Given a busy schedule (and our amazing professionalism), we missed out on some of the hedonistic diversions of Sin City. Given our exhaustion, we may leave our hedonistic pursuits back home this weekend to flights of fancy and book driven imagination.

Thomas M. Kavanagh’s new Enlightened Pleasures: Eighteenth-Century France and the New Epicureanism pushes the notion that art and culture in 18th-century France promoted pleasure to the center of the cultural agenda. Did things go completely awry? No, rather than fall into the full trappings of hedonism the French manage to balance pleasure and incorporate individual well-being into the fabric of community.

May have managed to make pleasure sound like no fun there. Regardless, a potentially good weekend read.

From Yale University Press.

Available now from Amazon.

The latest issue of Modern Painters Magazine hit newsstands today. “In this month’s issue of Modern Painters artists and musicians discuss the relationship between music, sound, and visual art, proposing questions such as IS MUSIC ART? Musician, producer, Conceptual artist, and former Talking Heads front man David Byrne, and Conceptual, installation, and video artist, and 2004 Turner Prize-winner Jeremy Deller examine the distinction between music and noise, while Marina Abramovic and Laurie Anderson discuss the evolution of performance art..”

More looks inside the Modern Painters “Art + Sound” Issue after the click.

The “Best New Menswear Deisgner” winner, Billy Reid drops a variety of inspirations for his Autumn/Winter 2010 collection. Here’s a running list of some. “Gutsy Hand Tailor Suits, Pentecostal Ministers, Lower East Side Folk, Dandy Lawyers, Swamp Loggers, Blazers and Chinos, Prohibition, Southern Prep, Boxcar Riders, Railroad Workers, Public Works Project…”  Feel free to add yours.

Many more looks from Billy Reid Autumn/Winter 2010 Presentation after the click.

Oki-ni continues their archive series with a look at one of England’s best known brand, Fred Perry. “For the sixth installment of our archive feature we’ve been lucky to access the diverse and much loved collection of R.B. – a friend of oki-ni and a long term Fred Perry collector. Enjoy.” The looks in this archive give a strong review of the brand’s past.

More looks from the The Fred Perry Archive after the click.

Here’s a great casual jacket from Japan’s Undercover. “Black contrasting jacket with clear hood. The top of the jacket is waterproof. The high neck leads into a zip fastening front. Zips also trim the shoulders and long sleeves. The bottom half of the jacket is jersey with pockets on either side just above the hemline that falls to the hips.” (browns)

More looks at the Undercover Contrasting Jacket With Clear Hood after the click.

All’s been quiet on the Globe Trotter front lately. They’ve been doing collabs for a while now and, whilst we’re usually anti-useless collabs, Globe Trotter are a brand who always seem to do them right. This time they’ve continued their ongoing collaboration with Wallpaper* magazine – which has great taste in guest editors – for this special edition suitcase. Using an illustration by Russell Bell (insert your own The Wire joke here) this ongoing collaboration sees two versions,  a holdall and a suitcase, costing £450 and £925 respectively. Stockists include at the London flagship store 54-55 Burlington Arcade, Harrods, Selfridges, Browns, The Conran Shop and selected stockists in the USA, Italy, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Hong Kong, China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

Yes, we are inundated by reproduction goods and nods to the “Golden Era” of American workwear. Still, when done right and done with striking detail, the pieces still pull strings on our hearts. One piece from Vegas did just that – Repo Brand’s Pea Coat. With a quilted lining and beautifully produced buttons, it really stands against many other like coats. They’ve added a corduroy lining to the pocket (which I liked) and produce their labels the old fashioned way; each hang tag is individual dyed in coffee by the guys in the office.

The coat, like all Repo Brand pieces, will be made in New York.

Images don’t really do it justice, but a few more of ours come after the jump anyway.

As you should know from the street style pictures doing the rounds, the denim jacket is currently king, queen and jack of the men’s fashion world. So how do you add a twist to something so set in it’s way? If you’re Ian Batten, you make it double breasted. It’s not the craziest twist in the world, but it’s enough to catch our attention. Sometimes all that’s needed is a little twist. (B Store)

Song remains the same – detailed images after the leap.

We know we post a few expensive product picks from time to time, but we do like to manage our finances. So Buck’s latest column was right up or alley. They focus on five easy (and not so easy ways to update your wardrobe). Tips include home-personalising shirts, doing up your jeans and shredding cardigans, amongst others. The weak of heart and fat of fingers (i.e. us)  can attempt their simpler tips – changing the laces on your shoes is a far easier proposition that hand sewing a tiny heart into a shirt.

Read the full feature here.

Gloves won’t be neccessary for much longer but it’s always nice to plan for the future. If you’re going to buy gloves, why not push the boat out and get these nappa leather numbers? They evoke just enough old school charm to be called timeless, they’re sturdy and, if the nappa leather wasn’t luxurious enough for you, they’re sheepskin lined. The price isn’t cheap (£125) but they’re an ‘investment piece’. While that phrase might be a little silly (it’s not like you can sell these for a profit ten years down the line) these will get better with age. And at that cost, you’ll make sure you never forget them on the train home. (Aspinal of London)