Tagged: menswear

19 February, 2013

GANT S/S ’13

If you’re looking for a masterclass on how to win over a whiny blogger, look no further than Gant. A while ago, after frustration got the better of me, I tweeted about an employee refusing to give me a refund for a pair of socks that had gone into holes after I’d worn them twice. Since then, they’ve sent me two replacement pairs (both of which have stayed intact!) and spontaneously invited me down to a bloggers’ breakfast to check out the new collection. WELL, I figured it would be positively rude not to…

You might imagine that for a brand like Gant, things are very much ‘business as usual’ and, to an extent, you’d be right. However, while it remains clear that they aren’t planning to fix something that’s not broken, their latest collection is full of little touches that really demonstrate the brand’s commitment to stay fresh. I spoke with a member of the brand’s marketing department, who told me that social media and blogger outreach are starting to play a much bigger part in the brand’s strategy. While those of us who spend most of our lives online don’t find that too surprising, it’s worth observing that this already puts Gant ahead of a lot of their competition. It’s also worth pointing out that word of mouth has always been a big part of Gant’s business, and this is still true today…except now it’s probably more likely to be in the form of a tweet than a conversation on campus.

With brands like Shore Leave and Farah, two high street contenders that both (to my mind) recall the preppy style of Gant and Ralph Lauren, on the scene it’s clear that Gant don’t intend to rest on their laurels. Take, for example, this unstructured dip dyed blazer…

…from the brand’s collaboration with Michael Bastian (a partnership now in its third year), also Head Designer at Gant Rugger. Speaking of Gant Rugger, I’ve fallen pretty much head over heels for this varsity jacket from their latest offering, which has sheepskin on the sleeves instead of the usual leather -

For once, I think I’ll let the pictures do the talking -

The fact that Gant invited a group of bloggers to their flagship London store says as much about the brand as the fact that this year’s S/S collection draws from coastal cultures all over the world, as opposed to the brand’s humble New Haven beginnings. It’s clear that they have big ambitions (evident from the fact that they now have stores in over 60 countries), far beyond just being ‘that one preppy brand’.

Now, if you need me, I’ll be in heaven (read: by that shirt display).

10 February, 2013

In case you haven’t been paying attention to my snarktastic tweets, I am not a fan of the ’50 random facts about me’ tag. This is for two reasons. First, MISNOMER – most of the facts mentioned are about as ‘random’ a choice as picking the best out of the seventy three outfit photos you took earlier that day to post on your blog. George Takei recently posted a great photo on Facebook, noting that most people only share what they consider to be the best of themselves on social media. I’m noticing a lot of people doing the same with this tag. Second, I can only think of one thing about myself that’s remotely interesting – at the age of 13, I took a MENSA test that revealed I have an IQ of 161…technically making me a child genius.

Still, I like the idea of doing something that lets readers know a little more about you. Although #WIMH posts have been around for a while, they rarely go into much depth. The last one I saw was pretty much like ‘This is the blusher in my bag. I use it to make my face red.’ So, I decided to tip the contents of my bag onto my dining table and briefly cover why each item is in there.

Vaseline, hand moisturiser & caffeine eye roll-on:
Although I spend a fair amount of time faffing around in the morning, my beauty regime when I’m on the go is so low maintenance I’m not even sure you can use the word regime to describe it. These are pretty much the only essentials I need.

Hat:
This is my lucky hat. I don’t remember how I got it and I don’t remember what happened to make me think it’s lucky. I like to think I’m better off not questioning either of those things.

Hand sanitiser & moist towelettes:
A few years ago, I was diagnosed as having OCD. While my particular breed of compulsions mostly affects stuff in my head (checking I’ve set alarms and that I’ve emptied my locker at the gym are two biggies) and how I view future events, I do like to make sure my hands are clean whenever I can.

On a few occasions at restaurants, fellow diners have asked where I got my moist towelette from. There is no moment quite as awkward as having to tell someone you brought it from home. On the plus side, ‘moist towelette’ is really fun to say.

Books:
While I enjoyed Don DeLillo’s Underworld, at over 800 pages it’s hardly a book to undertake lightly. I struggle with books that have a lot of characters (probably a sign of Asperger’s or something…), but neither that nor the disjointed plot could take away from the beautiful flowing prose.

On the other end of the spectrum? John Green’s The Fault in our Stars. Once the exclusive property of meek, indoors-y Tumblr kids (I ought to know, I was one), John Green has exploded into the mainstream with his latest effort. While there’s no doubt that it’s very nicely put together, not to mention pretty moving (it may have made me cry on a train, hence Tissues), I can’t help but feel that the teenagers in the book talk more like teenagers who wish they were in a John Green novel than actual teenagers. Still, a wonderful book.

Moleskines:
When I was a boy, the following paragraph came to me in a dream -

‘As we came over the hill, the neon rainbow of the city stung my eyes so much that they watered. The focus of the lurid scene was the white shaft of light emerging from the tip of The Luxor, scanning the skies for silver Spitfires and falling angels. Holy shit, I remember thinking, the searchlights of hell are looking for a back way into Heaven, and I’m about to sell my soul to the devil.’

To this day, it’s probably one of the better things I’ve written, and I didn’t even come up with it myself. Feverish and squinting, I wrote these lines in a Moleskine notebook at 3AM. Since then, you’ll rarely find me without one.

Protein bar:
Because one day, ONE DAY, I’ll pack enough muscle on to stop looking like a stick insect.

Sunglasses:
In case of nuclear explosions.

Alibi:
I got sent a crate of this to blog about it. It does seem to lessen the impact of hangovers which, when you’re not 18 anymore and have chores to do at the weekend, can only be a good thing.

Jack Daniel’s:
You never know when Ke$ha is going to show up with a toothbrush. Also, because sometimes Jack is all that will do.

Filofax:
I sometimes get laughed at for how resistant I am to use online or iPhone calendars. Despite being pretty tech savvy in almost every other aspect of my life, this is the one thing I am unwilling to budge on.

* * *

So, I hope that gave you a bit of insight into what makes me tick. Though I’m not on some huge quest to create a ‘tag’ of my own, I think the above says more about me than the fact that I’m an only child or that I’ve been to 13 U.S states. But what do the contents of your bag say about you?

7 February, 2013

Why is no-one buying the Air Jordan V?

Hello there. Long time no speak. I wish I had a story of adventure and excitement to explain why I haven’t blogged for almost two weeks. Unfortunately, I don’t. I’ve been pretty busy with work but time just seemed to get away from me. Anyway, I’m back now, and I’m sure you all managed just fine without me.

Remember that scene in Jingle All The Way where Arnie is trying to buy a Turboman action figure for his son (who ended up becoming Darth Vader…) on Christmas Eve and all the shop assistants just stand there laughing at him? This is pretty much what I experienced when I tried to buy a pair of Air Jordan IVs a couple of days after their release date. A quick confession: despite the fact that I’m a fashion blogger, I really don’t spend that much on clothes. The reason I do so few OOTD posts is that I only seem to wear about four outfits on a regular basis – you’d all get bored of them very quickly. Then, the one time I was prepared to spend a pretty sizeable sum of money on a pair of shoes, I couldn’t find anywhere that would take my money. But all was not lost – I eventually managed to cop the last pair of Air Jordan IVs at any Foot Locker in London. I know this because the guy who served me told me so, like he wanted to give me a medal or something. Someone in the queue actually congratulated me on my purchase, and I’m pretty sure I heard someone applauding on my way out…

But back to the point at hand. The other day I was shopping and thought I’d see if anywhere had any Air Jordan Vs in stock. Not because I was willing to splash £125 on ANOTHER pair of extravagant trainers (at least not yet anyway…), you understand, just because I was curious. Size? Had them in stock. Niketown? Had a ton of them. Foot Locker? Practically had a wall of them. So what’s the deal? Well, some industry experts (ok, ok it’s just me) think comparatively slow sales of the Air Jordan V might be due to the resurfacing of this picture -

Even though the above picture was featured on the cover of SI way back in 1990, lots of Instagram commenters on Nice Kicks’ repost of the image thought it was much more recent than that. Perhaps that’s because the issue the cover highlights hasn’t gone away – although most of them don’t receive a lot of mainstream news coverage, killings over sneakers (especially Air Jordans) still happen pretty regularly. Is this a clue as to why AJ5s aren’t moving as quickly as a lot of releases? Although there’s no denying that the AJ4 is pretty distinctive, they can look like an old pair of Etnies if you drape your trousers in a particular way. Contrast this with the Air Jordan V and the distinctive red shark teeth on its midsole. However you wear your trousers, there’s no hiding that. Is it possible that people are avoiding this iconic pair of shoes because of fear?

Attitudes towards shoejacking online range from bravado – ‘I’d kill a [expletive] before I let him take my Js’ – to sombre; one Nice Kicks commenter told of an African American man jumping an Asian boy outside of a shoe shop, beating him senseless and taking his sneakers. He highlighted the fact that none of the ten plus people passing by came to his aid. It’s bad enough that we live in a world where people get mugged for mobile phones and wallets, but the fact that some people value a £100 pair of shoes more than somebody’s life is truly sad. Not to mention pretty damn scary.

15 January, 2013

Three trends to kick start S/S ’13

After briefly mentioning a few predictions for 2013 in my last post, I checked out some of the new collections at Selfridges and noticed a few more surfacing. SO, I thought I’d post this – S/S ’13 menswear for dummies.

Coloured Suits

While a lot of people have focused on the (perhaps ill advised, given we don’t have the same climate as that of Miami Vice…) return of city shorts, another strong trend to come off the catwalks is the coloured suit. The Paul Smith number above is pretty sharp, and this really is an example of a trend that’s come out of nowhere – as recently as Summer 2012, menswear writers were still being majorly critical of coloured suits.

If bright colours aren’t your thing, Givenchy showed this beautiful white suit pretty similar to what I imagine well dressed angels wearing.

Print Attack

Last Autumn, I fell in love with (and took a creepy stalkery picture of) this guy’s backpack. I asked him where he got it, but he turned out to be a Chinese tourist who didn’t speak a word of English, so I never found out where it was from. Still, he was definitely ahead of the curve – from graphic to digital to optical, prints are inescapable this spring. I was a huge admirer of Mary Katrantzou’s shenanigans last year, so I’m please to see that us guys are getting a chance to play this year.

Just check out this head to toe print takeover by Vivienne Westwood for inspiration.

Stripes

No, not the sailor kind – J.W. Anderson has already done the nautical thing to death so much so that he’s having to shake things up by making dresses for men. Stripes take on a whole new, modern feel for S/S 2013.

I dig this Ralph Lauren number, which seems to draw inspiration from all kinds of places, from pirate to old school sports jerseys (Google tells me that orange and blue are the colours of the Florida Gators, so GO GATORS!) to a smart casual Frenchman. Plus, the model kinda looks like Brad Pitt and Keith Lemon’s lovechild. If you’re not in the mood to go so formal, check this Shore Leave t-shirt from Urban Outfitters. Or the one below, which is on sale for £10. (You’re welcome.)

So there you have it; some more ideas for S/S 2013. One final thought? If you know where that Chinese dude’s backpack is from, please tell me. Otherwise, sayonara.

6 January, 2013

GIVEAWAY: The Man Box

I’ve seen a lot of blog giveaways before, but I’ve never really seen any for men. I thought I saw one once, but it turned out to be for an all female spa. In hindsight, probably for the best that I didn’t win – I don’t think I’d fit in with my Spongebob towel. So, when Ladbrokes came to me with some man stuff to do a giveaway, I decided to say yes. However, that’s not to say that you ladies aren’t welcome to apply to – maybe you’re really good girlfriends or maybe you want to flog the hamper on eBay (sad face). Or maybe you have a beard…I won’t judge.

Anyway, the contents are as follows -

Esquire Magazine’s Handbook of Style
Reiss pocket square
The Bluebeard’s Revenge shaving foam and brush
Love Hearts, yay!

If you fancy a flutter, you can find some more Ladbrokes deals here. Just don’t bet £20 that Janet Devlin will win X Factor and spend three days locked in your room pouting when they get voted out. Like some of us did.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

30 December, 2012

Sweater Envy

I’m going to let you in on a secret – I’m a pretty bad blogger…not because I think my own blog is bad (though you may disagree…), but because I hardly ever read other people’s blogs. I’m making a renewed effort in the new year (no, I’m going as far as to use ‘the r word’) to change this, and seek out some up and coming blogs that I can mention. Although I find 90% of Lookbook posts to be pretty absurd, to the extent that I recently created a satirical side project called WTF LOOKBOOK, the site is a nice way to get a snapshot of someone’s style. My hypothesis? If you find someone’s style interesting, you’ll probably enjoy their blog. That’s how I found By Otto.

Otto’s blog is, in some respects, like a bizarro version of NSLL – the focus is very much on the visual and he tends to use 10 words where I would use 1,000. Living in rural Denmark may not make for the most exciting stories, but it sure makes for some beautiful photography.

It’s also hard to believe that Otto is only 18 – he’s far better dressed than most of the guys I hang around with, and they’re all in their late twenties. I’m not one to jump to conclusions, but it’s tempting to read the environment of Lookbook as indicative of the future of fashion blogging. At the time of writing, four of the top twenty looks were from guys. Of those four, three were aged 18 or under. I’ve already joked that the time will come when fashion blogging isn’t seen as girly or effeminate, and that it will become more common amongst both sexes. With more and more teenagers making an effort to look their best, and document those looks on sites like Instagram, Lookbook and Tumblr, it appears that time may not be so far away.

If you’re wondering where Otto’s galaxy sweater (which is very Black Milk for men) is from, the answer is Aloha From Deer. The bad news? AFD is based in Poland and it would cost over £50 to ship one here. Looks like I’ll be going galaxy sweater-less for a little longer…unless anyone wants to find me a suitable UK alternative?

21 December, 2012

Winter Essentials

I wrote this as a guest post for a friend and (shock horror) I didn’t melt afterwards, even though there’s no controversy or anything. So I thought I’d post it here…

Channelling my inner Dallas Green... — Channelling my inner Dallas Green…

Woolly hat
Sure, kids at hardcore gigs (the same guys who wear Eastpak backpacks and have plugs in their ears the size of Oreos) may wear them all year round but the woolly hat comes into its own in the Winter. Pro tip: I use a pair of fake glasses to keep it at the perfect height and stop it slipping down over my eyes. The downside is that it makes me look like…a douchebag wearing fake glasses.

Grey hoodie
Yes, probably down to the fact that I spent most of my teenage years aspiring to be like One Tree Hill’s Lucas Scott, but I still think a washed out, supersoft grey hoodie takes some beating.

Shirt jacket
Jackets bore me. There, I said it. I’m so not down with dropping £100+ on a huge jacket that will take up a load of space in my already crowded wardrobe…though I will make an exception when I find the parka. I picked up this Ralph Lauren workshirt, pictured above, for £36 at TK Maxx (despite the RRP of £600…). No, seriously. It’s warm, soft and it didn’t require a trip to Oxfam to clear closet space for it. Sorry, Oxfam.

Beard
Because facial hair is for life, not just for Movember.

Cable knit jumper
As well as being a completely classic look, I can also be sure that this won’t start my grandparents off again at Christmas dinner about how nobody dressed like that in their day. In retrospect, wearing a Black Dahlia Murder vest on Christmas Day was a poor decision. Anyway, I got mine at New Look. Ok, so it doesn’t have a little polo player on it, but it was only twenty quid. TWENTY QUID.

Doc Martens
Although they’re best known for big clompy boots, Dr Martens also make some beautiful (and hard wearing) shoes that can take anything from tramping city pavements to walking the dog in a rural snowstorm. Mine even came with a tin of wax to re-waterproof them. It’s only a matter of time before I have too much to drink and use said wax on my moustache.

Scarf
Ahh, my favourite scarf. Just thinking about it makes my neck warm. Not as warm as actually wearing it does, mind. I’m probably the pickiest person in the world when it comes to scarves; I don’t know whether it’s just me, but I find about 90% of scarves really scratchy. I got mine at Beyond Retro for the princely sum of five pounds. No wonder a friend posted this on my Facebook wall the other day, along with the comment ‘THIS IS YOU’ -

12 November, 2012

#NextLockIn

Next men's desert boots — Rocking the ’30s golfer look.

It’s not often that five girls concurrently ask me to be their boyfriend. Of course, it’s worth pointing out that they’re offering to act as a beard to sneak me into a bar near Bond Street that’s hosting a Next event they’ve convinced me to gatecrash. Yep, I pretty much have the best blogger friends around.

Getting past the bouncer is the easy part, the saloon door moment (you know, the moment when a stranger walks into a saloon in a cowboy movie and everyone falls silent) comes when I walk into a bar FULL of girls. Already slightly buzzed on Babycham, I lean into Amy of Wolf Whistle and whisper ‘everyone’s smiling at me and I don’t know if it’s because they all know me or if some weird collective flirting thing is going on.’ ‘Well of course, everyone knows you, Stu,’ she replies. I’m not sure if she’s being sarcastic. Babycham buzz fading fast, I manage to acquire two free drinks pretty much immediately (the Gatecrashers’ Manifesto is pretty much ‘gatecrash hard, drink fast’) and am dubbed ‘Two Drink Stu’ by Becca of Fashion Train, who I instantly love.

Despite admitting to not having been invited, Next give me a VIP pass and invite me along to the lock-in anyway. They even gave me the same amount of store credit to spend as everyone else. I have to say, this is pretty stellar of them – even just letting me crash was nice of them, but gifting me products too was above and beyond the call of duty. WELL DONE, NEXT. There’s probably a moral in there somewhere – maybe it’s confidence can get you places, maybe it’s brands fear repercussions of turning people away, maybe it’s just that Babycham makes me absolutely irresistible…

The shopping experience itself was sublime. Admittedly I spent almost no time in the menswear department, instead lurking with Law, Maria and Hayley in the womenswear bit…doing nothing for my hetero rating, as per usual. I’ve always seen Next as something of a ‘safe’ choice, hence me spending my store credit on navy desert boots (pictured at the top of this post) and some wintery cable knit socks…

but the lock-in proved me wrong. The womenswear department in particular had some really quirky numbers. I fell in love (not in a creepy way though ~) with a pink lace blazer, which I ended up picking up for a special someone but haven’t yet managed to get a picture of them wearing. Whatever Tanya tells you, don’t listen to her; it WASN’T for me…

Massive points also go to the DJ, who not only looked the part but played some massive tunes. It’s not often that I have to fight the urge to get down with my bad self when I’m in Next. Credit to the photographer who snapped the following pic – I tend to forget to take ANY pictures as soon as a drop of alcohol passes my lips.

So yes, thanks for a great night, Next! And well done for proving that you ‘get’ social media and blogging – it would have been very easy just to turn me away from the whole thing, but you made me feel more welcome than I could have hoped for. And I didn’t even have to pretend to be anyone’s boyfriend.

8 November, 2012

PREVIEW: New Look S/S ’13

Until fairly recently (say, a couple of years ago), I wasn’t even aware that New Look did menswear. The fact that they are now one of the dominant forces on the high street and, in my opinion, one of the few big retailers doing anything varied or offbeat demonstrates the extent to which they’ve focused on developing the menswear side of things. As does the fact that they hosted a press day last week featuring only men’s clothing, something of an anomaly in a world where male collections tend to be something of a footnote at a lot of events hosted by high street brands. One of New Look’s PR team, Nicola, told me that this was a conscious effort on the part of the brand – ‘Menswear has outgrown that notion of only occupying a corner at otherwise female centric events – we like to host events like these, get the guys down and feed them up!’ She’s not wrong; the spread is spectacular, featuring everything from fish and chips and battered sausages to langoustines and an ocean of Buck’s Fizz. In which I pretty much drowned…

The room was divided into three, which corresponded to three main categories – ’90s revival, island life and rockabilly – the latter of which excited me the most. I instantly fell in love with this Day of the Dead inspired Mexican skulls t-shirt -

I was initially a bit sad to see that there are still a load of tribal prints around (I’ve kinda been over it since Topman decided putting it on EVERYTHING was a good idea), but I did like some of the more subtle Aztec touches. Like those on this shirt, for example -

Another favourite of mine was a pair of swimming trunks that seem to have been inspired by Orlebar Brown…

…but I somehow doubt that New Look’s dupe will sport the same £80+ price tag. I also have a suspicion that they’ll be finding their way into my wardrobe.

On the slightly more extravagant side of things…

Some of the ’90s section was a little more subtle, with shirts like this giving a quiet nod to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and splashy ’90s prints -

Overall, I think the team have done a great job of coming up with something fresh (yes, like the t-shirt above – THAT’S THE JOKE.) and original. I really like the rockabilly influences and can see it making a big splash on the high street. Who knows – maybe next summer all the One Direction-alikes who spend their Saturdays roaming Westfield will be dressing like James Dean and Elvis. All I know is those clydes better stay away from Bloomsbury Lanes or they’ll get a knuckle sandwich, ya dig?

Now, to get you in the rockabilly mood, here’s Tiger Army.

27 October, 2012

Fashion: Not Just For Girls

Unless you’re living under a rock, you’ve probably seen Brad Pitt as the new face of Chanel No. 5. If not, here it is:

The negative response the campaign has had from a lot of fashion bloggers and industry pundits doesn’t really surprise me. Responses tend to fall into one of two camps – ‘lol he looks like a tramp’ and ‘OMG, I LUFF BRAD’. In my opinion, both of these responses completely miss the point of the advert. I keep swinging between two responses of my own, and until all the constituent parts of the commercial are released I doubt I’ll be able to.

Theory number one – It’s worth stating that the second part of the new Chanel No. 5 movie (embedded above) still contains a ‘Chanel girl’ – positing Brad Pitt as the ‘star’ of the first advert then having him appear less in the second, his presence occasionally reduced to a mere voiceover, is indicative of the fact that the Chanel girl overshadows everything, even Brad Pitt. If I’m on the right track, the next part of the commercial will presumably feature even less of Pitt, perhaps leaving only his voice.

Theory number two (and the one I prefer) – To those who claim that Brad Pitt isn’t ‘a fit’ with Chanel, it should be pointed out that a big part of Chanel’s history is stripping away extravagant and overwrought aesthetics. Pitt’s masculine ‘au naturale’ look is a perfect contrast to Nicole Kidman’s OTT ‘I’m a daaancer’ advert. In this way, Pitt’s individualism and self confidence embody a masculine reworking of the Chanel girl. Pitt must have been aware that the advert would kick up controversy and parodies (…inevitable), but he did it anyway. Though the $7 million cheque in his pocket probably helped.

I’ve previously written about my experiences as a straight man in fashion (that post is probably still my favourite thing I’ve written on this blog), but recently I’ve noticed that things are changing. Pitt being chosen as the face of Chanel No. 5. David Beckham appearing on the cover of Elle Magazine. Articles appearing in this season’s Shortlist MODE supplement about men flirting with extravagant fashion. All of these are indicative of the fact that the voice of straight men in fashion is getting louder.

I’ve long has issues with the word ‘metrosexual’ – it’s insulting to men, both straight and gay. It designates fashion and grooming as being inherently feminine, thus associating homosexuality with being somehow girly or sissy. It also implies that men with an interest in fashion are a bit ‘wrong’ and can’t really be straight, so they need to be labelled something else. This is incredibly damaging to young straight men who are interested in fashion in that it can lead them to question their sexuality and identity. Weirdly, the show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy actually went a long way towards dispelling myths about homosexuality – the contrast between Carson and Jai’s tendency towards effeminacy and Thom, Ted and Kyan’s fairly masculine natures served as a reminder that homosexuality and femininity aren’t mutually exclusive. Excusing the odd joke about checking the straight guys out in the shower, the Queer Eye guys were never really that ‘gay’ – they’re just well groomed, stylishly dressed men who happen to sleep with men.

Something that appears in most fashion magazines that really frustrates me is the ever present ‘ask the bloke’ section. The name and aim may vary from mag to mag, but there is inevitably a column in which men offer up their opinion on trends only to be picked apart by industry experts. The whole experience is not only incongruous – Page 4: Laugh at what these ridiculous men said about mullet skirts!! Page 6: How to keep a man interested by dressing slutty!! – but also incredibly distasteful. There have been a couple of occasions where people have made remarks to me like ‘interesting opinion, for a guy’. I’m not one to get on a soapbox, but if wolf whistling at women and comments about how women don’t understand the offside rule aren’t ok, then neither are articles about hot guys we wish had fashion blogs (ok, ok, not quite a fair comparison, plus the article is much less shallow that the title suggests) or the assumption that a man’s opinion on fashion is less valuable than a woman’s.

But lately, the tide has been turning. I’ve done a couple of freelance styling projects (no mega-brands, just some chilled out advice) recently and was told that I was picked not only because of my honesty and frankness, but also because I have a solid opinion on most trends. This is something a lot of fashion bloggers seem to lack – they sit on the fence until a consensus has been reached about whether or not something is ‘in’ (usually relying on Company Magazine to declare it so) before they play their hand. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I’ll always happily put my cards on the table. ‘Do you think that’s because I’m a guy?’ I asked a friend I was helping to pick out an outfit. ‘No,’ she replied. ‘I think it’s because you have good instincts, and I trust them.’ Then I made a joke about us not being on an after-school special and we went back to chugging white wine spritzers.

Fashion is becoming more ‘unisex’ in other ways too – I was recently at the My Celebrity Fashion relaunch in Hoxton, and got quite a shock when I left. ‘Let me grab you one of the men’s gift bags!’ chirped a smiley PR lady. A MEN’S GIFT BAG. Granted, the only difference is that it had a tie in as well as the other stuff, but still! Since then I’ve been to a couple of events where they’ve had gift bags for the men in attendance as well as the women, but kudos to MCF for being the first one that I encountered.

Of course, revolution isn’t just about attitudes; even clothes themselves are changing to blur the lines of gender in fashion. Take, for example, Karl Lagerfeld’s recent capsule collection for Selfridges, differentiated only by fit. Other than that, both the guys’ and girls’ versions are identical -

Maybe that’s the revelation here. I frequently joke that I’m the only straight male fashion blogger in the world, but the world is changing. Teenage boys all over the world are opening copies of Vogue (which might just as easily be their own as their girlfriend’s, boyfriend’s or mother’s), think ‘that’s a beautiful dress’ and not feel the need to question their identity or their sexuality. What a time that will be.

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