Table of contents for Summer 2019 in Esquire

Like Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, we’ve been inspired by the spirit of’69 in creating this special issue, and it starts right here, right now. Back then, Esquire was as provocative as the world it documented, and its covers were statements of illustrative bravado. A faceoff between an activist and a pig landed on newsstands during the summer of Woodstock; another issue that year staged paparazzi photos of Howard Hughes. And when a happening guy named Andy Warhol appeared on an issue about the art world, few would have guessed he’d become as iconic as Picasso. Something tells us the guys on this month’s cover might have some staying power themselves. We hope the issue will too.…

The first truly great hotel I stayed at—and by great, I mean in that European sense of five-star luxury with a capital L—was the Hotel Splendido in Portofino, Italy. I was well into my 30s, and these were the early days of the 21st century. Fortunately, at the time, it was the still heady era of magazines, when expense accounts seemed bottomless and every possibly questionable expenditure could easily be slotted into that wonderful gray zone on my T+E known as “story research.” This occurred in the summer, and I was traveling with four colleagues. We were heading to Milan for the men’s shows, and one of my companions, wise to the world, suggested we build in a couple nights at the Splendido. He said, in his understated way, “You…

… Some context: When I fired up the premiere of HBO’s suburban teen ensemble drama Euphoria, starring Zendaya, it was on a big screen in our glass-walled, aquarium-like conference room with a fellow editor. I’m surprised no one called HR on us. The series features bros casually flipping through nude selfies on a phone, cocaine being snorted off a laptop, a veritable wikiHow on gaming a drug test that involves getting your friend’s fresh urine, the casual viewing of private sex tapes, sex at a pool party (in the pool), and the rape of a transitioning teen in a seedy motel. Did I mention this is all just in the first episode? So yeah, it’s NSFW, folks. Watching Euphoria—adapted by Sam Levinson from an Israeli show—is akin to watching the…

Italian tailor Denis Frison does brisk business in bespoke clothing for a small but enthusiastic clique of men who hunger for something distinctive and resolutely one-of-a-kind. Frison measures and fits his clients in his studios in L. A. and New York, but all the work is done in Italy, and all of it by hand. So far, so posh. What separates Frison is the dead-stock bolts of cloth—some of them 40 or 50 years old—from which he crafts his clothes, chivvied out of the back rooms of tailoring shops all over Europe. Mostly woven in England and Italy, they have a robust yet comfortable temper rarely seen even in the most refined modern cloth. With these unique scraps, often barely enough to make one jacket, Frison works with his clients…

Michael Hainey (SEMI) PRO I’m not trying to be funny here, but the truth is that in the great belt debate, I’m… in the middle. Many things in the world of men’s style have been upgraded in the past 15 years. Belts? Most of them still look like they came out of the closet of my seventh-grade math teacher. Then I discovered a great suede belt on a friend. “It’s vintage,” he said, which is the aggro style bro’s way of not sharing knowledge. But I found a belt like it, in a cinnamon-brown suede, and suddenly it made everything look not stiff, just …cool. You might say it held everything together. Matthew Marden CON In my job as a fashion editor, I love to style with belts. My favorite…

BEN SOLEIMANI 47, Los Angeles Globe-trotter: Since I turned 16, I’ve been traveling the world. It made me who I am today. I have a special love for Latin America, where there is a fullness and an effortless joy that I am enamored with. In the West, all we do is run, run, run. Traveling with a purpose: I’m always collecting palettes for reference. I love the deep indigos in Japan, the grays and charcoal blacks in a London cityscape. And I love open spaces, volume, scale. High ceilings and light. I think the Taj Mahal is amazing. Art-world inspiration: Art has been a big influence in my design, especially Rudolf Stingel. He loves texture; I love texture. He’s somebody whose work I respect and love. And I love art…

The Champagne of boilermakers. Bars in America are changing, and we believe that’s a good thing. Macho posturing and mixologist preening are on the way out. Wine bars are on the rise, and so are alcohol-free options. The watering holes that we honor here, on our annual list, are the ones that we think do the best job of deepening a sense of community and making everyone feel at home … while also pouring exactly what you need. —Jeff Gordinier CHICAGO LUDLOW LIQUORS Ludlow Liquors practically telegraphs “We don’t take ourselves too seriously”—you can order french fries with ice cream and gravy. But look more closely and you’ll see that it specializes in subtle innovations, from the option of ordering each cocktail in a $5 elfin size to the food…

David Harbour hated Stranger Things. The title, that is. Initially the Netflix series was called Montauk, after the show’s original setting, but logistical changes forced the show’s creators, Matt and Ross Duffer, to choose a new location—they decided to shoot it in Atlanta—and to change the title. Harbour, who had been cast as police chief Jim Hopper, was not pleased, a sentiment he made abundantly clear in an email to the Duffer brothers. “We got this long email from him complaining about the title,” Matt Duffer tells me. “About how awful it was, and how it was going to destroy the show. If something feels off to him, he says so and we talk about it and it results in a stronger series. It’s not bitching and moaning. It’s just…

A BRIEF MONTHLY DIGEST ON A TOPIC OF GENERAL INTEREST The neutrality of this information is disputed. And rightfully so. By Drew Dernavich The sun is the CEO of the solar system and the only celestial body legally allowed to dry a tomato. It is by far the largest star seen in our solar system, making the other stars seem small and insignificant, and now you know how we feel, stars. The average temperature on the surface of the sun is around 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit, which places it as the hottest thing in the galaxy besides Stacy’s mom. It takes only eight minutes for light to reach the earth from the sun, or the length of one “news cycle.” According to Greek mythology, Icarus’ wax wings melted as he flew…

It’s entirely possible you don’t consider yourself an RV person. I get it. It’s one of those subcultures, not unlike that of cruise-ship lovers, that millions partake in yet many would never identify with because the activity has been aggressively co-opted by people who wear cargo shorts unironically. I realize how elitist this sounds, but hey, do I want to be known as a Corvette guy? No. So I don’t own one, even though I genuinely dig the car. Just trying to be my authentically inauthentic self. You should get over the fear of tribal stereotyping when it comes to recreational vehicles, however. Are you adventurous? Looking to discover a simpler way of life? Do you want to get outdoors but still like the idea of air-conditioning, running water, and…

1 “THE MAKING OF A YIPPIE” By J. Anthony Lukas, November 1969 Lukas profiled Jerry Rubin for Esquire at the height of Rubin’s fame as an antiwar activist and guerrilla-theater provocateur. He was a founder of the mostly notional Youth International Party and a defendant in the Chicago 7 case, which grew out of the protests Rubin had helped organize at the previous year’s Democratic National Convention. While Rubin awaited trial with his codefendants on various conspiracy charges (their subsequent convictions would be overturned on appeal), Lukas followed along as he returned to his hometown, Cincinnati, for a homecoming visit to his high school, followed by an uncomfortable family reunion. That evening, Jerry, his girl friend Nancy, his younger brother Gil, and a few friends paid a visit to his family.…

It is pretty much impossible to become the editor of Esquire and not find yourself looking for inspiration from time to time in the magazine’s legendary archive, a small periodical-lined storage room kept locked at the end of a long hall on our office floor. When I first got the job, almost four years ago, I spent a lot of time in there, hoping to absorb any secrets that had been deposited in ink by my predecessors without forgetting that my task now was what theirs had once been: to glance back in order to be propelled forward, to admire what was but to create something new. To my mind, a magazine with a legacy as iconic as Esquire’s must aim to live up to the standards it has set…

SUMMER Weekend STYLE So you’ve been invited to a lastminute weekend getaway with some friends. Better pack quickly. You rip open your drawers, dig through your closet, and reach for … a white tee that’s not so white anymore? The too-big-for-your-face sunglasses that might not even be yours? Loafers that no amount of polish will salvage? And you crumple it all up into your old Jan-Sport. But wait—is that a hole at the bottom? Before you whip out the duct tape, consider this: It might be time for a quick summer refresh. Look for some new striped tees that channel the Mediterranean. Buy that pair of sneakers you’ve been eyeing since spring. Pick up some new shorts that actually fit properly, or maybe even a light jacket in a color…

Few classic watches are as loaded with history as the Omega Speed-master Professional, the first timepiece worn on the moon. In November 1969, to celebrate the Apollo 11 lunar landing, three solid-gold Speed-masters (ref. BA145.022) were presented to Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. In all, 1,014 were created—with 33 given to astronauts—and they remain for collectors the holy grail of Speed-masters. To mark the golden anniversary of Apollo 11, Omega has produced another 1,014 nearly identical examples, bar some subtle innovations. The hefty case and strap are made in a new pale 18k yellow-gold alloy called “Moonshine,” conceived to preserve its understated color over time. If the galactic price tag is hardly gravity-free, take consolation in the current iteration of the Speed-master in stainless steel, which—at $5,350—remains remarkably…

For Gabriela Hearst, there’s a right and a wrong way of doing things, and the right way is “no shortcuts.” That means stitching by hand and sourcing the finest materials, but it also means committing to a holistic process to reduce her carbon footprint: The Uruguayan-born designer prioritizes sustainability, so 25 percent of each collection is created from existing material or excess. In just four years of producing high-end women’s wear under her eponymous label, Hearst has earned everything from the prestigious Woolmark Prize to the admiration of Oprah, but she’s only getting started. Now she’s expanding into men’s wear with a line of polished pieces that reflect how real men want to dress. “The idea was to bring what we do with women’s wear into men’s wear,” Hearst says,…

“I do not make much sense without tobacco.” —John Cheever, The Journals of John Cheever My mother was a pack-a-day smoker for much of her life, and as a child I hated it. Our house reeked. The car was worse. She’d hotbox my siblings and me by neglecting to roll down the windows. Once or twice, by accident, she brushed me with a lit cigarette. As Henry Fonda put it about one of Hollywood’s most furious smokers, “I’ve been close to Bette Davis for thirtyeight years—and I have the cigarette burns to prove it.” We’d get revenge on my mother, when we were teenagers, by slipping those little slivers of exploding loads into the tips of her Merits. My mom is the sweetest woman in the world and does not…

One day, I was working in the store, sleep-deprived as usual, when Little Man, a hustler who worked for the Harlem boss James “Jack” Jackson, walked in with his girl. Everyone in the place started crowding around her. When I walked over to see what all the commotion was about, the girl held up a small brown leather clutch with a repeating pattern of gold letters—an L overlapping a V. That was the first time I’d seen a Louis Vuitton up close. It was a beautiful bag made with amazing craftsmanship. I could tell it was expensive. As someone who knew all about leather, I marveled at the stitching and the way the ink rested on the skin. Most of all, I was fascinated by the excitement it was creating…

STORE INFORMATION For the items featured in Esquire, please consult the website or call the phone number provided. The Code, p. 29: Rowing Blazers jacket, T-shirt, trousers, belt, and Rowing Blazers x Sperry shoes, rowingblazers.com. P. 30: Polo Ralph Lauren T-shirts, ralphlauren.com. Corneliani loafers, corneliani.com. Thom Browne jacket, thombrowne.com. Loewe backpack, loewe.com. Louis Vuitton sneakers, louisvuitton.com. P. 32: Alanui pullover, ssense.com. Givenchy sneakers, 212-650-0180. Monumental by Karen Walker sunglasses, karenwalker.com. Michael Kors shorts, michaelkors.com. Banana Republic shirt, bananarepublic.com. Castañer espadrilles, castaner.com. P. 33: Denis Frison bespoke jacket and bespoke trousers, info@denisfrison.com. P. 34: Omega watch, omegawatches.com. P. 36: Brunello Cucinelli belts, brunellocucinelli.com. P. 37: Gabriela Hearst Men’s jacket, bergdorfgoodman.com. Gabriela Hearst Men’s shirt and trousers, gabrielahearst.com. Common Projects sneakers, commonprojects.com. RH Pelu rug, restorationhardware.com. P. 38: Gabriela Hearst Men’s jackets,…