THE JOURNAL
The gifts the MR PORTER team hope to find under the tree (they promise they’ve been good).
There is much to be said for youth and young manhood. The fact you can sink into a low chair without emitting a noise like a zeppelin deflating. Or that you can run upstairs without risking serious knee injury, to mention but two. But the greatest and most profound advantages of youth come at Christmas. How could they not? As a child, your dinner just turns up on the table, and you don’t have to think about gifts because Santa Claus has everything covered quite adequately, thank you very much.
As you get older, of course, that all changes. That turkey isn’t going to defrost itself, is it now? And yes, those sprouts do need peeling. One thing that needn’t change is Santa Claus because, for you, MR PORTER is willing to don a metaphorical red suit and deliver all the presents you need right to your house in double-quick time.
And with more than 400 brands to choose from, everything from IWC Schaffhausen watches to Aesop grooming products, we really do have it all covered – and we’ll even wrap it in our signature wrapping paper.
To give you some seasonal inspiration – and to avoid hearing the question, “do you have the receipt?” – we asked the MR PORTER staff to pick out the items on top of their Wish Lists for you to check out.
No turkey curry for me this year. On Boxing Day, I’m off to Indonesia and I’m hoping there will be a GoPro Hero5 in my backpack (thank you, Santa), which I can test out on the manta rays and clown fish I’ll be diving with. Also on my list (twice-checked) are some tinted acetate sunglasses from Garrett Leight California Optical, a pair of printed Thorsun swim shorts – mid-length, so good for tanning, and quick drying. I’ve asked for seven days of sunshine, too. Is that greedy?
At Christmas, I want everything to look good, I want everything to sound good, and I want my house to smell appropriately festive. To ensure the first, I am going to ask Santa for this A.P.C. paisley-print bomber. The second is taken care of by these Master & Dynamic ME01 in-ear headphones, which marry form and function really quite beautifully. While this candle from Cire Trudon, the oldest still-active candle maker in the world, produces the most beautiful aroma of spicy pepper, cardamom and warm amber. If I get all these, it will be a very merry Christmas indeed.
If all goes to plan, and I have managed to stay off the naughty list for another year, I’m hoping to unwrap something from Japan Best. The brand brings together independent craftsmen who work with traditional materials from around Japan, and this cypress wine cooler and glasses set would be the perfect addition to my table during the festive period. If loved ones were feeling extra generous, this Soho Home cashmere throw is just what I’d need to aid relaxation after the inevitable holiday overindulgences, and I’d never be disappointed with a D R Harris wash bag for all the grooming products in my stocking.
The moment someone’s face falls when they open a truly terrible gift is familiar to us all, thanks to Christmas TV ads and bad seasonal films. So to avoid “the look” on my face this year, here are my sure-fire winners: a traditional scarf by Acne Studios, because it is super big, soft – and cool (but warm); a pair of gloves from Swedish masters Hestra (if they’re good enough to track elk in, they’ll do for wandering around Soho). And then there is my ultimate board game – this leather-cased backgammon set by Hector Saxe. Then all I need is a roaring fire and a bottle of French wine.
When I was a boy, I used to think long and hard about what to get my dad for Christmas – and always, inevitably, turned to socks. Now I am a dad myself, all I actually want for Christmas is… sleep. Please. Failing that, can I at least be comfortable as a small child screams at me in the middle of the night? So how about this Sleepy Jones pyjama shirt – it’s what I imagine a burly lumberjack would wear to bed (a bed that he’d built himself, grrr – although he probably wouldn’t kip on a memory-foam mattress), thus providing a thin veneer of masculinity to this knackered, broken man. And, while socks would be nice, I’d rather have wireless headphones to, ahem, block out the noise. #parentingskills
This winter break, I’m going off grid. But, while I intend to spend as much time in the wilderness as possible, I don’t intend to leave my dress sense up a creek. First on my Christmas list is a Kyle from _South Park-_style trapper hat by Junya Watanabe. Then there’s the book Cabins (which I will pore over, while pouring myself a double whisky) and most importantly I would like an environmentally friendly faux-fur buffalo coat from Saint Laurent to help me deliver my best Deliverance homage. (Insert banjo playing gag here.)
What a world we live in – 100 years ago, I’d have spent December wishing for quoits and sugar plums, and Christmas Eve crossing my fingers, hoping against hope that I may not have been quite awful enough this year to be presented with nothing but a grimy lump of coal come the big day. Now, I find myself saying, “Christmas will be ruined unless I get this Camoshita cardigan.” It’s enough to make Mr Charles Dickens weep. Anyway, there it is, I want it. I’d wear it with some handmade desert boots from American brand Yuketen, and herald the inevitable decline of all that is good and right about the holiday with this gloomy “Apocalyptic” candle from Byredo.
Illustrations by Mr Joe McKendry