First up is: 1) A Linjer Watch – “The Minimalist” in Gunmetal/Navy Until yesterday, I’d never heard of this brand. I saw an ad on my Facebook feed for The Hustle magazine and this awesome article: This Startup is Successfully Disrupting The $19 Billion Watch Industry From the Hustle article by Sam Parr: When it came to buying watches and leather goods, they were tired of choosing between disposable fast fashion and overpriced luxury products. They couldn’t find well-made, well-designed products at a fair price point – that didn’t sport an obnoxious logo. Look at this beauty from the Linjer website: I love the idea behind this watch and the company that makes it. I mean who doesn’t want to own a beautiful, minimal watch that doesn’t have a logo on it? And that isn’t that expensive for a good watch? $249 isn’t that bad for a decent watch. And look …[Read More]
Men's Style
My honest review of Grenson shoes
I’m a big fan of Grenson shoes. I own three pairs and I think that they’re the best shoes that you can buy in England in terms of looks and beauty. (I’ve written before about resoling a pair of my Grensons in this post) There are better known English shoes such as Churches and Crockett & Jones, but Grenson are designed for aesthetics. Check out the site here. Look at these Grensons that I own: Beautiful aren’t they. The pros We’ve said it above: they’re beautiful. People do look at them and compliment you on them. You also catch yourself looking at these yourself when wearing them. They are classic English shoes from Northampton – in other words they have pedigree. They aren’t as expensive as other fine English shoes. They retail in the £200s, whilst Churches and Crocketts are in the £300s. The cons They definitely aren’t as robust …[Read More]
Is resoling quality English shoes worth it?
I’ve got three pairs of Grenson shoes. One pair got completely ruined on my first date with my now wife. I was wearing a blue blazer, red trousers and these brown, half-brogues and the date was going swimmingly. We were in Soho, London, when suddenly there was torrential rain. The narrow streets of Soho were flooded and in our walk to Tottenham Court Road Underground Station, my shoes got literally soaked. They were underwater. I was careful when drying them not to let them near heat sources like radiators because that could crack the leather (something I learned from schoolboy football). Nevertheless, they were totally buggered. I’ve had them in my wardrobe ever since then, with the intention to get them restored. Last month, I took them to my local Timpsons. Timpsons is a shop for shoe repairs, leatherwork and watch repairs. Here’s what they looked like beforehand. Totally buggered right? …[Read More]
The under-discussed ingredient of a GREAT first impression
Do you ever think about the first impression you give? I’m guessing not very often. Maybe you might think about it for a first date or a job interview. Most of the time though, I bet you never think about it. You might be thinking right now ‘Ed, why does it matter? Shouldn’t people be caring more about substance? Shouldn’t we NOT judge a book by its cover?’ We shouldn’t do…….but the cold, hard reality is……….we do. Come on. Admit it. You judge on first impressions. We all do. Look around you on your daily commute. People in your coffee shop. On your your lunch break. Who’s making a strong impression on you? Who’s stood out as someone who you’ve noticed, in a positive way? Who’ve you noticed in a negative way? You’re judging everyone you see whether you know it or not. Let’s embrace reality Scrap that comment above about it …[Read More]
“I need you to look like a man who belongs at that table” – what we can learn from Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale
Last night, I saw Casino Royale for probably the seventh time. Such a good movie. There’s a scene in particular that encapsulates everything that we’re trying to achieve here at www.howtobedapper.com. Bond comes into the bathroom where Vesper is doing her makeup. They are preparing for the big high-stakes poker tournament. The stakes are high in monetary terms but also sky-high in terms of intelligence in the fight against terrorism. Bond presents Vesper with a dress, explaining that he wants her to look fabulous so that when she walks into the room, the other players are distracted by her beauty and glamour. There’s certainly unsaid reasons such as she’d raise his own status and his opponents would treat him with greater respect for having such a woman on his arm. As he himself goes to change for the evening, he notices a suit on his bed. He strides incredulously back …[Read More]