Fort Belvedere: Luxury in the Details

Fort Belvedere is the storied historic residence of England’s eternally stylish but morally fuzzy former King Edward VIII.  It is also a new luxury goods brand recently launched by Sven Raphael Schneider, founder of The Gentleman’s Gazette.  As with Gentleman’s Gazette, the brand and its carefully selected collection of products are unique, elegant, and expertly crafted.

You can find a nice pair of gloves anywhere, but only at Fort Belvedere will you see a collection of exquisite unlined Peccary suede gloves, the very symbol of a stylish gentleman.  The tightly edited collection also includes unique bow and neck ties, collar pins and ties bars, a rotating selection of wonderful pocket squares, hosiery, and signature leather goods.  The offerings call to mind a more refined time when a man aspired to be a gentleman and when sporting attire included coat, tie, and fedora.

The two items we selected for the inaugural review are the signature business card case for men and feather light a wool challis pocket square.  The business card case is truly unique and something you are not likely to run across anywhere else.

The case is fashioned around a lightweight metal frame and opens in a traditional clam shell fashion.  It is covered in embossed long-grain leather and lined with beautiful, contrasting red goat velour leather.  The button clasp can be opened with one hand and the two interior compartments allow for storage of your own cards and those you receive.

We are such fans of this little case that it played a prominent role when we recently introduced OTC’s new business cards, as you can see here.

We also fell in love with the 100% wool challis pocket square in orange with green polka dots.  The hand-printed English fabric is silky smooth and lightweight, sized perfectly for folding or arranging as you prefer.  The hand-rolled edges are expertly finished and the red-orange color is both striking and complimentary to many of our outfits.

It should also be noted that one of things which signaled the quality to come was that when our samples arrived, they were presented in a sturdy, gold embossed bottle green cloth covered box which has found a new home on the dressing table.  It has been happily pressed into service as a repository for our favored daily accessories.