Here is something to brighten up a dull Winter!

Gallo, upscale Italian hosiery brand, have just opened their new shop in Covent Garden, on Longacre.

For those of us who have only been able to buy our Gallo socks and ties when in Milan (great shop there, BTW) this is indeed good news.

History

Gallo are a historic name in Italian style and one of the very few companies that are famous for men’s hosiery (they also sell women’s).  They have been making hosiery in Brescia for more than 75 years, Based near Lake Garda, they have built a reputation as THE sock company, amongst well-dressed men.  Gallo built that reputation by only using the finest yarns and never compromising on the quality of their fabrics, using extra-fine merino wool, pure Egyptian cotton, linen and the best cashmere.  In my opinion what really makes Gallo great is their wonderful range of colours, thousands of bright, rich colours woven into formal and casual styled socks.  Gallo socks are a dance of visual sophistication.

So, without further ado, let’s look at the real thing.  Here are a pair of Gallo short length socks (mine), the length which British men prefer.  They are a bright red rib on a pale red matt weave, with a grey toe and heel.  They work well with casualwear and
are just structured enough that I can wear them with a suit in a casual setting.  They are made of fine merino wool and cotton.

Gallo short business sock

The feel of the sock is important to me.  These socks are really well made, you can feel the structure of them when you wear them but in an unobtrusive, well-formed way. They are light, comfortable and wear really well.

If you look closely at the socks you will see a contrast seam around the toe-piece.  This is a Gallo trademark, it adds a little joie-de-vivre to the sock (and makes it easier to match pairs up).  You could consider this an addition to your knowledge of style, the ability to recognise a Gallo sock.  This sock is actually a business sock and below you can see this model in some more conventional business colours.

Gallo business socks, colours

Fun Socks

Gallo are known for their bright colours and fun styles.  Here is the current best-seller in the Gallo range, a banded multi-colour casual sock.  This style is the Windsor Stripe.

Gallo short sock: Winter Bestseller

European generally prefer a longer sock, to mid-calf, here are some of the socks in the current collection.

Bright tie-dye sockSock Display

Gallo sell socks from both their permanent and seasonal collections.  Here is a long sock from this winter season collection.  Apparently this sock sells well in Germany.  That said I do not think it is is a style that Englishmen will like so much.  I suspect that Englishmen might prefer the socks in the new Spring Summer collection. In the last section of this article I preview the socks in the Gallo spring / summer collection.

Gloves, Ties and Scarves

Gallo sell a range of knitted men’s accessories and here are some absolutely superb knitted wool ties. A knitted tie with a white or plain colour dress shirt is a great look, recently sported by luminaries such as Tom Ford and Jude Law.  These are the perfect ties for that look.  The colours are deep and rich, the wool is a high-quality and durable Merino.  For me, these ties are one of the highlights of the Gallo range.

Those beautiful knit ties

Here is a picture of my Gallo gloves:

Gallo wool and cashmere gloves

I like this style of glove for country walks, trips to the pub, walking my friend’s dog.  They go well with a scarf and heavy sweater, in a way that my Gieves and Hawkes black leather, or my Eddie Bauer arctic thermal gloves (overkill) do not.  These gloves are fun and for fun times.  They are wool and cashmere and again, extremely comfortable.

The Shop

Here is the shop, at the western end of London’s Covent Garden, where it meets St Martin’s Lane.  The shop is in the nature of a work-in-progress.  It will be fitted out in the Gallo house style over the coming months.  For the moment it is light, bright and easy
to shop in.

Shop Exterior

In fact if you want an antidote to English winter blues, simply step in the shop for a couple of minutes. Here are some pictures of the racks and displays.

Interior view, the Gallo shop, London's Covent Garden

Gallo sell both men’s and women’s wear including sweaters, gloves and scarves for both sexes.  Just for a change, here is a picture of the women’s collection

Women’s display

Here are Gallo’s famous women’s pantyhose.  These are very stylish indeed, and beautifully made.

Gallo: Forthcoming Spring/Summer collection

I mentioned earlier that this article would contain a preview of Gallo’s Spring / Summer men’s range, so here they are, in all there glory;

Here are the two main ranges that Gallo will sell in England this Spring Summer season.

The first of these is the classic two-colour Gallo ribbed sock in a variety of Summer colours. These socks span the work / leisure divide.  The darker colours are perfect for the conservative English sensibility.  The
lighter colours are equally stylish and their vibrant contrast rib makes for a very stylish sock.

Here they are in all their colours (notice how they all have a crimson socktop band, it’s a nice touch);

Summer Colours

Here are some personal favourites

The Deep Red/Blue is both adult and fun at the same time.

Red/Blue Gallo summer collection sock

The Turquoise /Blue is a very much a fun sock, great
combination of colours.

Turquoise from the Summer collection

And here is the Red / Orange, just to show it off

Red/Orange, from the Summer collection

The second range are spectacular indeed.

They are a single colour socks, again fine cotton and wool, but this time with a fine metallic sheen in the weave.  Now I do not know how Gallo achieve this effect but it makes for a beautiful sock, elegant, slimming on the foot and a little glamourous.  When as the last time you could say a sock was glamourous?

Here are some shots of the range;

Gallo, summer fineweave range

Here are three of my personal favourites:

The Red (bold but sophisticated)

Gallo fineweave Red

The deep Burgundy (rich, stylish, elegant)

Gallo fineweave Burgundy

And the best of all (for me) the Royal Blue, simply style, colour, class.

Just beautiful. Gallo Royal Blue

Accessories and Style

Gallo have widened my style universe.  We all know that accessories are crucial to a man’s style.  However socks have always been a bit of a blind spot for me and I have always played it safe with conservative colours and styles.  The Gallo collection shows that it is possible to be both colourful and elegant, to have stylish socks that are also fun.

Gallo

I recommend a visit, to get a blast of warm Italian style in a cold British winter.  Gallo are at

Gallo

111 Longacre, Covent Garden (at the St
Martin’s Lane end).

They are open 10-19.00 Monday to Saturday, 12-18.00 on
Sunday.

Their email is info@londongallospa.it

Enjoy!

On Wednesday 17^th,Sylvia Kristel died.  Sylvia Kristel was of course the star of Emmanuelle, the revolutionary French soft-core sexmovie.

It all seems so long ago now, so we need to go way back…..

Emmanuelle

Emmanuelle was the erotic sensation of the Seventies.  It was a soft-core movie about the sexual hedonism of French diplomats and businessmen in Thailand in the early Seventies.  Into this lush and glamourous mix is added Emmanuelle, a beautiful yet innocent young wife of a handsome French engineer.  The movie had no pretensions to art, it was about sex and pleasure and it had been under a ban for six months by the French government, since its release. The French censor relented and the movie was released.  It immediately became a huge sensation in France and long queues of French cinemagoers formed wherever it was showing.

Emmanuelle, as she first appeared

It is difficult today to understand what the fuss was about.  But for the early Seventies, it was racy stuff, with The Mile High club, Lesbian sex for fun and lots of bed-hopping in luxurious Thai villas.  Just Jaeckin was the director and he realised that the time was right to show sex as part of a classy and highly desirable lifestyle.  So all the parts are played by attractive actors, the clothes, cars and locations were all high-style.  Like the English director Ridley Scott, whose Duellists was also a Seventies sensation, Jaeckin used a lot of advertising cinematics to make Emmanuelle lushly beautiful. Soft focus, richly colourful locations and some very clever lighting for night scenes all added to the effect.

But without Sylvia Kristel it would all have been for nothing.

She was luminously beautiful.

At 22, she radiated an innocent sexuality that gave Emmanuelle a critical difference, it gave the movie a credibility that other sex movies just did not have.  This was not some cynical aging stripper playing a part badly, this was a young woman with elegance and class.  She had the most beautiful eyes, perfect pale skin and the body of a young goddess.  Sylvia Kristel had been a nude model and she was sensual, graceful, comfortable being naked.  All these characteristics brought her character and the movie to life.  Actors from Anthony Quinn to Sean Connery talk about how important the physical character is to the movie and the audience.   How embodying the character correctly helps the audience believe in the character and the movie.  Sylvia Kristel brought a lightness, a playful sexuality and a sense of humour to her Emmanuelle, attributes which were very natural .  Producers and Directors talk about whether an actor is “strong” enough to carry a picture. From her very first movie Sylvia Kristel was strong enough.

And so it began.

Emmanuelle made millions in a matter of days.  Every European movie producer wanted in on the act.  Suddenly there were a million Emmanuelle movies, pretty much all cheap copies, with woeful acctresses, all with a variety of spellings of the name Emmanuelle, just in case of legal action by the producers of the original.   The French loved Emmanuelle.  For them it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that the French were the sexiest race and the greatest lovers.  Snarky English journalists took delight in reminding the French that Sylvia was Belgian, born in Utrecht.

Sylvia Kristel became a star overnight and at first handled it very well.   She clearly had a brain and did not take herself too seriously.  And yet she understood she had made a significant movie and was capable of discussing the more serious implications of Emmanuelle’s sexuality.  She did a nude photoshoot for Lui (a French men’s mag) which was remarkable in its beauty and for its portrayal of her delicate and vulnerable sexuality.  At one time I owned a copy of this mag, but somewhere I lost it.  I wish I still had it.

Sylvia Kristel, photographed by Francis Giacobetti

After Emmanuelle came out, “Julia” followed swiftly.  A slightly odd German/Swiss co-production, “Julia” has almost disappeared from record.  The timing suggests that Sylvia Kristel made it in the period after she made Emmanuelle and before Emmanuelle was released.  It was coming-of-age soft-porn movie about a beautiful teenage virgin (Kristel) who is ready to change her status.  I remember only two things about it.  The first was that it had a truly execrable soundtrack, a kind of sub-Mommas and Poppas happy-clappy euro-pop sound track, very loud.  It was so appallingly bad that by the end of the movie you were aching to turn the sound off.  The second thing was how wonderful Sylvia Kristel’s breasts looked in closeup.

Emmanuelle 2

Then, in 1975 came Emmanuelle 2.  I like this movie more than the first Emmanuelle.   The difference was in the Director of Emmanuelle 2, Francis Giacobetti.  Giacobetti was, and is, a wonderful photographer, one of the greats.  By the time he came to make Emmanuelle 2, he had photographed a very sexy-beautiful Pirelli calendar (1970) and had a track record as a real artist who truly understood female beauty.  So the sex scenes became sexier, more kinetic, more alive.  Giacobetti’s camera loved Sylvia Kristel, and he photographed her beauty, even as she stripped and made love.  And Giacobetti had the wit to realise that Emmanuelle had grown up.  Still soft and romantically seductive, Emmanuelle is now a woman.  She is now less hesitant, more knowing, more truly her own sexual person.  It is a great movie, sexy as few movies are, and has aged well.

When she puts down the phone, things are going to get very heated - tattoo scene from Emmanuelle 2

My only criticism of Emmanuelle 2 is that the actress who dubbed Sylvia Kristel into English was atrociously bad.  If you can watch it in the original French, do so.  But it is a sexy movie, I would recommend it above all the other movies Sylvia made.

Sylvia Kristel and the late Seventies

Then for a while in the 70s, she really hit her stride as an actress.  She made the La Marge (titled The Streetwalker, in English) for cult erotic director Walerian Borowczyk.  I think this is her best performance ever.  Sylvia plays a street prostitute in this dreamlike, brooding movie.  In The Streetwalker she has a liaison with Joe D’Allesandro, a man who has suffered a terrible tragedy. She was marvellous here, tentative, tender and sensual, giving the part an ethereal complexity that was perfect.

Sylvia Kristel in the The Streetwalker

Then she made a psychological thriller, “Alice or the last fugue”, a Hitchcockian story for Claude Chabrol, the French director of crime and mystery.  Not a great movie, it was cold to the point of unpleasantness, vintage Chabrol but maybe a bit too much Chabrol, too much malice overpowering the story.  Sylvia Kristel was very good as a vulnerable woman in an atmosphere of menace.  Again, strong enough to carry the movie.

She came to England to promote “Alice” and I remember her being interviewed by some fat pompous interviewer on the BBC. He treated her as a cross between a prostitute and a mental defective.  However she was very brave and stood her ground, talking about the movie, even when the interviewer tried to infer she was a stupid slut for being naked on film.

Lady Chatterley’s Lover

However if she pissed the Brits off by getting naked in Emmanuelle, that was nothing to the outrage she caused when she starred in “Lady Chatterley’s Lover”.  The novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, had gone from being a reviled piece of filth in the Sixties to a kind of British literary mascot in the Seventies.  I think Lady Chatterley gave middle-class Brits the idea that they were pretty sexy after all, under all that cold reserve.  To have a French bimbo play a titled lady and a national icon caused convulsions in the national press.   The reviewers massacred the film and it sank without a trace.

Many years later I saw Lady Chatterley’s Lover and it was not so bad.  It was directed by Just Jaeckin (again) and it was clear that the old dog had kept an eye on his protégé.  Sylvia did bring some real gifts to her Lady Chatterley.  Sylvia’s demure elegant attitude, her warmth, gave her some of the characteristics of D.H. Lawrence’s Constance Chatterley.  Her ability to portray an innocent surface repressing a powerful, loving sexuality also made her a good fit.  However her inability to play the role in English (she had to be dubbed) dragged the portrayal down.  Just Jaeckin’s ability to build and film aristocratic high-style scenes was exploited to the full here, so what we got was a movie that was faithful after a fashion but very flat.

Private Lessons

And in the same year as Lady Chatterley’s Lover she made her most financially successful film “Private Lessons”.  Private Lessons is a sex comedy about an adolescent boy whose rich father had left him in the care of a sexy French housekeeper.  As the housekeeper, Sylvia showed that, given a good director, she had a real gift for light comedy.  Private Lessons is another good movie which has aged well.

Later Years

Hollywood and the Eighties were not good for Sylvia.  By that time she had a cocaine problem, was being cheated out of her royalties and had a series of disastrous love affairs.  She made other movies, they were not good.  At the start of the Nineties she was bankrupt and had lost everything and had pretty much dropped off the radar.  By the end of the Nineties she was at last in a stable relationship.  She did some independent film work and she painted.

Sylvia Kristel in middle age - still elegant.

Then in 2001 she was diagnosed with cancer.  Sylvia had always been a heavy smoker and in 2001 had the first of a number of serious surgeries which would leave her badly scarred and with permanent physical impairments.

Around 2006, there was a revival of interest in Sylvia Kristel and she gave some interviews.  She was intelligent and witty, just as she had been when she was younger.  I was struck by how kind and level she was about her past and how self-aware she was.  She made it plain that she knew her own mistakes had contributed to making her later life tough.

A couple of months ago I read about how ill she was and in my heart I wished her all the best.

And now she is gone.

Sylvia Kristel and me

I am immensely saddened by Sylvia Kristel’s death.  I feel like I owe her a debt and am hugely grateful to her.

When I saw first Emmanuelle I was a boy, an adolescent who had sex on the brain, all the time.  This was bad, because sex in England in the Seventies was dirty, soulless and misunderstood.  England had started teaching “sex education” in schools.  It was
mechanical, medical and empty.  I remember it as completely joyless.

Emmanuelle was a revelation that changed my life.  It showed sex as fun, intimate and passionate.  It showed sex as sexy, for Heaven’s sake.  In the main English people are not good with sex, they do not understand it.  I do, and my education started with Sylvia Kristel as Emmanuelle.  In England, Emmanuelle was a blip on the radar, and most people in England have never heard of the movie nor do older people remember it.  Not for me.  Emmanuelle shaped my life.  And not just me.  Maybe not in England, but in Europe, where she was adored by so many men.

For me, Sylvia Kristel was beautiful and sexy but most of all she had a naturalness that I adored.  I fell in love with her in a way I have never done with any other movie actor.  She helped me to realise that I was both sexy and sensual and that sex could help me (as an adolescent) find out who I was. Emmanuelle gave me a big boost on my early journey to becoming cultured, worldly and a good lover.  It showed me the world of good sex that existed outside of the cold confines of England.  It showed me that sex can develop your character, your spirit and your life. I am so very grateful for this.

Sylvia Kristel 1952-2012

Goodbye Sylvia.  I cherish the memory of you.  Thank you and much, much love to you.

I was on the lookout for a new fragrance.  I like dense, masculine, long-lasting fragrances that have a real presence.  I project an image of style and masculine power, and I wanted a fragrance that was in accord with that image.  More than that I wanted a fragrance that had a hard edge to it.  Most recently I have been wearing Terre D’Hermes which is a superb fragrance for a man.  Terre D’Hermes is a rich, mossy oaky earthy scent with a just a bit of tobacco and spice. It smells rich, welcoming and warm and has a lot of presence but is a little soft.

I realised that what I wanted was something slightly more sexy, more overtly masculine and with a lot of presence.  One of the most important factors in developing personal style is knowing what works for you.  I was clear about what I wanted.

I wanted a Leather.

Actually I wanted leather, tobacco, tar, all the thing that smelled manly.  As long as it was big.  In perfume terms, I wanted “radiance”, the ability of the perfume to radiate out into my personal space.  I wanted a male fragrance that had a big personality.

References

So it was time for a little research.  These days I go straight to the Bible of Perfumes.  This is Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez wonderful book “Perfumes, The A-Z guide”.  Luca Turin is one of the greatest living experts on perfume and, along with his wife Tania Sanchez, is one of the most lucid, engaging writers I have ever read.  Our review of “Perfumes, the A-Z Guide”, is here.

We also wrote an earlier article on how to choose a man’s fragrance.  That article is here

My Choice  - Histoiries De Perfums 1740

I read Luca’s reviews of great masculine perfumes and decided upon a perfume. I choose 1740 from Histoires de Parfums, a French niche fragrance house.  Luca Turin gave 1740 a rating of 5 out of 5 and described it as one of the best Leathers ever, which was good enough for me.  Also, a close reading of “Perfumes” makes it clear that Turin and Sanchez think very highly of Histoires’ perfumes, both the men’s and the women’s ranges.  But I also had a look at the Histores de Parfums site, which whetted my interest (more below).

1740 Men's Fragrance, from Histoires De Parfums

Buying 1740

I usually do not buy any fragrance without smelling it.  However Histoires de Parfums are a niche fragrance brand, only sold in a few stores, none of which were convenient for me at the time.  So I ordered 1740, scent unseen, from the Grooming Clinic website.  More on the Grooming Clinic below.

Trying it – Top Notes

I sprayed it on.  The top notes are a spectacularly lively bitter Orange, a sharp Balsamic spicyness and some clean Citrus, all bound together with a big kick of scent.  This is spraying on exhilaration out of a bottle.  It feels bracing, lifts one up immediately.  This is the most immediate impact a fragrance has had on me since I discovered Eau Sauvage as a teenager.

1740 has a presence alright.  The Citrus/Orange (the Bergamot I guess) and Oakmoss scent is dominant and lasts a long time.  I had a mate drop by when I was opening the box and gave it to him to try.  He also tried a couple of heavy Orientals (reviews to follow) and his opinion, the 1740 was the dominant fragrance (and the one he preferred).I could smell the top notes for about forty minutes.  Then the middle starts to blend in.  And I mean blend.  There is a symphonic quality about this fragrance, where the top, middle and base accords weave around each other, slowly displacing each other.  If you are paying attention, this is fragrance as entertainment.

The big middle

The middle is bold, rich and a lot of presence.  There is a smell of spice, coriander, cardamom and something that smells like a spicy plum. At the same time there is a smell of aromatic woods. There is a clean, iron smell of Birch, some fresh Cedar.  The woods lift the middle notes and give it a backbone.  There is a smell of tobacco from somewhere.   This 1740 is really big and rich but not fat, it has structure. And again, orchestrated.  These scents combine to form something which is warm, sexy, but has a combative, rugged edge.

I was wearing the 1740, it had gone into the middle notes, when I kissed a female friend.  Her eyes almost glazed over and she said “God, what is that!”.  I told her and she proceeded to nuzzle my neck long enough to get a good long scent of the 1740.  Now that is the right reaction to a man’s fragrance!.

1740, a bold, rugged, sexy Leather and Amber fragrance

Into the base

The Birch stays, and a big Leather and dry Amber come along to fill out the base accord. Again, this is big, it has mass and enough structure that you could almost reach out and grasp it.  So you get a rich whisky leather scent with a hint of Iron (the Birch?).  And this is not bare-bones.  The middle never completely dies away and the scent has a “body” to it.  So there is warmth, mystery, hints of spice and that dry  but substantial Amber.  At this point the 1740 has gone full orchestral on you and the fully composed perfume is radiating out into your personal space.  Magnificent.  The perfumier at Histoires ,Gerald Ghislain, who composed this, is a genius.

The effect – sexy as hell.

Hell, do I feel like a sex god when I wear this!  I have been wearing 1740 for a week now and have found reasons for wearing it every single day.  Once the 1740 gets into its base accord I feel like I have the balls of Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer and the sex-appeal of a young Sean Connery.   The Leather/Amber accord really appeals to me and smells very manly, yet modern.  There are none of the connotations or signature scents of “old” perfumes.  This is a very modern composition, lively and fresh to start, strong and authoritative in the dry-down.

Longevity

I said this was rich but it is also long-lasting.  I put this on at 11.00am and the scent is still actively present 12 hours later.  This is a powerful, beautifully structured fragrance that works hard.

Works for me

So I am completely and utterly sold on this 1740 and will be trying some of the other Histoires de Parfums men’s fragrances.  The sheer pleasure that this fragrance has given me is wonderful.  Choosing, buying and wearing this fragrance has been a joyful personal experience and one that has enhanced my personal style.  I recommend 1740 whole-heartedly.

1740

Histoires de Parfums

Histoires de Parfums are a niche French perfume house who I had not heard of before I read “Perfumes the A-Z Guide”.  The most thing important to write about here is that they are dedicated to men’s fragrances as well as women’s and the have an extensive men’s range, all named after important historic dates.  Gerald Ghislain takes the thematic date (often the date of birth of a famous, iconic man) as inspiration and derives a perfume from that. He describes himself as a “hands-on” perfumier. Well, he got his hands dirty here and created a superb men’s fragrance.  I promise more on Histoires de Parfums and Monsieur Ghislain in future articles.

The Histoires de Parfums site is really good, you can find it here

The Grooming Clinic

I bought my 1740 from the Grooming Clinic, who are listed as a preferred retailer on the Histoiries de Parfums website.  The Grooming Clinic has some really interesting men’s fragrance products, alongside a wide range of men’s grooming products.  I spoke to them about the 1740 and they were both knowledgeable and extremely helpful.  They steered me to another range of men’s rragrances which I will write about in a future article.

They ship their products by recorded delivery (included in the price) and the 1740 arrived within two days.  What particularly impressed me was the care with which they package products for dispatch.  Here is a picture of their mail packaging for the 1740.

Packaging for the 1740

Based on my experience I would certainly recommend them.  The Groom Clinic’s website is here

Your feedback on this review and other Histoiries product are most welcome.

Our original article, including some great pictures, is here: http://www.whatmakesaman.net/wordpress/2012/03/17/harvie-and-hudson-classic-jermyn-street-style/

Harvie and Hudson have always moved with the times, and their well-tailored English suits, topcoats and accessories are now as well-known as their shirts.  All of their clothes are available from their website, including their bespoke shirt service.  If you have always wanted to find out about getting bespoke shirts but did not know where to start, the website is a good beginning.

Harvie and Hudson have recently upgraded and re-launched their website and you can find it here http://www.harvieandhudson.com/

For our American readers, the site now has the dates of the Autumn (Fall) 2012 trunk shows, on the home page.

Prada are launching their new Men’s Fragrance Luna Rossa, on the 1st of October 2012.

Prada and Extreme Sailing

So here is a bit of an sneak preview, which was sent to us here at What Makes a Man.  The video below is the press ad for the new Prada men’s fragrance, Luna Rossa.  Now this is promising, because the Luna Rossa sailing team are an amazing Italian sailing team who were originally formed to contest the 2000 America’s Cup.  Since these brave gentlemen have been at the forefront of Extreme Sailing contests worldwide.  Their crews are drawn from tough athletes with high endurance and superb sailing skills, and they have made great sailors out of weightlifters, martial arts champions and men from all sorts of diverse sporting banckgrounds.  So, tough hombres all round.

Prada Fragrances

Prada’s women’s fragances have begun to get a following in the market, especially with Prada Ambre, and I thought that Prada Tendre was a complex, well-executed fragrance.  Men’s fragrances have been (largely) upscale niche fragrances that that sit within the Prada family of products.  So I am looking forward to Luna Rossa, this looks to be a much more full-bodied, masculine fragrance.   The history of Prada is that when they set out to do somethinmg they do it well.  Certainly the signs are that Luna Rossa will become Prada’s flagship male fragrance.   There is certainly room for another great male fragrance.  I will have Luna Rossa at launch (October the 1st) and will publish a review soon.

Stay posted for the review.

Enjoy the video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Cover, S Magazine, Issue 14

Issue 14 is a little bit of a mixed bag.  There are some interesting articles on art and artists including a very insightful article on new Scots clothes designer, Graeme Armour.  However, as usual, it is the photography that dominates.

Lars Botten

There is a striking, downright dirty set of photographs from Lars Botten, a photographer new to me.   He shoots a blonde model called Ada, in a white clapboard country cottage.  I cannot tell whether the cottage is in a Scandinavian country or in backwoods America, but it is clearly isolated.  There is something adolescent and exciting about the atmosphere of these pictures.  Ada is beautiful, young and coolly sexy and the shots suggest a teenage tryst.  Like a boy has got the best-looking girl in class to go to the cottage and asked her to show him her body…..  Erotic and quite unique.

Ada - Photoshot by Lars Botten

Massimo Leardini

There is an amazing set of photographs from Massimo Leardini, a photographer who I have written about before and who is a favourite in S Magazine.  Some of Leardini’s previous work has been very sexy indeed but this set is sexy in a different, very delicate, way.  These nudes are very sensitively photographed, there is a care and a tenderness that radiates out of the pictures.  Again the model is blonde, but unfortunately she is uncredited.  The chemistry between this model and Leardini’s photography is quite incredible, the pictures sit in the space where erotic photography become art.  This is love on the page.  Leardini is a really individual photographer and and often surprises me in the way he presents very original photographs, in terms of mood and tone.

UPDATED 25.10.21012. We had an email from Massimo Leardini himself, informing us that the model in the shoot above is Jenny Sinkaberg.  Of you would like to see more of Massimo’s work his website is here

In plein air - photoshoot by Massimo Leardini

Quentin De Briey

There are of course lots of other pictorials and one I keep returning to is a single image by Quentin De Briey, showing an ordinary room, with books, plants, sofa, with a nude model glancing longingly out of a large picture window.  The model is Noah Steenbruggen.   The shot is slightly out of focus and the model is in longshot and a little indistinct, but you cannot ignore it, it raises feeling of curiousity, of desire, of puzzlement.  I do not know De Briey’s work but will be looking for more of it, now that I have seen this one picture.

No other mag is doing what S Magazine does, it is very adventurous and sometimes the pictorials are too ambitious and fail.  However it is always worth reading, whether the photography succeeds or not, S Magazine is always doing something inspiring, This issue is not perfect but it is one of those inspired issues.

Details

S Magazine is a twice-yearly publication. Their website is www.smagazine.com

Note.

If anyone knpws thew name of the model in the Massmio Leardini shoot, I will be happy to update the post with it.

When Ahava offered me samples of the new products to review I had a concern about changes to products I enjoyed using (new is not always better).  As a result I decided to really put these products through their paces and give them an extended try-out.

Three products

The new Ahava range contains the full range of products that one expects in a modern men’s range including showergels and hand creams. I selected the following products from the range to review.

• Ahava soothing after-shave moisturiser
• Ahava foam-free shaving cream
• Ahava age-control moisturising cream

My Grooming Regimen

Shaving creams and moisturisers, along with Men’s fragrances, form the core of my grooming regimen.  I use a variety of shower gels, about which I will write another time.  And the truth is I am very discerning and products have to be good to get on my permanent list.  I am old-school male in this respect.  If I think a men’s grooming product works well I will be loyal to it. And writing this web-site has given me the opportunity to try a lot of products and so I have a larger personal favourites list than most men.  So the Ahava set would need to be good to stay on that list.

Reviews

Here is how I currently review Grooming products.

Ease of use

What do I have to do?  Remembering that I am not a morning person and that running late happens to us all…

How they feel

I have used some men’s grooming products which feel like I am applying recalcitrant putty.  So products that I cannot apply quickly do not cut it.  Even more important are grooming products that apply evenly.  I used to use one moisturiser that lacked plasticity and I would get to work, go to the men’s room, look in the mirror and find small pale/white spots where the stuff had not absorbed well.  Not a good look…..

Smell

Products should smell good, masculine but not too strong.  I do not want something which competes with whatever men’s fragrance I am wearing.

Effectiveness

This should be at the top of the list really.  Does it do the job?

Value

How much do I have to use? Value for me is a formulation that includes how effective the product is, but also the degree to which a product is long-lasting.

So with these criteria in mind, here are my reviews of the Ahava grooming products.

Ahava foam-free shaving cream

From the outset I have to say that this was the best product of them all, I am really enjoying the Ahava shaving cream.   It comes in a 200 ML toothpastetube-style dispenser and a soft squeeze gives you a small very white blob of cream.  This has a soft consistency.  It has the singular quality that all Ahava products have, which is that it does not feel in the least oily.

Ahava foam-free shaving cream

The cream rubs on clear, which is important.  Any man with a beard or mustache knows that a clear creams allow you to shave around the edges of your beard more easily and more accurately.  The cream feels good going on, with a slight fresh, astringent smell,  bracing and clean.

But the reason I like it is it shaves so damn well.  I get a really close shave with the Ahava and absolutely no razor burn.  If I give the cream time to absorb into the beard (around 20 seconds) I get a very close shave indeed. And the cream is kind to the skin.  After I rinse it off, there is no dryness or tautness of the skin.  I really like the formulation, it has a luxurious feel but is very effective.

I really wanted to put these products through their paces and have been using the Ahava shaving cream for a month now, occasionally alternating it with other products so as maintain my ability to assess it.  Some things I have noticed.

I am using less and less of the product, as I become familiar with it.  It is very economical, one only needs to use the smallest amount to get a good close shave.

It maintains its fluidity, does not dry out.  Twice I have left the cap slightly open, in a rush to get ready for an appointment.  When I came to use the cream the next day it was still fluid with only a single hardened drop, the size of a grain of sand, on the dispenser head, which is excellent, in my view.  So for those of you who treat your grooming products rough, I recommend this one to you.  Which brings me to…

Desperation Shaving.

I am an organised guy but as you will have read here, I have my two-seconds-to-get-ready days.  Now normally when I am trying to shave at speed, I get a nick somewhere.  I noticed that with the Ahava that, I did not ever cut myself.  Also, in a moment of speed
over wisdom, I made the ultimate mistake and shaved left to right.  However when I did this using the Ahava, I did not even get a razor burn.  The Ahava shaving cream provides a very rich fluid layer to shave over, the protection factor is high.

So in my view the Ahava shaving cream is truly excellent stuff, effective and easy to use.  I heartily recommend it and am continuing to use it.

Ahava Soothing After-Shave Moisturiser

This is an improved formulation of the original Ahava men’s moisturiser.  It comes in a 50ML pump dispenser which squeezes a small white blob of the moisturiser into your hand.

It has a similar slightly astringent, herby smell to it, which fades after about twenty minutes. Ahava moisturiser now has Calendula in it, a natural skin–soothing herb and one can feel this soothing effect the skin instantly.  There is also an enlivening effect, my skin feels fresher, less tired.  This is a substantive effect and lasts about an hour.

Ahava After Shave Moisturiser

Old versus New

For me it was important that the new moisturiser had the key advantages of the original one.  Firstly it had to penetrate the skin well, and be an effective moisturiser.  Secondly, the wonderful attribute of the original moisturiser was that it was so long-lasting.  And this new version is good on both counts.  If anything, it is a better moisturiser.  After using it for four days I could see a noticeable new tone in my facial skin and consistent usage has really improved my skin quality.

Long-lasting

As with the original this is a long-lasting moisturiser.  You can put this on in the morning and see and feel that your skin is still good at the end of the day.  A lot of moisturisers simply do not have that quality.

The original Ahava moisturiser was, for me, their star product and I am really glad that this new version retains the benefits of the original while adding further benefits in the quality of the product and its absorbtion into the skin.  Again, highly recommended.

Ahava Age Control Moisturising Cream

I am very interested in Age Management grooming products for men.  Men do not need good skincare when they are young and standard grooming products often do not cut it when they get older.  Products for mature men have to be effective and have an immediate impact.

So the Ahava Age Control Moisturising Cream turned out to be an incredibly rich cream.  Date and Dunaliella Salina (rich in anti-oxidants) are blended with other botanicals and Dead Sea Minerals.  It uses extracts of Ginseng, Ginko and Ginger to enhance the restorative effects of the cream.  It also has a an SPF factor or 15, which is very useful, as the skin of older men is more sensitive to strong sunlight and UV radiation.

Ahava Age Control Moisturiser

How did I test it?

Given that I was wearing the After-Shave moisturiser and needed to be able to see the effects of both moisturisers, I got my friend Peter to be the test subject.  Peter is a mature man who has spent a lot of time outside and quite a lot of crows-feet
and other wrinkles.  Peter is in his forties and has the skin of a mature man. That is, wrinkled, more weathered and tougher than the skin of a woman
of comparable age.

What we found

This is a heavier, slightly more luxurious cream, which has the same faintly astringent smell, goes on easily and has the same uplifting qualities as the After Shave moisturiser. In fact the first thing we found that the Age Control Moisturiser had very potent penetrating power.  When we applied it to Peter’s skin, it was absorbed quickly into his skin and had an immediate effect.

Two effects – immediate and time-related

When we applied the Age Control moisturiser to Peter’s skin, it was immediately clear that his skin looked better, smoother and the wrinkles in his skin were less pronounced.  His skin looked younger and healthier, had more shine.

After an hour we reviewed his skin again.  The skin around his eyes looked firmer, younger and the wrinkles were markedly less pronounced.  Overall his skin looked cleaner and fresher.  The Age Control moisturiser had a visible effect after only one application. Peter’s skin looked better and the Age Control moisturiser had clearly had a visible effect, smoothing out some of the age lines and wrinkles in his skin.  Peter, who is generally take-it-or-leave-it on men’s grooming products, is now an Ahava convert.

My own experience

I have been using the Age Control Moisturiser as an evening moisturiser.  It is very good for toning down wrinkles, giving my skin a lift and making my skin look younger.  So I have been using it for parties and social events.  A secondary benefit is that
this moisturiser makes my skin feel better, it has a soothing, uplifting effect.

Conclusion

Simple really, this is potent, useful stuff.  I would really recommend this moisturiser to mature men.  If you are going to buy one misturiser, this is the one.  This is a moisturiser which works well on older skin, which give your skin a lift and has the added value of a sunscreen in the formulation.

Packaging

As you will see from the photographs, the packaging is a little dour and does not quite reflect the rather luxurious contents inside.  That said, it made it easy to find these products amongst all the silvers and bright blues that inhabit my bathroom shelves.  The colours do reflect the effective, get-the-job-done nature of Ahava’s products.  In fact the lack of glamourous packaging will help you keep these products a secret and stop yoour girlfriend from ripping off your moisturiser…….

Ahava men's grooming range

Conclusion: A great range of men’s products.

I really wanted to put these products through their paces and have used them extensively for a month now and they have become grooming favourites.  I have kept Ahava waiting for my review but I hope you, my readers, will think it was worthwhile.  I am really pleased with this range, from a man’s perspective they hit all the right notes.  The products are well-made, well-sourced, effective with just a touch of upscale luxury.  Using these products is a small joy in a busyday.  They will really support your
personal grooming and I recommend them to you whole-heartedly.

For how to buy and Ahava stockists worldwide, Ahava’s website is here: http://www.ahava.com/

Until a few years ago I knew Theodore Roosevelt as the great “Trust-Buster” the president who broke the power of the monopolistic cartels that dominated American business in the late 1800s.  I knew of the Rough Riders, that mad collection of cowboys and Harvard polo players that Roosevelt turned into a cavalry regiment and how they fought the battle of San Juan Hill (on foot).  I knew that he was the driving force behind the building of the Panama Canal.

For a long time my abiding image of Theodore Roosevelt was from the movies.  It was Brian Keith’s magnificent performance as Roosevelt in John Milius’ wonderful movie “The Wind and the Lion”.   But Theodore Roosevelt’s real life is more interesting and more compelling by far than even his movie self.

And to be honest, I am writing about him because he had bags of style and really, really dressed well. Here is a short article about his life and some thoughts on the model of manliness that he left us.

Theodore Roosevelt, politician and dandy

A difficult childhood

Ironically for a man who is famous for action, Theodore was a weak, sickly child who contracted asthma before he was four and his own family doubted that he would live to adulthood. However even though fragile and often ill, TR had a lively nature, a fast mind and an inclination to mischievousness.  It was such an unlikely combination to evolve into one of the defining heroes of American history

He was born the son of Theodore Roosevelt Senior.  Roosevelt Senior was old money, the head of the long-established Roosevelt Importing Company and one of the most influential men in New York.  In many ways Roosevelt Senior was even more deserving of admiration than his son.  A true American patriot who believed passionately in democracy, it was said that he was comfortable in the presence of any man be they billionaires or beggars.  A photo shows him to be a big strong powerful man, with an air of innate authority.

As i mentioed Theodore Roosevelt was a sickly child, frequently very ill.  Yet as early as nine years old, TR’s will to succeed led him to take up weight-lifting, running and swimming, to improve his body.  At 12, on a trip to Moosehead Lake, he encountered two boys of his own age.  Though he was now stronger, they easily beat him in a fight.  Spurred by this defeat, he took up boxing.  It was an inspired act of courage and the foundation stone in making him the man he was to become.

Early life

Sent to Harvard Roosevelt, after a rathervarialbe education, whicch included trips to Europe, he quite simply excelled.  Already scholarly, partly because of his sickly enclosed childhood, he took to real study like a duck to water and graduated Magna Cum Laude.  Mind and body were now one and he possessed the iron self-discipline which was to serve him for the rest of his life.  Willpower and constant physical exercise had turned him into a strong, slim handsome young man. He had started the hunting trips that he later became famous for, at this time to Arostook County, Maine, which was still very rough country.  It was here that his new strength and his warmth and character stood him in good stead, as he charmed the roughneck lumbermen and the taciturn hunters.  It was becoming apparent that he had his father’s gift for talking to any man, regardless of his station.

However, in the midst of this journey into manhood, life dealt him a terrible blow.  In 1878 his beloved father, developed an illness, strange intestinal cramps.  Unbeknownst to the Roosevelt family, Roosevelt Senior had developed a fibrous tumour in his gut.  This swelled to gigantic size and he suffered terrible agonies, dying suddenly.  He was only 46.  Theodore Roosevelt Junior was 19.  Shattered by his father’s untimely death, he somehow found the will to return to Harvard.

At 22 he was married, to Alice Lee, a beautiful but very young woman of good family.  He had taken the decision to go into politics, for which it was obvious he had many suitable skills and talents.  Roosevelt had come to respect his own genius and reviewed his two possible routes into politics.  He could use his connections to powerful New York families and become a gentleman politician or he could lower himself into the grimy, corrupt political machine and really learn how to work the gears.  He choose the later option and in a letter to a friend, wrote “I have become a political hack”.

Political Hack and Dandy.

In January 1882, Theodore Roosevelt became a Republican Assemblyman in Albany, upstate New York. It was a very strange fit.  Albany was legendary for its corrupt cynical politics and TR was one of the least cynical men to enter the chamber, with a huge ego, a passion for justice and a courageous, if occasionally naïve manner. Also, TR was now a great dandy.  He acknowledged this himself.  When the concept of men dressing with style was in its infancy, TR revelled in good clothes and was a peacock and then some, with Savile Row suits and hand-cut boots. He was one of the most well-dressed men of his age.  So his entrance into the Assembly chamber produced no little comment.

However he soon made his mark, literally.  Politics in Albany was a violent and dirty game and the corrupt Tammany Hall Democrats were one of the most powerful political groups in Albany.  Drawn mostly from Irish immigrants to New York the Tammany men had no qualms about using violence to achieve their end.  They tried to put the frighteners on Roosevelt and he made it that plain that he would respond in kind.  This all came to a head in an Albany saloon, when a tough Tammany member, confident that he could beat up a “rich boy”, started a fight.  TR, dressed up to the nines, represented an easy target.

Now a lethal boxer, TR knocked the man flat in seconds. The Tammany man stood up, TR knocked him flat again.  He got up and tried a third time, TR knocked him flat again.  TR sent him off with the advice to go wash the blood off.  It was a salutary lesson for his opponents.

Scholar and Rancher

At the same time as he was beginning to make a name for himself as a politician, his first book was published.  It was a serious study of America’s Navy, The Naval War of 1812 and it was a critical and financial success and established Theodore Roosevelt as a historian of note.  But perhaps more importantly for Roosevelt was his first trip to the Badlands of Dakota, in 1883, for a hunting trip.  As a man of action he had always been close to nature but Dakota was going to bring out a closeness to nature that would change his life.   He had a spiritual epiphany and saw the importance of nature to man, and nature as greater than man and infinitely precious.  Soon after he became a rancher in Dakota, raising beef cattle.  Thses early experiences shaped him to become America’s first environmentalist and as President he legislated to protect and conserve the American wilderness.

Political Reformer

Theodore Roosevelt’s career as a rising politician contains too much to summarise here.  His fight against graft and political corruption, his reform of the Civil Service.  In his rise to power and prominence he held many roles and he was one of the most successful Commissioners of Police New York ever had.  The fearless Roosevelt even managed to eradicate police corruption, even it was only for his time in office. But Roosevelt’s real destiny came calling in 1887, when he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy,

Ready to fight

As Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt began to build up America’s Naval strength, much to the chagrin of his boss, John D. Long.  Secretary Long was a man who believed in the quiet life, while his Assistant Secretary saw America’s enemies becoming more threatening.  Theodore Roosevelt was right, he just did not know how prescient he was.

Cuba at that time was a Spanish possession.   The Spaniards, with the disregard for humanity that had characterised Spanish rule for centuries, treated the native Cubans as slave labour on colonial estates.  The cruelty and brutality of the Spanish ruling class was so great that the native Cubans rose up in revolt.  Spain’s answer was to send an army to suppress the peasantry.  Americans on Cuba were caught up in the violence. The US President William McKinley, implored the Spanish to respect the freedom and security of Americans on Cuba, who were effectively trapped between the Spanish Army and the revolt.  The Spanish Foreign Minister’s response was to tell the US to go to hell.  In fact the letter was so insulting that the US Government refused to publish it, fearing it would incite anti-Spanish feeling.  The Cuban Insurrectos managed to get the letter to the US press and the outcry was enormous.  It’s hard to understand today, but at that time the European powers treated the US as an unsophisticated no-account country, who had no power or presence in the larger world.

In February 1898, while Secretary Long was on leave, Theodore Roosevelt sent a naval vessel, the USS Maine, to Cuba to protect American citizens.  The Maine anchored in Havana Harbour.  On the 19^th of February the Maine was destroyed in a huge explosion, most of the crew were killed or wounded.  It was determined that it had been destroyed by a submarine mine.

There would be war.

National Hero

All his life, Theodore Roosevelt had been a warrior at heart, and now he had the chance to be one for real.  He resigned his post as Assistant Secretary of the Navy, shocking the political establishment.  He took a commission as the commander of the volunteer army to be sent to Cuba, liberate the island and institute a free government.  And he did two things which marked him out as a man of genius.  Firstly he knew that he could not learn to command an army in such a short space of time so he took the role of second-in-command.  He took the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel under Colonel Leonard Wood, a seasoned military office who said little except to ask great things of his troops.

His second action was a mark of genius and has passed into history as a legendary story.  Theodore Roosevelt knew that his volunteer army would be up against seasoned Spanish troops and the expectation was that cavalry battles would be decisive. So Roosevelt recruited the men he knew could ride and who could fight.  From the West, he exhorted his fellow Cowboys to join him, and from his wealthy family connections he assembled a crew of noble brits, professional Polo players and sporty horsemen.  This spectacularly unusual mixture of men became the talk of America and Roosevelt’s Rough Riders were born.

And in Cuba, it all culminated in the battle of San Juan Hill where Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders decisively defeated the Spanish Army and Roosevelt became an American hero defeating a foreign enemy. The Spanish were driven out and a government of Cubans was instituted.

Theodore Roosevelt in his Rough Riders uniform (which he designed)

Vice-President and President

Theodore Roosevelt became Vice-President under President William McKinley.  It was while he was Vice-President that he gave the quote for which he is most famous “Speak softly and carry a big stick”.  However he was not vice-president for long.  On 6^th
September 1901 William McKinley was shot by an assassin.  He died eight days later and Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as President.  He served two terms.

His accomplishments were legendary.  He brought outrage on his government for his support of the emancipation of African-Americans, especially his support for Booker T. Jones, the African-American politician.  He earned the enmity of many of the plutocrat classes for his trust-busting activities. Though in truth, he felt no enmity in bending these powerful men to his vision of a fairer America.  By force of political will he caused the Panama Canal to be built and suddenly the world powers of Europe saw that America was a technological colossus that they had underestimated.  He made America a power to be reckoned with in the world and he did everything he could to make life better for the ordinary working American, to whom he always remained close.  He was the first and most powerful environmentalist, passing laws and legislating to protect the American wilderness.

And throughout all of this he remained real.  He was a father and a family man.  He loved to sail, he continued to hunt, he remained a horseman and an adventurer to the end of his days.

If there has been another modern leader like him, who was so conscious of his destiny, yet so grounded in real life, I do not know who it is.  Perhaps Winston Churchill, who had less of a common touch, but had that true sense of a leader’s destiny.

A model of Manliness

Theodore Roosevelt was the very model of the man of action.  He saw assertive action as superior to intellectual rationalisations.  Intellect was fine as a preparation but a poiunt had to be reached where action was taken. We now speak of “Analysis Paralysis” and we have that understanding because of the distinctions that Theodore Roosevelt drew.  Roosevelt emphasised determination and willpower over analytic explorations of life.

There is a sense that man are automatically manly, by virtue of their biology.  Yet this is not necessarily true, the values we in the West see as manly are not universally held.  Roosevelt believed that it took effort to be manly, that we at first learn the ways of
our society, learn their value and then seek to extend them.  That a man tries to achieve something in his life, to excel, to rise above other men in some way or form.  He believed that all men harbour assertive competitiveness and that, properly harnessed, this is a huge force for social good.

Roosevelt believed that the value in a man was in his ability to strive, knowing that luck played a part for good or evil.  In effect willpower makes manliness real, it harnesses courage to intent and sets a man on the path to challenging the world, regardless of how uncertain his victory might be.

So for Theodore Roosevelt, to be manly required risk.  That each man, as far as he was capable, should risk.  That a man is born into a society which shapes and defines what is expected of a man, and in doing so helps a man to define what willpower is.  And because there are so many ways a free society can lead a man to willpower, there are many ways for a man to become whole, courageous and individual.  And that there is a contradiction between what society demands of us as men and what we want to achieve, that a real man understands ans accepts this.  In efeect, a man accepts his own power.  Theodore Roosevelt thought that men should rise above their duty and that a true leader saw duty as the start point for bringing some better thing into the world.

Roosevelt makes a great case, if only because he brought so many good things into the world.  Also, the America he lived in, for all its ills, was one of the freest societies humanity has ever experienced.

And we still refer to his model today.  Ambition is not as well considered as it was, but men still operate out of a sense of striving to make life better, often in very individual ways.  The Roosevelt model raises our spirits, it says life holds no promises but somewhere in the din, we can hear Theodore Roosevelt’s voice, saying have courage and the outcome will be glorious, regardless of success or failure.

A great man.

Details

Books

I am hugely indebted to Edmund Morris for his Pulitzer-winning, best selling biography of Theodore Roosevelt.  Morris a talented, inspired writer, who makes the complexities ofTheodore Roosevelt’s life into a lucid and exciting story.  Edmund Morris makes reading a sublime pleasure.

The biography is in two parts:

• The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
• Theodore Rex

Also, to Harvey Mansfield for his landmark book “Manliness”, to which I return time and time again. This controversial, rich, compassionate book about what constitutes manliness has been my constant companion, while I have been writing this web
magazine.

Movies

Both of these movies are directed by John Milius, for whom Theodore Roosevelt is a true American hero.  If you know Milius’ movies you will know how he has an eye for adventure while giving you characters who have real and complex motivations.

“The Wind and the Lion”.
As time goes on it becomes more and more apparent that this movie is a masterpiece. Excitement, danger, colour, but underneath the adventure of Sean Connery’s Berber chieftain, lies one of the finest portraits of an American President ever committed to celluloid.

“Rough Riders”

Theodore (he hated “Teddy”) Roosevelt at the height of his powers, leading his Rough Riders into danger and victory in Cuba. This is almost a snapshot of its times, with some fine actors in an ensemble piece.  Tom Berenger is pitch-perfect as Theodore Roosevelt.

Willpower

For readers who are interested in how Willpower works and how to harness it, the definitive book on the subject is Baumeister and Tierney’s “Willpower” .  Our review of the book is here.

He is most notable for his careful, analytic observation of dating and mating, and his detailed examination of his own behaviours and feelings give him an understanding of how and why he is successful with women.  He writes all of this up on his website.

His current article is about what happened to his dating style when he bought and wore a suit. Here is a link to the piece: http://www.rooshv.com/9-things-i-learned-from-wearing-a-suit

Here at What Makes a Man we know that good clothes are vital to dating success.  We wrote a comprehensive series of articles about this subject a while back.  For those of our readers who have not read these, here are the links to our articles:

http://www.whatmakesaman.net/wordpress/2011/12/05/mens-style-for-dating-part-1-how-clothes-work-on-a-date//

http://www.whatmakesaman.net/wordpress/2011/12/05/mens-style-for-dating-part-2-shoes-and-black-shirts//

http://www.whatmakesaman.net/wordpress/2011/12/05/mens-style-for-dating-part-3-good-skin-and-bad-t-shirts/

http://www.whatmakesaman.net/wordpress/2011/12/05/mens-style-for-dating-part-4-jackets-hair-knitwear/

http://www.whatmakesaman.net/wordpress/2011/12/05/mens-style-for-dating-part-5-colognes-look-and-attitude/

My friend Jim lent me his copy of Adios Hemingway, we are both Hemingway fans.  I was suspicious at first and not sure I wanted to read the book.  This was because the writer was Cuban.  I did not want to waste my time reading some anti- Hemingway tirade about how Hemingway was a chauvinistic American and a fraud (two accusations that crop up a lot).  For me, Ernest Hemingway is very personal.  For me he is the greatest writer of the 20^th century.

In our politically correct age, Hemingway and his writing are extremely unfashionable and I do not give a damn.

I need not have worried about Adios Hemingway.  It is the best work of fiction about Ernest Hemingway I have read and it has an audacity and guts that only a real writer could produce.  In writing about Hemingway in Cuba the author explores two of the great questions around Ernest Hemingway and he does it with delicacy, courage and feeling. The author is Leonardo Padura Fuentes, a Cuban author of note.

Adios Hemingway, by Leonardo Padura Hemingway

Cuba then and now

Adios Hemingway is set both in modern Cuba and the Cuba of the 1950’s (1958 to be exact) when Ernest Hemingway lived and wrote at the Finca Viglia.  This is the same villa which is now the Hemingway museum.  The story weaves seamlessly between Hemingway himself back in 1958, and modern Cuba.  I say modern because the novel is a kind of distillation of Cuba, without reference to politics or the internet and only a few references to tourism. It could be anytime in the modern age but the story is rich and lively with Cuban life and Cuban street culture.  It does not need external references, it feels alive and real.

Murder and mangos

The story starts in modern Cuba. A tropical storm has torn up the roofs and gardens of the Finca Viglia, now the Hemingway museum.  In order to preserve one of Cuba’s few tourist attractions, workmen are sent to repair the damage.  In doing so they find the body of a man buried amongst the roots of an uprooted mango tree.  The man has clearly been murdered and equally as clearly it happened during Hemingway’s habitation of the Finca.

Inspector Manuel Palacios of the Cuban police has his hands full; and no time to investigate an old murder. So he calls in a favour and calls Mario Conde, ex-detective, now a struggling writer and acknowledged as the finest investigator that the Cuban police have had for many years.  He asks Conde to find out how the man was killed and more importantly, if Ernest Hemingway killed him.

Conde has a tortured relationship with Hemingway, to say the least.  Back in 1960, as a Cuban child of five, he met Hemingway for a brief second.   Growing up he, like so many of us, fell in love with the wonderful writing.  Then he learnt the darker side of Hemingway, the cruelty to those who loved and helped him, the showmanship, the decline when there was so much left to write.  He has grown to hate Hemingway for, in Conde’s view, betraying his gifts and betraying men generally.

And he is insulted by the task at hand.  He is convinced that Hemingway’s black temper erupted in some unknown unrecorded confrontation and that, in a drunken rage, he killed this man.  Conde wants Hemingway to be to blame and sets out in a perfunctory fashion, to prove Hemingway guilty.  But it turns out not to be that simple…..

Hemingway’s darker side

And right here Fuentes presents us with that truly painful dilemma that Hemingway readers wrestle with. How is it that this brave, generous writer, this man who wrote such meaningful, true, wonderful and poetic words about men and manhood, how could he also be such a fucking bastard.

Oh, we are all grown men, and we all know that no man is perfect. But many of us fell in love with Hemingway and never recovered.  He told us the truth about our lives as men, under cover of his fabulous writing style, and he changed our lives. And we so want to give him something in return.  We want him to be perfect, we want him to have a perfect reputation, and his pettiness, his cruelty and his stupid, arrogant temper and the things he did with it, prevent us from giving him that.

For myself I long ago stopped talking in open company about my love for Hemingway’s writing.  There is always some politically-correct imbecile who wants to rant about Hemingway’s attitude towards women, towards hunting.  These idiots will not accept that Hemingway was a man of his time and back then attitudes were different.  You might as well criticise Shakespeare for not having exploding helicopters in Hamlet, it is just as stupid.  So we readers know that our hero is not perfect, and we keep quiet about it.  So this investigation of Hemingway’s dark side has a special resonance for me, shining a light on part of him that I am uneasy about.

So in the pursuit of the unknown murderer, ex-detective Conde is forced to look at the hero he now hates.  And so he goes on a journey that lots of Hemingway enthusiasts go on.  This is inspired writing, made even sharper by Conde’s awareness of the failures of his own life annd his struggle to write.  And in its contrasts, Adios Hemingway asks some of the same questions of us.

Hemingway takes the stage

And then Adios Hemingway introduces us to Ernest Hemingway.  Fuentes take no liberties with the man, merely brings to life the man we know from his writings, his concerns about his life, that we know from his letters and journals.   Hemingway
senses that he is reaching the end of his life and all his pains fade into insignificance against the thing that hurts the most.  He no longer writes.  It is the story of a giant in agony.

So Hemingway tries, with all the skill of the great writer he still is, to consider his own manhood and the life it has shaped.  He knows the circus that has developed around him, that happened without any intention on his part.  He thinks about the women he has loved, perhaps not wisely but certainly passionately.  And all the time Hemingway is reaching for a new truth, something else is going on in the background.

So Adios Hemingway has a great rhythm.  The chaotic, lively scenes of Conde’s Cuban life inter-weave with the denser, darker conversations of Hemingway, back in the late fifties.  The fast interplay between Conde and Palacios, the back and forth, the ease with which Cuban men insult each other, gives a snappy wholly appropriate edge to the modern scenes.

Two mysteries

And this is a detective story, two if we are going to be serious.  Hemingway reviews the themes of his life, asking what is his own manhood. The tension (and revelation) lies in Conde uncovering increasingly strange truths about what happened at the Finca Viglia.  And we start to realise that the circus around Papa Hemingway has one last part to play, before the end.  And though Conde does not know it, Ernest Hemingway has one last role to play in Mario Conde’s life, too.

The ending, based in fact and truth, is a revelation that stays with you.  I read Adios Hemingway a month ago and the ending keeps coming back to me, keeps asking me questions about my own and Hemingway’s life.

My thanks to my friend Jim Handley for sharing such a powerful, accomplished and insightful novel with me.  This is intelligent, entertaining, generous writing and gives us new light on a writer loved by many of us.  Recommended.  Yes indeed.