On the Job

April 30, 2009

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No longer satisfied with newsstands, radio, and the scarf business, Monocle is moving into publishing. Their latest one-off is a hard bound book called The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work, and it looks like the latest in a long string of good ideas.

The binding is perfect, the run is limited to 1000 copies (just on the cusp of a guaranteed sellout) and the book itself, from Swiss essayist Alain de Botton, looks both impeccably written and perfectly chosen for Monocle’s office-bound demographic. A few hundred pages of well-thought musings on the nature of the working life might be just the thing to remind them what they liked about books in the first place.

Luckily, the magazine offers the perfect venue for publicizing the book, and they already have a few stores they can place it in—all of which makes Tyler Brule look more like Ted Turner than William Shawn.

At what point do we stop calling them a magazine and start calling them an empire?

—R.B.

Written by Kempt · Filed Under Around The Web 

Hitting the Bottle

April 30, 2009

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We tend to gloss over it, but the traditional dark glass wine bottle is a pretty stunning design object. It’s sleek, geometric, and classy without being ostentatious. In other words, it’s perfect just the way it is.

But you can’t please everyone, so Christian Audigier has taken it upon himself to make French wine “cool again.” Apparently by covering it with day-glo panthers.

Audigier’s trying to draw in the whisky-and-beer crowd, but as usual he’s missing the point. Wine isn’t whisky and covering it with tattoos isn’t going to change that. All it does is ride roughshod over the centuries of French style, and show off his own very short memory.

And produce some extremely ugly beverages in the process.

—R.B.

Written by Kempt · Filed Under Around The Web 

Mr. President, Your Glasses Are Ready

April 29, 2009

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America in 3D: A few of the more ridiculous pictures from Obama’s first 100 days. [Gawker]

Two Tone: The case for black and white spectator shoes. For advanced students only, natch. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

Cocktail Commentary: Vanity Fair combines its two biggest strengths with a series of cocktail recipes cheekily named after current events. Think of it as urbane wit in liquid form. [World’s Best Ever]

The Newest Latest: Opening Ceremony’s latest lookbook inspires envy and desire. [SwipeLife]

—R.B.

Written by Kempt · Filed Under Around The Web 

Mr. President, Your Glasses Are Ready

April 29, 2009

obama3d_crop.jpg

America in 3D: A few of the more ridiculous pictures from Obama’s first 100 days. [Gawker]

Two Tone: The case for black and white spectator shoes. For advanced students only, natch. [A Suitable Wardrobe]

Cocktail Commentary: Vanity Fair combines its two biggest strengths with a series of cocktail recipes cheekily named after current events. Think of it as urbane wit in liquid form. [World’s Best Ever]

The Newest Latest: Opening Ceremony’s latest lookbook inspires envy and desire. [SwipeLife]

—R.B.

Written by Kempt · Filed Under Around The Web 

Incidental Style

April 29, 2009

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We’re not sure how planned out this particular scene is, but we will say that this gentleman from Phnom Penh is by far the most stylish Cambodian metal-worker we’ve ever seen…and we’ve seen quite a few.

Most surprising of all, the occasional silver polish smudge only makes it work better. Of course, this kind of stylish dishevelment takes years to master—especially that frayed pant leg—but starting off with a rugged gray cloth certainly doesn’t hurt.

There’s a lot to learn from the chap, but our takeaways were as follows: 1) sternum-level buttons work a lot better than you’d think, and 2) match your suit to whatever’s likeliest to stain it. (Time to order that Burgundy three-piece.)

—R.B.

Written by Kempt · Filed Under Around The Web 

Incidental Style

April 29, 2009

vietmoth_crop.jpg

We’re not sure how planned out this particular scene is, but we will say that this gentleman from Phnom Penh is by far the most stylish Cambodian metal-worker we’ve ever seen…and we’ve seen quite a few.

Most surprising of all, the occasional silver polish smudge only makes it work better. Of course, this kind of stylish dishevelment takes years to master—especially that frayed pant leg—but starting off with a rugged gray cloth certainly doesn’t hurt.

There’s a lot to learn from the chap, but our takeaways were as follows: 1) sternum-level buttons work a lot better than you’d think, and 2) match your suit to whatever’s likeliest to stain it. (Time to order that Burgundy three-piece.)

—R.B.

Written by Kempt · Filed Under Around The Web 

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