Akwapim Hills

   Aburi, one of Ghana's cuter townships, is favoured as a weekend retreat from the pulse-pounding bustle of Accra and its ever-fractal traffic. It nestles amongst the Akwapim Hills, which provide the benefits of a reasonably high and pleasant altitude, as well as a more moderate temperature. One easily feels at home in tailored linen, mohair, ramie or cotton, reclining on the porch of one of the various colonial or neo-Ghanaian residential forms that dot the area

   The area seems to offer more than one different viewpoint: ex-pats from various walks visit often to meet, discuss, broker and recline. The cleaner air may be more conducive to bonhomie and reason - perhaps it is provable by science

   I just go for the air. And the abandonment

Plug 1, Plug 2, or, Leather Lust Object No.4

Ettinger padded leather magazine rack, as found by Put This On

   Some of you Paraders will have noticed the recent addition of a hotlinked Ettinger of London graphic in the right hand column of this... column

   And in response, some may have wondered as to whether I'm "selling out, maaaaaan" or simply turning mercenary

   I find it the height of bad taste to even mention in passing that producing The Mode Parade requires a certain amount of dedication, which can sometimes mean that I appreciate the odd incentive to help sustain my irregular rate. For the record, I often use that last line with a number of my girlfriends

   Recently, I noted a fact that's obvious to anyone with a bluffer's knowledge of clothing-related blogs - it can lead to courting from entities much larger in scope and resources than we passionate keyboard ramblers. And so it was with Ettinger, but at least they have the decency to make absolutely covetous and well crafted lust objects of leather, refinement and colourfully ludic finishes. The other e-mails I receive actually believe that I would consider endorsing fashionable sportswear; that would be more germane if your author was Henry Holland, I'm sure

   And let's face it - that vintage leather-covered magazine rack of theirs strikes a credible blow for intelligent decor

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   The second plug is for a fine new directory devoted to the arts that a friend of mine thought might be worth a mention here. So like a radio DJ answering the request line, I'll be nothing but obliging

   The Omnivore collates newspaper reviews for confections of the filmic, written and stage varieties - the information age version of reading the quotes on a film's poster before instantly summoning the fully authored piece for further edification. It's rather useful if you need more than 5 reasons as to why, say, Salt is not worth seeing. If you're the rubberneck type, as am I, who enjoys opinionated writing that may often turn vituperative, you may also enjoy the articles exhibited and linked to on The Omnivorous Blog

   I'd like to mention, in conclusion, that my friend asked if I could work this little advertorial into a Leather Lust Object post. I have to say, I have surprised myself - a promotion within a promotion within a rumination on promotion, and thematically on point where one lucky lady is concerned

   Sometimes, I do deliver

Go Faster

As it was unwritten in Ecclesiastes 1:9, "There is nothing new under the Ghanaian sun"

Metal Lust Object No.1

Hermès aluminium suitcase with leather straps, designed by Gabriele Pezzini

Doctorin' The Proms - The BBC National Orchestra of Wales Plays Murray Gold

   Music For Time Lords:

Inspiration Illustrated

Via Esquire

   Thanks to the diligent dandiacal detections of Matt and Charles at Fine And Dandy, I recently learnt a little about a favoured illustrator of mine, John E. Sheridan, who produced a cornucopia of fashion plates for Hart Schaffner & Marx during the Gilded Age, as well as covers for the Saturday Evening Post and propaganda imagery for the United States' World War I campaign

   Although his male subjects were less openly dandified than those of his contemporary and my favoured sartorial sketcher, JC Leyendecker, they connoted the fine tailoring ideal that HS&M wished to impart upon the world with a rarefied aplomb. These fictional men were depicted as carrying themselves with a certain perfection, as well as an athletic gait; unsurprising given Sheridan's background in college sports advertisements. And pleasingly, some of the 1920s designs look covetous today, as evidenced in places like Junya Watanabe Man's Spring/Summer 2010 Paris presentation

   A little sporty elegance goes a long way

Leather Lust Object No.3

Henry Maxwell bespoke leather and suede brogue detailed loafers

Dynastic

"Eduardo [Agnelli, upon his decease in a plane crash, 1935,] left a wife and seven children. His lady was Virginia Bourbon del Monte, Princess of San Faustino - because once the Agnellis made all that money, only the bluest blood would do. The princess, half American and thus relatively emancipated, indulged her own appetites with the ease that comes from an abundance of domestic help, and this with a clear conscience, given her husband's amorous adventures. Ten years after Eduardo's untimely demise, Virginia died in a car crash in the company of a male friend. The Agnelli family let it be known that she was strangled like Isadora Duncan of old, whose scarf had caught in the wheels and choked her to death. In fact she was amusing the trouser-less driver, who lost control in the wrong place and at the wrong time"

Out-Side

The Out Group - 18th July 1967

Back Row: Tom Maschler, David Benedictus, Nicholas Tomalin

Centre: Cathy McGowan, Jonathan Aitken, Tom Hustler

Front Row: Christopher Gibbs and Lady Mary-Gaye Curzon

   Revisiting the theme of Luminaries United, this counterpart portrait to The In Group was also commissioned by Jocelyn Stevens, then the publisher of Queen Magazine, to take place on 18th July 1967

   Don't be fooled by the veneer of respectability this photograph uses to juxtapose itself with its sibling: former Conservative MP Mr. Aitken, for one, is not known for his aversion to a little indelicacy. One should also take note of Chelsea Set leader, designer and dandy, Christopher Gibbs - we have him to thank for giving velvet ties their moment under the club lights

   It's been said that Lord Lichfield's gift lay in eliciting an air of relaxation from his subjects (and let it also be said that his gift was certainly not in lending his name to transient menswear brands). Nowhere, I feel, is this more aparent than in his group portraiture and his more candid work at country piles, Hollywood homes and ambassadorial residences

   But as I said, he had a way with the human reaction. One only has to observe the subjects in this Studio-set shot to notice that