as it is titled, an intimate history, and I highly recommend it to all our blog readers.
As we head towards another US Presidential Election, it is always exciting to look back on the past and to see what came before us before looking towards the future. The major events of the 20th Century were played out between relatively few characters and can often be whittled down to key relationships, such as that mutual rapport that came between Churchill and FDR.
One of the more jovial moments of this documentary series is when Churchill is staying at the White House towards the end of WWII. Both men are discussing the prospective establishment of the United Nations post the conclusion of the war. One observer remarked that they were like two school boys playing. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, unable to sleep and restless with ideas, wheeled himself across the hall and straight into Winston Churchill's bedroom where a pinkish Churchill was completely nude having just finished with his bath. So the story goes, Roosevelt apologised for intruding to which Churchill responded "There is nothing that the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom wishes to hide from the President Of The United States" .
I have ruined one joke this week, I do hope that I just did justice to Churchill's quip. Regardless, this is great television and I cannot recommend it enough.
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Thursday, September 15, 2016
The Winner Of The King's Bow Tie Competition Is P. Carmody Of Melbourne - Congratulations!
Of all the fantastic contributions to the King's Bow Tie Competition in the form of feedback, positive and negative, one really washed well with me and that was the short note sent in by P. Carmody of Melbourne. It resonated with me because I myself would be suspicious of any website claiming us to be the best bow tie maker in the world - and would therefore be sceptical about said business. To turn this Melburnian around is a great delight and that he has kept coming back, is a great reward.
Every single published piece will receive a silk flower from Le Noeud Papillon but there could be only one winner and in this instance I just felt it fell fairly on this one. Mr. Carmody will receive the King's bow tie, which is set with 9k solid rose gold hardware and inlaid with diamonds. I doubt we will ever see a photo of it in situ, but no doubt it will knock the socks off somebody who chances to see it sparkle.
**********************
My fascination with bow ties began last Christmas Eve. Not long after I found a website claiming Le Noeud Papillon the best bow ties in the world. As a Melburnian I was typically suspicious of this claim. All suspicion was abandoned, however, when the first order arrived. Opening the stylish packaging a now familiar fragrance burst forth, setting the scene for the reveal. These ties are seriously classy, one might say decadent. I've ties from around the world, but these silks are set apart by the cut, quality and design, and they keep their shape all day. I wear them almost daily and receive compliments about them almost every day from men young and old, and women too. In formal, work and casual contexts I never run out of an excuse to wear one. They really set you apart. Once you've found the right length and mastered the rather straightforward knot, there's no turning back.
P. Carmody
Melbourne, Australia
**********************
The others that will receive a silk flower are:
H. Paul, D. Meisenburg , N. Allen, G. Hilton, M. James, J. Kalinowski, S. Campbell, C. McBride, Ahmad D., C. Cullinane and M. Grant. If you would kindly drop us a line on www.lenoeudpapillon.com when you get a free moment.
Every single published piece will receive a silk flower from Le Noeud Papillon but there could be only one winner and in this instance I just felt it fell fairly on this one. Mr. Carmody will receive the King's bow tie, which is set with 9k solid rose gold hardware and inlaid with diamonds. I doubt we will ever see a photo of it in situ, but no doubt it will knock the socks off somebody who chances to see it sparkle.
**********************
My fascination with bow ties began last Christmas Eve. Not long after I found a website claiming Le Noeud Papillon the best bow ties in the world. As a Melburnian I was typically suspicious of this claim. All suspicion was abandoned, however, when the first order arrived. Opening the stylish packaging a now familiar fragrance burst forth, setting the scene for the reveal. These ties are seriously classy, one might say decadent. I've ties from around the world, but these silks are set apart by the cut, quality and design, and they keep their shape all day. I wear them almost daily and receive compliments about them almost every day from men young and old, and women too. In formal, work and casual contexts I never run out of an excuse to wear one. They really set you apart. Once you've found the right length and mastered the rather straightforward knot, there's no turning back.
P. Carmody
Melbourne, Australia
**********************
The others that will receive a silk flower are:
H. Paul, D. Meisenburg , N. Allen, G. Hilton, M. James, J. Kalinowski, S. Campbell, C. McBride, Ahmad D., C. Cullinane and M. Grant. If you would kindly drop us a line on www.lenoeudpapillon.com when you get a free moment.
 |
| Solid 9k rose gold hardware with inlaid diamonds - won by P. Carmody of Melbourne. |
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
The Best Underwear Brands I Have Known - Personally
Today we just added a small range of Bresciani pure Egyptian jersey cotton underpants to the Le Noeud Papillon website.
I chose to stock Bresciani because I wanted to offer something very different to what all other luxury websites had on their websites. That is, the majority of them were stocking Zimmerli of Switzerland. It got me thinking about the best underpants I have owned and so I am going to write a brief (no pun intended) description of the brands I love and my experience.
1. Zimmerli Of Switzerland
I have had about four pairs of Zimmerli in my lifetime, mostly coming from A Suitable Wardrobe. They are in my opinion the best underpants in the world. I certainly have never owned a better brand. There is an old adage 'pay once, cry once' and Zimmerli are this brand. The underpants continue to survive for many years despite being light and sheer to the point that you have to wonder what was woven into them in order to survive the long term rough and tumble of so many washes. I highly recommend this brand.
I have had about four pairs of Zimmerli in my lifetime, mostly coming from A Suitable Wardrobe. They are in my opinion the best underpants in the world. I certainly have never owned a better brand. There is an old adage 'pay once, cry once' and Zimmerli are this brand. The underpants continue to survive for many years despite being light and sheer to the point that you have to wonder what was woven into them in order to survive the long term rough and tumble of so many washes. I highly recommend this brand.
2. Hom
Hom have made some of my favourite underpants but over time they have somewhat declined in quality and I am less likely to buy them these days unless I am in a specific country and they are on sale. What I love about this brand is that they make underpants look cool, they feel good on and they are reasonably sturdy.
3. Emenegildo Zegna
I understand that its good branding to have your name on the elastic of your underpants but truly I would buy more pairs of Ermengildo Zegna if they didn't have the name on the elastic. They are great quality, highly durable and classic good underpants that you will keep for years. They are quite reasonably priced.
4. Bonds
I love Bonds trunk underpants. In recent years the company has been so playful and spirited with their designs that what they lack in longevity they make up for in design. Gold metallic motifs and prints, silver elasticated bands and vibrant patterns are but a few of the more recent pairs I have purchased. Yes, they will eventually go bad and you will throw them out but you can roughly purchase 3 pairs of these underpants for every one pair of the superior brands mentioned above.
I love Bonds trunk underpants. In recent years the company has been so playful and spirited with their designs that what they lack in longevity they make up for in design. Gold metallic motifs and prints, silver elasticated bands and vibrant patterns are but a few of the more recent pairs I have purchased. Yes, they will eventually go bad and you will throw them out but you can roughly purchase 3 pairs of these underpants for every one pair of the superior brands mentioned above.
5. Bresciani
For those who know and love their socks, Bresciani have made a foray into boxer and trunk shorts which are superbly made from high quality Egyptian cotton jersey. It made sense for Bresciani to move into this space as they already had a great following for their socks. These underpants are durable and well priced. They are cheaper than Zimmerli but offering a quality near enough to the Swiss brand that will most likely seduce a number of connoisseurs away from their usual choices.
A Pure Indulgence - Who Honestly Needs A Silk Shoe Bag ?
Owing to the incredible amount of fabric these silk shoe bag use up to make, this limited edition Le Noeud Papillon ziggurat silk below is listed on the website for $375 AUD.
That is not to say that we will get that much for it - that's what we priced it out as. The cost of the limited edition silk to set up the design, split over the number of metres of silk woven, plus the cost of the silk, the air freight, the trimmings, the lining silks and jerseys, the time taken to make the bag and then our margin on top.
Invariably we will lose money on this item. Nobody will purchase it unless it's 50% off or more and sadly the internet has done that to a great many businesses. Where once you could have something unique and expect to get paid for it, these days shoppers know the cash flow constraints of smaller online businesses and will wait and wait and wait and then shop it at a discount.
One particular shopper on a discount website I alerted to our sale made the exact remark mentioned above, "is this guy kidding himself?"
Well no, we're not. But then, I am in no rush to sell them either. For the wonderful thing is that these shoe bags end up making wonderful travelling sales pouches for bow ties. So when I do my rounds with the shops it's wonderful to reveal the new silks from my magical pouch and to protect them in my leather bag there and back.
For many men, having a shoe bag is the last thing that's on their mind when they are heading out the door to go travelling, be it on a plane or in a car. But let me assure you one thing, it's better for your clothes and it's better for your shoes that they are neatly separated out. I don't even want to go into the story about the one time when travelling I had stepped in dog poop, nope, I don't even want to go into that story.
Consider a shoe bag. Doesn't have to be silk.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
Harry S. Truman - The Second Portrait In The Presidents Series Of Sketches
Harry S. Truman was not necessarily a shoe in for the US Presidency. If Franklin Roosevelt had lived a whole bunch of events might have transpired to to prohibit his ascension to the Presidency but on April 12th 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt died leaving Truman to take the helm.
I have always admired the style of Truman and his personal sense of style was no doubt attributed to his passion for clothes and his subsequent co-ownership of a haberdashery store in Kansas city. Although Truman would fail in this business, which concentrated (just like LNP does) on menswear accessories, he would take his personal style with him wherever he went in subsequent years.
Although most often remembered as the President who dropped the bomb, Truman was also instrumental in the formation of the United Nations, the overseeing of the Berlin airlift and the subsequent beginnings of the Cold War as well as the rebuilding of Europe through the Marshall Plan and, because he was very sympathetic towards the plight of Jews under Nazi occupied Europe, he was one one of first to recognise the state of Israel.
I have chosen to place on him our Crown Of Thorns silk bow tie named 'Lear'. Because I am quite certain that he would have had a heavy head making some of the bigger decisions he undertook during his Presidency.
Stay tuned, our next President will be ready in the next few days....
Wednesday, September 7, 2016
A New Sketch Series - If I Could Turn Back Time - Begins With Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Recently I started working on a new portrait series with an illustrator residing in Sydney. I will eventually tell our readers at the end of the series who the illustrator is, but for the time being and until the series is finished, I will keep a lid on it.
Suffice to say she is very talented and was more than willing to take up the challenge. I had seen her sketches and loved what I saw but with the US Presidential election coming up I wanted a segue from her traditional sketches, to delve into that Wall Street Journal style of profiles, the dotted portrait in charcoal and pencil. My hope was to consider US Presidents, living and passed, that I would have liked to have seen wearing our bow ties. I did not care for whether they were Democrats or Republicans, what mattered to me was their personal sense of style and a chance to learn more about them.
Whilst Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt were initially thought of as candidates, I decided I would instead start with Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
FDR served as the 32nd President of the United States of America between 1933-1945. He won an unprecedented four elections and served as President through both depression and war.
What attracted me to FDR was that there was nothing particularly noteworthy in his formative years by way of natural ability or education that would indicate that one day he might make a good President. He was considered a good student, but nothing extraordinary. His own headmaster at Groton school, Mr. Peabody recalled Roosevelt as "a quiet, satisfactory boy of more than ordinary intelligence, taking a good position in his form but not brilliant". He was no different as a lawyer, either. In fact, at school he was neither bright nor popular. And this theme continued when he went to Harvard.
FDR's hero had been his fifth cousin Theodore Roosevelt, who was the 26th President of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt was a big character; a rancher on the frontier, an explorer, a formidable hunter, a soldier and a great statesman. It was therefore no coincidence that FDR married Theodore's brother's only daughter, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, who preferred to be called Eleanor.
Though they had many children together, FDR's marriage to Eleanor was a difficult one challenged by the formidable presence of FDR's mother in his life and coupled with FDR's inability to remain faithful. In the end, their marriage was more of a political arrangement and FDR continued with his extra marital relationships until his death in 1945.
As a politician, he was able to pick up the American economy at it's lowest ebb during the depression and begun getting the US economy back on track with both his New Deal plans. In his inauguration speech, during great panic in the economy, he famously noted:
"Primarily this is because rulers of the exchange of mankind's goods have failed through their own stubbornness and their own incompetence, have admitted their failure, and have abdicated. Practices of the unscrupulous money changers stand indicted in the court of public opinion, rejected by the hearts and minds of men. True they have tried, but their efforts have been cast in the pattern of an outworn tradition. Faced by failure of credit they have proposed only the lending of more money. Stripped of the lure of profit by which to induce our people to follow their false leadership, they have resorted to exhortations, pleading tearfully for restored confidence... The money changers have fled from their high seats in the temple of our civilization. We may now restore that temple to the ancient truths. The measure of the restoration lies in the extent to which we apply social values more noble than mere monetary profit."
I still have a lot to learn about FDR but what I like about him is that he was an unlikely candidate for President, with a non linear trajectory just like his cousin Theodore who came before him. And yet, in the face of adversity and in a private life which was less than ideal in many respects, he delivered a great life of service to his people and upon his death was mourned by all.
What If Psychologists Got Together With Facebook For A More Realistic Experience ....
There is something very sinister going on with Facebook. Like all things it started out fantastic. You could connect with people in a way MySpace was not able to. You could share all that was unfolding in your life.
Recently though I had two experiences which creeped me out. The first was when I was writing what some of my friends call my humorous ramblings but which my partner calls my verbal diarrhoea and my lack of containment values.
To be fair to myself, I have so few ways to communicate with friends I have met along the way other that by my private Facebook account. It gives them a chance to laugh with my observations, share a similar experience or just disagree with me. As I was typing the other day though, my thoughts were being categorised for Facebook into subject matters as I wrote "I am looking forward to my early morning walk tomorrow morning when I get a real serenity from taking in the sunrise" , as an example statement, was being whittled into "sport, weather, philosophy" ... Ewww.... when did Facebook start doing this? It was all that disgusting big data harvesting that they were doing, no doubt helping US Presidential candidates, McDonalds and Coca-Cola figure out what to sell you next.
I realised we were not just giving them information there, but we were now grading our emotions for the people at FB too by having additional liking capabilities which told them more about how we felt about something posted in our feed.
I don't know how to get off Facebook. I use it for business. I like it conceptually. I have been able to define more precisely who we market to. But it's all at a cost, and we are all inadvertently paying for it every time we click.
It got me thinking last night about something that Facebook should have done but probably overlooked. Psychologists who believe in the Pia Mellody model of human behaviour believe that human emotions can be whittled down to 8 core feelings. Anger. Guilt. Joy. Love. Shame. Fear. Loneliness. Pain.
Perhaps if we really wanted to harvest good data, they might start switching out the existing emotional panel so that we can all get a little bit of transparent psychotherapy whilst they are harvesting our data....
I guess I feel ... love, joy, fear, shame, pain and anger about that....
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