The Oscars 2017

Yesterday the 89th Oscars was held at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, LA. It was definitely a memorable night with a huge mishap, some amazing outfits, wonderful music performances and great speeches. 

The biggest mistake in the history of the Academy Awards occurred at yesterdays ceremony, the award for best picture was awarded to the wrong people. Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty opened the envelope containing the name of the film which won the award. They announced that La La Land had won so the team gave their acceptance speeches and it wasn't until the producers reached the end of their speeches that it was revealed their had been a mix up and Moonlight was in fact the winner of the best picture Oscar.

It has been revealed that the presenters were given the wrong envelope, they had the envelope for Actress in a leading role. Brian Cullinan and Martha Ruiz from PriceWaterhouseCoopers, who count the votes and place the winners names in the sealed envelopes went on stage to inform everyone. The producer of La La Land Jordan Horowitz then held up the correct card and said "There's a mistake. Moonlight you guys won best picture. This is no joke. I'm afraid they read the wrong thing. This is not a joke, Moonlight, you won best picture." Ryan Golsing kept viewers entertained during the fiasco by standing on stage trying to contain his laughter. 

Also at the beginning of the evening Ryan Golsing caused a stir by arriving be a woman who was not his partner Eva Mendes however it was soon discovered that the woman is in fact his sister Mandi. 

There wasn't just one but 2 mix ups at this years Oscars. Every year there is an In Memoriam segment which celebrates the lives of those influential people in the film industry which have died in the past 12 months. During the tribute presented by Jenifer Aniston a photo of the wrong person was displayed, it was supposed to be Jane Patterson a costume designer and 4 time Academy Award winner  who did sadly die of Cancer. However the picture shown was not her, it was of her long time friend Jan Chapman who is still very much alive and was devastated by the error. 

Best Dressed Couples

John Legend and his wife Chrissy Teigen looked stunning on the red carpet. She wore a floor length white embellished dress by Zuhair Murad and John wore a classic black suit a large black bow tie. 

www.extratv.com

Justin Timberlake looked dapper as ever with his wife Jessica Blake who truly shone in a long tight high neck gold dress. 

www.eonline.com

Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was glowing in a long blue dress which accentuated her baby bump and her husband Jason Statham looked dashing wearing a slim fit back suit. 

www.eonline.com

Jamie Dornan opted for something different with a white dinner jacket and his wife Amelia Warner wore an elegant pink gown. 

www.popsugar.co.uk

Dapper Man of the Month for February

Our dapper man this month is none other than the infamous Tom Hardy. He is an English actor and producer born in 15 September 1977 in Hammersmith, London. His career began at the age of 21 in 1998 when he won a modelling contract in The Big Breakfast's Find Me a Supermodel competition and he then joined the Drama Centre London. Hardy had to leave the Drama Centre early because he got the part of US Army Private John Janovec in the BBC TV series Band of Brothers.

filmschoolrejects.com

A year later in 1999 he married his first wife Sarah ward a producer, they divorced in 2004. He has one son with ex-girlfriend Rachel Speed. They were together from 2004 - 2009. Their son Louis is now 8 years. He has a second son (born October 2015) with Charlotte Riley who he met on the set of Wuthering heights in 2008 and married in 2014.

www.pinterest.com

In 2008 Hardy stared as Handsome Bob the gay gangster in guy Ritchie's film Rocknrolla. Then in 2009 he played the title character in the film Bronson all about the life of the real English prisoner Charles Bronson. 

fxgallery.com

His career really started to pick up in 2010 when he stared in inception with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He went on to play parts in many hit films such as The Dark Night Rises as Bane, Mad Max: Fury Road as Max Rockatansky, Legend as both of the Kray twins and The Revenant as John Fitzgerald.

Although Tom often portrays a bad guy on screen he has a softer personality in real life. He and Rachel have two rescue dogs together, one of which he appeared in an  advert for PETA with to promote the adoption of pets. He also has appeared twice on the cbeebies children's programme Bedtime Stories, once on New Years Eve and once on Valentines day which was a treat for many of Hardy's adult fans as well the the children the show is aimed at.

Best Dressed Moments

Here are what we think are some of Tom Hardy's most dapper moments.

justjared.com

heightline.com

socialitelife.com

pinknews.co.uk

huffingtonpost.co.uk

woldsamazinginfo.blogspot.uk

Interesting Facts 

• Michael Fassbender was his classmate at the Drama Centre London and they appeared in Band of Brothers together. 
• He has a tattoo of his agent's name on his left arm.
• In his mid 20's he had an addiction to alcohol and crack cocaine but has been sober since 2003. 
• He was cast as Rick Flag in Suicide Squad but had to drop out due to conflicting schedules with The Revenant. 
• He speaks fluent French.  

Our Must Watch Movie

www.youtube.com

Fifty Shades Darker premiered only last week, it is an erotic romantic fantasy which is the sequel the original 50 Shades of Grey. It is based on the book with the same name by E.L. James.  If you love to see a bit of scandal, romance or excitement this could be the perfect film for you. The premiere in London was held at Odeon Leicester Square on Friday 10th February.

www.glamourmagazine.co.uk

The stars of the film Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson looked stunning as ever on the red carpet. Jamie opened up about the relationship between the two saying they have a very close friendship which help them to get through filming smoothly as they understand each other. However the premiere wasn't all glamour and smooth sailing, it attracted protesters who believe that the book and film series encourages domestic abuse.

www.glamourmagazine.co.uk

The Plot 

If you do not want to know what happens during the film stop reading now.

Since Christian and Anastasia broke up hes been having nightmares about the abuse of his childhood. Ana has started a new job as an assistant to an editor at Seattle Independent Publishing and her boss seems very keen on her. She bumps into Christian and reluctantly agrees to have dinner with him. They rekindle their relationship with the understanding that there will be no punishments or rules. The pair later discover the are being stalked by one of Christians old submissive's Leila who has become mentally unstable since the death of her husband.

When Christian takes Ana to get pampered she meets Elena his first dominant, the woman that introduced him to BDSM. It turns out he co-owns the salon with her. Elena later insists Ana break up with Christian but she doesn't take any notice but then returns home to discover her car has been vandalised.

When Ana's boss tries to seduce her Christian fires him and asks her to move in with him. When they go to get her things Leila threatens her with a gun until she is subdued by Christian. Ana recognises his need to show his dominating personality and walks out returning late at night. Christian is angry so she tries to calm him, he realises he doesn't want to loose her so drops to his knees in submission they kiss, have sex and during the night when she wakes him from a nightmare he asks he her to marry him.

While shes making her decision he goes on a business trip and is in a helicopter crash. When Christian appears and he is safe and well she realises just how much she cares for him and accepts his proposal.

Elena is furious when he hears of their engagement at Christians birthday party but he tells her she doesn't mean anything to him and cuts all ties.

Our Top Car - AC Cobra

The AC cobra is also known as the Shelby Cobra in the U.S.A. It is a sports car with a ford V8 engine which has been produced in both the UK and America since 1962. AC (Auto Carriers Ltd.) is the British manufacturer. The development stages of constructing this car took approximately 1 year, AC in the united kingdom tried several different engines and modification but it was then decided the completed car without a gearbox or engine would be sent to Shelby in America who would finish the car. The prototype and first batch of the cars were released in 1962 but then in late 1962 AC's chief engineer made some huge design changes  and the mark II model was created. It went into production in 1962, roughly 528 mark II Cobras were produced in 1965.

The AC cobra was a financial failure which led to Ford and Carroll Shelby ceasing to import cars from the UK. AC closed the company in 1984. However the Shelby cobra continued to produce  a continuation car, following the original model but with a windscreen for road use and mod cons.

Shelby produced a 50th anniversary version of the 427 Cobra in January 2015, 50 of them were made.

www.uncrate.com

The first ever Shelby Cobra was sold for £10,332,020 after Carroll Shelby's death in 2012, the money was donated to the Carroll Shelby foundation which helps fund research into children's illnesses.

www.thetelegraph.co.uk

Film Appearances

The Cobra is an extremely popular and well recognised car. It has been features in several television shows and films. These include Crime Scene Investigation, Batman Forever, Iron man, Mischief: Joyride and Born to Run.

Mischief: Joyride

www.imcdb.org

Iron Man

www.imcdb.org

The Grammy's 2017

The 59^th Grammy Awards were held yesterday Sunday 12^th February at the staples center in Los Angeles, California. The show was hosted by actor and comedian James Corden who is well known for hosting the Late Late Show.  As always it was an action packed night with lots of funny, emotional and inspiring moments.

Adele caused quite a stir at last night’s award ceremony, she received the most awards with an astounding collection of 5 Grammy's and she sang off key then swore during her tribute to George Michael before starting the track again. She was the winner of every category she was nominated for. She won: Album Of The Year, Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, Best Pop Solo Performance. She was very humble about her wins and dedicated the award of album of the year to Lemonade singer Beyoncé. Both Adele and Beyoncé were very emotional during her acceptance speech. When walking off stage Adele snapped her Grammy in half to share it with Beyoncé in a way reminiscent of the hit film Mean Girls.

The duo 21 Pilots certainly made everyone pay attention as when they won the award for Best Pop Duo/Group performance they dropped their trousers on the way to the stage. Tyler Joseph explained that they had watched the Grammy's in their underwear a few years ago, and promised if they ever won they would do the same when accepting their award.

Best Dressed

Adele usually likes to stick to black and red but she looked beautiful in a floor length olive green embellished dress.

www.mirror.co.uk

Chance the Rapper looked incredibly dapper in a pair of smart pale grey trousers, with a matching jacket and skinny tie and a pair of vintage style brown shoes.

www.thegaurdian.com

Rihanna did not win any awards this year but she was breath taking as ever wearing Armani Privé. She wore a sparkly orange halter neck crop top and black ruffled silk organza shirt.

www.gaurdian.com

James Corden the evening’s host had a difficult night, the lift intended to get him to the top of the stairs on stage didn’t quite its target meaning he had to climb up to the stage, he also fell down a hole and rolled down the stairs. However, he didn’t let any of it phase him and still looked great. James wore a Tom Ford outfit of a shiny pastel coloured dinner jacket with black trousers, a white shirt and large black bow tie.

www.gq.com

John Legend looked dashing in an all black suit, with a salmon coloured shirt and a patterned bow tie of the same colour.

www.gq.com

Want to Escape the Cold Weather?

If this cold spell and the murky skies that come with it are getting you down, why not whisk yourself away on a mini break. Head off to a slightly warmer climate to top up on your vitamin D and give yourself that extra little boost of energy for the beginning of the year. Taking just a weekend away could leave you feeling relaxed and refreshed, it could possibly even help get you more motivated when you go back to work.

The sunny destination we have been dreaming of is Rome, the capital city of Italy. It is a city bursting at the seams with culture and beauty. You could spend your time there relaxing or you can use your time to explore everything this wonderful city has to offer.

Places to visit in Rome

The Coliseum is the worlds largest amphitheatre, its estimated it could hold from 50,000 to 80,000 spectators. It was originally used for gladiatorial contests, executions, re-enactments of battle, animal hunts and dramas based on mythology. It was later used for purposes such as housing, religion, workshops, a quarry, a Christian shrine and a fortress.

www.roundtheworldwego.com

The Trevi Fountain is one of the worlds most famous fountains. It marks the terminal point of the aqueduct that brought ancient Rome water. The aqueduct is named Aqua Virgo because it is said that in 19BC a young girl lead thirsty roman soldiers to the source of pure water. 

It has become a tradition to throw a coin in the fountain for good luck, you should throw the coin with your right hand over your left shoulder. Approximately 3000 Euros are thrown into the fountain every day, the money is used to subsidise a supermarket for Rome's needy and it is therefore illegal to steal money from the fountain. 

www.thetrevifountain.net

The Sistine is a truly amazing place to visit, if you are Roman Catholic it will have more importance to you as this is the official residence of the pope. However even those that aren't interested by the religious connotations will really appreciate the sheer magnificence of the building,  It's ceiling is perhaps one of the most recognisable features of the Sistine Chapel as it was painted by Michelangelo the Renaissance artist. 

www.archlighting.com

Outfit Inspiration

Seeing as you probably haven't experienced warmer weather in a few months we thought we give you some suggestions of what to wear if you chose to escape to Rome. When packing for Rome you should consider that you will want to stay casual and comfortable while sightseeing and most restaurants don't require formal attire, however modesty is key. The rule of thumb for most restaurants and especially any churches or religious places you may want to visit is that you shouldn't show your shoulders, knees or midriffs. 

Scarves are a very popular fashion accessory in Rome, men and women use them to keep a chill or the sun off of their neck and shoulders and they can even be used to cover your shoulders if you would like to visit the Vatican for example. So why not keep on trend wearing our Plum, Grey and Black Stripe Pattern Cotton Scarf by Knightsbridge with a charcoal grey polo shirt and some dark blue jeans. 

If the weather is particularly warm when you intend to go keep cool but covered wearing a blue linen shirt and cream linen trousers. You could even add the finishing touch to your outfit with a Black and White Polka Dot Neckerchief by Knightsbridge.

Valentines Day Gift Guide

Valentines day is celebrated on the 14th February every year. It was originally a Christian feast day honouring one or more early saints named Valentinus. Although it is an annual holiday in many countries it is not a public holiday in any country. Valentines Day first became associated with romantic love in the 14th century in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer when the tradition of courtly love was popular. It wasn't until the 18th century that lovers gave each other cards and gifts of flowers and confectionery to show their love for each other. In some parts of Europe St.Valentines keys are given to show the unlocking of each others hearts and they are also sometimes given to children to ward off epilepsy.

This Valentines day instead of the standard box of chocolates or bottle of cologne why not be original and opt for something a bit different. You cant go wrong with a brand new accessory for your partner especially if he likes to look his best.  Whether it be a tie, bow tie, cravat, pair of socks, or a pair of cufflinks we have the perfect gift for you to give this Valentines day.

Does your boyfriend or husband love socks? Why not make him laugh with one of these pairs of novelty socks.

You can buy them here: 

Horny Little Devil White Socks by The Tie Studio

Prince Charming Socks by The Tie Studio

Horny Little Devil Black Socks by The Tie Studio

Our Swirl Red Glitter Bow Tie by Van Buck would be a wonderful accessory to wear for Valentines day dinner if you are off to a nice restaurant. 

These Knightsbridge ties are all made to the highest quality from 100% silk. If you're looking for an obviously Valentines themed gift our Black Embellished Hearts Silk Skinny Tie by Knightsbridge or Black and White Stripes and Hearts Silk Knitted Tie by Knightsbridge would be ideal. Or if you're looking for a more subtle nod towards the occasion why not have a look at our Red and White Striped Silk Knitted Tie by Knightsbridge. 

Or kit him out with the whole shebang with our Red Paisley Tie, Pocket Square and Cufflinks Set.

This Van Buck Tiny Paisley Navy and Red Patterned Cravat can be worn for a multitude of occasions and is something alternative to the classic tie or bow tie so if your partner likes to be different this could be a great Valentines Day present.

Our Top TV Pick

The new television programme that has caught our eye is none other than the BBC One period drama Taboo. It has received a 9.2 out of 10 star rating on IMDB which is quite unheard of for a TV Show. It is set in London in 1814, its name is extremely fitting as it definitely is not one to watch with children. It is jam packed full of lustful scenes, blasphemous exclamations, scandal, mystery and intrigue. We can pretty much guarantee this scandalous new series will have you on the edge of your seat and impatiently waiting for the next episode.

If you are only just hearing about this now, don't panic it isn't too late to catch up on BBC iPlayer. All the episodes are still currently available to watch but episode 1 will only be available to view until Monday 6th February at 10.10 pm so don't miss your opportunity to catch this gripping drama.

The plot 

Tom Hardy stars as James Delaney the son of Horace Delaney owner of an infamous London Shipping company. After spending 12 years in Africa James returns to London in with 14 stolen diamonds to take over his deceased father's shipping empire and make a new life for himself However his father's legacy brings him more trouble than anticipated in the form of rivals such as the East India company. All while a dark family mystery unfolds in a treacherous love story.

Fashion

This series really tries to stick to the time period in which its set with its costumes. Throughout the episodes which have aired so far there have been same amazing outfits on show. Tom Hardy looks especially dapper nearly always wearing a top hat. Here are some examples of the outfits featured so far which we love.

 www.facebook.com

 www.youtube.com

www.imdb.com

www.radiotime.com

www.imdb.com

www.imdb.com

www.digitalspy.com

You can watch Taboo on BBC One every Saturday at 9.00pm, give it a go and see what you think. Will it be too fantastical for you or will you be hooked? You wont know until you see it. Even if you are not that keen on the story line there's always the benefit of staring at the ever dapper Tom Hardy.