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    Head to Moscot, NY if you want to shop from where Ronaldo & Ryan Gosling do

    Synopsis

    Not necessarily mega brands, these treasure shops are for tasteful men.

    ET's dualpane (37)Agencies
    On the left is Cristiano Ronaldo and on the right is Ryan Gosling.
    Not necessarily mega brands, these treasure shops are for tasteful men. They have quality, character and, perhaps, a playlist without Ed Sheeran.

    Charvet, Paris
    Charvet is hardly below the radar. But their history and their dedication to shirt-making demand mention in any conversation about exclusive men’s products. The French house has been around since 1838.

    CharvetParisAgencies


    Today, their seven- floor store on Place Vendome works towards one primary objective — the perfect shirt. Charvet is no place for the indecisive, or the impoverished. Bespoke shirts start around ` 50,000. And there are thousands of fabrics to choose from, not to mention collar and fits and cuffs. The brand’s philosophy is that a personal stamp on clothing exceeds any form of luxury. So it goes to great lengths to satisfy the smallest customisation request. It is no surprise the store’s clientele has included John F Kennedy, Barack Obama, Henri Matisse and Gary Cooper.

    G Lorenzi, Milan
    Richemont Group CEO Johann Rupert has the finest of everything at his fingertips. But he once grieved over a shop that merely sold knives, corkscrews and shaving brushes.

    GLorenziAgencies


    And other odds and ends required for male upkeep. That shop was G Lorenzi on Milan’s Via Monte Napoleone. From 1929 to 2014, it won over customers with high quality everyday objects sold in an unpretentious environment. Though the original store closed, its range is now available under the umbrella of luxury brand Larusmiani. “We both (Rupert and designer Mark Newsom) sat crying in our wine,” Rupert said in an interview about the initial impact of the flagship store’s closure in 2014. Now that it has got a new lease of life, his evening Pinot Noir is presumably without salty notes.

    Moscot, New York
    Cristiano Ronaldo and Ryan Gosling buy their spectacles and glasses here. But the company insists they are “at heart, a neighbourhood optical shop”. Moscot, unmissable even in crowded Manhattan with its bright yellow sign, dates back to 1925 and the entrepreneurial spirit of a Belarussian immigrant, Hyman Moshcot.

    MoscotNYAgencies
    (Image: Facebook/Moscot)


    After moving to the Big Apple, the opticals businessman started selling frames from a pushcart before opening a store. Today the brand — which charges around ` 20,000 for its spectacles — has a worldwide following. And its logo pays homage to its humble beginning — the pushcart. All the frames, the company says, are handmade.

    John Lobb, London
    Wise men have said this time and again. If you have some money, son, buy good shoes. Buy bespoke. And go to a shop called John Lobb.

    JohnLobbAgencies
    (Image: Facebook/John Lobb)



    People of means — among them Frank Sinatra and the British royals — have walked into the masculine interiors of the store, wood and leather and shoemaking equipment all around — and left poorer but with their feet in good hands. The starting price for bespoke shoes here is about `5.5 lakh. The accepted logic is that it is worth spending on bespoke shoes more than clothes. It has a direct bearing on the wellbeing of feet. A good pair, though costly, offers surpassing comfort and can last 20 years. Fast fashion, this is not.

    Bodega, Boston
    Shoppers who like some suspense with their sneakers will love this place. Bodega (Spanish for ‘cellar’ but commonly used for ‘corner shop’) looks like a grocery store from the front. “We are hidden in plain sight,” they say of their address on their website. The founders of the store — Jay Gordon, Oliver Mak and Dan Natola – sought to create a space where some of their favourite things in the world came together under one roof. “Our core DNA is always about the creativity of fashion through the lens of street,” Mak says in an interview. “We found a way to communicate that through the brick and mortar.” For a long time very few people knew of the existence of shoes and sports gear in the bodega. The owners did not volunteer this information either. Gradually, word spread that beyond the walls of mundane items was a sneaker palace with brands ranging from Vans (street) to Common Projects (high-end).



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