Judging by the response to our Mod World post the other day, a lot of you are ready to re-immerse yourselves in a simpler time of army parkas, Pete Townshend riffs and the occasional rumble. Starting with a scooter, as we suggested, is a good idea for absolute beginners, but of course not just any old moped will do.
Enter Royal College of Art grad Grahame Fowler and his firm GGF Restoration, which repurposes the best classic scooters of yore for road-readiness in this post-Mod world. Haute catalog co. Vivre is now stocking a selection of Fowler’s limited edition 1966 - 1968 Lambrettas, restored from the ground up, in a choice of two-tones. Of course at $25,000 a pop, you’re paying a premium for perfection, but then again that’s usually the case.
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In 1972, while filming Pocket Money with Paul Newman in Tucson, Arizona, tough guy actor Lee Marvin happened upon an artful adobe-style house designed in the Santa Catalina Foothills by Swiss architect Josias Joesler in 1936 and decided to call it home.
Marvin set about improving the property, designed around a Spanish-style courtyard with a massive fountain, putting in a pool, tennis court and screening room. Best of all, Marvin himself designed some wrought iron hardware and fixtures for the house which he commissioned from local blacksmiths. Now 20 years after the immortal actor has gone to the great MGM commissary in the sky, his widow is looking to sell the place to someone who’s willing to carry on Lee’s legacy. Yours for a mere $6 million.
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If you missed your shot at the Godfather of Soul’s shades, don’t despair—there’s still time to get your paws on Tom Jones’ billiard table.
On Thursday, London’s The Fame Bureau is auctioning off the table owned and used by the Welsh pop star in the ’60s and ’70s. Made by Burroughes & Watts of London c. 1880, the mahogany masterpiece made a cameo on the record sleeve of Jones’ 1971 LP She’s A Lady and is expected to fetch $100,000 - $150,000. Also on offer: Jimi Hendrix’s first burnt guitar, a 1967 Fender Stratocaster, which could go for as much as $1 million; the Bechstein Grand piano used by the Beatles to record Hey Jude in 1968, est. $600,000 - $800,000, and a slew of other less expensive but equally entrancing lots.
Start your bidding here.
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Once upon a time, in a more graceful age, a gentleman wouldn’t dream of leaving the house without certain items, including a hat of course but also of equal importance, a walking stick. This had nothing to do with infirmity, though it wasn’t always purely ornamental either. There was a thriving trade in walking sticks of every description, some ingeniously made to conceal all manner of items a gentleman might find useful on his travels.
The walking stick, considered»
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Photo courtesy of Taschen
43 years ago adventurer / photographer Peter Beard published a landmark book on Africa, The End of the Game.
The pedigreed Yale grad - whose dashing grandfather, tobacco heir Pierre Lorillard IV is credited with popularizing the tuxedo - had met author Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen) in Denmark, who sparked his interest in the Dark Continent.
Beard, pictured here in Kenya’s Aberdare Moorlands in 1966 displaying some of grandpa’s flair, went on to become not only one of our most interesting and accomplished cultural characters, but a true style icon as well, marrying Cheryl Tiegs and discovering Iman along the way. Taschen has just come out with a revised edition of the End of the Game, with a new foreword by Paul Theroux, a seasoned adventurer in his own right.
More on the new edition of Beard’s classic»
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Two things they don’t make like they used to—movie posters and movies. Case in point: Michelangelo Antonioni’s brilliant 1966 flick Blow-Up.
David Hemmings plays Thomas, a debauched fashion photographer based on David Bailey who thinks he may have witnessed a murder. But the plot takes a back seat to the movie’s incredibly stylish mise-en-scène, not to mention Thomas’ navy blue Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud convertible, slant-pocketed velvet hacking jacket and endless stream of beautiful bedmates.
At Bonhams Entertainment Sale in London on June 18, you can snag a piece of the magic in the form of this original poster from the film, estimated at £300 - £500. If you think you can outbid us, that is.
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The great Sir Paul Smith may have recently signed on to design new off-pitch duds for the Manchester United Football Club (that’s soccer to you), but the sporting supermen were not always in need of such sartorial succor.
Back in the ’50s they wore good old classic club blazers when not actively pummeling opponents, and needed no other decoration, as Bonhams upcoming Sporting Sale demonstrates.
More on the style of Man United»
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Usually when someone uses the phrase “old school,” they don’t have a specific place in mind, but when it comes to tailoring you can pin it down to a single street. Savile Row in London has been the go-to spot for bespokery since the days of the empire, and anywhere you happen to be fitted—even in Hong Kong or Dubai—it’s likely that most of your suit’s flourishes started out in the West End.
Of course, just like the empire, the Row has had some hard times lately»
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Some say Slim Aarons was a terrible snob. The lanky lensman once declared he was only really interested in photographing “attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places.”
But you know what? That’s all we usually feel like looking at.
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References to sex, drugs and rock’n’roll are the mainstay of fashion photography nowadays, but somebody had to think of it first. That man was Bob Richardson, whose “raw” images shocked magazine editors in the early ’60s, when models still wore white gloves and smiled like contented hausfraus in every picture. While Richardson’s acolytes like Bruce Weber, Peter Lindbergh and Steven Meisel went on to fame and fortune by imitating his style, the man himself flamed out, ending up homeless, drug addicted and insane, most of his work lost or destroyed…
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A man should look as if he has bought his clothes with intelligence, put them on with care—and then forgotten all about them. Such gems of sartorial wisdom are the hallmark of legendary British clothier Sir Hardy Amies’ 1965 classic ABC of Men’s Fashion—regrettably long out of print. Until now, that is. It’s just been re-issued thanks to a major new fashion exhibition at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, and men everywhere can benefit from such a stylish lexicon.
Every facet of the well-dressed fellow’s wardrobe is represented, together with a few acid remarks (see Fat Men and Short Men). Hell, Sir Hardy earned a bit of stuffiness; the dashing designer was a British secret agent before setting up shop at 14 Savile Row in 1946, and he went on to design costumes for both Stanley Kubrick and the Queen of England.
—J.P.S.
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