Tech Pack

It helps to have a theme when packing. For this trip, I'm doing my version of tech: abstract digital prints, metallics, white leather, and a fragrance freshly prepared at a boutique-laboratory in Nolita.

Tim Hamilton X Ross Bleckner digital-print scarf, Casio calculator watch, Santal 33 by Le Labo, my old iPod, silver laminate Comme des Garcons wallet, white Prada bag

I'm off to Los Angeles in a few days for a vacation essential to my sanity. Angelenos, what must I see, shop, eat, do?

Weekend in New England

Portland General Store is a line of men's personal care products made from sea- and forest-derived ingredients all custom-mixed in Maine. They had sent over a box of vials of what they call their "handsomely addictive" colognes, which came with quite an interesting and beautifully-photographed lookbook that embodies the feel of their goods, a bunch of shots of which I will share with you now. The scents all had that old-world classy charm of New England: the mini-cities and sprawling suburbs of Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and everywhere in between. I poured a vial in the tub one bad day, and for a moment, I was back in Boston---with all the bricks, and the red leaves, and the warm soaks with cold wind outside, and I was at peace.

shaving soaps in whiskey and alpine

If I could find a vintage doctor's bag that said Boston University...

New England, I will see you again soon.

photos via Portland General Store

clothing provided by David Wood Clothiers and Bliss

Staples: The Dark Debonair

If there’s one thing that helps me get dressed in the morning, it is my imagined persona. Embodying such a character helps streamline the task of picking things out of my wardrobe vast as the facets of my idiosyncratic personality. I’ve gone through quite a few in the past, most of them too shameful to reveal, but this one, I believe, will stick around for quite a while.

Beloved readers, meet The Dark Debonair.

He is gentlemanly, smart, and refreshingly proper---but at the same time elusive and intriguingly weird. Think young Sean Connery as the old James Bond in head-to-toe Comme des Garcons taking a private jet to the Maldives to do a performance art piece solely for his three wire-haired dachshunds.

Aramis had approached me to share my staples, and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to introduce you to The Dark Debonair. Suave yet relaxed, with a penchant for the charmingly odd, The Dark Debonair keeps ten things in his arsenal as he goes about his business and trots the globe.

The Dandy Project's Dark Debonair Staples: 1) Comme des Garcons black blazer, 2) vintage black lace-ups, 3) black-faced Rolex, 4) Thom Browne cashmere wool tie, 5) Number (N)ine sunglasses, 6) Hong Kong, 7) Erotic Poems by e.e. cummings, 8) Seth Price mix CD, 9) Goldwell hair gel, 10) Sabatino Tartufi truffle honey

Here they are in detail:

clothing: the Comme des Garcons Homme black blazer

The soft tailoring on this Comme des Garcons Homme blazer in subtly crinkled black wool makes it an easy versatile piece, and the luxe red silk lining makes putting in on a simply delicious experience.

footwear: vintage black cap-toe lace-ups from London

These shoes, scuffed beyond decency, have been with me through two re-solings and one painful breaking-in. The classic almond-shaped cap-toe is perfect, and the patina adds that touch of street-grit shiny new shoes just can’t give.

time: black-faced Rolex

I’ve had it since I was a child, and wore it to elementary school with its original bezel of pavé white diamonds, much to the puzzlement of my classmates. Ah, the beginnings of a grown-up eccentric...

neckwear: gray houndstooth Thom Browne cashmere wool tie

Handsome and understated, and the soft cashmere makes it such a pleasure to stroke.

eyewear: round tortoise sunglasses by Number (N)ine

There’s something about round glasses that connotes eccentricity: John Lennon, Willie Wonka, Freddie Aguilar… The tortoiseshell gives it a softness that makes it more versatile than black.

travel: Hong Kong

The glossy boutiques of Hong Kong may carry all the goodies that the dark debonair needs to fill his closet with joy, but it’s the noisy, smelly, neon-hazy streets of authentic Hong Kong that fill his nights with wonder. He meanders about Kowloon, possibly lost on the way home to his hotel, he makes eye contact with a stranger or two, and is convinced he is Chow Mo-Wan from In the Mood for Love.

literature: Erotic Poems by e. e. cummings

e. e. cummings’ love notes embody the way the dark debonair lives his life: passionate and irreverent. The best subway read.

music: Seth Price Fashion

New York-based conceptual artist Seth Price put together a mix of both smooth, danceable beats and hauntingly jarring sounds for his latest collaboration with Tim Hamilton on the designer’s Spring 2011 line. The CD, a limited-edition giveaway at the Tim Hamilton presentation, is a carefully orchestrated audio file featuring Severed Heads, Philippe Besombes, and Zsa Zsa Laboum.

grooming: Goldwell hair gel

How else does the dark debonair achieve his bulletproof slick-back but with the thickest, most high-tech hair gel available? Goldwell’s Lagoom Jam is thick to the consistency of jam, yet washes out cleanly with warm water.

entertaining: Sabatino Tartufi truffle honey

Generously bespeckled with black truffles, this honey is a jewel in the dark debonair’s kitchen: slathered on cheese and crackers, drizzled over buttered pasta---or even on ice cream.

Here I am channeling my alter-ego du jour in a bruise-inspired color palette of black and blue:

Comme des Garcons blazer, Eton of Sweden shirt, Margiela denim cummerbund, Uniqlo jeans, and vintage lace-ups

details: round collar on the Eton shirt and a vintage astronaut pin with a moonstone head

Fellow menswear bloggers Mat of Buckets and Spades and Pelayo of Kate Loves Me have also collaborated with Aramis on similar posts on their ideas of how to be a gentleman. Check out theirs and other bloggers’ posts here:

Buckets and Spades

Kate Loves Me

Guerreisms

Impossible Cool

Man of the Cloth

photographs and collage by Hudson Shively

blog post written in partnership with Aramis

Man in a Bottle

"Man in a bottle" is what my friend Mia uses to describe my new scent, Tuscan Leather from Tom Ford's Private Blend Collection. It is quite manly indeed, but not brusque---although a stereotypically dirty-old-man scent done well, say, Terre d'Hermes, could be quite enthralling---it is alluring, more dressed-up, and very, very attractive.

Tom Ford Tuscan Leather eau de parfum - I have to admit that part of the charm of this scent is that it is available only at Tom Ford boutiques and at select Bergdorfs and Neimans within the US.

Tom Ford describes it as:

"A chypre blend of notes brings a raw, yet reserved sensuality to Tuscan Leather for an original take on a classic leather scent. Saffron, raspberry and thyme, open to olibanum and night blooming jasmine. Leather, black suede and amberwood add an intricate richness."

See, I'm not one to nasally visualize how a fragrance smells based on its components; what I can do is tell you what smells it reminds me of and what thoughts and feelings it conjures up. I can tell you that it smells like a gentleman: tall and brooding, in a dark suit, and even darker hair, mildly disoriented as if he had just stepped out from seeing a long film at the cinéma, perhaps one that he starred in, the street lights blind him as he remembers it was still daylight when he stepped in, he quickly rubs his eyes with his pointer, blinks twice to readjust sight---impossibly thick eyelashes.

The apothecary-style dark brown glass bottle and the luxe gold and textured board box add to its allure.

Tuscan Leather is dressier and more robust than Baudelaire; this precious liquid manliness in a small 50 mL bottle will be my nighttime scent. What is yours?

photographs by Mikee Tuason

Giveaway: Hermés Fragrance

As a little thank-you for my blog's loyal following, I thought I'd share one of my favorite scents from one of my favorite brands with one lucky, spunky reader of The Dandy Project. The blog has been up for nearly three years now, and to one of my five-hundred-and-counting followers on both Blogger and Facebook, I will give away a bottle of Hermés Un Jardin après la Mousson eau de toilette.

Hermés Un Jardin après la Mousson is a unisex fragrance described by Hermés as "A serene expression of nature's rebirth after the rain, somewhere in India. A vegetal, floral, spicy eau de toilette." It is a refreshing, sensual scent that you, my dear readers, male and female, would feel fine and dandy in during these sizzling summer months.

Here's how to join:

1. Be a Blogger follower of The Dandy Project by clicking the "Follow (with Google Friend Connect)" button on the right sidebar and/or be a Facebook fan by visiting the Facebook page and clicking "like".

2. E-mail me your Blogger name and/or Facebook name, for verification, and then humor me with answers to these two questions:

"How did you find The Dandy Project?"

"If I gave you $5,000 (I won't.) to spend on things you can wear, what would you buy?"

Send your Blogger/Facebook name and answers to: thedandyproject(at)yahoo(dot)com

3. The winner will be contacted via e-mail. Contest is open to all readers worldwide.

"a garden after the monsoon"

*Disclaimer: This giveaway is not done in cooperation with the Hermés marketing team. Costs for the giveaway have been shouldered by the blogger.

EDIT: Congratulations Benjamin, you will receive your package shortly!

Le Labo: The Making of, and the Man Behind the Line

I'm currently harboring a liking for this line of freshly hand-manufactured scents called Le Labo. Their scents, each named after a primary ingredient (e.g. sandalwood, iris, vetiver), are deceptively complex, with the primary scent giving way to deeper and sometimes unexpected notes singing in harmony with the first whiff. For instance, one of their men's fragrances, Rose 31, starts off with a very planty smell of rose, and then develops into the alluring, savory scent of cumin!

Last week, I had a candid conversation with Le Labo's founder Fabrice Penot, who I found both impressively passionate and hysterically funny. I also had the privilege of observing Isaac, a specialist at the Elizabeth Street flagship store, in the process of preparing a fragrance from start to finish, the photographs of which I am delighted to share with you today.

Le Labo's Fabrice Penot (via The Discerning Brute)

Can you tell us about your perfume line Le Labo and why are they formulated-to-order?

Well, we have a collection of 13 perfumes, created in collaboration with the world's best perfumers. We freshly hand-make them to order in front of you because a perfume is fragile: we keep the essential oils away from the light and the heat until the last moment. But most importantly, what makes our perfume special is their soul... and to get it, you need to spray on your skin and enjoy the journey.

Fragrance specialist Isaac Wolf-Tanner selects from a library of essential oils and mixes them according to the recipe.

Why did you decide to make perfumes?

Because I can't sing.

He makes sure everything is combined in the right proportions

and then adds the alcohol at the very last minute.

I was trying on a few of your fragrances at the Barney's boutique, and found that people’s perception of the gender of certain scents could differ greatly. I sprayed on the Neroli, and thought it was fresh and masculine, but my father thought it was way too feminine! (Perhaps I have a high olfactory tolerance for femininity.) What are your thoughts about gender and perfume?

My point on that is that great perfumery is genderless. A great perfume can be wore [sic] by anyone. The person who wears it will bring the edge of femininity or virility. A perfume should be genderless, and sexful.

Vetiver 46, Rose 31, Santal 33, Bergamote 22: Le Labo suggests that these scents are more on the masculine side, but encourages customers to try out everything to feel what is right for them.

How do you think a man should smell?

Show me the man you are talking about...

The fragrance is given a final shaking to ensure all the essential oils are blended thoroughly.

And an atomizer is affixed.

What about fashion and perfume? As you create new scents, do you consciously respond to movements in fashion? Androgyny? Minimalism? Color?

We don't follow any trends. Trends in perfumery are for perfumes that are here to last just a season. This is not our view of perfumery. Fashion last [sic] 6 months. What we create is here to last decades so we deny trends and we just follow our intuition.

a spice bureau with ingredients found in the fragrances, Le Labo's line of candles on top

Do you find yourself coordinating your scents with what you wear?

Nope... until I find a way to create a scent with holes everywhere.

a bottle of Tubereuse 40 Eau de Parfum, boxed and ready for delivery

What is your everyday scent?

For the last year it has been Santal 33; as we were finalizing the formula, I had to wear it everyday to understand its full personality. Now that it is just launched, I could switch over to another but there is something about it that grows on me, over and over. I think this is going to be me for a while.

Fabrice's everyday scent, Le Labo's Santal 33

In your stores, do you encourage your fragrance specialists to talk about feelings and imagery that came with the conceptualization of the scents, or do you have them keep things technical and let the customers feel things on their own?

Well, our specialists are trained to know about perfumery, but also to forget about the known... There is a risk to choose a perfume with your brain and not with your nose, your intuition. I see too many people saying "Oh I don't want to try the Iris 39 or the Rose 31 because I don't wear florals." We really encourage our clients to trust their guts on what perfume they want to wear. [We ask them,] "What do you want to say to the world about you with your perfume?" I think spraying on your skin, closing your eyes and "feeling" what is happening is the only way.

Le Labo massage and bath oils

and interior perfumes

Anything exciting coming up in the future?

A lot... We are just launching a new sampling program on the web, releasing our last scent Santal 33, opening a new shop in San Francisco, creating a line of amenities for hotel rooms, and trying to keep making our clients happy!

Le Labo vintage candles

and laundry detergents created in collaboration with The Laundress

Le Labo's official site and online store

Special thanks to Gaelle, Fabrice, and Isaac of Le Labo; and to Austin for encouraging me to check out the line.

Baudelaire by Byredo

I've found a new everyday scent: Baudelaire by Swedish perfumer Byredo. I'd describe it as oddly handsome, the first whiff evoking fresh leather giving way to an herbaceousness that reminds me so vividly of the smell of that malevolent forest in Punchdrunk's Sleep No More. My mother, sour-faced, dismissed it at first smelling, saying it reminds her of the scent of a new bag. (Believe me, she knows very well the experience of opening up the box to many a new handbag..) Confuzzled, I thought to myself, what could be a more festive morning pick-me-up than a fragrance that smells of new leather goods?

Byredo's Baudelaire Eau de Parfum

Opening the box, I was delighted to find a little envelope...

...that contains an excerpt of the poem Parfum Exotique by French poet Charles Baudelaire, who the scent was named after:

It's a beautiful, sensual piece. Allow me to share with you the full English version:

When, with both my eyes closed, on a hot autumn night,

I inhale the fragrance of your welcoming breast

I see happy shores spread out before me,

Blazing in the flames or a monotonous sun;

A lazy isle to which nature has given

Singular trees, savory fruits,

Men whose bodies are vigorous and slender,

And women in whose eyes shines a surprising candor.

Guided by your fragrance to these charming climates,

I see a port filled with sails and masts

Still exhausted by the waves of the sea,

While the perfume of the green tamarinds,

That fills up the air, and widens my nostrils,

Mingles in my soul with the sailors’ songs.

Here it sits as the star of my scent-shelf, flanked by L'Occitane's The Vert (for sweltering summer days) and Comme des Garcons Eau de Parfum (for weary whiskey winter nights), with my old everyday fragrance Bvlgari's Pour Homme Extreme sitting jealously behind.

photographs by Mikee Tuason