In the British Empire – in whose shadow I was born in the Island of Ceylon and its Dependencies, today Sri Lanka, anything of official significance was recorded in the “London Gazette”. Hence such expressions as “gazetted” for official recognition and the military honour “mentioned in dispatches”.

Today style is a global interest although I would not call it imperial. There are still noteworthy events and experiences in the evolution of a gentleman’s character or his stylistic career. This “gazette” makes no claim to completeness but aims to record the manner in which elegance unfolds and to recognise what may be too easily overlooked in life’s campaigns and struggles.