With the festive season just around the corner, it's about time to think about hosting a get-together. After a hectic year, everyone is just about ready to forget about work and focus on friends and family, hence why it's the perfect time to get people together (without feeling like you're herding cats), take a breather (and a large gulp of wine), and have some festive fun to a backdrop of great tunes. We've got all those bases covered to ensure your soireé or lunch gathering is one to remember. From making an impression with your outfit, to offering the best plonk on the planet, and creating the ideal festive ambience, follow along with advice procured from the experts.
The Key Elements of a Festive Wardrobe
And no, cheesy Christmas jumpers do not make the grade. The festive season is the perfect excuse to dress up, no matter the time of day. Mimosa for breakfast? Crack out the velvet suit! It's not like we need excuses to get dressed up, but the Christmas season certainly boasts enough of them, and inviting friends round to toast the year that almost was is the best of them.
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Mansfield Jacket |
New York Special Shirt |
Silk Knitted |
Our winter collection is replete with a host of great tailoring options that are elevated and casual at the same time. Foremost among them is our Mansfield suit which we have created in five different velvet tones - mole grey, sapphire blue, burgundy, racing green, and black. As a party suit, it's peerless - lightweight, unstructured, and beautifully bohemian, the jacket can also be worn as a separate with a contrast pair of pants or jeans.
"Velvet is so often associated with formalwear because of dinner jackets and smoking jackets but you would be missing a trick not having it in your everyday wardrobe," says Oli. "It's also often thought of as a heavy fabric but that couldn't be further from the truth either! It's lightweight, versatile, drapes beautifully, and just adds that something special to a suit or separates."
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Mansfield Jacket Velvet |
Blenheim Jumper |
Neckerchief |
Corduroy is another brilliant fabric that has gone from being an on-trend thing to a non-negotiable texture in the modern wardrobe. Far from being boring, it steps up to the plate and swings hard when it comes to making a tailoring statement. We've used both our Solms and Mansfield silhouettes to create a number of different tones that are full of texture. Besides the jacket, our corduroy trousers are also excellent ways to style up a brushed cotton shirt, or form the basis of a smart modern preppy look with a crew neck jumper or cardigan.
When the festive carnage is over, or your idea of a get-together is dunking some Hobnobs into a cup of tea, then there is always super comfortable loungewear to kick back in. Soft house hoodies, sweats and tees combined with organic cotton long johns are an effective recipe for hangover recovery.
Whatever entertaining you're planning, you'll find everything you need to look top-notch at this curated edit.
Worship the Wine
Lubrication of festive get-togethers can come in many forms apparently, but wine is our preferred fuel. The humble grape is an easy catalyst for a great time but you need to know what you're buying. Thankfully we enlisted the Noble Rot oenophiles over at Shrine To The Vine on Lambs Conduit Street to suggest six options to cover all bases (they also ship all over the UK if you can't get to a store).
Champagne Gonet
Kick start your Christmas day with Noble Rot restaurants’ much-loved house Champagne. Dry as a desert, chiselled and long in taste – your festive sparkle sorted. Bookend your meal with a glass or two, this is also delicious with a cheese board.
White Burgundy
Classy, value-beating white Burgundy from a 40-year-old vineyard in Puligny-Montrachet. Excellent with turkey.
Bordeaux
Silken, crowd pleasing Bordeaux made by star sommelier (and friend of the Rotters), Marco Pelletier.
Rioja
López de Heredia makes some of our favourite Riojas bar none – this has deliciously spicy fruit and silky-soft tannins.
Belargus Layon 2018
A luxuriously sweet, single-plot Chenin Blanc from a new benchmark domaine of the Loire, ‘Layon’ is brilliant with a cheeseboard.
House Wines Case
Look no further than Noble Rot's house wines – the cult classic Chin Chin Vinho Verde and the smooth and fruity new kid on the block Don Tinto red – for your Christmas or New year party.
Wonderful Sounds
