Messing around in the mirror

I know we posted images of this chap from garance doré only yesterday but the more we looked at the spread of images, the more we fell in love with this chap's style (EJ went as far as calling him her new BFF on the images alone!) and he certainly deserves additional attention. -we have been starved of interesting men's street style for sometime so lets celebrate our first piece of nourishment in weeks! The post yesterday concentrated on his glorious round tortoise shell spectacles but we just had to talk about his hair, here is a man who is not afraid to play around every morning in front of the mirror and style his hair in a way which suits his outfit that partticular day. EJ is constantly requesting that I change my hairstyle because I've been wearing it in more of less the same way for the last few years. Gio has inspired me to mix it up a little. Armed with an assortment of Bumble&Bumble styling products and a comb I decided to have a play around with an element of my style which has remained motionless as my sartorial choices have evolved. I present to you an animated gif (who needs fancy videos when you can say it all in a gif? teehee) of my hair adventures...hopefully it will inspire you to think a little more about how you will wear your hair tomorrow.

This might not look much but EJ will testify that messing with my hair (however small) takes me out of my comfort zone. I like talking about hair and hair styles, as long as it is other people's.

Are you adventurous when it comes to styling your locks? How often do you change your style?

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Picture postcard: commons gold

Found here

Dear Steve

I was making a cursory search of the commons on Flickr and came across this chap. Don't you think he's the most wonderful man you've seen this week? I was initially drawn to this photograph by his mustache (naturally) but then I was gripped by his gaze and his slightly furrowed brow. His hair is fantastic- it almost seems as though he's sporting a quiff... though since this picture was taken c. 1915 that seems unlikely. If that flower in his lapel doesn't persuade you to sport a buttonhole of your own (and not just your poppy) then I don't know what will.

EJ
x

P.S. Blog admin type stuff: follow the blog with bloglovin´, try out the search function on the sidebar and keep up to date with our posts and ponderings on twitter.

Thanks for sharing this chap with us EJ! he is absolutely awesome. Everything about him is perfect and he sets the style benchmark for any middle aged gentlemen, I want to be him when I grow up. His gaze would ordinarily be quite frightening but because he is so well turned out I see it more as a look of contempt. I heart him.

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Mo' money, mo' research

Good lord, where has the year gone? November is creeping up on us and with it comes Movember. You may remember that I wrote about Movember last year but was a bit slow to catch on.

Not this year however! This year I am doing things properly and I urge you to join me. Sadly I cannot take part myself (damn you woman's body!) but I have persuaded my long suffering boyfriend to do the growing for me. If any of you do decide to take part, please let me know and we can big you up/chart your progress right here. The rules are simple: at the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. The Movember participants known as Mo Bros then have the remainder of the month to grow and groom their moustache and along the way raise as much money and awareness about male health issues as possible. Funds raised by Mo Bros and Sistas in the U.K. will be donated to The Prostate Cancer Charity.

The serious bit: November is an important month for me. The 5th of November is my Grandpa's birthday. The 19th of November was the date he died of Prostate cancer. The more I can do to help raise awareness of the disease and raise money for research to try to cure it, the better, so something like Movember means quite a lot to me. Any of you that will help out by publicising the cause, donating what you can or growing a tash can be certain of my gratitude.

The style bit: So you're growing a tash? Well, for guidance, we wrote a post on the matter here and for inspiration you may wish to consult Hudson's Guide or Mustaches of the 19th century.

This really is a cause we should all get behind. I must admit that I'm not blessed with the best facial hair in the world, it grows randomly and has a ginger tinge to it but I want to take part and hopefully you will as well. TheSundayBest documented the journey he had with his lip companion and it would be great if more of us could do the same and raise both awareness and money at the same time. To inspire one and all, here is an old image from thesartorialist.

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The science bit

I am sure that like me you both laugh and cringe at how the grooming industry creates a fascade of science to entice you into spending money on their producs and not on one of their many, many competitiors. However, dodgy shampoo commercials aside...maybe there really is something to it. After watching the film Perfume (I always meant to read the Patrick Süskind's 1895 novel but just haven't created the time to do so) I became more interested in the effect of different chords on a person. Of course I wanted to go out and capture the essence of virginity and douse myself in it but alas that always seemed like a troublesome and somewhat gruesome prospect. I recently smelt and fell in love with Prada Amber Pour Homme (which was first fragrance for men released by the fashion house) so I have been wearing it ever since.

For the past couple of months I have more and more frequently sniffed the incense Catholicism of the CdG scents and have been somewhat intrigued but ultimately over powered by them, besides I went to a CofE school so I could never quite understand. However, when I heard about molecule 01 which unlike most fragrances which combine 100 different components, has only just one. I was intrigued enough to go to one of the few stockists and try it out...as it was sales season I decided to go to Harvey Nichols (more on that later). The escentric website describes the scent as "It is as though the fragrance has no heart, but an enormous amount of soul" which is bizarrely, extremely accurate. As mentioned the fragrance consists of only one ingredient, known as 'Iso E Super' which on it's own is less of an aroma and more of an effect. There is a subtle velvety wood note to it, which fades and then resurfaces throughout the day but it is the fragrances effect on everyone other than the wearer which is interests me...as the fragrance is proclaimed to have pheronomic like effects. I only bought the fragrance yesterday so I will update you later and let you know how the 'testing' phase goes.

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David James, Superman

Doing the daily internet rounds (daily? Who am I kidding here? At least hourly) I was very pleased to see Brandish reporting about the lovely David James promoting Debenham's Everyman promotion. Between now and 15 June (that's fathers' day folks! Don't forget like I inevitably will) Debenhams will donate 10p towards men's cancer charity Everyman for every item sold in men’s clothing, accessories and fragrance, having pledged to raise at least £100,000. Ok, so 10p does sound like much, but every amount counts.


All this was a bit psychically spooky, however, as just the day before I had been pondering David James and, in particular, his hair.



Even more specifically, I was thinking of the hair style above. Described by press at the time as being akin to Superman's, I just think it's great that a sportsman smartened himself up so much with a classic 30s 'do for a match. This photo may be fairly ancient, but top marks Mr James!

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A whiff of Fantastic

Susie hobbled off the Eurostar this week battered, bruised...and bearing gifts! Whilst she could actually walk she found herself at the Fantastic Man Perfume launch party at Colette and fortunately for me nabbed a goodie bag which included the latest issue (a beautiful read but the full review will follow later), scented soaps and the soap itself. I twittered a succinct reaction which is hard for me to better even after wearing the scent for a few days:

The scent itself is slightly feminine at first but after the fruity notes subside you are left with something light but manly...just like me.

Jop Van Bennekom and Gert Jonkers with the help Ben Gorham (founder of Byredo Parfums) wanted to capture the essence of the magazine in a bottle and they have succeeded. Readers of the magazine will know how amazing those pages smell but thankfully rather than capture the actual essence of the magazine the scent revisits the most classic of men's perfumes to create a true gentleman's cologne.

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