The unofficial Drake's London Appreciation Thread

[nprose]

The new look book…WOOF. What happened to look books being inspiring/beautiful? Dear creative directors, consumers want to feel like they’re buying a little into a fantasy…especially when paying Drake’s looney prices. I want to feel like maybe I’ll look like beautiful Italian man scooting through sunny Rome…not some tattoo covered hipster bartender slouching around a grey and dreary England park bench….

Agreed, it's so bad, as most of the recent lookbooks have been outside of the Hong Kong one.

Similar to many of you, I'm buying less and less of Drake's the last couple years and not feeling the same lust for what they're making. Could be the pricing going up every season + the bad lookbooks. Could be I'm not locked inside my house wishing I was out somewhere more exotic in the world. More and more I find their clothes don't really work for real life. I don't go out to dinner wearing a full suit. I cherish my safari style overshirts, a rugby, and the suede boots I bought before all the craziness. Their pricing truly is obscene, and it bears repeating given it appears to be rising every release. Shout out to Die Workwear who quit the thread due to too much pricing talk lol

 

[monday100]

Can anyone ID lug sole shoe he’s wearing throughout?

 

[PJH44]

Looks like a Sebago Ranger / Acadia

 

[letsgofire]

I would buy more Drake’s if I lived in the UK.

Their standard Oxford is 175GBP or approximately $220 USD. The same on the US site is $295 or about $325 with Chicago taxes.

That 50% increase is material. I’ll probably hold off on non-seasonal buys until my next London trip into the autumn.

The last time Americans had to pay a tax like this from the Brits we threw a lot of tea away…

On a positive note I’m hopeful that Drake’s has some new madras options this year. I seem to buy at least one madras shirt each year.

 

[CasuallyWorked]

A lot of complaining from the lookbooks from people who are not going to buy anything lol

We need another JJ look book 🐐

 

[letsgofire]

Drake’s will have a trunk show in Chicago at Independence on April 19 and 20.

 

[astrobuoy]

I would buy more Drake’s if I lived in the UK.

Their standard Oxford is 175GBP or approximately $220 USD. The same on the US site is $295 or about $325 with Chicago taxes.

That 50% increase is material. I’ll probably hold off on non-seasonal buys until my next London trip into the autumn.

The last time Americans had to pay a tax like this from the Brits we threw a lot of tea away…

I was curious about this too (NYC taxes make it dizzying high). For a recent purchase I used an online proxy to buy from the UK store (there are a bunch of these but I ended up using Forward2Me). Aside from the significantly lower cost on higher-priced items, you can opt to ship to their tax-free warehouse in Guernsey, which means the prices are even lower than what you see on the UK site as those also include tax. The shipping cost is higher for using their tax-free warehouse but the difference is negligible if you’re doing a multi-item order. To see the Guernsey site just select that as your location at the bottom banner of the Drake’s site.

EDIT: forgot to mention, you can also opt to have it declared a gift, if you’re ok with the risk for the customs fee savings

 

[Wim]

The new look book…WOOF. What happened to look books being inspiring/beautiful? Dear creative directors, consumers want to feel like they’re buying a little into a fantasy…especially when paying Drake’s looney prices. I want to feel like maybe I’ll look like beautiful Italian man scooting through sunny Rome…not some tattoo covered hipster bartender slouching around a grey and dreary England park bench….

Everyone to their own fantasies, I suppose. Maine, Scotland, Brittany, the English coast (minus the wastewater) are some of my favorite places, including the chill, the mist, the rain, the lobster, the oysters... When I saw the latest lookbook, I thought Drake's was on to me, and this was a scary new form of personalized content!

 

[kid1002]

Nothing in the lookbook looks 'Spring' to me. They look 'gloomy English days' at best.

 

[casuallyrefined]

Nothing in the lookbook looks 'Spring' to me. They look 'gloomy English days' at best.

Possibly too many photos with grey clouded skies. I think the model doesn't help by looking overly serious and concerned, almost like being forced to have his photo taken - he should be happy with all those outfits he's been gifted.

 

[kid1002]

Yeah. Would love to see some smiling going on. The brand should be about having good times with pals and the country.

These are out of season but the two below are of my recent favorites:

High Summer 2020 Lookbook

Drake's has always enjoyed a strong connection to Italy. It was one of the first countries to take strongly to our handmade ties more than four decades ago, and today it is the place we rely upon to produce our exquisite tailoring, as well as much of our knitwear, outerwear and casual pieces. It...

www.drakes.com

Seatown: The Lookbook

Introducing a Drake's summer capsule inspired by the sun, the sea and one of our favourite British beaches.

www.drakes.com

 

[Treble]

Interesting the Charles loafer has had an upgrade in make, price has risen of course. I guess they see people in the EU dropping €900 on Alden (often awkward to find locally) and fancy some of that.

 

[slows2k]

Interesting the Charles loafer has had an upgrade in make, price has risen of course. I guess they see people in the EU dropping €900 on Alden (often awkward to find locally) and fancy some of that.

I feel like the refinements don't work well in something so inherently casual that is meant to be the alternative to Alden's LHS. Definitely not a fan of the upgrade over the original version, but honestly I would rather have the Alden or C&J Boston over either, anyway. I'll say I do think their foray into shoes is a misstep. No reason they could not have stayed with Alden, CJ, or Astorflex for the chukkas.

 

[Treble]

I feel like the refinements don't work well in something so inherently casual that is meant to be the alternative to Alden's LHS. Definitely not a fan of the upgrade over the original version, but honestly I would rather have the Alden or C&J Boston over either, anyway. I'll say I do think their foray into shoes is a misstep. No reason they could not have stayed with Alden, CJ, or Astorflex for the chukkas.

I agree - the changes don't really appeal to me. Using Cordovan possibly but I just don't like the Cyclops eye thing.

They can make more money on their own line of shoes and its a diversification that seems to make sense. I like the Chelsea boot they did but seem to have discontinued.

 

[slows2k]

I agree - the changes don't really appeal to me. Using Cordovan possibly but I just don't like the Cyclops eye thing.

They can make more money on their own line of shoes and its a diversification that seems to make sense. I like the Chelsea boot they did but seem to have discontinued.

You're right, I did like the chelsea boot but it does seem to have disappeared. I do like the chukkas too, but not at the uncharge over astorflex. I definitely feel like there is no reason at all to buy the loafers over CJ Boston (easier to get in the UK than Alden, it seems). There's no value add. Many expensive things from Drakes at least offer unique value, IMO their shoes do not.