Innholdsfortegnelse for Winter 2021 i Esquire

THE FIRST TIME MY POLITICS ALIGNED WITH MY father’s was during the 1988 presidential election. I was eight. Michael Dukakis had earned my support because we shared a first name, and the world needed a Michael in the White House. Then Dad, who was a George H. W. Bush man, looked me square in the eye and said, “Dukakis will take away your toys”—his way of saying that Dukakis would raise taxes, I suppose. I switched my allegiance to Bush That was also the last time our politics agreed. Dad and I argued through the Clinton, Dubya, and Obama administrations. We rarely found common ground. More often, my mother would point us to our respective corners to cool down. Within minutes, another conversation would pick up, no hard feelings. Dad…

It’s not like Mark and I were close friends. We’d see each other in the dirt parking lot at the town field after the boys’ soccer practice, talking as our sons half-jogged over, laughing like sixth graders do, before we got in our cars. When my younger son got sick—real sick—my wife and I would sometimes drop our older boy at Mark and Mary’s house in the middle of the night before rushing to the hospital. Mark would quietly wish us luck and smile as he put his hand on my son’s shoulder, taking him in. Mark was tall and strong and calm, and he always smiled. Once, after another sleepover, our older son came home and reported that Mark had taken them on a run through the woods. A…

BY RIGHTS, IT SEEMS LIKE the Rolex Oyster Perpetual should be the beginning of a lifelong love affair with the megabrand for a swath of watch fans. It’s the epitome of timeless, restrained design, with an appeal that lies as much in what’s left out as in what’s included. Yet while the OP, at $5,900, is the entry-level proposition for Rolex, many watch nerds cite its smaller size as the reason they shoot straight past it for bigger, more expensive, and more noticeable watches like the Submariner and Sea-Dweller. Little do they know that the Oyster Perpetual is the granddaddy of them all. The “Oyster” name derives from the first waterproof watch, created by Rolex in 1926; the “Perpetual” part comes from the introduction of the first automatic movement, created…

HOW DO YOU SOLVE 400 YEARS OF RACISM?” ASKS CHRIS Gibbs, who co-owns the venerable men’s-wear shop Union Los Angeles along with his wife, Elizabeth Birkett-Gibbs. “You can’t.” Yet the couple felt they needed to do something in the wake of George Floyd’s killing and the protests for racial justice that then swept the nation (and the world). We settled in on just starting in our backyard,” Gibbs explains. With a hotly anticipated Air Jordan IV on the way—the follow-up to a wildly popular AJ1 from 2018—they had something to work with. The shoes became the center of the Spread Love campaign, which took a covetable drop and transformed it into something more potent by teaming up with five local Black-owned businesses. Customers earned a raffle ticket by shopping at…

IF YOU THINK OF ITALY, in fashion terms, as the home of handmade suits, sprezzatura, and artisans beavering away at $3,000 shoes, well, you’re not wrong. But you haven’t been getting the whole picture, either. Italy is also the spiritual home of elevated performance clothing. This brings me to Laminar, made in northern Italy and founded not all that long ago, in 2012, but part of the long history of 72-year-old outerwear specialist Herno, which has all but perfected technical clothing for a global customer base. Laminar is the even-more-hightech offshoot, using breathable fabrics like Gore-Tex Windstopper (plus waterproof taping) to ensure its pieces can stand up to perilous mountaintop conditions—even if the furthest afield you’ll be taking them is onto the sidewalk. Claudio Marenzi, who now runs the company…

“Hello? It’s Paul!” IT’S 7:30 ON A BRISK MONDAY MORNING IN New York, and Sir Paul Smith is calling me an hour earlier than I expected. Sorry, who? In the time it takes me to figure out what’s going on, the genial British designer has already grasped the nature of the confusion. Apologies are exchanged. Plans are made to reconvene later in the day. The whole interaction takes only a few moments, but they’re pleasant, like a well-scripted meet-cute at the beginning of a buddycop film. (Maybe I’m projecting here.) At the end of it all I feel … delightfully discombobulated. Since opening his first store in Nottingham in 1970, Sir Paul has made that signature pleasantness a hallmark of the brand that bears his name. His brightly colored, candy-striped…

around the nursing home where she lives, in Phoenix, Dorinda Lopez, seventy-one, mostly keeps to herself. People can tell she’s from somewhere else, on account of her southern accent. When she gets angry, as she sometimes does when she talks about the past, it gets thick. The word “aggravate gets like ten syllables.” Only Lisa, who lives across the hall, has heard the whole story. But Lisa is forgetful. She recently complimented Dorinda on her pretty nightgown. Lisa, you gave it to me!” “Oh, I did?” Lisa is not a risk to spread gossip. Abby knows the story, too. Dorinda tells it to her in fragments, before bedtime. But Abby is a cat. She’s not talking, either. Abby is a lot like Dorinda in that she likes to escape; when…

LEST SOMEONE DEEM ME A PESSIMIST OR, WORSE, A FATALIST, I SHALL BEGIN ON A note of optimism: My mother, a Black woman who was born in Alabama near the inception of the civil-rights movement, voted for the first time in more than three damn decades. Three! Be that as it may, the vote tally in the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. confirmed for me that we do not have, nor have we ever had, anything resembling a United States of America, affirmed for me that for a multitude of people who believe they are white, the Civil War is not some bygone lost cause but a perennial imperative to secure their supremacy—a calling they heed even if it harms large numbers of them, even, goddamnyoume, if the ultimate…

ONCE, A BOY, NOWHERE NEAR A MAN, WAS TERRIFIED OF GETTING DRUNK. D.A.R.E.’s finest graduate. Officer Rannigan told the boy never to get drunk, that alcohol will kill him, visions of a lifetime of strangers offering brown-bagged sips of the devil’s juice swirling in the boy’s head. Nary a naughty sip of wine, save for Sunday mass, until one shining, sinful day. The boy overheard a group of college kids discussing plans for getting … flambasted. The boy longed to be flambasted more than he ever desired anything in this world. Flambasted promised a healthy, rollicking time, sunshine and windows down, friends being friends, a swig or four from this bottle right here, nothing scary. The inaugural flambasting came when Mom was on a business trip, thirty Dixie cups scattered…

FOR YEARS, I MADE MYSELF A MANHATTAN at the end of the day. Simple, classy. Then the pandemic began. I spent days playing refrigerator Tetris with impossible-to-acquire vegetables and the World’s Last Pork Chops, hopelessly managing my kids’ remote learning and—another Zoom meeting? I was drained. So I switched to vodka on the rocks. It felt appropriate for our draconian spring. Cold and strong? Yes. Celebratory? Not exactly. Vodka on the rocks is what you pour yourself when you feel like you’ve done nothing but work … and have nothing but work tomorrow. Vodka resets the existential dread. There’s a reason it’s the spirit of choice for Tolstoy characters. Then glimmers of hope emerged—warm summer months, outdoor dining, basketball on TV—and vodka didn’t feel right. Yet I didn’t have the…

The Cold Millions, BY JESS WALTER Two freight-hopping brothers find themselves swept up in Spokane’s burgeoning labor-rights movement. It’s said that a novel contains the world; Walter lives up to this phrase, peopling The Cold Millions with hobos, suffragists, and more. How to Write One Song, BY JEFF TWEEDY As the founder of Wilco, Tweedy has emerged as a wise elder of indie rock. He brings this wisdom to bear in his second book, which is one part manual for composing and one part philosophical inquiry into the human need to create. Caste, BY ISABEL WILKERSON In the most titanic political book of the year, Wilkerson reveals a caste system that has defined American life for centuries and continues to shape how we live. This book will change you—there’s no going…

USUALLY IT HAPPENS ON A SATURDAY or Sunday morning. You’re rising later than you expected, head throbbing (maybe), and moving slowly (definitely). You need something greasy. And something caffeinated. But the fridge is empty, and making a pot of coffee sounds … hard. So you pull on a pair of sweats, grab a hoodie and a beanie, step into the sneakers by the door, and slide into that overcoat you love more than you’d care to admit as you shuffle down the stairs in search of sustenance. You didn’t know it then, but that hungover Bacon-Egg and Cheese Fit you just hazily assembled? It’s a Whole Thing. Or, perhaps, the New Vibe. Whatever you call it—Neo-Prep, Elevated Sportswear … Hoodies’n’ Goodies, for all I care—it’s a surprisingly stylish move this…

THE DREAM VERSION GOES SOMETHING LIKE this: Just as the clouds part and the sun breaks through, you take those final few strides to the summit, gazing upon the wonder of nature while crisp, clean air fills your lungs. In real life, it’s more like stepping over an oil-slick slush puddle onto the curb, huffing exhaust while dodging pedestrians with big puffer coats and even bigger umbrellas. But the boots! The boots are the same. They’re tough, not too tall, underpinned by heavily treaded soles, and built to keep you sure-footed and dry-socked no matter what the world throws at you. They’re designed for actual hiking, sure, but right now—when every trip outdoors feels more like a full-blown excursion—they’re just as well suited to popping out for coffee as they…

YES, WE DID IT. ¶ WE PUT TOGETHER AN ESQUIRE BEST NEW Restaurants list in the middle of a global pandemic. This may lead you to ask a couple of questions. For instance: How? And why? ¶ As for the how part, suffice it to say that, yes, we had to make a few adjustments to our annual process. In normal years, I travel around the country for months hunting for the restaurants that I want to send all of my friends to, the restaurants that are telling stories that I can’t seem to shake, the restaurants where the cooking is so good that I make loud, embarrassing sounds while I’m eating it. I did that from November 2019 to early March 2020, and during those months I managed to…

IT’S THE LATE EIGHTIES, AND A TEENAGE MARLON WAYANS is chatting up a pretty woman at a movie premiere. She’s way too old for him. He knows that. But as the youngest member of a family that’s about to become comedy royalty, he’s feeling confident. Then Chris Rock walks over. “Hand this over to the proper authorities,” Rock says. Just like that, they disappear into the party together In Hollywood, I’m everyone’s little brother,” Wayans tells me. Sometimes that meant Chris Rock busting his chops at a movie premiere. But more importantly, it meant writing and producing multiple hit movies with his older brothers at a time when opportunities for Black filmmakers were even harder-won than they are today. And it gave him the freedom to demonstrate his skills as…

On the cover (from left): On Jung Kook: Berluti coat, sweater, turtleneck, trousers, and sneakers, berluti.com. On Jin: Berluti coat, turtleneck, trousers, and sneakers, berluti.com. On V: Berluti coat, jacket, turtleneck, trousers, and shoes, berluti.com. On Jimin: Bottega Veneta coat, trousers, boots, and earring, bottegaveneta.com. On RM: Berluti jacket, turtleneck, trousers, and shoes, berluti.com. On Suga: Berluti jacket, shirt, turtleneck, trousers, and shoes, berluti.com. On J-Hope: Givenchy jacket, shirt, trousers, boots, and bag, givenchy.com. The Short Stories, p. 28: +J Jil Sander for Uniqlo jacket, turtleneck, and trousers, uniqlo.com. Both shoes, both.com. P. 32: Rolex watch, rolex.com. Polo Ralph Lauren sweater and jeans, ralphlauren.com. Converse sneakers, converse.com. L. L. Bean socks, llbean.com. P. 36: Jordan sneakers, store.unionlosangeles.com. P. 37: Dolce & Gabbana coat, dolcegabbana.com. BTFL sweater, btflstudio.com. John Elliott sweatshirt…

A Man & His Car: Iconic Cars and Stories from the Men Who Love Them, BY MATT HRANEK Behind every hot rod is a story, argues this collection about unforgettable cars. Your gearhead will fall hard for this volume, with testimony from Jay Leno, Snoop Dogg, and others. $40 Resident Dog: Incredible Homes and the Dogs That Live There, BY NICOLE ENGLAND What transforms a house into a home like a dog? Resident Dog, featuring hounds living the high life in aspirational homes, will take the dog lover on your list to a mental beach—without the dog hair. $30 Stranger Than Kindness, BY NICK CAVE In this intimate glimpse of Cave’s miraculous mind, his creativity is cataloged in drafts, sketches, photographs, and found objects. Gift it to your favorite music…

THE JOB INTERVIEW STARTED LIKE ANY OTHER, but as soon as the interviewer asked about the “hair situation,” Chase Moore knew he wasn’t going to get hired at In-N-Out. Moore, a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin who is Black, wears his hair in locs long enough to tie back. The manager, who is white, told him the grooming policy of In-N-Out prohibits men from having long hair. “She let me know that although there had been cases where male employees had been allowed to tie their hair up, that option would not be available to me because I didn’t meet the specific aesthetic standards they are trying to present,” he says. When asked if he would be willing to cut it, he said no. The next…

IT IS THE MORNING OF CHUSEOK, A KOREAN HARVEST FESTIVAL akin to Thanksgiving, and the members of BTS would normally be spending it with their families, eating tteokguk, a traditional rice-cake soup. Instead, Jin, 28; Suga, 27; J-Hope, 26; RM, 26; Jimin, 25; V, 24; and Jung Kook, 23, are working. Practicing. Honing their choreography. In a few days, the biggest musical act in the world will perform in the live-stream concert that, for now, will have to stand in for the massive tour they spent the first part of this year rehearsing. At this moment, they’re seated inside Big Hit Entertainment headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, the house they built, dressed mostly in black and white, ready to answer my questions. They’re gracious about it. And groggy. Before I’m…