Courtly cities: From Bergisches Residenzstadt to Rhenish fashion capital, Düsseldorf on the Rhine Unlike France, Austria and Great Britain, the German capital—only established as

Michelin is not only known for its prestigious stars awarded to exclusive dining establishments. Alongside Pirelli and Bridgestone, the French manufacturer produces some of

In a world that has, for decades, diminished the number of rules for dress and etiquette, there has been a tendency to forget the

On every corner of Manhattan’s grid, the pouring rain provides an opportunity for street vendors to hawk five-dollar collapsibles to ill-prepared pedestrians rushing between

In a dim corner of the mercantile interior, the rich, floral colors of classical shirts transmit the light and warmth of Colombo’s Old Fort.

I still remember my mother writing a handwritten excuse letter to my class teacher because I wanted to listen to the cricket commentaries. She

In mathematics there is a distinction between a linear progression and an exponential one. People age and earn a wage whose incremental increase is

In the days, long past, when most things people owned were locally made, the quality and cost were visible at the point of sale.

In 1978 Douglas Sutherland published a little humorous breviary entitled The English Gentleman. The 140 page parody of the style manual details in a

Walk softly…

With these words a notorious, late 19th century American statesman described his foreign policy. He was no doubt thinking of boots. However

The penultimate cover in the gentleman’s wardrobe is the shield between his shirt and the abrasion from movement in the world. A wooden vessel

Ever since saccharine was sold to the US Army in the Great War as a cheap substitute for natural sugar, there has been a

At the end of the 20th century the rapid rate of changes in society and the economy stimulated an awareness of new challenges and

In my youth, ready-to-wear was still a luxury. These items were imported, too. Instead my mother, like the mothers of many of my schoolmates,

Today we take the unique for granted, like we think nothing of a “short” trip of some six thousand miles. There was an era,