December 2021 - Issue 79

The Rake

The Modern Voice of Classic Elegance.

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Contributors
Kathryn Boyd Brolin is a photographer, designer and business owner based in Los Angeles and Atlanta, Georgia. She studied photojournalism at the University of Georgia’s prestigious Grady College of Journalism in Athens, Georgia, and photography at th
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Letter From The Editor-in-Chief
Despite Christmas having been in the diary a while now, it usually catches me unprepared. This year has been different, and like a supermarket chain, or any business that loves to offer a bargain, I have been feeling the Christmas spirit earlier than
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The Rake
FOUNDER & EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Wei Koh ART DIRECTOR Rob French rob@therakemagazine.com ART EDITOR Kim Lang kim@therakemagazine.com VIDEOGRAPHER Marcus Ebanks marcus@therakemagazine.com DIGITAL IMAGING ARTIST Kok Haw Koh SARTORIAL CONSIGLIERE Shary Rahm
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Letter From The Founder
I am sitting in my hotel room in Geneva writing these words, having finished my duties as a jury member of the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie (GPHG), the watch industry’s most notable awards ceremony. I wanted to take a few moments to talk to you about Nick
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The Original Modfather
It’s just about possible to date the point at which Charlie Watts became everyone’s favourite Rolling Stone. In the sixties, Mick Jagger had been the focus of attention as the skinny, hyperactive frontman with an almost cartoonish beauty. In the mid
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‘Fatherhood Can Be Scary. But The Tsunami Of Love Drowns Out The Fear’
Emmett J. Scanlan appears with an intense stare, a warm Dublin accent, and a dark beard so perfectly formed that he looks like one of Leonidas’s mighty Spartans. The actor is speaking to us from his home in Cheshire, where he is proudly describing hi
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Heart Of A Warrior
The best actors disappear into their roles; the most transcendent come to embody the archetypes they portray. Thus, John Wayne became inseparable from the image of the granite-jawed, bow-legged, morally righteous cowboy, and Joe Pesci’s bug eyes and
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White Spirit
I am reliably informed that there is a lady in Scotland — a nation that, readers will know, is replete with cottage-industry textile makers — who spends her days outdoors at her mist-shrouded spinning wheel, weaving what might be called ‘canine coutu
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Fade To Black
When it came to marketing an actress in the 1960s, there were few more compelling narratives than ‘convent girl gone bad’. Born in 1939 in Graz, Austria, Marlies Theres Moitzi would eventually play the part with knee-weakening, stomach-flipping, thro
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Invest
Regular readers will know how zealously we value collaborations. When creative entities of a different ilk come together, a crosspollination of ideas takes place whose effects can be alchemical. Here, below, are the latest fruits of one of the creati
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Jersey Boy
Jersey is a misjudged fabric. It is a cultural misunderstanding: we have designated its name to a sweatshirt and have almost forgotten its medieval origins from the eponymous island. Don’t get me wrong, this is not a garment without sartorial merit —
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Box Clever
“I’m a bit OCD about six-sided boxes,” says Simon Wolf. “It’s very hard to provide them with interest to the eye. And that’s essential, because we hope they’ll be around for a long time.” Wolf is the fifth generation to run the company that gave him
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Cool For Cats
How ‘smart’ Marco Polo was — that is, in terms of his cerebral acuity — is debatable. On the one hand, the Venetian explorer and his family foresaw the overthrow of Crusader rule in late 13th century Constantinople, and accordingly diverted their com
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Under The Skin
Far be it from us to disparage the hallowed craft that has always sat at the centre of our editorial focus, but wool fabric is an extremely forgiving friend to the bespoke tailor. Thanks to millions of years of evolution, as well as the diligence and
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The Personal Testimony Of Paul
Zoom-imposed teething troubles dealt with, greetings complete, Paul Bettany — perched at a desk in a rented house in South Carolina, next to a golf course flanked by an alligator-infested lake — squints hard at his inbox. “Hang on… Where is it, where
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The Headmaster Nick Foulkes
El Jefe, Generalissimo, Presidente, Boss, Head Boy… whatever title you think befits Nick Foulkes this year, it cannot be considered hyperbole. It almost feels like the universe is willing him into high office all over the place. His appointment to th
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The Benefactor Hani Farsi
Hani Farsi puts other people before him: it is as simple as that. I have seen his generosity too many times to think it could be some kind of sales tactic or façade. His presence soothes and his intellect stimulates. He rejects mediocrity in himself
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The Emperors Karl-Friedrich & Karl-Fritz Scheufele
The following anecdote serves to illustrate the character of Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, the gentleman, entrepreneur and watchmaking pioneer. In 2017, an awkward moment beset the jury of Geneva’s Grand Prix d’Horlogerie. Nick Foulkes, the author and ju
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The Enrichers Paul & Laurie Feig
I believe in marriage. It is easily pooh-poohed as merely a piece of paper, something that gives you a new tax status with the government. Any mention of a spiritual aspect is infra dig to the largely secular society in which we live. Clinging on to
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The Saviour Amo Völker
Over the past two years, no one has done more to restore my faith in humanity than Amo Völker. How else could you characterise a woman who, at the height of her success as a model, decided to fulfil her life’s ambition and become a certified paramedi
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The Collaborator Mo Coppoletta
I have no tattoos; it would, perhaps, be a bit off-brand for me. I think my wife might find it sexy, but I remain bare and unaltered by the precision of a tattooist’s needle. When I started at The Rake, Wei, the magazine’s founder, said he thought it
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The Uplifter Ahmed ‘Shary’ Rahman
Shary is not a stranger to The Rake. We gladly and vocally regard him as a close friend who possesses the values and qualities we associate with and aspire to. Everyone cites a different aspect of his character that they most admire. His unerring gen
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The Trailblazer Daisy Knatchbull
I should probably declare an interest. I have known Daisy’s cousin Kelly since we were children. Apparently — though I cannot imagine doing something so beastly — my twin brother, Joe, and I broke Kelly’s dollhouse. So the cynical among you might say
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The Edifier Kirby Allison
Kirby Allison’s story is whiplash inducing. For a while he was known for selling the world’s most luxurious hangers. This idea has merit: after all, you spend a vast amount of money on clothes, so they should be held in your wardrobe on great hangers
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The Comforter Paolo Lorenzoni
As a young man I first travelled to Venice in the company of my boss, the film director Kathryn Bigelow, who was part of the jury at the Biennale, the city’s famous film festival. Though we stayed at the now defunct Grand Hotel des Bains, the fabled
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The Hall of Famer The Ralph Lauren Polo Bear
Anthropomorphic rakes? Discuss. Felines have an excellent showing in the cultural canon, possibly thanks to the word ‘cat’ entering common parlance during the 1940s jazz scene. Make-believe ursines, conversely, tend to lean towards mawkishness — see
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The Informer Mark Cho
Through the precarious tempest of the Covid pandemic, and despite the political insurrection and chaos that has beset his home city of Hong Kong, Mark Cho has been the very model of a gentleman who seeks to inspire, uplift, edify and charm the world.
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The Invigorator Luciano Porcu
Luciano is a debutant in our Rakes of the Year celebration, but that is our fault, not his. To many people Luciano is a heroic figure. He is the unassuming master of elegance, hospitality and sophistication in W1K (to the uninitiated, this is the nic
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The Sartorialiser Lorenzo Cifonelli
If a bespoke tailoring hall of fame were to be established, saluting the legends who have shaped the history of garment making, it’s a safe bet that one of the first names on the list of inductees would be that of Lorenzo Cifonelli, the great-great-g
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The Unifiers Sergio and Sebastiano Guardì & Alessandro Pagliacci
“You are not what you wear — you wear what you are.” So the Sicilian style maven Sergio Guardì — one third of the triumvirate behind Barbanera, alongside his brother, Sebastiano, and their friend Alessandro Pagliacci — once told The Rake. And, behold
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David Is Goliath
David Gandy has always gone at his own pace, often leaving others bobbing about in his wake. He has managed to untether himself from the well-trodden career path of a model to become a brand in his own right. Yes, Dolce & Gabbana’s Light Blue commerc
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Back To Business
Everyday life has begun to look familiar again. As we reclaim a sense of normality, the bustling city of Paris acts as a poignant backdrop to Alexander Kraft Monte Carlo’s latest offerings, including a light-grey three-piece suit made from a medium-w
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ZENITH X REVOLUTION & THE RAKE CHRONOMASTER REVIVAL A3818 ‘THE AIRWEIGHT COVER GIRL’
O.K., so maybe at 78.2 grams, as opposed to last year’s steel watch at 110.6 grams, with a total weight saving of 32.4 grams, our latest collaboration is still not the most featherweight timepiece in the world when compared, for example, with such ho
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The Ethics Of Etienne Malec, Founder Of Baltic Watches
Baltic is the story of a watch brand. But it’s more than that. It’s about a father and a son who, in some ways, never knew each other. Etienne Malec, the founder of Baltic — the watch world’s hottest micro-brand — is to me one of horology’s most bril
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Senior Service
Dan Jago’s press coverage over the years, perhaps to his annoyance, has referenced one poor naval pun after another. Yes, he served in the Royal Navy for nine years, but that doesn’t mean a journalist needs to talk of ‘plotting a course’ in his caree
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Love Match
I have always been fascinated by small things that make big differences, like the addition to a cigar of the elusive medio tiempo leaf, or polishing one’s shoes to a high shine. There is a lot in life, like exercise, where the benefits need an awful
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Directory
ADRIANO MENEGHETTI – www.adrianomeneghetti.com ALBERT THURSTON – www.albertthurston.com ALFRED RIFUGIO – www.alfredrifugio.it ALICE MADE THIS – www.alicemadethis.com AMOUR LUX – www.armorlux.com ANDERSON & SHEPPARD – www.anderson-sheppard.co.uk ANDRE
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A Claus For Celebration
He’s the über shape-shifter. He’s changed his guise more times than any other figure, fictional or factual, in history. We’re talking Bowie’s habitual metamorphosis to the power of several thousand. But where did the legend of Father Christmas — or P

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