Tassels hosts a range of premium products for dapper dads

With less than one week to go till Father’s Day, if you’re still struggling to find a suitable gift for your sartorial-minded papa, why not make a pit stop at Tassels, one of the leading retailers for gentlemen’s leather goods in the city?

Especially for Father’s Day, Tassels has curated the most carefully-selected collection of luxury accessories, sure to appease the tastes of even the most discerning of gentlemen. On top of the pack is obviously the wide range of leather good products from Kunei, a Japanese brand that’s known for its emphasis on handmade goods, especially for the use of Horween Shell Cordovan, a strong and rare material that’s highly sought after by Cordovan lovers. Their leather goods are even more enhanced by the use of KiryuOmeshi silk, a fabric favoured by the 11th Shōgun himself, for its sturdiness and superior quality.

If silk is what you’d prefer to gift your dearest dad this Father’s Day, then the handmade neckties from E.Marinella should also be among your first port of call. Not only does this Naples-born brand feature vintage silk fabrics that are extremely rare to find these days, they also use a traditional hand-roll technique to give their ties a beautiful well-crafted look.

As any fashion-conscious father would know, a fine pair of shoes needs to be supplemented by matching-colour belts for a truly formal look, so in tune with that, Tassel’s most popular brands like Alden, Crockett & Jones, Edward Green and Rivolta are now offering a wide collection of leather belts with finest calfskin to match with their beloved shoes.

So, be it a shoe-belt pairing or a nice necktie, it would not only make your dad look dapper, it would also be a thoughtful gift that he’s sure to cherish.

Tassels, B64-65 The Landmark, Central

Pearls for Boys: How Men are Reclaiming Pearl Jewellery

For decades, pearl jewellery was considered the height of femininity but the bivalve baubles used to be considered pretty butch and it seems that with the expansion of the male jewellery market more men are snapping up these precious Pacific beauties.

We have evidence of pearls being worn by Song dynasty Chinese rulers as early as 2300 BCE. They’ve also long been a favourite of the Indian Maharajas. Julius Caesar, meanwhile, actually passed a law declaring them for aristocrats only. In England, they were often given loose to Tudor knights who would carry them into battle as a good luck talisman, and Charles the First was even famously beheaded while wearing a pearl pendant earring in one ear. So when did the pearl lose its rough, tough reputation and become so much more associated with dainty necklaces to be clutched at by feminine fingers?

It was when the Japanese perfected the art of growing and harvesting perfectly round pearls in a way that was much more efficient and cost-effective than ever before, that pearl jewellery took off with the masses. Jewellers adapted the gems to suit the ever changing fashions of the twentieth century, from the long pearly strings of the twenties to Dali’s signature mouth brooch with pearl teeth. But it was with the rise of film starlets wearing pearls that turned them into a gemstone more associated with women. As men bulked up into beefcakes for the screen they began to turn their backs on delicate soft-hued pearls.

But the times, they are a’changin, and once again men seem to be returning to pearl jewellery. Ever since Pierce Brosnan appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair wearing a single Tahitian pearl on a leather thong, the pearl’s potential has opened up from the tribal to the tailor-made. Most recently, American musical acts A1 Bentley and Pharrell Williams have made public appearances – decidedly unshy about their predilection for pearls – wearing multiple statement strings at once and typically opting for iconic white pearls over darker, understated colours.

If the idea of A1 Bentley’s flapper strings is a bit much and you’d prefer to ease yourself in to pearl jewellery, then consider smaller, more subtle pieces like cufflinks or tie pins. Or make like Brosnan with a single statement pearl as part of a more masculine design. Give the men’s marine jewellery trend a whirl with these pearly designs, all available at 1stdibs.com .

Did you know:

A natural pearl takes six months to form
Although white pearls are the most popular, they can be found naturally in seven different colours
The global yearly diamond yield is ten times greater than that South Sea pearls

Text: Alice Duncan

Five must-have accessories for gentlemen this season

Clothes may make a man, but accessories sure do make a gentleman. We bring to you five must-have accessories to spruce up your glam quotient this fall.

Homer Time

For 26 years now, Montblanc, that most eminent of German pen manufacturers, has annually honoured one of the true literary greats through its commemorative Writers’ Edition collection. This year, the company has delved back three-and-a-half millennia to a time when the Ancient Greeks were still the Rather Contemporary Greeks and bestowed the honour upon Homer, the man without whose verse history we would know little of the Fall of Troy and wouldn’t be able to deploy the word “Odyssey” as a sure-fire Scrabble winner.

Smokin’ Hot

To celebrate its 50th anniversary, Davidoff, trailblazer in the cigar world, has launched Caves du Monde – a series of humidors in four patterns, each representing a corner of the world – The Americas, Middle East, Europe and Asia. Designed by Mariane Léger, the legendary French artist, each humidor recreates a world of full of inspirations and cultural treasures. Mariane uses her skills to inlay hand-woven fabric into wood: mirroring the intricate craft that Davidoff applies in making its finest-quality cigars.

Old Soles

British shoemaker John Lobb raided its own rural roots when it set about devising its Fall/Winter 2018-19 collection. Looking for inspiration from the brand’s eponymous founder – a 19th century Cornish farm boy – artistic director Paula Gerbase set out to create a collection of men’s formal and semi-formal footwear with a focus on natural tones, textures and materials, including various shades of suede and calfskin. The upshot, according to the brand, is a fine selection of lightweight walking shoes, a style very much on trend.

Sci-Fi Spectacle

Gentle Monster, the Seoul-based designer spectacles and sunglasses brand, has eschewed all things retro with the launch of its very forward-looking Once Upon A Future collection. Scarcely skimping on any stalwart of sci-fi-led style, the range is awash with shining, shimmering silver and chrome lenses, and futuristically-fashioned nose bridges and frames straight out of the Buck Rogers playbook. Outlining the thinking behind this outré optical experiment, the company said: “We’re striving to evoke the paradoxical feeling of remembering the future.” Well, that clears that up then.

Shoes in Hues

Giuseppe Zanotti, the Italian luxury fashion brand, looks set to continue its head-turning ways with its latest low-top footwear collection, RNBW. Featuring six super-glossy pop colours in diagonal and vertical arrangements, the RNBW sneakers come treated with a special paint that is said to bestow a liquid lacquer effect on leather, making this somewhat fancy footwear look as though it has been freshly rainbow-dipped. Available in sizes 16-33 in men’s, women’s and children’s shoe styles, this multi-hued array is a true on-feet visual treat.

Knotty affair: How bow ties became the most indispensible accessory in a man’s wardrobe

What do Winston Churchill, Frank Sinatra and James Bond have in common? Yeah, you guessed it right – bow ties, of course!

Ever wondered how this jaunty piece of clothing came into existence? Apparently, the tradition of wearing a knotted piece of fabric around the neck dates back to the 17^th century, when Croatian soldiers wore these unique neckties during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), as good luck charms for the battle. The French soldiers picked it up soon after, from where the humble piece of clothing travelled to the upper echelons of society becoming the latest haute item of men’s attire in the early 1700s.

From France through the royal corridors of England’s elite, the bow tie crossed the Atlantic in October 1886 when Pierre Lorillard V – American tycoon and, evidently, fashion influencer – designed a unique style of formalwear and wore it to a ball at the local Tuxedo Club. His ‘black bow tie with black tuxedo’ look became such an instant hit that it quickly replaced the tailcoat and white bow tie as the primary formal attire for men – a trend that continues to this day!

Fast-forward a few years and we see the bow tie co-opted on silver screen by the likes of iconic heroes like Humphrey Bogart, Sean Connery, etc. However, it is British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, whose penchant for bow ties – apparently inherited from his father – immortalised this neck accessory for years to come!

But bow ties of this day and age are a far cry from the stiff, formal affairs of yesteryears! Of course, it is still the go-to accessory for a gala night, a formal dinner or an awards ceremony! After all, you can’t really go wrong in a tuxedo and bow tie! But to a modern gentleman looking for creativity, the bow tie can morph into something so much more than a formal accessory – it can be quirky, bold, fun, individualistic, all the while lending an air of cool suaveness. Topping our list of such men is Hollywood A-lister Robert Downey Jr who turned heads in a turquoise bow tie at an awards night. Another celebrity, Jared Leto, upped the fun quotient even higher when he wore a red carnation bow tie at the Oscars 2016.

Women too seem to have discovered just how versatile this small piece of fabric can be, with the likes of Ellen De Generes, Kim Kardashian and Salma Hayek all sporting different trends on numerous occasions.

Passing fad, did you say? We think not! Bow ties seem rather neatly tied with the rite of passage in fashion corridors to fade into oblivion just yet!

Text: Suchetana Mukhopadhyay

The Hong Kong Jockey Club and Oriental Watch host bow tie workshop to celebrate upcoming race

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In anticipation of the 2017 Gentlemen’s Bow Tie Raceday to be held on 22 October, the organisers, Oriental Watch Company and The Hong Kong Jockey Club, recently hosted an exclusive Do-It-Yourself bow tie workshop at the Happy Valley Racecourse.

Renowned bow-tie designer Weixu Wang shared insights into the art of bow-tie making and guided guests to create their own personalised bow ties. Using PVC plastic, each guest was taught how to make unique bow ties using the simplest of tools and the right techniques.

Weixu Wang himself designed three exclusive bow ties to commemorate the 2017 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy Gentlemen’s Bow Tie Raceday. While the Golden Time bow tie is an elaborate affair in black and gold, with tassels, resembling a horse’s tail, the Glorious Moment bow tie is a quirky collection that looks like a 3D jigsaw puzzle. The Embroidered Glory bow tie is more ‘classic’ by comparison, using flat embroidery to depict the life-like sketch of a horse.

“It is an honour to be invited to design unique bow ties for the 2017 Oriental Watch Sha Tin Trophy Gentlemen’s Bow Tie Raceday”, says Weixu Wang, “Originally created for the royalty, bow ties have now become a popular and stylish item in men’s fashion.”