The sun and GQbyCitroen concept car shines in London.

Although petrol-headed car enthusiast, Berkley Magazine decided to forgo attendance of the hybrid bonanza at the annual Geneva auto show that took place last week. The consolation is owed to GQ Magazine and Citroen who knocked their heads together and held a private auto show of their own in trendy and vibrant Covent Garden, where the Hospital Club played host to an unveiling party for an electrifying concept on Thursday the 4th of March.
In a deep and lustrous shade of red the car was the centre of attention in a small sized hall with curious eyes orbiting around it while mesmerising over the muscular rear flanks and seductive lines stretching beautifully across the doors. Named GQbyCitroen, the car is a gentleman transformed into a vehicle of independence and sophistication. The self-assurance is expressed through the revival the fastback body shape that drifted into oblivion at the end of the 1970s. It is a crossover between a wagon and a coupé, fostering otherwise contradictory versatility of being spectacular enough for Park Lane but practical enough for days when a mate needs a gentleman’s helping hand, and car, for a lift to the airport.
Patrick Grant, head of design at E.Tautz - a Savile Row tailor, took the inside job of treating the car with an interior fit for a gentleman. Inside the cabin, driver and passenger will be engulfed in black and red leather caringly stitched together by one of Savile Row’s rising stars. Unfortunately the Concept car at the unveiling was a clay model and thus, getting personal with the car remains in our dreams. However, a fully functioning prototype should not be ruled out as Citroen’s previous partnership, with the Gran Turismo 5 racing game, climaxed with a physical entity parading the streets of London in June 2009. Both GQ and Citroen remain coy over details about what is to follow, but if the vision is to be turned into reality, it will be powered by a 1.6 litre hybrid engine thrusting the car from 0-60mph in 4.5 and the driver from chap to gentleman in zero seconds flat.

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Diamonds and Dalmatians remain women's best friends – Thom Browne makes raccoon man’s favorite mammal.

Animal friends in ever house and jungle tent in the world must be in horror shock over the sight of raccoon tails dangling below the waist of straight faced models during New York fashion week. It’s like a Disney nightmare come true – Thom Browne, a living male Cruella de Ville skinning animals for shopping pleasure of the elite.

Before we all fly to JFK with buckets of red paint in hand, it is worth noting that raccoon tails may or may not be real and most likely aren’t. Regardless of the convincing imitation of the tails, they attest the outlandishness of high fashion – more correctly referred to as haute couture. It’s a category of one-off, sumptuous and labour intensive fashion creations with prices exceeding most people’s bank account balance. As of now the category is reserved for women, though Thom Brown is giving haute couture a reason to extend itself to menswear.

His New York Fall/Winter 2010 men’s collection stands true to the ethos of Thom Brown: cement-grey coloured tailoring spiked with unconventional attitude and finishing touches. The chequered knee socks made visible by trousers reaching a few inches above the ankle are well familiar sights. Pleasures we can see in falling leafs and windy autumns is that whatever we have in the clothes can be put to good use unlike during summers when stinging sunrays prevent us to wear any more than one layers on our bodies. Dressing up is fun, and Thom Browne wants us to have even more fun wearing inconceivably unrestrained clothing that are guaranteed to turn the heads of men, children, women and raccoons.

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Pininfarina keeps coach building rolling on its four wheels.

Coach building is a virtue, which dates back several centuries to a time when man and machine were in the early stages of becoming truly engaged. Names such as Rippon, Barker, Carrozzeria Ghia and Chapron decked the lime light in the era of peace and love. In essence each firm wildly exhibited a unique style, grace and a forthcoming character in the automobile industry.

However, just like with most things in life. All good things in due course come to end and the scent of death and gloom prayed heavily on world of automobiles and coach building. As Picassco quoted “Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction.” The death Chapron and the prostitution of Carrozzeria Ghia was not in vain. It paved the way for renowned firms such Pininfarina. The matrimony consequently was truly never salvaged during the purge. However today, the spirit of coach building is kept alive by keepers such as Rolls-Royce, Ferrari and Bentley.
The image and dream of Ferrari embedded in my mind, usually consists of me and Gabriela Sabatini and her beautiful long black hair blowing in the wind, cursing through the Italian coastline in a 355. However we live in Modern-day and Pininfarina have angled a new approach to the tackling design manifestation and asked clients -- specific clients -- to envision their ideal Ferrari, as one lucky customer put it “My Ferrari”. This lead to the birth of the ‘Ferrari P540 Superfast Aperta which is a one off creation conceived over a 11 month period. In essence however, owning this car, would probably give one the same detained honor as being married to Cindy Crawford and Monica Bellucci’s daughter if females could mate with one another.

Rolls-Royce has also bestowed themselves to give Pininfarina a Drophead coupe to use as a donor car for the amazing Pininfarina Hyperion. The car itself looks like it has been crafted by the ancient sea monster Leviathan. The Catholic Pope would probably consider an automobile this immaculate to be his method of transportation to heavens. However, it is certain, that one having the option to experience the joyful – ceramic like beauty of this car would feel like being of the oceans.

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