HAVE A REBEL REBEL WEEKEND!

THE REPORT: LE CORBUSIER!

On Le Corbusier's first visit to New York, to open an exhibition of his architecture at the Museum of Modern Art in October 1935, he was so enthralled by the skyscrapers - by the Empire State Building especially - that he told a friend: "I wanted to lie down on my back there on the sidewalk, and gaze towards the top forever." 

Then in his late forties, Le Corbusier was in the vanguard of the "rads versus trads" battle in design: idolised by fellow radicals, and loathed by conservative "trads". This summer, nearly 50 years after his death, MoMA is to honour him with another, far larger exhibition, opening on 15 June, which should seal his reputation as the most influential architect of the modern age. 

Just as contemporary art would not be the same without Mr Marcel Duchamp, literature without Mr James Joyce, or fashion without Mr Yves Saint Laurent, our built environment - from houses and schools to towns and cities - would be very different if not for Le Corbusier. But why?

Like most other visionaries who revolutionised their fields, Le Corbusier was blessed not only with exceptional talent, but great timing. He began his career in the early 1900s when the availability of electricity, telephones, aeroplanes and cars was transforming millions of people's lives. Every aspect of society needed to be rethought, including architecture, a challenge that Le Corbusier relished. "The time is ripe for construction," he wrote, "not foolery." 

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VINYL SAPIENS!

Romanian Hip-Hop project, Vinyl Sapiens - The Chronicle,  launched June, 18h 2012. Featuring: Praetor, DJ Undoo, DJ Wicked, A New Acquisition, A.O.K., Achtern Styg, Pax, Norzeatic, Lecart, Loyal MC, 1.2, The Grudge, Ais The Chef, Flou Rege, Cedry2k, Exile si Cracku. Enjoy!

THE ARTIST: MR JARED LETO!

For Mr Jared Leto, leading a double life as a Hollywood film star and lead singer of the platinum-selling rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars - whose new album, Love Lust Faith + Dreams, has just been released - is the most natural thing in the world. His peripatetic, "food stamp-poor" upbringing, as the younger son of a mother who surrounded herself and her two boys with artistic influences, instilled in the Louisiana-born 41-year-old a passion for the arts. "I did grow up in a very creative world," Mr Leto says. "It was the 1970s, the age of the artist and the hippy, and my exposure to that shaped me in a really deep way. I was raised among people who made things to make them, and with the idea that if you're a creative person, then of course you're going to do something creative with your life - whether you're an artist, a performance artist, a potter or a photographer. I had no concept of the word 'fame'; or a notion of success or money. We grew up very poor, so our world wasn't anywhere near that kind of stuff. You have to do what is important to you and protect that." 

'There are always going to be people who go, 'F*** that guy, he shouldn't make music, he makes movies.' 

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BLOCKHEAD!

James Anthony "Tony" Simon, better known by his stage name Blockhead, is an American hip hop producer based in Manhattan, New York. Aside from his solo efforts released on the Ninja Tune label, Blockhead is most associated with producing for Aesop Rock, a rapper for the indie hip hop label Rhymesayers. He has also previously worked with rappers Cage, Hangar 18, Open Mike Eagle and Murs. He is also a member of the comedy hip hop group Party Fun Action Committee. According to him, his stage name comes from the shape of his head: "While it's not square, it's pretty close."

Song taken from Blockhead's album 'The Music Scene' - released 18 January 2010 on Ninja Tune.

STYLE AS IT HAPPENS: SAN FRANCISCO!

Personal style, fresh from the streets of SF!

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RHYTHMIC PHENOMENA: BABY LAURENCE!

"Baby Laurence" Jackson has been hailed as a jazz dancer of the rarest of rhythmic phenomena whose fluid beats, melodic phrasings, and instrumentalized conceptions moved him in the category of jazz musician. Born Laurence Donald Jackson in Baltimore, Maryland, he was a boy soprano at age twelve singing with McKinney's Cotton Pickers when the bandleader Don Redman came to town. He heard Jackson and asked his mother if he could take the boy on the road. She agreed, provided that her son was supplied with a tutor. 

While touring on the Loew's circuit, Jackson's first visit to New York was marked by a visit to the Hoofers Club in Harlem, where he saw the tap dancing of Honi Coles, Raymond Winfield, Roland Holder and Harold Mablin. Several years later, he returned to New York to perform with his brother in a vocal group they formed called "The Four Buds". While working in the Harlem nightclub owned by Dickie Wells, the retired dancer from the group of Wells, Mordecai and Taylor encouraged his dancing and nicknamed him Baby. He continued to frequent the Hoofers Club, absorbing ideas and picking up steps from Eddie Rector, Pete Nugent, Toots Davis, Jack Wiggins and Teddy Hale, who became his chief dancing rival. "I saw a fellow dance and his feet never touched the floor," remembers tap dancer Bunny Briggs when he first saw Laurence dance in the thirties, when he was participating in after-hours jam sessions in Harlem and playing such theatres as the Apollo. 

He also performed with group called the "The Six Merry Scotchmen" (in some billings, the "Harlem Highlanders"), who dressed in kilts, danced, and sang Jimmie Lunceford arrangements in five-part harmony. Around 1940, Baby focused on tap dancing and became a soloist. Through the forties, he danced with the big bands of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Woody Herman, and in the fifties, he danced in small Harlem jazz clubs. It was under the influence of jazz saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker and other bebop musicians that he expanded tap technique into jazz dancing. Listening to the jazz pianist Art Tatum, Baby duplicated in his feet what Tatum played with his fingers. Listening to Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell as well as the jazz drummer Max Roach, Baby developed a way of improvising solo lines and variations as much like a horn man as a percussionist. "He was more a drummer than a dancer," writes Whitney Balliett in New York Notes (1976), "he did little with the top half of his torso. But his legs and feet were speed and thunder and surprise... a succession of explosions, machine-gun rattles and jarring thumps."

Like musicians in a jazz combo, Laurence was also a fluent improviser who took solos, traded breaks and built upon motifs that were suggested by previous horn men. He was a master of dynamics who would start a thirty-two-bar chorus with light heel-and-toe figures, then drop in heavy off-beat accents and sprays of rapid toe beats that gave way to double-time bursts of rhythm.

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ENGINEERING ICONS: DESK LAMPS!

The desk lamp - task light if you prefer - is one of design's favourite problems. It has also obsessed engineers who should have been busy with other more important things and driven them to decades of distraction; sketching diagrams, stretching springs, balancing and counterbalancing and generally tooling around in workshops. The British engineer Mr George Carwardine came up with the now iconic Anglepoise in the 1930s. It was the game-changer. Now you could alter a light's height, direction and position with a touch rather than through a tiresome process of unclamping, twisting, turning and re-clamping. It has been endlessly imitated, generating a whole new typology. 

Mr Richard Sapper's Tizio is a sort of masterpiece, a study in balance and beautifully realised functionality. And though it was designed in the early 1970s, it gained totemic momentum in the 1980s and became the altar-piece in the mat-black dream home. Other designers have placed formal elegance before flexibility and functionality, putting together sometimes stark, sometimes delicate compositions of shape, material and light. 

Much more attention is now being paid to quality of light - computer screens present different lighting challenges to ink on paper - and energy efficiency. The major Italian lighting brands such as Flos and Artemide, and the A-list designers they employ, are working with LEDs to produce lamps that give off a kinder, gentler light and are kinder and gentler to the planet. Here are 10 lamps that would look quite at home on the desk of any man of influence. 

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THE WAY I DRESS: MR JOHANNES HUEBL!

MR PORTER spent the day with Brooklyn-based photographer & model, Mr Johannes Huebl to see how he chooses what to wear. But, for a minute, forget about Mr Huebl and just focus on that turntable, that furniture, oh and that amazing Burberry Prorsum jacket (shop here!). 

His modelling career has seen him grace magazines and billboards around the world, but most know Mr Johannes Huebl as the long-term boyfriend of the beautiful Upper East Side celebutante and paparazzi favourite, Ms Olivia Palermo. As one half of New York's most fashionable power couple, Mr Huebl finds his style choices under scrutiny on an almost daily basis, so it's fortunate that his taste in clothes is classic, reliable and easily adaptable. "A suit is very easy to wear, because it's like a uniform," he says, emphasising the importance of fine tailoring above all else. In this short vid, the Brooklyn-based model, photographer and On The Town regular discusses his opinions on flip-flops, his secret history as a sneaker fanatic and the unlikely origins of his style. Click on the video, below, to hear more. 

NICOLAS JAAR - ENCORE!

Ladies and Gents, Have a Nice Wednesday!

CLUB MONACO, BEACH SHOP!

Club Monaco, fashionspam's beach apparel choice this season!

Shop here!

FASHIONSPAM!

For the global evolution of taste!

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LEVI'S MADE AND CRAFTED!

Levi's® Made and Crafted's™ Design Director, Miles Johnson, introduces the Spring Summer 2013 collection and talks about the Brand's obsession with materials, fabrics, construction, details, fit and this seasons inspiration.

INFLUENCERS: MUDDY WATERS!

McKinley Morganfield (1913 – April 30, 1983), known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician who is considered the "father of modern Chicago blues". He was a major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s and is ranked No. 17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

His influence is tremendous, over a variety of music genres: blues, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, hard rock, folk, jazz, and country. 

The Rolling Stones named themselves after his 1950 song "Rollin' Stone" (also known as "Catfish Blues", which Jimi Hendrix covered as well). He also helped Chuck Berry get his first record contract. Hendrix recalled "the first guitar player I was aware of was Muddy Waters. I first heard him as a little boy and it scared me to death". Cream covered "Rollin' and Tumblin'" on their 1966 debut album Fresh Cream, as Eric Clapton was a big fan of Muddy Waters when he was growing up, and his music influenced Clapton's music career. The song was also covered by Canned Heat at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival and later adapted by Bob Dylan on the album Modern Times. One of Led Zeppelin's biggest hits, "Whole Lotta Love", is lyrically based upon the Muddy Waters hit "You Need Love", written by Willie Dixon. Angus Young of the rock group AC/DC has cited Muddy Waters as one of his influences. The AC/DC song title "You Shook Me All Night Long" came from lyrics of the Muddy Waters song "You Shook Me"

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed four songs of Muddy Waters among the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. Following his death, fellow blues musician B.B. King told Guitar World, "It's going to be years and years before most people realize how greatly he contributed to American music".

NOW YOU SEE ME (2013)!

'Now You See Me' brings magicians to the summer movie season 

An FBI agent and an Interpol detective track a team of illusionists who pull off bank heists 

during their performances and reward their audiences with the money. 

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Isla Fisher, and others, will come to theaters May 31.

THE LOOK: MR ANDREW JENKS!

Columbia, Missouri. With a population of more than 100,000 this county seat is no rural backwater, but thanks largely to its location, out in the vastness of the American Midwest, its atmosphere is undeniably more "small town" than "big city". 

The city is the scene of a notorious murder that took place in 2001, when a local sports journalist was savagely beaten and strangled to death in his newspaper's parking lot. It's here, at the Boone County Courthouse in 2005 - after a trial that has since been subject to national controversy, with both key witnesses having come forward to admit perjury - that Mr Ryan Ferguson was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 40 years in jail; he was 19. And it's here that award-winning documentarian Mr Andrew Jenks has come, to see if he can shine a light on a case that is still provoking intense debate.

As a film-maker, Mr Jenks started young. The son of Mr Bruce Jenks, a director at the United Nations Development Programme, he spent much of his youth abroad, visiting Brussels and Nepal as a child. "I'd always have this bulky VHS camera in my hand," he says. "Travelling around where there weren't many people speaking English, that camera became my best friend by default." 

After a short stint at New York University, his career began in earnest at age 19 when he created Andrew Jenks, Room 335, a poignant look at end-of-life "assisted living" that saw him move into a nursing home for five weeks. Since then, his charismatic, disarming interview technique has helped make his fly-on-the-wall documentary series, World of Jenks, one of MTV's biggest shows. Sharing the screen with his young participants, Mr Jenks is very much the star of the show, as the name suggests. He insists that by stepping out from behind the camera and forming relationships with his subjects, he is able to offer a greater level of impartiality. "By getting really invested in the stories, I almost do the opposite of drinking the Kool-Aid," he explains. "I become, of whoever I'm following, their harshest critic." If that's true, he's sure to put an interesting spin on the story of Mr Ferguson, who has become something of a Columbia cause célèbre.

 READ MORE AFTER THE BREAK!!!

EYKAH BADU UNPLUGGED!

I wish you all a week like this unplugged Erykah Badu sesssion.

Enjoy!

CANNES 2013: ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE!

Director Jim Jarmusch has managed an almost impossible feat with new film Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), in competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival - he's made vampires interesting again. British actors Tom Hiddleston and Tilda Swinton play Adam and Eve, a pair of night-dwelling bloodsuckers, who have been in love for centuries.

JONATHAN WILSON!

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy." - Ludwig van Beethoven

Jonathan Wilson is an American musician and producer who was born in Forest City, North Carolina in 1974. Wilson released the full length album, Gentle Spirit, on Bella Union in 2011. In 2010 and 2011, Wilson collaborated with Erykah Badu in the studio on several songs, only one of which was officially released. Wilson also appeared as a special guest with Erykah Badu at her 2011 Coachella performance.

COLOURED CHINOS!

The classic taupe chino is a style staple favoured by men from all walks of life, and the sandy colour - which offers clues to the garment's military origins - has become a recognisable sight all around the world.

But to focus on that one colour, however classic, is to miss the big picture. The chino has been subject over the years to dyes of a bewildering variety of colours. Some, it has to be said, have been a little on the loud side. In vacation destinations along the northeastern seaboard of the US, where the preppy look rules supreme, colours such as "Nantucket red" - a bright vermilion found on chinos sold on the island under the slogan, "guaranteed to fade" - are not uncommon. 

That doesn't mean, of course, that all coloured chinos are required to be so, well... colourful. Thanks to a growing number of designers embracing the style and producing versions appropriate for wearing outside of the cloistered environments of elite universities and sailing communities, the coloured chino has increasingly found popular acceptance. This is, naturally, a good thing. The chino has long been one of the most versatile items of clothing that a man can own: relaxed yet elegant, classic yet contemporary, it's the perfect vehicle for making the world that little bit more colourful. 

Check the gallery, below, to see seven of our current favourites. 

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ARTIST TLK: HENRY ROLLINS JOINS PHARRELL WILLIAMS!

Henry Rollins joins Pharrell Williams to talk about everything from personal anger to his musical influences. Rollins tells the story of how he became the lead singer of Black Flag and what has led him to writing and spoken word. He talks about rebelling against close-minded, authoritarian punk crowds and his decision not to use drugs or alcohol. And he explains the rush of holding an crowd's attention and his respect and love for his audience.

Henry Rollins (born 1961) is an American performer, writer, journalist, publisher, actor, radio host, comedian, activist and former musician. He is now hosting a radio show and doing speaking tours.

After performing for the short-lived Washington D.C.-based band State of Alert in 1980, Rollins fronted the California hardcore punk band Black Flag from August 1981 until mid-1986. Following the band's breakup, Rollins established the record label and publishing company 2.13.61 to release his spoken word albums, as well as forming the Rollins Band, which toured with a number of lineups from 1987 until 2003, and during 2006.

Since Black Flag disbanded, Rollins has hosted numerous radio shows, such as Harmony in My Head on Indie 103, and television shows such as The Henry Rollins Show, MTV's 120 Minutes, and Jackass. He had a recurring dramatic role in the second season of Sons of Anarchy and has also had roles in several films. Rollins has also campaigned for various political causes in the United States, including promoting LGBT rights, World Hunger Relief, and an end to war in particular.

BO NO BO!

Simon Green (30 March 1976), also known by his stage name Bonobo, is a British musician, producer and DJ.

Bonobo uses a wide variety of samples in his music combined with heavy, often complex basslines. His music generally develops linearly - with new elements such as basslines or percussion coming in one after the other.

The first single off the most recent Bonobo album, "Cirrus", was given its worldwide debut on Giles Peterson's BBC Radio 6 program on 19 January 2013. The new album is titled The North Borders and was set for release on 1 April 2013, but was released early in its digital format after a promotional copy was leaked prior to the planned launch date

$ELLEBRITY!

A documentary featuring celebrity interviews examining the price we pay as a society for indulging our curiosity with celebrity gossip culture. Celebrity photographer Kevin Mazur gives an all access pass to life behind the velvet rope and in front of the camera.

SUMMER INSPIRATIONAL!

One should either be a work of art or wear a work of art.

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ARTHUR NEWMAN!

Arthur Newman is a 2012 film starring Colin Firth and Emily Blunt. A story of a man who fakes his own death and assumes a new identity in order to escape his life, who then moves in with a woman who is also trying to leave her past behind.

GHETTO ORGAN!

Jackie Mittoo (1948 – 1990) was a Jamaican keyboardist, songwriter and musical director. He was a founding member of The Skatalites and was a mentor to many younger performers, primarily through his work as musical director for the Studio One record label.

STYLEOLOGY!

Have a good weekend!

love, fashionspam.

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THE BLACK SAINT AND THE SINNER LADY!

Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was a highly influential American jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader. Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop* and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third Stream, free jazz, and classical music. Yet Mingus avoided categorization, forging his own brand of music that fused tradition with unique and unexplored realms of jazz. He once cited Duke Ellington and church as his main influences.

*Hard bop (sometimes referred to as "funky hard bop;"the "funky" label refers to the rollicking, rhythmic feeling associated with the style) is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop (or "bop") music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in saxophone and piano playing.

Mingus focused on collective improvisation, similar to the old New Orleans jazz parades, paying particular attention to how each band member interacted with the group as a whole. In creating his bands, Mingus looked not only at the skills of the available musicians, but also their personalities. Many musicians passed through his bands and later went on to impressive careers. He recruited talented and sometimes little-known artists, whom he utilized to assemble unconventional instrumental configurations. As a performer, Mingus was a pioneer in double bass technique, widely recognized as one of the instrument's most proficient players.

Nearly as well known as his ambitious music was Mingus' often fearsome temperament, which earned him the nickname "The Angry Man of Jazz". His refusal to compromise his musical integrity led to many on-stage eruptions, exhortations to musicians, and dismissals. Because of his brilliant writing for mid-size ensembles, and his catering to and emphasizing the strengths of the musicians in his groups, Mingus is often considered the heir of Duke Ellington, for whom he expressed great admiration. Indeed, Dizzy Gillespie had once claimed Mingus reminded him "of a young Duke", citing their shared "organizational genius".

In 1963, Mingus released The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady, a sprawling, multi-section masterpiece, described as "one of the greatest achievements in orchestration by any composer in jazz history." The album was also unique in that Mingus asked his psychotherapist to provide notes for the record.

Enjoy and have a jazzy week!

IN SESSION AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS: MR TOM ODELL!

To celebrate their new Bowers & Wilkins audio range, MR PORTER visited London's legendary Abbey Road Studios with Brit Award-winning singer-songwriter Mr Tom Odell.

Formed in pursuit of the perfect loudspeaker, Bowers & Wilkins has almost 50 years' experience advancing audio technology. Founded in 1965 by Mr John Bowers and Mr Roy Wilkins, the company prides itself on exceptional sound quality and perfect ergonomics. From using Kevlar for the first time as a cone material in 1974, to its 1989 appointment of UK designer Mr Morten Warren (responsible for today's sleek, contemporary shape) - audio and design innovation has been at the forefront of the brand since its inception. 

Tom Peter Odell is a British singer-songwriter. He released his debut extended play, Songs from Another Love, in 2012 and won the BRITs Critics' Choice Award in early 2013. His debut studio album, Long Way Down, will be available from 24 June 2013

AMI, THE PARISIAN COOL!

Since Mr Alexandre Mattiussi, below left, established his menswear label, Ami, in Paris in 2011, it has achieved an almost unprecedented degree of recognition in such a short space of time. Part of the secret behind the brand's swift success is that it focuses on clothes and accessories that are at once easy-going and elegant - and, above all, infinitely wearable. Instead of slavishly following trends or making outlandish statements, Mr Mattiussi's collections are built around everyday wardrobe essentials, albeit ones that are infused with a certain Parisian cool (something hard to define but instantly recognisable, particularly at the cafés and bars along the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin in summer). 

For this reason, fashionspam is delighted to announce that Ami is second in our series of capsule collections exclusive to MR PORTER this summer. Comprising 13 pieces, the collection includes the label's staple items of slim chinos and Breton tops, remixed in a colour palette of burgundy and azure blue, in addition to lightweight summer tailoring, a field jacket, a denim jacket and suede shoes. "I always design clothes with someone in mind," Mr Mattiussi says. "I just imagined a guy sitting on a café terrace in the summer taking a break with some friends. They are all pieces you can hopefully easily wear; timeless things that will last a long time." 

Check the gallery, below, to view and shop the collection, and look out for more exclusive capsule collections from brands MR PORTER stocks in the coming weeks. 

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'YEEZUS': IN THE MOST KANYE WEST WAY POSSIBLE!

Few days ago, Kanye West debuted a new song in the most Kanye West way possible: By projecting his giant head onto the sides of 66 different buildings around the world.

After unveiling “New Slaves” on Friday night in, Kanye West took to the Saturday Night Live stage and did it again, this time live and in the flesh. The rapper’s new album has been described as “dark”; on SNL, he yelled while dodging in and out of dark shadows (“Black Skinhead”), then delivered an equally intense rendition of “New Slaves” in front of a projection of his face in extreme close-up. “Dark” seems accurate so far. 

Rap-up is reporting that West’s new album will have a release date of June 18 and will be titled Yeezus—a name that may have originated with friend and frequent collaborator Kid Cudi back in 2011. West himself has yet to confirm any of this (though he did cryptically tweet the aforementioned date earlier this month, only to delete it later), but Kim Kardashian tweeted a picture of what appeared to be a copy of the new album, which included the name “Yeezus” on the cover. 

Check out his SNL performances below.

GIVE YOURSELF A TUNE-UP!

Life's incessant juggling act is rarely executed without the odd hitch. Where career opportunities flourish, relationships sometimes suffer. Similarly, when family becomes a priority, finances inevitably require more of your attention. In any such scenario, the ability to practice any kind of mental, physical or emotional maintenance tends to fall by the wayside. With this in mind, we've compiled the following simple pointers to help you regain the looks, vigour and vitality of youth without sacrificing any priorities.

Believe me, if someone was 'against' the idea of meditation, that was definitely me (because I knew I would get distracted, bored or whatsoever). However, today, after finding out about headspace (Website, iOS & Android app) I decided to give it a try (mainly because of their 'take 10' free lessons and because I had nothing better to do). There's no point in trying to explain my experience (the most amazing thing was that it actually worked), but the minute I finished the first lesson I decided to buy my monthly plan. Just give it a try, you have 10 free lessons and it takes about half a minute to create your account!

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STYLE ICON: MR CHET BAKER!

Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker, Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and vocalist. Baker earned much attention and critical praise through the 1950s, particularly for albums featuring his vocals (Chet Baker Sings, It Could Happen to You). Jazz historian David Gelly described the promise of Baker's early career as "James Dean, Sinatra, and Bix, rolled into one." His "well-publicized drug habit" also drove his notoriety and fame; Baker was in and out of jail regularly before enjoying a career resurgence in the late 1970s and '80s.

A person of great anomalies and contradictions. A trumpeter of virtuosity compared favourably to Mr Miles Davis, he was mainly self-taught and played almost entirely by ear. He took no interest in jazz older than bebop, yet when he chose to sing his style and repertoire were purely traditional. He was a depressive personality, but his music is lyrically sweet and melodic. He took drugs to devastating effects, yet played with a crystalline flawlessness. His style was famously laid-back, effortless and flowing, yet his moods were violently extreme. He reputedly rarely practiced and was considered lazy by other musicians, yet his complete recorded oeuvre consists of more than 200 albums in his short 58-year-old life.

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THE CLASSICS: DENIM JACKET!

The appeal of the denim jacket is greater than the sum of its parts. Sure, it's practical (lightweight yet rugged; warm but breathable) and is constructed from the iconic material originating from either 19th century Genoa or Nîmes (depending on which etymology you follow). But what gives the denim jacket its edge - and ensures it will always remain in our wardrobes - is its cultural associations. At its roots the denim jacket is straight from a Steinbeck novel: invented as utility wear, it speaks of the hard work and salt-of-the-earth honesty associated with the 19th- and early 20th-century US ranchers, railroad workers and gold rushers who wore them. A few decades later, advertisers would immortalise this essence in the Marlboro Man, a fictional Everyman character (who often sported a denim jacket) whose purpose was to rid filtered cigarettes of their "effeminate" image. In the second half of the 20th century, the denim jacket became indelibly associated with popular culture as it was adopted by artists, Beat intellectuals, rock stars, punks, bikers and hip-hop musicians. These days, designers produce denim jackets that remain true to their roots while having the level of quality and finishing that we have come to expect in our clothes. 

Check the gallery, below, to see a handful of men who have worn the denim jacket well, and read MR PORTER's tips for wearing one well, below. 

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