Three Days in France with Courvoisier | Part 2

A few weeks have past since we took a surprise trip away with French cognac brand Courvoisier, but the memories are still as fresh as the day we arrived. Yesterday I gave a presentation to a group of stying students at UCLan University and someone asked me, "what's the coolest thing you've done through your blog?". I immediately knew the answer was our three days spent in France.

The first few hours with Courvoisier were super intense. Fueled on unpronounceable canapes, we toured their Le Chateau, old cellars, drank cognac whilst blindfolded, took a fleeting visit around the town, had dinner opposite the Master Blender and attended a cocktail competition....All 38 of us were just going with the flow, literally. As we caught the coach to final next destination we were all still second-guessing their next move.
 

"How about we go to Paris", was heckled from the front of the coach, which was met with a roar of "whoops" from most and surprise from all. Three hours later myself and Nik found ourselves standing in a plush 5* old school hotel room, just off the Champs-Elysees. We navigated our way around two finger sandwiches (don't these French folk eat proper meals?) and a bottle of pop each, before heading to a private roottop party. "We're in Paris right?". We literally had no time to take in this surreal situation. I hadn't even seen the whole of the Eiffel Tower yet!

The next few hours were some of the most memorable of my life. We met up with our new friends + travel buddies at Hotel Raphael for the swanky rooftop party; which had a view like no other. On one side the imposing figure of the Arc de Triomph, on the other was the Eiffel Tower, in all its glory. Parties aren't usually my bag but combining this with new friends, tireless entertainment from a magician/comedian/all-round top bloke and the beautiful voice of Katie Elin-Salt, well let's just say, it was a magical night end to a perfect evening.
 

Passport Sleeve c/o Bellroy

The next morning we awoke bright and early, stocked up on Bacon McMuffins + coffee (as you do) and met the group for a final outing, to the one of Paris' most beautiful parks public, Parc des Buttes-Chaumont. Things were still quite hazy from the night before but as we walked across the park's famous bridges I remember feeling a huge sense of content, I could have stayed there all day. All that was to jump the Eurostar and head back to reality.

A big thank you to the Courvoisier team for making this trip happen. It was a very memorable + extremely enjoyable three days - I'm so glad I got to share it with some truly awesome people (you know who you are). This isn't one I'll be forgetting in a hurry.

Some images provided by Bertrand Vacarisas for Courvoisier.

Paul Smith:Leather 

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Urban Outfitters S/S 13

 Last week I went for a nose around Urban Outfitters in Manchester to check out their latest offerings for this coming Spring/Summer (will it ever come, it sure doesn't feel like it. Snowing again) season. As always UO let me have free reign of shop to look around the new brands, take photos, try a ton of stuff on and ask too many questions. Here's some things that caught my eye;

Along with Farah and Shore Leave, Carharrt was one of the most dominant brands across the menswear levels. Last season I recall them having one table but now it's grown to a couple of tables, a rail as well as being interspersed across key areas of the store. Camo still dominates here, mixed in with florals, classic work and streetwear and the usual solid basics. 

Suit has made a comeback for S/S, they're generally known for their outerwear but I was more interested in their other clothing. Loads of hula prints, polka dots and florals in muted colours. It's hard to shop for shorts when it's still so cold outside but I'm off on holiday in June so it's nice to plan ahead.

Fred Perry was another dominant brand, which gets carried over from season to season. This time round they've bought more of the tailored stuff as less of the sports. You can't go wrong really, their shirting looked spot on, with paisleys and fading polka dots standing out for me. They also had a shirt with a pique polo shirt collar but the jury is still out on that one.

Lacoste Live was another newcomer, they're hadn't been a big hit of it yet but it was hard to miss the Hawaiian shirts and multicoloured knitwear. More to follow over the next few weeks.

UO regulars such as Shore Leave, Worland, Cheap Monday, Farah, Penfield and Levi's can be found doing their thing along side a few new brands in Nike Clothing, Nudie Jeans Co and Blood Brother. It's really good to hear they have taken on lots online exclusives too. Garbstore, Common People, Vanishing Elephant, Rascals and Sandqvist are all now available.

 Each time I visit the store they seems to be adding to their footwear section, this time they've thrown in loads more styles from Nike, New Balance and Grenson making an appearance. I was very taken by these navy and cream Nike Free Powerlines.

And that's your lot for this time. As I said I had some time to try some stuff on, plenty of really nice stuff in fact. It seems Shore Leave have improved some of their fits and I was also very impressed with the Farah Vintage range, which included some UO exclusive pieces. I was lucky enough to be offered a couple of pieces too, I chose a pair of Nudie Thinn Finn jeans and a navy Farah Vintage work jacket. 

I'll be sure to pop by over the next few months to check out some of new brands coming through for the rest of the season. Enjoy your weekend guys, hopefully you're not snowed in like many of us are!

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H&M Style Guide Feature

I just wanted to post this because, well I guess I'm just really chuffed about it. Me and a few of my selections were chosen to feature in H&M's February Style Guide. I was asked to take part last summer and I didn't hear anything back after that so I just assumed they binned it. So it was a nice surprised when I popped on the site to have a browse and I saw my face, admittedly I didn't submit a a couple of the images(they just pinched them off here) because I wouldn't have said yes to using the embarrassing image of me on a motorbike.

Anyway I'm flattered to be featured, even if I'm not the most photogenic of people. Go check it out further and let me know what you think.