Matt LeBlanc's My London The actor goes for dinner at Harry’s Bar and parties with Prince Harry Monday 5 May 2014 12:10 BSTLos Angeles, up in the mountains surrounded by giant redwood trees.Last play you saw?Jumpy with Tamsin Greig at the Royal Court. It was good to see her playing a big meaty role; I like renting a bike and going to Richmond Park.  It was a surprise to see so many deer.First thing you do when you arrive here?Get some fish and chips at J Sheekey or at The Goat, a pub on Kensington High Street.Best meal?Steak at Harry’s Bar. I also like The Wolseley because it’s such an ornate setting, though it used to be a car showroom.What would you do as Mayor for the day?Make cars drive on the other side of the road. When I did Top Gear it was tricky to shift gears with my left hand.Seeing these big burly builders on the side of the road having a nice cup of tea. I was here for the premiere of Lost in Space in 1998.Where do you stay in London?Royal Garden Hotel, Kensington.

I like to be near Hyde Park so I can go jogging. I don’t tend to notice people noticing me because I wear a cap and I listen to music, usually Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Cher — anything upbeat.Where would you go for a nightcap?I went for a vodka at The Dorchester last night.Who do you call when you want to have fun in London?My stunt double for Lost in Space and Episodes, Andy Smart. Our personalities gel really well, so we have a lot of laughs.Last album you downloaded?I met them recently when we were both guests on Chris Evans’ show.What do you collect?And, oddly enough, backpacks. I’ve accumulated about 40 in my garage.Best piece of advice?‘Don’t eat the yellow snow,’ from my grandfather.I bought a treasure chest full of alcohol. I once shot the breeze with Prince Harry at a club. He wanted to know whether we were going to do Friends the Movie.Favourite shops?I like Belstaff on New Bond Street for vintage-looking motorcycle jackets. I also make sure I go to the Ducati dealership on the Albert Embankment to poke around at the bikes.

Harvey Nichols is cool because it’s so different to shopping in LA.Best thing a cabbie has said to you?They generally want to talk about Friends. I had this long conversation about the show once and as I was getting out, he goes, ‘OK, see you later, Chandler.’Biggest extravagance?The 2014 Turbo S in dark grey is my latest.At the moment you are...Promoting Episodes and then relaxing until we work on season 4.Who’s your hero?My mom, because of her work ethic. She was a single mom and worked in a factory. My latest hero is my ten-year-old daughter Marina. She’s taught me to be more patient.Episodes is on BBC Two at 10pm from next Wednesday Staffordshire, is one of the original six Potteries towns that make up the city of Stoke-on-Trent, where it is known, rather disparagingly, as "the neck end". Once home to so many "bottle-oven" brick kilns that the streets were clogged with the fug of chimney smoke, Longton now fights urban decay. obvious connection to the red carpets of film premieres, to nation

builders and iconic revolutionaries, to pioneers of aviation or heroes Yet it has all of those associations because of Belstaff, the eminently practical 85-year-old British clothing brand that has recently sewn up the market in dressing Hollywood stars. Daniel Radcliffe appeared in aicon daytona jacket motorcycle leather specially made Belstaff "Harry Blouson" in Harry Potter andmotorcycle dealers crawley the Half-Blood Prince, Hilary Swank was clad in a brown Belstaffbest bikes in tamilnadu 2014 leather to play American pilot Amelia Earhart in Amelia, and the samektm motorcycle dealers louisiana

label was used to clothe Aaron Johnson as he portrayed a young John Lennon in Sam Taylor-Wood's Nowhere Boy. Tom Cruise wore Belstaff in Mission Impossible 3, as did Will Smith in I Am Legend, Cate Blanchett in I'm Not There, Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd and Brad Pitt in Thedoes iowa have a motorcycle helmet law Curious Case of Benjamin Button. motorcycle tire change bramptonGeorge Clooney and Angelina Jolie aremotorcycles for sale in topeka ks among those who choose to dress in Belstaff while not on the set. ambition extends beyond mere terrestrial stars. don a specially-made Belstaff jacket aboard Virgin Galactic on its inaugural space flight in 2011.

The white parka coat that will keep warm Pope Benedict XVI during winter walks in the Vatican garden carries the discreet but distinctive wreath logo of this same British All this has its roots in Longton, where Harry Grosberg founded a waterproof coat manufacturer in 1924 with his father-in-law Eli Belovitch. company name fused Eli's surname with the Midlands county where the Yet as much as Belstaff clothing rejoices in its origins, with all garments carrying a union-flag tag, this is also an Italian success story. cross-cultural love affair that is well reflected in the new film Nine (an adaptation of Federico Fellini's 8), which pays homage to classic Italian style but features great British actors such as Daniel Day-Lewis and Judi Dench. The sharp Sixties Italian suits are made by Belstaff, a label that once kitted out Lawrence of Arabia and still sources fabrics from the British Millerain Co Ltd, suppliers to the

British Army for more than a century. Movies are in the blood of the Malenotti family, which now runs Belstaff. Maleno Malenotti was an acclaimed film producer, a Cinema ItalianoMaleno's son Franco was a motorcycle designer and champion rider who developed an obsession with a brand of coat made in Stoke-on-Trent from fine Egyptian cotton waxed with natural oils, the adopted uniform of flyers and bikers. invited to work for the company as a designer in 1986, he rescued the name when the business fell into financial difficulties and lovingly rebuilt it outside of Venice. Franco's own son Manuele is now the CEO of Belstaff and has squared the circle, combining the glamour of the film world with the style of those early-20th-century In London for the recent premiere of Nowhere Boy, Manuele explains the company strategy over breakfast in The Dorchester hotel. "All the clothes that you see on the big screen are available in our stores and this is

something new in the world of fashion. Everybody has the possibility of dressing like a hero, like John Lennon or like Tom Cruise as Agent Ethan Hunt in Mission Impossible or Johnny Depp in Public Malenotti has become a specialist marketer. The attraction of Belstaff clothing is rooted in the "protection and functionality" linked to its early associations with motorcycling and aviation. "Today it's more important for people to have protective and functional clothing because everybody is moving faster and travelling more," he says, his sales pitch propelled by three shots of"The internet democracy has made everyone an Armani, he argues, has been so successful in partnering withThere is much competition, he acknowledges. there is a big [economic] crisis, and conventional advertising doesn't work as before, the fashion labels are looking for something new and the movie idea works." But a presence on screen can't be bought.

"That's not possible because you have to pass through the costume designer and they are superstars. producer cannot tell them what to do," says Malenotti, citing collaborations with Sandy Powell (Aviator) and Colleen Atwood (MissionThe costume designer is only one hurdle. needed to get the nod from "the biggest directors... Spielberg, David Fincher, Martin Scorsese," he says. need to say, 'Yes, they look great on camera'." The studios get more out of the relationship than just the clothes, he claims. Hollywood companies like Sony, Warner, Universal and Fox, love to collaborate with us because we make the movie look better but also because we create a global strategy to promote the movie withNine will benefit from Belstaff commercials themed toAmelia will launch with Swank's Belstaff Amelia Bomber in the windows of the company's 20 prime-location stores. outlets in London, Manchester and Glasgow, claims to be bucking the

recession and is extending its territory beyond the motorcycling tradition that drew Che Guevara to its clothing when he rode around South America in 1951. It is sponsoring sailing, styling cars for Audi, bringing out ranges of underwear and watches. as a brand that was dedicated to motorcycles and aviation and has now become a lifestyle brand," says Malenotti, who has 15 motorcycles himself because "it's the only way to get around if you don't want to spend all day in the car". In reality, there are many Belstaff brands, from the Trialmaster, favoured by the most iconic motorcycling film star of them all, Steve McQueen, to the classic Sixties Roadmaster and the Panther, worn by Brad Pitt as Benjamin A new design emerged in November, the Peace jacket, commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall and presented to such Nobel Prize winners as Mikhail Gorbachev and FW De Klerk during an event in Germany organised by Malenotti and

his younger brother and colleague Michele. The one garment that will probably never go on wider sale is the Pope's parka, for which the Bishop of Rome had three fittings. "It's made with a very soft cotton, which we developed just for him, with a white corduroy collarHe wears it when he goes to the mountains and every day he walks in the garden of the Vatican." father Maleno, the story has transcended any movie script. father is an incredible lover of the motorcycle world, all his life. When he rode by motorcycle from Italy to London he would be wearing Belstaff and all his friends would say, 'Bring me a Belstaff'. the only thing to wear if you wanted to feel cool in the Sixties," says his eldest son. "He was so proud to collaborate with such a historical name and when the factory in Stoke-on-Trent was having problems he decided to move the production to Italy and saved the brand. For him it's like his baby."" Newspaper - January 2010