Drinking, if done well and stylishly, can lead to literary inspiration. Or at least not impede it too much. Take that great chronicler of wealth and society F. Scott Fitzgerald, for instance, whose 112th birthday is about to be celebrated; some of his best work was clearly done under the influence. Just look at Tender Is the Night (1934). Of course the intemperate author, left entirely to his own devices, might have been less poetical in his consumption of alcohol and thereby rendered a less perfect work of art. But his great friends, patrons and mentors Gerald and Sara Murphy, upon whom Tender Is the Night is based, showed him how to do the thing properly.

The beautiful, rich and clever Murphys, central figures of expatriate social and cultural life of the Jazz Age in France, held court at their villa on the French Riviera in Antibes - this was long before the Russian billionaires arrived, before there even was such a thing in fact - and dispensed cocktails at the dazzling dinner parties immortalized in the book. Gerald tried to limit his guests' consumption of same in order to prevent the gatherings from devolving into total inebriation, though Fitzgerald usually managed to down more than his fair share. This often led to breakages, shouting matches and even suicide attempts, proving Murphy right.

The Fitzgeralds of course, were legendary boozers. When they later lived in shabby gentility in Great Neck, Long Island, they would drive back and forth to Manhattan for binges in a second-hand Rolls-Royce. Their houseboy would frequently find them passed out on the lawn in the morning, the car more or less in the driveway. For Murphy, however, drink-making was a stylish ritual imparted by his father, owner of the Mark Cross luxury goods company.

2009 marks the 100th anniversary of a true American sartorial institution: Haspel, makers of the classic seersucker suit that has come to epitomize elegance in the summer months for dapper gentlemen from coast to coast. The company's history dates back to New Orleans in 1909 when haberdasher Joseph Haspel began making suits in lightweight fabrics, allowing men to remain dressed to the nines even in oppressive climes.

After passing out of family hands for nearly two decades and being allowed to stagnate somewhat, the brand is now being revived on the eve of its centenary by Joseph's great-granddaughter Laurie Haspel Aronson. She is giving the label a much-needed facelift, introducing new clothing lines and updating its storied styles while remaining true to her ancestor's values of maintaining an elegant appearance no matter the conditions.

It was those values married to quality workmanship and classic style that led to Haspel's being favored by the likes of presidents Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as dapper movie stars like Humphrey Bogart, Gregory Peck, who wore Haspel seersucker in To Kill A Mockingbird (1962), and Cary Grant, who sported Haspel suits in Charade (1963), while becoming a staple of Ivy League style on college campuses everywhere.

Aquascutum, the London luxury brand founded in 1851, has brought back Brazilian bombshell Gisele Bundchen to star in its new Fall ad campaign. The pictures, co-starring model Jamie Doran, were shot at London's historic St. Paul's Cathedral, Vogue UK reports.

Meanwhile, the company which invented and patented several waterproof materials and pioneered the trench coat, is introducing its first ever line of bags for both men and women. The traditional brand began its foray into high fashion a couple years back when it hired Pierce Brosnan to star in a series of James Bond-style ads.

Over the years Aquascutum coats have sheathed the likes of the Queen Mother, Winston Churchill, Sophia Loren, Greta Garbo, Sean Connery, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart and Sir Edmund Hillary.

If I had the means I could easily wear nothing but Loro Piana for the rest of my life. They make the most comfortable, classic, stylish and subtly luxurious clothes I've ever had the pleasure of putting on. World-famous for their cashmere, the 200-year-old Italian company, which began as a textile merchant, has also branched out into other areas (including accessories and women's clothing) in more recent years with equal success.

Loro Piana's motto has it that true luxury is "knowing, not showing," i.e. dressing for yourself, not to impress others. It's "an inner satisfaction that comes from an aesthetic, intellectual, tactile pleasure, stemming from tradition, research and genuine quality." What could be better than that?

Their latest innovation is called Baby Cashmere®. To make this fabric the company first had to spend several years convincing Mongolian and Chinese breeders to comb the fine underfleece of the Hyrcus goat kid when it is 3-12 months old. Each combing yields no more than 30 grams of the rare, precious and incredibly soft fibre. Baby Cashmere crops up in Loro Piana's luxe Fall/Winter 2008 collection, which is about to hit stores; as usual we want it all.

We love the knitted stretch cashmere Davenport jacket pictured here, which like a lot of their designs calls to mind a cross between Cary Grant and Steve McQueen. And also like many of their best designs it captures that ineffable quality of effortless elegance the Italians call sprezzatura. This is the kind of thing you wear for a drive to your villa on Lake Como in your Maserati Gran Turismo. Even better, merely putting on this jacket for a trip to the liquor store can make you feel like you're driving to your villa in a Maserati, which is the real test of its worth (The jacket retails for $3,995).

An ultra-rare 1933 Rolls-Royce Phantom II drophead coupe built for the original "Poor Little Rich Girl," Barbara Hutton, is being auctioned off on eBay with a starting bid of $1.1 million. The Woolworth Heiress originally purchased the car, one of only two ever made (and the only known example now in existence), for her first husband, the Russian Prince Alexis Mdivani. With coachwork by Thrupp & Maberly, the car cost $20,000 at the time.

This historic Rolls has something of a tragic history; Mdivani, who only stayed married to Hutton for one year (she had seven husbands in all including Cary Grant) was killed while driving it in France shortly after their divorce. Following the macabre accident, the Rolls was sent back to Thrupp & Maberly and fully restored, though the Prince was not. On the plus side, it only has 9,999 miles on it and is in beautiful shape.

[via Men.Style]