McKanna Butchers

So I do not write about food often enough, even though I am a damn good cook.

But I want the best of everything, so I do food with style.  There are several places in central London that I rely on for good food.  One of them is McKannas.  I have wanted to write about McKanna Butchers for a while now, so here it is.  This is a proper article, not an events mag review, so please read to the end, I promise you it is worth it.

McKanna Butchers are on a stretch of the Theobalds Road, near Clerkenwell.  They are directly opposite Lamb’s Conduit Street, one of the hippest streets in London, beloved by the rather stylish Monocle magazine.  I am guessing that the original Mr McKanna is long gone, but his legacy lives on.

Back before gentrification, this little area was an anglo-Italian community.  So the shops here were the shops a community needed.  A few of them remain.  There is an old-school fish and chip shop that sells proper fish and chips at reasonable prices.  There is a hardware store that sells everything from solvents to Leatherman tools.  And there is McKanna.

McKanna are traditional butchers but with a European sensibility.  The shop is stuffed with every kind of meat, all of it of the finest quality.  Yet their prices are extremely competitive.  Here is a picture.

McKanna Butchers - a panorama of good eating

If McKanna’s looks small to you, you’re right, it is.  Somehow there are always three butcher’s fitting themselves into this tiny space, cutting and serving.  There is an equally small outback, with the freezers and stuff.

Who goes there

Here’s how you do it.  You join the queue, which at busy times snakes out the door of the shop.  There is something about McKanna’s, people talk to each other in the queue.  I almost got a date here with a very stylish woman, simply by telling her my
recipe for a bacon and Reblochon sandwich (they sell deli cheeses too).  A lot of good restaurants buy from McKanna, so you are often queuing with sous-chefs and catering staff.  Other customers include the afore-mentioned stylish gals from the jewellery/interior design/clothes shops nearby, in-the-know big men like me, who really want that steak, urban hipsters nervously buying real (not shrinkwrapped) meat, for the first time.

Elderly local women shop here a lot.  I think because this is the type of butcher they know from the old days and who they trust. And let me tell you, these butchers, tough as they might look, are suckers for old ladies.  If you want to
see elderly people treated with respect and affection this is the place.  These are real men who know how to treat older folks.

Though most of the Italian community have moved out, some of them still make a pilgrimage to McKanna’s because of the quality of the produce here. I had a great experience here.  I was in the queue behind two Italian ladies in their seventies, both
immaculately groomed and well-dressed. They were buying, amongst other things, a pig’s head.  They were telling Marek, one of the butchers,how they wanted the head cut.  It was a truly illuminating experience.  I learnt something about Italian butchery and the immense care with which Italians
prepare their food.

Go here.  These are real butchers and they will give you all the advice you need.  In the time it takes to get to the front of the queue (which runs alongside the meat counter-display) you will have been able to look over the fine meats on offer and have some choices in mind.

My choices

Here are some of the things I have recently bought from McKanna.

Steak

Only last week I bought some superb aged rib-eyes from McKanna.  Tender, juicy, just the right amount of fat.  Cooking a steak right is not easy, but with these it is a walk in the park.  If God has a beef farm and cuts steaks, he is selling them to McKanna.

Merguez

I am a real connoisseur of these French spicy lamb sausages.  My affection for Merguez datesfrom my teenage years when I was bumming around France and a plate of Merguez and cous-cous was the cheapest meal available, in some run-down Algerian cafe.

Most English Merguez have too much fat and contain too much cereal, so when you cook them they are soggy and lack bite.  McKanna’s are the best I have tasted in England, meaty, spicy and satisfyingly firm when you bite into them.  They need so little cooking, two minutes under a high grill heat and they are done.

Gloucester Old Spot Belly Pork

McKanna is one of the few places that regularly have Gloucester Old Spot belly pork in stock.  It is the prince of porks, with a sweet, unctuous flavour that no other pork can match.  McKanna also sell magnificent Gloucester Old Spot sausages, which are very tasty.

Beef Short Ribs

A friend gave me a recipe for Beef Short Ribs, basically a variation on a Provencal Daube (beef casserole).  But where to get the Beef Short Ribs?  Of course McKanna have them, in the very front of their display.

French Guinea Fowl

It’s hard enough to get a good Guinea Fowl, which makes a classy (and economical) dinner party dish.  McKanna’s stock a range of French Guinea Fowls that are very tasty and remarkably cheap, for what they are.  They roast up beautifully.

Black Pudding

I love offal of all kinds. Again, probably a legacy of bumming around France.  I particularly like McKanna’s Spanish Black Pudding, which is made with paprika and rice. As far as I know, no-one else sells this.  It is a superb slightly spicy black pudding
to serve with a classic English breakfast.

Bacon and Pancetta

I buy bacon only from McKanna.  It’s that good.  Also, their Pancetta is excellent, smoky and well-larded, always available, and they will cut you a piece of any size.

McKanna Butchers - Theobalds Road, London.

Go See

McKanna’s is a Tardis of a Butchers shop.  Tiny, yet it contains everything from Duck Confit to Italian Salami to jars of cassoulet. Their range of sausages spans Italian, French (Toulouse plus the aforementioned Merguez) and English, all made solely for them.  Their meat is of the highest quality and for all that their prices are amazingly competitive.

The butchers here are friendly, helpful and really know their stuff.  It is a tribute to them that I think of them as “my” butcher when I live ands work a long way away from them.  McKanna are a community butcher that everyone can call their own.

Go buy from them.
Avoid Friday lunchtime between 13.00 and 14.00 when they are busier than hell.  But go any other time and add meat connoisseur to your other style attributes. You will be doing yourself a huge favour.

I present to you one of the secret special stores of London, McKanna Butchers.  They are a real experience, one you will savour.

Details:

McKanna Meats

21 Theobalds Road,

London,WC1X 8SL

Tel: 0207 242 7740

Open early till 17.00, Monday to Friday.  Saturday open till 14.00

I like Cheaney for their fabulous Lindley monkstraps, of which I own a pair, which we wrote about here.   Alas, Cheaney do not make the Lindleys anymore.  However, according to the very knowledgeable manager of their shop in Bow Lane in London, Cheaney can make Lindleys to personal order.  It was the Lindleys, with their adventurous styling, that re-kindled my interest in Cheaney shoes.   That said Cheaney continue to impress, their new collections are upscale, stylish and quite luxurious.

Cheaney also ranked very highly in our article on English country brogues here, with their robust Avon, which radiates old-school classic style.  Here is a picture:

Cheaney shops in London

And it is the shops that we are writing about today.  Cheaney have been expanding their range of shops in London and now have three.  Long-time readers will remember that Cheaney used to have a shop in London’s Bond Street.  That shop actually belonged to Church shoes and Cheaney relinquished that store when they ended their partnership with Church.  They now have shops in prime shopping districts in London.

Here they are:

Lime Street

Below is the Lime Street store in London’s Square Mile, near the Lloyds building, in London’s financial district.  At the moment this is my favourite Cheaney store.  It is the biggest of their new stores and great for browsing the collections.  It also sells the full range of Cheaney accessories.  I have bought from this shop and the staff are very helpful and rightly proud of their shoes.  This is the kind of men’s shop that gives you a real sense of quality and good taste.
The design is good too, classic but warm and welcoming.

Cheaney, Lime Street

9a Lime Street,
London,

EC3M 7AH

+44 (0)20 7283 7485

Bow Lane

This is the Bow Lane store, also in the City, but at its western limit, near St Pauls.  Bow Lane is an 18^th Century brick-laid lane, which backs onto the grand and historic Bow Church, full of atmosphere and stylish little shops. The Cheaney shop is about mid-way along the lane, on the west side.

Cheaney, Bow Lane

8 Bow Lane,
London,

EC4M 9EB

+44 (0) 20 7236 4899

This shop is notable for having a very classy display of all the styles in Cheaney’s Imperial range.   These are classic English shoes, Derby Brogues and Oxfords, made in the finest calf leather.  They also have hand-painted fiddlestick waists, which help support the arch of the foot, and hand-finished Oak-bark dyed soles (for extra durability). hey have a slim, elegant look, and the brogues are patterned with a great deal of finesse.  Good shoes, of the quality of Crockett and Jones Hand-crafted range.  Here is a picture of one style.

Sandringham Oxford Wingtip Brogues

If you are in the area, you might want to stop in at Graham Browne tailoring.  They are halfway down Bow Lane, tucked into a tiny alley.  These English-cut classic bespoke tailors do some beautiful work and have many awards to prove it.
You can find them at:

Graham Browne,

12 Well Court,
Off Bow Lane, London,

EC4 9DW

+44 (0) 20 7248 7730

Piccadilly Arcade

This is the newest Cheaney store, in Piccadilly Arcade.  As regular readers know, the Jermyn Street Arcades are very stylish, especially Piccadilly Arcade, with its late Victorian architecture (we wrote about Piccadilly Arcade here).  So it is a master-stroke for Cheaney to open a store here, it fits right in with their brand identity.  This is Cheaney’s newest store and has only been open two weeks.  When I visited, they were still putting the final touches on the store.  This is a small gem of a store, and stocks the finest of Cheaney’s shoes.  Once again, the Imperial range were in stock but they also had truly elegant designs from the new collection. I liked an Italianate tan Gibson, made of a single piece of tan leather, with some discreet broguing on the toe.  If you are visiting London, this is the prefect shop to stop off and buy a pair of Cheaneys  .

The newest Cheaney store, in Piccadilly Arcade

4 Piccadilly Arcade, London,

SW1Y 6NH

+44 (0) 20 7495 6413

So that’s our brief tour of Cheaney shops.  I urge you to visit Cheaney, there is an indefinable something about their shoes, mostly in the design, but also in their overall look, that marks them out as special.  I suspect that if you find the right pair of Cheaneys, they will take up a permanent place in your style armoury.

For our article on classic English shoemakers, including Cheaney, go here.

I saw this in Jermyn Street last week.  Thomas Pink have their own Morgan, in their house colours.  It is rather stylish in a kind of British eccentric kind of way.  It reminds me of The Prisoner, the classic Brit TV show from the sixties, and the jolly British colours that  were used in that series.  I spoke to the driver and he said that the Morgan was a very masculine ride, hard suspension and that the driver needed to keep an active eye on the steering.  He was a professional driver and said it was a driver’s car.  There can be no better recommendation.

THoma Pink Shirtmaker's Morgan sportscar

Early Life

It was horrific.  His mother was Julia Ann Crawford, who married a man named Bill McQueen.  Bill McQueen upped and left when the baby Steve was a year old.  Julia Ann became a part-time prostitute, bringing home men to the small flat they lived in.  As Steve McQueen grew, it became clear to him that he was an inconvenience to his mother.  Worse, a series of step-dads appeared on the scene, each of them determined to teach the boy a lesson with their fists.  After he became a movie star, McQueen talked about his childhood and the many times his various stepfathers beat him bloody.  Twice he was packed off to Julia Ann’s uncle Claude, an alcoholic farmer with a violent temper, for stays that extended into years. He used to escape to the movies as the alternative to a grim life.

So by the time Steve McQueen was fourteen he was a runaway, a gang kid, a would-be tough guy with no discipline.  Julia Ann and his then stepfather then had him legally declared “incorrigible” (which suggests the most sinister kind of law) and he was sent to Boys Republic.

Boys Republic was a boy’s home, which had a tough love approach to instilling self-confidence and life skills into delinquent boys.  At Boys Republic, Steve McQueen learnt discipline and how to get along with others.  He grew into a man, who though not perfect, could function in the real world.  Later, even at the height of his fame, he remained very grateful to Boys Republic.  His contracts for movies often included clauses for items like jeans and electric razors, in bulk lots.  These he would send straight to Boys Republic.  More importantly, even as a movie star, he often went back to Boys Republic.  He would play pool and chat, never elevating himself about the boys who he considered to be family.

Growing Up

Leaving Boys Republic, Steve McQueen bummed around, doing a variety of dead end jobs.  One night while drunk he signed a dodgy contract and ended up on a ship, signed to the Merchant Navy.  He jumped ship in Trinidad and made his way back to the US.  In 1947, he joined the Marines, becoming a mechanic.  He stayed for three years.  In that time he was commended as a hero, helping save five marines from drowning, was on a presidential honour squad.  He also got busted for insurbordination, seven times…. But overall, his time in the Marines was good. It further developed his discipline and self-reliance.  It was during that time he developed an enduring patriotism that never left him.

New York

In 1950, Steve McQueen moved to New York. In 1951, with the help of the GI Bill, he started taking acting classes.  In 1952 he joined the Actors Studio, whose style of method acting was providing actors suited to the grittysocial realism that Hollywood was beginning to adopt.  So McQueen joined the ranks of Marlon Brando, Lee J Cobb, Dustin Hoffman.  But as a method actor, he stood out, there was an innocence, a good-naturedness about him that was all the more surprising given his previous life.

Early theatre and movies

Steve McQueen spent time on Broadway, where got good notices.  His first sizeable movie role was in the Blob, a trash horror movie that was the last gasp of the cheapo drive-in teenager-meets-monster movie.  McQueen is the hero teenager who works out how to kill the Blob monster. Somehow The Blob became a huge success and suddewnly Steve McQueen had a (small) name in movies.

He was joint lead in The Great St Louis Bank Robbery, in 1959.   Anyone who has seen this movie will know what a strange film it is.  Shot in blackand white, this is a dark, sour crime thriller, shot with a style and tired tempo that would have looked old ten years earlier.  It is also remarkable for the poverty of its storyline, the whole bank robbery is tedious and dull.  Steve McQueen was it’s only saving grace.  By this time he was married, to a beautiful young actress named Neile Adams, who was pregnant with their first child.

At the same time he was making a name for himself on television, as western star.  He played bounty hunter Josh Randall in the show Wanted: Dead or Alive.  It was inspired casting.  McQueen was just detached and anti-social enough to play the edge-of-the law bounty hunter, but with a decency and charisma that drew audiences like a magnet.

A very young Steve McQueen as bounty hunter Josh Randall

Fame

McQueen’s cool bounty hunter was spotted by the great John Sturges.  There is another article to be written about John Sturges but he directed such great movies as Bad Day at Black Rock, The Great Escape, The Eagle has Landed and was a master storyteller with a legendary eye for character. He cast McQueen as Vin, the cool wry cowboy gunslinger in The Magnificent Seven.  Though Yul Brynner was the star of the movie, McQueen was it’s soul.  Though there was never any doubt that McQueen’s Vin was as tough as nails, yet there was a gentleness and sensitivity that provided the light ot Brynner’s darkness.

Steve McQueen as Vin

There is a marvellous scene between McQueen and Yul Brynner’s, Chris, just over half-way through the movie.  Yul Brynner’s Chris is the leader of the gunmen hired to save the Mexican village from the bandit gang of Calvera.  Things are not going according to plan and Brynner has difficult decisions to make.  Vin (McQueen) asks him his plan and in doing so articulates all the yearnings for home and family that Chris has, that Chris does not have thevulnerability to express. It is brilliantly done and encapsulates Steve
McQueen’s magic.

Always a great performance

Two years later John Sturges cast McQueen in The Great Escape. In between he had cemented his reputation with such films as The Honeymoon Machine and hell is for Heros.He built a reputation for being diffcult, but always delivering.  It looked like he was incapable of giving a bad performance.

In The Great Escape he played the rebel, never defeated, never giving up.  When the Nazis put his Captain Virgil Hilts in the cooler there is an indefatigable quality about him.  He never gives up, is just waiting for his chance to try again.  More than any other performance, The Great Escape’s Hilts made Steve McQueen a star.

The bike ride that made him a star

By now McqQeen was a father with a son and a daughter, and by all accounts a very good one.  The boy who had been so badly parented gave his children a real home, real love and real values.  In just five years he hadgone from being an unknown actor to a wealthy movie star with a beautiful wife and a happy family.

Norman Jewison

Two years later he teamed up with director Norman Jewison for the Cincinnati kid.  The part of a poker-playing cocky womanizer was tailor-made for Steve McQueen.  I really like the Cincinnati kid.  There was a quickness about the character, a roundedness and humanity that makes his fall from grace all the more believable.

Navada Smith and The Sand pebbles followed in quick succession.  McQueen was becoming almosticonic as an actor, able to give evocative, meaningful performances with veryfew words.  He had a quality of showing feelings and moods in a way that was perfect for the cinema.  Interestingly enough it was a quality he shared with that other early cinema rebel, Robert Mitchum, another product of a rough and troubled upbringing.

Next came The Thomas Crown Affair.  McQueen really wanted to play Thomas Crown, the Harvard-educated, highly intelligent connoisseur.  Crown was everything that McQueen was not and therefore a challenge, and the one thing McQueen could not resist was a challenge.  Norman Jewison,again thedirector,  though one of McQueen’s greatest admirers, did not think he was right for the part.

The Thomas Crown Affair is considered to be a great Hollywood movie but if you look at it closely it is mostly Norman Jewison’s scene staging and direction that make it so.  There are some good bits of work from McQueen, he strikes real sparks off his co-star Faye Dunaway and manages to get under her ice-queen persona.  His seduction of her tough investigator is the best part of the movie.  But overall he seems to be at a loss as to how to play a successful businessman.  Unable to use a lot of regular attributes he tends to play Crown as smug, and it gets a bit one-note.

Good suit, Mr Crown.

Bullit

And that magnificent rollicking car chase.  However that was only the second great thing about the movie.  The first was McQueen’s performance which was pared-down to nothing. By now he had mastered the art of being present and carrying scene after scene, without saying very much.  There was now a kind of Zen of Steve McQueen and audiences loved it. Detective Frank Bullit was silence and power and knowing, on one sexy package.  Helluva of a job of role-playing.

Zen movie-acting as Frank Bullit

And onward….

The great roles kept on coming.  I am only going to mention two more.  Firstly his great failure, Le Mans. It is a truism that Steve McQueen loved racing bikes and cars more than making movies.  When he tried to put them together it became a case of too many passions to manage.  Le Mans is overlong and unfocussed.  But there are individual scenes in it which are hypnotic.  In those intermittent moment Steve McQueen came closest of anyone in showing the truth about Grand Prix racing.  It has to be watched for those magnifcent powerful moments when the thrill of driving machine comes rushing out of the screen.

Papillon

Papillon was something different, and you could make a case for it being McQueen’s greatest role.  Directed by the masterful Franklin Schaffner, it reputedly took all of his skill in handling difficult actors to handle McQueen.  But the performance he got was like nothing else.

McQueen as Papillon

Papillon, convicted of murdering a pimp in 1930’s France, is sentenced to life on Devil’s Island, a tropical hell-hole off the coast of French Guiana, South America.  Papillon is determined to escape and the brutal French penal system is determined to break him.  McQueen gives a an amazing performance, part method acting, partly an instinctive understanding of how a harsh world will crush you unless you fight. The performance is unsettling in its intensity.  It was a masterpiece of an actor at his very best.  If not for McQueen, the movie would be too long by half, but McQueen’s performance keeps you glued to the sotry.

Coda

McQueen died at 50, young really, from a form of cancer caused by Asbestosis.  His last words are recorded as “I did it”.  He had every right to say that.  From the brutality and hopelessness of his childhood, to love, a family and the greatest of success.  McQueen was in no way a perfect man, but his is one of the most inspired stories I know.  Thank you for the movies Mr McQueen.

Details

There are hundreds of books on McQueen and we have covered the movies, at least in outline.   THe onr book I would recommend is Yann-Brice Dherbier’s “Steve McQueen, a life in pictures“.  Dherbier has published several books about movie stars which are marvels of phot0-research.  I own some of them and Ithink his book on Steve McQueen is his best.  It is an inspired book, there are many rarely seen photographs in it and gives a real insight into Steve McQueen’s life.  The book was bought for me as a gift by my wife and it was an inspired and insightful gift, for which I am very grateful.

The Arcades were built in 1909 when England was at the height of its Victorian power.  They were the very last word in exclusive aristocratic shopping and well-to-do English people would come from all over the country to promenade through them and shop.  The arcades arch up two stories and are lit by large chandeliers.  The shops themselves are small, exclusive and glass-fronted.  The mass of glass and the light from the chandeliers gives the shops a slightly glittery effect.  This effect is most pronounced in Piccadilly Arcade which retains some of the original brass pillars which separate one shop from another.

I used to ignore the arcades.  I was always in a rush to get somewhere, until one day I was rushing along Jermyn Street and it started to rain heavily.  I took shelter in Piccadilly Arcade and really saw it for the first time.

Since then I go there a lot, even if I only use it as an elegant cut-through.   The chandeliers that light the arcades have come to remind me of Christmas with their golden glow.  The arcades are elegant and the rest of the world seems to be held at a distance
while I am there.

So here is a very quick sketch of the arcades, starting with Princes Arcade.  Princes Arcade had a major refurbishment a year ago and now looks very pretty indeed.  As a result some very good upscale brands have moved in, to keep the stalwarts company.  Below are all the shops a man need to know in the arcade.

Global Luggage
Starting from the Piccadilly end, we have Global Luggage.  They sell good luggage, including the highly rated Rinowa hard clamshell trolleycases .  They also sell a competitively priced chic travel grip range.  These are unstructured bags, grips, duffels, in choclate-brown marbled calf.  They are in fact very similar to the Mulberry range, though considerably cheaper.  They also sell all those handy travel bags, washbags etc that the discerning
gentleman needs.

Global Luggage
192 Piccadilly
London, W1J 9ET
+44 (0) 20 7287 2700

http://www.globalluggage.co.uk

Davies and Sons

A little way along we have a small branch of Davies and Sons, the classic English-cut Savile Row tailor.  This is a very discreetly placed little shop and it is possible to miss it, odd though that sounds.  The shop only sells Davies cufflinks, but what wonderful cufflinks they are.  There are ranges of cut silver and silver plate cufflinks, some gold and some semi-precious stones.  Lots of classic designs, bars, coins etc.  Awindow-shopping classic.

Davies and Sons
+44 (0) 207 434 3016

www.daviesandson.com

Impero

Impero are new to the arcade and their window is full of original leather coats.  Imperio are that rare and wonderful thing, a team of accomplished leather tailors.  Impero make leather clothes to measure, offering a bespoke service.  Customers can choose from many original designs and leathers, and can redesign features to make the clothes wholly original or simply order a fully bespoke garment.   What is even better is that Impero will make a copy of any leather garment you wish.  We all get older and some of us put on weight.  But maybe you still cherish that leather jacket.  In which case Impero can recreate it for you.

Impero
11 Princes Arcade,
London, SW1Y 6DS
+44 (0) 20 7734 0159

http://www.imperolondon.com 

Jost

Fine bags for both men and women at this superb leather and luggage shop.  Especially good are their beautifully made German briefcases and overnight bags for men.  Trim modern designs around rugged, hardwearing frames.

Jost
13, Princes Arcade,
London SW1Y 6DS
+44 (0) 207 434 3379

http://www.jost-bags.com

Segun Adelaja
This shop is simple elegance made real, the décor alone spells out the quality of the menswear.  Segun is a master tailor who makes beautiful men’s clothes in the finest of fabrics.  His suits are a slim, sexy version of English cut, with a flair and style uniquely their own. His separates are also very stylish, Segun has a great eye for colour and colour combinations.  Dress shirts in the finest white oxford cotton, slim, elegantly cut wool trousers in shades of tan, blue and grey.  Beautiful men’s tailoring, ready-to-wear, made-to-measure and bespoke.

Segun Adelaja

5 Princes Arcade
London, SW1Y 6DS
+44 (0) 20 7287 2626

http://www.segunadelaja.co.uk

Loake

Finally one of the premier English shoe brands has its own shop.  Loake’s shop showcases their best shoes, including their new Italain-influenced stylings.  The shop, in rich dark wood and dark green felt, fits the upscale ambience of the arcade well.  For those men who do not know Loake, here is the perfect introduction to their competitively priced bench-made shoes.

Loake
8-10 Princes Arcade
London, SW1Y 6DS
+44 (0) 20 7734 8643

http://www.loake.co.uk

Andy and Tuly
Dr Who had a time-machine called the TARDIS, it was biggerinside than out.  Andy and Tuly’s shop reminds me of that time machine whenever I go in there. The shop is stuffedwith good things and I can never work out how they pack everything in.  Andy and Tuly sell waistcoats and cufflinks, you might think of them as a wedding style accessories shop.  Their waistcoats, in silk, satin and other materials are designed to provide a little bit of exuberant glamour for any special occasion.  They also specialisein themed cufflinks, everything from pilots (all sorts of aeroplanes) to luck (clover-cufflinks) to mythical beasts.  My friend peter is getting married in April and will be visiting Andy and Tuly for a waistcoat for the occasion.

Andy and Tuly
12 Princes Arcade
London, SW1Y 6DS
+44 (0)20 7494 3259

http://www.andytuly.fsnet.co.uk

Sage Brown
Sage Brown are a very fine leather shop.  They are another ingenious store which holds much more than one might think.  They sell both men’s and women’s leather topcoats, of the softest, high-qualityleather.  I like Sage Brown for their fine English-made leather accessories.   These range from briefcases and portfolio clutches to wallets and coinpurses.  If I wanted to buy an authentic English product as a gift, then I would go here.  Finely stitched accessories in richly dyedleathers, they represent a true English craft tradition.

Sage Brown
17 Princes Arcade
London, SW1Y 6DS
+44 (0)20 7287 5757

http://www.sagebrown.co.uk

Hilditch and Key
One of Hilditch and Key’s two shop on Jermyn Street, this one stands on the corner of Jermyn Street and Princes Arcade.  Hilditch and Key are one of England’s oldest shirtmakers.  For me their oxford cotton shirts are particularly fine, classic and very hard-wearing.  But they also sell good knitwear, ties, jackets and trousers.  Their wonderfully luxurious cotton pyjamas (both men and women) are the thing that sets them apart from the other shirtmakers, nobody quite does pyjamas like Hilditch and Key.

Hilditch and Key
21 Princes Arcade
London, SW1Y 6DS
+44 (0) 20 7930 5336

http://www.hilditchandkey.co.uk

Barkers
Barkers shoes new shop sits on the opposite corner of the Arcade and Jermyn Street.   This is an exciting shop, because Barkers use it to showcase their new designs and leading edge shoes.  So alongside Barkers classic shoes they also have suede monkstraps in pastel shades, Italian-style slip-ons with discreet spiral brogueing and others ophisticated footwear.  This is a one-stop shop for Barker’s seasonal collections.  Also the service here is superb, the staff are extremely helpful and  seem like genuinely nice people.

Barkers
16-18 Princes Arcade
London,
44 (0) 207434 3533</a>

http://www.barkers.co.uk/

So that is my brief tour of Princes Arcade.  Next time you goto Jermyn Street, take the opportunity to tour the Arcade, I promise it will add an extra dimension to your visit.

Our article on Jermyn Street’s other Arcade, Piccadilly Arcade, is here.

New and Lingwood

We start with the Bowring Arundel sign.  Bowring Arundel still make made-to-measure shirts (now as part of New and Lingwood).  Classic English cotton shirts cost from £150.00 for a minimum order of two.  They also sell the most wonderful coloured enamel and precious metal cufflinks.  These are marvels of sophistication and miniaturist beauty.

New and Lingwood hold both corners of the Jermyn Street end of the arcade and sell every type of classic British menswear a man might need.  For me the top pick, has to be their slim and beautifully crafted men’s shoes. But the picture below shows that they also know how to colour up an English summer.

Finally I had to put in a picture of this extravagant silk dressing gown, which has pride of place in the New and Lingwood window.  Right now N&L get the prize for most colourful window on the Arcade.

New and Lingwood

53 Jermyn Street

London, SW1Y 6LX

+44 (0) 7493 9621

http://www.newandlingwood.com

Favourbrook

Favourbrook sell men’s suits, shirts and wedding attire.  But where they really score is with their dressy, dandyish waistcoats.  No-one does it better or with better fabrics. And if that is not enough for you then their made-to-measure service should do the trick.  Go in and browse their beautiful waistcoats.  If you need help, I can recommend the friendly and extremely knowledgeable Hannah Hooper who runs things there.  Great shop, lots of fun.

Favourbrook

19-21 Piccadilly Arcade

London, SW1Y 6NH

+44 (0) 20 74991921

www.favourbrook.com

Jeffery West

At the risk of getting another influx of mail from Jeffery West’s rabid fan-base (ok, that includes me too), here is their Piccadilly Arcade shop.  Cult shoemakers and re-inventors of classic British styles, their shoes give you a licence to swagger rather than walk.  Full of brio and sixties spirit, these shoes are for the man who can make a suit look cool.  I think the Victorian statuary in the window is a camel……..  Sometimes I think the jeffery West folks are completely insane……

Jeffery West,

16 Piccadilly Arcade

London, SW1Y 6NH

+44 (0)20 7499 3360

http://www.jeffery-west.co.uk

Neal and Palmer

Neal and Palmer is a classic English tailor, who sell both ready-to-wear and made-to-measure gentlemen’s suits.   However their real strength lies in their much respected bespoke tailoring.  Also, like Favourbrook, they sell some very handsome and eye-catching waistcoats. Every time I have been in here I find these guys to be both friendly and efficient.

Neal and Palmer

11 Piccadilly Arcade

London, SW1Y 6NH

44 (0) 20 7495 4094

www.nealandpalmer.com

Benson and Clegg

Marvellous old-school British tailor who make superb English-cut suits in traditional styles (and in the traditional way).  Here is a picture of one of Benson and Clegg’s beautifully cut English covert coats.  No one does it better.

Benson and Clegg are also shirt makers.  They have a Royal Warrant for their shirts (HRH the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles).
Given that Prince Charles regularly places in the top five of well-dressed men lists, Benson and Clegg clearly do something right.

Benson and Clegg

9 Piccadilly Arcade

London, SW1Y 6NH

+44 (0)20 7409 2053

http://www.bensonandclegg.com

Budd

English shirtmaker with a proud history. Given their almost legendary status as a shirtmaker, Budd clearly do something right.  I like Budd for a lot of reasons.  Firstly they still make and sell a older styles of shirt, including the English “long-point collar” which can look very handsome on shorter men.  They also sell the most magnificent dressing gowns.  Also, for mad menswear collectors, they sell the ties of the famous but long-defunct City of London tailor, Webster Brothers.

Budd

1a and 3 Piccadilly Arcade

SW1Y 6NH

+44 (0)20 7493 0139

Kent and Curwen

Holding down the north corner of the Piccadilly end of the arcade, Kent and Curwen are modern menswear brand and are always interesting.  They sell ready-to-wear suits and casualwear.  Theyalso sell their clothes in Japan.  In fact they are bigger in Japan (if you will forgive the phrase) than in England.  This makes for some interesting twists.  Their casual wear always seems to use richer colour palette than many of their rivals.  Certainly the finishing on their suits is extremely good, with an attention to fine detail that some of their competitors simply cannot match.

Kent and Curwen

2 Piccadilly Arcade

London, SW1Y 6NH

+44 (0) 20 7036 9320

http://www.kentandcurwen.co.uk

Santa Maria Novella

This old-style Spanish perfumier/pharmacy (there is no real English word that fits) graces the Piccadilly end of the arcade on the South side and is simply beautiful.  No other shop on the arcade has such class.  They sell organic cosmetic products are for both men and women.  They are reputed to sell the most effective and fragrant moth-repellent papers in Europe and many people swear by them (our article about keeping moths from knitwear is here).  For me the thing to buy here are their unique and charming shaving razors, handmade in exotic woods, natural resins and other natural substances.  These make a truly individual gift.

Santa Maria Novella

1 Piccadilly Arcade

London, W1J 9EN

44 (0) 20 7493 1975

http://www.santamarianovella.co.uk

This is the end of our arcade story for now.  In a future article we will tackle the daddy of all London’s Victorian arcades, Burlington Arcade.   But for now let me leave you with a recommendation to visit both Jermyn Street Arcades. Think of it as a small dip into classic elegance.

Our first article on the arcades, about Princes Arcade, is here.

Paul Weller in concert: March 2012

So here is the Modfather in all his glory.  This is a picture of Paul Weller performing his latest album Sonik Kicks.  I posted the picture from the Evening Standard print edition, only because the onlineedition has cropped the photo down to nothing.  Here is a link to the Standard review of Paul Weller’s concert.

I post the picture because it reminded to me that Weller has always had style and most musicians don’t have any.  So here is a brief tour through the Weller style scrapbook.

The Jam

The Jam, early days

Here he is in the Jam.  Weller was always musically retro and the skinny Motown style mohair suits were designed to emphasise the fact.  England at the time was full of punks with purple Mohawks, so Weller kinda stood out.  In fact the style was very much influenced by an earlier English style-tribe called “Soul Boys”, who wore tight two-tone mohair suits, Ben Sherman shirts and long wing-tip American brogues.  Their god was Marvin Gaye.  They in turn got much of their style from working class Italian New Yorkers, who wore two-tone mohair and called it“sharkskin” for its iridescent qualities. Odd how it come around.…

Paul Weller - Mod suit

Style Council

Here he is in the Style Council.

The Style Council

The Style Council started in 1983, when England was still doing the punk “lost generation” thing.  I honestly believe that, at that time, there was a law in place in England forbidding men from dressing with style.  Punk was still big, bondage trousers were fashionable, men’s style was unspeakably grim.  So what does Weller do?   Always the contrarian, he takes up another working-class style look, the original “smart-casual”.  Which in turn came from an even earlier style-tribe, the Mods.  In Weller’s own words “I was born a Mod, they’ll bury me a mod”.  He was a generation too late, but the sentiments were admirable.

Good clothes and stylish knitwear

In this style shirts were crisp pastel button-downs, Fred Perry or Lyle and Scott polo shirts.  The defining centrepiece of this style was a good pair of slimcut trousers in a smart fabric like Prince of Wales check or steel-grey wool-worsted.  Shoes were Bass Weejuns or Italian loafers.  With this style you wore a navy blazer or, if going casual, an original “Harrington” windcheater.  Weller cleaned the style up a bit, added somegood Italian knitwear, casually draped around the shoulders, but it was pretty much the original style.  They even had raincoats (the Aquascutum straight-drop raincoat I believe).

Casual style, Blazers and chinos

Brit-pop and onward

|Here is Weller during the nineties, when he was the elder statesman of Brit-pop.  He got into these collarless, button-though t-shirts that were synonymous with Oasis and the Gallagher brothers.  For a while he made them his trademark, which put him on a level with Liam Gallagher.  Though they are true Mod style, I still cannot decide if they work for him.

Collarless button-through

At the end of the nineties he designed a shirt collection for Fred Perry, which they no longer sell but you can occasionally pick some pieces up in some of their stores.  Also, at a time when suits were unfashionable, he had the suit, pocket handkerchief, look down pat.

Fred Perry button-through

The great thing about Weller is that he knows his own style and rarely gets it wrong.  As he got older, he honed that slightly flashy East-end of London suit style.  Here he is with Noel Gallagher, hitting all the right notes.  Grey suit, tones with his grey hair, striped shirt lifts the whole outfit and gives it some pizzazz.  Perfect in its own way.

Looking London-style

Today

I hear that at Weller’s concerts, many older mods turn up wearing their stylish suits and brogues.  It must be something to see, London suit style turning up and looking the business. As the first picture shows, he still has soul and style.  Good style Mister Weller.

Dave, one of Harvie and Hudson’s salesman, assisting a young man who wanted some shirts.  It was clearly a new experience for the young man, who had clearly reached a point where he wanted to trade up to better quality shirts.  It became a cross between a dance and a magic act, as Dave pulled shirt after beautiful shirt from the shelves, subtly and unobtrusively filling in the gaps in the younger man’s knowledge, helping him understand what he wanted.

Richard Harvie, serving an old and valued customer, a man in his seventies, spry, with a sparky good-humour. Watching them shake hands with mutual respect, before going onto the important business of buying pyjamas.

A very handsome Chinese man, barely out of his teens (a tourist?) trying on one of Harvie and Hudson’s shirts. His English was limited, but the fit of a good shirt crosses the boundaries of language.

And then, like another magic trick, the sort of customer that I had expected in Harvie and Hudson, appeared.  A tall Englishman, wearing a beautiful black Homburg, a French Navy classic topcoat (think Crombie), so dark as to be almost black, a luxurious navy silk scarf with white polka-dots over a brilliant white shirt and classic navy and red tie.  Carrying bags from Taylors of Old Bond Street (in Jermyn Street, as you will know from my earlier articles) and Hilditch and Key.  Whoever this man was, he had subtle English style and distinction down to a T.

Wait.  I know.  What Makes a Man articles do not start like this.  I have just tipped you straight into the magic of English classical style. Let me back up one step.

Here at What Makes a Man we get asked about two things above all else.  English shirts and English shoes.  And our commenters have frequently asked for an article on the classic English shirtmaker Harvie and Hudson.  So we set out to honour that request.

Harvie and Hudson

With the assistance of the Jermyn Street Association (here), I arranged to meet with Richard Harvie, the third generation of Harvie(s) to uphold their classic tailoring tradition.  Richard kindly offered to give me some of his time and talk with me about Harvie and Hudson’s tailoring history.

So I went along to Harvie and Hudson’s store at 77 Jermyn Street, last week, to talk shirts, tweed, style and trunk shows.

A short history

Regular readers will know that Harvie and Hudson are one of the classic Jermyn Street stores, known world-wide for their beautifully tailored shirts.  In fact Harvie and Hudson are the only store in Jermyn Street still owned by the original family firm, except for Floris, the perfumier.

The original Harvie and Hudson were Thomas Harvie and George Hudson, who were manager and cutter respectively.  Their first attempts to form an illustrious partnership were foiled by the Great Depression, then by World War 2.  However after the war, the first Harvie and Hudson store opened in Duke Street.  Over time it moved to a unit in what was going to become part of the Cavendish Hotel.

In 1962, Harvie and Hudson opened their now-famous shop at 77 Jermyn Street.  Since then they have opened several other stores (see our link to their website at the end of this article), have an Internet sales service and regularly hold Trunk shows in the US (again, website for details).

Looking out from N0 77, onto Jermyn Street. Love the original poster over the door.

Richard Harvie

Richard Harvie is the third generation of Harvie to direct this illustrious family firm.  Here is a picture of him.  In person, he is quick, friendly and very observant, with a dry sense of humour. He does of course dress very well and is a good advertisement for Harvie and Hudson’s clothes.  His style, as you might expect is classic English.  In fact we bonded over our shared affection for the fine details of menswear and the joy of dressing well.  You will often find Richard quoted in menswear articles on the finer points of dressing well.

Richard Harvie, the third generation of Harvie style, at N0 77.

More importantly, Richard is passionate about H&H’s clothes.  I was surprised when the first thing he wanted to talk about socks but it turned into an object lesson about the importance of using quality fabrics and good manufacture (they use a very high quality English lisle cotton).  How important the quality of the cotton and the weave are to the comfort and fit of the sock.  Socks are Harvie and Hudson in microcosm.  Their care over fabrics extends to everything in their range of products. Their shirts, suits and accessories are famous for their hard-wearing quality.  They Are discreetly proud of the quality of their fabrics in a very old-school way.

We talked about the Harvie and Hudson family tradition, which is key to the spirit of Harvie and Hudson.  Richard’s father, who is 82 and Derek Hudson’s (the current Hudson in situ)  father who is 84, still work in the business.  The fourth generation of Hudson’s also work in the business, both in the stores and behind the scenes.  They are all rightly proud of being part of the English menswear tradition.  For me they are exactly what Jermyn Street is about.  The meeting of craft, service, knowledge of style and a smidgen of history.

Harvie and Hudson today, suits, shirts and accessories

The original Harvie and Hudson offering was of course more focussed on made-to-measure shirts, the then ready-to-wear market not being as developed as it is today.

Today Harvie and Hudson offer a much broader range of menswear.  One of the first things I learnt was that Harvie and Hudson suits sell as well as their tailored shirts.  I looked at the suits and it was obvious why they are so popular.  Their suits are classic, handsome, English cut, in soft, quality wool worsted fabrics.  Classic fabrics, Charcoal flannel, Navy Pinstripes, all tailored to H&H’s exacting requirements at their factories.  The suits radiate classic English style.  They are beautifully finished, linings are richly  coloured, all the details (Blackberry pocket etc) are in place.  They retail at  £399.00 upward, which seems a good price for quality ready-to-wear.

Tweed!

I was really pleased to hear that one of their biggest sellers were tweed jackets.  As regular readers will know I am a huge tweed fan.  The recent resurgence of tweed, in softer, lighter weights and more adventurous colours, has been a high spot in British menswear in recent years, in my book.

I was curious about who was buying tweed and Richard told me it was younger men in their 20’s and 30’s.  They are buying quality tweed jackets, pairing them with a good shirt, upscale jeans and leather shoes.  Richard’s recommendation would be to pair Harvie jackets and with a good pair of brogues. His preference would be Crockett and Jones, but Church, Cheaney or Barker might suit you as well.  Our definitive articles on English shoes are here and here.  Our article on classic English country brogues is here.

Richard showed me two tweed jackets from the Harvie and Hudson collection.  The first was a rich blue herringbone which, in my opinion, would go really well with the current style for skinny chinos.  The second was a classic tan heather tweed, with a fine gold check in the weave.  Relaxed and colourful, yet classy enough that one could wear them to any of the local upscale restaurants without feeling out of place.  Classic H&H style, being transmitted to a younger generation of men. Here is a picture showing some of the tan heather tweeds.

Harvie and Hudson Tweed Jackets

Style

One of the style movements that I seen in recent months is younger men are buying into classic style. To be honest, many of Harvie and Hudson’s customers defied my expectations, being much younger than I had expected.  So I was curious about their motivations for buying classic style.  Richard talked about Harvie and Hudson’s experience with changes in men’s style over the last couple of years.  That men are moving back to quality clothing.  Harvie and Hudson have seen a renewed interest in ties, and their experience is that more men are wearing ties, and buying more (and better shirts).  Also that younger men are becoming more interested in the distinguishing touches that identify personal style, such as pocket handkerchiefs and cravats.  Harvie and Hudson are selling more of both, and mostly to younger men.

This ties in with feedback that I am getting from my old friends in the City and with a number of reports that are percolating out onto the net.   That, in a recessionary economic climate, smart men are stepping up their game and improving their appearance by dressing with classic authority.

Accessories

Speaking of accessories one of the things I liked most about the 77 Jermyn Street store is H&H’s big waist-high cabinet, where everything can be handled and assessed.  Here sit a range of products, ties, accessories, testers for classic fragrance Askett & English.  Pride of place is given to their sumptuous silk pocket handkerchiefs, scarves and cravats.  Also their rather wonderful socks, of course.  I like the confidence that puts all these items out to be handled by prospective customers. The shirts are here, you can feel the quality of the fabric.

Display Cabinet at H&H, No77 Jermyn Street

My single most useful tip with any piece of menswear is get your hands on it.  Run your thumb along the seams, do they feel uniform and regular or do they feel rough and uneven?  Crush the shirt sleeve in your hand, what does the fabric feel like? Good instincts will really help you buy good stuff.

The Shirts

I know there are some of you out there who have been reading this with impatience, asking yourselves, when is he going to get to the shirts?  Here we are.

Harvie and Hudson are famous world-wide for their excellent dress shirts.  They are made of good cotton, beautifully cut and stitched, in classic collar and cuff styles.  Good shirts, backed by over 60 years of English shirtmaking craftsmanship.  They are, as numerous readers of this site have pointed out, exceptionally hardwearing.  More than this Harvie and Hudson’s shirts are also known for their distinctive and colourful patterns.  Colourful shirt designs have become H&H’s signature.  It all started back in the sixties when H&H were Jermyn Street’s rebellious newcomer.  They started making shirt fabrics that were bolder and much more colourful than was then the convention.  They took off like wildfire.

Ready-to-wear

Ready to wear shirts come in two types, regular and slim-fit, both ranges start at £64.50.  Richard Harvie talked about how they created the Harvie and Hudson slim-fit.  When H&H first looked at creating a slim-fit shirt they knew that they wanted something special.  So they took their greatest strength, their bespoke shirtmakers, the cutters, and used the bespoke team as their R&D team.  In this way they produced the H&H slim-fit, which is fitted but still looks classic English style.  So if you are wearing a H&H slim-fit, you are wearing the creation of some very talented tailors.

The store has a rail of try-ons for every size and shirt type, which you can take into the fitting room to try, to find the best look/fit.

Made-to-measure

Harvie and Hudson have two made-to-measure shirt services, Semi-custom and full bespoke.  Both services are offered at the shop at 77 Jermyn Street and on their trunk shows.  Here is how they work.

Semi-custom

Here Harvie and Hudson, measure you, collar, chest, waist, cuff, shirt length, circumference of your body.   With this service they offer five collar types and three cuff types.  This takes about 20 minutes. From this they can then You can then choose from over 2,000 fabrics, including H&H’s own unique patterns.  Aftwerward, one of Harvie and Hudson’s tailors will cut a patten to your sepcification.

You will be measured and your shirt is cut in the cuttingroom at the back of the 77 Jermyn street branch and made up in the Harvie and Hudson’s workroom. It is then returned to the tailoring shop for final checking and then dispatched to you.

Or you can collect from 77, which fits my preference to always return to the shop to try the shirts on, so that any necessary changes or tweaks can be made.  Once you are happy with the shirts, you have taken another step on the road to classic style!

The semi-custom service costs £160.00 per shirt, for a minimum order of two.

Ian, master shirtmaker. Next year is his 30th year in the trade.

Fully Bespoke

Harvie and Hudson’s full bespoke service works much like Savile Row bespoke, only for shirts.  With this service one of H& H’s shirt tailors takes extensive measurements and works with you to design the shirt you want.  Here you can really express yourself,
designing shirts that are uniquely your own.  H&H’s tailors will create a pattern for you, which will become the template for all future shirts, to be altered as you need it.

As before, you choose your shirt fabrics from over 2,000 fabrics.  Again, your shirts are made at one of H&H’s English factories, and returned to 77 Jermyn Street for you to try, collect and wear.  You then join the ranks of us who know just how good a bespoke shirt feels.

The full bespoke service costs £210 per shirt, for a minimum of 4 shirts.

Both of these services are available from the Harvie and Hudson trunk shoes that visit the US (see website, bottom of this article, for details).

The Process

It is worth touching briefly on how Harvie and Hudson manage the process of making bespoke shirts.

The customer record

For every customer there is a customer record, a paper file.  This contains the customer’s measurements, swatch(es) of fabric for each shirt made and special instructions for each shirt (such as “extra-stiff collar”).

The Pattern

For each customer there is a paper pattern which is used to cut the individual fabric pieces that will make your shirt.

Harvie and Hudson shirt patterns, some of them going back to the sixties.

The shirt history

Harvie and Hudson also retain a history of every shirt they have made for each customer.

These three sets of information make up the backbone of the bespoke and semi-custom shirtmaking services.  It means that anyone who has bought a Harvie and Hudson shirt can call the shop and have new shirts make, simply by asking the tailor to makwe a new shirt based on the existing information.   Customers in other countries or who do not have the time to visit the shop use this service a lot.

Experienced customers have a small wrinkle on this.  They phone H&H and ask for images of fabrics similar (but not the same) to one they have bought before. H&H simply photograph a selection of likely fabrics and email them back to the customer.  All done within a day and a completely painless process.

I have articulated the process here because men of style want to know how it’s done.  However the real point here is that Harvie and Hudson have a seamless process which makes buying good shirts a pleasant, enjoyable experience.  This is exactly what buying good clothes should be like.

My view

What surprised me about Harvie and Hudson was the warmth of customer care, their lightness of touch and the range and quality of their clothes.

I have been a customer of H&H in the past (shirts of course, ready-to-wear) but on this visit I got to see just how special Harvie and Hudson are.  Part of this is the unique family spirit, knowledgeable without being showy, providing classy understated patient
service and finely tailored clothes.  H&H are understated in the old English style, they are discreet about the fine quality of their clothes.  However they will happily talk to you about their clothes if you ask them.

What was also new to me and very gratifying to see, was the diversity of men who come to buy from Harvie and Hudson.  Harvie and Hudson have made a bit of niche for themselves in helping younger men to buy up into classic clothes.  They also have a great many customers from overseas.  Richard pointed out to me that Americans are amongst their best customers, being very knowledgeable about good menswear.

If you want to see the H&H service in action, go to 77 Jermyn Street, and meet Richard Harvie.  He personifies the spirit of Harvie and Hudson, he is proud of his business and passionate about their clothes.  If you are or aspire to being a gentleman of style, you will meet a kindred spirit and you will find that, this is a shop for you.

Details

Harvie and Hudson

77 Jermyn Street,

SW1 6NP

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7930 3949

For other stores in central London (including the City and Knightsbridge), Internet sales and the US trunk show calendar see the Harvie and Hudson website here.

Now you, as a man, may think, how can a book on perfumes be so good.  Well, it is, it is erudite,
lucid, decisive and above all, screamingly funny.  I laughed out loud many times when I was reading it.  More importantly this one book completely revised my understanding of perfumes, including men’s  fragrances and made me into a men’s perfume addict.  I now know what I am smelling and why.

Truthfully, I had known what I was smelling before, but Turin and Sanchez’ Perfumes gave me a proper education, to go alongside my style street-smarts.  Tremendous, magnificent and life-enhancing – buy this book!

Perfumes A-Z, by Turin and Sanchez

My review starts below.

Who are they?

Luca Turin is a biophysicist, an expert on smell, a perfume creator and an expert on perfumes.  He has several businesses in the field of fragrances and he is the proponent of a
quantum theory of smell.  He is widely recognised as one of the foremost experts on fragrances alive today.  Tania Sanchez is a writer, journalist and perfume expert.  Both of them have been
involved in fragrances since their teen years.

Oh, and they are married to each other.  Which lends a real dynamism to the writing.

The Book

“Perfumes the A-Z guide” is what it says on the cover and a whole lot more.  The A-Z review are wonderful, the contents of Turin and Sanchez’ professional database disgorged into print.  There are over 1,500 reviews, everything from
Angel (Thierry Mugler) to Yohji Yamamoto Homme. And these are not dry-as-dust catalogues, they are wonderful word-sketches, gems in their own right.

But Perfumes is more than that.  The reviews are folded into a real book, considered, smart, elegant, which makes a case for Perfume being an art.  From this bold start, Perfumes discusses how to smell, understand and enjoy fragrances.
Then using its own guidelines it has two beautifully written, easy to understand, sections on Female Fragrances and Male Fragrances.  This is followed by a brief history of perfume, which makes a very interesting read, as Turin and Sanchez do not shrink from
recording the dastardly misdeeds of the perfume companies.

It is worth buying simply for their detailed listing of the best male fragrances.

And funny.  Here is Tania Sanchez in Feminine Fragrances:

“The question that women casually shopping for perfume ask more than any other is this:

“What scent drives men wild?”

After years of intense research we now know the definitive answer.  It is bacon.  Now, on to the far more interesting subject of perfume”

Now that’s writing.

Did I mention that this is a great book?  The reviews of fragrances are definitive, with notes on the history of the fragrance, the creators (where available) and of course the scent.  The individual
fragrances are placed within price bands. Most important of all, Turina nd Sanchez give a ranking (from 1 to 5 stars) for each fragrance.

Best of all Turin and Sanchez give lists of the best male and female fragrances.  There are other lists, best floral fragrances, best oriental fragrances. There is even a best bang for your buck
list.  This book is superb, simply as a buying guide.

Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez review them all.  The great, the awful, the celebrity fragrances (David Beckham, Brittany Spears).
They have an assessment for each one and take no prisoners.

This is the review for Allure Homme Sport, by Chanel

“A pleasant but studiedly nondescript confection of citrus-metallic notes set against a spicy-sweet background related to the drydown of Pour Monsieur.  Like being
stuck in an elevator for twelve hours with a tax accountant.”

And that’s just one.

My conclusion

Not just a great read, Perfumes A-Z helped me to find fragrances similar to the ones I like without doing the spray and sniff thing.  This is an incredible boon.  Those of you who read my article on how to buy
a men’s fragrance will know about creating perfume shortlists. This book takes a huge amount of work out of doing that.  This book is the map, the guide and the teacher.

I have had my copy for four weeks and I am careful with books.  However I have used this book so much it looks old, there are sticky-note page tags on hundreds of pages, my copy looks like it is sprouting small untidy yellow leaves.  It is underlined, noted and highlighted to within an inch of its life.

Huge amounts of fun, really useful.  I say again – buy this book!

Our other articles on men’s fragrances are:

How to choose a men’s fragrance – here

20 Good men’s fragrances – here

Luca Turin talks about smell and fragrance on TED - here

Today is the birthday of John Ford, one of the greatest moviemakers who ever lived. 

John Ford movies were part of my growing up, even as a teenager I knew that they were special, as did my brother, who was also movie-mad.  We watched every Ford movie that came on TV.

We tried to be cool, those hokey songs would ring out of the opening credits and in unison we would shout “Oh no, not The Sons of the Poineers”, the name of Ford’s barbershop quartet who sung those rousing cowboy songs.  But the truth is we watched and loved them all, Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, even the The Informer.  But we loved the cavalry movies above all, Fort Apache, Rio Grande, She wore a Yellow Ribbon, John Wayne and Henry Fonda.  The Quiet man, Ford’s Irish fantasy, was something of a controversy in our home, because we were of poor Irish descent and we knew there was nowhere as nice as Ford’s fictional village of Innisfree.  The Quiet Man did not get a good press where I lived, but more on that later.

John Ford, growing up

John Ford was born John Martin Feeney in 1894, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine to Irish parents who had emigrated from County Galway at the tail end of the Potato Famine.  Like so many Irish families that faced the choice between starvation and emigration they struggled hard at first, to make their way in the land of opportunity.  For John Ford his Irish ancestry was always important and became an integral part of his artistic vision.

John Feeney was a dreamy, outdoorsy boy.  From early on, he had bad eyesight, yet paradoxically developed a strong and distinctive visual sense.  He was interested in drawing and was clearly an artistic boy.    When he was 12 he caught Diptheria, then a potentially fatal disease.  As it was, he was bedridden for a year, and in that time his imaginative inner life became even stronger.

However, Ford wanted the manly life of a strong, athletic Irishman, a man amongst men.  More by willpower than physique he became a star of the school football team, nicknamed “Bull” Feeney, the man no opposition could stop.

John Ford in Hollywood

John’s older brother Francis had made his way to Hollywood, which was just becoming known as a place that made movies.  Francis became famous as a director of early movie serials.  He got his brother John a job, first as a scene-shifter , then as a stuntman.  John Feeney became Jack Ford and quickly slipped across the line into directing movies.  By the time he was 24, Jack Ford had become a respected director in early Hollywood.  His reputation was as a no-nonsense director who got the job done on budget.  Jack, now John, Ford actively fostered his workman like reputation in order to prevent the studio from taking too close an interest in his movies.     

John Ford

 

John Ford’s movies: the picture and the story

Ford had an amazing sense of visual composition.  His mastery of the still shot has never been surpassed.  The action starts somewhere in the scene and progresses through the shot.  It goes from long-shot to middle distance to foreground and then on.  The camera does not move. 

He doesn’t just do this because he can.  By keeping the camera still and not resorting to cuts and close-ups, he keeps the story, not the actor, not the action in the centre of the movie.  We watch what’s going on in the moving picture.  He often starts his movies like this.

In Stagecoach, the Overland stage moves through the shot, into a second shot, almost as still.  It gives us time to see the story, it establishes an important part of the story (the stagecoach).  Though we do not really know it we are already in the story, there is no scene-setting. 

Monument Valley, a scene from Stagecoach

He does it again in a movie he made over twenty years later The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  The train comes into and through the shot, there are no people.  This is so right, because the railroad is a key player in the movie.  He keeps the railroad in the forefront of the story for a couple of scenes.  It is critical.

He does it again in the marvellous WW2 movie, They Were Expendable.  The Motor Torpedo Boat squadron come into view before peeling off across the foreground of the scene. 

Actually, the opening scene of They Were Expendable is one of the most beautiful scenes in movies.  Like Flying Boats.Ferrari’s and any other mechanical perfection, motor-torpedo-boats are things of beauty.  Beautiful and dangerous, like sharks.  Ford has them fleet and fast skimming the waves of the Pacific , metallic and glistening under the bright sun.  They gracefully curve off into fast complex manoeuvres, sunlight flashing off the hulls.    Simply beautiful, as good as a painting by DaVinci.

Even though it does not do it justice, here is a still from that first scene.

Motor Torpedo Boat, opening scene of They Were Expendable

Ford’s Men

It is not just the story that makes John Ford the poet of American life.  It is also his portrayal of American men.  In my view no director has ever understood better the importance of individual spirit and self reliance versus the importance of family and community.  Ford shows the conflict between the two and in doing so gives us the greatest stories.    

Ford’s men are truly American, brave, independent, openhanded, direct and manly.  The Ringo Kid (John Wayne) in Stagecoach is his own man, willing to stand outside of the law to do what is right.  In the Searchers, Wayne’s Ethan Edwards is willing to go to any lengths to rescue what remains of his family from the Commanches.

Late in his career, John Ford made the The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.  By this time Ford and his screen alter-ego, John Wayne, had refined their vision of the American man to perfection.  The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a wonderful movie, a concentrated distillation of Ford’s view of the old West.

Wayne’s character, Tom Doniphon, is like some big, sleek animal, a panther maybe, dangerous when roused.  Wayne’s graceful, insolent movements fill his every screen appearance with controlled power.  He is a spirited, independent man, who rules his own life.  He is dangerous and he knows it.  Here is part of his earliest exchange with Ransom Stoddart (James Stewart), a tenderfoot lawyer robbed and badly beaten by Liberty Valance.

“Liberty Valance is the toughest man south of the picket-wire.  Next to me.”

They Were Expendable

For me, Ford’s best portrayal of American men is in They Were Expendable.  Both Lieutenant Brickley (Robert Montgomery) and Lieutenant (JG) Rusty Ryan (John Wayne) are obviously exceptional men.  Motor Torpedo Boat commanders at the outset of the Pacific War in WW2, they and their men fight valiantly against the Japanese tide sweeping the Pacific.  These are men who stand for freedom, in the sure knowedge that the immediate fight is unwinnable.  In fact it is wrong to say that this is about Montgomery and Wayne.  Every American man in this movie is dedicated to the spirit of freedom. 

They Were Expendable is a study in the beauty of brave men, from the ensign to the torpedoman.  These are men rising above pain and death, in the name of freedom.  In They Were Expendable they do it without fuss, without drama because that’s how a man does it.  It is the same hardscrabble grit and courage that tamed the American West.  There is no better movie about courage and patriotism and a man’s urge for freedom.  This is a movie of Americans with their back to the wall, and how their guts and courage carry them through.

Ford’s Family

For John Ford, family was the most precious thing.  If his men were individuals, yet they knew that they fought for family and life.

There is a wonderful scene in Stagecoach that shows this.  The stagecoach travellers, fleeing the Indian warparty are holed up at the staging post.  The alcoholic Doc Boone has just delivered the baby of the pregnant cavalry officer’s wife.  It’s early morning in the scene.  Dallas, a prostitute (Claire Trevor), who has been shunned by all the other passengers except the Doc and the Ringo Kid (John Wayne) walks into the room full of passenger’s carrying the baby.  Dallas is beautiful.  The light in her eyes as she holds the new-born is wonderful.  The Ringo Kid sees this, sees her truly beautiful spirit and falls even more deeply in love with her.        

It is even more poignantly shown, in They Were Expendable.  The Motor Torpedo Boat squadron have fallen back to Bataan, unable to stem the Japanese advance.  Out of spares, torpedos and gas, somehow they continue to fight on.  In a lull in this hell, Rusty Ryan (John Wayne) sets up an officer’s dinner for Sandy Davys (Donna Reed) the American nurse he has fallen in love with.  As gentlemen, the officers host the dinner, building a make-do diner party in their bamboo office, using up their meagre rations.  Most of these men are going to die soon and they know it.  But they put that aside, they celebrate decency and civilisation, because they know they are fighting for women like Sandy Davys.  It is one of the most subtly underplayed and beautiful scenes ever filmed.

Sandy Davys (Donna Reed) and Rusty Ryan (John Wayne)

John Ford and Loss

So many of John Ford’s movies explore the same conundrum.  The individual stands on the threshold, he has the power to create civilisation, but civilisation cannot accommodate him, has no place for him.  He wants community and family but they reject his striving restless spirit.  It was never more simply played out than at the end of the Searchers.  Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) stands framed in the doorway of the ranchhouse, holding his arm as though it is the only thing holding him together.  Having rebuilt his family as best he can, he finds there is no place in it for him. 

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

I cannot watch Liberty Valance much anymore.  It is such an aching portrayal of a good man’s loss.  There is no hope, no optimism in the movie, and it is only watchable at all because it is one of the finest movies ever made.

Liberty Valance is powerful and haunting, the idea that one decision by a man can destroy his entire life.  The cowboy town of Shinbone is dominated by Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) a thief and a murderer, evil incarnate.  Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) is Ford’s “good bad man” a frontiersman, an individualist who respects the right of other men to live as they chose and only asks that they allow him the same freedom.  In Tom Doniphon resides the true spirit of the American individualist.

But events force Tom to make a decision.  Let Shinbone go its own way and let people suffer? Or face Liberty Valance and help Shinbone become civilised?  The decision that Tom makes destroys his life utterly.  Ford plays out the conflict between civilisation and the strong individual man and shows the outcome to be bleak. 

Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) and Ransom Stoddart (James Stewart)

I guess that is why I prefer They Were Expendable.  It shows men harnessing their spirit to an ideal, freedom from tyranny and a better outcome.

The Quiet Man

To end on an up note.  I mentioned earlier that The Quiet Man was scorned in my family when I was growing up.  I myself thought it was corny beyond belief. 

Ford’s village of Innisfree is really a kind of Brigadoon, a fantasy Ireland that is always green and pleasant and exists somewhere out of time.  But you know, as I get older, I warm to the movie.  It has in its favour the most dramatic passionate kiss ever filmed, John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara.

Wayne pulling in Maureen O'Hara for That Kiss - The Quiet Man

Ford builds a fantasy Ireland with every Irish myth writ large.  In Innisfree, you can drink with friends, get uproariously drunk and never have a hangover.  A sporting man can bet on the horses without restraint and share his winning with his friends.  Women are sparky sexy and eternally true to their good men.  You can brawl like a champion boxer and apart from a few bruises, everyone is good the next day.  There are no mortgages, politicians or protest marches.  

I get what John Ford was doing now.  Innisfree is not real. 

But it should be.           

God Bless you Mr Ford, wherever you are.      

Further articles that you might like:

From 1934, John Ford was a spy for the US Navy and during WW2 worked for the OSS, the forerunner of the CIA.  For our article on Wild Bill Donovan, the founder of the OSS, go here

We wrote about John Wayne here and here

Details

There are so many books on John Ford you could spend a life reading them.  Here is the one I recommend:

Roger McBride

Searching for John Ford, a life