Welcome to Ape to Gentleman’s Top 10 of the Month feature. We have curated the top trends, insights and advice to help you live your best life.
In this instalment, we’ve handpicked 10 essential topics covering everything from the hottest new brand x restaurant collab to our pick of the festive cinema releases. Whether you’re seeking inspiration for a wardrobe overhaul, eager to enhance your grooming routine, or simply looking for the best and latest releases, we’ve got you covered.
Let’s explore how to make December your most stylish, successful and satisfying month yet.
Stone Island – Infinite Colours
Nothing says essential festive family viewing this month like a feature-length docu-poem about Stone Island. Directed by Ken-Tonio Yamamoto, Infinite Colours documents the employee community at the brand’s headquarters in Ravarino HQ, in Emilia-Romagna, Italy.
Yamamoto tells the innovative story of Stone Island through the craftspeople and innovators tasked with making the garments.
See more at stoneisland.com
END. x Puma x Mangal II
We like it when brands and hospitality combine. Universal Works x Bundobust is a standout of recent years, with staff kitted out handsomely in overshirts. The latest collab to catch our eye in the restaurant fashion sphere is Puma’s ode to 30 years of Dalston Turkish stalwart Mangal II.
The END. x Puma x Mangal II Clyde Royal blue suede sneaker is limited to 300 pairs and comes with bespoke branded details and a special presentation box.
Enter the draw now at END.
Metier Racer
Christmas is prime visiting time, so a stylish weekend bag is essential. The Metier Racer is a handsome briefcase-tote crossover with ample room for the day’s workday essentials or a light carry for staying somewhere overnight.
The Elvis black leather is soft to the touch with a little rock and roll edge, complete with a waxed shine. Inside there’s a laptop sleeve and plenty of organisational features, as well as a handy external loop for attaching to a suitcase.
Buy now at Metier
Johnstons of Elgin Vicuna Collection
Luxury fabrics are thoughtful gifts at Christmas time, and Johnstons of Elgin are a brand we associate with the best. At the top end of their offering is Vicuna, a fabric they have been celebrating working with this year for a mere 175 years.
Super soft and honey-toned, Vicuna is a slender camelid akin to an Alpaca. Its unique double coat makes for the most luxurious fibres, perfect for a scarf.
Shop now at Johnstons of Elgin
Diptyque Sapin candle
Not one for Christmas trees? No problem. Get the luxury scent of Siberian pine without the needles everywhere. Diptyque has got a candle for that. The limited edition Sapin candle fills your home with the enveloping scent of Siberian pine and resin.
The candle itself is designed by artist Lucy Sparrow and features an updated felt label and golden lid.
Buy now at Diptyque
nanamica KODENSHI wool sweater
We like the look of the fabric innovation going on at nanamica. At first glance, the brand’s KODENSHI wool sweater looks like a stylish winter addition, but dig a little deeper and innovation lies within.
Multi-faceted fibres within the textile help wearers maintain comfortable temperatures across fluctuating environments. KODENSHI absorbs and stores far infrared energy that radiates from the body, re-emitting the energy back to the body, rather than just storing heat like a classic thermal.
Shop now at nanamica
Panther Milk
A certain Irish festive liqueur has serious competition this month from a plucky, oat milk alternative. Panther Milk is the world’s first oat milk-based cocktail liqueur, inspired by the potent Spanish cocktail, Leche De Pantera.
A popular military drink in Spain during the 1920s, Leche De Pantera regained popularity among students and artists in Barcelona’s gothic quarter during the 1970s.
Panther Milk is the modern interpretation, a secret blend of premium spirits and oat milk. Great over ice with a dusting of cinnamon or mixed into an espresso Martini.
Buy now at Master of Malt
Rega Planar 3 RS Edition
The Rega Planar 3 is a much-loved piece of British audiophile tech. It is a serious investment piece for anyone wanting to do justice to their vinyl collection and home aesthetic.
Just in time for Christmas, the latest Rega Planar 3 release sees a souped-up ‘Rega Special’ edition, featuring tech from the premium Planar 8 and 10 models, as well as an updated High-Pressure Laminate plinth in a brushed dark aluminium satin finish with high-gloss black edges.
See more at Rega
We’ve got a soft spot for Community Clothing. Led by Great British Sewing Bee’s immaculately-dressed Patrick Grant, the social enterprise and manufacturers cooperative makes solid, extremely wearable, competitively priced staples out of locations across the UK, including Blackburn.
Everything works with everything, and it’s a great brand for hunkering down on timeless basics to form the pillars of a solid capsule wardrobe.
Their 100% merino wool, unlined four-button chore jacket is a highlight and would make a refined outer layer for winter.
Buy now at Community Clothing
Nosferatu
Our pick of the December cinema releases is the Robert Eggers (The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman) remake of the classic gothic horror Nosferatu, which Eggers describes as a “passion project”. Based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it tells the story of a haunted woman and the vampire infatuated with her.
Starring regular collaborators Bill Skarsgard and Willem Dafoe, the vampire blockbuster also features Nicholas Hoult and Lily-Rose Depp.
In UK cinemas 3 January 2025
