High Summer | Lane Crawford

The Look

One of the most stylish films of the 1990s, The Talented Mr Ripley embodies a menswear style that has become a legacy; the 1950s preppy look. An enduring classic and perfect for summer, capture the spirit of the Italian Riviera with chic and comfortable pieces inspired by luxurious pursuits, sailing-style canvas slip-ons and refined sporty separates.

The Summer Staple

Whether making a splash by the pool, lazing on the beach or sipping cocktails at the yacht club, no man should contemplate stepping out this summer without that most essential of seasonal staples, the tailored swim short. Take the classic route with a simple colour-block style or embrace your individuality with eye-catching prints and geometric patterns; the key is to make sure the cut is smart enough to look as good out of the pool as you do in it.

The Summer Style Icon

Never less than impeccably dressed, Eddie Redmayne is the man who, it seems, can do no wrong in 2015 – on or off the screen. As well as bagging the Best Actor Oscar for his heart-wrenching portrayal of professor Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything, the former Burberry model was also voted best-dressed man by British GQ magazine. Follow in the footsteps of the Eton-educated actor by finishing off your polished modern-gent attire with raffishly charming undone hair.

Photo courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment

The Playlist

When Giorgio Moroder appeared on Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories album last year, it seemed that the Italian maestro was making a fitting farewell to the genre he helped create. However his iconic cameo rekindled the godfather of electronica’s love for recording, as the 75-year-old returns this summer with Déjà Vu, his first album in 30 years. Packed with guest vocalists and sunny synths, this disco-fuelled playlist is bound to show every young EDM whippersnapper a thing or two.

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures,
Amblin Entertainment,China Film Co. &
Legendary Pictures

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures &
Skydance Productions

Photo courtesy of Kennedy Miller
Productions & Village Roadshow Pictures

Photo courtesy of Bad Robot & Skydance
Productions & TC Productions

The Movie

You can’t keep a good franchise down, as Hollywood demonstrates once again this year with a string of mega-sequels that look set to define the summer. Fourteen years on from their last outing, the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park are on the rampage for a fourth time in Jurassic World, while Arnold Schwarzenegger stays true to his promise to ‘be back’ by returning for a fifth installment of the character that made him a superstar in Terminator: Genisys. Look out also for the Mad Max reboot starring Tom Hardy and Tom Cruise’s fifth Mission: Impossible outing, Rogue Nation.

The Getaway

With its crumbling colonial architecture and fleets of classic American cars, Havana has been stuck in a virtual time warp since the US broke off diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba in 1961. But with President Obama extending the olive branch, time is running out to experience Fidel Castro’s ‘socialist paradise’ before it changes forever. If that’s not enough reason to visit the cigar-friendly Caribbean isle, then the country’s week-long celebrations to mark the 500th anniversary of the city of Santiago de Cuba in late July will surely convince any budding Ernest Hemingways that now is the time to go.

Photo courtesy of Harper

The Book

An existential love story set against the backdrop of Soviet-controlled Prague in the 1960s and 1970s, The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1984) propelled its author, Milan Kundera, to the upper echelons of the global literati and has been a perennial fixture on ‘must read’ lists since its publication. Now 86 years old, Kundera returns with the eagerly anticipated The Festival of Insignificance, his first novel in 15 years. Charting the lives and politics of four friends in Paris, it’s by turns funny, serious, bittersweet and surreal, and is sure to leave you pondering life’s key questions, both big and small.