SUNDAY IMAGES ...

2 Million ! A big Thanks to You All !

2 Million !

A big Thanks to You All !

Have a nice weekend.

Yours Jeeves / António Sérgio Rosa de Carvalho.

‘Sheep, Shape and London Fashion’ / Hackett London Collections: Men Autumn Winter 2015 / SEE VÍDEO below.

Jeremy Hackett is proud to showcase his London Collections: Men Autumn/Winter 2015

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capsule collection. Entitled ‘Sheep, Shape and London Fashion’, this new 12 piece collection pays homage to the prestigious longstanding textile mills in Britain that continue to create the finest wools available worldwide.

 Three years ago, Hackett London in association with Fox Brothers & Co invested in a flock of Wensleydale sheep in Somerset, South-West England. The sheep’s fleeces have now matured and have been woven to produce Hackett’s exclusive own fabric seen in the finale three piece suit.

Hackett London’s ‘Sheep, Shape and London Fashion’ collection is a celebration of luxury wool created by the best of British mills.

Jeremy Hackett sincerely hopes you will join his new flock!

http://www.hackett.com/london-collections-men-aw15-the-story

Julie d'Aubigny, known as Le "Chevalier" de Maupin

Julie d'Aubigny was born in 1673 to Gaston d'Aubigny, a secretary to Louis de Lorraine-Guise, comte d'Armagnac, the Master of the Horse for King Louis XIV. Her father trained the court pages, and so his daughter learned dancing, reading, drawing, and fencing alongside the pages, and dressed as a boy from an early age. By the age of fourteen, she became a mistress of the Count d'Armagnac who had her married to Sieur de Maupin of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Soon after the wedding, her husband received an administrative position in the south of France, but she stayed in Paris.

Around 1687, Madame de Maupin became involved with an assistant fencing master named Sérannes. When Lieutenant-General of Police Gabriel Nicolas de la Reynie tried to apprehend Sérannes for killing a man in an illegal duel, the pair fled the city to Marseille.

On the road south, Madame de Maupin and Sérannes made a living by giving fencing exhibitions and singing in taverns and at local fairs. While travelling and performing in these impromptu shows, Maupin dressed in male clothing but did not conceal her gender. On arrival in Marseille, she joined the opera company run by Pierre Gaultier, singing under her maiden name.

Eventually, she grew bored of Sérannes and became involved with a young woman. When the girl's parents put her away in the Visitandines convent in Avignon, Maupin followed, entering the convent as a postulant. In order to run away with her new love, she stole the body of a dead nun, placed it in the bed of her lover, and set the room on fire to cover their escape. Their affair lasted for three months before the young lady returned to her family. Maupin was charged in absentia—as a male—with kidnapping, body snatching, arson, and failing to appear before the tribunal. The sentence was death by fire.

Maupin left for Paris and again earned her living by singing. Near Poitiers, she met an old actor named Maréchal who began to teach her until his alcoholism got worse and he sent her on her way to Paris.

In Villeperdue, still wearing men's clothing, she was insulted by a young nobleman. They fought a duel and she drove her blade through his shoulder. The next day, she asked about his health and found out he was Louis-Joseph d'Albert Luynes, son of the Duke of Luynes. Later, one of his companions came to offer d'Albert's apologies. She went to his room and subsequently they became lovers and, later, lifelong friends.

After Count d'Albert recovered and had to return to his military unit, Maupin continued to Rouen. There she met Gabriel-Vincent Thévenard, another singer, and began a new affair with him. They continued together towards Paris in the hope of joining the Paris Opéra. In the Marais, she contacted Count d'Armagnac for help against the sentence hanging over her. He persuaded the king to grant her a pardon and allow her to sing with the Opéra.

The Paris Opéra hired Thévenard in 1690, but initially refused her. She befriended an elderly singer, Bouvard, and he and Thévenard convinced Jean Nicolas Francin, master of the king's household, to accept her into the company. She debuted as Pallas Athena in Cadmus et Hermione by Jean-Baptiste Lully the same year. She performed regularly with the Opéra, first singing as a soprano, and later in her more natural contralto range. The Marquis de Dangeau wrote in his journal of a performance by Maupin given at Trianon of Destouches' Omphale in 1701 that hers was "the most beautiful voice in the world".

In Paris, and later in Brussels, she performed under the name Mademoiselle de Maupin - singers were addressed as 'mademoiselle' whether or not they were married.

Due to Mademoiselle de Maupin's beautiful voice, her acting skill, and her androgynous appearance, she became quite popular with the audience, although her relationship with her fellow actors and actresses was sometimes tempestuous. She famously beat the singer Louis Gaulard Dumesny after he pestered the women members of the troupe, and a legendary duel of wits with Thévenard was the talk of Paris. She also fell in love with Fanchon Moreau, another singer who was the mistress of the Grand Dauphin, and tried to commit suicide when she was rejected.

Her Paris career was interrupted around 1695, when she kissed a young woman at a society ball and was challenged to duels by three different noblemen. She beat them all, but fell afoul of the king's law that forbade duels in Paris. She fled to Brussels to wait for calmer times. There, she was briefly the mistress of Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria.

While in Brussels, Mademoiselle de Maupin appeared at the Opéra du Quai au Foin from November 1697 to July 1698, after which she returned to the Paris Opéra to replace the retiring Marie Le Rochois. She and her friend d'Albert were both in trouble with the law over the years: he for yet another fatal duel, and she for beating up her landlord.

Until 1705, La Maupin sang in new operas by Pascal Collasse, André Cardinal Destouches, and André Campra. In 1702, André Campra composed the role of Clorinde in Tancrède specifically for her bas-dessus (contralto) range. She sang for the court at Versailles on a number of occasions, and again performed in many of the Opéra's major productions. She appeared for the last time in La Vénitienne by Michel de La Barre (1705).

These final years of her career were spent in a relationship with the Madame la Marquise de Florensac, upon whose death La Maupin was inconsolable. She retired from the opera in 1705 and took refuge in a convent, probably in Provence, where she died in 1707 at the age of only 33. She has no known grave

"Kelly Gardiner's latest book is 'Goddess', a novel based on the life of the remarkable Julie d'Aubigny, also known as Mademoiselle de Maupin - a 17th century opera singer and swordswoman. Her previous books include the young adult novels 'The Sultan's Eyes' and 'Act of Faith' (HarperCollins); and for younger readers, 'Billabong Bill's Bushfire Christmas' (Random House) and the ‘Swashbuckler!’ trilogy (HarperCollins): 'Ocean Without End', 'The Pirate's Revenge' and 'The Silver Swan'

Théophile Gautier, when asked to write a story about d'Aubigny, instead produced the novel Mademoiselle de Maupin, published in 1835, taking aspects of the real La Maupin as a starting point, and naming some of the characters after her and her acquaintances. The central character's life was viewed through a romantic lens as "all for love". D'Albert and his mistress Rosette are both in love with the androgynous Théodore de Sérannes, whom neither of them knows is really Madeleine de Maupin. A performance of Shakespeare's As You Like It, in which La Maupin, who is passing as Théodore, plays the part of Rosalind playing Ganymede, mirrors the cross-dressing pretense of the heroine.

Mademoiselle de Maupin est un roman épistolaire français écrit par Théophile Gautier et publié en 1835. Première grande œuvre de l'auteur, le roman raconte la vie de Madeleine de Maupin et ses aventures galantes. Opérant comme un manifeste du parnasse, le texte est célèbre pour sa préface, où Gautier fustige les visions moralistes ou utilitaires de la littérature. Il y proclame également sa conception de l'art : indépendant et inutile, l'art ne vise que le beau. Gautier se fait ici précurseur du Parnasse et de la doctrine de « l’art pour l’art ».

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How to Dress with Gustav Temple / VÍDEO below.

ONLINE COURSE: HOW TO DRESS – A GUIDE FOR THE MODERN GENTLEMAN WITH GUSTAV TEMPLE

Gustav Temple

MOST MEN are not, it is sad to say, well dressed. It’s not their fault; it’s just that they haven’t been taught well.

http://idler.co.uk/product/how-to-dress-a-guide-for-the-modern-gentleman-with-gustav-temple/

That is why we have created our “How to Dress” course. It is the ultimate guide on the proper way to wear clothes, and what to buy, for the stylish man about town (and country).

Our four-part course is written and presented by Gustav Temple, who, more than anyone else we can think of, is perfectly qualified to give sartorial advice.

Mr Temple is founder of The Chap magazine, and has been editing that excellent periodical for the last fifteen years. In that time The Chap has consistently championed old-fashioned dress codes and good fabrics. For Mr Temple, to dress properly is the sign of a true individual, whereas it is the sheep who follow the herd and wear jeans and trainers.

Now Mr Temple has distilled his hard-won wisdom and knowledge into four half-hour lectures which you can watch any time, as many times as you like, on your phone, tablet or PC.

Truly, the old world meets the new.

Join his magical world of cravats, the Windsor knot, Harris tweed, the best kind of cufflinks, detachable collars, white tie and sock braces.

As well as offering useful, practical advice on what to wear, How to Dress also gives you the lowdown on such essential skills as the correct way to iron a shirt, how to shine your shoes and how to tie a bow tie. For these more practical tutorials, Gustav has enlisted the help of Rupert the Valet.

Each lecture is accompanied by a comprehensive set of notes, which reminds you of the rules just outlined, as well as directing to you to the websites of various gentlemen’s outfitters.

It’s not even necessarily a money thing: on this watchable, useful and always entertaining course, you will learn how to look fabulous on a modest budget. Gustav will teach you how to find good quality clothes in vintage shops and factory outlets.

The course is divided into the four following lectures:

Part One: Informal Wear. In which Gustav directs the modern gentleman on the correct clothing for leisure and business, in town and country, including observations on the old rule, “never brown in town”. You will learn three distinct tie knots, what shoes to wear with tweed, how to tie a cravat, the joys of the Fair Isle sweater and much else besides. Length: 30 minutes.

Part Two: Formal Wear. Gustav is joined by Rupert, and both men demystify the rules surrounding black tie and white tie. In this section, you will learn how to tie a bow tie and how to look like James Bond. Length: 20 minutes.

Part Three: Clothes Maintenance. In this essential tutorial, Gustav and Rupert teach three important skills: how to iron a shirt, how to shine your shoes and how to sew on a button. The notes offer some handy cleaning tips. Length: 34 minutes.

Part Four: Buying Bespoke, Vintage, and other Miscellaneous Items. In our fourth and final section, Gustav instructs you on what to tell your tailor when buying a made-to-measure suit, whether in Savile Row, at your local tailor, or in the Orient; gives important advice on buying second hand shirts; and offers essential information regarding cufflinks and hats. Length: 31 minutes.

So join Gustav and Rupert right away and learn how to dress like a true gentleman. It is easier and more fun than you think.

About the Tutor

Gustav Temple has been the editor of The Chap magazine since 1999, when Britain’s finest gentlemen’s quarterly was launched. The Chap, now bi-monthly, recently celebrated its 15th year of publication and continues to spread the word of anarcho-dandyism through its pages, as well as via its annual gathering of the excellently dressed, The Chap Olympics.

Mr. Temple is the author of six books, including The Chap Manifesto (2001) and Cooking for Chaps (2014). Mr. Temple’s grand quest is to rid the world of pantaloons de Nimes, sportswear off the sports field and uncouth behaviour. He believes that a man who is properly dressed has much more to offer the world than a slovenly fellow, and that society ultimately benefits when there is more dandyism on the streets.

http://thechapmagazine.co.uk/

Who is this for?         

The course is for any man, young or old, who wishes to educate himself in the principles and practice of correct dressing, as developed by English gentlemen over last two hundred years.

What do you get?      

You get four high quality, anytime access 20-30 minute video lectures; four sets of printable notes with clickable links to useful websites, plus access to our How to Dress forums, where you may pose questions for Mr Temple and swap tips with other gentlemen.

What is the Idler Academy? 

The Idler Academy of Philosophy, Husbandry and Merriment is a school and bookseller established in west London in 2011 by Tom Hodgkinson of the Idler magazine and Victoria Hull. Their aim is to educate the world in useful but neglected areas of knowledge and skill through a programme of courses and events both in the real world and online.

Indian Summers / Channel 4./ VÍDEO/ Trailer below.

Epic drama set in the summer of 1932 where India dreams of independence, but the British are clinging to power

Indian Summers recap: season one, episode one - well-made drama unafraid to take its time

Rhik Samadder

Sunday 15 February 2015 / http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2015/feb/15/indian-summers-recap-season-one-episode-one-well-made-drama-unafraid-to-take-its-time

Channel 4’s most expensive ever drama has arrived to fill the Downton slot, packed with beautiful people doing naughty things in colonial India

The birth of a nation, the decline of an empire. Indian independence is still important – its intersections of race and caste and class inform identity politics in both countries, and set in motion national trajectories still being charted. But does it make good telly, or is it like being hit over the head with homework and a vague sense of guilt? Not for me; I’m Indian. So let’s talk about it!

Channel 4’s most expensive ever drama arrived on screen following a month of trailers and billboard-sized photos of its cast hanging in city centres like portraits of despots. Airing in the Downton slot, Indian Summers is meant to draw the comparison, but sets itself against another piece of history too. The ground was last covered by Granada Television’s much-loved Jewel In The Crown; although 1984 feels so long ago that it could have been shot during the actual days of the Raj for all we know.

For anyone unfathomably reading a recap of a show they’ve not seen, let’s set the scene. We’re in the Himalayan hill station of Simla, in 1932. India is ruled by a thousand British civil servants, who summer here, governing away from the punishing heat of the city … Whoooaaaah there now! This is about civil servants, taking a busman’s holiday? Isn’t that like watching accountants filing other people’s tax returns? Thankfully, no. Their civility is a thin veneer; servility’s out the window. In a colonised land, this is a horny, scheming, spoilt ruling class. Also this is TV, so they’re quite sexy. Also it’s not all about them.

So who were the main players in this first episode? First: Ralph Whelan, 50% of your Recommended Daily Allowance of handsome. Ralph is private secretary to the viceroy of India, which is a hell of a job title. He’s played by Donovan the school bully from the Inbetweeners, which is something that once you know, you can’t unknow. There’s his beautiful sister Alice, mysteriously alone, with child, pretending to be a widow. Aafrin, the other 50% of your RDA of handsome, is a diligent junior clerk, who worries a lot and wants to keep the peace. His sister Sooni is a very different sort of fish; a revolutionary agitator sort of fish.

Then there’s Doug. I don’t quite know the deal with Doug – he seems a patently good person. Sarah (Doug’s sister? Wife?) – is patently not a good person, riddled with racist complacency, and clearly a source of bad things.

And let’s not forget Julie Walters. As Cynthia, she spent most of the episode cleaning, and lighting fags off shrine incense. She speaks with a surprisingly strong east London accent, like she might shake eels out of her sleeve at a moment’s notice. In Britain she’d probably be working in a shop, but here she is a matriarch, the centre of Simla society, for the Brits anyway. She welcomes them to The Royal Club like a soused group rep. “Cheats! Adulterers! Slaves of Empire, here to rule this glorious nation for another six months,” she charges their glasses. “I want no moaning about my milk punch.”

They’re throwing a lot of irons into the fire, in the way ambitious television does. Within 10 minutes, a bullied mixed-race child is found on the train tracks, between the Brits and their milk punch (what the hell is milk punch?). A portrait of Queen Victoria is daubed with revolutionary Home Rule graffiti, and police ransack the town to find the culprit. (Aafrin literally catches his sister red-handed, but she gets away with it.)

Back on the tracks, the stricken boy, apparently poisoned, is carried to Simla by Doug, accompanied by a beautiful, conflicted Indian woman with whom he is clearly in love. At The Royal Club’s opening night shindig, Ralph meets American socialite Madeleine in a sideroom and diddles her. (This leads Julie Walters to genuinely smell his fingers. “Lucky girl” she wisecracks, “But wash your hands before dinner.” I can’t help thinking there’s a joke about Partition she might have missed.)

Later the same night, an elderly assassin who has been trailing the Brits up the mountain shoots at Ralph. He only succeeds in hitting fellow countryman Aafrin, returning late from a spurious errand. As Aafrin lies (possibly) dying, Ralph catches up with the assassin. “You!” he says with recognition, suggesting the pair have history. Was the attempted murder political or personal?

This is carefully plotted television, unafraid to take its time, well made. The reported £14m budget has been so obviously well spent it’s like looking at an itemised receipt. Attention has been paid to period detail and clothing. For the first half hour, Ralph wore collar points so long it looked like he had an albino bat hung around the back of his neck. (Why don’t men dress nicely like that any more?) The women have that gorgeous 30s hair, each curlicued fingerwave a work of art. (Why don’t women spend every waking second tending their hair any more?) There are elegant gowns, which get pushed up and thrown on to hedges as nookie unfolds.

There’s lots of nookie, in fact. (I’m calling it that because it’s not very graphic.) Plantation heir Ian got off with an army man’s wife in a rickshaw. Aafrin has a Romeo and Juliet thing going on with Sita, a girl of another faith. They share a kiss between some saris before she bites his hand and draws blood, which is excitingly unhinged behaviour. In a twist, Ralph and Madeleine’s steamy sideroom shenanigans turn out to have been engineered by Julie Walters, who lured them both there. She wants Ralph to marry soon, to increase his chances of becoming the next viceroy. Big pimpin’ stuff, Julie.

Indian Summers is certainly a nice place to spend an hour, beautifully lit, with stunning cinematography. Verandas overlook verdant mountain ranges, blooms heavy as melons spill off bushes, palpable heat sticks to everything. It’s a welcome contrast to the uniform grey outside UK windows. There’s also enough style and suspense to justify a return trip. In a David Fincher-esque final shot, the camera circles the would-be assassin sitting lotus-legged in a chilly blue cell, face implacable as a sword, his motive a mystery. I want to know more.

Most Colonial Bucks Fizz moment:

Julie Walters wriggles out of the boiler suit she’s been wearing for 40 minutes like an industrial char-lady chrysalis, revealing a glamorous cocktail gown underneath. Party time in Simla!

Best Of Frenemies moment:

Sarah suspiciously questions the particulars of Alice’s bogus wedding ring, before telling her: “We’re going to be great friends.” Alice looks like she’d rather be friends with a box of wasps.

• This article was amended on 17 February 2015. An earlier version said the Aarfin has a relationship with Sita, a girl outside his own caste, rather than a different religion.

Indian Summers, episode one, review: 'too leisurely'

This drama set in pre-Partition India has promise but it botched some key scenes, says Gerard O'Donovan

By Gerard O'Donovan

10:40PM GMT 15 Feb 2015 / http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/tv-and-radio-reviews/11411443/TV-and-Radio-reviews.html

Perhaps the most striking thing about Indian Summers, Channel 4’s new drama series set in the twilight years of the Raj, was how much it owed to previous screen visions of the era. Anyone who knows The Jewel in the Crown, A Passage to India, Heat and Dust or even Gandhi will have found much familiar in its story of a handful of haughty Brits lording it over an entire subcontinent, so busy knocking back the gin and canoodling behind each other’s backs they don’t notice the masses they rule are on the brink of boiling over.

Set in 1932 in Simla, the “summer capital” of British India to which the sweating, complaining ruling elite decamped every summer to escape the heat, the leisurely opener spent much time introducing us to the large cast of characters, many of whom seemed familiar already as archetypes. There was the dashing private secretary (Henry Lloyd-Hughes) to the Viceroy, and his mysterious sister (Jemima West) who’d arrived from England on the run from a bad marriage. The snobbish wife (Fiona Glascott) with the flawed missionary husband (Craig Parkinson). The idealistic Indian clerk (Nikesh Patel) with a revolutionary hothead sister (Ayesha Kala) and a lover from another caste.

Overseeing them all in a rather too raucous manner was Walters as the memsahib owner of the local bastion of colonial rule, gossip and snobbery, the Royal Simla Club, where everyone headed of an evening to tuck into Roast beef and Yorkshire pud, washed down by barrelfuls of gin. Of course history and politics were on the menu too, but for now kept bubbling away in the background. Simla itself, with its otherworldly “little England” of high street shops, Anglican church and bungalows surrounded by privet was beautifully reproduced.

What made Indian Summers watchable – apart from the stunning backdrops – was the palpable sense that all these lives, all this bored privilege and casual repression, would soon be shattered by the oncoming storm. And while there’s no evidence yet that Indian Summers has the power to match its screen antecedents (it’s a little too leisurely, and not convincing enough in key scenes like the closing assassination attempt) the scale of the series, and its ambition over a planned further four series to relate the whole story of India’s struggle for independence, could well repay signing up for the long term.