Dining at the Dorchester with Savoir Faire

Over the years many Hotels have forsaken their fine dining rooms for the coffee shop or casual all day dining where the food and ambience sometimes borders on the mediocre.

Not so in London, where the celebrity chef reigns supreme and many of the older establishments (under the celebrity chef patronage) have embraced fine dining and taken it to new heights. The trend now is for the bespoke dining experience where guests can tailor their dining experience under the watchful eye of the chef and hotel staff.

Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester presides over the Table Lumiere where guests can create their own menu and table settings choosing from the hotel’s selection of china, glassware and linens from such design houses as Hermes, Puiforcat and St. Louis.

Cocooned behind a luminescent curtain made of 4,500 shimmering fibre optics hanging dramatically from the ceiling diners are screened from the buzz of the main restaurant. This gives a sense of intimacy to the diners within, without any loss of atmosphere. The interior designed by Patrick John is extremely elegant, while the private dining area only seats 6 people.

The main restaurant is an elegant affair done in shades of beige and white with the private dining area serving as a focal point for the rest of the restaurant. Whether in use or not the private dining area is a dramatic centrepiece of almost space age connotations, with ever changing fibre optic curtain creating an ambience that is dreamlike and whimsical.

Definitely something to check out not just for the food but for décor and experience as well!

The Man from Gruau

I am sure that most of you (like me) just adore the illustrations of Rene Gruau. One of the most prolific and well respected fashion illustrators of the last century, his work is instantly recognisable. With just a few brush strokes and some blocks of colour he created images that moved with the times. Although spanning several decades his drawings were always au courant with the period they were drawn, and yet remain timeless.

The influence Gruau had on the art of fashion illustration was enormous. Commissioned by major couturiers, magazines, and perfume houses they invariably contain women, but what about the men?

One of my all time favourite advertisements is the below drawing Gruau did for Christian Dior’s Eau Sauvage. Our young man has definitely moved with the times and sports a hippy style mass of curly hair that covers his eyes, like a shaggy sheep dog. All we see is his rather self contented smile, confident in knowing that his bottle of Eau Savage is close at hand!

Gruau’s men are sexy and mischievous. They are carefree and always in pursuit of someway to make them more attractive to the opposite sex. They move with the times adopting the latest fashion and hairstyles, to convey a suave cool elegance which is sometimes quite detached.

Clients ranged from McGregor sports wear to Christian Dior, proving that his talent was a force to be reckoned with and that for advertising there was no better man to do the job.

As the century wore on his men became more stylised with solid blocks of colour. There is a safety in numbers as they ride motor bikes or adopt Zorro like guise while wearing Eminence underwear.

So here’s to the almost forgotten men of Gruau! We salute you!

Reclaimed Savoir Faire!

Since moving to Canada nearly 9 years ago (and being a country boy) I have been utterly fascinated with the architecture and style of the Canadian Barn. Especially old derelict ones, where my mind works overtime on the possibilities of using all that lovely old wood which is just lying around.

I am definitely by no means advocating the destruction of all these wonderful old structures and believe that they should be kept, no matter what state of disrepair or un-use, as they add character and substance to a landscape. However lying around these great structures is a plethora of old timbers. I love the variety of colours, patinas and textures of the wood and the history that it has seen.

My mind works overtime considering what uses I could do with old reclaimed barn wood. I really believe that what new timber is used for interior decoration can easily be substituted with reclaimed timbers. The colours and the textures not too mention the sense of history that these timbers evoke, I think can be easily adapted to modern uses.

While walking the other Saturday in Toronto on Queen Street East, there are an amazing number of stores springing up using reclaimed timber in furniture manufacture. Although basically modern designs, and very linear the pieces presented a warmth that modern timbers and veneers just do not have. The only thing that I was a bit disappointed at was the price that some of these stores were charging, which in some cases was rather exorbitant.

Here are some random examples of uses that have all the savoir faire in the world and some of them quite achievable, including some you could do yourself!

It looks great as a major feature as in the case of these panels and walls. When teamed with modern furniture such as the Eames chair it really pops!

The below gazebo is just stunning, as the architect has used the wood in such a way to give a wonderful flowing effect.

Savoir Faire New York Men's Colelctions Review

While the Paris collections for men are almost conceptual in their approach, with just minor elements filtering down to the man in the street, the New York collections could go straight from the runway onto the street. These are no fuss designs relying heavily on classic cuts, and colour to give them the edge. We see new interpretations of where colour and pattern can be used and I am all for it. All too often the man in the street is not very adventurous where colour or pattern is concerned, just sticking to those tried and true combinations that we feel comfortable with, so as to avoid any sort of fashion crime or looking like a clown.

Michael Bastion showed wonderful clothes with subtle elongated lines and deep necklines, that should I dare say it looked very slimming. The high cut waists (so unusual on the street these days) and narrow shoulders I thought very versatile. The colour palette used great combinations of darker heavy outer layers with pops of colour underneath. We also saw from Bastion nice subtle interpretations of everyday classics, however not everyone can pull off the shorter trouser, as you definitely need the right shoe.

Monarchy presented a definite preppy look which I adored.

Philip Lim did what he did best with wonderfully tailored shorts and jackets, which are classics. I have a pair of Lim shorts bought several years ago and they look just as fresh now as what they did then.

Y3 while more conceptual than others showing still presented a very wearable collection for the young hipster around town, with lots of bright colours and fairly unstructured jackets.

Classic stripes with a nautical feel prevailed at Lacoste for supremely elegant and breezy resort wear.

However two collections which won hands down for me were those of Tommy Hilfiger and Perry Ellis. I am not usually a fan of either, however just love both of these, for the wonderful colours and pattern combinations.

Perry Ellis’ wonderful coral striped sweater and coral shirt are winners for me.

And really who can go past Hilfiger’s wonderful pastels and combination of pattern? Looks like plaid ties are going to be the big hit!