Men's File - Issue 21 / Clutch - Volume 71
Including a special feature of HANSEN Garments.
CONTENT:
Brimming with Sunshine
The remit of the winter issue of Men’s File is to bring the main events of the previous summer to our readers to act as a midpoint rest bite on the long journey through the months of darkness and ice. In the northern parts of Europe and America it’s hard to take out old bikes and cars when you know the damage the salt and grit can do, although breakthroughs in textile manufacture has meant that the cold is no longer a big problem – an ironic fact when you consider the warmest footwear I’ve found in 40 years riding are my Lewis Leathers RAF boots with the sheepskin lining.
From Purism to Superficiality
This is a journal of style and examines all phenomena connected with the mid-century modern period from modes of transport to architecture, but most importantly we address how they relate to a current aesthetic that we call revival-style. This unofficial coverall term encompasses American work-wear, custom auto design and surf and skate culture and other sub-genres too numerous to mention here. The range of topics covered in this issue continues to be broad and touches on the sometimes profound and purest realm of re-enactment and yet also takes a serious look at the delightfully superficial world of fashion. We follow the quite recent manifestation of vintage beach racing in Europe and we also chronicle some of Tokyo’s most elegant street-stylists at our own “CC” Show in Yokohama. Featuring stories from Italy, Denmark, France, Spain, Germany, the UK, the USA and Japan in this issue alone, Men’s File has earned the right to call itself truly international in is scope and aspiration.
Welcome to Maxwell Paternoster
Men’s File has long followed the life and work of the illustrator and satirist Maxwell Paternoster for both his talent as a commentator and for his personal take on London’s various hip motorcycle scenes. Now, after much persuasion, the maestro has agreed to create an exclusive piece of cartoon satire for the last page of the magazine, which we hope will become a regular thing. This man has a sharp pen. Watch out!
It’s hard to believe we have been chronicling manifestations of style for 10 years. The truth is we have been doing it a lot longer than that. It’s goes back to the late 1970s and the start of the rockabilly scenes in both the UK and USA. That’s where this all started, at London clubs like The Beat Route in Greek Street, where British beatnik types mixed with young men and women in heavily faded 501s and Schott one-star jackets or peg-trousers and a Hawaiian shirt. In other words, the art-school kids, the rockabillies and the soul boys. This was an experimental time when (mostly homemade) style cascaded through the streets of London’s Soho in exclusive and impenetrable cliques that few in the general population even noticed. That’s when Men’s File really started, it just took another 30 years for it to become official. Perhaps that’s the nature of things? First it is lived, then recorded and finally commodified. But we don’t give up so easily as we have never left that idea of the unauthorised and homemade that automatically reinvents itself out of sight of the onlookers.
Nick Clements (Editor-in-Chief)
