Lessons in Elegance
The good news is that style and taste are not innate, they’re learned. “Know thyself” has always been The Golden Rule. And like everything else that’s learned, the earlier one starts the better. I tend to be allergic to rules, but there are a few that are helpful. Simplicity is usually a virtue. Avoid trends, flash, gimmicks, and fads. Buy quality, and think in terms of sustainability. Insist on comfort. Dress appropriately to the occasion, which becomes more difficult when the rules about what is appropriate become more invisible every day. As a general rule never wear anything cheap, overly ornate, or synthetic. Style is an individual’s attempt to perfect a point of view, it reveals the psyche of the person. Taste grows, expands, develops., and this is completely natural. I’m relying here more on gut instinct than thorough analysis, but I think maybe it’s never really occurred to fashion theorists that people may simply enjoy wearing clothes.
Louis Armstrong at the Frolics Ballroom
You’re rarely honored to see genius at work, and sometimes the circumstances are so conventional you’re not even paying attention. That’s the only excuse I have for not remembering the evening in as complete detail as I’d like. And it took me years to come back to that memory and think about the experience of seeing a supreme artist at his work.
At the Table: The French House
“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words, but rather short, easy words, like ‘what about lunch?’” A. A. Milne
Like the Red Arrows, the restaurant industry moves mostly in formation. Some are a little ahead, some a little behind, but fundamentally, most are doing similar things, at similar times to their similar contemporaries, with different coloured smoke coming out of their behinds.
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Brothers, businessmen and our partners in Seoul, Jae and Wonsik Kang run through their favourite golden era Hip Hop tracks.
