London

The men who made menswear

March 6, 2013

I took these photos a while ago, but I thought I should still share them as they’re pretty cool and I have something different to show you.

I went down to London to meet with friends from Norway – Didrik, Aleksandra and Kristian. We were meeting around the National Portrait Gallery/ Trafalgar Square area and as I was early I went for a bit of an exploration walk. Obviously I snapped a couple of pics or my name wouldn’t be Sara.

I think he noticed I was taking a photo…

This guy had a fun idea: He drew flags on the floor and you would put some a coin on the flag of your country of origin. He then kept the money. Genius.

That’s Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut. That’s some couple but they’re not famous or that interesting for that matter.

A monument to Florence Nightingale and the Crimean war.

And if a double decker buuuuus… crashes into us….. Name that song in 15 seconds.

I may have mentioned this before but I’ll say it again in case everyone missed it – fuchsias are called brincos de princesa in Portuguese, which translates as princess earrings. I like the Portuguese name better, it’s a lot cuter.

We all met at the steps of the Atheneum and joined a group led by Russell Nash, a London tour guide who took us on a very unusual sightseeing tour in the Mayfair area of London, under the theme. Unusual because this tour and its stops revolve around the history of menswear! We were told how certain kings started trends and their subjects followed suit, the origins of the names of items of clothing like the smoking jacket, for example and many more fascinating details. I have never looked too much into the history of menswear but I have to say this was a fantastic introduction.

Good taste, they have it.

We were shown 2 of London’s oldest shops (if not the oldest ones) and I totally drooled over this hat maker’s windows. I love me some headpieces, I really do!

Here is Russell standing next to a statue of Beau Brummell, one of the biggest dandies the world has ever seen.

Here we stopped in front of a famous tailor shop in Saville Row, one of the stops of our tour.

Yes, that’s it, the King of Ethiopia has his suits made by a Saville Row tailor. No comments.

This is where we finished our tour and parted ways with Russell: Carnaby Street. I absolutely recommend Russell’s services as a tour guide – he is very nice, extremely well dressed and most importantly, knows what he’s talking about! If you are in London or thinking of visiting contact him on russell@guiderussell.co.uk and sign up for the newsletter so you can keep up to date! I can tell you that there will be some dates for the same tour I did for the middle of March so hurry if you want to go along! You can also follow Russell on Twitter under the handle @rustywoo.

I’m on the reflection there.

Hmmm… no comments.

I still wandered around the West End for a bit after dark and then got back to King’s Cross from where I made my way home. A lovely day out, that I hope to repeat with my friends some time in the future!

Stay tuned for my photos of my stay in Brussels last weekend, I have plenty of nice things to show you!

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1 Comment

  • Reply Chaps and chappettes | Hello the Mushroom July 19, 2013 at 06:08

    […] prowess. I am glad to be able to say that I knew the gentleman who won the first prize – remember Russell Nash, the really nice tour guide? Well […]

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