The Compleat Man

What are the qualities needed by the compleat man? Whatever qualities you may come up with, you can't deny that the compleat man exudes coolness by the megawatts. In the first part of this series we look at some men in very different fields who can lay claim to true coolness. 


Maximillian Büsser

After working in management with Jaeger LeCoultre and Harry Winston Rare Timepieces, Büsser started his own company MB&F (Maximillian Büsser & Friends) to express his creativity with daring, innovative watch concepts. Gathering teams of specialists and experts (friends) for annual projects, Büsser is a visionary pushing the limits of horology and wristwear. His enthusiasm for his craft and also other aspects of life (chronicled in the company blog A Parallel World) is infectious, but perhaps what stands out most is the sense of community engendered among team members and fans of their creations. As is expected of art.

Ozwald Boateng

Boateng was a computing student until he fell in love with a girl doing a fashion show. He helped her out, got hooked, and started making suits for friends. He then opened his own shop, and after overcoming many difficulties now has a flagship store on Savile Row, making suits cool for a new generation. Charismatic enough to model for his own clothes, though he doesn't, Boateng has also been involved in dressing stars throughout Hollywood and with wardrobes for movies such as The Matrix. His dream would be to suit Daniel Craig for the next James Bond movie (Tom Ford did the last one), which would make it a dream movie for sartorialists too.

Sócrates

My favourite classic Winning Eleven player (at least until Deco joins the ranks of Classic Portugal), Sócrates was an intelligent and skilful playmaker with such awareness and backheels that Pelé felt he played better backwards than most players did forwards. Sócrates captained Brazil '82 as one of the four creative midfielders in one of the most beautiful and exciting teams of all time, but failed to win the World Cup. Incredibly, he is now a doctor, both in medicine and philosophy (like his namesake. How much does a name influence one's destiny? Possibly a future topic for discussion). Truly a renaissance man. A cooler footballer will not kick the ball in our lifetimes. The Inquisitor says it better than I can.