The London Lounge

Best Champagne (Jacques Selosse)
Best place to eat al fresco in Paris (Le Pre Catalan)
Best French pol since De Gaulle (R/L) (Sarkozy;Mitterand)
Best knit silk ties (Turnbull&Asser;Charvet)
Best bespoke shoes in UK (Gaziano & Girling)
Best bespoke shoes in Paris (Dimitri Gomez)
Best foie gras (Au torchon)
Best city for women (fashion) (Budapest (Paris))
Best city for a weekend away (Roma)
Best city for bespoke (London;Naples)
Best sunglasses (Persol)
Best Summer shave cream (Truefitt & Hill ,West India Limes)
Best Euro Summer getaway (Scotland)
Best Big Dog (Labrador;Golden Retreiver)
Best Small Dog (Jack Russell)
Best pipe tobacco (Gawith & Hoggarth)
Best French novelist (Stendhal)
Best bespoke ties (Marinella)
Best walking sticks (Smiths)
Best umbrellas (Fox)
Best structured suits (Dege)
Best socks (Italian)
Best French cheese (Comte;Beaufort)
Best shirting fabrics (Riva;Bonfanti)
Best business suitings (H. Lesser)
Best overall cloth wholesaler (SmithWoollens)
Best wine when things are going great (Champagne)
Best wine when things are not going great (Champagne)
Best sized sloop for two (Forty feet)
Best olive oil (Sicilian)
Best shoe toe shape (Round)
Best cloth when its hot for Suit/Shirt (Fresco;Linen)
Best patternfor country suit (Herringbone )
Best pattern for smart country suit (Prince of Wales)
Best Trumper's hair cream (West India Limes)
Best vin jaune (Overnoy (Jura))
Best color carnation for DJ/White tie (Red;White )
Best color cufflink for DJ/White tie (Yellow gold; Silver)
Best all around biz shoe (Black oxford captoe)
Best dressing forums contributor (Etutee)
Best nez (Parker)
Best plume (Pelikan)
Best watch brand (Patek;Lange)
Best: butonniere or pocket square with DJ? (Either, or; but not both)
Best man’s man (Cooper ;Gable)
Best ladies man’s lady (Rita H.)
Best androgens (M/F or is it F/M?) (Tom Cruise;Glenn Close)
Best thinking man’s lady (Rita H. )
Best opera to blast out urban noise (Puccini)
Best biz newspaper (Financial Times)
Best all around hat (Brown fedora)
Best dressed spy (Sean Connery)
Best wine w/o oysters (Champagne)
Best French designer (Yves Saint Laurent)


All best!

M Alden

You've been reading The Man's Book again,haven't you?

You left out Best men's dressing forum, Best pet (cat), Best French poet (Mallarme)...

Thomas Fink is a LL member and his book is splendid. You will find a new discussion of trousers using quotes from his book in the Bespoke forum.

I think there are some Rimbaud fans that might not agree..la poesie est quoi donc? And Baudelaire, mon enfant ma soeur?

"Cats! " as my grand mere used to say!

Best forum on dressing/masculine elegance (You are in it)
Best forum on clothes. (Ask Andy about clothes; seems logical)
Best forum on fashion (SF; hands down)

I'm glad to see Stendhal get his due. Though I must say that there are times when I would edge Balzac a bit higher . . . .

Best French writer we will still be reading in a few hundred years (Balzac)
Best French writer for intelligent good sense (Montaigne)

Bravo! (And very diplomatic.)

Can someone explain the Man's Book and Thomas Fink references? I am not clear which books these refer to.

I cannot let this stand: I think the best small dog breed is the miniature bull terrier! And where do I get those vaunted Fox Umbrellas? There has been some discussion before on what the name "Fox" represents.

brescd01 wrote:I cannot let this stand: I think the best small dog breed is the miniature bull terrier!

Why argue about this? It is like debating over the best flightless bird or the most accomplished mute soprano.

Best walking sticks (Smiths) - No, maybe best walking stick and umbrella shop.

Bill Lowe http://billthestickmaker.com/3.html is a great stick maker and if you can get a carved head stick from KeithPickering (as the King of Spain has) or a classical crook from Bob Goddard (not making at the moment) you will not be dissapointed.

My vote for best large dog is either the Gordon Setter or Leonburger.

I got The Man Book: was I supposed to let my feminist semiotics-trained most-modernist deconstructionist wife see it? She perused it, a quabble ensued over the quote from Fleming about women's craving "semi-rape" and someone is sleeping alone tonight!

brescd01 wrote:I got The Man Book: was I supposed to let my feminist semiotics-trained most-modernist deconstructionist wife see it? She perused it, a quabble ensued over the quote from Fleming about women's craving "semi-rape" and someone is sleeping alone tonight!

Don't give up so quickly -- I am sure you can pull it off if you put yourself in the right frame of mind. And it has to beat sleeping on the couch.

I think the best philosopher/theologian is Bernard Lonergan, who said that all serious thought starts with the practical, political, ethical question of how we best live in society. But to answer this question we have to backtrack and confront the question of reality or truth. To answer this question, we must backtrack further to the question of how one knows reality or truth. And ultimately, life and thought lead to ultimate questions, which are questions about God.

Socrates and Plato asked the first question in their study of politics, the good, justice.
Aristotle backtracked in his study of metaphysics, which reigned through Aquinas.
Descartes, Hume, Kant, Luther, etc. backtracked to the question of knowing, which remains primary to this day underlying our debates on art and science, faith and reason, heart and mind, personal experience and authority, suspicion and belief, fundamentalism and relativism, etc.

Lonergan believes it's all good, and he goes one step further to relate the good in an ordered whole that is not rigid but ongoingly creative.

Best onscreen kiss: Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh
Gone With the Wind