Paulina Has Taken Over Your Couch

“Fred Astaire”

12/19/11

Paulina Has Taken Over Your Couch

Top Hat: An updated guide to the style of Fred Astaire, if he’d lived in modern times. Apparently, he would have developed quite a taste for Italian shoes. [Esquire]

The Scissormen: A 20-minute film about an old-school barbershop in North Carolina. Seems they’ve got a pretty good house band. [Open Culture]

The Geometry of the Southwest: The history of the Navajo print—it has more to do with the Pueblo tribe than the Navajo. [Wax Wane]

Mr. Elkann Strikes Back: Oh, and here’s some pictures of Lapo Elkann pulling off an incredibly flashy suit, surrounded by Ferraris. [Driven]

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12/05/11

High and Tight

The Five Best Toupees of All Time

It’s been two years since Andre Agassi shocked the world by admitting that his flowing locks of “image is everything” hair were, in fact, a toupee. And while we’ve battled trust issues ever since, we’ve also gained a lot more respect for gentlemen who successfully pull off (or avoid pulling off, as the case may be) a man wig.

Man’s insecurity about hair loss can be dated back to 1 BC, when the Roman poet Ovid wrote: “Ugly are hornless bulls, a field without grass is an eyesore, so is a tree without leaves, so is a head without hair.” Not the most eloquent poem we’ve ever read, but given the subject matter, a bit of syllabic clumsiness seems apt.

While our suggested course of action in almost every hair-thinning scenario involves a Propecia prescription and a tightly trimmed cut, today we’d like to celebrate, in photos, the five best toupees of all time.

Burt Reynolds, Fred Astaire, Frank Sinatra, Ted Danson and Andre Agassi.»

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10/20/11

Well Pressed

Anderson & Sheppard’s Greatest Hits

There’s a fantastic piece on Anderson & Sheppard in this month’s Vanity Fair, presumably inspired by Graydon Carter’s book on the same. It gives a view of the Savile Row tailoring house from their beginnings in 1906 as a civilian reaction to the military styles that dominated men’s tailoring at the time. Over the next few decades, they more or less invented the modern business suit.

One particular surprise: just like Band of Outsiders and (gulp) Ed Hardy, their path to the top ran through Hollywood. They converted Fred Astaire and a few of his friends, and have never wanted for business since.

So to show you that British drape up close—we’ve put together a few of our favorite pics from Anderson & Sheppard’s first generation of fans, including Gary Cooper, Rudolph Valentino and Laurence Olivier.

See pictures of Anderson & Sheppard at their best…»

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