I was lucky enough to be invited back to the Sunglass Hut tent for this years J&B Met, and I was pretty thrilled to be honest. The met is always such an awesome event and the Sunglass Hut tent is pretty much exactly where you wanna be if you’re going.

Every year there is a theme, something to guide you in dressing up, after all, we’re speaking about a day at the races here, it’s no place for jeans and slip slops. This years theme was “Made to Conquer - Dress Victorious” and yes it’s about as vague as that other thing. But it kinda needs to be, so that you can interpret it any way you want.

I think I kinda took the easy way out, and decided to go a little military inspired. Here was my look in the end.

As I was flying solo, these photos were courtesy of my man Trevor Stuurman, who kindly offered to help out when he realised he was pulling off the look better than me anyway. Here he is below.

I really wish I had picked up some more detailed shots of Trevor as this is a perfect example of pattern mixing and looking way more awesome when you wear a hat! Good job buddy.

As was to be expected, there were a few stand out gents in the tent, so I thought I would share them with you guys. Sometimes I wish I could be this brave when I get dressed in the morning, these cats just nail every outfit with confidence.

Being the Sunglass Hut tent you could be pretty sure that the sunglass swag was out in full force, now, I’m no expert at this stuff, but I did notice a big geometric shape trend going down.

I dont know about you guys, but I am definitely feeling this last pair, and may need to get something round on my face soon.

Lastly, I wanted to share a little bit of flamboyance with you guys, after all, horse racing is usually about over elaborate headwear correct? I mean, that’s how you can be sure you’re at the races right? I just loved some of these pieces, my favourite though being Malibongwe’s (from Skattie what are you wearing) head chain - is that even what it’s called?And that’s it folks, it was an epic party and I was super lucky to attend. It’s a good thing the drinks were all on the house as I made some pretty bad horse choices and walked away a poorer man than I arrived. The only sure thing I know about luck, is that it changes.

Okay. Stay fancy.

Sartorial Sunday with Les Sapeurs

January 21, 2014

Sartorial Sundays

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For those of you who don’t know, I work in the advertising industry as a creative director, it’s my first big love, way before fashion. So every now and then a commercial gets made that brilliantly combines the two, my friend Aviv from He who says hmm shared it with me via twitter the other day and I was blown away. Here it is:

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t blown away by the ad, it’s very pretty, but outside of the very wanky and fake brand message, I was blown away by these Sapeurs and decided to do some research. These guys are incredible, in a world of poverty their purpose is to be elegant. In fact Sapeurs stands for Societe des Ambianceurs et des Personnes Elegantes (the Society of Tastemakers and Elegant People). And when they go out, they turn the streets of Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of the Congo, into a fashion runway.

I mean, imagine how we struggle in our giant malls filled with global fashion to find the right outfit and these guys go against all odds to look good in a world where everything is bad. It’s incredible! I don’t wanna give too much away as there is an incredibly mini documentary I want you guys to check out. But I will leave you with this little quote by Papa Wemba, a rumba musician from Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) who popularized the culture in the late 1970s and early 1980s: “White people invented the clothes, but we make an art of it.”

Okay. Stay fancy.

Fancy Friday in Brown, blue and burgundy

January 20, 2014

Fancy Friday

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The first Fancy Friday of the year, and I was determined to get it off with a bang.

I’ve been doing a little bit of shopping over the break and wanted to bust out some new threads (that sounded very gangsta, which clearly I’m not) .

When attempting to go mix and match 3 colours, you wanna try keep them all on the same side of the colour wheel so that they compliment one another or feel visually pleasing from our understanding of colour. In this case the blues and reds with some rich browns all came together nicely. The white shirt is a great way to just bring it all together as it is completely neutral.

The retro looking brown jacket with contrast colour was brought back in the belt and shoes, while the burgundy tie was accentuated with the multi coloured pocket square (which helped pick up on different parts of the outfit all round) I then used the blue lapel flower to compliment the pants and voila, I thought it came together quite nicely. Here are the details.

If you like this or any part of this outfit, here are some items online that can help you get started.

Spectacles with clip on sunglasses by Gucci

Blazer from Topman - get similar here

Tie from Topman - get similar here

Burgundy tie clip from The tie bar - get similar here

Lapel flower from River Island

Pocket square by Paul Smith (though it seems sold out EVERYWHERE)

White shirt from Woolworths - get similar here

Brown belt by Topman - get similar here

Slim chinos by Topman - get similar here

Brown brogues by Ted Baker

Okay. Stay fancy.

The ABC of Mens Fashion - COOLHUNTING

January 16, 2014

Outfit of the day

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I really love sharing these ABC of Mens Fashion webisodes with you guys, I just find the advice in them to be incredibly insightful. Now, Josh Rubin and Evan Orensten arent the best dressed gents ive ever seen (by their own admission) but they have a great view on fashion, but I guess what do you expect from the guys who started coolhunting?Enjoy.

“You need to decide how much fashion your style allows you” - Perfectly put gents. Nailed it!

Okay. Stay fancy.

Sartorial Sundays in Emerald and Navy

January 15, 2014

Sartorial Sundays

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Yes, so, I’m all over the place with my Sartorial Sundays on a Wednesday I know. But I’ve taken such a long break (too long a break in fact) that I just need to start somewhere.

Also, this is too good a look not to share and comment on. It’s once again by my current favourite street fashion photographer Garcon Jon and it’s one capture from a series done with the Sartorial 7. Man these gents have swag in all the right places. Take a look.

So why this gentleman in particular? Well, I just loved the simplicity of the look. Ive always said that if you only get one suit it should be navy, and this is why! It’s timeless, its elegant and it goes with pretty much anything. Also, when in doubt, go with a white shirt, that means you can really go to town on your tie and it should work with whatever else you have on.

There are 2 things that make this look, well, 3 really, maybe 4! The hat! Man I have got to get me a hat, ok, first I have got to get me a head and face for hats but then a hat straight after! It’s just a whole new world of dapper. That green tie pop is also spectacular and he lets it pop, no distracting with a pocket square or lapel flower it’s all about the pop pop pop of that emerald tie, in stark contrast, though complimentary is that very orange umbrella, it’s bright enough to make a statement, but I love how the shoes help ground it!

Nothing you leave the house with is not part of your outfit! Nothing!

Ok, so if you love any or all of these pieces, here’s a starting point for recreating the look. At the very least, get the tie…green is gonna be massive! I think!

Orange 2 tone umbrella available here

Black wide brim trilby from available here

Navy blue suit available here

White long sleeved shirt available here

Emerald green tie by available here

Brown tasselled loafers available here.

Okay. Stay fancy.

Fancy Friday Tie Day in Houndstooth

January 3, 2014

Fancy Friday, Outfit of the day, win

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And so we enter our final giveaway with Friday Tie day where you can win one of 50 tie subscriptions of these incredible ties. Yes we know it was supposed to be last week, but we were enjoying the festive season…why weren’t you?

Again, i’ve built the outfit around the tie, and because it’s so damn hot down in Cape Town right now I’ve had to forgo the blazer for a dapper waistcoat instead. Now this was a tricky tie to wear, because although I absolutely love the colour combo and houndstooth pattern, the red and blue are so strong that you need to work on complementing them rather than matching them.

This way I could let the slight red detail in the waistcoat be highlighted by the tie as well as use that red lapel flower to spread the red across so that the tie is not such a stand out focal point. Nothing wrong with your tie being a focal point but if it stands out to much it just feels odd and no one knows where to look, this way you drag the gaza across the body and toward your face.

My final trick was the pocket square, it was navy heavy so again I used it to spread the colour in the tie, and although it added another pattern it once agin helped the tie become less dominant and more integrated.

Or at least, that was the plan, I kinda think it worked. No?

So your last chance to grab yourself a tie subscription from Friday Tie Day valued at $39.

Here’s how. All you need do is enter promo code WMBW50 and voila, if you’re one of the first 50, consider the tie of the month to be delivered to your door anywhere in the world, if you wanna learn more about the competition and the how to’s go here.

Good luck and of course, stay fancy.