Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Fashion & Style

The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

How the boy from Manchester Rose to the Top of the Media World. Meet Aaron Edwards

Cator Sparks
By

Aaron Edwards
I’m a Mancunian (person hailing from Manchester, UK) transplant and I’ve been living in New York for around six years. Prior to New York, I was a financial analyst for five years at an investment bank, before leaving the big smoke (London) to team up with my partner in crime and sister Samantha.

The Charles (named after our great grandfather) is a creative agency specializing in immersive digital story telling for clients such as Cartier, WSJ, Bloomberg Media and Netflix. With humble beginnings, The Charles has grown from strength to strength with this year marking the arrival of new offices in Chicago and London and a new content division called Jane (named after our great grandmother).

Related Videos

Bourne from an insatiable appetite for creative our goal is to reinvent the way our clients do business and align their strategic goals to our conceptual thinking and agile design process. With the arrival of our new content division, we now have the ability to extend our reach by bringing our interactive digital experiences to the physical world. I truly believe the convergence of technology, design and virtual reality is the future of brand marketing and advertising.

As for my personal style:

I’m really into mens fashion and have an obsession with these two Parisian twin brothers, Les Freres Jochaim. Their silhouettes are the epitome of cool for me and I love how they mix high fashion with street wear to create a look that’s applicable for any type of meeting. For me luxury is about being comfortable and wearing fine materials in a relaxed way

Jeans: Frame Denim and Fear Of God for more casual events.

Shirts: Comme Des Garcon Shirt, Lemaire

Pants: Juun J cropped black pleated pants

Suits: Boglioli and Barena are my go to for sport coats meetings and Raf Simons for dinners and parties.

Shoes: I have these bad ass super high top boots made by Anne DeMeulemeester that I like to pair with tapered sweats pants or trousers and I have an unhealthy obsession with Rick Owens Ramones low and high tops and Common Projects.

Accessories: My Rolex Daytona is my go to everyday watch. It might sound like overkill but I believe expensive items are to be worn not locked away… plus there’s nothing better than wearing a vintage worn tee and some battered jeans and a nice classic watch.

Outerwear: Acne Charlie Coat

Favorite cologne: Tom Ford Tuscan Leather

Favorite app: Instagram

Favorite piece of technology: STASH a friend of mine Co-founded this investment app. I’m 3 months in and I’m making money from it so really happy about that!

Next style/gear purchase: Another Acne Charlie Coat

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
The 11 Best Thermal Shirts for Men in 2022
best mens thermal shirts 0 buck mason

We know just the layer you should reach for when it's so cold, you can't help but wish you were in front of a roaring fire: That would be one of the best thermal shirts, a perfectly rugged and dependable layer to add to your seasonal wardrobe. Consider the thermal shirt a durable basic to wear all on its own or else layered underneath one of the best men's shirts for winter, to start.

And the right thermal shirt can serve as an insulating layer for your top half if you just so happen to be wearing a pair of the best thermal underwear in extreme cold. Heck, think of a thermal shirt like an upgrade for your basics wardrobe, in the same way that thermal underwear might replace a more straightforward pair of the best underwear this season. If all of that sounds well and good, but you don't know where to start your search, well, the best online clothing stores for men have you covered. Heck, let's take it a step further and mention that the brands you know and love, the best men's clothing brands (period) are also crafting thermal shirts aplenty for winter, so let's get shopping.
Vince Slim-Fit Stretch Cotton Thermal Long-Sleeve Shirt

Read more
How Mark Wahlberg Designed Some of the Most Durable Workout Clothes for Men
mark wahlberg municipal feature dsc4959

For his entire career, people have been talking about what Mark Wahlberg was wearing. In the early Nineties as the fresh-faced Marky Mark, he and his Calvin Klein undies towered from billboards even as his music climbed Billboard. The Aughts, the leather and skin and Jennifer Aniston in Rock Star, and the 2010s, satin trunks in the instant classic (and Oscar-winning) The Fighter. After decades of microscopic attention to what Mark Wahlberg is wearing (and especially what he didn't wear), it makes sense that in July 2020, the 49-year-old did the obvious and launched his workout clothing brand, Municipal.

Wahlberg is no stranger to partnering with clothing brands for signature lines and one-offs; an Indian Motorcycles capsule with Fuelled Apparel and Jordan are just a few recent examples. But Municipal is distinct in that its genesis was not introduced by a company man or crafty agent but from an organic idea: What if men's everyday wear could get them through an entire day?

Read more
How This Former Banker Became a Trending Menswear Designer
robert pauley feature

Robert Pauley III, aka the Welthē guy, is fabulously wealthy, at least if you look at life the way he does: Where wealth is not just about money, it’s about happiness and feeling good. Pauley is the successful entrepreneur behind Welthē NYC, a dapper men’s suit collection and grooming brand; a thriving retail website, and the one-two punch of being both a tasteful designer and an authoritative influencer. His is the story of how one coat made all the difference. 
The Financial Times
Pauley’s resume was built in the world of finance, bringing a decade of experience at powerhouses J.P. Morgan and Morgan Stanley to the table. “I did a lot of jobs where I had to make presentations,” says Pauley. “I worked in change management and business processes. It was all about working with teams to develop process efficiency -- both with people, as well as from a tech perspective -- to solve problems and standardize processes.”

 

Read more