PAGES OF
41STYLE UPGRADES LOOK BETTER • FEEL BETTER • KNOW MORE A P R I L
2 0 1 3
S H A R P F O R M E N . C O M
BEN KING AFFLECK IS THE
OF HOLLYWOOD (AGAIN)
SPRING THE TOUGHEST LEATHER JACKETS
THE BOLDEST
NEW SUITS AND
THE FRESHEST
SHOES
OF THE SEASON
EAT
LIKE A
MASTER
$5.95 • DISPLAY UNTIL MAY 6TH, 2013
CHEF
WORLD SERIES CHAMPS 2013?
THE JAYS’ WINNING GAMBLE PLUS: FIRE, DEMONS AND DETROIT MUSCLE
CONTENTS APRIL 2013 | VOL.6 | ISSUE 1
SPRING STYLE 92
76
FANCY FOOTWORK The five pairs of shoes you need now.
BEN AFFLECK: ACTOR, DIRECTOR, AWARD-WINNING DAD
100
Finally, the truth behind Ben Affleck’s stunning career revival: it takes a family to raise a Hollywood star.
IndyCar star James Hinchcliffe test-drives the spring’s coolest leather jackets.
82
IN BLOOM
KATIE CASSIDY SHOOTS AN ARROW THROUGH OUR HEARTS We know very little about comic books, but we like that this woman is in a television show based on one. Mostly we just like her.
86
MANHOOD EXPLORED: BRUSH
BURNING RUBBER, WEARING LEATHER
110
This spring’s audacious floral patterns can look go on any man. Here’s how to wear them.
118
JACKET REQUIRED Confident, audacious, brightly coloured suits and sportcoats. It’s what’s for dinner.
STANDARDS 12
EDITOR’S LETTER
What makes a man? Michael Winter shows it takes work, fire, a ton of water and some good old teenage longing.
20
LETTERS
24
THE MAN ABOUT TOWN
FLORALS pg. 110
128
BRAND DIRECTORY
130
RANK & FILE
14 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
P H O T O : R A I N A & W I LS O N . L I N E N S H I R T ( $ 1 2 5 ) B Y S C O T C H & S O D A ; C O T T O N PA N T S ( $ 1 7 0 ) B Y D I E S E L ; L E AT H E R B E LT ( $ 2 0 0 ) B Y S T R E L LS O N ; B R A I D E D L E AT H E R B R A C E L E T ( $ 2 8 0 ) BY P O R S C H E D E S I G N .
FEATURES
CONTENTS APRIL 2013 | VOL.6 | ISSUE 1
GUIDE 28
36
48
58
Porsche Design’s thoroughly modern briefcase.
So long, Ahnie—today’s action star can act, too.
Five bottles good enough to sip neat.
30
38
BOOKS
50
Corvette’s American muscle, Aston Martin’s British racing chops and a new, improved Audi R8 V10.
Meet Daniella Alonso, Revolution’s bomb-maker.
Andrew Pyper spins a demon story that isn’t bogged down by all that God stuff.
Behold the mightiest new mini gizmos.
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40
SPORT
THE FIRST THING
A WELCOME INTRODUCTION
A MAN WORTH LISTENING TO
WELL-TRAVELED MAN: LONDON
Why Josh Ritter’s breakup album is one of the most uplifting things you’ll listen to this year.
Eight reasons to get yourself to Britain ASAP.
35
If it’s good enough for the country’s best chefs, it’s good enough for you.
MUSIC Finding the magic in Jimi Hendrix’s latest collection.
DRINKS
FILM
44
FOOD
TECHNOLOGY
52
How the Jays’ Alex Anthopoulos bought the next World Series.
56
AUTOMOBILES
64
STYLE Upgraded penny loafers, Levi’s denim guru and a few fashion-related birthday notices.
70
WATCHES
DESIGN
Six office-ready timepieces to make your boss jealous.
Oxidize this! Get some stylish rust for your pad.
72
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE pg. 100
GROOMING How to wash your face the right way.
74
DAD SKILLS: SHOOTING
P H O T O : M AT T B A N R E S
Our intrepid correspondent spends some time at the gun range.
16 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
04.13
ÇŞ ÇŞÄŠÇŞ ÇŞ ÇŞÄŠÇŞ ÇŞ
PORSCHE DESIGN
A Strong > Case for a Briefcase
With their classic briefcase in mustard yellow, the aesthetic geniuses at Porsche Design have energized office gear. Constructed from accentuated cowhide and hand-brushed hardware, the design is traditional, emphasizing the clean, modern lines synonymous with Porsche. Between two main compartments lies a zipped slip pocket with separate pouches for gadgets, while a large slip pocket on the back is perfect for folders and tablets. Just don’t let your files be better dressed than you are.
28 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
Don’t like this one? For nine more beautiful briefcases, go to Sharpformen.com/category/style/
P H O T O : R O B E R T WAT S O N
FRENCH CLASSIC BRIEFBAG FM, $1,450
GUIDE | Woman A WE L COM E I NTRODU CT I ON:
Daniella Alonso SETS IT OFF
BY GRADY MITCHELL
Where You’ve Seen Her: As with many attractive young actresses, you’ve likely seen her get killed, if you’ve seen her at all. She died (beautifully) in The Hills Have Eyes II and Wrong Turn 2: Dead End. Where You Will See Her: As a rebel explosives expert on NBC’s postapocalyptic drama Revolution, set in a world where electricity has failed and the United States has splintered into warring factions. Her advice for surviving the end of civilization? “Carry a book of matches with you at all times. And a flashlight. We have swords, so that’s kind of not possible for most people, but my advice is just to grab a book of matches; it’ll get you out of a lot of situations.”
A Lover Offscreen, a Fighter On Daniella has a penchant for being cast as nobullshit, ass-kicking females (explosives expert, remember?). It’s a trend that’s certainly not discouraged by her affection for karate and mixed martial arts. “It seems to find me—the tough military girl,” she says. “But in real life, I’m like, ‘Let’s go shopping, guys!’ ‘Let’s take our dogs to the park!’ But I can pull it off.” This, we’re told, is acting. Speaking of Ass-Kicking Daniella recently directed a TV pilot, which isn’t exactly an easy task. “I have so much respect for directors. You never sleep, basically.” The upside: “I like being the boss.” A boss that can kick ass, obviously. FREE iPAD EDITION: Download this issue for more shots of Daniella Alonso. See P.127 for more info. 30 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
PHOTO: J SQUARED PHOTOGRAPHY
Why You Believe She Knows What She’s Talking About: It’s called method acting. Daniella studied theatre at the Lee Strasberg school in her native New York City, the institution that previously fostered the talents of Meryl Streep, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, among others. The same way Daniel Day Lewis became Lincoln, Daniella can blow stuff up. “I technically could build a bomb,” she says. “I think I know how.”
could ever happen to me. And I could choose not to write about it or I could look at it as an opportunity to pin those emotions down. It turned out hopeful. It wasn’t the angry record that I initially thought it was going to be, the blood in the eyes and all that.
A M AN W O RT H LI ST EN ING T O:
Josh Ritter
DOESN’T CARE FOR PLATITUDES BY ALEX NINO GHECIU
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JOSH RITTER HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PRIVATE MAN. While other singer-songwriters are happy to wear their broken hearts on their tear-stained sleeves (well, happy might not be the right word), Ritter has for the most part avoided autobiography in his work. At least, overtly so. He’s smarter than that. Instead he’s opted to spin far-flung narratives about lovelorn mummies, nuclear bunker romances and talking horses. (Seriously, his debut novel—yes, he’s a novelist, too—Bright’s Passage featured an advice-giving mare.) But after a devastating divorce—so bad he contemplated suicide—he’s ready to talk and, thankfully, sing about it. The Beast in Its Tracks explores the anatomy of Ritter’s heartbreak and eventual recovery. It’s a bracing, redemptive album. One so beautiful and honest that it makes you contemplate breaking up with whoever you’re with, just so you can feel what Ritter has felt. Is that masochistic? Maybe. But, dammit, the hard-won hope that Ritter puts to music sounds worth it. Or, we suppose we could just talk to him instead.
I thought you were adamantly against writing about yourself. What’s with the divorce album? There’s dirty linen on it. There’s a glut of autobiography in songwriting right now. Talking about your feelings
and making yourself the centre of the world is really not my favourite thing to do. I’ve never thought of it as a way to stay interesting. But here was this moment where this thing that had happened to me was one of the worst things that
32 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
The liner notes say you wrote this album 18 months after your divorce. Why didn’t you write it, say, one month after the split? Wouldn’t that have been more raw? More sincere? I think partially it’s because I was incapacitated at that point, just thoroughly a goner. I did write at that point, but it was a reflexive thing. Those songs didn’t give back. There was nothing there that felt redeeming in any way to me. The songs were sincere, but they weren’t good. Most songs that I write do come from a moment where the real emotion hits the surface. But you can’t force it. Maybe there are people who have captured exactly what they meant in the weeks afterwards, but I don’t think I can do it. It didn’t feel much like writing at that point. It just felt like I was stabbing somebody. But that sounds cool in a Stephen King sort of way. I know he’s a big fan of yours. You’re not really into writings of the darker variety, are you? It’s the whole idea of deep sea diving, going down where there’s no light. You see some crazy stuff down
there. But for me, when it comes to emotions that are super dark, they’re often less complicated and, for that reason, a little easier to write about, but also a little less interesting. Rage is just rage. It’s hard to write rage songs in a way that feels original or useful in any way. I guess waiting around until there’s a glint of something else there—whether that’s humour or anything—is the way I find works best for me. My job is to go through the experience and look at it with as clear an eye as possible. It does sound like you weren’t quite seeing straight after the divorce. Word is you went through a drunken phase during which you wore a cowboy hat constantly. Yeah. That was just me getting back to my roots. I went through that period from moment to moment, but then there were some really weird, loopy, stretchy parts of time where you’re concentrating just to make it through casual interactions all day until suddenly it’s three in the morning and you’re watching a British costume drama. You wonder where the day went, and you wonder where you were. Was it at night when your proverbial beast came out? Definitely. As with anything where you get sick, it’s always worse at night. Like Mark Twain says, “You’re never quite sane in the night.” I think that’s really true. I find
THE SHARP CULTURE EQUATION
[( ) ] Stephen King
+
Bob Dylan
X
÷
Cameron Crowe
= NPR
Josh Ritter
THE ESSENTIAL JOSH RITTER TRACKS: 1. Golden Age of Radio 2. Kathleen 3. To the Dogs or Whoever 4. The Temptation of Adam 5. Thin Blue Flame 6. Girl in the War 7. The Curse 8. New Lover 9. Joy to You Baby
GUIDE | Wisdom
GUIDE | Wisdom that in writing, too. The writing that happens in the morning for me is really this freer and easier writing because when you get up, that’s the smartest you’ll be all day. And at night, that’s when it gets a little more hallucinogenic. Really Boschian, Garden of Good and Evil-type places. It just covers you. It’s not ferociously outward. It’s really ferociously inward, for me. I’m lucky for that reason—that it’s not directed elsewhere. In some ways it’s better because you stay out of jail. You also contemplated suicide at the time. What was that like? It’s this moment of realizing you’re completely free. That’s the moment where you could stand on a bridge and feel like you could jump off, and that’s what scares you. Not the jump, but the idea that you could. You start to see that real proposition in front of you in a whole lot of places. That’s a dangerous place to be. I’m a pretty emotional person. It was a scary moment. It’s interesting you refer to it as freedom. I’m reminded of Tyler Durden’s quote from Fight Club: “It’s only after we’ve lost
everything that we’re free to do anything.” Exactly. I love that. I remember being in Vancouver a few weeks after the divorce and going to try to talk to a doctor. Then I wandered around a mall for three hours. And everyone there was just living their life, and they didn’t know that everything was just exploding. You feel cut free but it’s alarming because no one else seems to notice. And I think that’s my one really vivid memory of those first several days. I remember I ate one of those pretzels with cinnamon on it. Those are just disgusting. But I did it. That’s the closest I ever ended up getting to suicide. What would be your advice today to a poor guy at the end of his rope? Well, the thing that everybody always said to me, which I found particularly useless, was, “be good to yourself.” Everybody was saying that. But what does that mean? I did a lot of other things to myself but I don’t think they were good. Instead, I’d say don’t put pressure on yourself to be magnanimous or forgiving in the early days. It’s impossible to forgive or
feel better during that time. It’s also important to have people to talk to who aren’t your friends. Find someone who doesn’t know you. You should talk to people who know what they’re doing. Don’t try to be too much of a strong man. Other crappy advice I’ve heard is, “keep your chin up.” Really? How will tilting my head upwards solve all my problems? (Laughs.) Yeah, totally. Another thing they say is, “Take some time to find yourself.” It’s like, fuck off. What’s that supposed to mean? It doesn’t mean anything. I guess I’m against platitudes. Do you still believe in marriage? I feel like there’s a magazine feature on the death of monogamy every other week. Here’s what I think about marriage: it’s a good thing. You’re saying that you’re trusting in a good future full of all kinds of experiences. And you’re throwing your lot in with somebody else. You’re taking part in a hopeful act. Maybe in like 30 years no one will be getting married, but they’ll be doing something. They’ll be filing claim A49
in Vegas. And then they’ll file claim 310 the next day when they decide they want to get a state divorce. But I do believe that the idea of being with somebody is here to stay. But given your bad experience, do you really think we’re biologically wired for monogamy? What if it’s more natural for us, as a species, to seek out as many partners as possible? The examples of people in my life have been very lucky. Most of my friends or people I’ve been involved with have had families that have stuck together. That includes everybody in my band, and Haley, who is my partner now, and my own parents. I see it, and I know that it’s hard, but it seems so much better than the alternative. And I’ve seen the alternative now, and I know what it actually can be. I had an idea of what it was when I got married, which I then thought was silly. But the intention was right; it was just the wrong person. Now that I’m actually experiencing the good stuff, I feel totally vindicated in my beliefs. I don’t feel like I had my eyes opened by this experience. They were already open.
5 RECOMMENDATIONS FROM AMERICAN NERD AND STAND-UP COMEDIAN CHRIS HARDWICK
BILL MURRAY
[Best actor]
34 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
PORTAL 2
[Best videogame]
SALT & VINEGAR CHIPS THE TARDIS (DR. WHO ) [Best flavour]
[Best method of interdimensional space and time travel]
NON-SELF-INDUCED ORGASMS [Best activity for two or more people]
For our Q&A with Chris Hardwick, visit Sharpformen.com/category/culture/
Music | GUIDE
time, with producers Eddie Kramer, John McDermott and Jimi’s sister Janie Hendrix picking out the recordings good enough to be released. The Hendrix estate’s standards are high. There are plenty of recordings that won’t see the light of day. Here, they’ve selected a series of stripped-down yet powerful studio takes that position Hendrix as purveyor of full-blooded, jazz-and-bluesinflected garage rock. The opener “Earth Blues” is punk soul. The single “Somewhere” features Stephen Stills on bass and is imbued with Hendrix’s quivering solos and fuzzy coagulated spurts of noise that still have the power to make you stop and think, “How?” —which is some feat in a world where his loose, sprawling psychedelic blues template is staple sound of the pub band, from Toronto to Tallinn. Hendrix wanted to play with Miles Davis—who many regard as Hendrix’s equal and dream collaborator—but the trumpeter’s management would not take less than $50,000 for the privilege. The album track “Let Me Move You”—the biggest draw for aficionados, as no version of it has seen the light of day until now—points to what might have been, with Hendrix riffing like a jazz guitarist, accompanying the saxophonist Lonnie Youngblood. “He understood how a jazz musician thinks,” says Kramer, who engineered Hendrix’s studio albums. “He sublimated his ego into this role of rhythm guitarist. He was like a session guy, playing rhythm, but when the solo comes— whoosh! Off we go.” Most of the recordings were made between Hendrix’s most fertile period and his star-spangled performance at Woodstock in 1969. The guitarist had just made Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love and the double album Electric Ladyland in the space of 18 months and was “searching for stuff to change the direction,” says Kramer. “He was a restless soul.” Of all the songs tonight, his cover of bluesman Elmore James’s “Bleeding Heart” feels the most intimate. When Hendrix breathes out a fleeting “Yeah!” it’s as if he is in the room. I think back to my teenage years of videotaping classic album Mosquito by docs. Tonight, though, Hendrix Yeah Yeah Yeahs isn’t a frozen icon from a nostalgic documentary. He’s alive.
Nostalgia, Heaven and Hendrix HOW JIMI STAYED RELEVANT (WITHOUT THE HELP OF MILES DAVIS) BY TIM BURROWS
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THEY SAY IF YOU CAN REMEMBER THE ’60s, you weren’t there—and I am living proof. Despite being born in 1984, I remember it well. The Beatles at the Cavern (via the British made-for-TV documentary The Beatles Anthology), Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd at Alexandra Palace (via Peter Whitehead’s documentary Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London) and Jimi Hendrix’s dream-logic looping and spilling guitar licks from my days as an overweight paperboy in 1990s suburban Essex, delivering tabloid gossip in the pissing rain, with a tape of the compilation album Experience Hendrix as my only salvation. Back then, Britain was stuck in the midst of a serious wave of ’60s nostalgia. It is a mania that has never fully left us, creating the context for tonight’s exclusive launch of People, Hell & Angels, an album of previously unheard recordings from Hendrix’s ever-emptying vaults. The party is happening at the recently reopened Bag O’ Nails club on the edge of Soho, the folkloric site of an early Jimi Hendrix Experience’s UK gig in early 1967. Then, so the legend goes, Messrs. Clapton, Townshend and Beck were crammed in. Tonight, veteran rock writers, record executives and young Hendrix-heads glug beer and wine, while waiting patiently for what is likely the guitarist’s last unheard studio work. People, Hell & Angels has been in the works for a long
THE BEST ALBUM FROM LIVING MUSICIANS THIS MONTH:
APRIL 2013 / SHARPFORMEN.COM 35
GUIDE | The Traveling Man
London
FINDING THE FINEST OF EVERYTHING IN EUROPE’S FIRST CITY BY ALBERT ROSE
AS SAMUEL JOHNSON, the English poet and essayist, once said, “If you don’t like London, you should just kill yourself.” Well, those weren’t his exact words, but the sentiment was the same. And the fact that he said it in the 18th century makes no difference: if you can’t find something to like about London now, you sir, are wrong. The food in London used to be bad, but now it’s great. The culture used to be homogeneous and staid, but now it’s world-leading. The weather used to be grey and awful. That mostly remains. But suck it up, it’s London, for Pete’s sake. Here are our picks for your next trip to Jolly Old.
1
STAY:
THE STAFFORD LONDON BY KEMPINSKI (2)
Tucked away on a narrow St. James side street, steps from Buckingham Palace and the shops of Mayfair, the Stafford is an oasis of old-world luxury. Built in the 16th century (it’s rumoured that Charles II used an underground tunnel from the Palace to the hotel’s wine cellar to visit his mistresses), and operating as a hotel since 1912, the Stafford boasts large suites, a gym and top-notch modern British cuisine courtesy of chef Brendan Fyldes. The American Bar (pictured)—so-called because it was one of the first places in London to serve cocktails—is an ideal spot to sip a G&T after a day’s sightseeing. KEMPINSKI.COM
EAT:
TRAMSHED (1)
Like steak and roast chicken? If not, find somewhere else to eat. Veteran chef Mark Hix’s newest establishment serves little
2 else. Beneath a massive Damien Hirst sculpture of a life-sized cow submerged in an aquarium with a rooster perched on its back, Tramshed’s dining room offers the choice of entire free-range roast chickens and well-marbled sirloin steaks by the 250 g serving. Sides are simple and classically English (think buttered sprout tops, scrumpy fried onions and Yorkshire pudding), while the cocktail list is ever-changing and innovative. CHICKENANDSTEAK.CO.UK
ST. JOHN (4)
While Fergus Henderson and Trevor Gulliver’s culinary empire has recently expanded to include a hotel in London’s Chinatown,
40 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
LATE NIGHT CHAMELEON CAFE
Between Bond Street, with its acres of Swiss watches, Savile Row’s abundance of fine tailoring and the combined temptations of Selfridge’s, Harrod’s and Liberty of London, it’s not hard to spend a sheik’s fortune without leaving central London. But any serious shopper who misses a visit to the Late Night Chameleon Café (LN-CC) is doing themselves a serious disservice. Hidden behind a side door beneath a nondescript office building in northeast London is a combination retail space and art gallery featuring some of the world’s top fashion brands (Yohji Yamamoto, Jil Sander, Yang Li, et al.) expertly curated in a setting reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. By appointment only. LN-CC.COM
GUIDE | Food
Hot Tables
WHERE CANADA’S TOP CHEFS EAT (WHEN THEY DON’T FEEL LIKE COOKING) BY RENÉE S. SUEN
WE’VE GOT OPTIONS. Canadian restaurants are better and more plentiful than ever. And yet, when it comes to eating, sometimes it’s hard to break out of our own neighbourhood, let alone our city. But, if you’re feeling adventurous (and, every man should feel adventurous, shouldn’t he?), we’ve tapped some of the country’s leading tastemakers for their favourite bites both near and far, from local gems to high-end dining.
A rising star on the culinary scene, Gunawan, who recently left his post at Gastown’s celebrated Wildebeest, has a natural inclination towards ethnic food, particularly refined Chinese cuisine. The ex-civil engineer names Hoi Tong as a prime spot for humble cooking that’s layered with depth, without fuss. However, if he’s out to impress, it would either be a spot-on mid-range meal at L’Abattoir for French-influenced, contemporary West Coast fare or to Pizzeria Farina for something simple and casual.
BRANDON OLSEN Crown Cooks (opening spring 2013), Toronto
JUSTIN LEBOE Model Milk, Calgary All eyes have been on Leboe since he settled in Calgary 44 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
If Olsen learned anything from his recent six-week road trip across the US, it’s that nothing compares to food that’s properly seasoned and cooked. The former head chef of The Black Hoof is a
P H O T O : B R A N D O N O LS E N / C H U C K O R T I Z
DAVID GUNAWAN Che Baba Cantina, Vancouver
after a decade working at some of North America’s top kitchens. While Model Milk has made splashes nationally for his take on contemporary seasonal food, the last thing Leboe wants to do after cooking all week is to cook at home. He turns to an oldschool double cheeseburger with fries at Clive Burger. According to Leboe, Calgary has some of the continent’s best Vietnamese. He gets his weekly fix of satay beef noodles at Pho Hoai. For special occasions, he’ll head to Cucina Market Bistro, a new Italian restaurant on Stephen Avenue, for the vitello tonnato or rotisserie meats at the hands of executive chef John Michael MacNeil.
Other things not to mess with: Michael Caine.
GUIDE | Vices
Five Bottles Not To Mess With
WHEN THE BEST ADDITION IS NOTHING AT ALL BY COLEMAN MOLNAR
IF IT AIN’T BROKE… don’t drown it in cola. There are certain bottles your bartender would rather see dumped than diluted with high-fructose corn syrup. Here are five choice spirits best enjoyed the way their makers intended—straight up.
THE GLENLIVET 15 YEAR (1)
Straightforward, and best sipped that way. It’s less complex than many other Scotches, which makes the nose and palate easier to identify, and doesn’t overwhelm the senses. Deep gold in colour, with a nutty and fruity nose, its velvety cream finish is thanks to the virgin French Limousin oak casks in which it is aged. $65
MARTELL CORDON BLEU EXTRA OLD COGNAC (2)
Presented in an unembellished bottle, Cordon Bleu is a solid, masculine cognac. Cinnamon, flora and wood on the nose; leather, spice and vanilla on the palate; and pure golden delight in the snifter—at $150 per bottle, it’s one of the best-valued cognacs out there. $150
1
GRAN PATRÓN BURDEOS AÑEJO TEQUILA (3)
Made from Mexico’s finest blue agave, it is first matured in a mix of American and French oak barrels for 12 months before being distilled again and transferred into vintage Bordeaux barrels, which impart flavours of vanilla, raisin and that wellrounded fruitiness you’d expect from Bordeaux wine. $600
With a background in winemaking, John K. Hall has been earning the respect of his whiskyproducing brethren since 2007. The Confederation Oak Reserve is a “meritage” of Hall’s separately aged corn, rye and barley spirits. Sweet and smoky on the nose, the Confederation Oak coats the mouth with a rich and round taste that’s both woody and sweet. $65
FLOR DE CAÑA 18-YEAR-OLD CENTENARIO GOLD RUM (5)
4 2
5 3
FORTY CREEK WHISKY CONFEDERATION OAK (4)
Flor De Caña is the pride of Nicaragua and the best-selling rum in Central America. The 18-year-old Centenario is exactly what “sipping rum” (known to some as a “single malt” rum) should be: full-bodied, bold and richly complex. The amber spirit delivers a chocolate and toasted nut entry and a smooth, burnt caramel finish that pairs perfectly with a fine cigar. $60
FREE iPAD EDITION: Download this issue for more bottles not to mess with. See P.127 for more info. 48 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
GUIDE | Tech BANG & OLUFSEN BEOLIT 12 PORTABLE MUSIC SYSTEM (1)
2
The Beolit’s brawny aluminum exterior encases a shockingly potent and precise 2.1 stereo setup with a 120 W Class D amp and up to eight hours of battery life. Specially designed to stream tunes wirelessly from your iPhone/iPod/iPad, it’s a high-end sound system with a shoulder strap. $800
3M STREAMING PROJECTOR WITH ROKU (2)
1
3
This 4˝ x 4˝ x 2˝ wonder can project up to 120 inches of screen on any available surface; it has a built-in speaker and comes with a Streaming Stick from Roku, which connects you to VOD services like Netflix. No disc players or cable boxes needed; if you’ve got Wi-Fi, it’s good to go. $300
ALM mCAMLITE SMARTPHONE CAMERA ENHANCER (3) Turn your phone’s tacked-on camera into a mini-DSLR with interchangeable lenses, mountable flash bulb/tripod and a swiveling microphone. Best of all, the sturdy aluminum frame will make it feel like you’re holding a camera as opposed to pointing a rectangle. $130
AMAZON KINDLE PAPERWHITE 3G eREADER (4)
4
5
Minor Miracles
FIVE SMALL GADGETS PACKING HUGE PERFORMANCE BY MATT CURRIE
WHILE EVERY MAN HAS felt the siren call of big screens and tube-sprouting amps that cause your audiophile friends to curse with envy, thanks to the miracle of technology, elite entertainment is no longer the sole purview of the gargantuan. If you’re short on square footage or if you just enjoy keeping your personal entertainment portable—the better to ignore the outside world with—here are a few pint-sized toys that are more than meet the eye. 50 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
The Paperwhite’s best-of-breed screen res keeps text and images sharp. Built-in illumination lends the display the aesthetic of a crisp, fresh hard copy and makes night reading effortless. Moreover, thanks to the 3G connection, Amazon’s unparalleled library is always in the palm of your hand. $200
SONY HMZ-T2 PERSONAL 3D VIEWER (5)
This 420 g helmet frees up your wall by putting the action mere millimetres from your eyeballs via two miniature OLEDs. It offers some of the most impressive 3D effects you’ll find on any device, and an uncommonly smooth, judder-free viewing experience in either dimension. Just don’t wear it out of doors. $1,000
For more technological marvels, visit Sharpformen.com/category/cars-tech/
GUIDE | Design
BUY THIS MAN’S STUFF: Alex Jowett
Alex Jowett is impossible to pigeonhole. He’s an artist, industrial designer and photographer with a degree in philosophy, a background in journalism and three passports (Canadian, British and Australian). But most importantly: he makes damn sexy stuff. Here, he talks about traveling, canoes and top-notch design.
STRAIGHT FROM THE SCRAP HEAP TO YOUR LIVING ROOM, WEATHERED METAL IS LOOKING BETTER THAN EVER BY MATTHEW HAGUE
You’ve been running your own studio, Atelier 688, for the last three years. What were you doing before that? I was doing the whole nomad, living-all-over-the-world thing. Writing and taking photos for travel and water-sports magazines. Mainly in places like Hawaii, the Caribbean and Indonesia.
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RUST. Metal’s canker sore. Normally, it’s a sign that we need to upgrade the car, reseason the cast-iron skillet, or break out the CLR. But recently, industrial and interior designers have been embracing earthy, reddish streaks and splotches, and making furniture and light fixtures that look decidedly weather-worn. Maybe it’s symptomatic of the morally tarnished, broken-down times we live in. Or maybe it’s because it just looks cool (albeit in a post-industrial Detroit kind of way). Regardless of the reason, rust is in. Case in point: the Bomba Collection—lamps and side tables hand-crafted from old, decommissioned propane tanks. Designed by Toronto-based Fugitive Glue, the pieces aren’t only virtuous—saving the cylinders from the landfill—they are also stylish, the peeling paint and coarse patches of rust creating an edgy, one-of-a-kind look.
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What makes a good piece of design? Maybe it’s a bit of a North American thing, but when people move into a new house, they don’t seem to want to take their old stuff with them. So, to me, a good design is something you just don’t want to throw away. ALEXJOWETT.COM
Upgrade your pad at Sharpformen.com/category/style/
Silk Aviator Map Cushion by Atelier 688
How has that influenced your work? Water and travel are pretty prevalent in my work. Not necessarily in an intentional way, but when I look at my rope lights, I can see a nautical element. I’ve also made chandeliers out of kayaks and canoes, including a custom one for Paul Hardy, the fashion designer.
GUIDE | Automobiles
100 Years of Aston Martin THEY’VE BEEN MAKING BESPOKE SPORTS CARS FOR A CENTURY NOW, BUT THEY ONLY HAVE A HANDFUL OF MODELS TO SHOW FOR IT. CLEARLY THE CHAPS IN ENGLAND HAVE BEEN GOING FOR QUALITY OVER QUANTITY BETWEEN THOSE EXTRA-LONG TEA BREAKS. BEHOLD THE 2014 ASTON MARTIN VANQUISH BY BRIAN MAKSE
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SPECS
ENGINE: 6.0-LITRE V12 POWER: 565 HP, 457 LB-FT TORQUE GEARBOX: 6-SPEED AUTO AVAILABILITY: NOW PRICE: $296,000
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FIRING UP THE V12 ENGINE IN A VANQUISH IS MAYBE the most precious automotive experience one can have—you insert what appears to be a rectangular crystal block into the top of the dash. The starter quietly spins up and half a heartbeat later all 12 cylinders ignite with an imposing bark. Surrounded by an inimitable exhaust growl and the view down the long sculpted hood, you know you’re behind the wheel of a very special machine. But then you’d expect as much because, over its 100 year history, Aston Martin has managed to hone its own unique, restrained sense of cool. Unlike the Italian automakers who prefer an espressofueled brand of attention-grabbing design—Aston is a bit more subtle, more understated, more tailored. Building small numbers of bespoke, luxury sports cars and grand tourers, the company has stayed true to its roots like few others. On the undulating roads outside of Newport Pagnell, the historic home of Aston Martin, the Vanquish feels perfectly at home. And it should—countless Astons have been tested here on this brutally pockmarked British tarmac. The Vanquish soaks up bumps with quiet confidence and effortlessly grips the road with its immense rear tires as you hurry it through the turns. This new Vanquish is the fastest, most exclusive car in the current Aston lineup—excluding the sold-out One-77 (see sidebar). The new chassis is stronger, stiffer and lighter than its predecessor, James Bond’s old DBS. And while these are dry facts, this depth of engineering is the reason the Vanquish feels sharper, more alert, but not nervous. It has the rare ability to make average drivers good, and good drivers great, while still rewarding skill behind the wheel. The bodywork isn’t the hand-formed aluminium sheets of old, but the expert craftsmen are still called upon. They don’t use hammers anymore, but rather work with sheets of carbon-fibre weave. The 12-cylinder engine is quickly becoming a relic of the past, replaced by turbo V8s in a quest for better fuel economy. But no matter how good they get they’ll never feel like a properly tuned V12. There’s a wave of unstoppable, smooth torque that builds predictably, flooding to the back wheels and easily overwhelming the tires if you’re brave (or foolish) enough to turn the traction control off. The new 6.0-litre V12 under the hood delivers 565 horsepower. With the launch control system active, it’ll do 0-100 km/h in 4.1 seconds. Many cars pin you to your seat, but the Vanquish holds you there and doesn’t let you up. To keep this sort of power in check, the lads have fitted race-car style carbon-ceramic brakes and a steering rack so precise you could hit an apple on an apex. Add to this an utterly gorgeous interior filled with hand-crafted details and it all adds up to make this the best all-around Aston Martin. Ever. 100 years in the making, but worth every minute of the wait. FREE iPAD EDITION: Download this issue for a video of the Aston Martin Vanquish in action. See P.127 for more info.
ASTON’S GREATEST HITS:
1956 DBR1:
This machine gave the company its first outright win at the Le Mans 24 Hours. In 1959, everybody stood up and took notice of the gents from Newport Pagnell.
1963 DB5
More so than racing ever could, Hollywood—specifically Sean Connery as James Bond in Goldfinger—made Aston Martin and the DB5 household names.
1972 AMV8
Bigger and more brutish than previous models, but perfectly formed, this bruiser of a British muscle car made contemporary American machines look crude.
1994 DB7
The car that defined the modern Aston mould: perfect proportion, great stance, imposing presence, sculpted sheet metal. Oh, and a lovely V12 motor in the Vantage model.
2010 ONE-77
There was no precedent for this: an all-carbon chassis, no limits, cost-no-object supercar. Only 77 were built. Each one sold for around $2 million. APRIL 2013 / SHARPFORMEN.COM 59
04.13
A PENNY FOR YOUR TROTS
ÇŞ ÇŞÄŠÇŞ ÇŞ ÇŞÄŠÇŞ ÇŞ
LOUIS VUITTON WAXED CALF LEATHER LOAFERS, $780
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P H O T O : M AT T H E W D O Y L E
ON PAGE 92, you’ll find our roundup of five essential shoes for 2013, the standout pairs you’ll need to keep your dogs in vogue. But that’s not to say you shouldn’t revisit an old favourite from time to time. Example: Louis Vuitton’s take on the classic penny loafer. The exquisite waxed calf leather and luxe metallic detailing are a sure sign these slip-ons are a step up from those Weejuns you bounded around in back in college. And unlike their abolished copper namesake, no one would ever accuse these loafers of lacking usefulness—they’re a first-rate sockless companion to everything from shorts and a polo to a casual cotton suit.
– YANG-YI GOH
64 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
Ogle a few more pairs at Sharpformen.com/category/style
STYLE | Heroes of Menswear
THE DENIM GURU
On the 140th anniversary of the original 501, Levi’s archivist Lynn Downey recounts the riveting, rebellious history of the blue jean. BY YANG-YI GOH
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THE INTERNATIONAL headquarters of Levi Strauss & Co. looms over the northeast tip of San Francisco Bay, a sprawling modernist complex of red brick and glass. Tucked away in a small office, adjacent to the main building, is where you’ll find many of the company’s most valued possessions— and, arguably, its most valuable employee. Lynn Downey is the historian at Levi’s, the gatekeeper of the nearly 7,500 garments and significant materials in the label’s archives. She radiates passion for her work, and it’s evident from the top of her head to the cuffs of her vintage 501s—quite literally, considering her hair is dyed the colour of Levi’s famed copper rivets. Despite the fact that all of the brand’s records from its first five decades were wiped away by the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, since joining Levi’s in 1989, Downey has grown the archive’s collection of pre-1900 jeans from a single pair to 11, including the world’s oldest known dungarees—a tattered pair of 501s circa 1879, discovered at the pit of an abandoned mine. A quick tour of Downey’s office reveals even more remarkable treasures: a pile of personal letters from Cary Grant, declaring his love for Levi’s western shirts; a predictably flamboyant denim jacket hand-decorated by Sir Elton John; a model of a collaborative AMC car with custom denim interiors.
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FROM LEFT: Speaking with Downey Lynn Downey is just as fascinating, her at Levi’s conversation peppered with headquarters; tangential historical aneca Levi’s sales dotes—including, among flyer circa 1899; Levi others, dozens of stories of Strauss in how Levi’s jeans have saved 1890; people’s lives. “One guy, vintage 501s literally, someone shot him and the bullet from 1922 bounced off the top button of his jeans.” and 1890, The sustained worldwide appeal of Levi’s respectively. is no mystery for Downey. “I always say every generation gets the 501 jean it needs,” she says, “because every generation decides what it’s going to say by wearing jeans. In the ’30s, if you were wearing jeans and you weren’t a labourer, it was a sign of solidarity with the working class. In the ’50s, wearing jeans meant you completely rejected the whole suburban grey-flannel-suit ethos of post-war America. People use jeans as representations. No other piece of clothing will do that.” This year marks the 140th anniversary of the 501, and Levi’s has chosen to celebrate with an ambitious new collection inspired by traditional Indian garment-dying techniques. The original blue jean has been reinterpreted in an ultra-modern, lightweight fabric and dyed in eye-popping hues with names like Clove, Ivy Green, and Mineral Red. It’s safe to say that Levi’s culture of pushing boundaries has been preserved, but don’t ask Downey where the illustrious brand is headed next. “How should I know?” she guffaws. “I’m a historian! The one thing about Levi’s is that it’s never static, and it doesn’t live in the past—that’s what they have me for.”
STYLE | Timepieces
THE PERFECT OFFICE WATCH
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BY ARIEL ADAMS
Rolex CELLINI PRINCE $18,000
Citizen SIGNATURE GRAND CLASSIC AUTOMATIC $1,050
Bell & Ross BR 123 OFFICER $3,385
TAG Heuer CARRERA CALIBRE 5 $2,515 Montblanc TIMEWALKER AUTOMATIC $5,485
Longines MASTER COLLECTION $3,000 70 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
IT HAS BEEN SAID that men rely on their shoes, wallets and watches to show people who they are. Watches, however, have the capacity to make the strongest statement of the three—and for a man in the status-conscious business world, having the correct type of timepiece is essential. For the suit-wearer, watches should have a thinner-profile case (typically polished metal) and a glossy leather strap. Since a dressy design often equates with simplicity, their clean, legible dials (often in black or white tones) aren’t cluttered by too many elements or markings. While some office-ready watches are adaptations of classic formal pieces of the past, most of today’s designs are linked to military or sport pieces. The sense of utility and masculinity from military-style watches— when refined for business wear—lends itself well to the power-suit set. Classic racing and diving watches, for instance, have lent their large lume-coated hands and case water resistance and durability to their presentday counterparts. Since complications like chronos, moon phases and second time zones tend to clutter up the otherwise clean face of an office watch, opt for something with a simple day/date indicator or power reserve. You should also consider that thick and oversized watches may not fit under your shirt cuff, so either save them for the weekend or have your shirts purpose-altered. Lastly, while sporty materials like carbon fibre and bright colours add cachet to a watch, they’re generally not suitable for the boardroom. If your watch is doing the talking, you don’t want it to shout.
STYLE | Grooming The Stuff:
The Stuff:
Anthony Logistics Facial Scrub
Lucky Tiger Face Wash
Why It’s Better Than What You’re Using: If you aren’t exfoliating, you aren’t really cleaning your face. Exfoliating gets rid of dead skin, cleans out dirt and oil, and makes skin look younger. With the soothing benefit of aloe, chamomile and age-fighting vitamin C, this is one of the best scrubs on the market. $36
Why It’s Better Than What You’re Using: There is something refreshing about a straightforward facial cleanser, especially when it’s actually, you know, refreshing. Lucky Tiger relies on natural ingredients like organic cucumber and aloe, fortified by age-defying anti-oxidants, to keep your face clean and healthy. $18
The Stuff:
Ursa Major Fantastic Face Wash
Why It’s Better Than What You’re Using: It’s 99.5% natural—and you gotta love a company that doesn’t round up to sound good. While synthetic chemicals don’t automatically make a cleanser bad, it makes sense to have something pure to wipe away impurities. Plus, the combination of cedar, rosemary and spearmint is pretty much the best scent to refresh your face. $26
WASH UP You know how to wash
your face. Now, use better stuff to do it.
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YOU WASH YOUR FACE. Of course you do. It’s called basic hygiene, and so long as you’re able to read words in a magazine, you don’t need said magazine to tell you to do something so obvious. But! Are you getting everything you can from your daily cleansing routine? Unless you’re using one of the following, you’re probably not. It’s time to switch it up for something better. The Stuff:
Biotherm Homme Aquapower Cleanser
The Stuff:
Portland General Store Face Bomb
Why It’s Better Than What You’re Using: What kind of mud are you putting on your face? Because this is deep cleansing rhassoul mud, rich in minerals and anti-bacterials. With some ground walnut to provide essential, yet gentle, exfolitation, and notes of sandalwood, it’s a rustic, manly cleansing experience. Take that, bar of soap. $22
Why It’s Better Than What You’re Using: The biggest downside of regular face-washing is the tendency of cleansers to dry skin out. Biotherm addresses that persistent problem by infusing their cleanser with hydrating properties that will leave your skin moisturized and nourished. $28
DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE CLARISONIC Does it seem excessive, and maybe a bit effeminate, to use what is essentially a large toothbrush on your face? Maybe. But, frankly, it feels amazing. And, the better you wash your face, the longer your face stays young-looking. And there’s nothing effeminate about that. 72 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
Find your next spring fragrance at Sharpformen.com/category/style
GUIDE | Fatherhood
SONS OF A SON-OF-A-GUN Sometimes our most meaningful relationships are the hardest to explain BY SHAUGHNESSY BISHOP-STALL
THE FIRST GUN MIKE EVER SHOT WAS A Lee Enfield .303 Jungle Carbine. He was six years old, cradled in the arms of his father. “We were camping, by a river, and my old man pulled out his gun. I’d seen him shoot it before, a few times. He waved me over, then he sat down and I sat in his lap.” Mike is a bear of a man, a veteran actor, and a master storyteller. I can see the weight of the rifle in his hands, his eyes turning into his father’s. “He kind of held my arm inside his and told me to put my finger on the trigger. Then he put his hand over mine.” Mike’s finger curls carefully around the memory of his own as a child. “I can still feel it exactly. It was safe and scary at the same time. He held the rifle against my shoulder and pulled my shoulder into his, so he’d absorb the kick. He told me to aim…” And now Mike leans forward, hands still raised, his fingers curled, he squints one eye. “And squeeze. Then, boom.” 74 SHARPFORMEN.COM / APRIL 2013
“What did you shoot at?” Mike shrugs, and just like that the gun disappears. “I don’t know,” he says. “A bush? A tree? We shot across the river.” For a moment he glances off, like he’s looking for where the bullet went. Mike has been my best friend as long as I can remember, but I’ve never heard this story about his dad before. I know a hundred other ones—even watched a few of them unfold. They usually end with some sort of a bang: an explosion, a gunshot, a burst of laughter, a badass moral, an echoing lesson. The son of a depression-era bank robber, Mike’s dad Bob sailed through life like a buccaneer. He was a gambler and a biker, but also an excellent dad and a helluva hard worker. For decades he was a high-wire crew boss for the phone company. He’d go to work sometimes with a sabre hanging from his belt: as he hung from the wires, he’d belt out orders like a pirate on the main sail. He brought phone books home from work and stuffed them into the wood-burning hearth
for target practice. “That was always fun…,” says Mike, “shooting up the fireplace.” For Mike and his brother, guns were like the rest of life in Bob’s domain—to be taken lightly and deadly serious at the same time—to be learned, mastered and thoroughly enjoyed. Bob was smart enough to keep firearms away from the rest of us little punks, but he knew his boys—he’d moulded them with his bare hands into brave and trustworthy young men. A heavyweight boozer and Viking philosopher, Bob was the kind of man who no one could beat, so he had to do it to himself. He was a living legend until he finally died, from living so legendarily hard. It was a rainy day in May 2003. After years of death-defying illness, he stood up out of bed and collapsed. When the paramedics arrived, they saw the butt of a Ruger P85 in the drawer of the bedside table, knocked open by his fall, and called the cops. Like all his other guns, it was fully registered, but the police seized it, and Bob was taken to the hospital, where he quickly departed for whatever Valhalla might be up there. Here in Canada, it took Mike some hoop-jumping to get the gun back. Eventually he did, and re-registered all 30 of his dad’s firearms in his own name. Now, it’s 10 years later and we’re driving my mum’s 30-year-old van to a shooting range outside Vancouver. We’ve got the Ruger in a lock box, along with a Colt 45 that Mike’s dad gave him when we graduated from high school. “I don’t honestly know why my old man was so into guns,” says Mike. “Or why I am. Except that my old man was. No, that’s not really it…” Mike is a big-hearted, liberal-minded man, and his eloquence can falter when it comes to his relationship with guns. Especially now. Mike’s first child is due in less than a month. Despite the earnest protests of his lovely wife, Mike wants to name him Buck. My son’s name is Zev. We figure they’ll be a crime-fighting duo. Defending gun ownership is not foremost on my best friend’s mind. Mike is not only a marksman, but a scholar of warfare. His maternal grandfather and great grandfather were soldiers in wars that he has studied obsessively. He believes that killing is the most unnatural human behaviour and that to do so requires an instinctual deprogramming. Police, even soldiers, he says, used to train by shooting at targets without faces. “They were still full of their humanity going onto the battlefield, where maybe it was ripped from them, but they were human going in. Now, kids go through shooting simulations on computer before they even know how to read. We’re desensitizing a whole generation to gun violence. And here, kid, you have the right to own an assault rifle. Those things shouldn’t even exist. They serve no purpose but to kill as
many people as quickly as possible.” “Didn’t your dad have assault rifles?” “Yes,” says Mike. Which means, of course, now Mike owns them. I can see him wrestling with everything as we cross a bridge over the sparkling Fraser River. “You going to teach Buck to shoot?” “If he wants to learn,” says Mike. “I don’t know why I always have to defend this stuff to people. It just seems like a no-brainer.” “What do you mean?” “I don’t want to live in a world where everyone carries a gun. That would be a horribly stressful place to be. But as it is, the world is full of guns, and I think it’s good and smart to know what that means, how to use them, what they can do. It’s not the marksmen who shoot innocent kids in the street. It’s the little gangster morons who are handed guns and don’t know how to use them.” “And then there’s always the zombie apocalypse…” “That’s right,” says Mike, as we pull up to the firing range. “Got to make sure Buck and Zev are ready for that.”
Mike is a big-hearted, liberal-minded man, and his eloquence can falter when it comes to his relationship with guns. Especially now. Mike’s first child is due in less than a month. Mike wants to name him Buck. My son’s name is Zev. We figure they’ll be a crime-fighting duo.
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There are dozens of kitschy pop-culture targets to choose from—everything from a Hello Kitty with a machine gun to a sexy Mrs. Claus. But Mike, of course, chooses the classic, faceless silhouette. Before we start to shoot, he takes me carefully through the safety lessons; how to load and hold and aim. I pay close attention. Not only do I want to learn to shoot well, but at this point, I still think it’s what this column will be about. We fire his father’s gun, and then his own—shooting patterns on paper in a bright, deafening warehouse. Then we get in my mum’s van for the drive back to our childhood neighbourhood, his pregnant wife and my little boy, who is napping. “That was fun,” says Mike. I agree, but I can see he’s deep in thought, so I watch the road and wait until he gives me something else. “You know what it is?” “What?” “All those things we loved as kids—the pirates and cowboys, and cops and robbers, even the war…all those stories and adventures—my dad made them real. We’d be watching a movie or whatever and then he’d go and bring out the exact same musket that soldier was holding—or a crossbow or a rifle—and he’d put it in our hands, and he’d show us how it worked, try to teach us what it really did—let us feel the weight of it, you know?” I look over and Mike’s hands are curled around that invisible first rifle—the Lee Enfield .303 Jungle Carbine—and he’s staring across the river. He looks just like his dad. And I can see now that it’s not about what you hit, or even what you aim at. It’s about holding onto something.
For the rest of Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall’s fatherhood chronicles, visit Sharpformen.com/category/culture/
APRIL 2013 / SHARPFORMEN.COM 75
THE RISE
AND RISE
THE SECRET LIFE OF BEN AFFLECK BY BRENDAN CHRISTIE
AND RISE AND FALL,
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I N T E R V I E W B Y B R U N O L E S T E R ; P H O T O S B Y: S C O T T M C D E R M O T T/ C O R B I S O U T L I N E
AND RISE
OF HOLLYWOOD’S NEWEST GOLDENBOY (AGAIN)
APRIL 2013 / SHARPFORMEN.COM 77
KATIE CASSIDY IS A REAL PERSON THE BEAUTIFUL ACTRESS FROM ARROW ISN’T AS TOUGH AS SHE MIGHT SEEM
Words by GREG HUDSON Photography By KOUROSH KESHIRI
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MAYBE
it’s because we live in fragmented times, where roles and work and life—or, at least, what it means to live a good life—are constantly being redefined, broken down, built up and rearranged, but we can’t help but feel like Manhood is becoming more and more a creation of marketers than of actual men. Manhood is more than razors and baconflavoured toothpaste, cars and suits (oh, it’s all those things, too). It’s about work, and growing up, and money, and, hell, a whole lot of real things. And sometimes the best people to understand Real Things are people who make stuff up for a living. For our Manhood Explored series, we asked the best fiction writers in Canada to write about what it means to be a man. They could do it any way they wanted to. Michael Winter wrote about setting the world on fire, falling in love and being crushed by seven tons of water. He wrote about growing up.
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MANHOOD EXPLORED: Pa r t 1
Brush By MICHAEL WINTER
APRIL 2013 / SHARPFORMEN.COM 87
GET YOU PHOTOGRAPHER:
Mario Miotti
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Swimsuit ($185) by Red Carter; terry wristbands ($5) by American Apparel.
Update your shoe arsenal with these essential spring styles
The Retro Runner Of all the ’70s trends that could have resurfaced—like, say, bellbottoms, leather jumpsuits or velour shirts—we’re glad that it’s these old-school sneakers that are enjoying a comeback. Whether you rock them off duty with trim-cut chinos or at the gym with running shorts, they’ll help to keep a bounce in your step all summer long. NEW BALANCE, $130, AT KITH NYC
R KICKS APRIL 2013 / SHARPFORMEN.COM 93
FACED WITH ERRATIC SPRINGTIME CLIMES, NOTHING LOOKS BETTER THAN A FORM-FITTING, TOUGH-AS-NAILS LEATHER JACKET. TO PROVE IT, WE HAD INDYCAR SPEED DEMON JAMES HINCHCLIFFE SUIT UP IN THE SEASON’S SLICKEST COWHIDES
The
DUNE DRIFTER PHOTOGRAPHY BY MATT BARNES
SHARPFORMEN.COM
LEATHER JACKET ($2,195) BY Z ZEGNA; COTTON SHIRT ($225) BY ZEGNA SPORT; SUNGLASSES ($500) BY PORSCHE DESIGN.
L A T EP R E H S UP ER RM U A W H E R N Y OY T T O AT T E I V E L N I LY N E P O S I T T N D E T H E OA S H, P I F O N I T H D, B R C N W L L E A N T H S W: B O L S MO ED NO LORA N N E N LY F I N A + W I L S O RA MA Y BY G PHOTO
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RAPH
AN D 9 5) I M O N 8 $ I T ( BY S L S U ($8 5) S H I RT O O ; N W TI E T TO M ITH ) K N IT TE R; C O AU L S ($325 , P S C A R 5 ) BY I N G T I P U . S . A S 6 O W 2 T A ($ H E R ) HTAR V T LEA OH N V Y; YAC 12,5 00 J O $ ( B Y B EEL H ATC AT H TE R W S MA O LE X. BY R
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DINE and
DA S H I N G
Raise a glass to the well-dressed men in their bold spring suits. A celebration of fit, colour and tasteful excess.
PHOTOGRAPHY:
MATT BARNES WA R D R O B E ST Y L I NG :
LEE SULLIVAN
FOR PLUTINO GROUP
SHARPFORMEN.COM
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