Blog Crush: GRADIENT

Make a cup of tea and grab a handful shortbread fingers. Then curl up in your special place and read GADIENT in it's entirety. Thank me later.

The Hill-Side AW14: Sneakers

I first came across The Hill-Side via their natty bow ties and pocket squares, originally produced in unusual deadstock fabrics, and which somehow manage to look simultaneously modern and vintage, playful yet grown-up. At the start of 2014 they launched their sneaker range, and their latest Autumn footwear offerings are all winners in my book. Here's hoping they'll be dropping into UK stockists soon. Check out the full lookbook here.

Nigel Cabourn's Army Gym Opening in Covent Garden

I've been a long time admirer of Nigel Cabourn's premium military-revivalist menswear. Like a boy with his face pressed against the toy shop window glass, I've browsed his beautifully produced lookbooks online but never been in a position to get up close and personal with his clobber. All this is set to change though, as he opens his first UK store in Covent Garden's Henrietta Street, stocking not only his own collection but also selected pieces from like-minded brands like C.C. Filson and Merz B. Schwanen. The official launch tomorrow night - 25th September - at 5.30pm. Scant details online, or via the Cabourn IG. See you there - I'll be the one fondling the Everest parkas...

Rapha AW14: Black on Black, & Peppermint

Matching sports kit can be immensely satisfying. Increasingly I'm defaulting to black for my cycling gear; accessories like gloves and arm warmers, helmets, bidons and bibshorts. Of course this does leave room for some carefully chosen colour, say a subtle flash of chartreuse on the jersey, repeated on the socks, or the shoes, or (even) both.

Rapha tend to keep their seasonal colourways pretty classy and pretty tight. Case in point, my SS13 maroon club jersey goes perfectly with my AW13 brevet socks. For their new Autumn/Winter collection they've really nailed a couple of colourways - black on black (nothing makes black look blacker than contrasting it with another black) & peppermint (can't get enough of it). Heres my pick of their newness, focusing on those two classic shades:

From top:
Winter Jersey
Winter Gloves
Winter Hat (sadly no knitted merino version this year. Was too slow off the mark last year.)
Merino Socks
Merino Sweatshirt
Essentials Case

35mm

About once every 5 years or so I think, "Wouldn't it be nice to shoot a roll of film?". I buy a disposable camera or borrow an SLR and months later when the roll is actually finished I sell a kidney to pay for developing. Invariably the pictures are awful and the impulse lies dormant for another half decade.

On last month's 'stag' in the Lake District, this exact notion took me, and I borrowed Mrs PR's Olympus Trip 35 to capture my old school pal's last weekend of freedom. 1/3 of the roll didn't even get processed which I guess means they were too rude, or, more likely, too rubbish to print. On top of this the last few exposures (which were taken on rides back in South East London) were wrecked by not winding the film back correctly. Despite this, the undeniable charm of analogue media means that some of the photos are serviceable:

Fix the Iceland

Woah. Via Pedaling Nowhere.