Style: Katherine Hepburn, the icon of the week

Last week we spoke about Audrey Hepburn and today we'd like to talk about another lady with the same surname, Katherine Hepburn.

She was an American actress of film, stage, and television. Known for her headstrong independence and spirited personality, Hepburn was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60 years. She appeared in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and received four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star in Hollywood history. 

While Audrey Hepburn was a very feminine woman, Katherine Hepburn had a more classical and masculine style, that suited her perfectly. 

We do like women with a masculine style. They don't just look different but they also show their strong character by feeling comfortable and beautiful in looks usually appropiate for men. The famous dinner jacket of Yves Saint Laurent was one of the first steps made in fashion to encourage women to start wearing clothes that would no longer be just for men. Nowadays, thanks to women with a lot of style like Katherine Hepburn, young and old ladies have the personality to wear the garçon style.

Following Katherine Hepburn's style....

...we recommend the following products to look like her: this De Tommaso Oxford style shoe...

...and the Blenheim belt from Hardy&Parsons. 

Billboard 32: releases of the week

Scatter my Ashes at Bergdorf's

It's the most mythic of all American emporiums - and the scene of many an ultimate fashion fantasy. Now audiences get a rarified chance to peek behind the backroom doors and into the reality of the fascinating inner workings and fabulous untold stories from Bergdorf Goodman's iconic history in Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's.

Kill Your Darlings

A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs.

The Patience Stone

Somewhere, in Afghanistan or elsewhere, in a country torn apart by a war... A young woman in her thirties watches over her older husband in a decrepit room. He is reduced to the state of a vegetable because of a bullet in the neck. Not only is he abandoned by his companions of the Jihad, but also by his brothers. One day, the woman decides to tell the truth to him about her feelings about their relationship to her silent husband. She talks about her childhood, her suffering, her frustrations, her loneliness, her dreams, her desires... She says things she could never have done before, even though they have been married for the past 10 years. Therefore, this paralyzed man unconsciously becomes syngue sabour, a magic stone which, according to Persian mythology, when placed in front of a person shields her from unhappiness, suffering, pains and miseries. In this wait for her husband to come back to life, the woman struggles to survive and live. She finds refuge in her aunt's place, who is...

Homefront

A former DEA agent moves his family to a quiet town, where he soon tangles with a local meth druglord.

New products: Choker Non Elasticated Webbing, 001, 002, 003 and 004

We have a section where we speak about Special Products, the products that we like to comment on because they have some different details that make each product unique, such as the Quick Release, the Choker or the Tantalus. 

Today, we'd like to open a new section called New Products, where we'll speak about Hardy&Parsons' new designs added to the catalogue, showing some photos and giving detailed information about them. To start with this section, we'd like to show you the Choker Non Elasticated Webbing. 

Some months ago we received new webbing in the showroom. We found it beautiful and special because it had high visibility colours on it. 

After some designs and testing we finally had the first samples...

And now, you can find the Choker Non Elasticated Webbing 001, 002, 003 and 004 on our catalogue, ready to order. We hope you like them!

Style: Audrey Hepburn, the icon of the week

When we write about style, we always talk about men. Today, we'd like to start talking about women also in this section. There are a lot of well known ladies that had and still have a beautiful and admirable style. And you know that Hardy&Parsons also has a section of products for them. That's why we couldn't wait any longer to start talking about one of the most famous ladies in the world for her style (among other qualities): Audrey Hepburn.

Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Recognised as both a film and fashion icon, Hepburn was active during Hollywood's Golden Age. She was ranked by the American Film Institute as the third greatest female screen legend in the history of American cinema and has been placed in the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame. She is regarded by many to be the most naturally beautiful woman of all time.

She had a truly feminine style that everybody loves. We particularly like this pictures where she uses thin belts to highlight her slender figure.

Alderton is a belt that remind us of this style, what do you think?

Billboard 31: releases of the week

Life's a Breeze

Life's A Breeze tells the story of a family as they search for a lost fortune around the streets of Dublin.

Saving Mr. Banks

When Walt Disney's daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, PL. Travers' "Mary Poppins," he made them a promise - one that he didn't realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney's plans for the adaptation. For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn't budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp. It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the... Written by Walt Disney Pictures.

Day of the Flowers

Two young, strong-willed Scottish sisters, one a left-wing activist, the other a most-popular-girl-in-school type, take their late father's ashes to Cuba, the site of many family legends of his services to the REvolution. Arriving in Havana, the two women promptly lose the ashes and go through a series of misadventrues - both romantic and dangerous - to try to retrieve them. A colourful and wryly humourous tale of cross-cultural misunderstandings and lost illusions.

Gasland Part II

A documentary that declares the gas industry's portrayal of natural gas as a clean and safe alternative to oil is a myth, and that fracked wells inevitably leak over time, contaminating water and air, hurting families, and endangering the earth's climate with the potent greenhouse gas methane.

Dirty Wars

Dirty Wars follows investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill, author of the international bestseller Blackwater, into the hidden world of America's covert wars, from Afghanistan to Yemen, Somalia, and beyond. With a strong cinematic style, the film blurs the boundaries of documentary and fiction storytelling. Part action film and part detective story, Dirty Wars is a gripping journey into one of the most important and underreported stories of our time. What begins as a report on a deadly U.S. night raid in a remote corner of Afghanistan quickly turns into a global investigation of the secretive and powerful Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). As Scahill digs deeper into the activities of JSOC, he is pulled into a world of covert operations unknown to the public and carried out across the globe by men who do not exist on paper and will never appear before Congress. In military jargon, JSOC teams "find, fix, and finish" their targets, who are selected through a secret process. No target is off limits for the "kill list," including U.S. citizens.

Style: Paul Newan, the icon of the week

Paul Newman was an American actor and film director well known for films such as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for best actor for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money.

But Newman wasn't good just acting. Paul Newman was an auto racing enthusiast and he also won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing. 

It's his racing car style the one we like the most. We believe that someone has a great style if that person is able to show it in all kind of situations. Loving sports and showing so much style while practicing them, is something remarkable!

The italian shoes from De Tommaso brand remind us of Paul Newman driving cars. 

And we believe it matches perfectly with the Non Elasticated Webbing 004 belt from Hardy & Parsons.

Movember

November is a month full of social events. Halloween, Guy Fawkes... Now it's time to speak about Movember, an annual, month-long event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues. 

The Movember Foundation (one of the top 100 NGOs) in the world runs the Movember charity event, housed at www.movember.com. The goal of Movember is to "change the face of men's health."

Below you can see a hilarious video, starring the American actor, writer, and carpenter Nick Offerman, who teaches us how to grow a mustache properly. 

For our part, we'd like to support this charity event by remembering some of the most amusing and curious mustaches. 

By the way, do you know what Beardecember means? It's the sequel to 'Movember' that already exists: grow a beard in december.

Billboard 30: releases of the week

Parkland

Parkland is the true story behind a tragic day in history you thought you knew, but didn't, and couldn't, until now... 50 years later.November 22nd, 1963 was a day that changed the world forever when young American President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. We follow in almost real time a handful of individuals forced to make split-second decisions after this incomprehensible event that would change their lives and forever alter our worlds landscape: the young doctors and nurses at Parkland Hospital, the chief of the Dallas Secret Service, the unwitting cameraman who captured what has become the most watched and examined film in history, the FBI Agents who had gunman Lee Harvey Oswald within their grasp and Vice President Lyndon Johnson who had to take control of a country in a moments notice. Thrust into a scenario of unprecedented drama with unimaginable consequences, these key characters respond with shock, outrage, determination and courage. Woven together, their seemingly disparate perspectives make one of the most thrilling and powerful stories never told.

The Family

The Manzoni family, a notorious mafia clan, is relocated to Normandy, France under the witness protection program, where fitting in soon becomes challenging as their old habits die hard.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Katniss Everdeen has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark. Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a "Victor's Tour" of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) - a competition that could change Panem forever. Written by Bianca Capetillo.

Blue is the Warmest Colour

The story of a young lesbian couple's beginning, middle and possible end.

Billboard 29: releases of the week

Don Hemingway

After spending 12 years in prison for keeping his mouth shut, notorious safe-cracker Dom Hemingway is back on the streets of London looking to collect what he's owed.

Don Jon

Jon Martello objectifies everything in his life: his apartment, his car, his family, his church, and, of course, women. His buddies even call him Don Jon because of his ability to pull "10s" every weekend without fail. Yet even the finest flings don't compare to the transcendent bliss he achieves alone in front of the computer watching pornography. Dissatisfied, he embarks on a journey to find a more gratifying sex life, but ends up learning larger lessons of life and love through relationships with two very different women.

Pandora's Promise

A feature-length documentary about the history and future of nuclear power. The film explores how and why mankind's most feared and controversial technological discovery is now passionately embraced by many of those who once led the charge against it. Operating as history, cultural meditation and contemporary exploration,Pandora's Promise aims to inspire a serious and realistic debate over what is without question the most important question of our time: how do we continue to power modern civilization without destroying it.

The Butler

Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with her addictions and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.

The Counsellor

A lawyer finds himself in over his head when he gets involved in drug trafficking.