Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i Esquire

STOP AND SMELL THE BRACELET Wearing scents in 2019 means you have more options than spritzing. Case in point: Diptyque’s new bracelet. The fragrance-infused nylon band emits a subtle scent of either sandalwood or tuberose that lasts a week, after which you can replace it with a fresh wrap from the spool. For more ways to subtly scent yourself and your home, turn to page 76. $90; diptyqueparis.com—Garrett Munce NOT THE SAME OLD SONG AND DANCE Marshall’s Stockwell II Bluetooth speaker looks like it could be onstage next to your favorite guitarist. But it’s not. It’s in your house, giving you instant rocker cred. You’ll notice new acoustic depths to your music, with rich audio and knobs along the top for volume, bass, and treble—plus it has an impressive battery…

In a world littered with shortcuts, the feeling of satisfaction that comes from doing things the right way is hard to beat. Take this handbuilt oak bar made in collaboration with Knob Creek® — where no effort is spared and no shortcuts are taken in crafting fullflavored, high proof whiskey. You should apply the same approach to how you furnish your bar. Here, we’ve stocked this bar with the finest tools for entertaining at home, so at the end of the day, you can pour yourself (and your friends) a well-earned drink and enjoy. Cheers! BAR TOOLS Creating a well-crafted cocktail requires the right tools. The well-stocked bar should include such basics as a bottle opener, jiggers, an ice bucket/tongs, and silicone ice molds for making large, clear, slow-melting cubes or…

It is never entirely sensible to declare that the suit is dead. Certainly, the rules that made it the sine qua non of success and all that other boring stuff are long gone. But the right suit is, in fact, suddenly looking full of attitude. For the fall/winter fashion season, the most apparent trend is the reevaluation of tailored clothing. Shifting the goalposts is the whole point of fashion. And for a generation of young men who have reached adulthood without needing a suit at all, it’s looking like a very valid way to move on from the sneakers and hoodies that have permeated fashion. It takes a certain hand and eye to magic this kind of reverse engineering into being, and no one has made a statement clearer or…

A black jacket can be the backbone of a man’s closet, but let’s face it: By the time black pants and shoes come into play, you’re liable to be mistaken for Keanu Reeves’s John Wick stunt double. You can avoid this fate by working in one of the new crop of fall coats in a softer shade of brown. If you’re worried about resembling a Fudgsicle, inject pattern and texture into your look to add dimension. Whether it’s plaid or checks, suede or leather, a do-all jacket in autumnal brown can bring personality to a traditional office appearance and polish to the weekend’s jeans and T-shirt. As for the various shades, they run from rich chocolate to tawny. Whichever you choose, the latest jackets have a boxy silhouette, so balance…

THE PINSTRIPE SUIT MAY ONCE HAVE SAID “BANKER.” ALL THE MORE REASON TO ACCESSORIZE IT CREATIVELY. DON’T THINK OF THE FLANNEL SUIT AS A STRAITJACKET. IT NOW HAS THE SOFTNESS OF A TRACKSUIT. OLD RULES WOULD SAY PUT A DARK DRESS COAT OVER A SUIT, WHICH IS WHY YOU SHOULD PUT ON A LEATHER JACKET INSTEAD. A T-SHIRT IS THE ANTITHESIS OF SUITABLE—SO BE SURE TO WEAR ONE.…

Being mad at Netflix is like yelling at the tide. There is no alternative—one cannot survive on Hulu or HBO Now alone—and besides, it makes some damn good content. Television doesn’t get better than The Crown or Wild Wild Country, both Netflix Originals. The company’s aggressive push into film has not been uncontroversial, but Hollywood had long since ceded the territory. The studios simply aren’t in the business of making movies about people born without superpowers, let alone black-and-white foreign art-house fare like last year’s Roma. So my beef is not with Netflix. Or Hulu. Or Amazon. It’s with us. We declared our independence by cord cutting, only to be algorithmized into docility. Netflix was founded in 1997 to disrupt Blockbuster. But the advent of cost-effective streaming a little under…

I went to Siberia once. That’s not a metaphor. I flew to Novosibirsk, a Russian city northeast of Kazakhstan, and then ventured out into the taiga to experience the Siberian ritual known as the banya, which is sort of a sauna treatment with a touch of Fifty Shades of Grey. The banya involves sitting in a room as hot as a pizza oven and being smacked with branches from a birch tree until you can’t take it anymore, at which point you flee the steam, douse yourself with cold water, and lie naked in the snow. I recommend it. When I was finished being parboiled and spanked, I put on my clothes and wandered into a dining room, where I found something of a gift. At every place setting waited…

Why does everyone look so good in modern dystopian movies? Not healthy, exactly—you’re bound to miss a few showers during the apocalypse—but Goodwill chic, perhaps? Think back to The Lobster’s sleek tailoring, or Never Let Me Go’s chunky knits—a seaside energy that makes the whole world feel like a Morrissey-scored Wes Anderson film. In real life, we’re living in the first ten minutes of those movies, the part with mildly alarming news segments and questionable political leadership. So going full hypebeast might not feel right to everyone—and that could be why we’re seeing outfits on the runway that look less Supreme and more Grandpa’s closet. It’s more of a vibe—you can’t put an easy, funny label on it like we all did with sleaze last year—but you can look slick…

It has long been the case—at least since James Bond first shimmied out of a diving suit—for any man striving to make his way in the world that the first wristwatch he buys himself will be a daily beater, a rough-and-ready tool watch, one that’s inspired by diving, flight, car racing, or any variety of adrenaline-fueled adventures. If he’s lucky, he will lunge straight into the meaty-watch market with a TAG Heuer, a Tudor, or even a Rolex that will speak volumes about him, and for one reason alone: Tool watches tend to be big, which makes them visible on the wrist and readily identifiable talismans, even from far away. Dress watches, on the other hand, are the polar flip. Slim, elegant, and precious—like this platinum Cartier Privé Tonneau, a…

I started to hear about CBD three years ago. Unsurprisingly, it was around the time that California legalized the recreational use of marijuana and people went pot-crazy. The wave started slowly, with CBD popping up in hippieish earthy oils and fancy Goop-lady lotions that promised immediate zen. But now my coffee shop serves CBD lattes, I’ve walked by a nail salon offering CBD pedicures, and even the bodega across the street put up a neon sign that says we have cbd. So what is it? CBD (which stands for cannabidiol) is a nonpsychoactive chemical derived from the cannabis plant. In other words, it won’t get you high. But that doesn’t mean the trend isn’t capitalizing on our national weed obsession. It’s supposed to chill you out—which can explain its popularity…

It took me three months to realize I had lost my Sense of Smell. I had just bought a lilac tree for my front yard, and I kept smelling the flowers and thinking, Damn, I can’t believe I bought a lilac tree that has no smell. Then it hit me. I hadn’t smelled anything in a long time. I did notice my farts were odorless, but I thought that was just a gift from God. After visits to multiple doctors and various failed treatments, there was a general consensus that my loss of SoS was probably caused by scar tissue from a previous sinus surgery. First denial, then acceptance. And that’s when the missing began. The smells I miss: the smell after it rains, the smell before it rains, the…

STORE INFORMATION For the items featured in Esquire, please consult the website or call the phone number provided. The Code, p. 53: Junya Watanabe MAN jacket, shirt, and jeans, doverstreetmarket.com. Junya Watanabe x New Balance sneakers, doverstreetmarket.com. P.56: Clarks Originals shoes, clarksusa.com. P.58: Celine by Hedi Slimane wallet, boots, sunglasses, and briefcase, celine.com. P.60: Cartier watch available at select Cartier boutiques. Officine Générale sweater and shoes, mrporter.com. Officine Générale shirt, taborclt.com. Officine Générale trousers, saksfifthavenue.com. London Sock Company socks, londonsockcompany.com. P. 62: Patek Philippe watch, 212-218-1240. Todd Snyder + Champion sweatshirt, toddsnyder.com. Todd Snyder trousers, toddsnyder.com. John Lobb boots, johnlobb.com. Falke socks, zappos.com. Vacheron Constantin watch, vacheron-constantin.com. Giorgio Armani jacket, armani.com. Polo Ralph Lauren shirt, ralphlauren.com. Hermès watch, sweater, and trousers available at Hermès stores nationwide. Loewe bag, loewe.com. Canali…

WATCHMEN (HBO) FALL 2019 We know Zack Snyder’s movie has some hardcore fans, but will we finally get an adaptation of Alan Moore’s Watchmen that everyone will like? This Damon Lindelof series may fit the bill. REQUIRED READING: The cocreator of Lost and The Leftovers has said the show will be “remixed.” Still, Moore’s classic noirish superhero satire is increasingly relevant. Reread it or be baptized into it. ADVANCED READING: The recent Doomsday Clock comics (Watchmen sequels that bring Superman into the mix). HIS DARK MATERIALS (HBO) FALL 2019 Though Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy was marketed as young-adult fare, the novels are marked by more grown-up themes involving religion and sexual maturation—which you can expect HBO to dig into. (Bonus: Lin-Manuel Miranda!) REQUIRED READING: The series’ first book,…

Five years ago, in the fall of 2014, this magazine named the Cecil the best new restaurant in America. Josh Ozersky, the writer who made that pick, raised a toast to the pioneering menu, “primed and loaded with the flavors of the African diaspora—that trail of taste that moved from West Africa to India, the Caribbean to America to China, and then back again.” Meanwhile, Eater, the influential food blog that in recent years has rebooted itself into a bully pulpit for diversity, seemed slightly bewildered that a black-owned restaurant in Harlem might merit the top spot on a national list. josh ozersky confounds expectations, said the Eater headline, while the piece itself quipped that “it sounds like Ozersky is out to stir things up.” Ozersky is gone now. He…

Everyone knows the desert boot. It’s a safe yet stylish standard that works at the office or on a big date. But what’s a more adventurous choice that still keeps you riding on comfy crepe soles? Another Clarks classic: the Wallabee. It’s the desert boot’s weirder cousin—the Pete Davidson to the DB’s Matt Damon. Here’s why it should be in your closet. It’s got a badass history. Based on a German-designed moccasin, the Wallabee didn’t catch on in Clarks’ native Britain when it debuted in 1968. But it was successful in North America, particularly in Jamaica, where “rude boys”—already enamored of the brand’s desert boot—made it part of their uniform. Thanks to the influx of Jamaican immigrants to New York in the ’70s and ’80s, the shoes were a staple…

THE SKY’S THE LIMIT The latest Men’s Dart Jacket from AG Jeans takes a no-holdsbarred approach to seasonal layering. This fresh addition is cut from brand new Range Stretch Corduroy in a relaxed fit with an abstract, bleached-down wash – courtesy of Los Angeles design. Shop new arrivals at https://www.agjeans.com/ FALL FASHION FROM THE EXPERTS IN STYLE With a line of expertly crafted pieces, the Esquire Men’s Jewelry Collection encompasses the right blend of classic and contemporary, in a broad range of styles and materials to complement every fall look. Save now at www.macys.com/EsquireJewelry GREY GOOSE® VODKA As the season cools down, savor the moments that matter with the very best. With Grey Goose® vodka, elevate the occasion — big or small—and turn every moment into a memory. Discover the…

It ’s a Saturday in June and I’m running on time to meet Woody Harrelson, but one subway delay, one wrong turn, one mother with a double stroller failing to keep pace and clogging the already clogged sidewalks of midtown and I’ll be running behind. Adding to my anxiety: the possibility that I have no voice, not so much as a croak (laryngitis, a bad case). Brushing past a pair of doormen, I enter the lobby of a residential tower on the southwest tip of Central Park. I beeline for the elevator bank, press the up button, and glance at my phone. Two minutes after the hour. I’m now officially late. My pores open, sweat gushing out. At last, a muted ding as the doors slide apart. I board. To…

WHEN FIRST CLASS WON’T DO, VISTAJET Pay-to-play e-scooters: solid business plan, right? Hand over a couple bucks, whir past traffic with the wind in your hair, get where you’re going just a little bit faster. Now dial that business model up a few income brackets and you have VistaJet. It’s for those of us with the distinct issue of wanting to get around via private jet—without actually owning a private jet. Using a flight-hour subscription plan, you get dibs on VistaJet’s fleet, which includes some sweet in-flight entertainment, like blind wine tastings. And if you’re curious what the digs are like, look no further than these spreads—they were all photographed on a VistaJet plane. Sure beats the middle seat!…