Finally: My new vintage Barbour Beaufort!

Since yesterday, I'm the proud owner of a new vintage Barbour Beaufort.

I've found it on German Ebay nearly flawless (only a minor job on the main zipper needed to be done by a small turkish tailor yesterday) for 100 Euros.

The fit of a C 42 is perfect for me now, as my old Beaufort comes with a C 48 (as you know from this post).

So, I'm a happy guy today :-)

I've already ordered a vintage pop-in lining from Ebay.co.uk, that will arrive in the next couple of days.

No rips, no holes. Perfect condition!

Green is the colour. Bad BlackBerry cam...

Denim in the office for the first time since ages!

Underneath a dark brown new wool sweater with much less pilling than it appears.

Denim and boots

Vintage German Navy boots I've bought 20 years ago in a second-hand shop in Hamburg. 

Resoled in 2003 with vintage original soles (Continental) I've found at a cobler after weeks of research.

 

Vintage sports jacket at Torquato

Another working day in Düsseldorf and enough time for me to stroll around Kö. My way led me to Torquato, one of my favorite shops when it comes to true quality products.

They offer a pretty cool Covert Coat by Magee I'd like to buy for the springtime but that's a different story...

I was lucky enough to run into Torquato's Managing Director, dressed as dapper as ever.
Please take a closer look at his moleskin trousers and his vintage Mark Marengo sports jacket with slant pockets and a beautiful check.

Btw: He'll spend the next weekend in London for some sale shopping. I must confess that I'm a little bit envious...

Vintage clothes: My old Barbour.

Dear readers,

this is the jacket I love and hate.

I bought my Barbour Beaufort some years ago, 22 years to be precisely. We both have been trough a lot of struggle, like barbed wire fences at paddocks, tons of rain and even London's chilly autumn. I put a fake fur in it, bought a hood, gave it new waxing a few times, stiched its holes and treated it well.

It always did its job perfectly but I always had the feeling it was way too big for me.
The label said 48, of what I thought was a German 48 (38 in UK measures). So when I found out an UK's 48 was for a fat guy (I wear 40), I was pretty disappointed of the sales man, who didn't know the right sizes of English clothes and did sell me a sack jacket.

That was the point, when I decided not to trust recommendations of clothes sales men any longer. I figured that most of them are always wrong when it comes down to style, sizes, dessins, well, everything. So now, the only three guys I do trust, is me, myself and I.

Today I still like to wear my old Beaufort, because it does not have the name stiched on the left pocket's flap, has the original tartan check and has this killer patina you can't buy.

On the other hand, every time I wear it, I know that it's too big for me.

But 2011 will be the year to buy a new one. Or maybe I could ask the Barbour guys to do some size alterations? What would you do?

Happy New Year!

The Gentleman's game: Chess

Dear readers,

when I took a walk with my wife today, we stopped by chance at a little flea market, which you'll find in Germany quite often. I know this particular market for the main part as a gathering of ugly people selling trash to ugly people (the ones who carry a baby and got a cigarette in their mouth).

But this time it was different. On one side of the market we spotted vintage Harris Tweed jackets (not my size), one booth selling Barbour jackets which didn't look like copies (98 Euros for a new Beaufort, not my size. Strange! Maybe stolen goods?), another one did sell vintage Burberry trenches and Tweed jackets (Guess what: Not my size).

Then I noticed a jewel every Gentleman needs to own: A vintage wooden chessboard. The salesman demanded 25 € and after a few words I did pay 20 Euros, what is quite a bargain.

What can be more relaxing than a game of chess with your wife or a good friend and a glass of scotch?

Pls. double click images to enlarge.