Gustav Temple takes a liquid journey around the world to see whether single malt whisky can be trusted from anywhere except Scotland. To some readers (and they may be right) is is already blasphemous even to suggest that whisky can come from anywhere except Scotland. But when one discovers that whisky is also made in … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple meets the man declared by the Guinness Book of Records as the world’s greatest explorer, to discuss climbing Everest and the Eiger while suffering from vertigo, discovering the Lost City of Ubar, being kicked out of the SAS for blowing up civilian property and using a sextant to navigate at the South Pole. … Keep Reading
The Overlook Revisited edition anticipates a return to the frolics and fun denied to the world over the last year. CHAP Summer 21, out on 17th June, marks the promised return to ‘normality’ by celebrating those who have taken a joyously abnormal approach to life. Our main interview is with the triple Oscar-winning star of … Keep Reading
Gustav Temple spoke to Australian hat maker Blake “Blakesby” Canham-Bennett, who has expanded the colour and shape of men’s headwear, while holding on to classic styles and manufacturing methods. You seem to have broken the mould when it comes to men’s hat styles, while adhering to traditional blocks and techniques. Was this what you set out to … Keep Reading
The waistcoat made in collaboration with Walker Slater that turns the Chap Linen Jacket and Trousers into a three-piece linen suit. This item is a classic five-button single-breasted waistcoat with two pockets, notched lapel, linen front and silk back with adjuster. The fabric is mill-washed cream linen with a gold viscose lining. … Keep Reading
An elegant partner to the Chap Collection's Linen Jacket, both made by Edinburgh-based menswear merchants Walker Salter as part of their Chap Collection, this slender leg trouser is flat fronted without pleats and part lined at the front, to retain a gentleman's modesty. The fishtail back and six brace buttons add a vintage … Keep Reading
Made in collaboration with Edinburgh menswear specialist Walker Slater as part of their Chap Collection, The Chap Linen Jacket is the ideal garment in which to saunter about the summer streets of any resort in the world. The cut gives a relaxed fit with soft shoulders, a single vent at the back, two flap … Keep Reading
After a long hiatus, the covetable Chap Lapel Badge is back in stock. This sleek, discreet, enamelled metal lapel pin affixes to one's lapel with a butterfly clip at the back. It says to the world, "I am affiliated with a secret organisation that promotes sartorial elegance, panache and anarcho-dandyism and, if this badge does … Keep Reading
Paul French, author of City of Devils, takes us on a walking tour of Old Shanghai, recounting the tales of decadence, opium and freebooting of the 1930s and what remains of that era in modern Shanghai In its heyday, Shanghai was the real deal when it came to anonymity – a chap could walk down … Keep Reading
Kentucky is regarded as the first of the Southern states, sitting south of the Ohio River on the eastern side of the United States. It is a green and pleasant land, literally. There are miles of gently rolling hills, clean air and plentiful amounts of fine pure mineral water. All these elements play a large … Keep Reading
One of the fourteen countries that straddle the Equator, Ecuador took its name from that imaginary line and offers an engaging place for the traveller to explore with much historical interest, museums and art galleries but, more significantly, it’s the best place in the world to buy a Panama hat. I took a trip out … Keep Reading
On the bicentenary of Sir Richard Francis Burton’s birth, Chris Sullivan gallops through the extraordinary life of the notorious explorer, soldier, translator, writer, cartographer, orientalist, ethnologist, spy, diplomat, poet, geographer, expert fencer and sex obsessive. Can you imagine that, in the not too distant past, a thoroughgoing rogue might stand up in his club in the Haymarket and, after far too many whiskeys, pronounce that he was off to discover a country and, even though I’m sure that those who lived in said country knew of its existence, he would be applauded, funded, sent off amidst fanfare and acclaimed a hero before…
Gustav Temple nosedives into rums that don’t come from where they used to come from, because they are either made or refined right here on these craggy shores. Over the last decade or so, rum has been slowly shaking off its old reputation as something to swill in discotheques mixed with Coca-Cola. But only recently has rum begun to be seen as a ‘serious’ drink such as single malt whisky, bearing the unique imprint of the distillery and year of production. Unfortunately, the very brands that first exported rum to Britain from countries like Cuba and Jamaica are proving rather…
Liam Jefferies meets the doyenne of Stanley Biggs, a menswear company with one foot set firmly in history. For some, there is no beating vintage. A vintage duffel coat found in the back of a surplus store will invoke a greater sense of worth than a similar model churned out by the thousands in some overseas sweatshop and destined for the high street sales rail. It is rare, however, to find brands which embody the same notions of design, craftsmanship and longevity of the apparel of yesteryear. One such brand is Stanley Biggs. Located in the Midlands, Biggs is a…
CHAP Spring 21, out now, looks back at the Roaring Twenties and compares that thrilling decade to the 2020s. There has been much talk recently of the imminent dawning of a golden, post-pandemic cultural explosion in the arts and a return to the hedonism of the Roaring Twenties that came just after the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic. Our new edition delves into this first flowering of music, dance, literature, art and cinema of the 1920s, starting with the force of nature that was Josephine Baker, who took Paris by storm in 1925 as an exotic dancer…
