Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2016 - Issue 47 i The Rake

In 1921, a teenage Laurence Olivier went on a school outing to see Henry IV, Part II. Later, he rhapsodised in his diary: “Prince Hal. Oh, that magical Prince Hal, the most beautiful male I have ever laid eyes upon. His profile was that of a god, his figure pure Olympiad, his voice the most beautiful instrument I had yet heard, and even his name suggested the utmost in glamorous masculinity — Basil Rathbone.” Olivier wasn’t the only one with a bit of a Rathbone for this dark-eyed, charismatic actor, his double-breasted chalkstripes and clipped RP tones equally immaculate. “Lean as a wolfhound, saturnine, cerebral, and icily commanding, with precise and knife-like diction, he made an ideal arch-enemy for many of Hollywood’s top stars,” wrote Robert A. Juran in his…

George Blagden, dressed in contemporary clothing, as he is in this shoot, is breaking away from his recent norm. Whether in Tom Hooper’s Les Misérables, Vikings, or as the protagonist in one of the new behemoths of box-set culture, Versailles, he tends to be in clothing representative of older times — or indeed wearing nothing at all. In case you haven’t heard, Versailles is the depiction of the 18th century’s Sodom and Gomorrah, all under one roof. In other words, there’s a whole bunch of sex and scandal, and it is fantastic. It is also the most watched television show in France, a big hit on the B.B.C., and is soon to be released on Netflix. Blagden’s leading role, as King Louis, gives him the latest of many reasons to…

CHERCHEZ LA FEMME To borrow a phrase from the jazz age into which she was born, Gene Tierney was always ‘a curious cat’. For a start, the actress was one of the beauties of her day yet had the kind of overbite that could make short work of an apple through a tennis racket. Then there’s the fact she is best remembered for playing a dead woman in the 1944 film Laura. The Gene was let out of the bottle on November 19, 1920 in Brooklyn, and wanted for nothing. There was no rags to riches component of her back story and she channelled cool rich girl insouciance because she was one. A third-generation blueblood, she stuck to the script by attending a Swiss finishing school to round off her…

The late Italian décollage and psychogeographic artist Mimmo Rotella once took Ferretti Group C.E.O. and director Alberto Galassi aside to give him a piece of advice. “He said, ‘Alberto, in life as in art, you must do things that others don’t do’,” Galassi tells The Rake in an office above the Riva boatyard, overlooking Lake Iseo in Sarnico. “Think about Lucio Fontana’s Concetto Spaziale, the work of Picasso, Alighiero e Boetti – they were all doing things that others were not.” Galassi, a board member at Manchester City Football Club and a former aerospace chief executive, who caught the nautical bug when his father bought a Riva Rudy in 1974, has made Rotella’s philosophical bijou the core of his approach to Riva since he took over at the Ferretti Group,…

Rules define us. Regardless of your line of work, where you grew up, your interests, or with whom you choose to partner, there will be rules for any and every situation you find yourself in. Many rules we have become accustomed to and accept as a facet of everyday life, such as: you cannot drive through a red light; it is not O.K. to leave work two hours early. Other ‘rules’, of course, aren’t quite as black and white, and invite interpretation: pairing fish only with white wine, perhaps, or starting a sentence with the word ‘and’. Clothing – and, more specifically, menswear – has been defined by rules for centuries: hard, stringent rules that you’d imagine had been set by the scariest individual, someone who would take enormous pleasure…

In less than six years Douglas Cordeaux has transformed an archaic, under-performing textile manufacturer into one of the most successful, respected and beguiling heritage brands in Britain. Clearly, the man understands a thing or two about fine woollen fabric. Today, a tailored garment cut in Fox Brothers flannel is a tremendously desirable object: it brings with it an inherent sense of solidity, richness and indulgence, thanks in large part to Douglas’s efforts to resurrect the dense, chalky ‘West of England’ woollen flannel that the Fox Brothers of old was known for, and that until recently had been consigned to the pages of sartorial history. Now firing on all cylinders, the looms in Fox Brothers’ Tonedale Mill are never quiet, rattling off length upon length of modern reincarnations of archive patterns,…

It’s a strange sensation visiting the Gusbourne winery in Kent. Located in quaint Appledore, it’s a 37-minute train journey from central London, which is quicker than most people’s inner-city commute. One minute you’re choking on thick London air and the next you’re surrounded by rich pastures and sweeping horizons met by the ocean. It’s quite the transformation, and makes for a welcome respite on a sunny afternoon in July. It helps, of course, that upon entering the Gusbourne Estate you’re met by endless rows of perfectly groomed grape vines, a sight that’ll warm the soul of even the most ardent of abstainers. It’s hard not to make comparisons with the lush vistas of France’s Champagne region, but it’s even more novel knowing the winery’s proximity to the Big Smoke. The…

The existential balance sheet, when it comes to being Her Majesty the Queen of England’s pooch of choice, features vastly more assets than liabilities. So let’s just get the latter out of the way right now. Yes, our name is Welsh for ‘dwarf dog’, degrading nomenclature that dates back to Flemish weavers bringing us to present-day Ceredigion in Wales around the 10th century. Yes, our diminutive appearance and long-standing regal associations have conspired to make us sitting ducks for ridicule from the intellectually bereft classes (one example: a recent advertisement for British betting shop Ladbrokes featured 10 silk-vest-wearing corgis running a race to predict the name of the latest royal sprog). And, yes, we are a constant source of inspiration for the designers of twee, cutesy memorabilia — the corgi…

Alexei Hay spent his early years in Miami, Tehran and New York. After graduating in literature from Brown University, he assisted a range of photographers. Drawing upon the Catholic range of lighting techniques that he encountered as an apprentice, Alexei began to develop his own approach to portrait photography. Known for playing light and fast with different genres and applications of the camera, Hay cast his net far and wide over the commercial arena. He feels that photography is one way of living up to his rabbi’s maxim of “keep your eyes on your teachers”. He lives with his wife, Batsheva, and two children on New York’s Upper West Side. Alexei photographed Jonah Hill for this issue’s cover story. As well as The Rake, Nick — a historian and author,…

There was never much doubt what Tyrone Power woulddo for a living. His father had been a star of Americantheatre and his great-grandfather a popular comedianin mid-19th-century Ireland, both under the same name.His grandfather, Harold, had been a performer, too, as aconcert pianist, and his mother, Helen Patia, had even met herhusband in a theatre company. What no one could have predicted, however, was howcompletely he would surpass them all, his fame so vast that hewould be recognised throughout the world. For three years at theheight of the Golden Age of Hollywood, from 1939 to 1941, hewas officially the ‘king of the movies’. Some 25 years on, he wasstill sufficiently iconic to appear on Peter Blake’s cover for The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and even today heremains…

1.Luciano is a loyal customer of Turnbull & Asser, here wearing a suit, shirt and tie by the brand. This suit is a favourite of his, cut in his signature double-breasted style that he favours for its traditional elegance. For him, T&A has “always been the one”, but when dressing down he enjoys beautiful clothes made by Tom Ford and Brunello Cucinelli. 2. Luciano prefers the old-fashioned nature of French double cuffs. These stunning Bulgari cufflinks feature deep blue enamel that effortlessly matches the hue of his suit, and like the rest of his style they are subtle and exude quality. 3. His special-edition black PVD Asprey No. 8 chronograph has a funny story behind it: “I had bought a ring for my at-the-time girlfriend, but then for some reason…

“The trouble always is,” explains James Bond in the novel Casino Royale, “not how to get enough caviar, but how to get enough toast with it.” This piece of deathless advice, from 007’s first outing between hard covers, is sort of how I view shooting. I know that it is de rigueur to deprecate one’s ability with double barrels, but I really am not very good at it, as I do not do it enough. So, as far as I am concerned, it is not about connecting with lots of birds, but assembling a wardrobe of tweeds to wear while doing so. I love tweed. I always have. Living in England, with our benevolent climate, there is never a month in which it is inappropriate to wear it. But with…

The interview with Jonah Hill was slightly unusual, and it was entirely my fault. For reasons too banal to go into, we resorted to Apple Incorporated and FaceTime’d. Frankly, I was nervous. It wasn’t like I was speaking to someone with plenty of time on their hands. Hill has created a career for himself that has made him white-hot property in Hollywood. He acts, directs, writes and produces. If there was one thing I was desperate not to do, it was waste his time and suffer through technical glitches. So with two dictaphones and a laptop next to the internet server, I pressed ‘call’. The moment Jonah’s face appeared, my tension and trepidation faded: he was smiling. He seemed excited to be interviewed, despite not knowing exactly where the interview…

Bell-bottom trousers – the staple leg-wear of flowercrowned Vietnam protesters in Berkeley, California, in the 1960s, ironically enough – were appropriated from U.S. Navy sailors the previous century. Trenchcoats in patented waterproof wool were first used by officers in the Crimean War, while the cardigan is named after a British Army major general in that same conflict. The striped breton shirt so popular today came into being when the 1858 Act of France introduced the navy-andwhite knitted shirts to the kitbags of French military seaman. Aviators, Dr. Martens, pea coats, even the humble staple that is the white T-shirt – they all are garments derived from military clobber (and that’s before we even go into the martial influence on Savile Row, and thus all British tailoring today). Another notable example…

There is a photograph of Sir Francis Chichester, the doughty British round-the-world yachtsman, taken on board his 16-metre ketch, Gipsy Moth IV, about halfway through his epic circumnavigation of the globe in 1966. He’s deploying something that looks a little like Dr Who’s sonic screwdriver to patch up the boat’s mahogany hull. “Gipsy Moth IV needs running repairs after capsizing in the Tasman Sea,” runs the autographed message on the picture, “but the Rolex ticks on happily.” And there on Chichester’s left wrist, forming a blinging contrast to his battered work shirt and weathered forearm, gleams the watch in question: a Rolex Oyster Perpetual. It is half a century since Chichester completed his stunning feat, becoming the first man to sail alone along the “clipper route” — the same path…

Exquisitely made but surprisingly plain, from the outside it is little more than a tin-coloured, leather-clad box, with silver hinges and heavy, leather-layered handles. Look closer and it turns out to be made by Hermès. All the same, one might be surprised if it made the reserve of £70,000 when it — one of three examples — goes to auction for Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation charity later this year. Until, that is, this compact trunk is opened. Inside is found the result of a unique collaboration between four of France’s most esteemed craft makers: Hermès; cristallerie Saint-Louis, who for each trunk have made a carafe and four glasses; silversmiths Puiforcat, who have recreated in white gold the kind of pipette used by cognac blenders to sample their wares; and Rémy…

British readers will likely remember the country’s tabloid newspapers, a few years ago, frothing with infantile glee posing as righteous anger over the presence on British soil of the Muslim cleric Abu Hamza. The Egyptian fundamentalist’s peccadillos were legion: supporting Russian apartment-block bombings, rabblerousing at the north London mosque over which he presided, claiming 9/11 was a controlled detonation, and generally wanting to replace liberal democracy with an Islamic caliphate notable among them. But if those tabloids’ editors were to quaff a truth serum, search their feelings and temporarily suspend their delusions of moral rectitude, they might admit that what really warranted Hamza getting those frontpage splashes was the fact that he had one eye and no hands — disfigurements caused by an accidental explosion while working for the Pakistani…