The winds of change and the forces of commerce have pushed this publication in a new direction. After twenty-five years of existence as a quarterly magazine, and the publication of 122 editions, The Chap has decided to convert from print publication to members’ club. This decision has not been reached lightly, especially as our very… … Keep Reading
Zack Pinsent has been around the Chap since he was 17 years old and, when he had just left school, and has now become a very successful maker of Regency clothing, as well as organiser and host of the Grand Regency Ball at Brighton’s Royal Pavilion. So here we are in your Brighton tailoring atelier,… … Keep Reading
Minerva Miller steps out into the Tuscan sun with a gaggle of Italian, British and French devotees to dandyism. On a visit to Rome in April of this year, the Queen joked that she and the King enjoyed ‘any excuse to be in Italy’, and after a visit to Tuscany you can see her point.… … Keep Reading
After six years in the Nissen Hut, the bicycles, briefcases, hobby horses and bowler hats are coming out to play again. Contestants observe the Chap Olympiad motto: Slower, Drunker, Better-dressed The Chap Olympiad began in 2005 and soon became one of the summer’s social fixtures in London. Growing from 25 people, two bottles of gin,… … Keep Reading
I still find the Eurostar really rather wonderful. You get on a train at St. Pancras and alight some two hours later at Le Gare Du Nord into a different world, where the attitudes, tastes, smells, people and culture are as different from London as sand is to salt. Undeniably, it is quite an anomalous… … Keep Reading
From the eleventh floor balcony of a hotel overlooking the Pacific Ocean, the horizon flashing with lightning, brassy wisps of Mariachi music wafting up from somewhere through the heat of the night, was the sense that we were definitely in Mexico. It had taken nearly 20 hours to reach this moment of Mexican awareness, though… … Keep Reading
On a recent trip to Rajasthan, I discovered that not only does India possess its famous wealth of history and architecture, but it is also one of the most natural habitats for the travelling Chap. My journey took me first to Delhi, only nine hours away by plane but, as soon as you land, the… … Keep Reading
“It is in my belief,” somberly intones Gavin Ingo, “that a true gentleman aims to improve himself in all matters, and always remains positive in a stiff situation.” There may be some truth in that, but if so, why are you seated in a room with such nouveau riche furnishings and such a ghastly rug…
Rev’d Oliver Harrison: Somewhere between the vulgarity of checking the time on one’s phone and the sheer pomposity of tugging out a pocketwatch’s gold chain lies the wristwatch. And of all the accoutrements a man might acquire, it is surely his watch that says most about him. Here I must confess to a penchant for…
Steve Pittard: Armchair sleuths tackling Cluedo this Christmas might be in for a shock. The traditional Hampshire country mansion has been bulldozed to make way for an Essex style gangster’s gaff. The library has gone, with an integrated garage in its stead. The biggest crime here is not Dr Black’s demise, but the wholesale killing…
William Smith, newly installed as Head Cutter at Douglas Hayward, incredibly finds the time to pen an instructive tract on overcoats. As the nights draw in and the weather turns, the annual ritual of retrieving heavy, woollen overcoats from their summer hideaways begins. The heady scent of mothballs brings a feeling of impending frosty days,…