Items With Character

Have a look around. Your furniture, your car, your shoes – what are their stories?

I’m sure you can name a handful of possessions that say a lot about you. What made you fall in love with them? Is there a fragrance of choice, a scratched watch, a pair of faded jeans or a suit you could never part with and, if necessary, wouldn’t think twice about replacing with another of the same? I bet these wardrobe treasures know you better than a life partner or close friend.

Nothing becomes a trademark like an all-time classic: inanimate objects with personalities of their own, stories to tell and loads to teach. If only we knew what will endure in our lives at the moment of purchase.

To help identify these unfading style tools, we have produced some guidelines to consider when picking your next signature piece…

1. Agelessness

You can pull off a classic at eighteen, eighty or any age in between.

In some cases, the older you get, the cooler they’ll look. Take converse trainers, for example. There are no age-appropriateness rules to them, but they will look their best if you’re either under twenty-five or sixty plus.

2. Idol Approval

A potential pièce de résistance is likely to have been worn (and documented) by at least one important figure in history – whether it be a politician, movie star, character or glamorous criminal.

Endorsement alone doesn’t make a story, but we can’t deny it adds appeal.

For example, the list of clothes and accessories Steve McQueen made iconic is long. Always looking slightly more casual than his entourage, ‘The King of Cool’ gave his signature items the fame and recognition they still enjoy. Thirty-four years after McQueen left us, you can’t go wrong with a pair of Persol 714s, a Baracuta Harrington jacket, a roll neck, Superga trainers or a chambray shirt: