GQ Style Winter 2018

Personal style doesn’t always begin with a watch, but when it does, it can be immensely powerful. This is hardly news at Wempe, the ultimate destination for exquisite watches and a specialist in fine timepieces since 1878. In the market for a luxury German or Swiss watch? Carrying over 20 of the finest watch brands, the family-owned company’s Fifth Avenue flagship has incredible offerings that will last a lifetime—and elevate any look. Expert, on-site watchmakers also provide distinguished service on all timepieces. In fact, here are three examples. Each style profile is paired with a timepiece collection from Wempe that classes it up ever more. All watches are by Glashütte Original, German-made since 1845 and available at Wempe—a partnership that has endured for over two generations. The Elegant Executive Bespoke…

AS YOU’LL SEE ON page 110, I’ve spent the past few years immersed in the lectures and writings of the American spiritual teacher Ram Dass (né Richard Alpert)—a man who lived such a radical life that the American counterculture often followed in his wake. So this issue, rather than trying to write something profound in this space, I’m sharing my annotated Ram Dass bibliography. Some of the books are out of print (try eBay). Others are still flying off shelves four decades after publication (try any store that sells beads and smells like patchouli). What can I say? Collecting and reading these books changed my life. Editor-in-Chief From Bindu to Ojas (1970) Before Ram Dass’s iconic Be Here Now sold over 2 million copies, there was its handmade prototype, a…

01 Velvet Tracksuit Compton rapper YG has been hailed as the second coming of California gangsta-rap greatness. And with the release of his third studio album, Stay Dangerous, in 2018, he’s proved himself to be a worthy successor to West Coast legends N.W.A and Snoop Dogg. Here the “Still Brazy” MC lends his personal style to some of the best fashions of the season. Whether you’re stretched out in a private jet or crammed into coach, can you imagine tackling holiday travel in anything but this slouchy velvet suit? 02 DICE SET Don’t bother breaking out the dice at your holiday party unless they come in a bridle leather case and are made from inlaid maple. 03 Blue Leather Boots A French New Wave–era original, Carvil’s sleek boots were Bob Dylan’s favorite…

YG LEANS INTO A DOUBLE-WIDE makeup mirror, big round bulbs illuminating him. He ties the red bandanna covering his scalp, the ends meeting at his hairline. He unties it, reties it, unties and reties again, until it’s just how he wants it. The Compton rapper is generally boisterous, but for a moment he’s quiet, concentrating on just this, making sure it holds. It’s equal parts art and science. “You gotta make it right!” he explains. This is how he works. In an era dominated on the one hand by chart-topping rappers with Gucci addictions and on the other by teenage rappers with face tattoos, YG—28, born Keenon Jackson in what he’ll call the Bompton section of Los Angeles—likes things his own way. That means super-skinny cat-eye sunglasses, a 2018 update…

FOR A GUY WHO runs an independent leather-shoe company in an era when fashion is completely obsessed with sneakers, Yuki Matsuda keeps a pretty level head about the whole thing. “I’m like, ‘Okay, I need to make something much cooler than the sneaker,’” Matsuda says. In the years since founding Yuketen, in 1995, he’s designed hundreds of hand-sewn moccasins, cordovan leather hard-bottoms, preppy loafers and boat shoes, fancy cowboy boots, and rugged hikers, all made using old-world methods. Sometimes his quest to improve upon the sneaker means remixing the North American shoe canon like he’s been given the keys to a Hollywood-country-western costume shop: Yuketen loafers get western-belt-buckle straps. A dressy chukka is punched up with snakeskin leather. The brand’s most recognizable silhouette, the Maine Guide Boot, merges a Native…

IN THE FANTASTICAL universe of Santoni, a shoe is not just a shoe—it is an object of desire, according to the label’s CEO, Giuseppe Santoni. The tradition of handmade shoes and the skillful artisans in the brand’s workshop are guided not by corporate responsibility or nine-to-five obligation but by a watchful genie. An energy that maintains the quality of the label’s shoes, so says Santoni. The brand is headquartered in the Italian region of Marche—what appears to be a paradise hundreds of miles from the country’s fashion capital. And of course Santoni tells his family’s tale in an Italian accent that’s as thick and comforting as a good red sauce. “Growing up surrounded by beauty, you get affected by this influence,” he says. His English is near perfect. When Santoni…