Bite-sized style news to know what’s happening in menswear this November
Ralph Lauren lands in Byron Bay, Bottega Veneta has dreams about Jacob Elordi, Lamborghini and Orlebar Brown's new collection will make you swim faster, and more
By 
WELCOME TO ‘Bite-sized style news’, a monthly dispatch where we discuss the news, rumours and conversations that are dominating the men’s style discourse, and therefore, our Esquire water cooler chitchat.
Scroll on for this week’s edition.
The art of gift giving, courtesy of Penfolds
Wrapping up a bottle of wine this holiday season just got a touch easier and classier with the limited-edition “From Penfolds to the World” collection, featuring their wines in red shipping container-like gift boxes. What’s on offer is the Bin 389 Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, FWT 585 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Petit Verdot, Bin 600 California Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, and CWT 521 Cabernet Sauvignon Marselan, showstoppers at a Christmas party or a gift to a loved one anywhere in the world. If you’re one to get nostalgic during the holiday season, the continental design is gift giving done with style.
Bin 389 Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz 2023; $120
FWT 585 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Petit Verdot 2022; $100
Bin 600 California Cabernet Shiraz*; $90
CWT 521 Cabernet Sauvignon Marselan 2023; $150
Postal Gift Set; $1300
Words Tyler Dane Wingco
It’s a Montblanc Christmas!
The Montblanc Cinematic Universe (the other MCU) has expanded to include American filmmaker Roman Coppola (a close collaborator of Wes Anderson and son of Francis Ford), who was tapped to direct the German pen-maker’s new holiday short film. Taking place in the fictional Montblanc Observatory High-Mountain Library, it stars Rupert Friend, Joey King, Esther McGregor, Waris Ahluwalia, and more, putting the brand’s sleek pens and leather goods to action as their characters prepare for a Christmas fete. Watch the full short film below.
Words Tyler Dane Wingco
Your new sneaker obsession: the Salomon XT-Whisper Aries Arise
Two cult lifestyle brands just released your new sneaker obsession: the Salomon XT-Whisper Aries Arise. The limited release takes you right back to the running culture of the ’80s and ’90s (not too dissimilar to now with running clubs) with Salomon’s XT design heritage, mixed with Aries’ aged leather and suede details, mixed with technical materials and metallic foiling. The result: the envy of your running mates.
Shop the collection here.; $280.
Louis Vuitton pops-up for the Christmas period
Who needs the vastness of a flagship boutique when you can pop in to a pop-up and pop back out in record time? Pop.
Louis Vuitton has opened a Holiday Pop-Up inside Westfield Sydney, a quiet flex timed to the start of gift-giving season. It runs from 18 November to 28 December and anchors the launch of the Maison’s 2026 Holiday Campaign, Voyage des Lumières.
The space takes its cues from that theme, warm gold lighting, polished surfaces and a few well-placed illuminated floral forms riffing on the Monogram Flower. The trunks are there too, folded into the display as a reminder of the brand’s origin story and the hinge that all things Louis Vuitton hang from. Literally, in some cases.
The product edit is equally straightforward and easy to navigate: women’s bags, small leather goods, charms, accessories, sunglasses and fragrance. Perfect gift idea assortment.
Store opening hours:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 9:30am – 7:00pm
Thursday: 9:30am – 9:00pm
Words Benjamen Judd
Christian Kimber is coasting along in the best possible way
Melbourne menswear designer Christian Kimber is a master of contrasting textures when it comes to fabrication. His latest collection, Coast ’26, turns his attention north, designing for the salt-breeze and long-lunch reality of an Australian summer.
The collection marks a subtle shift in the label’s rhythm. Rather than chasing the quaternity of European seasons, Kimber has streamlined to three: country, city, and coast — a trio that maps how Australian men actually live with our weather patterns that can deliver multiple seasons in one day. Coast ’26 captures that in soft focus: the light off water, the slow tilt from work to weekend, the sense that tailoring doesn’t need to come with starch.
Shot by long-time collaborator Chege Mbuthi, the campaign embodies an effortless elegance. The palette runs from sea-glass blues to sun-washed greens, stitched into seersucker, linen and open-weave cotton that move as easily as they breathe.
Key pieces include pinstriped linen blazers, terry-cloth polos with victory collars, loafers in woven suede, and the kind of chambray shirts that make you wonder why you ever bought synthetics. It’s still recognisably Kimber, his refined, grounded, and made-for-the-Australian-climate kit. Just with more daylight between the stitches.
As Kimber puts it, designing for summer here “means understanding the play of light and air on fabric, creating pieces that are refined but never restrictive.” Consider this the brand’s next chapter: still Melbourne by birth, now coastal by nature.
Words Benjamen Judd
Ralph Lauren lands in Byron Bay
An evening spent under a full moon in the hills of Byron is never ill spent, but this week it was made even more magical courtesy of Ralph Lauren.
The American brand took over nearby luxury farm stay Sun Runch in the Coopers Shoot area to launch the new Fall/Holiday 2025 collection. Guests, who were decked out in a combination of the new season and archival Ralph Lauren, were greeted with custom gimlets served with eucalyptus leaves and glasses of Veuve Clicquot before making our way to an outdoor feast, inspired by Argentinian flavours, under the stars.
The choice of location was a perfect mirror of the new Ralph Lauren campaign, which has been inspired by America’s mid-west and mountain regions. A rustic, lived-in aesthetic built upon quality fabrications made for durability with elevated craftsmanship has been a recurring thread that weaves through most of Ralph Lauren’s work and vision. A world of denim, shearling, thick woollen blazers and suiting made for a ruggedly handsome crowd peppered with his collegiate preppy sensibilities.
Especially fun was the styling twists that each guest applied to make the brand their own: a hand-knitted cashmere cardigan was worn in lieu of a tuxedo jacket. A black anorak was paired with velvet pants and bow-tie. Ties were tucked into shirts, double-breasted looks paired with denim (practically a trademark RL combination).
While there was plenty of famous faces in attendance – actors Lincoln Younes and Daniel Webber, model Montana Cox – the real stars of the evening were the two horses hitched up nearby. Suffice to say they were on the receiving end of many a good head scratch.
Words Benjamen Judd
Tommy wishes you a “Hilfiger Holiday”
‘Tis nearly the season. It’s the start of November, and fashion brands are already gearing up for their busiest time of year, whipping up festive campaigns to imagine their wares in. Despite the opposite seasons down here in Australia, the folks at American label Tommy Hilfiger have pulled out a vibrant and colourful campaign showcasing their cult-favourite cableknit jumpers, scarves, button-down shirts, and jeans. In scenes of playing football in the snow or just unpacking gifts from the car, the saturation of the knitwear gives it a nostalgic feel for the holiday season.
Words Tyler Dane Wingco
Bottega Veneta asks, “What Are Dreams?”, and answers with Jacob Elordi
Jacob Elordi is on a generational run, ticking off being a muse for every director and photographer that matters. For Bottega Veneta, the Australian actor is the subject in a short film titled What Are Dreams?, lensed by Duane Michals. In the photographer’s home in New York, Elordi plays with floating feathers and ponders deep thoughts at a convex mirror. Shot in black and white, there’s a likened Surrealist feel to it as the poetic dialogue explores dreams and the subconscious.
Words Tyler Dane Wingco
Tasteful: BUTT Magazine arrives in Bottega Veneta stores
Beloved Dutch magazine, BUTT, is back with a 120-page issue filled with a fashion nerd’s must-reads: dirty talk with the reclusive Martin Margiela and Jean Paul Gaultier, photography by the iconic Nan Goldin, an interview with Omar Apollo (or “Tall Papi” . . . IYKYK), and more queer NSFW features and photo studies. On the back page, Italian house Bottega Veneta was a key sponsor, placing their new campaign featuring a suggestively trussed Intrecciato glove. – Tyler Dane Wingco
BUTT no. 37 is now available at stores worldwide and to order online.
Song For The Mute opens up their first Melbourne flagship
Sydney label Song for the Mute has unveiled its second permanent flagship, located at QV Melbourne. It marks a new chapter in the brand’s immersive approach to retail and world-building. Designed in collaboration with Foolscap Studio, the 91-square-metre space embodies the label’s ethos of storytelling, imperfection and human tactility through an architectural language that feels both engineered and emotive.
Inspired by the mechanics of a record player, the interior unfolds in a circular choreography of curved walls, tiered seating and subtle thresholds that guide visitors through layers of texture and tone. A walnut timber-veneered volume anchors the room, serving as both display and resting point, punctuated by circular apertures that create sightlines and intriguing takes on the traditional retail model.
Material contrasts define the space: béton brut concrete, brushed aluminium, and porcelain flooring play against warm timber and wool, echoing the tension between craft and industry that underpins the brand’s approach to clothing. Foolscap Studio’s Adele Winteridge describes the concept as “a setting for life… inviting connection and reflecting Song for the Mute’s commitment to intimacy and emotional depth,” while senior designer Edouard Fenet notes that the design “invites people in… to explore and express themselves.”
The result is a store that feels at once monolithic and meditative, a tactile, cinematic expansion of Song for the Mute’s ever-evolving world.
Song for the Mute Flagship Store 002
Shop R01-057, QV Melbourne
Cnr Lonsdale & Swanston Streets, Melbourne VIC 3000
Lamborghini and Orlebar Brown’s new resort collection will make you swim faster
The synergy between Lamborghini and Orlebar Brown just reached new levels of machismo. In a new collection between the car-maker and lifestyle brand, their iconic swim shorts and terry cloth sets are reimagined in neon colours for getting out of your yellow sports car and diving straight into the waves at Miami Beach. If you’re thinking about upgrading your swim shorts this season, look no further – you’ll swim faster. Trust us.
Shop the collection here.
Words Tyler Dane Wingco
Heading away? Consider Rimowa’s Never Still Soft collection
Rimowa might be known for their slick and tough aluminium luggages, but their Never Still collection shouldn’t be slept on. Spanning backpacks, briefcases, and duffle bags, the range’s material is made with grained leather for a lighter construction while still retaining its luxurious feel. Designed in clean shapes with similar rivets to that of their hardy suitcases, these are pieces that’ll take you from the boardroom to the airport bar, and maybe even the tennis court in between.
Shop the Never Still collection here.
Words Tyler Dane Wingco
Related:
Ralph Lauren will serve style again at the 2026 Australian Open
