I think I will take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas. It’s been one very crazy year, so please relax and enjoy all the festivities, and hope for 2019 to be awesome. Although the sales and gift buying offers are in full swing, there’s been a few new releases that have gone unnoticed on the MenswearStyle radar. We have a very old whisky which will cost you ten grand, a UK made jumper you’ll want to pass down and a solar watch which can run for 10 months on a full charge. So, following on from my November roundup, I’ve compiled a list of my favourite products and releases for the month of December 2018 – enjoy.

GANT Slim Twill Chinos 

If there was ever a time to wear a pair of chinos in the colourway of Country Green, now is certainly the time. This autumn and winter-friendly shade is a seasonal favourite, and the shape and texture of this design by GANT makes them laidback and versatile too. Made with a touch of comfort stretch and woven in a preppy twill with dark blue chambray and cream herringbone lining, these slim fit chinos are just the ticket for understated preppy style.

Tomatin 50-Year-Old Whisky 

Tomatin, the award-winning Highland whisky distillery, has announced the release of its highly anticipated single malt, the Tomatin 50-Year-Old, distilled on 24th November 1967. Following 50 years of maturation at their distillery, the deep-honey coloured expression has been bottled in its most natural form, yielding just 70 special bottles at 45.3% abv. Spare £10,000 anyone?

Nicolas Dixon x Seven Feet Apart

At the beginning of 2018, Nicolas Dixon worked on a collaboration with SEVEN FEET APART to create the DXZ Limited Edition and now it’s here – The DX-7 Limited Edition is ready to buy. The new sneaker is a work of art, featuring Dixon’s unique graphic work on the side and front panels. The heel cup on each is finished by hand by Nicholas – including the DX7 logo and the number. He will also sign each box too.

Sassy Cider x Craig & Karl 

This Autumn, Sassy Cidre, France’s first contemporary cider brand, has joined forces with acclaimed artists Craig and Karl to launch a Limited-Edition gifting collection in time for Christmas. The collection includes Sassy’s Original pour, as well as two new delicious flavours, Pear and Rose – all beautifully packaged in this unique collectors’ box.

Beacon & Armour #passthisjumperonto 

This campaign is designed around the art of Kintsugi – It means, ‘to join with gold’. The broken pieces of an accidentally-smashed pottery are carefully reassembled and then glued together with lacquer that is mixed with very luxuriant gold powder. Because these jumpers carry the weight of history; like passing down clothing from one generation to the next, buying them for someone would be like passing heritage onto them. Combining the art of Kintsugi with this philosophy, Beacon & Armour‘s aim is to restore these two pieces of history with jumpers that are ethically-made here in the UK.

Seiko Prospex #StreetSeries 

A timepiece inspired by the original 1975 Seiko diver’s in a more compact design, perfect for urban living. Retaining the same distinctive and protective design, the 3D stainless steel casing is smaller with a 46mm face and is worn using a reinforced silicon strap which can withstand harsh operating environments. This is a watch for city, country and sea as it is fully functional to 200m/660ft underwater. Powered by Seiko’s Solar technology, it will operate for 10 months when fully charged.

Article by Menswear Style

Do you ever play that game when you’re on a road trip where you spot private number plates and try to work out what it’s trying to say? With a mish mash of letters and numbers and abbreviations, it can be quite tricky. Here we look at the reasons why people buy into this long loved car accessory.

Hide The Age of A Car 

Perhaps the most practical reason for buying a private plate is that you can use them to hide the age of a car. By purchasing dateless plates, a type of private number plate that contains no year of registration, you can essentially obscure the age of a car. Of course, this doesn’t change the miles on the clock, or hide any of the car’s history regarding services. However, it does mean that people can’t tell the age of your car just by looking. This means if you keep your car in great condition, you can make an old car look brand new! Furthermore, many of the oldest ageless plates are real eye catchers – like ‘F1’ which was bought for a whopping £440,000 back in 2008.

As An Investment 

This may come as a surprise, but some people look at buying private number plates as an investment. The simple idea is that private number plates are valuable and are unique. Whatever plate you buy, there can be no other like it. So, if you grab a plate that is a popular name or perhaps something clever or funny, it should retain its value. In fact, if you manage to get one at a good price, chances are you’ll be able to resell it at a profit to yourself. Of course, like with any investment, there’s some risk involved and no guaranteed successful tactic, but then maybe that’s part of the charm. The fact that there is a little bit of risk involved makes it more exciting! 

Make Your Car Unique 

For many people, adding a personalised plate is a way of making their car stand out from the crowd. The simple truth is that lots of cars these days look pretty similar, and some people don’t like the fact that their car just looks like everyone else’s! This is especially true if you’ve bought a popular car in a common colour. Now, of course, you could just choose to paint your car a wacky colour, but this can have a knock on effect regarding resale value. So, the wiser choice, and also the classier choice, is to get a private number plate to achieve that uniqueness!

Showing Off! 

Now, there’s no getting round it, some people just like to show off that they can afford to buy a personalised plate. It makes sense, after all lots of people take a huge amount of pride in their car, seeing it as an extension of themselves. Viewed this way, personalised number plates can function the same way that expensive jewellery does on footballers and rappers – it’s simply a way of showing people that you’ve made it to the big time! 

A Form Of Branding 

Finally, if you run a business with a small fleet, it can be a great piece of branding to invest some matching plates for your vehicles. It catches the eye, and it sticks in people’s minds – especially when you have a captive audience at red lights or in traffic jams. Something funny or clever might just win you that little bit of extra business by setting you apart from competitors. Viewed this way, maybe the plates will pay for themselves in business won!

Article by Menswear Style

Although it might seem like an unimportant piece of fabric around your neck, the shirt collar is actually a meaningful feature. Not just now, but throughout history. For example, in the 1500s, the rough collar – a pleated frill was worn throughout Europe to symbolise aristocracy. The bigger the frill, the higher your status. Moving onto the 1600s however, you would have seen the transition towards the falling band collar, a much subtler lacy decoration that was sometimes worn by high ranking officers and commanders.

Jumping ahead to the 19th century; the more decorative, ruffled collars were labelled as non-masculine and became a thing of the past. This was largely down to the popularisation of the Gladstone collar – a standing, Victorian collar that was worn by  British Prime Minister William Edwart Gladstone – yes, they named the collar style after him! This collar was specifically pressed at the points so they would stick out at the side-fronts. It is also considered the inspiration for today’s wing collar – a style commonly used on men’s formal shirts and by barristers in the UK.

Collar styles have also been significantly influenced by celebrities. For example, American actor John Barrymore made the headlines when he styled a turnover shirt collar with long points. His high-profile lifestyle led to the style being deemed the Barrymore collar. This style eventually reappeared in the 1970s, but it was renamed the tapered collar and was often accompanied with fashionably wide ties. Famous events have played their part too. Most commonly worn with an ascot tie, a stock collar (also named ascot collar), was frequently seen throughout the 1700s. A very tall standing collar, this was mostly worn at the Royal Ascot by the gentry and upper class.

One collar in particular – The Eton collar (also known as the clubbed collar), originated from Eton College, an English boarding school in the 19th century. This was the school for young British up-and-comers, so they had to dress to impress. However, the school actually introduced the club collar to make their students completely distinguishable from the common public school. They took the standard collar points and simply rounded them off, and thus the Eaton collar was born. It soon became known as the club collar in reference to the ‘special club membership’ it represented.

Want to learn more about how collars have evolved to become what they are today? This animation, created by Savile Row Company, will give you an illustrated snapshot of the fascinating, untold history.

Article by Menswear Style