The website Groomstars.com is founded on an interesting idea - that being the concept that men are hard to shop for (especially when it comes to gifts for special occasions). As the name of the site implies, the focus of the site is offering gifts for the men who participate in weddings (not like routinely or anything). Along with the fact that guys are not super easy to shop for, most gift websites usually have items that either appeal only to women, or are gifts guys don’t normally want. Groomstars strives to offering an enticing selection of male-minded gifts, and like many other gift based websites, Groomstars also features most (if not all) of their products as being personalized.
Featured products including a range of decent quality pens, holders, valets, watch cases, clothing accessories, hobbyist goods, nice tools, and other things men usually like, but wouldn’t normally buy for themselves. I actually appreciate the selection a lot. It is as though someone waded through most of the obvious (and many non obvious) gifts a man would like and presented them in an easy to navigate place.
A lot of people will likely enjoy the site when shopping for groomsmen, a best man, the father of the bride - or anyone else who may be a friend, boss, or relative. Prices aren’t cheap, but part of what you are paying for is the curated content. One such item that is nice is the Groomstars Striped Wedge Wood Watch box. It contains space for a few watches and related accessories, while the inside is cloth lined to prevent scratching. It comes in a nicely veneered closing box case with a personalized plate near the push-button opener. The inside is lined with soft cloth and quality is better than you might expect (or perhaps I simply have jaded expectations). Their watch boxes also come in a few different finishes and retails for $265 - all of course available for purchase online.
Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch reviews site aBlogtoRead.com.
Under the patronage of new Italian luxury hotel group Whythebest, one of Florence’s hippest and best-hidden boutique hotels is getting set to welcome the fashion crowd to the city this summer during the Pitti Uomo men’s shows.
L’O - Hotel L’Orologio is unique in being inspired by the prestigious world of international high-end watchmaking as well as by owner Sandro Fratini’s personal collection of over 2,000 vintage timepieces. If you appreciate haute horlogerie - and what man of style doesn’t? - it’s hard to imagine wanting to stay anywhere else.
The Turks and Caicos islands in the British West Indies is well known for having the world’s most beautiful beaches. It also has some of the world’s most stylish and luxurious beach resorts, which are remarkable for their amazingly private settings and lush natural landscapes, far removed from the over-development that plagues some other Caribbean hotspots. The perfect setting for our latest style feature, we’re sure you’ll agree.
Parrot Cay, located on a pristine 1,000-acre private island, including a mile-long powdered beach, is an elegant combination of glorious nature, understated luxury and unparalleled privacy complete with an award-winning holistic spa, healthy gourmet cuisine and beach villas with private pools (above).
The villas are a favorite with celebrities including Donna Karan, Bruce Willis, Keith Richards and Sir Paul McCartney. Some like Willis and Karan were so entranced they decided to build their own beach houses on the island. Want to own one? So do we. Parrot Cay is currently offering a small selection of villas for private ownership, starting at $10 million.
Caracalla - Bath, the UK line of fine Italian leather goods designed to be worthy of traveling in the world’s greatest cars, has come out with a cool new collection of luggage designed in homage to the great racing driver Sir Stirling Moss and his iconic 1961 Ferrari 250 SWB (above).
Part of Caracalla’s Commemorative Motorsport Collection, dedicated to pivotal moments in racing history, the beautifully handmade bags feature Moss’ racing number as painted on the famous Ferrari at the wheel of which he won his 7th R.A.C Tourist Trophy at Goodwood.
The Ferrari Moss No. 7 collection includes a driver’s bag (below), a holdall (above) and a garment bag all featuring Moss’ signature embossed on the white center panel, meticulously crafted in Tuscany. Of course the man himself owns and loves the bags.
The line, founded by collector sports and luxury car expert Simon Jordan, takes its name from the Terme di Caracalla race circuit in Rome, where Ferrari won its first race in 1947.
Mint juleps, seersucker, stately plantations, belles in summer dresses and those F. Scott Fitzgerald stories where they go around saying “Good mawnin’, Sally Carrol” — all come together in the new spring collection from Southern Proper, a gentleman’s outfitter from Atlanta now gaining wider recognition from natty northerners.
The new Volvo S60 R-Design, the marque’s sportiest model ever, serves as the inspiration for The Classicist’s latest installment of seasonal style (see the late winter edition here).
As previewed by our brethren at Autoblog at the Paris Auto Show, the S60 R-Design amps up what Volvo had already declared to be its first “naughty” model; ask anyone who knows us - we’ve always had a soft spot for naughty models. The car’s snappy 300-horsepower 3.0-liter inline turbo six remains unchanged, but the R-Design designation adds some styling upgrades that give it an aptly more aggressive stance.
The idea of the Sockscription is pretty simple (we first discussed it here). The guy who never thinks about buying new socks gets them delivered via mail direct a few times a year. It also makes good business sense for Blacksocks as they know they have your ongoing business. Convenience services such as this make a lot of sense for the modern busy guy - but you also run the risk of having just too many socks. The problem the service tries to avoid is you having hole-ridden business socks when you least want to.
For over 100 years, the Minnesota-based Red Wing Shoe Company has been carefully crafting premium quality footwear made for specific work environments. Designed for duty on factory floors, construction sites, refineries and railroads, their rugged style has also been adopted by many who do nothing more perilous than cross a Brooklyn subway platform at rush hour. These days you can even find them at J. Crew.
The Red Wing Heritage collection pays homage to the company’s history of hardcore work boots with some styles designed for the Range Rover set as well. We are, admittedly, in the latter camp. Regardless of which style suits you, the boots and shoes are still crafted with skill and treated like fine tools for the wearer. Premium Red Wing Shoes leather, tanned at the company’s own S.B Foot Tanning Company, is triple stitched with waxed thread for quality. The video above shows the process in action.
Charles Beckman, a Red Wing, Minnesota merchant who saw a need for durable and comfortable work boots, founded the firm in 1905. Today, a third generation of employees, located just down the road from the original factory, continues the tradition he established by using the same craftsmanship and attention to detail. The tannery video is one in a series showing all facets of Red Wing’s time-honored operation. You can check them all out here.
Swedish gun and rifle maker VO Vapen, founded in 1977 by master gunsmith Viggo Olsson, fashions the world’s most exclusive handmade hunting rifles. Their newest creation, the VO Falcon Edition (above), is the world’s most expensive priced at about $820,000. The VO Falcon Edition is a tribute to the deep rooted traditions of falconry in the Arabian world, covered by beautiful engravings of Peregrine and Saker falcons among other luxurious finishes.
Project X Designs, the London-based Rolex customizer whose fans include “James Bond” star Daniel Craig, has come out with three new military-inspired “stealth” designs based on the classic Rolex Submariner and Rolex Explorer. The cool new models pay homage to Agent 007, the legendary British Special Boat Service (SBS) and military issue Submariners of 1950s - 1970s, original models of which fetch a small fortune at auction.
After searching for a cashmere scarf in just the right shade of olive green for some time, we recently came across this natty number from Christopher Fischer.
Paired here with a classic and well-worn Barbour Bedale jacket and fleece Connaught sweater jacket from Private Stock, it’s finished in a good mid-season weight with enough length to double over for the “Euro” knot when extra insulation is called for.
Fischer, a self-described cashmere addict, has product ranges including men’s, women’s, home and travel, with boutiques in New York City, Southampton, East Hampton and Greenwich, CT. He founded the company 25 years ago in the town of Hawick in the borders of Scotland, the birthplace of the Scottish cashmere industry.
The famed French luxury goods house of Hermès has come out with the ultimate accessory for the world’s best-dressed gentlemen — a valet stand in solid mahogany, fine leather and brass with ebony detailing.
The luxe piece, designed to accommodate a full suit of gentleman’s clothing and accessories, is a limited edition re-issue of a classic item created for Hermès in 1930 by famed French decorator and designer Paul Dupré-Lafon. The original was sold by Sotheby’s at its Art Nouveau & Art Deco Design sale in Paris in 2007 for about $65,000.
A couple of Oxford MBAs recently founded Ledbury, a new men’s shirt brand dedicated to better tailoring at the intersection of Savile Row and Ivy Style. Paul Trible and Paul Watson (above) graduated with Oxford MBAs at the height of the economic crisis, literally the day before the Lehman Bros. collapse, and decided to turn their careers from finance to fine fabric. Taking advantage of their proximity to Jermyn Street, London’s traditional home of fine haberdashery, the pair learned the art of English shirt-making from one of the street’s top craftsman and then fused in their hometown Southern U.S. style to create a brand based in Virginia focusing on fit, quality and style.
“When I was living in London, I would come back to the States and have difficulty finding high quality shirts that provided a tailored look,” the Virginia-born Trible explains. “The big name menswear retailers made formless, boxy clothes, while luxury brands charged exorbitant prices. It seemed like there was a real need for an American shirtmaker that offered European quality, English fit and American style, all at an attainable price. We want Ledbury shirts to fit better, feel better and last longer than anything else in your closet.” The Classicist recently featured a natty Ledbury chambray creation in a column on seasonal style starring the Mercedes-Benz G-Class.
New York Rangers hockey star Sean Avery (above left) is one of the rare professional athletes with a real sense of style. His passion for fashion even led him to intern at Vogue while selflessly dating several leggy models.
Now the spiffy sportsman is curating a series of three weekly sales (March 11, 18 and 25) for Gilt MAN, online luxury retailer Gilt Groupe’s men’s site dedicated to matters sartorial, including a must-read daily guide to men’s style.
Avery combed the impressive Gilt MAN inventory with the site’s editorial director Tyler Thoreson (above right) to make his sartorial selections. Each “Avery’s Rules” sale focuses on a different phase of the life of a style-conscious professional. The first, “At Work,” featured A. Testoni shoes, crisp, fitted shirts and razor-sharp suits by Raf Simons, Martin Greenfield, and Calvin Klein Collection.
Taking his style advice may not necessarily get you an NHL contract and a supermodel girlfriend, but it certainly won’t hurt your chances.
Talk about high stakes - Geoffrey Parker, London-based maker of the finest games on the globe, is offering the world’s most expensive poker set for $7.5 million. The bespoke set comes housed in a genuine alligator skin case finished in any color the client chooses, fitted with 18k white gold combination locks and hardware. The case’ suede lining features an 18k gold and diamond frame holding 384 18k white gold chips, each inlaid on both sides in shagreen (stingray skin). The chips can be in any currency and denomination the client desires; the display set features chips marked €100,000 - or about $140,000 at today’s rates.
The edge of each chip is set with precious stones - white diamonds for the white chips, sapphires for the blue, rubies for the red, emeralds for the green and black diamonds for the black. The dealer button is be a larger 18 karat white gold chip set with two rows of diamonds to the edge. The set will feature an estimated 22,364 stones in all, totaling 1,012 carats. Finally there are four platinum-plated decks of poker cards. Orders are now being taken with an expected delivery time of six to nine months; the price may go up if the precious stones and metals market fluctuates.
Eyes, they say, are the first thing to go. And with the first wave of Baby Boomers turning 65 this year, the timing is perfect for the Reizen Radio-Controlled analog Talking Watch, sold through Hammacher-Schlemmer. What a great retirement gift: A watch that will tell you the time instead of making you squint to read it.
The beauty of this beauty is that the watch face is sufficiently large that you may not actually even need the watch to verbalize the time for you. But the easy-to-use watch feature — you just push a button — has a pleasant and clear male voice that is happy to help.
An elegant 1930s bespoke gentleman’s spirits case from Goyard, the luxurious Parisian luggage maker founded in 1853, is being offered for sale by New York’s Mantiques Modern for $2,800. Custom made for a connoisseur who wanted to be sure of always having his favorite tipple ready to hand while gallivanting around the globe, the handmade monogrammed case is crafted of fine pigskin with brass hardware. Inside it features two sizable silver plated flasks and a set of four silver tumblers in fitted compartments. When fastened it resembles a briefcase. Goyard has long had a devoted clientele of celebrities and royalty. Aristocrats such as the Grand Duke of Russia, the Maharajah of Kapurthala and the Duke of Windsor all traveled with Goyard luggage.
S.T. Dupont, founded in Paris in 1872, is one of the few luxury firms that still makes exquisite accessories for that endangered species, the smoker. Their latest ultra-stylish offering is a limited edition lighter and fountain pen set designed in homage to the storied samurai, the military nobility of feudal Japan. The Samurai Prestige Lighter and Pen set, limited to just 20 pieces, is priced at about $66,000 and comes complete with a display stand and matching katana or samurai sword letter opener. The items are hand-crafted from a chiseled piece of solid rose gold set with hundreds of white diamonds and textured black leather and silk ribbon accents, and are made to resemble the katana and traditional samurai armour.
Maison Martin Margiela never fails to surprise us. The always risk-taking fashion house keeps us guessing with what they’ll produce next by creating unique and unconventional pieces.
As part of their Spring/Summer 2011 Collection, a set of Wooden Wallets($425) caught our attention. Made from solid wood with a lacquer finish, the grains are emphasized beautifully. The interior is leather with three credit card slots, three compartments and an elastic to secure your cash. Available in dark and light wood.
LVMH-owned London shirtmaker and haberdasher Thomas Pink is celebrating a stylish forthcoming book called An Englishman In New York with an event and exhibit at its Madison Avenue flagship in New York on March 24. The volume of photographs by Jason Bell includes notables and notable dandies like Vogue’s Hamish Bowles (above), Barneys’ Simon Doonan and Sting, British to the core but also quintessential New Yorkers. Bell’s photographs are currently on exhibit at at London’s National Portrait Gallery, where the book has already been released; it’s scheduled for publication here on April 1.
As an Englishman living in New York himself, Bell was inspired by the fact that there are 120,000 British men and women living in New York City - about the same amount as the entire population of Stamford, Connecticut. In addition to the above Bell photographed a diverse cross-section of British born figures, including taxi drivers, cops, construction workers, divers, helicopter pilots, chefs, burlesque dancers, drug dealers, UN ambassadors and dog walkers, all of whom tell stories about how they came to settle in New York.
“I went for a walk in Central Park with Sting, and for a cup of tea on Kate Winslet’s roof terrace, sat on Zoë Heller’s stoop and watched Stephen Daldry bicycle down 8th Avenue,” Bell relates. “I was given a private tour of both the Metropolitan Museum and the Barneys‘ shop windows. I started with a blank canvas and was amazed by the number of Englishmen and women who have made such a large impact on the cultural life of the city. And amidst all the questions about why people had come here and what they had left behind, I learnt a little bit more about what it means to be English, what it means to be a New Yorker, and where the two intersect.”
“We are extremely excited to be hosting an event to honour Jason and his brilliant work,” says Jonathan Heilbron, President and CEO of Thomas Pink. “Thomas Pink itself is ‘An Englishman in New York.’ We opened our Madison Avenue Flagship store over 13 years ago and New York has come to be a second home and major market for our brand. Thomas Pink is English at heart but we are truly a New Yorker too.” [cont’d]
Groomstars.com Review - Formal Gifts For Men originally appeared on Luxist on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
