Scattered

Yes, I do realize that we have been slow with our next crop of offerings.  You must all understand though, that like yourselves Spring is upon us and a young(ish) man's fancy turns to just about everything in sight other than the productive.

South facing slopes are beginning their freeze/thaw cycle and layers are stripped as we hike or skin passes in search of perfect corn.  A goggle tan is fading and the eyes adjust to the lightness and breeze of polarized glasses.  It's nice to sleep in and to actually wait for the snow to come into condition rather than the mad rush to the tram in pre-dawn darkness (of course a big storm cycle will have us turning bleary eyed to the alarm clock once again). Not to be outdone our Italian counterparts appear to have thrown needle and thread to the workshop floor and are out earning their last turns around Cortina.

Down the slopes a bit our correspondents are pursuing bones and baby tarpon in Ascension Bay.  Although the road to Boca Paila has been "modernized" it still feels a journey to a different time.  I just wish they had left the old bridge alone.  I expect loads of photos showing that water and sky can indeed meld in an incredible blueness without the aid of photo editing.

   
Others are gathering south of San Diego for  long dust choked rides down to Baja Del Sur.  Government advisories aside, bikes will be looking for dunes and goat paths along the Sea of Cortez while  Landcruisers seek out the perfect right point break in Scorpion Bay.  Mode of travel aside, dinners will be spent around fires with many Tecates and Snapper Fillets with a bit of rice..

For some reason N.B. has diverted from Jakarta to Warsaw so it will be interesting to see what the change in climate and culture yields.  Perhaps we should send him a few sweaters....

Enough of the travelogue.  Who wants to gawp at a screen when one can be outside doing any number of things?  Without further perambulations, here is what we are offering this time around.  As is always the case, our production is limited and we don't sell many into a single market.  We will also be retiring the shirting material after this run.  A trim fit is  still the case as are lovely thick mother of pearl buttons, semi spread collars and our three button watch cuff.

Speed is to your advantage,  if you see something you like, twist the throttle and set the hook as they will be gone.  Six week lead time at the most (as long as I can extract the boys from their by now, well dug in defensive position in Cortina).   Please click "enquiries" and give us the particulars.

                                                                                damson

                                                                           black sheep

                                                                        

                                                                            lyford

                                                                          grove

                                                                         green fuse

                                                      $180.00  made in Italy (of course)

everything in it's right place

Security at Heathrow and the handsome, sixtyish woman in the piped jacket has had it.  She glances up at the guard who is having her re-pack the ziplock for a second time.  Out goes another tube of a La Prairie cream.  The zip finally shuts although the bag still looks as if dangerously over-inflated.

The guard beams, ushering her through.
"It's all about minimizing, love."

The woman turns, suddenly seeming much taller,  and speaks in a textbook received pronunciation.
"I have minimized to the point of lunacy"

Shes right, you know.  I look around any given airport and the institutions seem to have won.  The grey blandness of the concourse walls and carpets have found new hosts in those that wearily ride the people movers.  Grey suits, greyish white shirts, grey faces, and perhaps worst of all a disquieting sameness of luggage.  When did ballistic nylon take over the world?

I plop down a handmade  leather overnight bag that also serves as my briefcase.  The brass is scratched while the chocolatey vegetable dyed leather has a pleasing patina from a world of travels.  There is a salt mark from a bitterly cold runway in Winnipeg.  A bit of discoloration via a wet bilge on the boat ride from Marsh Harbour to Elbow Cay.  My youngest wrote his initials with a jagged finger nail on the bottom..  I spilled something oily on it while saying goodbyes in Pudong.

I'm not saying that the other bags haven't seen such travels, perhaps they have.  Little experience seems to be garnered by their own cross continental movements.

If you have to minimize, and sadly we must do so, why not minimize in something that is worth carrying around?  If you are going to only have a few things in the bag why not make sure that they are the best that you can get your hands on?  One of the things closest to our hearts at Imperial Black is wearing something that you care about.  Find something hand made that you will want to keep around for a while.  Be it one of our items or not,  I encourage everyone I meet to seek out true objects of interest.  Real objects crafted by real people.

Next time you are struggling from one concourse to the next, have a look around.  You might see the flash of a colourful sock or a smart orange hemmed cuff and feel safe in the understanding that you are not alone.


EMM