Gentlemans Diary

GENTLEMANS DIARY

UMIT BENAN ISSUE No1 FALL/WINTER 2011

THE FIRST ISSUE OF GENTLEMANS DIARY MAGAZINE IS TITLED

THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE BELIEVE THAT THERE ARE NO RULES IN LIFE THAT CANNOT BE BROKEN BY VISIONARY PEOPLE. UMIT BENAN IS ON THE COVER OF ISSUE NO1 CAUSE HE IS COUNTED AS ONE OF THEM.

ARISTOTLE ONASSIS ONCE SAID

IF WOMEN DIDN’T EXIST, ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD WOULD HAVE NO MEANING

PUBLISHING DIRECTOR & EDITOR IN CHIEF

NICO LOURIS GENTLEMANS DIARY IS PUBLISHED TWICE A YEAR BY

LADIESANDGENTLEMAN PUBLICATIONS DISTRIBUTED ONLINE AT

GENTLEMANSDIARY.COM AND ISUU.COM ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. GENTLEMANS DIARY IS AN ONLINE LIFESTYLE MAGAZINE FOR THOSE LIVING IN STYLE.

NICO LOURIS DIARY nicolouris.com

THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

MENSWEAR

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A gentleman always dresses well

P NEMIALRI LO WY ANS ND OR ON K

Bottega Veneta

Canali

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

Dolce & Gabbana

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Ermenegildo Zegna

A gentleman has the abillity to look well dressed, even by breaking the so called-rules of style

P NEMIALRI LO WY ANS ND OR ON K

Gucci

Loden Dager

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

Simon Spurr

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Steven Alan

A gentleman is one who puts more into the world than he takes out

P NEMIALRI LO WY ANS ND OR ON K

Patrik Ervell

Roberto Cavalli

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HUGH HEFNER SAID

Salvatore Ferragamo

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Viktor & Rolf

You stay in touch with the boy who dreamed impossible dreams

P NEMIALRI LO WY ANS ND OR ON K

Tom Ford

Dsquared2

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

THE STANDARD HOTEL NEW YORK

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Visit lots of places in the world. It changes the way you think

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

The Boom Boom Room at The Standard New York Rooftop

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The ďŹ nal test of a gentleman is his respect for those who can be of no possible service to him

The Standard Grill

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HENRY MILLER SAID

“Andre Balazs’ emphatically nonstandard Standard Hotel” - New York Magazine

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One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things

“The most unusual and significant New York building in years” - The New York Observer

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

SNEAKERS

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A pair of sneakers can make the difference

o Ch my Jim 2 € 50 S ia rav elg oB H de ue p To igh Sn rs ke ea

Prada Sued e Low Top Tra iners 240 €

o mm Co € 449

Lan v 310 in Sued e €

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

Yv 46 es Sa 0 € int

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Converse Chuck Taylor White Leather Sneakers 70 € Sn

eak er s

4 ce 57 Balan New 98 €

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Givenchy Tom Sole Hook High Top Sneakers 310 €

Even if it’s just for walking the dog, wear a nice pair of shoes

Fifty years ago, it was the dream of every bohemian artist to be seen getting out of a limousine wearing blue jeans and

sneakers.

Today, it's the dream of probably half the people in the country.

Brad Holland

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

TIMELESSNESS

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A real timepiece is worth waiting for purchasing it. It gives you that special feeling you had as a child opening the christmas gifts

Tag Heuer Carrera Calibre 16 Day-Date Automatic Chronograph 43 mm 3.400 â‚Ź

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

Corum Admiral’s Cup Seafender 48 Deep Dive 48 mm 7.400 €

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A gentleman never breaks a promise

Chopard Mille Miglia Gran Turismo XL 44 mm 8.900 â‚Ź

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

Luminor Panerai 1950 Chrono Monopulsante 8 Days GMT 44 mm 16.900 â‚Ź

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Use your aesthetic sense more often as you think it is necessary

IWC Schaffhausen Portuguese Chronograph Reference 3714 41 mm 9.500 â‚Ź

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MUHAMMAD ALI SAID

Burberry BU7701 44 mm 595 €

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A man who views the world the same at ďŹ fty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life

Uniform Wares 100 Series Classic Steel 37 mm 158 â‚Ź

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RYAN GOSLING

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The line between self-conďŹ dence and arrogance is very thin. Do not cross this line

Ryan Gosling in a suit designed by Albert Hammond Jr.

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

Ryan Gosling wearing Selima Chad Sunglassses

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One man's style must not be the rule of another's

Oliver Peoples Daddy B 325 €

Vintage Style Sunglasses inspired by Ryan Gosling’s performance in Crazy Stupid Love

Selima Chad 400 $

Persol Steve McQueen 333 €

RayBan Tortoiseshell Wayfarer 157 €

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

Ryan Gosling in a suit and wearing a David Yurman ring

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Concision in style, precision in thought, decision in life

Charvet Silk Pocket Square 55 €

Essentials inspired by Ryan Gosling’s performance in Crazy Stupid Love

Bottega Veneta Intrecciato Leather Chest Pocket Wallet 390 €

Persol Steve McQueen 333 €

Brioni Classic Cotton Oxford Shirt 375 €

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gentlemansdiary.com

GENTLEMANS DIARY THE BLOG

THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

UMIT BENAN

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Have great expectations of yourself. This can be the cornerstone of your evolution

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THE NEW CREATIVE DIRECTOR OF TRUSSARDI

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Name Umit Benan.

Born in Stuttgart, Germany, from Turkish parents.

Life is On the move: he moved to Istanbul, Turkey, when he was two, in his thirty years of life he has wandered around Switzerland, USA, England and Italy.

Education While style is inborn, anyone can learn technique.

Umit started when he was a child, in his family's textile factory, learning fashion industry basics from his father. After earning a diploma in Lugano, Switzerland, he moved to Boston to study marketing and public relations. It was then that he realized that his true passion was fashion and that he wanted to become a designer. Although he remained focused on his true goal he chose not to drop out of college but spent his summers in Milan instead, attending fashion design courses. He definitely moved to Italy only after taking his degree, and enrolled in the Masters in Fashion Design at Marangoni and, at the same time, following styling classes at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. He also traveled often to Istanbul to learn as much as possible on textile techniques at home.

At 24 Umit went back to the States, in New York, to complete his education. In the Big Apple he studied at the Parsons' new design school and started working in Marc Jacobs' womenswear stylistic department.

Later he became the assistant to Sophie Theallet, who at the time used to design for François Nars' brand Motu Tane.

In 2006 he moved again to Milan and became part of the Pollini entourage working as the assistant to Rifat Ozbek, also from Turkey.

In 2009 Umit launched his first menswear collection called Day 77 and right away the ironic and subversive mood of his creativity showed through.

The turning point Thanks to the elegance and quality of his creations, Umit soon gained the recognition of the press and the public alike: with his second menswear collection, Cuba ss10, the designer won the first edition of Who is on Next? Uomo, organized by AltaRoma in collaboration with L'Uomo Vogue and Pitti Immagine.

And before woman, there was men 'Biblical' in his creations, Umit started his solo career with a menswear collection: "While the choice for women is so big- he explains - in the fashion scene there wasn't the type of man I wanted to propose, MY kind of man."

Man according to Umit "A confident man that won't turn down frivolity." Umit is not interested in the age but rather in the masculinity of his models: men from all walks of life and with all kinds of physiques, even old men, or poor, rich, intellectual… but always intense, in their personality.

Like musician Burhan Ocal, the ideal star of his latest collection inspired by traditional Turkey: a combination of romanticism and arrogance.

His beliefs "What is really important is not the outfit but the man who wears it."

His creations are Elegant and subversive, at times ironic, always well-thought.

Precious fabrics, "hand-made" and attention for details are the key features of his clothes. A modern, at times rough, tailoring. Street -couture: "masculine, aggressive, full of contrasts and imperfect". Nothing to do with Saville Row, to make things clearer. Umit loves to break the rules of classic clothing, until he overturns them.

The realization (in three seasons) Umit likes to be daring: he overturns, without hesitation, the formal suit in his debut collection, taking on the outside what is usually worn on the inside; he mixes the double-breast with pajamas in the F/W 2010/11 collection inspired by "Retired Rockers"; he reinvents the tuxedo employing the rules of Turkish traditional garments for next summer's menswear.

Elegance "True elegance is never flaunted: style comes from within. Men use it as an expression of power. I personally prefer true charm".

They say that To be in tune with his garments, appreciate them, and, finally, to learn to love them, the only way is to wear them, touch them, examin all their details: in a word, live them.

The inspiration Traveling, the streets, people. He takes pictures, rather obsessively. And once he gets home, he starts creating.

His approach to style Sociological: Umit records reality and translates it into fashion.

His vision Cinematic, as in neo-realism: a presentation is better than a runway show: a banquet where guests can eat, talk, laugh(as seen at Pitti n°78),in place of a static catwalk.

His creative method "I observe people in the streets, looking for a specific type of man. When I find him, I imagine his habits, his lifestyle: a detailed story, on which I then base a wardrobe. I want real people who interpret clothes in a spontaneous way". For this reason he avoids runways shows and opts instead for presentations, more intimate and private, like real-life sceneries.

So far he has been fascinated by clochards, rockers and musicians.

Who Is Umit?

A determined guy. A guy who knows what he wants and gets it, with stubbornness.

Always provocative, Umit hides a lively and cosmopolitan soul. A deep soul. His nature is that of a nomad, his spirit curious, his style surprising.

About himself When I was a child my mother used to tell me I was: "an angel-faced devil". I think some things never change.

The obsession The beard: "The first feature I associate with a real man. Not the well-groomed beard of a lawyer or a banker; but rather the ruffled beard of a runaway, which I find extremely fascinating."

Who spoke about him In less than two years Umit has appeared on the pages of the world's leading fashion publications: Vogue, Muse, i-D, L'Officielle Hommes.

Suzy Menkes has mentioned his name alongside those of great fashion designers (Giorgio Armani, Brioni, Dsquared2) on the pages of the International Herald Tribune.

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UMIT BENAN SAID

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What is really important is not the outfit but the man who wears it

STUTTGART, ISTANBUL, LUGANO, BOSTON, LONDON, MILAN. THE CITIES THAT GAVE UMIT BENAN THE INSPIRATION NEEDED CREATING HIS COSMOPOLITAN AND MULTICULTURAL COLLECTIONS EACH SEASON. A VISIONARY DESIGNER OF THE NEW GENERATION. How much of an advantage was it growing up around the textile industry?

A big advantage because you get to see, and breathe, the air of fashion’s first steps. But it was mostly being close to my Dad. Was there one thing in particular it taught you about working in fashion?

Technically it taught me a lot. When sketching it’s very important to know what's possible, and what’s not.

What most excites you about menswear at the moment?

Not specifically in menswear but in general I like fashion and photography a lot, and I like my job lots. Everything about it excites me.

And I’m still new, so nothing disappoints me yet.

How do you start the collection each season?

I always start with a character in mind, like the main character in a movie. First I write the story, and then I dress him up for the movie.

Is the strong masculine appeal of your work down to the influence of male figures or role models that have been an important source of inspiration to you? Do you have an image in your head of the man you design for?

His name is Pablo James, a Latin American that lives in NYC, an imaginary character of mine. But I think about other men too when I sketch: My Dad. Julian Schnabel. Robert Rabensteiner. Jordi Mollà. Colin Farrell. Vincent Gallo. Etc etc.

How do you see the influence of your Turkish heritage come through in your work?

I think growing up in Turkey is one of the reasons for my obsession with masculinity, and aggressive attitude in men. But other than that you don't especially see much of a Turkish influence. It could inspire me for sure, but from time to time.

Your pieces have a well-loved realism about them, like ‘old favourites’ even though they have a Modernist edge. Do classic construction and wearability factor strongly in your design approach?

I like to use older looking classic or vintage fabrics and give them a modern look with the design – but always within the limits. That way there’s a balance, and an interesting contrast comes out. Mostly because I think about characters when sketching, thinking how they would be wearing it, so it’s always wearable because they are also natural and real masculine characters.

Can you imagine creating a menswear collection not based on tailoring?

Almost impossible. Not me! I like my men in a nice sartorial jacket.

What inspires you about the mix of traditional materials you use? Luxury seems to be high on the agenda, whether you’re using beautiful knits or superfine leathers.

In menswear I don't think it should be over-designed. It can be risky. I like simplicity. And when simplicity meets luxury you get classic pieces. Also I grew up with beautiful clothes – my Dad has a pretty luxurious wardrobe.

Do you prefer presentations to catwalk shows because they provide a more natural platform for the clothes?

For menswear I would definitely choose a presentation. They are more natural – how menswear and men should be. It’s more real and artistic. The message gets out there more clearly – at least in the case of my work.

How have you seen the internet’s influence on fashion have an impact on your own business? Do you have your own blog or Twitter?

I think it’s the new way of life. It’s super-fast and easy. Even though I still prefer buying a magazine and feeling the nice quality paper, taking some time alone in a coffee shop and dreaming with the images. But the internet has definitely helped my business. I don't use Twitter, but if I had more time I would love to have my own blog.

In the future will menswear be all about comfort and technology, or will tradition always have a strong part to play?

I really don't have any idea where others will go, or where the system will take it, but I will for sure go more traditional. As well as travel, discover, and study other cultures.

What are you most looking forward to?

Getting back in shape! Physically and mentally, I’ve had tough times after an ugly car accident I had at the beginning of summer.

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

INVESTMENT BANKERS UMIT BENAN FALL/WINTER 2011-12

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If you only do what you know you can do - you never do very much

INSPIRATION The New Umit Benan collection for winter takes inspiration from the flawless elegance of investment bankers and young go-getters in the world of finance, a late ‘80s image of infallible and unscrupulous NYC professionals as portrayed in the films Wall Street and American Psycho.

Giving free rein to his unconventional imagination, the designer creates his ideal yuppie - the type he’d have work in a hypothetical Umit Benan bank populated by real live characters bordering on movie cast.

What makes the difference in this modern, international and multiethnic bank where everybody would like to invest his money is none other than the group of individuals involved.

Refined and cultured men of various races and nationalities, each with his own specific personality and physical appearance, poised between quiet professional demeanor and edgy “freak gang” touch.

Absolutely punctilious about personal grooming, they are perfectly stylish and fulfilled men who at the same time find in the group and group bonding - just the right twist of eccentricity, a delightful offbeat flair.

While serious and sedate on the job after hours they let it all hang out, particularly at night when they meet in private bars and in the city’s funkiest underground clubs.

In the morn they may gesticulate wildly (and indefatigably) as cut big deals, but when call it a day on the mergers & acquisitions scene finally let surface the easiest and innermost of egos. Setting aside first of all in the clothes they wear.

It’s a group of characters reflecting a deep cultural crossover, a merging of totally different souls: from ultra well-bred gentleman to shabby-chic sweetheart all the way to intellectual geek. For a mix so unexpected and unlikely as to become amicable, reassuring, irresistible.

In this company of men where the individual is exalted by the whole an imaginary protagonist by the name of Gienchi James rises above the rest to epitomize a true culture of fine living and dressing.

Precisely from the opposition between single and group. 1980s and today, severity sophistication and supremely cool ease emerges the designer’s vision for next season: clothes for men who offer a unique personal take on every shape, every color, every finishing touch.

For according to the Umit Benan aesthetic, behind the clothes there’s much more to discover.

And it’s personality of the man who is making clothes his own.

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UMIT BENAN

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Investment Bankers Collection

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

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Style is like life itself. If you wanna make a step forward, you have to be open minded and not stucked in conservatism

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JAMES JACKSON SAID

MENTAL CAVIAR

BY TAKI THEODORACOPULOS

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National debt - The most dangerous thing to come out of Greece since Taki

MARRYING FOR MONEY AND EARNING EVERY CENT

NEW YORK An English prof made an Earth-shattering discovery about ten years ago - there is a strong link between having money fall upon you and being happy. He didn’t win a Nobel for it, nor for his conclusion, which was that money buys autonomy and independence. The prof should have won a Nobel Prize for excessive stupidity instead, especially for his last neologism: “To turn a really unhappy person into a very happy person using money alone would take about one million pounds.”

I ain’t so sure about that. I gave a member of my family much more than one million quid twenty years ago and the guy is still miserable and angry - mostly at yours truly. That arch-phony Sigmund Freud was on my side on money matters. He said that happiness is the adult fulfillment of childhood dreams, and children, said Siggy, do not dream of money. Ergo, money does not buy happiness. A far more serious and better person, Gore Vidal, is on record saying that if the poor were ever to find out how much fun the rich really have, they would probably rise up and kill them all. My only contribution to wealth epigrams is the one I borrowed about those who marry for money - they earn every cent and then some. I do not include women in that, only men. Most women I know who married for moolah have led charmingly carefree lives, with lotsa staff to boss around, lotsa houses in which to receive grand people, lotsa toys in which to fly and sail privately, and lotsa, lotsa walkers to keep them company when the old boy is in a board meeting and they happen to be bored.

“Although an expert on going down, all she needed to capture him was to talk down to him.”

A recent book on Lily Safra confirms my point. I have not read it - even I have better things to do at this advanced stage of my life but this old bag really struck it rich through marriages and sudden deaths. She may look like a gilded lily nowadays, but she looked far, far worse in her youth. How she did it, I dunno. All I know is that she came up from nowhere and married three rich men. I believe two of them dropped dead and left her all their money. One, Señor Greenberg - who changed his name to Monteverde - died from a mysterious pistol shot in the head. The other, Safra the banker, perished from an equally mysterious fire in his Monte Carlo office.

Trophy wives are now a cliché, proof that men are insecure and prefer taut skin. I take a backseat to no one where beautiful young girls are concerned, but veterans are known to sparkle in bed. And I don’t believe a word about the Duchess of Windsor and all the oriental tricks she supposedly used on the poor Duke, who is rumored to be hung like a nine-month-old baby. Although an expert on going down, all she needed to capture him was to talk down to him. I haven’t enough space to list the great courtesans - because that’s what they really are - who nowadays pose as ladies of society, and there’s also the monster that goes by the name of libel that seems to lurk over my shoulder when I write about such touchy subjects. But in my long life among the rich and infamous, the ratio of rich men landing glorified hookers is about fifty-fifty; in the ex-Soviet Union’s case, it’s 99 to 1 in favor of the hookers.

The trouble of having been around a long time is that one knows most of the secrets, and vice versa. Since the 1960s there have been rumors galore about certain French society ladies who used to work for the most famous Madame of all time, Claude. I hate to disappoint my gossip-column buddies, but I knew every single Madame Claude girl and not one made the big time except a pair I introduced to two Indonesian generals who represented Pertamina (the national oil company) back in 1965 and chose to leave Paris to go back with them. Old dad was doing business with Pertamina and had asked me to find some debs for them while a contract was being negotiated in the City of Light. I went to Claude, dad was amazed, the contract was signed, and when my father returned to Athens he told my mother: “The little one isn’t as big an idiot as he acts; he has beautiful and very willing young friends.”

My great buddy Porfirio Rubirosa was, unlike the Windsor man, hung like a mule. He at least married rich women - three of them took their money and divorced them, and then married beautiful but impoverished youngsters. He was a sexual Robin Hood, or so I like to think. That ghastly Roussel fellow who took Christina Onassis’s millions is an exception where earning one’s ill-gotten gains is concerned. He mistreated the poor little rich girl something awful and now lives in Switzerland, enjoying moolah that should never have gone to him. The irony is that many of the men I’ve known who married for money were or are gay. Before all these erectile-dysfunction drugs came along I was too reluctant to ask them how they managed their conjugal duties, but now the question is academic.

“VV,” as in Viva Viagra, should be embossed in the wedding rings of gay men who marry rich women, but then who am I, a poor little Greek boy, to try and set a fashion? I leave this to a fashion maven such Daphne Guinness, who mauvaise langues say could be Gaddafi in disguise.

http://takimag.com/article/marrying_for_money_and_earning_every_cent/print#ixzz1d6bYP1Vf

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

ESSENTIALS

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Be bold or italic - Never regular

Yves Saint Laurent Belted Shawl Collar Cardigan 1.150 â‚Ź

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THE RULES OF A GENTLEMAN

Simon Spurr Black Umbrella 550 $

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In life there is no final ko. There is always a way to stand up

Bottega Veneta Leather Wash Bag 500 €

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Personality Milano Silk Knit Tie 85 $

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A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally

Maison Martin Margiela Large Leather Weekender Bag 945 â‚Ź

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Clark’s Originals Desert Boots 120 €

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A true gentleman is one who is never unintentionally rude

Dolce & Gabbana The One Fragrance for Men 100 ml 90 â‚Ź

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JOHN F KENNEDY SAID

Thom Browne Flecked Shawl Collar Cardigan 580 $

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Change is the law of life

Ralph Lauren Button Down Shirt 176 â‚Ź

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Want Les Essentiels De La Vie Navita iPad Case 295 $

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To be busy is man's only happiness

Rimowa Salsa Multiwheel 63 350 â‚Ź

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JEANLOUP SIEFF REMEMBERING ONE OF THE GREATEST FRENCH PHOTOGRAPHERS

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Have style in everything you do, everything you say and everything you wear

Sonia Sieff, Paris 1985

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YVES SAINT LAURENT SAID

Yves Saint Laurent, Paris 1971

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Over the years I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it

Serge Reggiani, 1993

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CATHERINE DENEUVE SAID

Judy, New York 1985

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Love is suffering. One side always loves more

Catherine Deneuve, Paris 1969

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JOAN DIDION SAID

THE BOTTEGA VENETA SUITE ST.REGIS HOTEL ROME

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Great hotels have always been social ideas, awless mirrors to the particular societies they service

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BOTTEGA VENETA

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The name Bottega Veneta means “Venetian atelier�

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SCOTT ADAMS SAID

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Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep

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STEVE JOBS

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Stay hungry. Stay foolish

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STEVE JOBS SAID

FIRST STORY

is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?

It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.

And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example: Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college.

But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life..

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You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever

Steve Jobs on the cover of Time magazie - April 2010

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STEVE JOBS SAID

SECOND STORY is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I returned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

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You've got to ďŹ nd what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers

Steve Jobs presenting the iPhone in 2007 A product that changed the way people communicate

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STEVE JOBS SAID

THIRD STORY is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope it's the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking.

Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

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Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.

You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart

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