A Chair of Letters

The time has come to review my life as a whole, and to ask whether it has served any useful purpose or has been wholly concerned in futility.

- Bertrand Russell

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And the cars has a long century history

For a long time, the car was the ideal way to communicate wealth to the outside world. There is no doubt that this phenomenon has always existed, throughout the ages and in every countries: the car has a long history of use as a means of self-projection, a completely public and symbolic object with which we become one as we drive. That as a child I always thought to be a car of choice for the distinguished man. The German-American art historian Erwin Panofsky once examined the famous Rolls-Royce radiator grille and noted its similarities to antique temples. Even John Lennon fell victim to its aura and bought a Rolls-Royce Phantom V Touring in 1966 – only to have it painted almost immediately to look like a circus wagon in bright yellow with flowers and scrolls. An ironic gesture with which Lennon humorously took the classic status symbol to absurdity. Representatives of a younger affluent generation in particular are increasingly to excellent racing or invest on the cars expensive i...

TAKE IVY by Teruyoshi Hayashida

Take Ivy is a fashion photography book which documents the attire of Ivy League students. The New York Times described it as “a treasure of fashion insiders”. Take Ivy has been the Ivy League bible for Japanese baby boomers, among whom the Ivy League look is very popular, though original copies are very rare in the West, garnering auction prices as high as $2000. Take Ivy was authored by four Japanese sartorial style enthusiasts and is a collection of candid photographs shot on the campuses of America’s elite Ivy League universities. The series focuses on college-aged men and their clothes, capturing the unique fashion of the student population of that time. Whether getting a meal on campus, lounging in the quad, riding bikes, studying in the library, in class, or at the boathouse, the subjects of this photographic compendium are impeccably and distinctively dressed in some of the finest American-made garments of the time. Shosuke Ishizu, the director...

Gentlemen’s clubs savour quiet success

A recent visitor to White’s, the venerable gentlemen’s club housed in 18th century splendour in London’s St James’s, walked up to the bar to find it occupied by three dukes. “It’s the one place in town where they feel totally at home,” he said. Such encounters are custom-made to reinforce the stereotype of a traditional gentlemen’s club: a place of fusty exclusivity, where elderly gents snooze in leather armchairs beside marble fireplaces, disturbed only by the occasional retainer. Ranged against modern London’s raucous pleasures, including a new wave of tie-free, wifi-enabled rivals, these relics of 19th century culture would seem doomed to slow decline. Yet not only are they surviving but many are thriving, with membership and usage growing. “Standards have risen enormously since the 1980s,” said Rupert Lendrum, club secretary at Buck’s in Mayfair. “There’s been a significant shift to professionally run clubs and finances are far healthier.” Buck’s was dreamt up by cavalry offic...

The II Earl

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