Table of contents for Winter 2018 in Esquire

As the list of men accused of sexual harassment grows by the day, and even by the hour, Esquire is helping our readers make sense of the post-Weinstein revolution— and these times we live in. Check in for all the latest news, criticism, and commentary: esquire.com/reckoning. “HOW MANY SCENARIOS WOULD BE STOPPED IF YOU ASKED A WOMAN WHO IS UNCOMFORTABLE IF SHE’S UNCOMFORTABLE?” —“WHAT TO DO IF YOU SEE A FEMALE COWORKER BEING HARASSED,” BY KAITLIN MENZA “I DON’T PARTICULARLY CARE IF YOU CAN— OR CANNOT—SEPARATE THE art from the ARTIST....THERE’S A LOT OF ART IN THE WORLD, AND MOST OF IT IS EXPENDABLE.” —“THERE’S PLENTY OF GREAT ART IN THE WORLD,” BY TYLER COATES “AS LONG AS MEN WHO COMMIT ACTS OF SEXUAL PREDATION OR VIOLENCE SUFFER NO CONSEQUENCES,…

You go skiing not just for the endorphin-boosting exercise and the promise of frothy microbrews near a fireplace, but for the moment of renewal achieved by standing on top of a hushed, steep-faced mountain dotted by snow-dusted birch trees that you will ultimately have to dodge in order to make it down alive. Which is why it’s such a letdown to emerge from the lodge on the kind of chilly bluebird day when your breath still hangs in the air, only to be faced with snaking lift lines and groomers jam-packed with beginners in jeans and Jets puffers. But there’s a way to reclaim that enviable solitude slopeside: Resorts across the country are figuring out how to keep crowds at bay and get solace seekers to more remote corners of…

Dry January is such a drag. Oh, I understand the impulse behind it, believe me. The holidays have finally ended and your body feels like a smoking wreck at the climax of one of those marathon Mad Max chase scenes. The preceding year careened to the finish line in a slow-motion collision of liquid calories—a gantlet of open-bar office parties and family gatherings at which Just. One. More. Cocktail. was the only tenable strategy for psychic survival. You wake up on New Year’s Day and you want to exert control. You proclaim to your loved ones that you have hereby Stopped Drinking, and it feels clarifying and energizing for a while. But like all resolutions, it begins to crumble—probably on that first evening you trudge home from a bad day…

Feel Free By Zadie Smith With her trademark erudition and style, Smith unpacks the meaning of Facebook, Jay-Z, Corona ads, and climate change, among other contemporary phenomena, in her first collection of essays since 2009’s Changing My Mind. (Penguin Press, $28) Munich By Robert Harris The author of the classic speculative mystery Fatherland returns with a high-stakes political thriller set in the corridors of Neville Chamberlain’s government during the negotiation of his fateful pact with Hitler. (Knopf, $28) The Rub of Time By Martin Amis The master sounds off on Bellow, Nabokov, Christopher Hitchens, and our current president—he of the “flat sneer of Ozymandian hauteur,” as Amis wrote in his recent dispatch from Youngstown, Ohio, for this magazine. (Knopf, $29) The Most Dangerous Man in America By Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis J.…

Paul Thomas Anderson’s new movie, Phantom Thread, has a lot of people talking. They’re saying it’s inspired by designers like Dior and Balenciaga. That it’s Daniel Day-Lewis’s final film. That it’s awardsseason catnip. We’ll say this: It’s the year’s bestdressed movie. That’s thanks to Academy Award–winning costume designer Mark Bridges, who’s worked on everything from The Artist to 8 Mile. “If there is such a thing as Method costume design, I do it,” Bridges says. “I shop where the character would.” So Bridges and Day-Lewis (who is something of a sleeper men’s-wear icon himself) went on a spree outfitting the impressively named Reynolds Woodcock, the 1950s English couturier who carries the film. They picked up accessories at London stalwarts Drake’s and Hilditch & Key. They ordered magenta socks from Gammarelli,…

Oversized, logoedout ’90s fashion may be the uniform of today’s cool kids, but if you cruised through those years without training wheels, you haven’t forgotten the decade-defining pull of brands like Nautica. Though the label’s getting a nostalgia boost right now, it’s been innovating all along, quietly melding its greatest style strengths (bright colors, nautical stripes, and distressed graphics) with updated fits and materials. Nautica’s new spring line has all the classic appeal that made it a megabrand years ago— and now that you’ve graduated from hair gel and hemp necklaces, you can actually pull it off. GUEST STAR YACHTY ROCKS • • • Speaking of cool kids: Grammy-nominated, nautically named rapper Lil Yachty (above) is bringing new cred to Nautica. He started out buying throwback pieces in thrift stores…

IMRAN AMED 42, London Taking stock: I had a great job at a great company, but I wasn’t happy. I needed to take time off and think about what I was looking for. There were three things I wanted: something creative, something global, and something where I could be an entrepreneur. And that’s really manifested itself. I think just knowing it and being able to explain it can help you find a sense of purpose in your work. Ditching corporate for creative: When I worked at McKinsey & Company, there would be these subtle hints that I was stepping too far outside the norms of what a management consultant should wear. So in my own company, I want people to dress however they want. Some people are very formal, but…

Ashley Judd is an actor known for her roles in movies like Divergent and Kiss the Girls as well as the TV series Missing (for which she received an Emmy nod). She’s also a passionate humanitarian and political activist who has worked extensively to fight poverty and promote public health everywhere from Cambodia to Rwanda. In the past decade, she has earned a bachelor’s degree in French at the University of Kentucky and a master’s of public administration at Harvard, and she’s working on a doctorate in public policy at UC Berkeley. In 2015, she disclosed that she had been sexually harassed by a movie mogul, and this past October she identified him as Harvey Weinstein, helping to give rise to an outpouring of accounts from women speaking out about…

In August, Donald Trump referred to some white-nationalist protesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, as “very fine people.” A few weeks later, he said that any athlete who didn’t stand during the national anthem was a “son of a bitch” who should be fired. But which are you: a son of a bitch or a very fine person? Take this Dubious personality test to find out! 1. If your best friend gave you a signed Colin Kaepernick jersey, you would: a. Frame it. b. Regift it. c. Get a new best friend. 2. A tiki torch is: a. Cultural appropriation. b. What we use at our weekend barbecues. c. Stand back or I will burn you! 3. How do you feel about the police? a. No one should be above the law.…

IF HE DID, IT WOULD BE THE LARGEST IN HISTORY. PERIOD! At the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., Madonna changed the lyrics to “Human Nature” and sang to the crowd, “Donald Trump, suck a dick!” WHICH IS NOT EASY IN THE TRIANGLE OFFENSE After being forcibly ejected from a game at Madison Square Garden for reportedly heckling New York Knicks owner James Dolan, former Knicks star Charles Oakley said, “This is all Dolan. I didn’t do nothing. This is some bullshit. All of you suck Dolan’s dick.” WHAT’S A WHITE HOUSE SCANDAL WITHOUT A DEEP THROAT? In an interview with The New Yorker’s Ryan Lizza, White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci said, “I’m not Steve Bannon. I’m not trying to suck my own cock.”…

It’s a sign of how far things have come that these INSIDERS have now become OUTLAWS. BOOK PARTIES in Manhattan tend to be overspillings of the workday. People stop by in office clothes on their way home—uptown, downtown, to Brooklyn, or out to the suburbs. But in D.C., book parties are social occasions, even when they involve business, which is to say politics, the only business that matters. One Saturday evening in late October, some of the brightest figures in Washington’s media elite streamed into a splendid Colonial Revival house on Foxhall Road in Wesley Heights. “Outer Georgetown,” someone clarified: The phrase implied more than it said, like so much else in this surreal time in American politics. Some of the guests were liberal journalists whose faces were as familiar as their bylines:…

CROISSANT For: Millennial jet-setters. The footprint: More than two hundred locations, searchable by app. Cost: Prices vary by city, but plans start at $25 for a ten-hour pass. Which gets you: The freedom to roam from one Croissant to another. WORK BETTER For: All-business types. The footprint: Four locations across Manhattan and one in Chicago. Cost: Shared workspaces start at $35 a day. Which gets you: A no-frills office space without a Pac-Man console in sight. THE WING For: Brogrammer-averse women. The footprint: Two pastel-hued offices in New York’s SoHo and Flatiron District. Cost: Memberships begin at $215 a month. Which gets you: A color-coded lending library, invitations to Wing events, and blowouts on demand. NEW LOVE CITY For: Zentrepreneurs. The footprint: A combination office space and yoga studio in…

JIMMI SIMPSON, THE NICE GUY ONWESTWORLD, HAS A BIG YEAR AHEAD OF HIM, REPRISING HIS HBO ROLE AND PICKING UP SPOTS ON BLACK MIRROR AND USA’S UNSOLVED. AND NOW HE’S HERE TO SHOW YOU THAT IN 2018, ADDING SOME PATTERN AND PERSONALITY TO YOUR WARDROBE IS THE BEST WAY TO GET PEOPLE TALKING. Early on in the first season of HBO’s sci-fi-Western hybrid Westworld, William, the wide-eyed, wary guest of the android theme park, was established as one of the show’s pivotal characters. By questioning everything about a mind-bending world in which people pay to indulge their darkest impulses, the character, played by Jimmi Simpson, became our proxy. But don’t assume that means Simpson will spill the beans on what to expect when the show returns this spring: He pleads neartotal ignorance about the plot, only allowing that it’ll be epic.…

STORE INFORMATION For the items featured in Esquire, please consult the website or call the phone number provided. The Code, p. 23: Bell & Ross watch, bellross.com. P. 24: Stone Island jacket, stoneisland.com. Salvatore Ferragamo sweater, 866-337-7242. Le Chameau boots, lechameau.com. P. 25: Prada coat, prada.com. Louis Vuitton sweater, louisvuitton.com. Boss trousers, hugoboss.com. Salvatore Ferragamo boots, 866-337- 7242. P. 28: Xacus shirts, xacus.com. Viola Milano tie, violamilano.com. Richard James suit, richard-james.com. Paul Stuart tie, paulstuart.com. Baume & Mercier watch, baume-et-mercier.com. P. 29: Corneliani suit, turtleneck, and shoes, corneliani.com. Uniqlo turtlenecks, uniqlo.com. Richard James turtlenecks, richardjames.com. John Smedley turtleneck, johnsmedley.com. P. 30: Nautica hooded sweatshirt, sweatshirt, and jeans, nautica.com. In the Kingdom of Fire and Ice, pp. 60–61: Best Made Co. ax, knife, and belt, bestmadeco.com. Abercrombie & Fitch turtleneck sweater…

A BRIEF MONTHLY EXPANSION ON A TOPIC EXPLORED ELSEWHERE IN THE ISSUE (SEE PAGE 68) Starbucks is a coffeehouse chain and one of the most recognizable American brands, along with Google, Apple, and the male sexual predator. It was founded in Seattle in 1971 and named after a character that can be found in the CliffsNotes version of Herman Melville’s novel Moby-Dick. In addition to drinks, Starbucks offers a coworking space featuring amenities like: charging stations for everyone’s phone except yours, an eclectic choice of songs from every genre of Sam Smith music, and a damn good chance that there’s an HR manager loudly conducting an interview next to you. In recent years, the chain has made an effort to sell fairtrade coffee, meaning it’s fair that employees should earn…

Big news. Okay, technically, little news. Wristwatches are getting smaller. In 2017, the major watch brands introduced hundreds of new editions, with many dropping below 40mm in diameter for the first time in decades. (The Bell & Ross Bellytanker, left, comes in at just 38.5.) It may not seem earth-shattering to you, but in the watchmaking world, that shift is seismic because it signals a major change in tastes. The last time size mattered in wristwatches was back in 1993, when militarywatch brand Panerai first launched its dive watches for public consumption (average size: 44mm), driving interest among watch nuts for enormous tool watches. Macho was suddenly mucho, kicking off a 20-year boom in sporty, attentiongrabbing watches, each one larger than the last. It’s an irony that a smaller timepiece…

Conventional American wisdom holds that a dress shirt should be the plain canvas against which a flashy, textured tie can pop. But why be conventional? Why not invert the formula so your shirt makes the statement? For years, Brits have done this with the butcher stripe. The thick vertical lines used to be a mainstay on Jermyn Street, particularly in the yuppie heights of the go-go ’80s. These days, it’s less about upward mobility and more about sartorial sensibility. A bold pattern like this works especially well in equally vibrant colors. (Xacus’s supersaturated royal blue, for instance, contrasts beautifully with a dark suit.) Just remember to keep your tie on the quiet side. It’s time you let your shirt do the talking. LINES OF WORK As you probably guessed, this…

Every winter around this time, I go in for a buzz cut. (That’s me on the right.) Some will say summer is the optimal time for this, believing that more hair equals more warmth. Don’t believe them. Never in history has a head of hair prevented hypothermia. You need a hat for the cold no matter what. And if you’re maintaining a standard length, you are going to suffer from some serious hat hair the minute you pull off that beanie. But the real benefits of the buzz transcend seasonality. Suddenly your morning moves at a much faster clip: no more messing with shampoo, no more time lost working in product or correcting your part. Taking a lot off the top can also take a lot off your mind. When…

CAN A MAN REALLY CHANGE? CAN HE TRANSFORM HIMSELF INTO THE MAN HE REALLY WANTED TO BE ALL ALONG? JON BERNTHAL IS AN INTERESTING TEST OF THE PROPOSITION. JON Bernthal wants to clear some things up. Yes, he stars as Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, an armed-to-the-elbows exsoldier who goes vigilante after his family is murdered by government black ops, on a Netflix series that premiered in November. Playing a rare Marvel superhero who does not have a superpower, Bernthal uses machine guns, sledgehammers, and the occasional vat of cement to send his enemies into oblivion. And yes, before he took on his leading role on The Punisher, Bernthal often portrayed bad guys on screen—really, really bad guys, the sort whose scarred faces and thousand- yard stares told you that…

WE’LL TAKE OUR CHANCES Disgraced televangelist Jim Bakker issued a warning to “mean people” who ridicule him: “You’re going to shake your fist in God’s face.... He’s gonna say, ‘You sat there and you made fun of Jim Bakker all those years. I warned you, but you didn’t listen.’” LOUISE LINTON INSISTS HERS FLY PRIVATE A Saudi prince bought eighty coach seats on a flight to transport his falcons. NUT OF THE YEAR A thirty-nine-year-old Chinese kung fu master broke his own record by pulling seven Audi cars with a rope attached to his testicles. NEXT TIME, TRY THINKING ABOUT BASEBALL A Japanese rail company issued an apology after a train departed twenty seconds too early. IF YOU SQUINT A LITTLE, IT LOOKS MORE LIKE HARVEY WEINSTEIN A Cheeto resembling…

Like Richard Nixon, whose laughing visage inspired these awards in 1962, Donald Trump is a once-in-a-generation Dubious Achiever. He made his first appearance in 1988 for—what else?—a childish spat with a politician. Trump called then–New York mayor Ed Koch a “moron” who “can’t hack it anymore,” and Koch replied that Trump was “greedy, greedy, greedy” and “piggy, piggy, piggy.” (Let history record that they were both right.) And the achievements have continued unabated for thirty years. Last year—again, like Nixon before him—Trump rode a deluge of dubiosity into the White House. For that, Esquire named him Dubious Man of the Year. But it’s not enough. It’s never enough with him. And so it is with great pride that we announce that Donald Trump is the latest titan to take his…

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.’s assassination, fifty years ago this April, marked a blow to the struggle for racial equality from which the nation has still not healed. In an essay published in Esquire in April 1972, JAMES BALDWIN reflected on attending the funeral, and how King’s death signaled the end of civility for the civil-rights movement. At turns heartbreaking and hopeful, Baldwin’s words are as powerful—and urgent—as ever. AN INTRODUCTION BY Michael Eric Dyson On April 9, 1968, thirteen hundred people filed into Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta for the private funeral of a man who, like his father before him, had once served as its pastor: the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Attendees included Thurgood Marshall, Wilt Chamberlain, Marlon Brando, Dizzy Gillespie, Stokely Carmichael, and Robert F. Kennedy,…

For a long time, I assumed I knew what it was like to live in a man’s world. In part, of course, this is because I happen to be a man, but it’s also because two of the three magazines I’ve edited have been aimed at men. The experience has given me a sense of just how polymorphous pervs can be—raincoat exhibitionists, handsy admirers, oglers, whistlers, bullying heavy breathers. Yet I, like many others, have been shocked by the depravity revealed by the recent rolling exposé of sexual harassment. Day after day, the headlines have unmasked one sex-fiend sociopath after another, men who have casually disfigured the lives of women and buried their ugly deeds with the help of lawyers, publicists, and unsavory journalists: the brash movie mogul with eighty-one…

The origin story for Pod Save America, one of the most popular podcasts in the country, reads like an Avengers script written by Aaron Sorkin. The villain— misinformation—has risen, say liberal pundits (and most everyone else), thanks to a new generation of radical right-wingers who’ve found massive audiences on social media. Facts no longer matter, if they ever did, to the president and those who support him. Cue the unlikely heroes: Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor, a crack team of precocious ex–Obama staffers who launched a podcast company called Crooked Media to fight back. “People are tired of getting their political analysis in two-minute sound bites on cable news,” says Favreau. “Podcasts allow you to have a more nuanced conversation.” Their flagship product is PSA, hosted by all…

EMI LY CHANG Host of Bloomberg Technology; author of Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys’ Club of Silicon Valley “I recently finished watching The Handmaid’s Tale—such a powerful exploration of gender equality.” WILL SELF Esquire UK columnist; author of Phone “I love the new Star Trek, especially since when the USS Discovery uses the new ‘fungal’ warp drive, it looks like giant quinoa. I detect a lot of anxiety about natural foods lying behind contemporary TV sci-fi: The evil weapon from another dimension on The Expanse also looks like interstellar quinoa.”…

There are boots that’ll get you through the winter, and then there are boots that’ll get you through the next ten years. Since 1927, French brand Le Chameau has dominated the latter category in Europe, and now that it’s launched a U. S. website, it’s making waves this side of the Atlantic, too. Its classic rubber Chasseur boot is lined with calfskin, reinforced with Kevlar, completely waterproof, and designed to keep you warm below the freezing point. So you don’t need snow boots and rain boots anymore. You just need these.…

WINNER BY A NECK IF YOU’RE NOT QUITE SOLD ON THE ROLLNECK, TRY IT OUT WITH SOME TAILORED PIECES. A LITTLE STRUCTURE CAN GO A LONG WAY. There’s much debate in the Esquire offices over what to call that sweater with the long neck. Americans say turtleneck (meh). Brits prefer rollneck (correct). Australians call it a skivvy (don’t ask). There is, however, no argument here about its general rightness. Many otherwise enlightened American men tend to see something untrustworthy, louche, even “European” about the rollneck. Does this stem from its past popularity with lefty beatniks? Maybe. Is the rollneck the mark of the freethinker and the outsider? Certainly. That’s why I like it. But the rollneck’s greatest attribute is how it utterly transforms a suit. Sub one in for a…

MEET THE UPTOWN MAVERICK BOOT Like a well-worn leather jacket, this street boot feels as good as it looks. With a light, springy sole cushioned for a ride, you’re ready to zip up and step out. www.samuelhubbard.com/men/dress-shoes/uptown-maverick/ IVY: THE SOCIAL UNIVERSITY Make 2018 a year full of learning, social impact and insider access to unparalleled experiences. Join IVY—a community of entrepreneurs, professionals and creatives. Get $100 off your IVY Membership today (code: Esquire@IVY). Visit IVY.com for more information. STEELE CANVAS BASKET Founded in 1921, Steele Canvas Basket is a family-owned and operated American manufacturer based in Massachusetts. Whether you need a bag caddie for laundry, a rolling basket for kids toys or a sturdy tote for everyday life, Steele Canvas has you covered. Made in the USA and built to…

Money is used as an expression of love, but it can also be used as a sword. Most relationships have some kind of financial element to them, even if people don’t readily admit that or speak about it. I think prenuptial agreements are a good idea, because they force some transparency in terms of what the expectations are prior to marriage. In my experience, people who enter into those kinds of difficult discussions—whether they have a prenup or not—tend to stay married longer. I don’t like stingy people. If I’m at a restaurant and my date doesn’t tip well, it’s a turnoff. I tip 20 percent at least. I waited tables, so I know how it feels. The stupidest thing I ever bought was a watch for a significant other.…

And the Person of the Year is… 1. THE ALL-AMERICAN PERVERT! O say can you see how many powerful men were revealed to be sexual predators in 2017? No, you can’t—because like a telethon tote board on Viagra, the numbers just keep rising. Stars of all stripes—entertainment, politics, media, politics, entertainment, media, entertainment, politics, media, entertainment—had their careers and reputations whacked because they just couldn’t keep their hands to themselves. (And in the cases of Harvey Weinstein and Louis C. K., that wasn’t safe, either.) Even the late Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel was accused of grabbing a nineteen-year-old’s tuches back in the 1980s. So as a new year begins, we hold this truth to be self-evident: When it comes to the pursuit of happiness, all men may not…

CIA INTERROGATOR: What then? SOVIET AGENT: They wrote a report. INTERROGATOR: Wrote a report for what? AGENT: For the recruitment. INTERROGATOR: For the recruitment? AGENT: The recruitment talk. INTERROGATOR: For the recruitment, or for the recruitment talk? AGENT: That is the same thing. SENATOR MORGAN: I think I have mentioned this before, but I feel we need to develop some staff system whereby each staff member will be continually brought up to date of furnished articles, materials that may be sensitive to some extent but yet could be permitted...that we could keep in our safes and read. You know it is a little difficult to come in here and sit down and digest everything, but also I am getting embarrassed to have to go buy “Penthouse” and “Playboy.” I believe there…

It is not easy to get to the island. From Miami you fly to Buenos Aires. In Buenos Aires you wait around for half a night, change airports, and catch a 4:00 a.m. flight to Comodoro Rivadavia, a city whose mellifluous name tricks you into thinking you’re about to land at some Patagonian beach resort. Instead, you arrive in a place encircled by oil fields and slag heaps—in the haze of a slow sunrise, the landscape is a postapocalyptic study in gray and beige. From there, a driver takes you far west, across the expanse of the Argentine province of Chubut. The drive lasts about five hours. What you see from the truck is desolate. You want to text a picture to a friend but your phone has stopped getting…