Manolo for the Men

This, from Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness:

I didn’t want any more loitering in the shade, and I made haste towards the station. When near the buildings I met a white man, in such an unexpected elegance of get-up that in the first moment I took him for a sort of vision. I saw a high starched collar, white cuffs, a light alpaca jacket, snowy trousers, a clean necktie, and varnished boots. No hat. Hair parted, brushed, oiled, under a green-lined parasol held in a big white hand. He was amazing, and had a penholder behind his ear.

I shook hands with this miracle, and I learned he was the Company’s chief accountant, and that all the book-keeping was done at this station. He had come out for a moment, he said, ‘to get a breath of fresh air.’ The expression sounded wonderfully odd, with its suggestion of sedentary desk-life. I wouldn’t have mentioned the fellow to you at all, only it was from his lips that I first heard the name of the man who is so indissolubly connected with the memories of that time. Moreover, I respected the fellow. Yes; I respected his collars, his vast cuffs, his brushed hair. His appearance was certainly that of a hairdresser’s dummy; but in the great demoralization of the land he kept up his appearance. That’s backbone. His starched collars and got-up shirt-fronts were achievements of character. He had been out nearly three years; and, later, I could not help asking him how he managed to sport such linen. He had just the faintest blush, and said modestly, ‘I’ve been teaching one of the native women about the station. It was difficult. She had a distaste for the work.’ Thus this man had verily accomplished something. And he was devoted to his books, which were in apple-pie order.

Should you ever need to cross the Alps a la Hannibal, here is a weird but rare pair of elephant-skin shoes from Johnston & Murphy. Alas, they don’t come in jumbo size.

Having recently acquired his first Brooks Brothers shirt from their luxury line, Izzy wishes to shout from the rooftops how happy he is with product. The fabric, woven in Italy, feels and drapes wonderfully, while the shirt itself is slimly cut, unlike some other Brooks Brothers shirts that are too “blousey” for his taste.

By neglecting to wear a cummerbund, Hugh Grant was perhaps going for a devil-may-care look, but in the end, he merely ended up emphasizing his tummy.

Galliano unknowingly pays homage to Spaceball’s Dark Helmet, a parody of Star Wars’ Darth Vader (whose own helmet, incidentally, was surely inspired by German army helmets from World War II).