Tabla de contenidos para February 2020 - Issue 68 en The Rake

For the majority of my life I’ve been underestimated. And I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I vividly recall, when I was a child, my grandmother inviting a fortune teller to divine the potential trajectory of my life. In particular, I remember that after a great deal of amateur dramatics, joss-stick throwing, I Ching consulting, palm reading and star-chart mapping, the fortune teller resoundingly declared that I would probably not amount to much. That’s exactly what I needed to hear. Because in the ensuing half-century I would wake up every morning seething with the unbridled desire to prove him wrong. I wanted to pulverise and decimate his prediction into nothingness. Initially, his words seemed to ring true. Each time I applied myself to something, I was met with…

You think you know Billy Joel, but you don’t know Billy Joel. There’s an easy way to prove it: go to YouTube and search for ‘Attila’. You’ll hear a cacophonous late-sixties version of heavy metal led by over-amplified organ and see a picture of two longhairs in armour standing in an abattoir. One of them is the organist, and he’s Billy Joel. Most musicians have a past they’d rather forget, and this is Joel’s. He went through a succession of cover bands and failed beat bands, then the terrible Attila, and all of it to show that he wasn’t made for his times. In truth, though, he wasn’t really made for any times, which is both a blessing and a curse for an artist. The songs that made his name…

German is a charmingly literal language — as anyone who has ever felt a little lebensmüde (life tired), switched on their scheinwerfer (shine-throwers) before pulling away in the dark, or experienced the desperation of erklärungsnot (‘explanation poverty’, or finding oneself bereft of plausible excuses) will understand. Animal names are no exception to this, with European peoples from South Tyrol to Berlin referring to the marsupial as Beuteltier — literally, ‘bag animal’ — and various breeds of us dachshunds as ‘badger dogs’, a reference to our having been bred to scent, pursue and flush out burrow-dwelling creatures. The wire-haired subgenre, the last of the various types to come into being, was bred in the late 19th century, possibly via the genetic intervention of hardcoated terriers and wire-haired pinschers such as the…

Breguet Classique Tourbillon Extra-Plat Squelette 5395 Extra-thin. Skeletonised. Tourbillon movement. The fact that we’re finding this trio of terms in the same sentence shows how rapidly haute-horological technology is progressing. And, with this piece, another major stride has been taken. Breguet have been at the vanguard of the ultra-thin crusade for some time, with both the Classique Tourbillon Extra-Thin Automatic 5377 and its sequel, an enamel version, the 5367, enriching the canon. This iteration is arguably the house’s most elaborate piece to date, in more ways than one, and historians will have their eyes fixed on how the tourbillon — an innovation invented by Abraham-Louis Breguet in 1795 — has been made to fit into a three-millimetre-thick case by the maison’s modern-day technicians at the Breguet manufacture in Vallée de…

I first interviewed Alessandro Sartori nearly a decade ago, for a cover feature in the eighth issue of The Rake. It was Sartori’s debut turn as a magazine’s principal subject, but it proved a prescient choice, as he would go on to become one of the most important menswear designers of his generation. Moving from the Creative Director’s role at Z Zegna in 2011 to join the newly LVMH-acquired Berluti, Sartori presided over the Arnault family’s successful transformation of the house from a recherché shoemaker and leather goods atelier to a full-service, ultra-luxury menswear brand. After five spectacular years shaping the Berluti man — a globetrotting bohemian peacock with an eye for detail and a taste for sumptuous materials — Sartori returned ‘home’ to Ermenegildo Zegna, in an expanded role…

ADRIANO MENEGHETTI – www.adrianomeneghetti.com ALBERT THURSTON – www.albertthurston.com ALEXANDER MCQUEEN – www.alexandermcqueen.com ALICE MADE THIS – www.alicemadethis.com AMI – www.amiparis.fr AMOUR LUX – www.armorlux.com ANDERSON & SHEPPARD – www.anderson-sheppard.co.uk ANDREA POMPILIO – www.andreapompilio.it AQUASCUTUM – www.aquascutum.com AQUAZZURA – www.aquazzura.com ASPREY – www.asprey.com AUDEMARS PIGUET – www.audemarspiguet.com AUDI – www.audi.co.uk BALLY – www.bally.com BAMFORD – www.bamfordwatchdepartment.com BARBANERA – www.barbanerastyle.com BASELWORLD – www.baselworld.com BATES – www.bates-hats.com BEGG & CO. – www.beggandcompany.com BELL & ROSS – www.bellross.com BELSTAFF – www.belstaff.co.uk BERLUTI – www.berluti.com BERRY BROS. & RUDD – www.bbr.com BLACKHORSE LANE ATELIERS – www.blackhorselane.com BLANCPAIN – www.blancpain.com BORSALINO – www.borsalino.com BREGUET – www.breguet.com BRIONI – www.brioni.com BROOKS BROTHERS – www.brooksbrothers.com BRUNELLO CUCINELLI – www.brunellocucinelli.com BULGARI HOTEL – www.bulgarihotels.com BUDD SHIRTMAKERS – www.buddshirts.co.uk BULGARI – www.bulgari.com CALABRESE 1924 – www.calabrese1924.com CAMOSHITA UNITED ARROWS –…

Freddie Fox was born to act. The 30-year-old scion of the thespian Fox dynasty that includes his father, Edward, his sister, Emilia, and his cousin Laurence dabbled in other fields in his youth, but was never able to resist the allure of the dramatic arts. Spurred on by his family’s support and inspired by the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Alec Guinness and Paul Newman, Fox attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before throwing himself into a slew of roles in theatre, television and film. Now he is playing Jeremy Bamber in the television series White House Farm, a drama based on the chilling true story of the fatal shootings at White House Farm in Essex in 1985, in which Bamber was convicted of murdering his family. It’s a…

To paraphrase Vesper Lynd, there are watch collectors and watch collectors, and Auro Montanari is the latter. From his books on Patek Philippe, Rolex and Omega (under the pseudonym John Goldberger) to the seal of approval lent to any watch auction he attends, Auro is the watch world’s senior statesman, and he brings with that an old-school charm and sophistication that is often lacking in much of today’s luxury industry. I first met him in New York, at the Phillips watch auction on which The Rake and Mr Porter collaborated, and the reverence in which he is held was palpable in the room — from the joy of old friends to the tension of hard-working auctioneers who want to impress people such as Auro. However, like the most chic among…

Nestled in the postcard-perfect village of Lavendon, in the English county of Buckinghamshire and close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, are the leather goods makers Tusting. You may not have heard of Tusting, a family run business that first opened a tannery in this delightful corner of Britain in 1875, but you may have owned a Tusting creation. For a long time, the company has been supplying hides and leather goods to some of the most recognisable names in shoemaking and fashion, such is their expertise, which has been passed down through five generations. There’s a high chance you’ll have stepped out with Tusting leather on your feet or Tusting leather in your hand, only by a different name. Now, however, Tusting’s own creations — the ones that…

Conquering Everest is, for many people, the literal and figurative peak of their life’s achievements. Doing so via Tibet’s north-east ridge is, as accomplishments go, on another plane altogether. But that’s the mission improbable that the American professional photographer and long-distance explorer Cory Richards embarked upon with his climbing companion, the Ecuadorean Esteban ‘Topo’ Mena, last year. After climbing for 12 hours on the first day, the weather conditions forced them to pause, and they had no tents; having endured a night of frigid temperatures, they pushed on for three hours — despite suffering from profound exhaustion — before the weather and common sense intervened again and put an end to their quest. “Mountains have their own rhythm. You have to be aware of this in order to stay safe.”…

Michael is a Floridian turned New Yorker who began his photography career in the fashion industry as an agent for models. While developing and maintaining the careers of some leading models, he had a desire to get back to his lifelong goal of capturing still and moving images. Since changing careers he has not looked back, having shot for several iconic brands, including Hugo Boss, Victoria’s Secret, Vogue and GQ. He lives in New York with his girlfriend and his badass Pomeranian called Biggie. In this issue Michael returned to The Rake to photograph Maggie Gyllenhaal for our cover and accompanying profile (page 82). With two decades’ experience covering style, entertainment, entrepreneurship, travel and luxury, the Singapore-based Barker was The Rake’s founding Editor-in-Chief. Today he serves as the magazine’s editor…

On a balmy evening in spring 1960, an audience of cinephiles at the Cannes film festival were getting hot under their dress collars. Boos, exaggerated yawns, loud jeers, and even derisive laughter attended the screening of Michelangelo Antonioni’s L’Avventura. Described by its director as “a type of film noir in reverse”, the picture told the story of a socialite on a boat trip with haute-bourgeois friends who vanishes on a remote island. Or, to be more exact, it didn’t. Not only was the central ‘mystery’ never resolved, the character simply evaporated from proceedings while her erstwhile boyfriend and best friend embarked on their own listless love affair. For the restive audience, this wasn’t so much delayed gratification as indefinitely postponed gratification. However, later that night, Roberto Rossellini and a group…

It takes something special to become known by the definite article. Frank Sinatra, a flawed human being but the interpreter nonpareil of the Great American Songbook, was known as The Voice. His dulcet-ness encompassed the brittle dreams, secret longings and guarded sentimentality of a generation. Probably two. Evincing not-so-secret longings was another ‘The’. In 1988, Time magazine christened the Australian model Elle Macpherson ‘The Body’. And with good reason: she is the only person to make the cover of Sports Illustrated’s vaunted swimsuit issue five times. In an era long before Victoria’s Secret Angels (R.I.P.) and all the explicit online pornography you could throw a 5G router at, these images were the ultimate blend of titillation and taste, an exercise in damp arousal that left just enough to the imagination…

Much in the way that others have a drink or drugs problem, I have a tweed problem. I have a problem getting hold of enough of it, because more is never quite enough. In fact, more is never anything like enough; you can never have enough tweed. I would go as far as plundering Boswell’s Life of Johnson and observe that when a man is tired of tweed, he is tired of life. Part of its beauty is its total redundancy. It might have been a cutting-edge performance fabric if you were climbing Everest circa George Mallory’s era, or stalking circa Queen Victoria’s and Albert’s favourite ghillie, John Brown. But these days, unless you work as an extra on Downton Abbey or Peaky Blinders, you have no need of tweed.…

Special thanks to Cliveden House, Berkshire…

To cricket buffs he’s best remembered for a maiden Test century at The Oval in London that helped ensure the return of the Ashes to England in 2005. But, six years after hanging up his batting pads, Kevin Pietersen is on an altogether nobler mission: to save endangered rhinos from suffering and extinction, with the help of Hublot and SORAI (Save Our Rhino Africa and India). This new chapter in his life began when the South African-born Pietersen, whose mother is English, joined fellow cricketers Mark Boucher, Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis on a rhino relocation exercise in 2013. What he encountered was the brutal drama being played out behind a horrifying set of statistics: just 28,000 rhinos remain worldwide, 23 times fewer than there are African elephants; in 2018,…

THE FRANKLIN x THE RAKE 11.12.19 THE RAKE thanked its collaborators and partners at a Christmas drinks party at The Franklin Hotel in Knightsbridge. HACKETT 20.11.19 Savile Row welcomed the British menswear icon Hackett to the family with a new bespoke emporium at No.14. CIFONELLI 14.11.19 THE RAKE helped celebrate one of the more significant overseas arrivals to British shores, the Cifonelli store on Clifford Street.…