'icons of cool'

Ive decided to write about iconic men with real grandeur. Before I go on, I would like to try and cover myself legally by saying I don’t own any of these photos, but will be posting the links with them, and will take them down if asked.  This blog obviously doesn’t include every man, but a few that I think are of particular note.

First and in no particular order, is the legendary king of cool himself, Steve McQueen. I own Marshal Terrill’s biography on him and another book compiled by marshal with articles written by those who knew him.  Steve managed to effortlessly ooze cool, and was great in front of the camera. He came from nowhere and at one point was the highest paid actor in Hollywood. 

There are so many awesome photos of Steve it’s impossible to narrow it down but here are two that I thought would be good. 

I chose the second one because it shows a more affectionate Steve with his first wife, rather than the usual bravado that he puts on for many of his films and how he appears in many other portraits. This blog: http://theselvedgeyard.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/steve-mcqueen-hollywoods-own-true-son-of-liberty/ has some brilliant photos of Steve, and is where I purloined those two pictures from.

His performance in the Thomas crown affair was brilliant, especially as Steve’s background was a far cry from that of his character.

Second is British ledged Sir Michael Caine. Caine’s hard man with a soft centre look has made him famous the world over. He has a very distinct voice and made famous one of the best film lines ever transposed, ‘you’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors of’. This picture of him looking hard is from the film Get Carter, where a gangster returns home to avenge his brother’s murder.  He also played the lovable rouge in Alfie, and the brilliant role of Aflred in Batman. 

photo taken from: http://tiny.cc/gjh5v

Third is JFK, this young president had it all, power, money, looks, women, style. He literally had the world, until his life was ended. The mystery around his murder is still perceived to be one of Americas biggest and exciting secrets.  This photo shows him relaxed on a yacht wearing his signature sunglasses.

photo taken from: http://tiny.cc/lq0o0

Fourth is James Dean, James’s tragic death has undoubtedly cemented his name into Hollywood legend.  7 days before his death he had shown Sir Alec Guinness his beloved Porsche spider, Alec told him that if he got in that thing he would be dead within a week…  in James’s portraits he always looks quite troubled, like there is something eating at him inside...

photo taken from: http://tiny.cc/jajwl

Fifth is Daniel Craig, in particular reference to his role as James Bond. I have already mentioned Sean Connery in depth in a previous blog; otherwise he would more than deserve to be here. The blond Bond overcame initial criticism to re-invigorate the Bond franchise, and make himself the desire of many women and the envy of many men. The scene of him emerging from the sea in his blue budgie smugglers is firmly imprinted into many women’s minds and at the back of many men’s heads as they head to the gym.

Sixth, and I know I said I wasn't going to, but here’s a photo of Sean Connery, he deserves it! The two tattoos seen here were covered up when filming bond. One reads ‘Scotland forever’.

photo taken from: http://tiny.cc/gj706

-Alex

D of G’s guide to making people think you’re a millionaire.

Step one.  Clothing. Check out the looks at Ralph Lauren, Hackett and Crew clothing to name a few. You want to look smart/casual, and try mixing in a bit of tweed as mentioned in one of my earlier posts.  If you are on a budget, TK max is a brilliant place to pick up branded clothing, and Marks and Spencer for example offer good quality clothing cheaper because it doesn’t have a branded logo on it. Mix and match, trousers for example can be bought from anywhere as it hard to brand them.  The country/town look is good. ‘An affordable wardrobe’(http://anaffordablewardrobe.blogspot.com/) is a brilliant blog about looking the part on the cheap.

picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/cmxds

picture taken from: www.ralphlauren.com

Step two. Accessories. A lot can be learnt by looking at a man’s accessories. For a start brown is better than black when it comes to leather goods. A gold ring with some sort of crest, usually warn on the pinkie will stand out well and a watch should be well chosen. I could write a whole blog about watches and probably will so for now I will leave it to your discretion. But something that looks smart. Don’t be without a watch. Buying used can save you money. The first watch shown below is a £4,000 Breitling the next watch is a £100 Rotary.

picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/p2x1f

picture taken from: http://tiny.cc/yx3br

Step three. Cars. This bit really depends on your budget. Massive savings can be made by buying a used car and slapping a private plate on it. On a recent top gear episode Jeremy bought a 2002 Mercedes cl500 costing £100k new for just £7.5k (it did however have a few faults).  I quite like Range Rovers in traditional colours such as green and dark blue, definitely don’t buy it in white or you’ll look like Wayne Rooney.  Check out http://www.romansofstalbans.co.uk/ for some used super cars. Land Rover Discoverys and Defenders are also avenues to explore.

photo taken from: http://tiny.cc/yx3br

Step four. Activities. Take up shooting, hunting, yachting, Rowing, Polo… anything that a member of the Royal family might be seen to do. Not all of them will cost you an arm and a leg, although shooting might do in every sense of the meaning…

photo taken from: http://tiny.cc/29boz

Step five. Dog. Get yourself a dog; it has to be a Labrador/Retriever, a Spaniel, Great Dane, or possibly some kind of big hound.  Then call it something posh… Oliver, Wills, Remington or something like that. Then take it for walks in your Barbour wax jacket.

photo taken from: http://tiny.cc/10x1k

Step six. Get yourself a title. Bribe a member of Her Majesty’s Government into putting you on the honours list to become a Sir or Dame.  Pretend you know a lot about something and become a member of the House of Lords. Buy yourself a ‘Lord of the Manor of’ title or Scottish Laird title (the only titles you can actually buy, contrary to what others try and tell you on the internet).  Or become friends with a member of an Arab Royal family and see if he will make you some kind of sheikh. Or you could pretend, but I can’t imagine you’ll get very far with that.  You also can call yourself Esq. (esquire) but that’s quite common these days.

Step seven. Learn the lingo. Watch every episode of Jeeves and Wooster, and say words like ‘what ho’, ‘ruddy hell’ and ‘rather’!

Step eight. Going out. Go out to wherever the Celebes have been seen and get sloshed on champers! Alternatively throw some money around at your local club, use a bit of lingo and the girls will be seeing diamonds. Use terms such as gazeboed. Word of caution, tweed can be quite hot when dancing so maybe just stick to a shirt, a light blazer at most. 

photo taken from: http://tiny.cc/peohy

Stay tuned for D of G's guide to being a playboy and a blog on iconic photos of cool...

Yachts, Boats and Nautical Grandness

For this blog I will be looking at Boats. I realise that this is a very broad subject, and to make this blog readable this will obviously not be the definitive guide to boats and boating, however it should be enjoyable…

Well were to start! In recent times, boats have become more than objects of pleasure, they have become a measurement of one’s wealth.  For example Abramovich and his friends arguing over who has the biggest , he’s currently winning with Eclipse measuring 538ft, only 7 ft longer than the second largest private yacht. Evidently the final costs will reach a billion dollars US. 

These super yachts are far larger than the norm however, entry to the club usually starts around 160ft, this will still cost 10’s of millions. Small change! Might find it a bit difficult to park still however. I think personally I would have something smaller, but still capable at sea, and big enough to hold a party on.  This Sunseeker predator 82 named ‘low profile’ with custom paint job looks amazing!

If you want style, but something smaller, easy to handle and more affordable such as the Riva Aquariva.

These boats are just as much fun on the sea and the river, turn up to Henley regatta on one, with a boating outfit to match and you’ll turn some heads. Fuel for these are expensive however, although you could buy the boat with the cost to fill a super yachts tank.

For anyone not quite convinced that they want a yacht, take a look at the interiors, absolutely incredible and sure to impress. After all, what’s the point in having money if you can’t let others know you’ve got it?..... (I tried writing that in a cynical tone, did it work?)

Before I finish the post, I would like to mention however that I am a fan of  classic boats, and classic things in general. There's no substitute for a piece of aged mahogany! 

Need to get away?

Made a fortune, retired at 30 and wondering what to do with yourself? I feel your pain! Here are 6 of my top ideas to occupy your summer and winter with...

Summer:

1. Singita Resort – Africa

2. Monaco

3. Cayman Islands (Sneaky bit of tax evasion) 

Winter:

1. Switzerland (More tax evading)

2. Scotland for some shooting

3.  Snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef

Can tweed be cool?

Can tweed be cool? That is today’s subject. Just to keep you interested look at this picture before you turn off the page….

Right. Now I guess it all depends on who you are and what your style is, I wouldn’t expect Mr Addidas tracksuit to suddenly don a tweed jacket, however I think it can be fashionable, David Beckham was seen wearing it although I do question his taste on other things. ..

These 3 images are taken from the website of ‘Holland Cooper’ www.hollandcooper.com and show what can be done. I like it, but I’m not going to say tweed is definitively cool as it’s not for everybody, but give it a chance maybe!?!  And after all, she is very, very hot!!

First Post

So, my first post! I was quite puzzled over what to talk about, because I didn’t want to give the appearance that I prefer one subject over any other. I decided to enter ‘luxury lifestyle’ into Google images to see what would come up. As you and I would expect, the following appeared; cars, planes, boats, exotic locations, champagne, brands synonymous with luxury, watches, money and good looking people. All of which I will come on to mention in later blogs, but one picture caught my eye:

78 year old actor Sean Connery, still looking suave as he poses in the Bahamas for a Louis Vuitton advert. This reminded me that I recently bought Thunderball (my favourite bond film) and Goldfinger on DVD from a pawn shop for £2 and £1.50 respectively (despite my father having every bond produced on DVD at home). I think that the Connery Bonds are the best ever, and Bond’s style is still relevant today. Connery himself was a working class man from Scotland, but with the help of Terrence Young, director of Bond films Dr. No, From Russia With Love, and Thunderball, and others working on the films, he transformed himself, and immortalised on screen the suave character we all know and love. 

I think in these films Connery captures the essence of British cool, a gentleman but yet a loveable playboy/killer… what a combination! The picture below is a capture from Dr. No, where bond is sat with Honey Ryder in Jamaica. Honey looks beautiful and innocent yet she is armed with a knife, and Bond is the picture of cool with a gun casually resting on his leg. In this film bond is wearing a Rolex Submariner watch on a crocodile strap. The watch actually belong to producer Albert R. Broccoli because the budget didn’t stretch far enough to buy one, and believe it or not Rolex would not lend them one!

Bonds adventures take him to many incredible places where he lives the life of luxury, dances with death and meets many beautiful and intelligent women, before having his wicked way with them. I highly recommend watching these films, as to me they are like pieces of art!! Here are some more photos to excite you.

I promise to return to the subject and look at more iconic films and actors in later blogs for example Steve McQueen in ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ and in Humphrey Bogart in ‘Casablanca’.

-Alex

An Introduction

Hello and welcome to my blog, Delusions of Grandeur. This blog is a look at the life, luxury and style to which many of us dream of having, or at least like to imagine ourselves in. for most of us this is exactly that, a dream, but it doesn’t stop people watching ‘made in Chelsea’ or buying celebrity magazines, or even going to the cinema. People even purchase branded clothing in an attempt to buy into a piece of the ‘brand ideology’. I suppose this blog will look at this from a man with delusions of grandeur, and I might even give you a few tips on how you can give others the illusion that you are grand. To sum it up, if you won the lottery, i think this is where you will come to decide how to spend it. And if you haven’t won the lottery, this is where you will come to dream, and to get ideas on how you can make people believe you have won the lottery. Still with me? Im not sure I am…..

-Alex