British GQ - 07.2021

DETAILS Ð TRENDS

From left: Top, £1,250.
Shorts, £390. Sandals,
£610. Bag, £1,460. All
by Hermès. hermes.
com. Watch by Omega,
£18,350. omegawatches.
com. Shirt by Etro, £435.
At matchesfashion.com.
Vest by Sunspel, £32.
sunspel.com. Shorts
by Stone Island, £150.
stoneisland.com. Shoes by
Keen, £99. keenfootwear.
com. Necklaces by
Tateossian, from £299
each. tateossian.com.
Flippers by Speedo,
£30. speedo.com

Opposite: Shorts by Gucci,
£320. At matchesfashion.
com. Necklaces by
Stephen Webster,
from £11,100 each.
stephenwebster.com

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 49

50 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

DETAILS – TRENDS

Shirt, £175. Shorts, £165. Both
by Vilebrequin. vilebrequin.
com. Necklaces by Alighieri,
from £195 each. alighieri.
co.uk. Necklace (bottom)
by Tateossian, £400.
tateossian.com. Sunglasses
by Saint Laurent By Anthony
Vaccarello, £270. ysl.com

Opposite, from left: Shirt,
£125. Vest, £32. Shorts, £135.
All by Sunspel. sunspel.
com. Hat by Polo Ralph
Lauren, £45. ralphlauren.
co.uk. Sunglasses by Gucci,
£310. At matchesfashion.com.
Holdall by Louis Vuitton, £840.
louisvuitton.com. Polo shirt,
£125. Shorts, £165. Both by
Orlebar Brown. orlebarbrown.
com. Shoes by Tod’s, £350.
tods.com. Sunglasses by
Hackett, £145. hackett.com.
Watch by Nomos Glashütte,
£1,580. nomos-glashuette.com

Styling Angelo Mitakos Models
Jack B at Select; Tayo at Supa
Grooming Sven Bayerbach
at Carol Hayes Management
using Benny Hancock For Men

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 51



DETAILS Ð US POLITICS

T o the untrained eye, Ron DeSantis, Is the world ready for the
the governor of Florida, resembles
a Republican robot doing a bad
Donald Trump impression. He seems NEXT Donald Trump?
to have copied Trump’s body language,
down to the megalomaniacal hand

flourishes. He’s big and perma-tanned. His name is Ron DeSantis and he models himself on The Donald –
He picks fights with reporters he doesn’t

like. He did a cringe-inducing campaign but he’s smart. That’s why he might just become president...
video in which he encouraged his daugh-

ter to “build a wall” out of toy bricks, Story by Freddy Gray

before reading The Art Of The Deal aloud

to his son. It’s all a bit much. Nobody,

not even Alec Baldwin, can capture The

Donald’s mad essence. DeSantis may

parrot Trumpian talking points, but

his delivery is often plonking. A former

Navy man, a Yale alumnus who went

to Harvard Law, he lacks Trump’s sassy

impishness, especially when he’s trying

to show his lighter side.

Underestimate Ron at your peril,

however. The governor has navigated

his way through the storm of recent

right-wing politics more effectively than

anyone. Today, he is the most popular

Republican in office and hot favourite

to take charge of the party after Trump.

Worse news, for Democrats, is that

DeSantis could pose a greater political

threat than The Donald ever could. He

is Trumpism 2.0: the Orange Evolution.

Ron is Don with brains, a gutsy populist

who knows exactly what he’s doing.

From a libertarian point of view,

DeSantis’ handling of the pandemic W hat conservatives really like Governor Ron understands Florida and Florida is the key
has been exemplary. Between June and about DeSantis, though, is DeSantis at a to the Republican Party’s electoral future.
September 2020, he took a series of risky not his adroit governance, Trump rally in
decisions to release Florida from its it’s the fact his success sends the media Sanford, Florida, Despite very high levels of immigration
lockdown. For this he faced enormous October 2020 in recent decades, the Floridian popula-

criticism, especially from the left-liberal into such apoplectic spasms. A particu- tion has become more conservative,

news channels, which made him out to be larly vicious CBS 60 Minutes hit-job on not less. The GOP spent the 1990s and

a Trump sycophant and a murderer. He the governor recently backfired when 2000s trying to soften its image in order

was often compared unfavourably to the a key allegation – that DeSantis had to appeal to Latino voters in the South.

then Democratic darling Andrew Cuomo, allowed campaign contributions to sway Yet Trump’s repeated victories in Florida

the governor of New York, whose highly his vaccination roll-out decisions – was show that Latino voters don’t want con-

restrictive approach and man-of-the-hour widely challenged. DeSantis hit back hard, servatives who pretend to be PC, they

press briefings were winning further elevating his standing want right-wing badasses. Trump ben-

frightened hearts and minds This is the on the right. If he makes the efitted from that while seeming to make
all over America. Orange #fakenews guys go that crazy, things up as he went along. DeSantis is
Evolution: he must be doing something more deliberate and even more popular
Fast forward to mid-2021 right. The last time journal- than Trump among Florida’s Hispanics
and it’s Cuomo who seems

the dunce, whereas DeSantis Ron is ists so loathed an ascendant because he knows how to draw fire in
is held up as a hero for free- Don with Republican, in 2016, they got the culture wars without getting hurt.
dom. The state of Florida’s brains him elected president. In April, he signed an anti-riot law that,
Covid death rate is only the among other things, grants civil immunity
DeSantis might have a

28th worst in the country; Trumpy brand, but he’s no to citizens who hit protestors with their

New York’s comes second. Better still, blind loyalist. Five years ago, he was a cars if the protestors are blocking the

Florida’s economy is rebounding magnif- fairly standard GOP man. But he was road. Such measures enrage the left, but

icently – its unemployment rate is now quick to sniff the populist winds of change DeSantis knows that for many who came

Photograph Getty Images less than five per cent; it’s almost nine and leaned sharply into Trumpism in his to America expecting law and order, the

per cent in New York – and Floridian 2018 Florida gubernatorial campaign. idea of rough justice is attractive.

schoolchildren have been back in class- Then, once elected, he pivoted towards Nobody can out-Trump Trump and if

rooms since August 2020. Looking ahead more moderate voter concerns: prom- he decides to run in 2024 he should still

to 2024 and a possible presidential run, ising to tackle climate change issues, ram DeSantis out of the way with ease.

DeSantis can say he made the tough calls stressing the racial diversity of his But if The Donald settles into his Florida

in a crisis for the long-term good. That team and making softer noises about retirement, Governor Ron could take

will be an appealing message. the legality of marijuana. DeSantis his legacy to the White House.

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 53

DETAILS Ð SOCIAL STEREOTYPE r One Per Cent was
Annals of The One Per Center #11 pacing out his wrap-
around terrace at
Have you got his bijou homestead
a ‘status’ kitchen? in Hertfordshire.

The first requirement: it must be outdoors. M He was temporarily
We don’t make the rules. The superrich do blind to the teak
steamer chairs arrayed around the vast fire pit.
Story by Rachel Johnson Illustration by Guy Shield Blind even to the Big Green Egg, the cult grilling
gizmo that you “burped” by lifting the lid and
From daily grind to letting the aromatic, meaty smoke belch out. Soon
raising the steaks: all of that would be gone. Yes. Soon his latest six-
alfresco life à la figure grand projet – Miranda’s outdoor kitchen
Mr One Per Center – would be pride of place.

Miranda, bless her, loved cooking. She wasn’t
like one of his former girlfriends in New York,
the skinny, wriggly redhead banker who kept her
collection of Manolos in a glass-fronted oven that
she claimed never to have used. And Miranda had
been cooking a lot the past year, even though Mrs
Chudleigh pitched in. Mr One Per Cent patted his
jutting tummy in tribute.

Still, whenever the sun came out and he
suggested a barbecue, Miranda rolled her eyes to
convey her views about men and barbecues.

Once, he recalled, they’d been with friends
at a Notting Hill communal garden and Hugh
Grant turned up (late, in a bright red Ferrari
Testarossa). Their hostess had proffered him
the platter of cold, blackened animal parts.
“No, thank you,” he’d said, clearly wondering
how soon he could leave and go to some Mayfair
club where the women were prettier and the
food better. “Barbecue is invariably disgusting.”
Instead of everyone thinking, “How rude,” they
thought, “How right.” Only at a trad English
barbecue could the cook – too often a bloke –
achieve results that were always burnt yet raw.

Mr One Per Cent, however, was more like the
late Prince Philip. Philip loved man food. He,
too, was a master of the barbie. And given that
social distancing and staycations were here to
stay and one had to book any decent restaurant
six months in advance, well, the answer was
obvious: they would make this terrace into the
River Cafe, basically. A showstopper of an Italian-
made wood oven in neon pink there, hand-crafted
oak units with marble or Corian there, with
double sink, integral fridges, a chef’s range and
climate-controlled chiller cabinets for cheese and
wine. It all made sense: work from home – why
not eat out at home too?

Mr One Per Cent almost salivated as he
pictured himself at the Valoriani oven, grilling
some huge, correctly marinated piece of meat and
slicing it with one of his Japanese knives.

When it came to the barbie, he was the daddy!

The new lexicon: words and phrases heard in the wild this month...

Cheugy Phubbing Factory settings Sliving

Something that many people Snubbing someone by using your A term meaning “natural tendencies” A portmanteau of “slaying” and
think is cool but already went out phone right in front of them, a employed by people who think “living your best life”, coined by
of fashion. Ironically, using the habit that has been shown to lead companies have “DNA”, that free Paris Hilton. Should you use this
word itself is starting to look a to depression. Seriously, google time is “bandwidth” and that talking word? No. No you should not.
little, erm, cheugy. it… but not while someone is in sci-tech metaphors will mask
talking to you. intellectual inadequacies.

54 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

GQ Partnership

Re-charge Black Pepper Burstein and Collis were insistent
bath and shower gel, £22 about creating an all-natural company
for 300ml. Re-charge that would become a key player in the
Black Pepper eau de grooming game and was, first and fore-
parfum, £120 for 100ml. most, made in England. What’s more, it
Both by Molton Brown. sat – and still sits – at the forefront of
moltonbrown.co.uk sustainability, a long time before other
brands re-energised the movement.
Molton Brown’s iconic Since its inception, 50 years ago, Molton
black pepper scent will Brown has never tested on animals and
recharge your senses operations are run at its own manufac-
turing facility in Elsenham, northwest
As the luxury fragrance house celebrates its 50th anniversary, Essex, where the team – proud holders
we enjoy another energising spritz of its famous eau de parfum, of a Royal Warrant – puts its passion
Re-charge Black Pepper Story by Zak Maoui into practice.

Britain’s luxury sector is Michael Collis and Caroline Burstein T he jewel in the crown of its scent-
shaped by Burberry, Vivienne launched their new venture on South heavy empire is the historic
Westwood and, of course, Molton Street (hence the name), the Re-charge Black Pepper collec-
the country’s elite groom- exclusive shopping hub in London’s tion, to which Molton Brown added
ing business Molton Brown. Mayfair that also gave us such high-end an eau de parfum in 2019. It instantly
piqued our interest at GQ: spicy, ebul-
The label began life 50 years ago and is retailers as Browns Fashion. The pair lient and palatable, it is one of the most
enveloping fragrances in the male groom-
undeniably one of our most- blazed a trail with their use ing arsenal and gives a little kick with
every spray.
loved fragrance, body cream Bergamot of hand-mixed natural hair Re-charge Black
and hand wash providers. A gives the products and, making use of Pepper body lotion “I’m passionate about bridging
stalwart of innovation and fragrance the benefits of botanicals and by Molton Brown, the chasm between citrus and woody
luxury grooming, Molton a summery herbs, experimented with £26 for 300ml. fragrances,” explains Jacques Chabert,
Brown has a storied history feel unique formulations that moltonbrown.co.uk the master perfumer behind this exhil-
that’s well worth celebrating. delivered distinctive and arating scent (as well as Guerlain’s
intriguing scents. Samsara and Cristalle for Chanel), “and
In 1971 hair stylist Re-charge Black Pepper is how I’ve cho-
sen to express this. I took an ingredient
that shares and also amplifies the quali-
ties associated with the original eau de
toilette’s key note, black pepper. Myrtle
pepper is the absolute soul of this clas-
sic and I wanted to really enhance and
express that.” A fragrance like no other,
it is exemplary of the brand’s dedication
to innovation and invites you into a new
and alluring sensory world.

Alongside black pepper sits sun-
drenched nuances of ripe, juicy and
somewhat bitter bergamot. A citrus
plant that is considered one of the fin-
est ingredients one can bottle, when
enhanced with myrtle pepper, berga-
mot gives the cutting-edge fragrance a
summery feel. Elsewhere, mountainous
oakmoss adds a woody depth to what
is already a deeply intriguing scent.
Grown in Madagascar, the black pepper
itself, which is refined yet sharp, pro-
vides spicy and fruity aromas that are
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awaken boundless energy in just one
spritz, whoever the wearer and whatever
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It stands to reason, then, that we
think every man who’s serious about his
fragrances should add Re-charge Black
Pepper to his rotation. Consider this
botanical and fascinatingly futuristic

scent your summer rejuvenator. G

MOLTONBROWN.CO.UK

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 55

Suited and (football) booted:
the Harry Kane style playbook

The Tottenham Hotspur striker
and England captain on how to
nail a world-class look

Introduction by Zak Maoui

On the pitch, Harry Kane’s record speaks for itself. He’s on
track to become the Premier League’s top goal scorer of all time
with 164 goals in 240 appearances (move over, Alan Shearer)
and the 27-year-old England captain and Spurs striker is a
true flag-bearer for the beautiful game. Also, men’s fashion.
Because since 2018, Kane has been a global ambassador for
Boss, a role that’s helped his style do the talking off the pitch.
With a penchant for a well-fitted single-breasted suit – as
anyone who has kept an eye on the footballer’s black-tie
appearances at GQ’s Men Of The Year Awards will attest –
plus a savvy, neutral-toned downtime wardrobe, the two-time
Premier League Golden Boot winner knows what works for
him. Over Zoom, Kane spoke to GQ from the Lodge, the world-
class training facility at Spurs’ grounds in North London,
about his approach to winning style.

I love a good suit. Boss Bottled a role model off the pitch, with regard
United by Boss, to how he looks.
I don’t dress up that often, but a well- £57 for 50ml. At
fitted suit can just make you feel your fragrancedirect.co.uk He’s a big fashion icon in football and
absolute best. beyond, which is probably helped by
his wife being Victoria Beckham. I’m really big on nutrition. Photographs Vincent Flouret;
I don’t like to be recognised too much Getty Images; Maxim Monti
when I’m out and about. I prefer simple football shirts, such as I watch what I eat and take everyday
England’s World Cup kits, which were supplements as a means to live a
I try to keep a low profile and stick to white and red. I’m also a big fan of dark longer, healthier lifestyle. That said,
neutral tones. I’m not the type to throw kits, so Tottenham’s work for me. cheat meals are essential.
on bold colours.
I wouldn’t want to wear anything too I regularly do Pilates.
My style hasn’t changed too much over out there, but I’ve got to do what I’m
the years. told or else I’m out of the job. It’s great for injury recovery, but also
for my mental health. I use it to switch
I’m buying into better brands, but the When it comes to boots, I’ve off and relax my body.
products I wear are pretty much the always liked white boots that have
same: T-shirts, jeans, bomber jackets, multicoloured prints on them. BOSS.COM
rollnecks, trainers and boots. I’ve got
a green Moncler puffer jacket that will I like my boots to be a bit
be staying with me for life. I’ll never more extravagant.
give it up.
My hair right now is the best it’s ever
I always have a tracksuit been – enough length to sweep it back.
ready to wear.
I used to have short hair and, looking
Unlike most people, back, it wasn’t good.
lockdown didn’t really
change my usual style, I use the hairdresser my wife has
as I was already living in been going to since she was a kid.
tracksuits before and after
training. I trim my beard daily before
I shower.
My wife has the final say in
what I wear. That’s an essential.

There have been one or two I actually wear a sun cream-
instances when she’s seen me wearing moisturiser hybrid every day.
something and given me a little word
after to say, “Maybe don’t wear that As a footballer I’m outside a
again.” If there’s something I really like lot, in the sunshine, wind and
I’ll put my foot down, but, as they say, rain. It wreaks havoc on my
“Happy wife, happy life.” skin, so I need to protect it.

David Beckham has always been my I’ve always worn fragrances.
role model on the pitch, but he’s also
Like wearing a suit, it just makes you
feel good. Before I leave the house
I spray some on and it kick-starts
my day.

56 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

DETAILS Ð GROOMING

Simple football shirts
and sharp suits score
big with England
captain Harry Kane

‘David Beckham is
a role model on
and off the pitch.
He’s a fashion icon’

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 57

DETAILS Ð MAN THINGS

Cities have been burned, out of the city for so long. Property
blitzed and now... abandoned? prices in London rose 501 per cent
Not so fast. After all, there’s still between 1996 and 2016, but it was
no better place to be young... not always this way. In the decades
before the property boom kicked
You won’t find lovers, careers or good coffee by working remotely Story by Tony Parsons in – say, between The Beatles’ first
single (1962) and the first split of
T he city is hard to kill. the siren call of countryside, suburb chair. For most – all? – of the things The Stone Roses (1996) – the young
History abounds with could cheaply live in the centre of
tales of great cities crawling and exurb; the hollowing out of our that make this life worth living, you the capital.
from the ruins of unimaginable
trauma. From 1665-66 an out- cities; the death of all those places need human contact. You need to My first home in London – a
break of bubonic plague killed an hovel, really – had a hole in the
estimated 100,000 Londoners, a we loved so well – all the city cafés, get out and about, you need to prove roof whereby half of the bed got
quarter of the city’s population. The wet when it rained. The room’s
great San Francisco earthquake of restaurants, pubs, clubs, bars and your worth – to that boss, to that girl, previous occupant was a young
1906 started fires that raged for drummer whose band had yet to
several days, leaving almost half shops that did not make it through to yourself. If most of your career land a recording contract. None
the population homeless. In the of us had money. We didn’t need
summer of 1945, the first nuclear the long, cash-starved ‘Every city, – and most of your it to live in the heart of the city.
weapon ever used in warfare months of lockdown. or every romantic and sexual London was full of ridiculously
evaporated Hiroshima in one apoc- All these changes are city worth adventures – are in your cheap rooms. The dirt-cheap
alyptic flash. Yet bombed, infected confidently predicted a damn, is rear-view mirror, then Central London bedsit is unlikely
and burned to the ground, the city to kill the city. But you can quit the city for to return, but property website
always bounces back. it is more likely that the quiet life. But not if home.co.uk recently reported
that, spurred by the pandemic,
But perhaps not this time. what they will do is Babylon’ you are young. Your life the number of London rentals has
The conventional post-Covid can’t retreat into the increased by 68 per cent, resulting
wisdom is that the city will never change it. Because city in discounted rent levels.
recover from the worst global pan-
demic for 100 years. Everything life will always provide opportuni- home when you still have most of Edward Glaeser, a professor of
conspires against urban living now: economics at Harvard University,
the decline of the office and the rise ties – professional, social, financial, your life before you. You need the city. has predicted that the city of the
of Zooming from home; the fear of future will resemble the city of
infection in cramped city streets; emotional and, not least, sexual – the final decades of the 20th cen-
tury. “Anyone over 50 will remember
that you will never get in the sticks W e decamped to the city the 1970s, when London, New York
or find on a screen. for good reason 5,000 and other cities were less expensive,
years ago,” writes Ben less safe and less salubrious,” writes
You can maintain a long-term Glaeser. “The biggest shift will be
the replacement of the old by the
relationship without ever leaving Wilson in Metropolis: A History Of young. It is the young who care most
about socialising. It is the young
your home, but you will never meet The City, Humankind’s Greatest who are least at risk of disease. It is
young workers who have the most to
the love of your life there. You can – Invention, his love letter to urban gain by working and living in a city
dense with opportunities to learn.”
if you are what they call an “urban life, “for the proximity, oppor-
The city will endure, more down
knowledge worker” – just about tunities, sociability and sensual at heel but younger, hungrier,
grittier and with the eternal
conduct a career from your sofa, but pleasures it offered.” If you want draw of sexual freedom, career
opportunities and good coffee. “For
you can’t build a career from a comfy to build a career or find some good much of human history, urban life
has revolved around the sensual
dim sum or get off with someone, – eating and drinking, sex and
shopping, gossip and play,” writes
then nowhere compares to the city. Wilson in Metropolis. “Cities are
successful in large part because they
The wide open spaces of suburb offer pleasure, excitement, glamour
and intrigue as much as they do
and countryside are really made power, money and security.”

for those who have already found This is what the city promises:
life, rather than a retreat from life,
partners, enjoyed careers and have work and play, love and sex, food
and drink, a place where the fun can
most of their life behind them. But finally start. I get why the oldsters
are fleeing the city. But if you are
if you are young and hungry, then young, or only young at heart, then
the bright lights of the big city is
nowhere will ever compare to the forever the only place to be.

teeming metropolis – so many

options, so many possibilities, so

many fabulous people with whom to

spend your life (or just a few hours).

The city is the greatest dating app in

human history.

“The denser it is, and the pacier

its demographic churn, the richer

the options for the unattached,”

wrote the Financial Times’ Janan Illustration Jamie Wignall

Ganesh of the city’s pulling power.

“Nowhere stacks the odds in favour

of the single person quite like a city.

Every city, or every city worth a

damn, is Babylon.”

The young will save the city –

the young who have been priced

58 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

SCENTS OF GQ Partnership
ADVENTURE
Fragrances by
With an exclusive ten per cent discount L’Occitane,
for GQ readers, discover the three never-
before-captured scents in L’Occitane’s £70 for 75ml.
unique new luxury fragrances uk.loccitane.com
JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 59
Story by Kevin Perry

I n 1976, the 23-year-old Olivier
Baussan founded L’Occitane
En Provence with a dream
of preserving and celebrating the
traditional grooming products of
his home. He started small, using
a steam distiller to create rosemary
essential oil, but his wares proved
such a hit at local markets that he
was soon able to branch out into
soaps, creams and fragrances.
Forty-five years on, L’Occitane has
a reputation not just for keeping
alive traditions, but also for going
further and consistently finding
new and exciting ways to innovate.

Take, for example, its three new
L’Occitane Homme fragrances.
Using a patented extraction
technology, the perfumers
incorporated in each bottle a
unique scent that was previously
impossible to capture: in Olivier
Ondé, it’s centenary olive fields
after the rain; for Bois Flotté,
driftwood rocked by the salty
winds of the Mediterranean;
and, finally, roasted shea almond
in Karité Corsé.

To mark the launch of these
utterly unique fragrances,
L’Occitane is offering GQ readers
an exclusive ten per cent discount,
for a limited time only. To claim
yours, quote the code GQ10
online and in store. An olfactory

adventure awaits... G

OFFER VALID FROM 1 TO 15 JUNE 2021 IN STORE
AND ONLINE. FOR TERMS AND CONDITIONS VISIT
UK.LOCCITANE.COM/TERMS-CONDITIONS

DETAILS Ð TRENDS Sweater, £875. Trousers, £675.
Both by Dolce & Gabbana.
Meet your dolcegabbana.com
new thirst trap

What with all the exercise we’re engaging
in, not to mention the warming the planet’s
been doing, it’s never been more important
to stay hydrated. So says fashion...

Story by Teo van den Broeke

T here’s been a shift in fashion land. When pre-
pandemic we would buy luxurious clothes to face the
world in, we’ve now entered an age when function is
valued far more than form. Take the recent thing for souped-
up bottle holders. Sloshing neatly into the wider reusable
bottle trend, this new breed of high-fashion hydrator also
plays into the expanding consumer appetite for merch.
However, far from being as useless as that Muse band tee
you bought in 2004, this new swath of ultra-luxe merchan-
dise is easily as valid as the cross-body bags and nifty phone
holders you purchased in the time before Covid. Not least,
the branded water bottles pictured below. They’re designed
to hold your favourite imbibable liquids, after all, which
will come in very useful as we re-enter reality en masse and
struggle to get a drink at the bar. Though that may also have
something to do with the Muse tee you’re wearing.

+ High fashion’s pouring reign

Bottle holder by Gucci

This brilliant monogrammed
carrier from Gucci is just the

ticket for hikes to the
beach bar this summer.

£125. gucci.com

Bottle holder
by Louis Vuitton

About as understated as an
Afghan hound with a perm: jazz

up your hydration with LVs all
round. £965. louisvuitton.com

Bottle by Prada

Chic, (surprisingly) affordable and
characteristically understated.
Keep this on your keyring at all
times. £75. prada.com

Bottle by Saint Laurent

Is it an Oscar statue in disguise? Is
it the Olympic torch? No. It’s Saint

Laurent’s new bottle and you
know you want it. £85. ysl.com

60 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

DETAILS Ð TELEVISION

it well and truly broke free of its Mogwai). There are also attempts to
shopworn zany family format (see draw right what once went wrong
The Simpsons, Family Guy, King (a Game Of Thrones animated spin-
Of The Hill et al). The likes of BoJack off is apparently being considered).
Horseman, for instance – Netflix’s
first animated original series for Indeed, there is an ungodly
adults – tackles depression and amount of money being spent on
addiction. Undone – the first origi- the rights to fantastical classic sto-
nal animated series commissioned ries to reanimate: HBO Max has
by Amazon Prime, starring Better reportedly spent hundreds of mil-
Call Saul’s Bob Odenkirk – is essen- lions on various animation orders.
tially an impressionistic art film in There is even money for stories that
animated form, dealing with grief really aren’t that fantastical at all
and loss and pain (South Park it – Amazon Prime has given a two-
ain’t). Apple TV+’s first animated series order to Fairfax, an LA-set
series, Central Park, was a musical. show about hypebeast culture. And
then there are shows I’m pretty
It’s no coincidence that all of sure literally no one asked for but
these shows were made by which they’re animating anyway
streaming giants. In the content (exhibit A: “mature” Scooby-Doo
arms race, what was once a risky origin story Velma).
How the adult commission becomes creative cred-
animation boom ibility for streamer pocket change. Even AMC – the network behind
You need look no further than Mad Men, remember – has just
Amazon’s latest, Invincible, an ani- given a green light to its first
mated drama series of 45-minute ever prime-time animated drama
series, the hour-long episodic sci-
saved television episodes based on a comic by The fi anthology Pantheon, which has
Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman been picked up for two series. And
(yes, there are super abilities, but the pandemic could have another
happy knock-on effect: the voice
And we’re here for it Story by Stuart McGurk think The Boys rather than The actors. With so many productions
Avengers). And it has all com- having shut down or been delayed,
a whole new calibre of cast has
T he on-again, off-again, Burgers (above) – about a family bined to create a perfect storm: become available. As Katie Krentz,
on-off-on-off-again pro- who run a hamburger restaurant, the streamers, watching on as their president and executive producer
duction of the latest currently available on the ITV Hub productions shut down last spring, at 219 Productions, put it, “We
started commissioning like crazy. have Oscar-nominated actors that
are coming to the table for the
Jurassic World film, Jurassic – may have gone on hold briefly Shows once thought dead are first time.”

World: Dominion, wasn’t merely last spring, but was up and run- making comebacks, such as teen In one way, none of this should
be a shock: streamers are aiming
the highest-profile blockbuster ning five days later. drama parody Clone at a generation that grew up on
South Park, not The Flintstones.
that was caught by the pandemic. And a stalwart such as Rick And High, from The Lego But what an irony: as Disney+
It was, by some distance, the The Simpsons didn’t Morty was Movie creators Phil leads the way with its Marvel
most darkly funny example too, as miss a beat, having Lord and Chris Miller, properties, pitching to everyone’s
inner 13-year-old (even if you’re
actors were forced to bubble in a preemptively put work- actually which boasted a single 30), it’s taken cartoons to start
hotel together for months on end, from-home practices in improved series on Teletoon and speaking to our inner adult again.
all of them having to adhere to a place from early March. by the MTV from 2002-03.
109-page safety document and some And as for Rick And There are spin-off ani- RICK AND MORTY SERIES FIVE AIRS
THIS MONTH ON E4.
pandemic1,800 safety signs. (Judd Apatow is Morty (below) – not just mations from popular

currently finishing his own parody the funniest and smart- TV shows (The X-Files:

film of their exact scenario, called est animation on TV at Albuquerque, say, minus

The Bubble, for Netflix.) the moment, but the funniest and an animated Mulder or Scully).

Of course, barring scrapping smartest comedy full stop, about And there are offshoots from clas-

production with the project half- the dimension-hopping adven- sic films (Gremlins: Secrets Of The

shot, they had little choice, but tures of an alcoholic scientist and

it showed how difficult filming his grandson? Its forthcoming fifth

has become in a Covid-ridden series (set to air on E4 this month

world. The various precautions before landing on Netflix) wasn’t

have caused costs to spiral – even merely unaffected by the pandemic,

EastEnders has been forced to but, according to cocreator Dan

use basic CGI to make actors Harmon, was actually improved

look closer than they are – and by it.

many other sets have simply shut “We’re more on schedule than

down indefinitely. we’ve ever been,” he told a panel

But coming to the rescue? A new at the (virtual) PaleyFest NY 2020.

Photograph Alamy adult animation boom, as studios “It makes you focus on the whole

and streamers alike have sunk process when you don’t have this

billions since last spring into an office environment any more.”

industry almost ideally suited to In truth, adult animation was

everyone in it working from home. already undergoing something of

The likes of Fox series Bob’s a renaissance pre-pandemic, as

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 61

DETAILS Ð HOROLOGY Hands

Depth A sword-shaped hour
charge! hand and a narrow minute

TAG Heuer’s new Aquaracer hand allow for faster
is the most refined it has distinction in low light.
ever made. It also tells the
wider story of the brand’s Date window
dive watch heritage...
The new Aquaracer
Story by Charlie Burton repositions the
date window to
T AG Heuer’s racing chronographs, six o’clock and
especially the Carrera and
Monaco, are some of the watch has a magnifying
world’s most enduring icons. But the area for enhanced
brand says its dive watch, the Aquaracer,
deserves to enjoy similar status – and readability.
it has announced a fully refreshed
Aquaracer line-up to prove it. “We are crisis, so when Jack Heuer heard there was At a time when it’s fashionable for
conscious of the fact that, today, Carrera demand for affordable, reliable dive watches watchmakers to directly remake archive
and Monaco are probably having more he decided to diversify. The result was pieces, why did Arnault choose the path
attention – collectors and watch special- 1978’s ref 844, Heuer’s first out-and-out dive of allusion rather than re-creation? “At
ists get more excited with these watches,” watch, which came with distinctive details TAG Heuer we don’t believe too much in
says CEO Frédéric Arnault. “It’s one of the such as a red 24-hour scale. The ref 844 was the strict revival of historic watches,” he
reasons for this launch. I believe there are a resounding success and from it sprang a says. “I believe, personally, much more in
great stories to tell with the Aquaracer whole dynasty of Heuer divers. taking inspiration from specific references
and its whole history. We have a strong and good designs but blending them with
legitimacy in that segment and we are To turn the spotlight on this strand of modern techniques and also modern
also looking at repositioning it so it’s the company’s watchmaking, TAG Heuer codes of design to build a new watch – but
more high-end than in the past.” has made the watch you see before you. The one that resonates with the past.”
Tribute To Ref 844 is made from Grade 5 tita-
The new watch is called the nium, but riffs on its namesake with a red TAG HEUER AQUARACER PROFESSIONAL 300
Aquaracer Professional 300 (inset 24-hour scale, faux-aged lume and perforated TRIBUTE TO REF 844, £3,600. TAGHEUER.COM
right, from £2,500) and it’s the rubber strap. It’s also limited to 844 pieces.
result of making careful nips and
tucks to the previous design. You’ll
spot the same 43mm case diameter,
for instance, and 12-sided bezel. But
take a closer look at that bezel: it’s now
made from ceramic, giving it a more
elegant finish. Or check out that dial: it
appears less cluttered because eight
of the baton hour markers have been
switched for smaller octagonal ones.
The evolution from the previous
Aquaracer to this new generation
is subtle, but it does indeed look
“more high-end”.

As to Arnault’s ambition to assert
TAG Heuer’s “strong legitimacy” as a
maker of dive watches, that’s where the
limited-edition version, the Aquaracer
Professional 300 Tribute To Ref 844
(pictured, main), comes in.

It’s a watch that speaks to TAG
Heuer’s history. Although the
Aquaracer name was born in 2004,
Heuer patented a waterproof pocket
watch case as early as 1895 and
dabbled in seafaring watches over the
decades that followed. In the late 1970s,
however, things got serious. The com-
pany was struggling through the quartz

62 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

DETAILS – INTEL

A video released by where we’re conducting military to be? Even if UAPs aren’t
America’s DoD shows exercises. We don’t know what it extraterrestrial, the consequences
a close encounter with is and it isn’t ours.” The following could be seismic. If China, say,
an ‘unidentified aerial month, the Pentagon created the has beyond-next-gen technology
phenomena’; (below) Unidentified Aerial Phenomena that can violate restricted
US Navy commander Task Force “to improve its airspace with impunity, that’s
David Fravor understanding of, and gain insight a paradigm shift.
into, the nature and origins of
UAPs”. Most significantly, in Clearly with a global pandemic
December, Congress passed a bill raging, there have been other
requiring the director of national priorities. But Christopher
intelligence and the defence French, professor of psychology
secretary to submit a report on at Goldsmiths, University Of
what they know about the UAP London, tells GQ there could
issue. The report is due this month. be deeper impulses at play to
explain the lack of interest. “If
UFOs are no joke L et’s step back. For decades, people have made up their minds,
the notion of UFOs has one way or the other, it’s one of
been ridiculed. It has those issues where it’s very hard
been a field defined by a lack to change [their views],” he says.
“Arguably the most powerful
of hard evidence – apocryphal cognitive bias that we all suffer
from is confirmation bias. We
Why are they still dismissed as one? Story by Charlie Burton tales, uncorroborated witnesses, pay more attention to evidence
that supports what we already
dodgy photographs – and state believe to be true or what we
would like to be true.”
U FOs are real – and we boom; it could descend from denials. In that context, the US
have videos to prove it. 50,000 to 100 feet in a matter government admitting UFOs Decades of stigma and ridicule
It’s an extraordinary of seconds; and it could change are real is monumental. And the are also hard to shake. But in
other contexts we are happy
claim, but that’s precisely what direction instantaneously as if incidents that have been publicly to countenance the idea of
extraterrestrials. Nasa’s primary
the Pentagon told the world last without inertia. None of that acknowledged so far are the tip goal for Mars exploration is to
“seek signs of life”. The University
year. On 27 April 2020, the US should even be possible. One of the iceberg. (“There are a lot Of California, Berkeley, facilitates
a $100 million project called
Department Of Defense (DoD) of the other pilots who saw the more sightings than have been Breakthrough Listen “aimed at
finding evidence of civilisations
released three videos, one from UFO, Commander David Fravor, made public,” former director beyond Earth”. As Mellon told
Rogan, “Meanwhile we have
2004, two from 2015, shot from then head of the US Navy’s Black of national intelligence John these things flying around our
atmosphere, that we’re seeing on
the targeting cameras of US Aces combat squadron, said the Ratcliffe said recently.) What’s the radar, that kind of look and
act like what you might expect
Navy Super Hornet fighter jets. 40-foot object ran rings around more, while officials haven’t made if somebody sent a probe [to
Earth]... And yet the scientific
They show close encounters with his jet, reacting to its manoeuvres the leap to calling these objects community and the government
have not wanted to dare to ask
fast-moving, strange-looking and jamming its radar, before extraterrestrial, some refuse to the question.”

objects in protected military disappearing in a heartbeat. rule it out. In December, former It’s vital this attitude changes.
Not only for national security, but
airspace and include audio of “After 18 years of flying, I’ve seen CIA director John Brennan, who because even if you believe there
is only the slimmest chance UAPs
the pilots’ astonishment (“Wow! pretty much about everything served under Barack Obama, said represent hitherto impossible
technology, humanity owes it
What is that, man?”). The footage that I can see in that UAPs might involve to itself to investigate fully. It
“a different form has been said there are only two
had previously leaked to media realm, and this was ‘There are Holy Grail questions: is there an
afterlife and are we alone in the
organisations, but now the nothing close,” he a lot more of life”. If they do, universe? If we have a credible
government was putting it on told ABC News. “I sightings the implications for lead on the latter, surely it merits
the record. “DoD is releasing the can tell you, I think than have science, technology, academic enquiry.
videos in order to clear up any it was not from this religion – for our
Let’s be clear: whether you
misconceptions by the public on world.” It wasn’t a been made sense of our place want to call them “flying objects”
Photographs M Scott Brauer/the New York Times; US Department Of Defense whether or not the footage that one-off. The New in the cosmos – or “aerial phenomena” they
has been circulating was real,” York Times reports public’ are profound. remain “unidentified”. If they
are real is no longer a question.
it said in an official statement. that between 2014 And yet, UAPs The question is: what the hell
are they?
“The aerial phenomena and 2015, Navy pilots observed are still often treated as an “and

observed in the videos remain UFOs almost daily. There was finally” item by news anchors

characterized as ‘unidentified’.” even a near midair collision. trying to disguise their smirks.

The pilot who captured the In 2017, the New York Times In science and academia, it

2004 UFO footage, while flying made the Navy sightings – and remains taboo – where it is taken

a mission from the USS Nimitz the existence of a secret Pentagon seriously it is typically viewed

aircraft carrier, has described programme investigating such as fringe research. Swaths of

the smooth, white, oblong occurrences – a front-page news the public are unaware of any

object as resembling a Tic Tac. story. Since then, “unidentified of the recent developments – and

Although it was observed by aerial phenomena” (or “UAP”, the many who are simply don’t care.

multiple military aviators and new official term that has replaced Christopher Mellon, a former

detected by radar, it seemed to the now-stigmatised “unidentified senior defence official who has

defy the laws of physics. The flying object”) have become a been pushing for meaningful

Navy pilots say it had no visible serious talking point. Last July, action on the issue, told Joe

wings, rotors or propulsion for instance, the US senator Marco Rogan in May that, after the

system – infrared cameras didn’t Rubio told CBS that the issue 2017 New York Times front page,

even detect an exhaust plume. was a pressing national security almost nobody in Congress asked

Yet it could achieve hypersonic concern: “We have things flying for a briefing: “I was stunned.”

speeds without making a sonic over our military bases and places How myopic do you have

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 63



DETAILS Ð GAMING

Since the start of 2021, Roblox has over- “unstructured play” was how previous
generations used to learn many key life
taken Fortnite as the second-favourite skills, such as negotiation and how the
world works. It was done through the
game for British six-to-nine-year-olds, fictional conceits we’d create at nursery
and school: the fake doctor’s office; play-
according to The Insights Family. Roblox ing families with others. But the amount
of unstructured play time for children has
proudly admits that more than half of decreased as we’ve become more hooked
on mobile phones and games consoles.
American children under the age of 16 Roblox tries to reinject some spontane-
ity into play time, even though it’s done
are on the platform. Many players are digitally. There are games in Roblox
that mimic life at a pizza restaurant or
aged between seven and 12, says Max learning how to drive. Its founder, David
Baszucki, sees it less as a series of games
Entwistle of Abracadabra Studio, which and more as a “metaverse”: a giant social
hub, through which we’ll all eventually
creates games on Roblox that have made be connected.

him and his business partner the heads of That means all society is represented,
good and bad. When they were teenagers,
a multimillion-dollar company (one of its Wilton and her friends would jokingly
terrorise fellow gamers by injecting code
most popular games, SharkBite, hit half a that would trigger storms of fireballs;
today, parents are more likely to fret about
billion plays last year). But, Donato says, Roblox’s sex parties. The company has
thousands of moderators policing con-
in recent years those demographics have tent 24/7 and prevents any user under the
age of 13 from receiving unsolicited direct
The many worlds of shifted, with the fastest-growing share of messages, says Donato, though, he admits,
Roblox are built by users aged between 13 and 17 and 18 and “People find ways to subvert the systems.”
24. “We’re ageing up with our users and Fears of a corrupted youth are no different
and for its users from any other online game, says Mavoa.
“Technological tools for stopping bad
they’re sticking with us,” he says. things happening are only a small part of
how you deal with those safety issues,” she
W hen Quinn Wilton stumbled across Roblox, the In all, 150 million active users log on says. “The main thing is to have an open
user-generated cross between Minecraft and a social to Roblox every month and there dialogue with children, making sure you
network, in 2006 at the age of 12 or 13, she was seeking are more than eight million creators allow them to talk and having in place a
a way to create games she couldn’t find elsewhere. Roblox, which plan to deal with issues when they arise.”

describes itself as a platform for people to produce immersive like Entwistle, who, at the age of 24, has Spending time on Roblox isn’t
a one-way ticket to a life of sado-
experiences, was then in its infancy. Today, it – and Wilton – have managed to set up a business within a masochism – far from it. Wilton’s
activity set her up for her career
changed somewhat: Roblox is now a £27 billion phenomenon, platform that pays for his house, food in cybersecurity; Entwistle defied
his parents and made them admit
recently listed on the stock market, that you likely haven’t even and cars. Roblox paid out £238m to its the time on Roblox wasn’t wasted.
And the next generation are coming
heard of; Wilton, now 28, is a cybersecurity technician, putting the developers last year. It’s vindication for through, too, using skills and busi-
ness acumen learned on the platform.
programming skills she learned in her teenage years into practice. Entwistle, who started playing on Roblox Pyno Stevens spends his time after
school on Roblox, where he creates
She’s one of many in the Roblox generation who have learned when he was 13, despite his parents’ and sells items and skins that can be
used in games. He’d been playing since
important life skills from their time in the Roblox worry that it would distract the age of 12 before deciding to develop
3-D models, teaching himself how to use
world and is an indication of where today’s children him from homework. Their Blender through YouTube videos. He’s not
opinion changed when his just learned how to build objects, but also
Roblox paidweaned on Roblox are likely to end up. how to value and market them. Now 17,
£238 millionOpen up Roblox and you’re thrown into a he has his own Roblox-based business,
first paycheque arrived from contributing to two big games, working
on another three, and with a 25-strong
parallel universe full of worlds ready to jump into. to its Roblox – for around £200. order book for private commissions. He
Each has been designed by fellow players and chal- developers The in-game economy – earns around $350 a month through the
lenges users in different ways. One could be a giant last year in-game currency, Robux. He plans, like
battle of survival, another a ten-pin bowling game. and the chance to strike it Wilton, to study computer science. “If I’d
rich – is in partly why Roblox get the opportunity to be a full-time dev
[on Roblox], I wouldn’t hesitate,” he says.
Others are just environments in which to hang out is such a success. It’s also

and chat. That was what first gained Wilton’s interest. “When I why its boosters say it’s a net benefit to

play a more traditional game, like World Of Warcraft, you can children’s learning and why those who

put hundreds or thousands of hours into that, but you’re just worry about its impact are concerned.

consuming content created by other people,” she says. That didn’t “You download Roblox and then

interest her. She spent hours after school creating her own world, have access to millions of

using the platform’s built-in programming language. “It was this games, from obstacle courses

magical technique as I learned how coding worked.” to role-playing games, which

“People think of us as a game, but it’s really an opportunity to are relatively open-world, and

do things with other people,” says Craig Donato, chief business you can do what you like, basi-

officer at Roblox. In a world where we’re increasingly living our cally,” says Jane Mavoa of the

lives online, that’s become more normalised. University Of Melbourne, who

Traditionally, the core users of Roblox have been children. has studied Roblox. So-called

Roblox is a freewheeling,
backroom-dealing

big-business enterprise
disguised as a child’s game

And with a userbase of mini Gordon Gekkos already making real money,
isn’t it time you logged on and joined the brat race? Story by Chris Stokel-Walker

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 65

DETAILS Ð STYLE

Sean Connery in
Goldfinger; (right) the
film’s iconic three-piece
suit, re-created by
Anthony Sinclair

Dress women want to be with him,” notes tailor David natural-shouldered, hourglass “Conduit cut”
like Bond!
Mason. “It’s like every piece of clothing and every classically favoured by the tailor. But the suit is
Ahead of No Time To Die, 007’s
original tailor is offering a stitch- Aston Martin brings you a little bit closer to him.” meticulous in its distinguishing details, thanks
perfect re-creation of the iconic
Goldfinger suit in all its pleated It’s an impulse with which Mason is well to its creator’s analysis of physical Sinclair suits
glory. Fandom, control thyself...
acquainted. In 2012, he revived the Anthony made for Connery, high-resolution stills from Photographs Alamy; Getty Images; Luke Kirwan Styling Angelo Mitakos
Story by Charlie Burton
Sinclair brand, which supplied Sean Connery the film and inherited knowledge from Richard
James Bond inspires emulation like no other
fictional character. A thriving online com- with suits for all his outings as Bond. ‘Every Paine, Sinclair’s protégé, who helped
munity pores over every detail of what the Of those creations, one is more firmly piece of Mason launch the business. So, the
spy wears, drinks, drives – all the elements of his associated with Connery’s incarna- clothing sleeve lining? It has the same unu-
lifestyle as depicted on screen or in print – and tion than any other: the three-piece brings you sual puppytooth pattern. The jacket?
seeks to own those items for themselves. But this worn by the spy during his visit to the a bit closer The same hard-to-execute extended
isn’t a niche interest, as evidenced by the pop- villain’s Kentucky stud farm in 1964’s to 007’ front dart.
ularity of, say, any watch models worn by 007. Goldfinger. With its Glenurquhart
“It’s always been said that ‘men want to be him; check, pleated trousers and lapelled “Now, pleats have come back into
waistcoat, the suit is simultaneously fashion,” says Mason. “So it’s a good
time, I think, to go back and look at

chic yet individual. Mason decided that real, authentic suit.” Next year,

that the “new” Anthony Sinclair would re-create it will also be incorporated into a collection of

it in a modern guise as a made-to-measure item 60 re-creation pieces that Mason will launch to

for today’s clientele. It was a bestseller. mark the 60th anniversary of the Bond franchise.

Now, the brand is going one further. Ahead of All the better to bring you that little bit closer to

007 returning to the screen in October, Anthony Fleming’s icon.

Sinclair is offering a bespoke Goldfinger suit

that imitates the original with complete veri- BESPOKE SUIT, £5,950; MADE TO MEASURE SUIT, £1,950.
similitude. Most obviously, the jacket has the 20 RIVINGTON STREET, LONDON EC2. ANTHONYSINCLAIR.COM

66 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

GQ Partnership

Elevate your G&T with this
masterly crafted Japanese gin

Thanks to a unique distillation process and distinctive local flavours, Ki No Bi is a spirit like no other

Story by Kevin Perry

G in and tonics have been a sta- For Ki No Bi, the
ple of British life since they award-winning Kyoto
were first mixed by East India
Company officers hoping to Distillery blends
stave off malaria in the early eleven botanicals
19th century, yet sometimes even a classic can
use a fresh twist. If you’re seeking to elevate with rice spirit
your next G&T with a spirit that’s both exqui-
sitely made and truly singular in taste then look Ki No Bi is so
no further than Ki No Bi, crafted at Japan’s first fresh it’s
dedicated gin distillery.
almost like
To understand what makes tasting Ki No Bi so tasting gin for
special, it’s important to understand the Japanese
concept of kaizen. A philosophy of continuous, the first time
gradual and methodical improvement, kaizen is
at the heart of everything that goes into Ki No JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 67
Bi, a name that translates as “the beauty of the
seasons”. Launched in 2016, The Kyoto Distillery
constantly refines its recipes and techniques,
perpetually striving for efficiency and improve-
ment, and has received recognition from major
international industry awards, including gold
medals in 2020 at both the International Spirits
Challenge and The Gin Masters.

Take, for example, its utterly unique approach
to distillation. Ki No Bi divides its botanicals into
six elements – base, citrus, spice, fruity and floral,
herbal and tea – and then macerates and distils
each individually. Only then – in a process known
as konwa – are the elements blended together
with water drawn from a well at one of the old-
est sake breweries in Kyoto, Tsuki no Katsura,
founded in 1675. In another idiosyncratic step,
while most gin is made using a molasses or grain
base spirit, Ki No Bi is made using a rice spirit,
giving the finished product a subtle sweetness,
delicate, umami-like texture and an unmistakable
hint of Japanese flavour.

Eleven botanicals are used in total, each rooted
in the local environment of Kyoto. These include
hinoki, a type of Japanese cypress tree whose wood
is sweet and earthy; yuzu, a fruit that provides dis-
tinct citrus notes, reminiscent of tart mandarin
and orange blossom; and an exceptional type of
green tea called gyokuro, which laces through
the other distillates when the gin is blended and
brings them together for a harmonious finish.

The sensation of drinking Ki No Bi is familiar
and yet so fresh that it’s almost like tasting gin
for the first time. It can’t help but inspire you
to think of all the ways you could be applying
the philosophy of kaizen to your own life – and
making all your G&Ts with Ki No Bi seems like a

pretty good improvement to start with. G

£59. AT HARVEY NICHOLS. HARVEYNICHOLS.COM/
THE-KYOTO-DISTILLERY

DETAILS Ð ADVICE

flattering and comfortable to wear than any
that are too tight. Second, if you’re tall, which
it sounds you are, J, then it would pay to wear
trainers and pulled-up socks with your short
shorts, rather than a sandal, to create a little
extra balance. And third, throw out the rule
book and do whatever makes you happy. Life
is short and the time period in which you can
easily get away with thigh-grazing legwear is
even shorter, so grab the trend by the cojones
while you can and go for it. Just be sure to
pack a spare pair of trousers in case it gets
chilly in the evenings. We don’t want your legs
getting cold now, do we?

Dear Style Shrink,

What are your thoughts on

wearing a cardigan on cooler

days and nights in spring

and early summer?

Martin, London Cardigan by Prada,
If there was one thing £1,550. prada.com

the pandemic taught me

about getting dressed in

the morning, Martin, it’s

that having a few beloved

cardigans lying around

makes the whole process considerably easier

than if you don’t. My favourites to wear

over the past year have included my chunky

cashmere number from Alanui, which looks

great worn with a white tee and pale denim

jeans, and my oversized “Art Cardi” from

British brand Connolly.

The beauty of a good cardigan is that

it can be worn as an outer layer when the

temperature goes down on long summer

A skirt for summer? evenings and beneath a jacket in the winter.
Pleated it, mate
However, the best way to wear one, in my
Style Shrink
By Teo van den Broeke experience, is in lieu of a dressing gown

when feeling particularly lazy on working-

from-home days. My advice? Opt for

something in a muted shade cut from

ultrasoft cashmere, so you can easily throw

it on with everything in your wardrobe.

Oh, and if you can afford it, buy the chunky

cable-knit cardigan from Prada’s Spring/

Summer 2021 collection, because it’s quite

litch the dream.

Dear Style Shrink, sexy and liberated. Indeed, if your calves are Dear Style Shrink,
shapely, your thighs slim and the skin on your
There’s a lot of noise around the short shorts legs perfectly smooth (ie, you’re Harry Styles) Will you be wearing a skirt
debate right now and I was wondering if you then five-inch shorts are going to look just
had a position on the subject? I’m a tall man, great on you. For the rest of us, however, short this summer? I’ve often
slim but not muscular, and I usually wear shorts should be approached with a relative
Bermuda shorts, if I wear shorts at all, but amount of caution. read your thoughts on the
given that we’ve been locked up for so long I feel
compelled to try something new. Can I get away Sure, we’re entering a new age of freedom subject and I’m hoping Skirt by
with it? And if so, how? and we’ve all been wearing exercise gear to see the proof in the Thom Browne,
J Dodds, Herts more than ever before, but there’s a fine line pudding, so to speak. £1,940. At
So the big news is that last year the between looking like beefcake actor Milo Sherwin, Wrexham farfetch.com
omniscient TikTok tweens decreed that Ventimiglia in his teeny crack-flossers and,
any shorts more than five inches in the leg well, a potato in a Speedo. The key to getting it Hell yeah! I’m totally
were too long to be considered sartorially right in polite company, whatever your shape,
acceptable. To put that in context, a five-inch is to pay attention to a few simple rules. First, sold on Thom Browne’s
short finishes just below the crotch – a modest it doesn’t really matter how short your shorts
hot pant, if you will. The truth is that on the are or what state your legs are in; if they’re pleated kilts right now Illustration Joe McKendry
right pair of legs a five-inch short can look loose enough around the thigh they’ll be more
and can think of nothing

better than all that extra breeziness just in

time for summer. But I’m going to need a

waxing first, if anyone knows someone good...

SEND YOUR MENSWEAR-RELATED STYLE QUESTIONS TO
[email protected]

68 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

Meet your new DETAILS – LITERATURE
black-tie watch
Sure, you can sneer at
Warning: striking the perfect balance of the new megabucks
formality and insouciance while starring thriller by Bill Clinton
horology’s hottest hue, Boss’ Santiago timepiece and James Patterson
may make one’s fellow guests green with envy
But ask yourself: why? Story by Sam Leith
Anyone with half an eye on
the watch world right now will Is the world’s bestselling author the world’s (more likely a committee than a person) would
know that green is the colour bestselling author? It’s a question you might have recognised, nor the Beowulf poet or the gang
of the moment. From Rolex not expect to hear asked, but it’s almost the behind the King James Bible.
to AP, Patek to TAG Heuer,
every major brand seems to be only question that tends to arise about James It’s bound up with a set of slightly snobbish
releasing timepieces in the hue
– and finding their own twist on Patterson. When, in 2018, the writer coauthored ideas about lone geniuses, originality and not
it. Hugo Boss is no exception.
Take, for instance, the watch The President Is Missing with Bill Clinton, the sullying art with commerce. But, of course, the
the brand has created to mark
this year’s upcoming GQ Men game was to work out which bits were Clinton history of literature emerges from a collective oral
Of The Year Awards. Called the
Boss Santiago Gents Watch, and which were Patterson. The release of their tradition, and writers do what they do to make a
its dual-time sub-dials make it
inherently sporty and the green second offering, The President’s Daughter (out 7 buck. I should add, since I mention the Romantics,
dial dovetails with that informal
vibe. Yet the yellow-gold details June), will spark round two of that guessing game. that even Wordsworth wasn’t totally self-reliant:
serve to simultaneously bring
out the green’s regal quality. In Even before that, when Patterson has been he bunged Lyrical Ballads in the direction of
a similar manner, the finishing
on the two silver registers adds covered in the literary pages it has been to won- Humphry Davy, asking if he could sort out the
gleam and thus an elevated
sense of occasion. der how many of his 200-plus books he actually punctuation. Davy was, of all things, a chemist.

This mash-up of codes means writes. Patterson is as much a brand management I have some skin in this game myself. The
the 44mm piece treads the
line between formality and system as he is an author. And well he might be: Nancy Drew novels formed an important part
insouciance. And isn’t that the
perfect balance to strike when he got into the writing game after of my childhood introduction to
you’re attending any modern
black-tie event? The idea thatyears at the J Walter Thompson literature. I had no doubt they
were superior to the adventures
£299. HUGOBOSS.COM ad agency. He has sold more than of the Hardy Boys and was mor-

425 million books from which he collaboration

is reported to have made £500m is anti-artistic tified when I learned “Carolyn
is pretty newin the last decade alone. Keene” (author of the former)
and “Franklin W Dixon” (author
Collaboration, for Patterson, is

not so much the exception as the of the latter) were pseudonyms of

rule; he’s upfront about it. I don’t know if there’s the Stratemeyer writing syndicate, which churned

even a definitive list of all his coauthors. Wikipedia out both. I had been, had I but known it, doing

offers seven, excluding Clinton, but prefaces its list a Pepsi Challenge with two cups of Panda Pops.

with the shoulder-shrugging disclaimer “such as”. But as long as what’s in the cup tastes good,

Patterson’s said he reckons he’s good at think- who cares, right? Whatever he’s doing, Patterson

ing up plots and prefers to let his coauthors lead is doing it effectively. He and his army of ghosts

on the sentence-by-sentence stuff. This is, I think, are writing books faster than most of his audience

winningly modest. (Assuming it’s not a sly attempt can read them – and doing so vastly profitably.

to pass along the blame in the manner of that If he wants a new collaborator, incidentally, I

scene in This Is Spinal Tap where, amid a dire have checked my diary and my bank balance and

jazz improvisation, the lead singer tells the audi- I find myself very much available.

ence, “On the bass, Derek Smalls. He wrote this.”)

And what is to prevent him taking that view? If

you apply the analogy of architecture, Patterson

is drawing the blueprints and subcontracting a

series of brickies to make the walls.

Nevertheless, literary folk look down their noses

at Patterson’s work, citing such issues as hokey

plotting, clunking metaphors, thickets of cliché

and sentences of surpassing ineptitude. (The

Observer, reviewing the first Patterson-Clinton

outing, said, “You half-wonder if American is his

first language – or his second.”) Underneath the

Photograph David Burnett scorn, though, there’s a subtext: what Patterson

does is just not done. But look: the idea that collab-

oration is in some way anti-artistic – that the true

artist works defiantly alone and, ideally, doesn’t

make money from his or her art – is one of pretty

recent pedigree. I blame the Romantics – all that

mithering about on crags examining their own

navels. It’s not a portrait of the artist that Homer

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 69

New summer rules

From the must-have watch to the latest fragrance,
check out our essential edit of the season’s best

Edited by Sophie Clark
1 23

456

789

1. Watch by Hamilton, £900. hamiltonwatch.com 2. Sweater by Benedict Raven, £135. benedictraven.co.uk
3. Jacket by Barbour, £159. barbour.com 4. Pur Oud by Louis Vuitton, £1,070 for 100ml. uk.louisvuitton.com 5. Jeans by The Kooples, £175. thekooples.com

6. Loafers by Joseph Cheaney & Sons, £465. cheaney.co.uk 7. Top by Castore, £75. At matchesfashion.com
8. Swimming shorts by Vilebrequin , £125. vilebrequin.com 9. T-shirt by Paul & Shark, £95. paulandshark.com
70 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

GQ − PREVIEW

Towel, £480. Bag,
£2,050. Espadrilles,

£560. All by Dior.
dior.com

Beach wardrobes R ight now, we need no encouragement to hit the beach. After
are officially a thing. a year dreaming of sea dipping, sandy toes and sun-drenched
Just ask Dior lounging, we’ve never been more ready and neither has Dior.
An ode to holidays missed, Dior’s 2021 capsule beachwear collection is
With printed towels, water bottles, espadrilles infused with free and joyful energy. Designed by Kim Jones, it was inspired
and terry cotton robes, trips to the beach are by a dialogue with Kenny Scharf and Jones’ passion for the American artist
back, back, back! Story by Sophie Clark is weaved throughout. There’s a printed silk shirt and matching bandana
that brings to life the iconic painting “Viva Mare Viva Mar”, with it’s aquatic
creatures in vibrant pop colours, and the rest echoes a vintage sportswear
aesthetic, featuring retro tracksuits, polo shirts and swimming shorts.

The accessories, too, are an invitation to up your game. With bathrobes
and towels in terry cotton, a water bottle housed in a leather and nylon
shoulder strap and a refined boat bag and matching espadrilles, you can

trust that your new seaside essentials will be off-beach worthy too. G

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 71

Bob Carlos
Clarke,
reframed

The late photographer’s troubled
chiaroscuro finds fresh expression
in this definitive coffee table opus

Story by Thomas Barrie

Photographer Dies In Accident”
read the headline on 27 March
2006. It’s still online, half cor-
rect, 15 years after Bob Carlos
Clarke checked himself out of
the Priory and threw himself
under a London train. In that
time, Clarke’s reputation as
a photographer – of fetishists, of celebrities, of
erotica – has only grown.
Clarke would have turned 71 this year and a
new book, Dark Deluxe: The Bob Carlos Clarke
Opus, charts the Anglo-Irish portraitist’s life and
career through his own images. From his child-
hood in Cork and an unhappy period at boarding
school, through education at the London College
Of Printing and Royal College Of Art to his break-
through in the 1980s, Clarke “narrates” his story
through quotes from his photo book Shooting
Sex: The Definitive Guide To Undressing Beautiful
Strangers (2002). He admits he took up photog-
raphy to pick up women: “If I slept with them, I
was a user. If I didn’t, I was a loser.” It’s a brutally
honest, if problematic, account.
Reductively dubbed the “British Helmut
Newton”, Clarke was almost as fixated on celebrity
as he was his models. He admired Mick Jagger and
David Bailey because – as he recalled in another
unsettling admission – “They fucked the best
girls, made loads of money and got famous for
it.” By 1990, he had become a celebrity kingmaker
himself, as White Heat, his collection of tousled
and heroic images of Marco Pierre White in the
kitchen, established the chef as a culinary super-
star. White contributed the foreword to Dark
Deluxe: “Something cataclysmic happened when
our paths crossed,” he says. “We were both driven
by addiction, pure and simple, to adrenaline.”

DARK DELUXE: THE BOB CARLOS CLARKE OPUS
(OPUS, £7,500) IS OUT NOW.

72 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

DETAILS Ð PHOTOGRAPHY

Bob Carlos Clarke in his
London studio, 2003; (from
left) ‘Adult Females Attack
Without Provocation’ (2004);
‘Sticky Fingers’ (1990); ‘Marco

With Meat Cleaver’ (1990)

The tousled and
heroic images of
Marco Pierre White
established the
chef as a superstar

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 73

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DETAILS Ð POLITICS

This administration is powerful perhaps because, they can’t see it
and emboldened: it needs restating in themselves.
because Twitter (often a synonym
for delusion) prays for a resignation Ongoing scandals mean a
every time the government faces a growing risk that this behaviour
crisis. Basking in its local election will define them. It feels like we
success, it won’t melt into nothing- are getting close to the image of
ness because of irate newspaper the Tories once portrayed by Rik
columns. Breaking the ministerial Mayall as Alan B’Stard, a “fictional”
code doesn’t seem to count for much MP from 1980s television who
either. It is decency, not sleaze, that kicked crutches away from disabled
is the Tories’ pinch point. people in the street. Nastiness is a
perennial tick. It is their fatal flaw,
T he NHS is at the heart of it their Achilles heel, their blind spot
all. It’s a thing ill-suited to (you get the idea). When it becomes
most versions of modern wearing and unchecked it is one of
conservatism, yet inconveniently the few things that can hurt them.

treasured for the same reasons The fall of heartland Labour
seats in 2019 was one of the most
so many current Tory grandees significant political phenomena of
the last 40 years and that begrudg-
don’t like it. The alleged privatisa- ing trust placed in this government
is most likely to be broken not by
Rik Mayall as the ‘fictional’ Tory MP of the 1980s tion of the NHS is a fog few can Johnson’s conduct, but by the sense
that the ruling party has an innate
The new face see through and the government propensity for unfairness. One of
has promised to increase spend- their strengths is that many of the
ing on health, yet the pandemic new MPs are locally focused and
saw eye-popping contracts dished do have a public service ethos, but
these same MPs are also tied to
of modern out to private companies without Johnson, since they believe they
proper tender. For the public, this have him to thank for their vic-
is a nexus of nastiness and greed. tories. Better start splashing that
levelling-up cash before it’s too late.
Conservatism... They are actions that transform an
abstract wrong into something cor- It doesn’t help the cause of the
poreal. This “wrongness” is brazen, official opposition that the real
opposition appears to be Cummings,
ALAN B’STARD inarguable and easily understood. regarded as the cause of many of the
It is said that Johnson, as much government’s worst characteristics.
Labour’s problem is that there is
as he is anything, leans towards even less sympathy for Frankenstein
than there is for the monster.
one-nation Toryism, though there
The unaccountability, the double
The return of ‘the nasty party’ is a sign of Tory are plenty of former one-nation standards, the cronyism: in isolation
each misdemeanour is manageable
strength and the source of their only weakness Tory MPs who might raise an eye- for a government this beefy. But
after four years or so the attrition
Story by George Chesterton brow at this. Johnson represents will sting. It will wear everyone
the Tory id, a vortex of desires and down. Yes, some voters may want, to
paraphrase The Simpsons’ Sideshow
F or the Tory haters out there, When Theresa May warned the unrestrained appetites. That would Bob, a cold-hearted Conservative to
the idea of a battle for the Conservatives about their reputa- make its ego his concerned inner rule them like a king, but it depends
soul of the Conservative tion as “the nasty party” in 2002, she circle, while the superego has long on the king. By 2024 even the Tiger
King may be preferable to the man
Party mistakenly presupposes was referring to a perceived heart- since been banished with such epit- who wanted to be World King.

that it has one. The spectrum lessness towards the disadvantaged omes of responsible conservatism Eventually the electorate and his
party will be exhausted by Johnson.
of British conservatism ranges as well as outdated views on social as David Gauke, Dominic Grieve His carelessness will become irk-
some and just too risky. He will
from dedicated public service to issues. The latter problem has been and Rory Stewart. The idea of pub- probably tire of the blinding burden
of real leadership too. Those two
megalomania and Boris Johnson addressed; the former remains. This lic service-oriented Tories who don’t lines may intersect at a single point,
most likely some time in 2023, to
represents an extreme rather than is less about Conservative voters, have their snouts in the trough give a new leader a bounce into the
next election. The Conservatives can
something unique. who, as we saw in 2019, are more seems out of fashion. Figures such be as nasty – sorry, willing to make
tough choices – about their own as
Everything troubling that hap- heterogenous than ever, as Stewart are almost they are about governing. What can
you do? Tories gonna Tory.
pens under Johnson’s leadership is than parliamentarians Nastiness all gone, like the last
a riff on the same theme. Whether and power brokers. is a lonely tortoise of a
it’s dodgy decorating, unpleasant perennial Galápagos island
rhetoric about corpses in the streets This is now a govern- tick. It is unable to propagate
or nurses’ pay deals, it’s not so much ment more tolerated the Tories’ his species.
“Nothing to see here” as “Nothing than liked. That has blind spot
you didn’t expect to see here”. All its limits. Dominic Tory rebranding has
this on top of David Cameron’s less Cummings’ overmighty been a success, not only
revenge is dramatic but thanks to Cameron’s PR

than charming attempt to lobby only one of the drip- drive to address racism,

his former colleagues in the cause ping taps that will increasingly sexism and homophobia in the party

Photograph Shutterstock of mammon. However, the danger annoy voters, joined by such things (it’s as if austerity never happened),

for the Tories lies not so much in as conspicuously objecting to free but also because, with a helpful

the sleaze itself, but the perception meals for poor children or making media, they have positioned them-

among voters of where it comes residents, rather than owners, pay selves as the party of normality and

from: namely entitlement, arro- for safe cladding on their flats. It’s common sense, while anything else

gance and greed. This takes time to the trickle-down nastiness of turn- – even Labour centrism – is aligned

seep through, until the unpleasant ing your nose up at John Lewis, a outside the mainstream. And yet

build-up can no longer be ignored. brand most people consider “posh”. the nastiness persists when, and

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 75

DETAILS Ð SCIENCE

HAS life without restrictions, will we suddenly find A stronaut Scott Kelly says he “jumped
LOCKDOWN it awkward to socialise? Have our brains been back” into socialising “with a lot of enthu-
REWIRED altered by time spent alone? Are our social siasm” after spending a year in space.
OUR BRAINS?
muscles atrophied? Between March 2015 and March 2016, the 57-year-
This month, the government’s
road map could allow for the Underwood has now spent a year living by old lived aboard the International Space Station
most extreme relaxation of
restrictions yet, with nightclubs himself, although that two-month stretch was with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko.
hoping to reopen and weddings
allowed to host any number of the longest he went without seeing another soul Unlike Underwood, Kelly was never completely
guests. But has the pandemic
made us forget how to interact (a handful of people now sporadically stop by to alone – 13 people came and left over the course
with other people?
help him fix up the property). As a former hostel of the year – but even so, he found returning to
Story by Amelia Tait
manager who was “always surrounded by human earth a shock.
After two months trapped in a California ghost
town by five feet of snow, Brent Underwood saw beings”, he says his social skills have undoubtedly “When you first get back and they pull you
headlights in the distance. In March 2020, then
aged 32, Underwood moved to Cerro Gordo – a changed. “Over the months, my bandwidth for out... you’re overwhelmed,” he says, “At the
once murderous Wild West silver mining town
– to look after the abandoned property, which social interaction has decreased. Before, at the landing site there’s probably 75 people there
he hoped to shape up for tourists. Thanks to two
straight weeks of snowfall and a then-mysterious hostel, I could sit on the couch and talk to people – it might as well have been 1,000, it’s that
virus ravaging the country, he became stuck, liv-
ing off boiled snow, rice and canned food. And for four hours without feeling exhausted. Now, it overwhelming.” Although Kelly was keen to
then he saw a Jeep; a fresh pizza; a (sort-of )
neighbour, who had read about Underwood’s might be 30 minutes [before] I feel a little bit like resume socialising, he admits that being around
predicament in the news and had driven an hour
to bring him food. I need to get back to my own space.” a lot of people again was “a little bit uncomfort-

What’s it like to see another person after Though he experiences fatigue, Underwood able” and “stimulation overload”.
months alone with nothing but the whistling
wind for company? “As far as the first person to is not suddenly awkward or socially unskilled. Even if our brains haven’t been altered by
see, I would say that’s pretty much as good as it’s
going to get,” Underwood says now, still grateful Robin Dunbar, emeritus professor of evolutionary our pandemic isolation, many of us may still
for the pizza. But, he admits, “It did feel strange”
to interact with someone after his isolation. psychology at the University Of Oxford, studies experience this kind of anxiety (Kelly also says
It’s a fear many of us share: after the return of
the neuroscience of social bonding and recently he found it physically painful standing on his

authored the book Friends: Understanding The feet after not standing for a year, but hope-

Power Of Our Most Important Relationships. fully none of us have spent quite that long on

Dunbar says that our social skills “require con- the sofa). Although anxiety is understandable,

stant practice” and can become “rusty”, but argues Elizabeth Stokoe, a professor of social interac-

that, “just like riding a bicycle”, socialising is a very tion at Loughborough University, says our social

easy habit to pick back up. skills may not be as rusty as we fear.

“These skills come back very quickly,” he says, “The core things that people do – greeting

noting that because we spend the first decades each other, asking each other questions, mak-

of our lives acquiring and entrench- ing requests, offering and getting

ing our social skills, they are very ‘My help, having relationships – are still
difficult to unlearn. Dunbar explains bandwidth things we’re doing throughout the
that a “big chunk” of the brain for social pandemic. We just have different
called the “default mode network” is interaction resources for doing them,” Stokoe
involved in socialising. While regions decreased’ explains, citing Zoom and elbow
of our brain can develop and contract bumps. “A lot of my work is trying to
over time – Dunbar cites a 2000 UCL myth-bust things that people think

study that found the hippocampus, communication is about,” she says,

the area of the brain that deals with navigation, explaining that while the way we feel about our

grew larger in London taxi drivers the longer they communication might have changed, communi-

spent doing the job – most of us haven’t been iso- cation itself has remained consistent for many.

lated long enough to alter our brains. One myth Stokoe is keen to bust is the idea of

It’s different for the long-term lonely. In a June “Zoom fatigue” – she notes that no one reported

2020 paper titled “The Neurobiology Of Social finding video apps tiring before the pandemic,

Distance”, Dunbar outlined how insufficient even though they had regular users. Stokoe

social stimulation can affect our neurobiological instead argues it’s how we feel about Zoom

architecture and influence mortality. “Lonely and the pandemic that is making us tired, not,

people have brains that are organised dif- as some have claimed, that using it forces us to

ferently, basically,” he summarises. Can this speak louder. As such, there may be fewer Zoom

affect social skills? One interesting example in behaviours to unlearn than we imagine and

Dunbar’s paper is that people with more exten- Stokoe believes it’s very unlikely we will suddenly,

sive social networks have larger amygdala. In for example, find it difficult to look others in the

2009, researchers from the California Institute eye. “I’m optimistic that we haven’t lost our social

Of Technology reported that a patient with skills,” she says – her husband, a primary school

amygdala lesions lacked a sense of appropriate teacher, was amazed to see that “within a day” the

personal space when interacting with others. children in his class picked up their friendships.

Even when “nose-to-nose with direct eye contact”, The message from Underwood, Dunbar, Kelly,

the patient felt no discomfort. and Stokoe is ultimately consistent: it’s very

But Dunbar stresses that his paper focused on unlikely that you’ve forgotten how to socialise.

long-term developments among people who had “After an initial icebreaker, there’s going to be

been socially deprived for a significant period of a lot to talk about,” Underwood says (not least

time (other researchers have found that prisoners strangers emerging from the snow bearing

who spend time in solitary confinement report a pizza). “I wouldn’t be worried,” retired astronaut

loss of social skills). “I just don’t think the length Kelly adds. “I think there will be a transition

of the lockdown has been draconian enough or period of getting readjusted, but then it will go

long enough,” Dunbar says, arguing that the vast back to normal within weeks.” People, he notes,

majority of us will just “bounce straight back”. “are pretty resilient.”

76 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

Photographs Alamy; iStock; Brent Underwood/Cerro Gordo + Brent Underwood moved to the abandoned Californian silver town Cerro Gordo in March 2020. During the pandemic, he was stranded there alone

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 77

DETAILS Ð PODCASTS

What’s behind of a medium that offers greater creative a whole. “Podcasting is still a very young
freedom (no major studios looming over medium comparatively and every new
the productions here) and, let’s face it, a person introduced is a huge plus for this
whole industry, whether it’s an Acast
Holly wood’s quick, easy buck grew ever stronger. show or not.”
podcast pivot? When the celebrities came a-knocking,
L istener habits have also changed
the infrastructure was already firmly significantly during the pan-
established to make it as seamless as demic, with a decline in demand
possible for big-name talent, says Conal for true crime content – the defining
genre since Serial skyrocketed to super-
Byrne, president of iHeartMedia, one of star status in 2014 – and a boom in
comedy and news, according to Byrne
Podcasting is no longer just for washed-up the US’s biggest audio companies, which (the two podcasting giants that thrived
comedians – during the pandemic, companies has a track record of creating podcast in 2020, he says, were iHeart and the
hits with A-listers (it now boasts both New York Times). That goes some
way to explaining the success of Fake
such as iHeartMedia have let the world’s Clintons and the world’s most famous Doctors, Real Friends, which has been
orbiting top-100 podcast charts since it
biggest stars get in on the act Story by Ben Allen heiress on its roster). “We had already debuted, and of Katherine Ryan’s Telling
Everybody Everything, a monologue in
If you’ve found yourself on a certain type of podcast built models, pre-quarantine, with peo- which the comedian spills her soul to
feed in recent weeks you might have come across an ple such as Will Ferrell and Shonda her fans.
ad for one hosted by Bill Clinton, appropriately titled Rhimes, [meaning] other creators who
Why Am I Telling You This?. Over an upbeat jingle, in wanted to jump into podcasts were able Ryan has used her podcast to replace
his familiar, southern croak, the former US president to call us and say, ‘Hey, how would we the in-person comedy circuit, as a medium
– whose reign in office is best remembered for a sex work together?’” Byrne says. iHeart sets for experimentation that may eventually
scandal and his subsequent impeachment – attempts celebrities up with a production team inform her next special. And, more than
and helps them seed their work out to a a year in, with the possibility of actual
live shows looming in the distance, she
to lure listeners in with promises of conversations massive audience (podcasts reach more isn’t showing any sign of slowing down.
“Katherine could very easily have just
about life and jazz music. It sounds like sketch comedy but it isn’t. than 100 million Americans each month made this a lockdown-only activity, but
she is really focused on this being a regu-
Clinton really does have a podcast (which launched in and many more listeners worldwide) via lar part of her career now. She’s managed
to make podcasts part of her routine,”
February) and so does his wife, Hillary. Barack Obama launched every podcast provider under the sun. The Shetabi says. Braff and Faison, too, are
committed to finishing all nine series of
one with Bruce Springsteen the same month as Bill, somewhat publisher even allows the celebrities to Scrubs, which ran from 2001 to 2010, and
that will take them at least another year
stealing the thunder of one Paris Hilton, whose own podcast choose their own ads, which brands they (they’re four series down already).

debut arrived the same day. They follow in the footsteps of want to endorse and how many ads Byrne is confident the celebrity podcast
boom will continue long after the pan-
fellow celebrities Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, Scrubs stars they want to include each episode. It demic ends: “Honestly, I think the next
thing to happen to podcasting is 100m
Zach Braff and Donald Faison, Demi Moore and Jamie Lee was this kind of flexibility and reach that Americans a month becomes 200m. And
I think that happens because distribution
Curtis, all of whom have started up or starred in audio series got Clinton on board. (iHeart’s support of mechanisms will open up more and more.
They’ll at some point launch a Facebook
of their own in the past 15 months amid a difficult period for the Clinton Foundation didn’t hurt either.) audio product that will increase listener-
ship massively, which will then attract
Hollywood as a whole. (Remember when Gal Gadot and friends Podcasts are easy and cheap to pro- even more creators to the medium.”

were so attention-starved that they shared a video of them- duce, very portable and thus pretty easy And with entrepreneurs such as Paris
Hilton – yes, seriously – shaking up the
selves smugly butchering John Lennon’s “Imagine” from their to pull off in lockdown. So, the adjust- game, new avenues are being traversed
that might make podcasting an even
palatial homes?) ment to the new way of easier sell. The reality and social media
star has begun experimenting with bite-
We were already in the midst of a podcast boom The pull working from home didn’t size drops, which are kind of like the love
when the pandemic hit last year and the industry of greater require much of a shift: to child of a WhatsApp voice note and an
continued to grow while others floundered, with creative set up their Scrubs rewatch Instagram Story, in an attempt to cre-
Acast recording a 50 per cent increase in new lis- series, Fake Doctors, Real ate an auditory social media feed. This
kind of ingenuity excites Byrne. “On
teners in the UK since March 2020. Conversely, TV, freedom Friends, all Faison and Instagram, [celebrities] keep a steady
film and almost every other art form near enough grew ever Braff needed was a couple flow of often unpredictable and delight-
shut up shop, meaning lots of big-name folks had stronger of decent microphones, a ful content for their fans. And [Hilton]
extra time on their hands and the gravitational pull sturdy Zoom link and a bit of wanted to try that in podcasting too. We
all were like, ‘Wow, that’s interesting that
guidance from iHeartRadio no one has done that.’”

producer Joelle Monique. For sound-

proofing (and young-child evasion),

Faison records from his walk-in closet,

enshrouded by clothes. The actors’ pod-

cast thrives on the real-life friendship

they’ve cultivated over the years, which

made iHeart’s job of helping them con-

vert it into audio gold far easier. “Their

podcast sounds easy-going and flows

super well between them,” Byrne says,

“but that’s because there’s a lifetime of

really good content creation and then

they really are authentically best friends.

Our role is to do our best to capture it

and get out of the way.” Illustration Pete Reynolds

It’s a mutually beneficial relationship.

“You can look at the top 100 podcasts

and they will be mostly celebrity shows,”

says Sam Shetabi, Acast’s director of con-

tent for the UK and Ireland, and they’re

typically the gateway drug that gets

new listeners hooked on the format as

78 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

GQ − PREVIEW

Silver linings

Style and timepiece enthusiasts alike, take note.
The Tudor Black Bay has had a shiny new update
for 2021 in the form of a striking sunburst dial

Story by Sophie Clark Photograph by Mitch Payne

S ince 1929, Tudor has reigned of quality and dependability at a more wallet- finishing touches including Tudor’s iconic
supreme as the go-to horography friendly price point. “snowflake” hour.
house for aesthetically pleasing,
multifunctional, affordable Always striving to do better, Tudor Previously available in blue, black or gold,
watches – and the Black Bay line introduces a new edition to the Black Bay the Black Bay’s new silver edition offers a
is no exception. family this season, with an eminently formal yet flexible take on the model, which
sophisticated satin sun-brushed silver dial. brings with it a more pared-back and generally
Crafted from one of the most robust stainless Protected by a sapphire crystal, the dial has understated vibe. So why not invest in Tudor
steels (316L), the Black Bay uses a T600 applique hour markers and hands coated this season to add some monochrome magic to
movement, has a 38-hour power reserve and in phosphorescent Super-LumiNova. This
is waterproof up to 150 metres. Every aspect timepiece is where true craftsmanship meets your collection? G
of the model embraces the Tudor philosophy contemporary watchmaking, with the modern
£2,290. TUDORWATCH.COM

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 79



DETAILS Ð MUSIC

The girl behind This had all started in the January of
the song: that year, as I stomped on my seat in the
a pop vivisection London Palladium and called, “Slade!
by Gary Kemp Slade! Slade!” with a few thousand others.
Through Marc Bolan to Bowie and then
This month, the former Spandau Ballet star The Who, the Stones and punk, I would As I began recording the song, I stum-
releases Insolo, his first solo album in 25 don the right clothes, scuttle round stage bled on some old footage of Bowie fans
years. Here, he explains the influence doors and feel the current of the crowd. outside Earls Court in 1978, being inter-
behind one of the key tracks... viewed before a show. I took some of their
Eventually, I crossed the threshold and comments and placed them under the
T he Marquee Club in London’s Soho Gary Kemp (below) found myself on stage. I recognised the track. They bubbled up like ghosts, turn-
had been the W1 hub of rock since recalls David reaching hands from the front rows and ing forever in their moment. Their voices
the mid-1960s. Here, in its small, Bowie’s final the desire to embrace, to be as one, but not left me emotional. It was lost youth.
dark interior, The Yardbirds, the Stones appearance as quite – because that is the bargain.
and The Who had played and won, leav- Ziggy Stardust in I knew then that I had a heart for the
ing smashed Rickenbackers and broken 1973 (above right) A year or so ago, before the world album, which drew the past into the pre-
hearts in their wake. Now, in October 1973, changed, I started to write songs sent and paid homage to the art form that
Bowie’s manager, the cigar-chomping Tony I was about my past and its relevance made my life. Songs quickly flowed around
Defries, had decided to lever his artist’s tal- looking now I was a man of 60. One of the thoughts it. As lockdown came I found myself work-
ent into US fame by filming a show there for clues, that fell into music and lyric was an image ing remotely. Zoom and FaceTime became
for the NBC television network. Ziggy was a disciple of that boy who obsessed about rock the new control room window. It allowed
about to roll away the stone and perform searching heroes. “Waiting For The Band” starts with me to work with the great Roger Taylor
one final time in what was to be called for God those memories: of dressing up, painting from Queen, as he recorded drum tracks in
“The 1980 Floor Show”. As Bowie tucked faces and running behind theatres, hoping his studio and emailed them to me. The cri-
himself into one of the day’s outrageous for a glimpse of one’s gods. In the middle sis had somehow brought more musicians
Kansai Yamamoto outfits, and Marianne of the song I decided to take a musical together in a virtual, connective world.
Faithfull and Mick Ronson smoked diversion and enter the auditorium – in
and flirted backstage, I stood outside my mind it was Hammersmith Odeon and On that morning in 1973, as the Marquee
in the street, pushed against the wall by the Ziggy show I’d attended in July 1973. doors opened, we ran through towards the
the weather and patrolling bouncers, wait- And then the band hits the stage and the stage. (I have a memory of passing Monty
ing in a feverish queue of Bowie fanatics. track ignites. Python’s Graham Chapman smoking a
pipe!) I was on Ronson’s side, right at the
Four days earlier I had turned 14 and I’d Finally it melts back into the dreamlike front as the band started up a new song
just exchanged my gift of a record token reverie of how it began and has me realis- called “1984/Dodo”. Bowie, thin and mag-
for Bowie’s latest LP, Pinups. I’d stared at ing I’m still holding on to that feeling of nificent, bare-chested in wedges and tight
the cover endlessly – a Justin de Villeneuve desire and that the need to quench the leggings, stalked the stage with his confi-
headshot of Bowie and Twiggy wearing unrequited has never left me. I’m still wait- dent grin and bright orange hair. Between
Pierre La Roche “face masks” on a light- ing for that band, that sublime artist to songs and retakes the musicians waited
blue background. I was looking for clues appear, bestriding the stage like a colossus, while the TV crew readjusted. It was here
to what Bowie’s world might be like: the and allow me to join Bowie and Twig the that I slipped off one of my bangles and
world of a star, a Nietzschean Superman, wonderkid in their baby-blue uberworld. called, “David!” He turned and saw the
a symbol of transformation. I was obsessed glitter in my outstretched hand. He came
Photographs Getty Images; Joe Magowan and my artistic pretensions were well up across and, bending towards me, looked
for it. But more than that, the disciple in deep into my eyes. He was eyebrowless,
me was searching for God. This, more than with a painted circle on his forehead. I was
anything, was the pursuit of perfection. transfixed. “Thank you,” he said gently as
we both held the silver hoop between us.
In front of me in the line, a teenage girl For those few seconds there was no one
chewed gum and tugged at a tatty-looking else in the room, just the disciple and his
fox stole. Her baby-blue eyeshadow arched God. It remains the biggest thrill in music
high over false lashes and, standing in I have ever experienced.
granny shoes, she was closer to that God
of perfection than I’d ever be. She gripped As we spilled out into the Soho night,
a pink ticket from the fan club’s recent the girl in the fox stole and I wandered the
lottery in one hand and a lit Embassy West End in a daze, high on our mutual
tip in the other. We felt kindred, joined experience. We were surprised the streets
by the knowledge we were both about to hadn’t changed, that the world outside was
get close to our messiah. Only 200 fans the same dreary place it ever was.
would be allowed in and we were the cho-
sen ones. The anticipation we felt burned I never saw her again, forever young in
deeply, like the pain of unrequited love. her smudged kohl and glam rock trim.

This song is for her.

INSOLO IS OUT ON 18 JUNE.

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 81

Your childhood is on, so I’m very excited for my
now eye-popping upcoming show.
street art
Clockwise from top There’s a lot of nostalgia
Ahead of the first London show by secretive New York street artist left: ‘Every Adventure in your work, featuring
Jerkface, an introduction to his iconoclastic takes on instantly Requires A First Step’, cartoon characters with a
recognisable cartoon figures Story by Jack King Chicago (2017); trippy twist...
‘Double Mickey’,
New York (2017); The style is hiding behind the
‘Cowabunga’ (2018); characters. Initially, I used abstract
the artist at work in shapes and colour dispersion in
his New York studio repetition. The cartoon subject matter
was the missing link. As soon as I
began using this imagery as a universal
language, it developed quickly.

J erkface has garnered Why do you use a moniker? ‘I’ve always What can we expect from your
international recognition for preferred upcoming show?
his artistic reimaginings of I’ve always preferred to operate in to operate
our favourite cartoons. Riffing on the shadows. in the At the end of 2020, I released 30 small
some of the best-known characters shadows’ works every day through the month of
– from the likes of the Simpsons to Most of your work is based December, which will be on display at
SpongeBob SquarePants – he has in New York, where you the show. I experimented and pushed
created a wide array of street murals, grew up. How does your art out in several new directions. One
prints and sculptures. Having cut his translate to other cities – in particular follows the “Memphis”
teeth painting walls around his own London, for example? style, which started in Italy in the early
neighbourhood in New York, he now 1980s. I’ve had a lot of fun interpreting
has more than 200,000 followers on My work is universal in many and incorporating some of the
Instagram and held shows all over the regards and seems to strike a chord highlights of this style into my work.
world. His next, solo exhibition with throughout the world. New York and
Maddox Gallery in London’s Mayfair, London are also very similar and I’ve VILLAINY IS AT MADDOX GALLERY FROM
called Villainy, opens this month. had a following in London from the 24 JUNE TO 15 JULY. 9 MADDOX STREET,
beginning. London has always been LONDON W1S. MADDOXGALLERY.COM
at the top of my list to leave my mark

82 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

DETAILS – ART

‘My style hides behind
the characters. They

were the missing link’

‘Buggin’’ (2020)

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 83

Whisky with
an island twist

It might have been crafted on
a remote island in Scotland’s
Inner Hebrides, but, with its
rum cask finish, the new Jura
single malt Scotch delivers a
tantalising taste of the Caribbean

Story by Kevin Perry
Photography by Charlie Surbey

Considering it lies 60 miles off
the west coast of Scotland and
has a population of just 212
people, the tiny island of Jura
has had an outsized impact on
global culture. Not only was the
secluded patchwork of moun-

tains, lochs and roughly 6,000 red deer chosen

by George Orwell as the ideal “extremely un-

get-atable place” where he could finish writing

his classic novel 1984 in peace, but it’s also home

to one of the world’s finest whisky distilleries.

First established in 1810, the Jura distillery

was reopened in 1963 in a bid to revive the small

island’s ailing fortunes. Suffice to say the plan

worked a charm, as these days the community

is as prosperous as it’s ever been. Almost every

family on the island includes a member who

works either in or with the distillery or in the

burgeoning field of whisky tourism. The island’s

main settlement is Craighouse, on the east

coast, a quiet village home not just to the dis-

tillery but also to the island’s only hotel, shop,

church and pub. Seen from the water, the island’s

picturesque coastline is dotted with jutting piers,

crumbling stone buildings peppered with pink

flowers and hillsides of simple whitewashed

homes. The Gaelic term for the community who

live there is Diurach, which also means “tough”, Mix with ginger
and it couldn’t be more fitting. It takes undeni- beer for a twist on
able tenacity to make a go of it on Jura, but it a Caribbean classic

also takes passion. It probably goes without

saying that there are plenty of easier places on

the planet to make whisky, especially given the transferred into hand-selected Caribbean rum grilled pineapple, and the sweetness and
vibrancy of the taste lends itself to parties and
necessity of regularly transporting their precious casks to create a smooth and creamy finish. barbecues. It also makes for a sensational punch
when mixed with orange, grapefruit and lime
cargo to the mainland across treacherous seas, The influence of the rum cask can be seen in the juice, or just add ginger beer for a fresh twist on
the go-to rum cocktail of the West Indies.
but there’s nowhere else that makes whisky quite rich, golden amber of the liquid and tasted in its
Put simply, it’s unlike anything you’ve sam-
like Jura. The tiny island community has a col- tropical character. Splash it around your glass pled before and is perfectly placed to please
both aficionados and new whisky drinkers
lective focus, which is to create a single malt that and you’ll notice the warm and welcoming aro- alike. Available for a limited time only, and with
Father’s Day just around the corner, this new
effortlessly illustrates their genuine passion for mas of exotic guava and coconut, sugar-coated approach to an old favourite could prove the per-
fect gift for anyone who’s been itching to leave
the craft of whisky making. There’s almonds, apricots and a touch of the house this past year: a tropical holiday in
Pleasingly, they’re also not afraid nowhere citrus. Mouth-wateringly smooth,
else that the taste evokes rich hints of sweet a glass. G
to try something new. A case in point makes vanilla and fudge, balanced beauti-
is the new Jura Rum Cask Finish, whisky fully with layers of mango, banana £40. AT TESCO. TESCO.COM
an exotic, fruity single malt that quite and guava.
combines the distillery’s signature like Jura
easy-to-drink style with a lively taste This one-of-a-kind flavour profile
of the tropics. Initially matured in makes Jura Rum Cask Finish the
American white oak ex-bourbon perfect accompaniment to Caribbean
barrels, the unique spirit was then cuisine, such as jerk chicken or

84 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

GQ Partnership

The influence of the
rum cask can be
seen in the whisky’s
rich, golden amber

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 85

The perfect steak
is no longer rare.

Weber Connect helps you get it right every time.

Weber Connect is the barbecue assistant that guides you step-by-step, from prep
to perfect. Discover more about our Smart Barbecues & Accessories at weber.com

NEW

NEW

GENESIS II EX-335 SPIRIT EPX-315 SMOKEFIRE EX6 WEBER CONNECT HUB

Edited by

Paul Henderson

Spicy fish skewers
from Tom Kerridge’s
hot new recipe book

This month: King of the grill Tom Kerridge sparks a summer of barbecues p.88 Why rural
retreat Fritton Lake floats our boat p.90 A splash of Mexico at London’s Kol Mezcaleria p.91

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 87

TASTE

The Book The Meat

Getting your grill on this summer? Three of the best
Your new barbecue bible is here... barbecue-boosting

Apron on, match lit, spatula ready. As Britain embraces all things alfresco, suppliers
Tom Kerridge is back to help make cooking a breeze Story by Paul Henderson
With sustainability all-important,
T om Kerridge missed Outdoor Cooking Michelin-starred chefs and restaurateurs. make sure your fare is a cut above
his vocation. At the by Tom Kerridge As well as overseeing pubs and hotel res-
age of 15, he bunked (Bloomsbury taurants, he also organises food festivals, Swaledale
off school to build a Absolute, £22) campaigns with Marcus Rashford and
barbecue after he and is out now. provided Meals From Marlow for key This award-winning whole-
his friend found them- workers and those affected by the global carcass butcher supplies the
selves with a surplus of bricks, having pandemic. And when he wasn’t doing best rare native-breed meat
accidentally knocked down part of the all that, he was out in his back garden straight out of the Yorkshire
wall at the back of his mother’s house in cooking up a storm for his new book,
Gloucestershire. Having nipped back into Outdoor Cooking: The Ultimate Modern Dales. swaledale.co.uk
Saintbridge Comprehensive to “borrow” Barbecue Bible.
some sand from the longjump pit, they The Ethical Butcher
returned home to mix “British barbecues do have a slightly
cement and assemble dodgy reputation,” admits Kerridge, “but Using a network of 100 per cent
a rudimentary outdoor as a nation we are definitely getting better grass-fed, sustainable meat
grill. Thirty years later, at it. After a year in lockdown, when we
when his mother moved have all spent more time at home, loads suppliers, The Ethical Butcher
house, the barbecue of people invested in decent barbecues provides environmentally
was still standing. “So, and they’ve embraced the idea of cook- positive barbecue packs.
you see,” he says with ing over coals. All you need is confidence, ethicalbutcher.co.uk
that familiar chuckle, a bit of courage and you’ll find cooking
“I should have been over flames is actually rather forgiving.” 44 Foods
a brickie.”
To help would-be cavemen and A collective of farmers and
The building trade’s women with their outdoor cooking skills, fruit and veg producers who
loss, however, was the Kerridge’s book is full of recipes designed produce ethically sourced,
culinary world’s gain to elevate alfresco feasting to a new level. sustainable food boxes straight
and Kerridge remains Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the time to to your door. 44foods.com
one of the UK’s most pop round and build you all a barbecue,
popular and successful but here he shares a recipe and (opposite)
a few of his top tips to get you started...

The Recipe: smoky prawns

Thinking of throwing another shrimp on the barbie?
Well, Tom Kerridge’s foil-wrapped take offers big, hassle-free flavour

Ingredients Put the prawns into the foil
envelope through the open side.
(Serves four)
Add the butter, olive oil, garlic,
600g large tiger prawns, peeled chilli, smoked paprika and
and deveined (tail shells left on) sherry into a small pan. Place
over a high heat and let it
100g butter bubble away for 2 minutes.
4tbsp extra virgin olive oil Take it off the heat and season
5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced well with salt and pepper.
1 long red chilli, sliced
1tsp sweet smoked paprika Pour the melted butter into the
80ml dry sherry foil envelope, over the prawns.
Salt and freshly ground pepper Fold the foil edges together
along the open side to seal the
2tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped envelope completely.

Method Place the envelope directly on
your hot barbecue and cook for
Tear off a 45cm length of foil 12 to 15 minutes, depending on
and place shiny side down on the heat of your barbecue.
your work surface. Lay a piece
of baking parchment on top. Remove from the barbecue,
open carefully and tip the
Fold them together in half and prawns and buttery juices into
seal the side edges to create an a serving bowl. Sprinkle with
envelope by folding them over a chopped parsley.
few times and pressing firmly.

88 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

Tom Kerridge’s Heat seeker
top ten tips,
The dual-walled,
tricks and hacks air-insulated steel lid
for alfresco cooks enables easy temperature
control. It also has a
built-in thermometer.

Illustration David Hopkins 1. “For a super-simple sauce, use a Flame on
couple of tablespoons of plain yogurt
with a pinch of three ground spices – Weber’s “Gourmet BBQ
turmeric, cumin and coriander – plus System” enables high-
a cheeky teaspoon of tahini paste heat grilling and also
and a splash of sesame oil.” comes with a diffuser

2. “If you are going to barbecue plate for all-day smoking.
properly, keep it real and use a
proper charcoal grill with smoky The Gadget
wood chips. Gas is great, but you
might as well use an oven.” Weber Summit Kamado E6

3. “Use a meat thermometer to Forget your Big Green grilling machine; this summer belongs to Weber’s
avoid undercooking anything. new dual-walled Summit Kamado grill. Offering all the benefits of ceramic
But remember: your meat will barbecuing (versatility, fast heating) with none of the bad stuff (the price), it
keep cooking when you take it off comes with a cooking area that’s 61cm in diameter, a heavy-duty design, an
the barbecue, so factor that in, adjustable grate and built-in thermometer, making cooking at home both a
otherwise you will overcook it.” pleasure and easy to master. Whether you are searing or smoking, roasting or
baking, direct or indirect cooking, summer starts here. £1,049. weber.com PH
4. “Tuna and monkfish are great for
the barbecue because they are so
meaty, but a whole sea bass or sea
bream is brilliant. Just make sure
you invest in a fish basket so the skin
doesn’t stick to the bars.”

5. “A fruity alcoholic punch and
a bucket of beers are summer
essentials, but try Seedlip Garden 108
(£26) and treat it like gin or vodka. It
is a nonalcoholic spirit flavoured with
peas, hay and herbs.”

6. “Beefburgers are great, but mix
things up and make a pork and
chorizo burger instead. It delivers
a punchy Spanish paprika hit.”

7. “The best fruits for the grill are
peaches and nectarines. They hold
their shape well and the natural
sugars caramelise so well on the bars.
Serve with mozzarella or burrata for a
savoury side or with maple syrup and
ice cream as a dessert.”

8. “The biggest mistake people
always make is not planning. It takes
ages to heat up the coals, they leave
everything in the fridge or the freezer
and it just doesn’t work. Plan it,
prepare it and enjoy it.”

9. “If you only make one thing
from my book, try the maple-
glazed butterflied leg of lamb.
You cook it on skewers over
beechwood. It is fiddly and you
need a good feel for flame control,
but it is a total showstopper.”

10. “What shouldn’t you put on a
barbecue? Nothing! I can’t think of
anything that doesn’t taste better for
being cooked over smoke and coals.”

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 89

The Hotel

There’s nothing spooky about
these cabins in the woods

Fritton Lake’s luxury stays tame the UK’s wild side Story by Paul Henderson

F or staycationers looking not just Ticking all the adventuring boxes Clockwise from the 16th century, it’s an old-fashioned
for the great, but the absolutely – wild swimming, nature safaris, paddle- top: Fritton Lake country pub, albeit one with a 1,000-acre
bloody brilliant outdoors, Fritton boarding – guests are encouraged to get x Koto woodland beer garden serving locally sourced (and
Lake could be the solution to your UK back to the best of British nature, albeit retreat cabins and often foraged) seasonal classics.
summer holiday dilemma. Billed as a from the comfort of either a luxurious room; crab cake at
“private holiday club” set in the wild east traditional or contemporary-and-cool The Clubhouse Rural, wild and wonderfully relaxing,
of England, this collection of woodland base in the woods. Diners can prepare who would have thought paradise found
cabins, farm cottages and boutique hotel food themselves using the resort’s deliv- would be in Norfolk?
rooms on the sustainable Somerleyton ery service or, if you’ve had enough DIY
Estate is the England you’ve heard about cooking for one year, there is the on- ROOMS FROM £140 PER NIGHT. CABINS FROM £647
but never encountered IRL. site Fritton Arms pub. Dating back to PER WEEK. 01493 484008. FRITTONLAKE.CO.UK

The Restaurant

Bisushima’s seafood shouts from the rooftop

It is hard to improve on oysters topped with caviar, black truffle and Tokyo-style sushi similarly sings and Photograph Koto Design
under a cloudless sky, but factor in sea urchin. The latter is sublime, with a decision to shun unsustainable
having not smelt the sea since 2019, salty red ikura caviar punctuating Atlantic salmon (and its farmed
nor having eaten inside an actual the buttery sea urchin. Still, it would equivalent) for delicately flavoured
restaurant for four months, and this likely have been bettered had even wild trout is a risky bet that pays off.
post-lockdown platter on the terrace a small slurp of seawater been left
of Bisushima was positively heaven- in the shell. Premium seafood is the “We can’t wait to be inside,”
sent. Open for just a few weeks draw and at its best when given says one quick-reacting waiter as
last year, the Japanese restaurant’s room to shine. One dish sees sweet my menu is moved to the floor
rebirth started out strictly alfresco, lobster drown in the overzealous by a breeze. Humming, low-lit
from its rooftop perch overlooking acidity of accompanying tosazu jelly. nights in the slick dining room are
Trafalgar Square, but by the time By comparison, pillow-soft scallops a beguiling prospect, but sun, sky
you read this, the 130-cover dining – served simply with cauliflower and seafood are what this summer
room flanked with floor-to-ceiling purée and asparagus – are exquisite. really needs. Try not to think too
windows should be on the menu. much about the bill – you deserve
The silky, marbled tuna meat of a treat, after all. Ailis Brennan
Even for this exclusive the toro carpaccio is the star of
location, Bisushima leans into the its plate, enlivened by horseradish 8 ST MARTIN’S PLACE, LONDON WC2.
extravagant. Said oysters come and a white soy anchovy dressing. 020 3879 9403. BISUSHIMA.COM

90 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

TASTE

The Bar The Roundup

Kol Mezcaleria Fired up: Three restaurants mastering the open flame

Agave and antojitos in the Cinder Hicce Una Kitchen
capital’s West End
66 Belsize Lane, London NW3. 020 102 Stable Street, London N1. Laity Lane, Carbis Bay, Cornwall TR26
Transport yourself 7435 8048. cinderrestaurant.co.uk 020 3869 8200. hicce.co.uk 3HE. 01736 257000. unastives.co.uk
to Mexico by way of
Marylebone at the hottest The setup: New to Belsize Village, The setup: At the heart of Pip The setup: Make like you’re in the
new bar in London: the post-lockdown launch Cinder is Lacey’s Hicce are seasonal, wood Med and watch local produce being
Mezcaleria under Kol, the fire-focused dishes and moreish small expertly cooked over flames at this
much-anticipated new the first restaurant from chef Jake plates, such as roquefort papillon Cornwall restaurant. Award-winning
collaboration between Finn (La Petite Maison, Coya). He (£8), pickled mackerel or hazelnut chef Glenn Gatland commands the
chef Santiago Lastra, of cooks almost every dish over fire – saucisson (£7 each), all served with wood-fired Gozney oven here, using
Noma Mexico fame, and or, more specifically, a Josper grill. views of London’s Granary Square. ingredients plucked from the Cornish
MJMK Restaurants, with
Maxim Schulte, formerly Eat this: Expect flame-kissed Eat this: If you don’t opt for the full land and sea.
of The Savoy’s American dishes such as delicately smoky Hicce Experience menu (£48 or £65
Bar, as bar manager. In this Eat this: Try the wood-roasted hake
hazily lit, rattan-furnished salmon, Jospered on a cedar with wine), then the octopus with with lime, parmesan and fine-bean
bolthole you’ll find one of plank and served with pickled squid ink risotto and broad beans
Europe’s most extensive cucumber and shallots (£17). risotto (£15).
selections of Mexican (£11) might catch your eye.
and agave spirits, with Drink this: The wines are curated Drink this: The Cornish Royal (£8)
a wine list-style menu by Alex Percy, AKA The Modest Drink this: Don’t miss the Comando spikes prosecco with Tarquin’s British
that celebrates on-trend Merchant. Try the De Stefani Terre G La Bruja De Rozas (£55), a juicy
mezcal in all its small- Spanish red wine with subtly sweet Blackberry Gin – also crafted in
batch glory. Nobili 2017 (£39), a warming Cornwall and, fittingly, made in flame-
Italian red with a touch of spice. red fruits. fired copper pot stills. Jennifer Bradly
The philosophy at the
Mezcaleria is much the The Bottle
same as in the restaurant
upstairs, with a focus Westland Outpost Range Colere Edition 1
on Mexican flavours America’s single-malt trailblazer
and seasonal British
ingredients. The cocktail According to Martin Amis, “Making rules about
list is split into five flavour drinking can be the sign of an alcoholic.” Sure, only
profiles, with what try telling that to the whisky distilleries of Scotland,
Schulte calls an “old world whose edicts guard the production of their famous
version” of each in order export. But unconstrained by protected geographical
to appease traditionalists status, almost as far from the bonnie shores as you
and adventurers alike. GQ can get, Seattle’s Westland Distillery has undertaken
urges both camps to order a series of game-changing, applecart-turning,
a Margarita. Rather than iconoclastic single malt experiments with, er, barley.
using one brand of triple
sec, Schulte has created a OK, a step back: you see, only ten varieties
blend of four. He also puts of barley are sanctioned for use in Scotch, with
a pinch of salt in the lime traditionalists claiming the grain – which, alongside
juice for added umami and water and yeast, is one third of single malt’s
balance and it’s this subtle ingredients holy trinity – has no impact on the
alchemy that encapsulates spirit’s character. Westland disagrees, and behind
all that is best about the its new Outpost Range lies a plan to pioneer new
bar. Kathleen Johnston approaches to all three constituents. Up first is
Colere Edition 1, for which the distillery trialled not
9 SEYMOUR STREET, LONDON W1. 020 3829 6888. ten but 18 unique barleys, before settling on a six-
KOLRESTAURANT.COM/THE-MEZCALARIA row winter variety called “Alba”. The result? Fruity
pineapple headlines, notes of fig and gingerbread
and proof (if proof were needed) that life tastes

better when you break the rules. Aaron Callow G

£160. AT MASTEROFMALT.COM

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 91

MEN OF THE YEAR

The Tate Modern
HRH Prince Charles

In a GQ first, our 2020 Awards was an all-digital affair. As we look
to this year’s ceremony, we can’t wait to hit the red carpet again

Story by Stuart McGurk
Photographs by Gavin Bond, Danny Kasirye, James Mason and Antonio Salgado

It was a year like few others – a global a comedy skit, the joke being that laps of his gar- David Beckham
pandemic, the Black Lives Matter move- den was just the start, that he’d become a fitness Nicole Kidman
ment and economic hardship for so many. fanatic, with the occasional backflip thrown in. Victoria Beckham
But, as tends to happen, the worst of times It would end up being a fitting tribute to the
can bring out the best in people. And for our 100-year-old, who sadly passed away in February
awards, too, the most challenging of circum- this year: not just his sense of right and wrong,
stances saw the most creative of solutions. Not but his sense of humour too. There were a great
only did the GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2020, many others too, of course, including a mini
in its 23rd year, provide us with an opportunity documentary on Formula One’s most decorated
to celebrate the people who made the world a driver, Lewis Hamilton, who highlighted racism
better place over the past 12 months, when we in his sport, and a GQ Action Replay in which we
needed them most, but in our original films shot watched the last episode of Normal People along-
with each winner we also celebrated them in a side its star, Paul Mescal.
way no other awards came close to.
And the experience from all of these will be fed
To recognise Marcus Rashford’s campaign for into our next awards, but with one key change:
free school meals, for instance, we asked him to we’re set to be back for a live event at Tate
join another campaigner, the food writer and Modern on 1 September. For the evening, hosted
cook Jack Monroe, and try his hand at putting for the tenth year in a row with the support of
a school dinner together in the kitchen of his Hugo Boss, we’ll be highlighting our major
old school. To rejoice in the tens of millions that winners with creative videos, but also, crucially,
army veteran Captain Sir Tom Moore raised after joining them all in person, in the only way we
he began walking laps of his 25-metre garden in know how: the best awards ceremony – and the
Bedfordshire, we suggested what was essentially
best party – in town. G

92 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

Captain Sir Tom Moore Jeff Goldblum Tommy Hilfiger

Taron Egerton Sacha Baron Cohen
Stormzy

Adwoa Aboah Nina Alu and Iggy Pop

Kim Jones

Paul Weller

Patrick Hutchinson

Shawn Mendes

Naomi Campbell Anthony Joshua and Idris Elba

Donatella Versace

CATEGORY SPONSORS Winnie Harlow
JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 93
Lashana Lynch

Jack Whitehall Brooklyn Beckham
Guy Ritchie



Edited by

Paul Henderson

+
Made for the track, rebuilt for the road: Bell Sport & Classic’s ‘new’ Ferrari 330 LMB

This month: GQ takes first drive in a one-of-a-kind Prancing Horse; the triumphant return
of the Speed Triple 1200 RS; Cupra’s sharkish Formentor is your new family pet.

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 95

errari’s back catalogue Ferrari built just four
is the automotive equivalent of Bob Dylan and 330 LMBs. So who’s
The Beatles rolled into one. Or da Vinci and behind this Maranello
Caravaggio, if you prefer. But Ferrari is the one ‘fifth Beatle’?
big name that refuses to submit to the trend for
continuation cars, even if the revenues it could Not a restomod, nor a continuation. In this one-off
generate with a run of, say, 20 “new” 250 GTOs remaster, Enzo’s favourite ‘runabout’ is reborn
beggars belief. Instead, it’s added a fourth pillar
to its line-up in the shape of its Icona cars, the Story by Jason Barlow
first of which – the Monza SP1/SP2 – echoes
the almost impossibly lissom form of its 1950s Bell Sport & Classic we’re beyond a conventional restoration here,
endurance racer the 750 Monza. Speculation in completely rebuilt the to the extent that every component is actually
Ferrari circles is rife about what’s next, but using 330 LMB’s original superior to the original, but it’s a one-off rather
the past as inspiration for something genuinely 4.0-litre V12 engine than a precursor to a run of cars in the vein
futuristic is a more noble pursuit than simply of Singer’s stellar work on the Porsche 911.
copying it. Enzo Ferrari’s favourite Ferrari, (Think Giles Martin’s sonic reappraisal of The
famously, was always the next one and there Beatles’ most famous albums: everything sounds
are tales about his merciless attitude to what exactly the same yet somehow brighter, bolder
he regarded as outmoded cars that would make and better.)
Ferrari collectors weep.
The original 330 LMB was part of Ferrari’s
Which brings us on to the car you see here, early 1960s endurance-racing exploits, though
a Ferrari 330 LMB. Or is it? Well, no, because it it’s a more arcane car than most. Sports-car
started life as a more humble, though still highly racing in this era was as popular and important
desirable, 330 GT (the model Enzo used as his as Formula One and hot off an unprecedented
daily driver when he wasn’t in his Mini, a car winning streak at the 24 Hours Of Le Mans,
he was a huge fan of ). It exists primarily as a Ferrari was working every angle to stay on top.
showcase for famed British Ferrari sales and The cars were constantly evolving, which is what
restoration expert Bell Sport & Classic, the gave rise to the 250 GTO, the most famous and
zenith of a “remastered” historic Ferrari. valuable Ferrari of them all, the one that united
It’s the only word that really covers it off: engineering, aesthetics and competition suc-
cess in a truly formidable package. Only 36 were
96 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021

CARS

Only four 330 LMBs were “As they were, the doors were spot-on for
made. This ‘new’ iteration an original LMB. They felt super light, but
we wanted something more substantial, so we
matches the only one reworked them again and again, but very subtly,
built as a right-hand drive strengthening every single aspect, including the
hinges, the skins and the window frames, until
made, which is partly why it’s a £50 million car Bell Sport’s version actually resurrects a we got the perfect weight. We went through the
now. But the 330 LMB, which was based on the dormant private project that goes back whole car like that. It was a delicate balance to
GTO, is rarer still: only four ever left the factory, a decade and uses chassis number 4725 – achieve, deploying modern restoration tech-
niques to make the new LMB as comfortable and
just one in right-hand drive. the solitary right-hand drive car – as its template. as road-usable as possible, without sacrificing any
of its race-bred character.” Mission accomplished.
British racing driver Mike Parkes had a solid The body was re-created by RS Panels, which
GQ is the first to drive the LMB on the road,
relationship with “Il Commendatore”, who trusted also shortened the donor car’s chassis. Ferrari a privilege that’s freighted with a fair amount of
paranoia. Cars such as this are clearly so much
him to develop the car as well as race it. The GTO expert Terry Hoyle even flew to New York to greater than the sum of their parts, but from the
moment you drop into the corduroy seats and
lineage is clear, but the LMB had a substantially photograph and measure the original. Once Bell grasp the outsized, wood-rimmed wheel, the sen-
sation is of a piece of art rather than mere car.
redesigned aluminium body, a longer wheelbase Sport had assumed responsibility, the real graft Ferrari’s mythology is largely founded on its V12
engines and the unit in this LMB has been fully
and a bigger, more powerful version of Ferrari’s could begin – more than three years of it. The rebuilt: as in the original it’s a 4.0 litre, making
390bhp at 7,000rpm, fed by six Weber carburet-
magnificent V12 engine. Three 330 LMBs com- LMB was overseen by Elliot East, working along- tors, and while the cylinder head and engine
block are from the donor car, the camshafts, tim-
peted in Le Mans in 1963, but side engineering lead, former ing case, water pump and oil and fuel tanks are all
new. The transmission is original, but its recom-
only the car entered by the Ferrari factory and HR Owen missioning runs to specially made selector forks,
technical boss Attilio Romano. new synchros and a bespoke prop shaft. The rear
As soon as youBritish Ferrari importer Colonel suspension has also been reworked to improve its
enter the LMB,Ronnie Hoare made it to the behaviour on bumpy roads – another sympathetic
The plan was to “sympatheti- enhancement. Details include a scratch-built alu-
minium fuel-filler cap and a lightweight Perspex
end, finishing fifth. Ferrari was cally enhance” the original, rear screen, which also had to be made in-house.
ensuring that what was once a
the sensationpivoting towards mid-engined pure-blooded racing car would But this isn’t a genetically modified historic
is of a piececars by this point, so the LMB Ferrari or digital remaster. The soul remains
of art ratherhas the distinction of being be more usable on the road. This defiantly analogue and it’s a car you have to fully
meant fabricating many of the engage with, that demands above-average com-
Ferrari’s final front-engined parts in-house, as East explains. mitment. There are no ones and zeroes here, no
antilock brakes or traction control, just finely
than mere carracing car of that epic era. machined mechanical parts that maximise the
intimacy of the driving experience. And because
this is a 1960s Ferrari, that’s very intimate indeed.
The control weights are perfect, the gear change
sublime. There have been many more power-
ful and much faster cars than this, but nothing
sounds better than an old-school, meticulously
fettled Ferrari V12 pulling 5,000rpm in third gear.
Not even John, Paul, George and Ringo (and Bob).

BELLSPORTANDCLASSIC.CO.UK

JULY 2021 GQ.CO.UK 97

CARS If the arrival of a new Triumph Speed Triple doesn’t excite you,
then you may as well hang up your leathers and call it a day. New
Now THIS is for 2021, the Speed Triple 1200 RS represents the iconic naked
naked attraction... roadster’s most remarkable reimagination in its 27-year history. Nut for
nut and bolt for bolt, it’s an entirely new proposition with more power,
Triumph’s all-fresh Speed Triple 1200 RS is the less weight and a seriously compelling refreshed design.
roadster’s most rip-roaring reimagining to date
The headline figures are hard to look past – 1,160cc, 177.5bhp, 125nm
Story by Rich Taylor and weighing in at 198kg wet – yet it’s well worth it because there’s
so much more to appreciate. Everything from the headlights to the
seat unit have been nipped and tucked; it’s now a far smaller, tighter
machine and that’s a very good thing. Carbon-fibre dressings as
standard, an anti-glare TFT dashboard and a new wheel design tops
it off in style.

As ever, the proof is in the riding and the Speed Triple 1200 RS
delivers in every setting and then some. Long gearing married to a
seemingly bottomless supply of torque makes for road miles that are
dispatched in the blink of an eye. But it isn’t a one-trick pony, because
it’s equally at home on the racetrack too. With even bigger digits on
the dashboard, the clever electronic rider
aids, mass centralisation and Öhlins
suspension combine to produce
unflustered, rapid laps.

In one fell swoop Triumph has
elevated the Speed Triple out
of the naked category and into
the supernaked category and
created a class leader at the
same time. The Speed Triple
1200 RS is far and away
Triumph’s best yet and an
experience you don’t want to
miss out on.

FROM £15,100. TRIUMPHMOTORCYCLES.CO.UK

It’s now a With an all-new 1,160cc
smaller, triple engine, Triumph’s
tighter Speed Triple 1200 RS is
machine
and that’s rapid on road and
a very racetrack alike
good thing

98 GQ.CO.UK JULY 2021