Matches Fashion & Acqua Di Parma Team Up to Launch a Fundraising Auction

Nick Scott
·3 min read

The phrase “bonding experience”, when it comes to fathers and sons, calls to mind life’s more pleasurable experiences: but for Daniel Marks and Jack Dyson, it was the ordeal of having cancer that brought them and their dads, fellow sufferers, closer together.

Which is why, in 2014, the pair founded Father & Son Day—which, each year, raises funds for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity as well as increasing awareness when it comes to an illness which kills around 100,000 men in the UK each year.

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Leica’s contribution to the auction: a Terry O’Neill print - Credit: Supplied
Leica’s contribution to the auction: a Terry O’Neill print - Credit: Supplied

Supplied

Father & Son Day has raised more than £280,000 so far, which has gone towards specialist robotic surgery fellowships (while also providing invaluable help when it came to the hospital’s response to the pandemic). This year, the emphasis will be on supporting the physical and mental well-being of cancer patients at the hospital, as well as funding psychological support services, dietetics and physiotherapy teams.

The Duke of Cambridge, Noel Gallagher, Elton John and English comedian Jack Whitehall are among the figures who have leant their support to the campaign, whilst luxury brands including Orlebar Brown have also weighed in, with style retailer Matches Fashion and Acqua Di Parma now entering the fray, too.

E.B. Meyrowitz is among the UK brands offering bespoke services as part of the auction. - Credit: E.B. Meyrowitz
E.B. Meyrowitz is among the UK brands offering bespoke services as part of the auction. - Credit: E.B. Meyrowitz

E.B. Meyrowitz

The two brands have launched an online auction featuring one-of-a-kind lots on behalf of the charity. These include contributions from Leica (a signed print by late British photographer Terry O’Neill); the new Standard Hotel in Ibiza (a stay for two); London’s Mark’s Club (dinner for four with wine pairing); Moët & Chandon (a nine-litre bottle of their finest); Thom Sweeney (a made-to-measure suit following personal consultation); and Private White (a custom-made Father & Son bomber jacket), whose founder James Eden is pictured with his son Max in the main picture above.

Also contributing to the cause are Breitling (a Superocean 44 watch); Globe-Trotter (a bespoke suitcase); EB Meyrowitz (bespoke sunglasses); Abercrombie & Kent (a luxury safari lodge stay); and, of course, there’s the latest Acqua di Parma offering (a home diffuser created in collaboration with Poltrona Frau. The Matches Fashion personal shopping experience, also under the hammer, meanwhile, includes a session with Harry Lambert—personal stylist to Harry Styles and Emma Corrin.

An experience in Tanzania, thanks to Abercrombie & Kent, is part of the auction. - Credit: Supplied
An experience in Tanzania, thanks to Abercrombie & Kent, is part of the auction. - Credit: Supplied

Supplied

“[Father & Son’s Day] is all about creating a brotherhood,” Dyson, who was diagnosed with testicular cancer at 27, has told one British newspaper. “When women fall ill, there is a sisterhood that just exists around them. Each friend has a role, the nurturing friend, the practical one, and they step up. “Men are robbed of that—it’s fight or flight. You have the friends who try to ‘fix it’ for you, and those that freeze and disappear.”

The Father & Son Day 2022 auction is live now, and will run until 30th June

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