Leading Men: Father’s Day

David Coggins considers the perfect Father's Day gift

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6 16 2011

6 15 11

Image via JustTravis

If your father taught you how to bluff at cards, choose a good Bordeaux, cast a fly rod, and throw a curveball then you received the foundation of a promising education. Maybe he told you the name of an able defense attorney, which also has its place. So please don’t repay the man on Father’s Day by giving him yet another in a series of default gifts. No thank you, dad deserves better.

How about a more elegant solution, like a first edition of an Evelyn Waugh novel? It’s true that the author once said ‘I despise all my children equally,’ but the fact that he fathered seven calls that into question. Mr. Waugh enjoyed liquor as much as the next man (if the next man was a legendary drinker), so perhaps some luxurious cocktail paraphernalia, a vintage bar set, or simply a bottle of 18 year-old scotch (Laphroaig is always welcome).

One hard and fast sartorial guideline is that clothes shouldn’t be adorned with logos representing your hobby. That’s to say: don’t give dad a tie covered in golf balls, even if he is Welsh golf icon, Ian Woosnam. If a tie is in order step into the deep end with Alexander Olch or Kiton. Or try something more expressive, like a pair of velvet slippers. If he thinks they’re too forward, remind him they helped Churchill relax.

An iPod with the latest Beirut record? Not bad. A reservation at Blue Hill Stone Barns? Even better. Any Leica camera will do, though dad may suspect you have your eye on inheriting it one day. If you’re lucky, your father taught you the power of irreverence, the pleasure of mischief, and how to think for yourself. Your present to him should reflect that. So raise a glass and toast him well—you’ve got a lot to live up to.

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