British GQ March 2023

WHITTEN SABBATINI Photographer Whitten Sabbatini is a photographer based in the US. For this issue, he shot Sadhguru, the Indian mystic with a cult following. “I think what struck me the most about Sadhguru was simply his physical beauty and the certain sureness with which he carried himself. He was slow to speak and quick to smile. The folks living and working at his retreat were full of kindness and for that, I’m grateful!” Office Grails ROCCO LIU Editor in chief, GQ China “Five people approached me and asked for the coat brand rather than my phone number.” REBECCA DOLAN Editorial assistant, British GQ “My friend Julia painted this jean jacket for me. Couture on an assistant’s budget.” GABE CONTE Web producer, US GQ “It’s always shorts weather with a sunny mindset.”…

FOR WHATEVER REASON – the VB beer, the searing heat, the sheer geographical isolation, or the fact that Australian rules football is the closest thing we have to an agreed-upon national religious identity – Aussies have a tendency to lean on “soft” as an insult. As in, the umpire makes a questionable free-kick call on a play that was kinda rough: soft. Guy orders a half-pint: soft. Someone bails on a party to go to bed: soft. In the phenomenon of “soft”, there’s a prevailing pride in people – mostly men – leaning into stoicism, and not in a Marcus Aurelius’s Meditations sort of way. It’s stoicism as emotional imperviousness, a celebration and ratification of hardness. Working at this great intersection of fashion and culture, so many times over, you’re reflexively driven to…

STYLING ASSISTANT, ALANA NEWTON. GROOMING, BRADY LEA AT PREMIER HAIR & MAKE-UP USING TOM FORD BEAUTY & HAIR RITUEL BY SISLEY.…

Please don’t call Reece King an influencer. “I hear this term and while I get it, I don’t consider myself one,” says the 28-year-old model, dialling in from a secluded Thames-side park. It’s his secret garden: a place of tranquillity and reflection so sacred that he won’t disclose its exact whereabouts. Bushy-browed, razor-jawed and sylphlike, King, who boasts almost 400,000 Instagram followers and counting, saw his name soar in 2015. It was a time when the platform was all avocado toast, wabi-sabi interiors and sepia-filtered selfies. “I posted a picture of myself wearing a septum ring from womenswear brand Lamoda, which got widely shared because it hadn’t been done before,” he says, with bewilderment, eight years later. King details his Tumblr-like rise to fame – in the days when a cool…

Best Restaurant The Ledbury, London – theledbury.com Ox, Belfast – oxbelfast.com Unalome, Glasgow – unalomebygc.com Endo at the Rotunda, London – endoatrotunda.com Moor Hall, Aughton (Lancs) – moorhall.com Best Chef Gareth Ward at Ynyshir, mid-Wales – ynshir.co.uk Alex Dilling at Hotel Cafe Royal, London – hotelcaferoyal.com Roberta Hall-McCarron at Eleanore, Edinburgh – eleanore.uk Adam Smith at Woven, Ascot – dorchestercollection.com Akwasi Brenya-Mensa at Tatale, London – tataleandco.com Best Hotel Gleneagles Townhouse, Edinburgh – gleneagles.com The Twenty Two, London – the22.london One Hundred Shoreditch, London – onehundredshoreditch.com The Retreat at Elcot Park, Newbury – retreatelcotpark.com Chateau Denmark, London – chateaudenmark.com Best Pub The Baring, London – thebaring.co.uk The Barley Mow, London – cubitthouse.co.uk The Dog & Gun Inn, Skelton nr Penrith – dogandgunskelton.co.uk The Unruly Pig, Woodbridge, Suffolk – theunrulypig.co.uk The Double Red Duke, Cotswolds – countrycreatures.com Belvedere Best Bar The Absent Ear, Glasgow – theabsentear.com Silverleaf at the Pan Pacific Hotel, London – panpacific.com Seed Library, London…

ADAM BAIDAWI After becoming the first Editor-in-Chief of GQ Middle East in 2018, Baidawi was appointed Deputy Global Editorial Director and Head of Editorial Content at British GQ in 2021. ALEXEI ROSIN MD for Moët Hennessy in the UK and Ireland, Rosin oversees Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon, Dom Pérignon and Hennessy Cognac. CLARE SMYTH MBE The first British female chef to win three Michelin stars for her eponymous restaurant, Core by Clare Smyth, and last year’s recipient of the GQ Best Chef award. MONICA GALETTI Samoan-born New Zealand chef Galetti was the mainstay of MasterChef: The Professionals for more than 12 years, and her London restaurant, Mere, remains one of the country’s hottest tables. JIMI FAMUREWA Food critic, author, and MasterChef judge Jimi Famurewa has reviewed restaurants all over the country. If anyone knows what it takes to…