The Duffle Coat

Think Field Marshall Montgomery, The Great War and The Cruel Sea, Paddington Bear. But not that hyper hirsute yokel off Channel 4.

The Duffle coat - a name originating from the heavy woollen cloth woven for warmth which was produced in the Belgian Town of Duffel. But now more synonymous with the long hooded coat fastened by leather toggles. Adopted by the British Naval officers and men of the watch to protect against the biting Atlantic and North Sea winds. The toggles could be unfastened whilst wearing gloves, and 'pancake' hoods were carefully designed to fit over peaked Naval caps.

Pictured dangling from the trusty pine up top, are two vintage Gloverall duffle coats, Gloverall are the masters of this famous foul weather coat, and are still producing them to this day.

Snug as a bug in a rug.

R6

Here's a sneak peak at 6876's forthcoming collaboration with Regent Belt Company for a truly unique clash of brands to create R6. Which will be launched in Feb 2010.
Regent Belt company, a traditional leather working company has been around for over 40 years, making quality goods in the heart of the UK's traditional leather working industry, Northampton.
R6 brings these two brands together to fuse tradition, design and craftsmanship into a collection of bags, belts, wallets, card holders and lanyards. Each item is crafted in Northampton by traditional artisans using Italian and Bridal leather with quality trimmings such as pewter buckles, fused with the subtle design flair of 6876's Kenneth Mackenzie, making a truly unique and exciting product.

The Damned United

Football films, they're never normally very good are they?
If it's not Sean Bean saving the blades in predictable last minute fashion, that piss and wind effort 'Goal', Mean Machine - do us a favour. That other one, Jimmy Grimble, which I've admittedly never even seen but just know it's crap, it's about city, why would I want to sit through that? and Fever Pitch of course, which introduced posh previously non match going dickheads and the post Euro 96 crowd to the prawn sandwich side of football.
So, for me the only time the magic of football (at any level) has been perfectly captured was when Manchester United were beaten by Spurs during Mr Sugden's PE class in Ken Loach's KES.
Or The Granton Star Cause section of The Acid House which was simply crude genius.
So along comes The Damned United, which I've finally got around to watching, based on the novel of the same name by David Peace.
Based on the doomed and shortlived tenure of Brian Clough at Leeds United - Clough, played by the very versatile Michael Sheen who's played Tony Blair on three occasions now, as well as David Frost and even Kenneth Williams. We all know what old big 'ead walked and talked like, and that's a difficult role to pull off, but he did it, and did it well. Along with a stellar support cast of Timothy Spall, Stephen Graham, Jim Broadbent and Colm Meaney.
Fans of Leeds and Don Revie especially could be a little miffed at their former manager's portrayal, whilst he's not shown as the villain of the piece, he's not shown in the greatest of light. But I guess these things are always tough to put down when fact collides with fiction as it does in this film.
Like the epic Red Riding on Channel 4 earlier in the year, also a David Peace adaptation, this period set film looks the business, it must be painstaking to recapture an era which has all but been erased with the sheet metal and plastic seating of the modern stadiums, but they did a grand job of this one. Going back to the magic of football, many scenes were filmed at Chesterfield's Saltergate stadium due to the fact that apart from one stand it's not really been touched since the seventies, this place doubled up for the Baseball Ground, Wembley, Carrow Road and Bloomfield Road, from a personal point of view this place was also the setting of one of the best nights in my football watching life, when my club were promoted to the First Division (Championship) in 1997, it was dark, damp and stank of pies and piss but was miles better than when we won promotion at Wembley the season before last.
The film uses original footage of football matches and crowds, mixed with famous faces playing famous faces, and cleverly adds graphics which show the league tables of the time.
All in all, a really good effort, capturing a time when football was grubby, old tweed covered chairmen were the gaffers, players were dirty, tackles were hard, pitches were soggy and grounds were just that, grounds with atmosphere and buzz and not soulless stadiums where Colin Firth might take his girlfriend for a night out. If only it was still like that now eh? 4/5

Wes Anderson

There's a good piece on Director Wes Anderson in today's Guide,

in conjunction with the release of his painstaking new animated film The Fantastic Mr Fox. I'm a big fan of his films especially The Life Aquatic (2004), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and Rushmore (1998), there's a real quirk about them, visually stunning, and superb attention to detail in each one, not to mention cool scores and the inclusion of Bill Murray at any opportunity.

This will be interesting to see his take on a pretty different subject in converting Roald Dahl's Mr Fox to the big screen.

Clarks Weaver

I ♥ Clarks, me.

Pod

Recently picked these up, a re-telling of the old classic, admittedly not a patch on the suede originals, and where's the crepe sole?

Pods, to me these days (if I'm honest) are a bit school kid fodder, but this heritage version coming boxed with the original logo and leather 'pod man' tag, which I can remember from twenty odd years ago, are a decent effort.

Weir Hats

Our sister site (that sounds poncey) our brother site The Casual Connoisseur have just released the second wave of their cracking Weir bobble hats. Available any day now, they come in colours fit for the city and the country, or to suit jackets in vivid and muted shades, the grey, chocolate and orange one is cool as, and yours typing might have even recommended those colours, too.

Then and Now

Bygone Stockport, Cheshire.
Underbank 1900, and 2009.

60/40

From the readily available to the annoyingly unobtainable, plenty of labels have had a crack at the classic sixty forty mountain parka. Before waterproof-breathable shells such as goretex were invented, the "60/40" (60% cotton, 40% nylon) parka was widely used, brands such as Sierra Designs and Woolrich starting the trend in the late 60's, a trend which has never gone away.

Pictured above, an old school Woolrich 60/40 with wool plaid lining, and Engineered Garments cotton poplin parka from 2008.

Cycling

I ride a vintage Eddy Merckx 'Tour de France', how about you?
Excuse the shit d-lock I had to be somewhere where it required securing.

Dead Flies

Saw this on a forum this morning, clever stuff - made me chuckle.

I just hope they washed their hands afterwards.

http://acidcow.com/pics/4553-dead-flies-art-15-pics.html

Titfer

Yep, carrying on the Americana theme here, I'm not going to stop until I'm somewhere between Jerry Lundegaard and Del Griffith. I love this time of year, and my balding pate needs a good hat in the cold months, this time I've plumped for something you don't see over here (at all) The Stormy Kromer. The classic American winter hat from way back when, first designed in 1903, and still produced to this day.

Plaid

Some recent shirting pick ups, nice dash of colour.
From the left - Ralph Military Madras, Ralph Lauren Madras, Ralph Lauren Blaire, Triminghams Bermuda now defunct (est as far back as 1842) Vintage Levis Strauss checked work shirt.

Old's Cool

I recently spotted this old photo on a forum, I think it's great, it's of it's time and we won't see this again, taken outside Blackpool's Bloomfield Road ground circa 1981-2, it captures the era perfectly, the same or similar era we've seen documented on film this year in fact.

Football was a stark contrast to the money machine it is now, and big bold offensive gloss paint slogans adorned the ground's exteriors up and down the country and I bet nobody even flinched.

Fantastic.

Denim

Never underestimate the importance of a nice pair of jeans, so many times I've seen chaps on the forums I browse happy to spunk tons of cash on the latest glow in the dark Stone Island coat and trainers and then team them up with a God awful pair of ten quid Marks and Sparks jeans, it sounds diabolical, it is. People have said 'it's just the unimportant bit between your coat and footwear' before now, it doesn't matter, it does. You need to invest in some nice denim, you've got to find a fit and style that you like. Whether it's a pair of classic Levis 501 or some obscure, raw Japanese or Scandinavian brand, there's more choice out there than ever before, but FFS leave the high street jeans for gardening in.

Wax

Gone are the days of caring what the trendies are wearing, or being arsed about looking a bit like QEII on a day's shooting, there comes a time when you just desire nice, neat and reliable functional clobber and Barbour fits that bill. The thornproof jacket is such an easy bit of kit, even well worn in, it still retains cool, the only poaching I'll be doing in my lifetime is an egg, but if it's good enough for them, it's good enough for me. Scruffy smart, Quintessentially British.
I've been wearing Barbour for a long time, a lot longer than it's re-popularity in recent years. I had all the farmer jibes before it became cool again. But I'll be wearing it for many years to come when the masses have moved on to the next in trend thing.

Chambray

Chambray fabric is thought to originate from Cambrai in France many centuries ago as far back as 1595. Both sides of chambray are identical meaning it has no right or wrong side.

I love a nice chambray shirt. Whilst gaining a lot more popularity this year, the term classic can certainly be reserved for the chambray shirt. Inspired by industrial work wear and a Naval influence, Cousteau and McQueen looking out to sea, a staple in every season's collection from the top end to top man. Dressed down scruffy or dressed right up with a tie even, it just looks cool.

Berghaus Heritage

For over 40 years, Berghaus has taken climbing and mountaineering to new heights through continuous product innovation. This year, the heritage range is celebrating the rich Berghaus back catalogue with a re-release of some of the brand’s early contributions to the outdoor market.
The Heritage collection re-introduces the Trango and Tornado, two iconic jackets from the 1980s that have been re-issued to the exact specifications of the original counterparts.
Bright and beautiful, not to everyone's taste, whether you're scaling a small mountain or climbing the steps of your team's main stand, these are timeless classics.

Little White Lies

I consider myself a bit of a film buff, boffin whatever you want to call it.

Not necessarily the big films, in fact certainly not, I'd rather see Dave Lee Travis play Macbeth than sit through the latest CGI wankathon, or unfunny overhyped Comedy. I love the arty American stuff from the likes of Anderson's Wes and Paul (Thomas), to the indie end from Jim Jarmusch, Larry Clark and Harmony Korine to name but a few.
I'm also a big fan of British cinema, especially the low budget independent stuff, Ken Loach, Mike Leigh and Shane Meadows get the thumbs up in this house, and I recently watched the more than gritty Fish Tank on the big screen which was great.
Anyways, keepin' it indie I like Little White Lies, it's the best film mag out there by far, and fills the void left by Hotdog, a great magazine which is well written, fair in the reviews and of course stylish to look at, not to mention small enough to stuff in the man bag. Some of us want more than the generic commercial pap from Smiths.