Style: carry on regardless

Look, I don’t like the phrase “man-bag” any more than you do. It conjures up images of flight bags from the seventies, or that strange sort of leather wash-bags with a wrist-strap that Italian men used to carry round with them (and may still do). Yet it is a fact that everyday life requires us men to carry around with us more than we can fit into our pockets. Even when wearing a suit or odd jacket, there are simply too few places to put one’s wallet, mobile phone, BlackBerry, keys, iPod and so on. On if you also carry a laptop, filofax, ebook reader or other paraphernalia on a regular basis, you need some kind of bag to put it all in. This is not a challenge to masculinity, but a frank fact of life.

The real question here is not, does a man need a bag, but rather, what sort of bag does a man need? You may already have a leather briefcase or ballistic nylon laptop bag. Many men opt for the rucksack for their gym clothes, believing it to be somehow more “acceptable” than one with any individuality. These bags are all very well, but they are designed for a particular purpose. The briefcase for carrying papers; the laptop bag for, well, a laptop; the rucksack for anything that involves strenuous exercise and adventure. All are types of “man-bag”, but what the modern man needs is a “day-bag”, one to carry all the accountrements of everyday life. So that is what I shall call it.

The main requirement for the day-bag is that it should be flexible. You never know what will need to go into it. Unlike a laptop bag or similar, where a number of separate compartments are necessary, the day-bag really needs one large main section, possibly with a small zip section on the side for those small items that may get lost at the bottom of the bag, such as keys. It must be large enough to take a magazine, newspaper or netbook. A couple of easily-accessible outer pockets may prove useful, and ideally both handles and shoulder-strap ensure the requisite flexibility.

The modern man can do a lot worse than look to John Chapman (www.chapmanbags.com) for excellent bags made in Cumbria, in England’s Lake District. The picture above demonstrates a few of his offerings, clockwise from top left: the Rambler (£159), Large Rucksack (£149), Large Folio Bag (£145) and Trip Bag (£165). Each would be ideal as a day-bag.

Of course, when faced with a choice, it is easy to come to the conclusion that one bag is never enough.

Style: wear brown in town

Part of knowing the rules of how to dress is knowing how to break those rules. Everyone knows that one must not wear brown in town – as a colour, it is more suited to the countryside. Yet does it just apply to shoes or does it extend to jackets and suits as well? More to the point, why does it exist as a rule at all?

As with most sartorial rules, it has more to do with tradition than with any tangible reasoning. According to these traditional rules of dress, black was the most formal colour, as seen in banker’s jackets (which were usually worn with grey striped trousers), morning coats, black tie and funeral attire. The greys and blues of the City were marginally less formal, and brown was reserved for leisure-wear (a brown trilby was, and in many circles still is, de rigeur for the horsetrack), strictly worn at weekends and on holiday and not as business attire.

There is little doubt that brown as a colour is still more informal than grey or blue, and there are still many professions where one could not get away wearing a brown suit to work. Nor is it recommended (on this blog at any rate) – city dress is traditional by necessity, essential to treat the business conducted with the right amount of formality and respect. Brown suggests a more relaxed attitude that is not appropriate in the boardroom, but is certainly so in the park, at the club and generally while enjoying leisure time in the city. As the picture demonstrates, it gives one the opportunity to explore the brighter side of one’s wardrobe, accessing those green, purple and orange tones of shirts and ties that one cannot always get away with in more formal situations.

So wear brown, both in and out of town.

Cocktail: the bloody mary

To my mind, the bloody mary is the king of the cocktails. It was possibly invented by Fernand Petiot, bartender at the infamous Harry’s Bar in Paris, during the 1920s. Even he did not invent it, he certainly transformed it from a simple mix of vodka and tomato juice to a far more sophisticated drink, as his own description shows:

“I cover the bottom of the shaker with four large dashes of salt, two dashes of black pepper, two dashes of cayenne pepper, and a layer of Worcestershire sauce; I then add a dash of lemon juice and some cracked ice, put in two ounces of vodka and two ounces of thick tomato juice, shake, strain, and pour.”

Over the years, the recipe has changed very little, if at all, from Petiot's original. Start off with a healthy measure of vodka over ice, and topped up with tomato juice.  Pour into a cocktail shaker and add a dash of celery salt, pepper and Tabasco. A few dashes of Lea and Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce, some lemon juice and, if you like it spicy, some pure horseradish completes the ingredients. Shake well, and strain into a highball glass. Garnish with a stick of celery or a skewer of green olives. Adding a shrimp garnish can add an interesting twist to accompany a summer seafood barbeque.

Traditionally a hangover cure, this cocktail is a great lunchtime drink or pre-dinner aperitif. 

Style: bright colours maketh the man

In my last post, I spoke about Hackett’s great use of colour in its summer collections, and I wanted to expand on this a bit more in this entry. The picture above illustrates some examples of this year’s Riviera feel to the summer collection, mixed with the classic English touches, such as the rowing blazer and the pin-stripe suit jacket. In each case, the linking theme is bright pastel colours. Okay, so there’s a lot of pink, but as every modern man knows, there is no stigma to wearing pink in menswear today. The fact is that pink is the most versatile of pastel shades, going equally well with greys and blues of all shades. However, if pink’s really not your thing, go for hues of yellow, purple and green.

Pastel colours can brighten up an outfit into the perfect summer look, whether it is as bold a move as the trousers worn by Matthew Goode, star of the 2008 film remake of Brideshead Revisited, in the top lefthand image, or a more subtle statement, such as a tie or handkerchief in the breast pocket.  Don’t just limit your use of colours to your holiday-wear either – a pink tie (or for the more rakish, a yellow bow-tie) can give lighter look to a grey pinstripe suit and blue dress-shirt at work in just the same way. The key is always to complement the colours you are wearing, so don’t forget the usual rules of colour combination.

Try wearing brighter summer colours in these next few months and see how it revolutionises your wardrobe.

Benjamin Bixby: yesterday’s fashions for today

One of the freshest labels today, despite being inspired by college football fashions of the 1930s, has to be Benjamin Bixby, the clothing line designed by the effervescent André Benjamin. Launched in 2008, this label continues the great American prep-style tradition championed by the likes of Ralph Lauren and Brooks Brothers. It just goes to show that 70 years on, a letterman sweater or cricket jumper teamed with a duffle coat can still look timeless.

For those in the UK, Hackett seeks to do the same, injecting a classic vintage feel into modern menswear, often with admirable results. Hackett takes a more English approach, its jackets having the waisted look of classic English mens tailoring, and with raincoats and overcoats that echo the simple lines of the mid-1960s. Hackett’s summer collections always have one great thing in common: unashamed use of colour, which will be the subject of my next post.

Style: the summer linen suit

There has been something of a hiatus in this blog, and for that I can only apologise. What better way to regain this blog's momentum, and to bring a summer feel to these pages, than by discussing the summer linen suit. In days gone by, before the advent of air-conditioning, men would resort to their hot weather wardrobe, which would invariably include linen suits, light in both weight and colour. Usually in cream or off-white, such suits are now often derided by reference to Miami Vice or Saturday Night Fever, but now is the time for sartorially-enthusiastic men to reclaim the summer suit for what is rightly is, an elegant way to appear cool (both in terms of temperature and attire) in the hot summer months.

When one wears such a suit, one is undoubtedly making a statement and so it should not come as a surprise that it will attract attention (somebody will misquote, in your presence, "the man from Del Monte says yes". Ignore them). Of primary importance is the recognition that such a suit is not appropriate for businesswear, unless one lives in certain provincial parts of the Southern US. Keep your summer suits for the garden party, the races (unless it is Royal Ascot) and mid-formal evenings. The summer suit is a more casual alternative to the tailored lounge suit, and so don't be afraid to go for a relaxed fit, patch pockets and less formal footwear, such as loafers or tan brogues.

One's choice of shirt gives the opportunity to inject a splash of colour into the ensemble. A white shirt lacks imagination and can give a washed out look. Embrace the opportunity to break the traditional rule that one's shirt should not be darker than one's suit, and combine your cream suit with a navy blue shirt. The effect will be quite striking. Alternatively, as the suit is plain in pattern (it is the texture of linen that makes the suit so interesting), try a striped shirt in blue or orange.

Above all, wear the suit with a dash of nonchalance (as well demonstrated by Anthony Andrews (left) and Jeremy Irons in the ITV mini-series adaptation of Brideshead Revisited) and, if possible, a panama hat. Finally, remember that linen creases. There is nothing you can do about it, and nothing that you should seek to do about it. It is all part of the look.  

Icons: Jack and Bobby Kennedy

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events; and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation" - Bobby Kennedy

They stand like models from an Abercrombie & Fitch ad, all-American kids just in from a game of touch football in the garden, immortalised by their tragic early deaths (Jack (left) and Bobby (middle), with brother Ted). Yet these men were not just playboys and rich young WASPs, they were an integral part of America's political elite - Attorney General, Senator, President - and the shots that killed them were heard around the world. On a day when America sees its first black president inaugurated, it is fitting to celebrate the efforts of these two men, the culmination of which can arguably be seen in Barack Obama’s entry to the highest executive office in the United States.

Many column inches have been dedicated to comparing Obama to JFK, the latter being the great cause for hope in America at the time of his inauguration almost 50 years ago. As the dual mantras of the Obama campaign - hope and change - are needed across the world today as much as at any time in modern history, these comparisons are apt.

But it is perhaps his brother Bobby whose work most helped pave the way for Obama to stand on Capitol Hill as 44^th President of the United States. A champion of civil rights and desegregation within JFK’s administration, as Attorney General Bobby required that every part of government recruit staff of black and other ethnic origins. JFK was not far behind, proposing shortly before his death in 1963 what would subsequently become the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Obama’s presidency gives America the chance to bring to a close an unfortunate period in Iraq’s history that JFK unwittingly contributed to starting. It was during his administration that the Ba’athist party, assisted by the CIA, came to power and so led eventually to Saddam Hussein’s reign of terror. Yet JFK was no warmonger: he successfully avoided the greatest threat to American soil since the Second World War by negotiating a peaceful end to the Cuban Missile Crisis and he sought to prevent the escalation of military violence in Vietnam. His premature death makes the question of whether war would have occurred in Vietnam had JFK lived one of pure historical speculation.

So as we celebrate Obama’s victory, and with it the dawning of a new era of hopefulness, let us also celebrate the actions of those who toiled and died to lay the road that Obama has walked.