A Quick One While He's Away

   Just because I get around:

   The Dissector becomes the dissected at Put This On

   Elsewhere, The Sartorial Way has declared me a connoisseur

Sartorial Profiling

   The fellows who run Fine and Dandy - shop and blog - recently submitted me to their semi-regular profiling of men who wear bow ties, hats and mankinis. Being guilty of all three means I have to own up to it somewhere, and they have followed The Mode Parade almost since the beginning, so it was a call worth heeding

   Being interviewed on other spaces is not a bad thing at all. Perhaps I should begin a series of my own

Pop Culture Thumbs-Up 21/10/2009

   The Quietus interviews Florence Welch of the vacuously flouncy Florence and the Machine. And it is truly refreshing to read an interviewer so unrestrainedly spiking her subject, so much so, that the interview itself comprises 30% of the overall feature. As someone who's only sweet on the outside and considers House, M.D. and its rational, brutally honest title character to be the best creations in modern television, I feel very happy indulging in the vituperative, scathing and insightful snark unleashed on Ms. Welch, who reminds me very much of every other female art student I've ever met in London (Writer's note for art students: put it this way - if we're buds or if I've ever been polite to you, I'm obviously not alluding to you)

  In the comments box, one reader notes, "good singers don't always make good conversationalists. and more often than not, good conversationalists make terrible singers. Two different forms of expression. it doesn't mean that she's stupid." He's not wrong. But leaving aside his obvious fandom, he's wrong to excuse her conversational abilities on the supposed merits of her talent because aside from the fact that her public persona generally belies the metaphorical knots around her tongue, someone who allegedly bursts with ideas should have even the most basic things to intone on regarding their craft, some small details to reveal regarding its intricacies or the work put in or how a particular burst of inspiration took matters to a logical and enjoyable conclusion. And that isn't what I just read, nor will my hopes be approaching the high setting any year soon

   Rumours of the death of America's favourite jackass (straight from the President himself), Kanye West, comprised the top Twitter trend this morning. I'd be interested to know what the fake cause was - "crushed under the weight of his own ego/hubris/chutzpah" seems far too mundane a death for him. Where would the funny be?

   Oh, and I finally sent a new piece in to Men's Flair, regarding the Hong Kong based tailors, W.W. Chan, who will be in residence at the London Park Lane Hilton tomorrow and Friday. I like them because they are far over half the price of your entry level Savile Row two piece and nearly as impressive. And frankly, not many other tailors do such an intuitive job of creating an aesthetic that marries exquisite classicism to natural progression. When I can afford them, I'm pretty sure crazy things will happen

Billingham

   An appreciation of the finer things should happen by chance as well as by design. My recent interview with San Francisco's unimpeachable Mr. Peacock reminded me that one of my most appreciated items isn't a garment but rather my stalwart camera bag made by M. Billingham and Co.

   A gift from one of my favourite uncles, I refer to it as a stalwart because it's been with me to hell and back for around 8 years. It saw me through my student days, including the clumsiness of random proles with tall drinks at pubs, and has kept my possessions protected through my subsequent "professional" life. Its value doesn't just lie in its physical benefits - it's also given me a valuable perspective on designs of its ilk. Like many products of a bygone age, it could be said to have never been bettered

Mine! All mine!

   The website is worth a browse - the products are as valuable for amateurs and casual users as they are for professionals; the prices are hardly bank-breaking, and even though mine was a gift, I attest that they're worth every penny. The photovest below is strangely compelling for a man who uses a rather low quality point-and-shoot:

   I may have a yen for mixing things up but at the end of the day, quality accessories count

Product stills by Billingham

My Overthinking in Action

   A 'Styleography' interview I provided for my friend Fi last December shows just how deeply I'm in this whole style thing. Passes some time, I think