Menswear

Nautical niceties for AW24 menswear



SS Daley AW24

There’s nothing new about nautical themes in fashion, but we can never get enough of them. SS Daley is my AW24 menswear highlight so far (above and below). Styled by Harry Lambert, it’s a romantic, eclectic take on the Oxbridge student life of a bygone era, with an added nautical influence via an E.M Forster story about an English boy’s encounter with an Italian fisherman. Give me all the messy layering, practical headgear, fish-print foulards and pops of yellow please. Amy de la Haye’sShip Shape’ (act 2 of ‘Oh Boy! Dressing Boys 1750-1930’) exhibition at the Fashion & Textile Museum looks like a good source for further maritime-themed inspo. (more…)



Secret London: Clifford Street



Perfumer H Clifford Street

Clifford Street, a London gem so discreet I can never quite locate it, just got more inviting.

If you ever need some respite from the madness of New Bond Street and Regent Street, just look for the wee street opposite the Dior flagship on Bond. Here you’ll find Morris’s café for a cuppa (and occasional sighting of Bill Nighy), Connolly’s leathergoods and fabulous oversize knits, Adret’s relaxed-yet-always-refined contemporary menswear, and all manner of gentlemanly ready-to-wear finds at Anderson & Sheppard Haberdashery (in a past life this was the rather more flamboyant Mr Fish). (more…)



Armani, Armani, Ar-Ar-Armani



Alessandra Carlsson Beri Smither Harue Miyamoto for Emporio Armani by Peter Lindbergh 1989

Before The Row, Lemaire and Brunello Cucinelli, there was Calvin, Donna and best of all, Giorgio. A fabric meister, rigorous deconstructor (before Margiela), uber-minimalist yet (contrary to expectation) anti-perfectionist, Giorgio Armani is the godfather of what we now call ‘quiet luxury’.

Fantastic Man has a, well, fantastic deep dive on the man himself in its latest issue, as well as a mention of Made In Milan, Martin Scorsese’s 1990 mini-documentary, that gives us a delicious glimpse into Mr Armani’s influences and philosophies. (more…)



Joe McKenna x Zara AW23



Joe McKenna Zara menswear aw23

LOL. Joe McKenna is so simultaneously legendary and low key that his Zara menswear limited edition collab went completely under my radar. I just discovered it by chance (it launched a month ago) and it seems there’s plenty left online. (OK looks like he styled it, rather than ‘designed’ it, but still.)

Joe McKenna is the super-stylist who has worked extensively with Bruce Weber and Steven Meisel (another publicity-shy-yet-AAA-list image-maker who Zara persuaded to create a collection) and in his dim, distant past, also acted in Corrie (as you do). (more…)