Lifestyle

Justin Jay of the Watch Club in The Royal Arcade, Old Bond Street enthuses about the watch: “What really makes this vintage Explorer is its perfectly aged dial with the famous ‘exclamation mark’ running from 12 to six o’clock.”


With its countless small shops and boutiques, London is an ideal venue for Christmas shopping: but where can you find the really special and unusual gifts? Classic Driver is out and about in the Capital, and will be suggesting a new gift idea every day.

Photo: Classic Driver

None more so than the Rexton Jacket from the The Steve McQueen™ Collection. And buyers will not need to wear it in a long-distance motorcycle enduro to get that fashionably 'worn' look – each jacket comes already distressed, ‘run in’ and ready for action.


With its countless small shops and boutiques, London is an ideal venue for Christmas shopping: but where can you find the really special and unusual gifts? Classic Driver is out and about in the Capital, and will be suggesting a new gift idea every day.

Photo: Classic Driver

The picture was taken by renowned photographer Henry Grossman, who shadowed the Beatles with his trusty camera for more than four decades. A small selection of his comprehensive (6000+) collection of Beatles imagery is currently being displayed in the Mach Schau exhibition gallery.


With its countless small shops and boutiques, London is an ideal venue for Christmas shopping: but where can you find the really special and unusual gifts? Classic Driver is out and about in the Capital, and will be suggesting a new gift idea every day.

Few men wouldn’t leap at the chance to live like Gunter Sachs – here was the man who married Brigitte Bardot after a courtship that included commissioning a helicopter to fly over her villa on the French Riviera, scattering her garden with thousands of red roses. Admired not only by beautiful women, Gunter Sachs was also a favourite in the most exclusive art circles: Andy Warhol, Jean Fautrier and Yves Klein – these and many other artists could claim to be his friends.

With more than 300 pages, Ralph Gibson’s latest book ‘Nude’ (published by Taschen) focuses on his most recent work on the female form. From the very beautiful to the slightly bizarre, it shows off the photographer’s unmistakably artistic eye.

Ultimately, this special edition offers the reader an insight into a dreamlike world where the subject gets the full attention it deserves. As you leaf through the pages, you’ll be treated to a visual feast of sensuous nude models in surreal poses.

Its signature monogram pattern is recognised just about everywhere in the world, but how did Louis Vuitton, credited with the honour of inventing the canvas-covered steamer trunk in the mid-19th Century, become the world’s leading luxury brand?

Referred to as 'The best gift, bar none!', the trailer was designed by interior stylist Brad Ford and built in conjunction with American leathergoods company Moore & Giles.

The simple motto ‘quality before quantity’ really seems to sum up the philosophy of the craftsmen at this small tannery in Piteå, in the far north of Sweden - and four generations’ worth of tradition doesn’t go unnoticed. By using age-old tanning techniques, which include curing reindeer hides in vats filled with spruce bark and water, the Böle artisans create such gentlemanly necessities as briefcases, rifle cases and rucksacks – all of a quality rarely seen in our age of factory-made mass production.

Much has been made of the first televised US presidential debates in American history. Compared with Nixon (perspiring, unfit and sporting a rough five o’clock shadow), Kennedy looked the personification of modern vitality. Well-dressed and professionally made up for an appearance on TV, JFK was clearly ‘the man of the future’. Interestingly, radio listeners decided the event was a one-all draw, clearly demonstrating the power of the visual medium.