Steve Pittard: English actors were de riguer in American movies during the 1930s. The ‘Hollywood Raj’ formed their own cricket team, which boasted the likes of Leslie Howard, David Niven and Cary Grant. Starlets in the wings provided further glamour. Olivia De Haviland served cake and cucumber sandwiches while Elizabeth Taylor sold scorecards. Hollywood Cricket… … Keep Reading
Tom Cutler: I think it was Samuel Goldwyn who said that a bachelor’s life is no life for a single man. This might be true; I wouldn’t know, not being a bachelor any more, but surely it has its good points, even for the unattached gentleman. You can get home when you like, you can… … Keep Reading
Liam Jefferies: As with the Breton Jumper in the previous issue, this article aims to provide a paradigm for the gent looking to source a pair of brogues suited to his taste, budget, and traditionalist loyalty. Let us begin, as ever, with a look on the attributes of the shoe. The brogue is a low-heeled… … Keep Reading
The belt has long been one of life’s great mediators, dealing with the no-mans-land twixt the geographical north and south of one’s anatomy; an undisciplined and lawless region. For the borderland of the loins and lower limbs and the head and torso is a meeting of the emotional and the rational self. Well governed, and… … Keep Reading
Name: Matthew Macpherson Age: 29 Origin: Picton, New South Wales, Australia Sartorial motto: “Fashion is fleeting but style is forever” Style Icon: Noël Coward Sunglasses: Wilsons (USA) 1920s-30s green tinted hexagonal lens and etched metal frames Detachable Collar: RJW Bespoke Collars (Australia) 1920s-style tab soft collar Shirt: Aetna (USA) 1920s broadcloth/silk tunic with double cuffs Tie: Boulevard Classics… … Keep Reading
To the sartorially fluent, those fellows who seek to populate their wardrobes with clothing of dignity and polish; their finest wishes can often cause the deepest sorrow, if they fail to see the day’s broad smile. For Hope is a formidable habit, and in the mind’s eye of a wayward Chap, awakening dream’s existence struggles… … Keep Reading
Would the Empire have been half as great without braces? Would the thin red line have held, the battles been won, the treaties signed, the ruled cowed and decorum maintained if, at the decisive moment, a Chap had lost control of his trousers – laying bare, before an unsuspecting world, the lily white and withered… … Keep Reading
Nathaniel Adams: Oscar Wilde, writer, raconteur, gay icon, large of girth, lust and ego, bottom wobbling provocatively as he climbs the social ladder from the gutter to the stars, then falls back into the muck with a splash, is arguably the most famous dandy ever. In Oscar Wilde, dandyism found its apotheosis, and after his… … Keep Reading
Join Gustav Temple on a magical journey into the heart of sartorial splendour, commencing at the Idler Academy. Mr. Temple has created a series of four lectures on how to dress properly, and which include informal dress, formal dress, clothes maintenance and buying bespoke and vintage garments. Assisted by the Chap’s very own valet in… … Keep Reading
Tom Cutler: I have a confession to make. That’s the thing with confessions, you have to make them; you can’t just take them off the shelf. But confession can be dangerous, resulting in severe injury to the owner-up and the recipient alike. Take the chap who, in a fit of bravado, admitted to his wife… … Keep Reading
Steve Pittard: England slow bowler by day and gentleman thief by night, A.J. Raffles, is cricket’s most enduring fictional character. His exploits shocked late Victorian society, who found it unthinkable that a burglar might play cricket – a sport synonymous with ‘fair play’. A.J. resides in bachelor chambers at Albany (just off Piccadilly). He can… … Keep Reading
“Inspired by the Olympiad,” writes Mark Skinner, “I have taken my first faltering forays in Chapdom. Any hints that I am heading in the right direction?” Sir, you are standing far too close to a market stall selling T-shirts to be heading in the direction of Chapdom. A true Chap would steer well clear of… … Keep Reading