Valet Issue 2 explores the poignant themes of time, ageing, and death through the lens of classic menswear and style, and houses a veritable banquet of original articles and film photography. Pieces run the gamut, and include art history, philosophy, literary criticism, interviews, guides to cloth, object histories, photo essays and original fiction.
In the first of two chapters, we regale you with articles ranging from the unexpectedly American-influenced Soviet watchmaking industry, a defence of old Imperial measures by rising tailor Maximillion Mogg, a sartorial biography of Evelyn Waugh by his biographer Duncan McLaren, an incredibly fun article by one of our sartorial heroes—Fabio Trombini, an interview with Gerardo Cavaliere of Rome’s Giuliva Heritage, a suggestions from valet to gentleman as to what drinks to mix in the najor events one faces over one's lifetime, several obscure photo-essays exploring such things as where to stow your hat in a world increasingly hostile to the lid-wearer, an interview with a chess grandmaster on the death of the game, and more.
The second chapter houses essays that take a number of esoteric approaches to menswear, style, and life (and death), exploring it through the lens of various fields of expertise, from history, philosophy, memoir, fiction, and academia from other disciplines. We have essays about menswear in the novels of E. M. Forster, an art-history analysis of aged shoes in Van Gogh’s famous work, a philosophical essay on the importance of never abandoning one’s dandyism even in the face of death by a professional obituarist, a literary history of the British in Florence, a tale about the first-recorded archaeological digs and death in Venice, menswear and fashion in Byzantium, and original fiction, all inspired by menswear in one way or another.
