Take it from us, this Spring everyone is going to be talking about Hit-Girl. The pint-sized assassin is played by 12-year-old Chloe Moretz and she’s the undisputed star of Matthew Vaughn’s superhero comedy caper, Kick-Ass (released on 2 April). We caught up with the child star during a break in filming on Let Me In, the American remake of the Scando-vampire-arthouse hit, Let The Right One In. And as Chloe explains, life has been pretty, ahem, ‘amazing’…

ESQUIRE: Was Kick-Ass as much fun to make as it is to watch?

Chloe Moretz: It was even more fun. I love Matthew Vaughn, he’s one of my favourite directors I’ve ever worked with. I love Aaron Johnson, and Nicholas Cage too, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Everyone, in fact. I love everyone.

ESQ: We understand you’re a very well-behaved girl away from the film set. So, how was it for you delivering some of the foul-mouthed tirades that Hit Girl has in the film?

CM: Well, I mean, it’s just a movie. It’s not real life, you know. If I had said those things in real life, I would have been totally grounded for the rest of my life. I mean, it’s part of the character, it’s who Hit Girl is. But actually she’s also just an 11-year-old girl inside, she doesn’t really know any better.

ESQ: Nicholas Cage plays your father Big Daddy, and there’s an amazing scene where he’s shooting you with what looks like a magnum .45. How was that?

CM: Oh, he’s absolutely amazing. He’s like a Dad to me, one of my favourite actors that I’ve ever worked with. Before I even met him, I was just so excited to be working with such an amazing actor, and when I saw that he was just such a sweet guy made it even better. And I was just like ‘Wow’, you know, this is amazing, that I have the opportunity to be in this film.

ESQ: You are undoubtedly the star of the film and have some amazing scenes, including one where you lay waste to about 30 drug dealers. That must have been a lot of fun to do….

CM: It was absolutely amazing. That would definitely have to be my favourite scene, the one in the corridor where I’m shooting, like, 30 guys in 30 seconds. It was crazy. I was running and jumping off chairs and tables, onto bookcases, and shooting and pummeling. It was absolutely amazing.

ESQ: Are you keeping up with all the martial arts skills you learned for the part of Hit Girl?

CM: Yeah, I practice all the time at school. They let me take my bow staff home. It’s the same height as a real one but is made of foam. That was one of my favourite things to learn. Me and my Dad go target shooting sometimes. You know that these things are definitely not to be played with. It’s not cool.

We’re more than a little excited about the release of Kick-Ass, directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Aaron Johnson, Nicolas Cage and the fabulous Chloe Moretz as the foul-mouthed junior assassin, Hit Girl. And we’re not the only ones by the looks of things – French Connection has released a special range of Kick-Ass T-shirts for those harbouring a super hero inside. Kick Ass is released nationwide on 2 April 

Long-term Esquire contributor and iconic photographer Rankin (left, with Esquire editor Jeremy Langmead) unveiled his latest exhibition Cheeky last night, as guests mingled to see his unique take on the female form which included original nudes of supermodels Kate Moss and Heidi Klum.

Held in his exclusive Annroy Gallery in Camden, Rankin’s exhibition attracted guests from the world of art and fashion as the bar served up a suitably refreshing menu of cocktails that mixed the finest wares from the evening’s sponsors: Finlandia Vodka, Woodford Reserve and Fever Tree.

Esquire particularly enjoyed the Helsinki Mule and Woodford Peach Smash as it took in Rankin’s beautiful compositions, and marvelled at his ability to persuade Helena Christensen to pose topless on a horse.

This video from US Show Jimmy Kimmel Live! is worth a watch – in fact, it reminded us a little of a typical meeting with the Esquire fashion department.

Although we should now be settling into spring, we don’t need too many reminders that we live in a country where the weather cannot be relied upon. Global warming has, let’s be honest, been a huge disappointment thus far. Luckily, help – and rather stylish help – is at hand…

While the calendar tells us we should be digging out lighter jackets and thinner sweaters, given the colour of the skies outside, the Vassan jacket from Penfield might still be our best bet. Penfield began life in Massachusetts in 1975, and their stylish take on rugged, outdoor clothing was originally designed in response to the frequently harsh climate of New England.

Since the Seventies, Penfield has become as popular with style conscious city dwellers as it is with bearded lovers of the great outdoors, which goes some way to explaining its surge of popularity in Old England, where the climate is, as we know only too well, also frequently harsh.   

This mountain parka is a spring season staple, but also a supremely functional coat.   Available in both Olive/Sage and Blue/ Ecru, it’s made from thick nylon making it both water and windproof. What else would you expect from Penfield, who celebrate their 35^th birthday this year? Stephen Isaac-Wilson

£105, www.penfieldusa.com. 

While Thom Sweeney is undoubtedly a modern tailoring house be reassured that its bespoke suits (they also offer a made-to-measure service) are put together the old fashioned way. What makes it modern is that Luke Sweeney and Thom Whiddett, the eponymous founders, understand the way men live in 2010, have an eye on the fashion scene (so can keep their clients looking contemporary) and are au fait with the concept of customer service.

Sweeney and Whiddett met when they both worked for Timothy Everest. “I went to Tim’s at 19, straight from school,” remembers Whiddett. “I read a piece in Esquire about tailoring that featured Timothy, and I ended up doing an apprenticeship there.”  Having subsequently set up on their own they offer an all-too-rare mix of traditional construction techniques and an updated British aesthetic.

From their Mayfair shop, which is in an elegant old art gallery, Whiddett and Sweeney are almost uniquely well placed to see how the capital’s smartest men are dressing these days. With a clientele that’s made up of the local hedge fund crowd, but takes in rock stars like Bobby Gillespie as well as the fashion world (Matthew Williamson is a client) Thom Sweeney’s order book bulges with the names of men who are going places. And, reassuringly, they seem to going places dressed in a suit. “These days the only guys who don’t wear a suit to eat dinner in a restaurant are guys who’s suits don’t fit,” says Luke. “If you have a nice suit in the wardrobe you want to wear it,” he rationalises.

If the shop’s younger clients haven’t all had the time to develop a great sensitivity to the intricacies of bespoke tailoring, that’s where Whiddett and Sweeney are able to distinguish themselves. There are quite a few tailors in London able to make a beautiful suit to a customer’s exacting specifications, but very few who one could trust to come up with those specifications. The enviably well dressed Whiddett and Sweeney are their own best advert, which is why their clients trust them to act as fashion designers as well as tailors. Sweeny explains, “Most of the time it’s pretty much down to us. We sit down and talk about a customer’s lifestyle to work out what he’ll find comfortable.” For men with the money this is an incredible service – it’s like having a personal fashion designer as well as a tailor.

In tailoring terms clothes Whiddett and Sweeney are pretty flexible about their house cut, although the default setting is a flattering waisted jacket, fairly soft but roped shoulders and minimal canvassing. The last of these affects the feel as much as the look of a jacket, because it’s traditional heavy canvassing that makes coats heavy and constraining. That said if a client wants very structured shoulders, or to radically change the house silhouette, it can be done – when Thom Sweeney made stage clothes for Mika they went far beyond Savile Row norms. However, inspired by the restrained outfits of fashion icons like Frank Sinatra, Cary Grant and Steve McQueen Sweeney and Whiddett believe that less is more, “My favourite outfit is a navy blue suit with a white shirt,” says Sweeney.

Of course, while a man might start by ordering one blue suit things can escalate; Whiddett picks out a sports jacket in a cream and brown gingham check and says of the customer, “He’s crazy this guy, we’ve made him about a hundred suits in the last couple of years. He’s got a room at home just for his clothes.”  The message is clear – approach Thom Sweeney with caution, you might find its tailoring addictive.

Bespoke from £1,895, 1-2 Weighhouse Street, London W1K 5LR 020 7629 6220 – www.thomsweeney.co.uk

When kids are left to their own devices the results can be chaotic.  They don’t, however, normally include death and wide-spread destruction as they do in Kick-Ass, the eagerly anticipated superhero film, directed by Matthew Vaughn and starring Aaron Johnson. Now, the graphic novel on which it is based has been reissued, and like the film, it’s not for the faint-hearted.

The adult graphic novel, written by Mark Millar (Wanted and Ultimate Fantastic Four), is a brash coming of age story about kids who want more from life than a 9 to 5 (or a 9 to 3:30 — ah, those were the days). It tells the story of Dave Lizewski, an ordinary teenage boy who comes up with a harebrained scheme to transform himself to a real life superhero, although not possessing any superpowers (on his first encounter of crime he is stabbed, punched and beaten within inches of his life). However, after recovering, the superhero-now-known as Kick-Ass takes MySpace and YouTube by storm, even inspiring “copy cat” superheroes to help liberate New York of crime.

Illustrated by the talented John Romita Jr (Marvel Comics), it combines grisly visuals of hardcore torture and death with subtle humour. As you might imagine, the film has not come without controversy — especially concerning the practically bullet-proof 10-year-old superhero Hit Girl who says stuff like “OK, you cunts” and “It’s fucking clobbering time”. (Sounds good, doesn’t it? See our interview with actress Chloe Moretz in the April issue of Esquire.) Kick-Ass looks set to be a sensation this year — you have been warned. Stephen Issac-Wilson

The re-issued comic book Kick-Ass by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr (Titan Books) is out now. The screen adaptation of Kick-Ass will be out on 27 March.