Smoking Shirt (Dance Dance Dance)

   Tintin said:

I bet he can dance too

   So, I wonder what he would make of this:

   A flashback to more immobile times follows:

The Cake - 'You Can Have Him' (1967)

   Decades before Sugababes achieved a mild flavour of notoriety for performing their debut single on Top of The Pops with an unsmiling archness, the world birthed this:

   My sentiments regarding The Cake's showmanship could only appear trite; this Manson-James Brown-Ronettes hybridising should only happen in the theatre. What's so delicious about this performance is that it did not

   For unconventional band mascot/ensemble dark horse-status, the impassive baby doll that was Jeanette Jacobs is right up there with ABC's homosexual, Kid Swifty Lazar-esque midget, David Yarritu

Blue/Green Again

 

   It's the return of that  allegedly irredeemable colour combination; a suitably optimistic presentation for the latest wedding I attended recently. And I barely believe in marriage, so my high spirits surprised even me

   ADG, a member of my personal Band of Blog Brothers, has written an exceedingly kind and trenchant tribute to your author, with one commenter noting an accessories trifecta of mine; namely, my rose pin, pochette and pen. This time, on the grounds of ensemble dissonance, my writing instrument remained at home

   Even I have my Coco Chanel Moments

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