Proportion: Ongoing Rake Series on Fit

[doghouse]

The Ninefold Path to Suit Enlightenment| The Rake

Parts I and II

The Ninefold Path to Suit Enlightenment Part One | The Rake

 

[Journeyman]

I can't view the above links at work - my firewall objects, for some reason - but I'll have a look at home.

I used to subscribe to The Rake and found it to be quite good. Some of the articles were excellent and, when it was on form and didn't include anything written by Wei Koh, it was much, much better than GQ and other such men's fashion/clothing/lifestyle magazines (not that it's very hard to be better than present-day GQ, of course).

 

[doghouse]

This series is actually by Wei, but so far, it's pretty straightforward so better than usual.

I agree on the assessment, I find it interesting about 50% of the time, or roughly 100% more than GQ.

 

[Journeyman]

This series is actually by Wei, but so far, it's pretty straightforward so better than usual.

Aaagh! Well, I'll still have a look when I get home.

I find a fair bit of his writing to be cringe-inducing, although I must admit that he's not so bad with fashion - he's at his worst when he's writing about watches.

At the risk of veering off-topic, here's an awful essay that Wei wrote about his visit to Rolex's manufacturing facility, that he published in his own watch magazine - I guess that the advantage of owning your own magazines is that no-one can reject your writing, no matter how juvenile it might be:

Inside the Rolex movement Manufacture: Birth of the beating heart

He spends the first part of the article boasting about his own collection of watches, then includes some useful info in a few paragraphs in the middle, but concludes with a truly vomit-inducing couple of paragraphs:

Rolex’s amazing history and its extraordinary legitimacy in being part of the fabric of human perseverance and conquest can never been manufactured. And because of this incredible history, every watch that the brand creates today literally resonates with authenticity.

I mention to Maître Gros that the world has 6,500 spoken languages, but to me, the most international one, the one that defies cultural divides and unites people regardless of religion or creed, is the language of the world’s best mechanical watch: Rolex. He nods his head sagely and says, “Young man, I am inclined to agree.”

 

[doghouse]

I have a new theory. Fok is Wei Koh

 

[Journeyman]

I have a new theory. Fok is Wei Koh

Plausible, as they both take themselves terribly seriously. I think that Fok is more mature than Wei, though.

Here's a bizarre "advertorial" for the Rolex GMT-Master II, written by Wei, that he published in Revolution a while back:

ROLEX GMT-MASTER II: FIELD TEST
I like to think of these scenarios in my head. What if I got approached by a group of scientists to re-enact the social experiment experienced by Robinson Crusoe? But the catch is, instead of being stuck on some godforsaken rock with the unappealing troglodyte that was Crusoe’s trusty manservant Friday, here, my Fridays would be four highly eroticized, long-toed Ukrainian fashion models suffering from clinical nymphomania, and who, through a long process of electrolysis, have had every hair follicle below their collar bones permanently removed. Even better, as a big believer in hygiene, at our disposal would be freshwater showers, L’Occitane en Provence toiletries, endless baskets of Santa Maria de Novella soaps, a bidet that shoots high-pressure jets of Chanel No. 5, a pedicurist and a whole lot of toothpaste.

Now, say I could only bring one watch with me to this island. And I would need it to coordinate my lady friends to pick up food drops and rotate my beach chair at certain hours to optimize my suntan. I would also need it to allocate appropriate lovemaking time to each of them so they wouldn’t descend into jealous rages, which we all know could lead to unwanted weight gain. Time here is the lord that dominates all order in our delicate social structure, so I need a watch that I know will function flawlessly in the most challenging conditions. I also need a mechanical watch because of its ability to function in perpetuity. Immediately, the Rolex GMT-Master II with its sexy ceramic bezel comes to mind. But would it survive the punishing series of tests I would submit it too? With no other option, I purchased one and torture-tested it to see…

It reads as though it was written by a 15-year-old boy who spends all of his time in a darkened bedroom, hunched in front of his computer.

 

[ElioDA]

It reads as though it was written by a 15-year-old boy who spends all of his time in a darkened bedroom, hunched in front of his computer.

A bit like your average DW member then.

 

[Thruth]

I have a new theory. Fok is Wei Koh

Sadly, Wei Koh still makes more sense. Maybe Fok is his sok

 

[LKP]

I can't view the above links at work - my firewall objects, for some reason - but I'll have a look at home.

I used to subscribe to The Rake and found it to be quite good. Some of the articles were excellent and, when it was on form and didn't include anything written by Wei Koh, it was much, much better than GQ and other such men's fashion/clothing/lifestyle magazines (not that it's very hard to be better than present-day GQ, of course).

Same problem...

Access Denied (content_filter_denied)

Your request to "therake.com" was denied because of its content categorization: "Suspicious"

 

[fxh]

A bit like your average DW member then.

I'm 3 std dev away from that.

 

[Journeyman]

I'm 3 std dev away from that.

In which direction?

 

[doghouse]

In which direction?

I'd say the only way to go is up

 

[LKP]

Plausible, as they both take themselves terribly seriously. I think that Fok is more mature than Wei, though.

Here's a bizarre "advertorial" for the Rolex GMT-Master II, written by Wei, that he published in Revolution a while back:



It reads as though it was written by a 15-year-old boy who spends all of his time in a darkened bedroom, hunched in front of his computer.

THE GMT II TEXT IS SO FUCKING GOOD
now why did i buy a gmt i??????????????????
FUCK MY LIFE

 

[robertito]

I Iike The Rake. I think is an excellent magazine, but consistency is not good: some issues are very good and other no so good.
Wei Koh did once a editorial defending Mafoofan (Azn corporativism) and he likes bragging about his wild young times when everything was paid with papa's money. He also overuses the word soupçon, probably the only one he knows in French.​

 

[Journeyman]

Wei Koh did once a editorial defending Mafoofan (Azn corporativism) and he likes bragging about his wild young times when everything was paid with papa's money. He also overuses the word soupçon, probably the only one he knows in French.

Yes, the Matt Fan editorial was odd, very odd. It was also an excellent example - if another one was needed - of Wei Koh's tendency to include himself in pretty much everything he writes, and to humble-brag incessantly.

FOUNDER'S NOTE (THE RAKE, issue 12) As I write this, I am just one month shy of my 41st birthday. And it’s funny because I had always imagined that by this age, I would be a wise man; that I would have tapped into some inner cosmic truth that allowed me to see beyond the shadows refracted through my juvenile perception on the cave wall and allowed me to dispense sardonic witticisms with the glib gravitas of a Chinese Sean Connery. None of this has come to pass. In fact, I act more or less the same. Which is to say, I can be most commonly found dispensing moronic ineptitudes with the grace of, say, a young Henny Youngman. So I’m inordinately impressed when I meet young men who are not only already fantastically composed sartorially, but also in terms of manners and elegance. My early 20s coincided with the era of grunge, and as such, looking at my college year book portrait — which involves me riding a 1971Â Triumph Bonneville through the art hall at Vassar College with shoulder-length hair — reminds me that at the time, collective culture seemed light years from the renaissance of composition, poise and classic elegance that is now upon us. Sure, part of this has to do the rise of ‘suit culture’ advanced by television shows like Mad Men and also the Beastie Boys, who conduct a series of cult concerts where they and their audience arrive in mandatory black tie. But a large measure of this renaissance can be attributed to extraordinary young men like New York-based, 28-year-old lawyer Matthew Fan (who posts prolifically as ‘Mafoofan’ on the various sartorial forums, and writes as ‘mfan’ on his blog, mfanblog.blogspot.com), who helped connect a whole new generation with Neapolitan tailoring, and in particular, the work of Mariano Rubinacci. I openly admit referencing his spectacularly insightful blog before plunging into my Willard-like sartorial black ops into the heart of Naples, which will be chronicled in the story ‘Napoli: The Agony and the Ecstasy’, appearing in the next issue of The Rake. However, what impressed me most about Mr. Fan — who was a finalist in Esquire’s Best Dressed Real Man in America in 2009 — was the class with which he would handle jibes and at times reprehensible racial slurs that would appear anonymously on his blog. Mr. Fan’s outward style is as such a fantastic expression of his inner elegance… a quality which, even as a man in my 40s, I still labour to acquire. In the past, as a young man who subscribed to Roosevelt’s “speak softly but carry a big stick” philosophy, as well as the Israeli Defense Forces’ principle of the preemptive strike — were I him, I might’ve been inclined to invite those detractors to slink out of the cowardly veil of anonymity and meet me in any boxing ring or martial arts studio in the world, where I would be delighted to pull their lungs out through their far-too-large mouths and help them to wear them like a jaunty hat. But of course, that would be regressive, and if there is anything that young men like Matthew Fan have taught me, it is that elegance both inward and outward is a continual journey. This issue of The Rake is a celebration of that journey. Thank you for joining us on it. Thank you also, young men of our readership, for showing us the way. — Wei Koh, founder, THE RAKE

 

[doghouse]

Somebody contact Wei and tell him to come read this thread.

 

[fxh]

In which direction?

I'm an outlier on both ends

 

[Monkeyface]

Yes, the Matt Fan editorial was odd, very odd. It was also an excellent example - if another one was needed - of Wei Koh's tendency to include himself in pretty much everything he writes, and to humble-brag incessantly.

So he wants to write an article about Foo, but actually ends up writing mostly about himself? Sounds like he and Foo have more than just clothing in common.

 

[doghouse]

The Ninefold Path to Suit Enlightenment: Part II | The Rake

 

[Russell Street]

So he'd never heard that bit about the coat length being about half the suit height or whatever it is? Talking about position with respect to knuckles doesn't seem right at all.

 

[LKP]

So he'd never heard that bit about the coat length being about half the suit height or whatever it is? Talking about position with respect to knuckles doesn't seem right at all.

circa 1.000 really dear

 

[Chorn]

That Foo article was awful. Like someone who compliments you, starting with "you remind me of me when I was younger" and then proceeds to talk about hisself for the next quarter hour.