Collected Articles on Style for Older Men

Early in the days of the blog (eleven years ago!) I began collecting articles on style for older men. I was looking through these recently and found that, while some are now quite old, they all contain good ideas so I've revived the feature and added some more recent material. If you know more, do let me know.

Older men with different styles - I'm with Svante @theurbanhippieswe

[Updated from the original 2011 feature] Here are a few of the better (and not too serious) newspaper and other articles on style and fashion for middle aged and older men. They are in no particular order; just as I find them. 

The important thing about fashion in middle age and beyond is that we are getting too old to take fashion seriously. Dress for yourself, feel comfortable, and don't listen to the fashion police.

What do I do? I keep an eye on Instagram and the better blogs for ideas, but try to use them to dress to suit my own personality rather than slavishly following transient fashions. Whatever you do, be careful about trying to relive lost youth by dressing like a teenager. It may work, if you have an extremely sophisticated sense of style, but you run the risk of looking a little sad. It's also unnecessary; we should be proud of our maturity - there are many classic styles ideal for the older man.

Photo The Sartorialist

Can you wear Topman at 67?
An interview in the Guardian with Nicky Haslam and his sense of fashion and style.

Old men dress cool
From one of my favourite bloggers, Style Salvage.

Take That:Style Icons for Older Men
An article in the Guardian. Take That!! Must be some mistake, surely?

Groovy Old Men: The Rise of the Silver Swingers
From the Independent, 'nuff said.

Can Middle-Aged Men Have Long Hair? 
From that excellent blogger, That's Not My Age.

Styles Middle-Aged Men Should Avoid If They Don't Want to Look Old: These Fashions Don't Make Anyone Look Young

Yahoo Voices.

Middle Aged-Men Who Dress Like Teenagers
Style Goes Strong

Newbie Fashion Tips for Grown-up Men
Stepcase Lifehack. This may seem a bit proscriptive, but is worth a read - most of the rules are sensible.

The Almost Shocking World of Older Men's Fashion
In a Grand Fashion reviews advice for older men. The article mentions Grey Fox as follows, "While there are many blogs for young, definitely under forty, I could find only one aimed at older, middle age men.  Grey Fox stresses dressing for one’s self instead of  for the latest fashion trend".

Why do men over 50 dress like tramps?
Mail Online. For personal reasons I avoid the Daily Mail. The standard of journalism is appallingly, with damaging and hurtful articles published with no proper research or regard for the truth. However, this is an unusually (for the Mail) sensible analysis and it is recommended reading.

Men stop caring about clothes at 37
Apparently the conclusion of a survey, apparently based on a survey, but I'm a bit suspicious about this one - it may be a dubious publicity stunt. Reported in the the Guardian here. Despite my doubts,  there is probably a degree of accuracy in these reports.

Fashion Tips for the Older Man
From the Belfast Telegraph - some interesting and useful comments about older men dressing well and not so well.

Medallion Man is Back - The Rise and Rise of Middle-Aged Vanity
From the Independent - not too bad, in parts. I agree with the warning that '...dignity is in danger of being jettisoned in the rush to drink at the fountains of eternal youth, or at least the rush to the hair dye kit, which is the next best thing'.

The humble Mamil: why we need 'middle-aged men in Lycra'
The Guardian. A nice defence of the MAMIL (middle-aged men in Lycra) by one of my favourite cycling writers, Matt Seaton.

Why do fathers insist on dressing like their teenage sons?
Which increasingly they seem to do although some sons adopt crisp shirts, chinos and brogues. See the picture which shows Tom Cruise and his son. Sydney Morning Herald.

The Sartorial Geniuses aged 60 plus
From The Telegraph - with wise words from blogger Tony Ton of jakandjil.com.

At the age of 37, you needn't start dressing like J*r*my Cl*rks*n
From The Guardian, a newspaper that I doubt Clarkson has ever read.

Skateboarding Past a Midlife Crisis
From the New York Times. Be careful, though; your bones have become more brittle as you get older.

Jeremy Paxman in tweeds is typical of the affliction that grips men in middle age
Hadley Freeman in the Guardian discusses older men's style. All about men reaching an age where they want to try something new. Some vestiges of truth here; maybe.

Why men over 40 are fashion disasters
From the Mail Online. The writer is mocked by his family for his dress sense. He suggests a few ideas, but this article is rather inconclusive, as I feel he doesn't really find a solution. He should find inspiration for his own style, grasp the nettle and confidently forge his own path. Not a happy outcome to this one.

How to dress well after 50
British GQ. Sensible with some interesting discussion; but nothing new.

Guys don't be a fashion disaster
Chicago Tribune.

Middle-aged men and their sad self-regard
The Independent. Sadly close to the bone; but then all ages are guilty of self-indulgence, not just older men.

Baseball caps, backpacks and an unlimited supply of flannel shirts: How middle-aged Silicon Valley CEOs compete with their twenty-something rivals

From the Mail Online - given that it's the Mail, it's a surprisingly good read (assuming it's not all made up). It reports, for example, how, 'One tech CEO admitted that he probably wouldn't be in his job if he had not shaved his grey hair and swopped brogues for sneakers to blend in.'

Fifty shades of silver fox: Blog celebrating stylish middle-aged men takes internet by storm

From the Mail Online again. About a blog called Grey Fox started by a middle-aged man called David Evans looking for style. Seems unlikely to me!

What's a man to wear when his pecs turn to 'soft peaks'?

Speak for yourself! From The Guardian.

Dressing your age - 40s
Dressing your age - 50s
Posts on the now dormant Fashionbeans - I don't agree with everything here, but basically sensible advice.

Marc Jacobs at 50
Showing that there's hope for us all in changing our lifestyles and getting fit. From Mail Online.

Male celebrities with grey hair
In case you find comfort in the thought that even they are getting older. From sofeminine.co.uk.

I want to feel like a new man
Guardian columnist has a makeover (apparently paid for by Hennessy - some makeover!)

The Vintage Years: is the fashion world starting to respect the middle-aged market?

More about the women's fashion market, but much is applicable to us chaps. From the Guardian.

How I Became a Fashion Don't A lovely response to a Details magazine article. Simon Doonan describes Katherine Wheelock as 'some kind of conservative anti-flamboyance watchdog for the colostomy-bag brigade'. Brilliant.

Dressing Up is a Sign of Vitality New York Times. Ari Seth Cohen, of the Advanced Style Blog, comments on the Wheelock and Doonan articles above.

Why older men are more stylish than young men A nice piece in The Telegraph, October 2014.

Men's style dilemma: Am I too old to wear this? This Telegraph piece makes some good points and concludes, correctly in my view, that the question is, 'Does this suit me?', not, 'Am I too old for this?'

Men become invisible at 39: Now they know how women feel. Again, from The Telegraph. Reports the conclusions of a survey, but then, as the man said, there's lies, damn lies and surveys.

Is it OK for men not to care about fashion?  The Telegraph (I'm impressed how this newspaper writes about age and style so much). Confuses fashion and style, doesn't add much to the discussion.

What makes certain men more stylish? The Telegraph. A thoughtful piece by David Gandy which comes to the same conclusion as I have in my writing. As I say in my comments at the top of this post, style is about dressing to suit your personality, not following trends. Recommended reading.

How to Dress you Age - Forties British GQ. Good, emphasises style rather than fashion and highlights fit.

How to Dress your Age - Fifties British GQ. Good stuff, based on advice not to give up and again emphasising the importance of fit.

How to Dress your Age - Sixties and Beyond British GQ. Based on the inaccurate (I think, anyway) assumption that most men over 60 want to look younger, but this doesn't affect what is essentially good advice.

20 Things No Man over 40 Should Wear Daily Telegraph. I don't like writing that tells a man what he should and shouldn't wear. We may make suggestions and give our opinion, but not presume to tell others what to do. This verges on that approach. However, I agree with much of it!

Tom Hanks is redefining dad style - Not a bad article at all. Some sound advice from US GQ.

How to Dress Your Age - some useful ideas in this Gentleman's Gazette piece.

And see my own scribblings on this blog, for example on middle aged men and jeans.

Real People: Style for Older Men - I Put This On kindly interviewed me on this topic - sound advice (of course ;)).

What not to wear if you are a man over 50: The Guardian March 2019. Some useful thoughts here and much I'm not so sure about. Worth a read.

Dad Style: How to dress well as an older man: I wrote this here on the blog some years ago when 'dad style' was much discussed. Looking back, I'm not sure I like all that I say here, but have a read and complain to the management if you're unimpressed.

Grey Fox Style on Instagram

The 20 Definitive style rules for men over 40: cargo shorts need not apply - this is one of those black and white advice columns that set my teeth on edge - do this, don't do that. You can always tell what they will be like when you read the word 'rules' in the title. There are no rules - there are guidelines. While I confess I do follow some of their 'rules', I don't believe in being so proscriptive.

Dressing the older man: I came across this nicely considered piece in a blog I was unaware of before, Masculine Style. He makes the important point that staying in shape helps. Otherwise there is little you haven't read browsing the selection above, but a nice summary of thoughts for the older man in search of style.

Experience Required: Style Lessons from Men in Their Sixties: (August 2022) I had just about given up looking for decent articles on style for older men when I found this on Mr Porter's site. It makes a nice change actually interviewing stylish older men rather than telling them what they should or shouldn't be wearing. 

Ten Tips on What to Wear for Older Men by ace personal stylist, Sarah Gilfillan of Sartoria Lab.

What Are Men Wearing Now? NY Times. A useful style update.

Photo Tommy Ton - GQ

The New Land Rover Defender After Two Years

I've been the owner of the new Land Rover Defender for two years. I have used it for what it was designed for; long motorway drives, winding and swooping A roads, narrow rough country lanes, floods, snow, ice and occasional off-road. I bought it as I needed a tough and reliable car which would be highly capable on poor roads and rough terrain, and that is precisely, with a few reservations (read on), what the new Defender has proved to be.

At the launch of the new Land Rover Defender at Gaydon in September 2019

Mine (pictured below) is the base model 5 door 110; the only extras I paid for are green paint and a roof-rack. Despite this it came very highly-specced and there is nothing I have regretted not ordering. The inline 6 cylinder diesel is powerful, has plenty of torque (but is far from frugal at just over 33 mpg). It's excellent as a quiet and  refined motorway cruiser. The seats are comfortable, the interior roomy with an element of minimalist yet highly practical luxury. I can easily remove the clip in carpets, leaving a washable plastic floor, the seats are reasonably stain-proof and there are grab handles, unconcealed rivet-like bolts and a dash that combines hi-tech with a memory of early Series Land Rover and Defenders in its shape. 

Land Rover country

Indeed the whole car cunningly combines traditional Land Rover styling with contemporary design genius. This is a beautiful, chunky, tough-looking car. Land Rover designed it with durability as its key characteristic. It is also claimed to be the most capable off-road/road vehicle yet. This is achieved partly through the technology that allows the touch screen to be used to set up the car for most types of terrain. There are no red and yellow headed mechanical levers to be pulled and pushed (as on the olde Defenders) to select high and low range and four or two-wheel drive. That's all history. Higher models than mine allow a little more control for extreme off-road stuff, but I suspect these are very little used. The touch screen settings have seen me through all sorts of terrain, snow, ice and floods with consummate ease. It's this reliance on tech that was one of the reasons that traditional Land Rover owners were so against the new Defender who felt that mechanical simplicity is essential to the Defender name. 

I was lucky enough to attend the launch of the new car at Gaydon in September 2019. This was accompanied by a great wailing and gnashing of teeth from die-hard old Defender fans, few if any of whom had even seen the car let alone driven it. I approached the new car with an open mind (and I own a 1967 Series 2a Land Rover station wagon, so am not entirely in the pocket of the devil). I loved the appearance of the new car and by the technology and specifications. 

My Land Rover Defender has seen action in all sorts of conditions.
The steel wheels are ideal on the poor rocky roads I drive on.

We forget that the old Defender had changed very little in its 60 years. While most car manufacturers had changed their models' designs every few years; the Defender remained fossilised, little changed over the years. It's interesting to speculate whether a more conventional and gradual development and updating over that 60 plus years would have led to a vehicle much different to the new Defender. 

Sadly, the old Defender didn't meet emission or safety requirements and, while the diehards may have been unwilling to admit it, was not selling well its last few years. Change was needed and has been achieved: the new car is better than the old off-road and very refined on the road. 

The shortage of computer chips have caused long waits for those wanting the car. As one of the first owners of the new Defender, it's been interesting watching the types of owner who've been attracted to the car as it became more widely available. The numbers of heavily blinged Defenders that will never see mud or an off-road lane suggests that for some, this is a fashion vehicle. This type if ownership can't conceal the real potential of this car. As one of the (I suspect) minority of owners who drive it as a real Defender, I love its robust practicality for use on poor country roads, off road, in floods, ice and snow and as a refined touring car, rather than as a pimped up toy. 

Our new Defender is a superb tourer: Scotland (top) and Cumbria (above)

I've enjoyed the new Defender immensely. It's been totally reliable (so far). I love almost every aspect of the car. What don't I like? These concerns weren't deal breakers for me, but will be when the contract expires early next year: 

Firstly, this is a large car: too large for rural use on narrow lanes and roads, suggesting that Land Rover saw its real market elsewhere. I'd have preferred something around 15-20 cm narrower; how much of this width is the result of a need to meet safety requirements I don't know. The cameras help with management of the width in narrow spaces and the driver soon gets used to the size. However, the demise of large cars has been predictable for some years and I don't know why Land Rover felt it necessary to make it so bulky. 

Secondly, like a few other car manufacturers, Land Rover are behind in developing green vehicles. There should be an all electric car with a good range on the stocks but this appears unlikely to materialise until 2024. There's a dissonance here between the high tech nature of the car's design and the reliance on old fossil technology.

Thirdly, I achieve some 33.5 mpg from the car, not bad for such weight and power, but it looks outdated in a car so advanced in other ways. The car is described as a 'mild hybrid', with a small amount of electrical power being generated by the car which reduces fuel consumption by a limited amount. It would be good to see Land Rover further ahead with green technology.

The Land Rover Defender

Mine is the 5 door 110 diesel model, the shorter 90 has three doors. An even larger (why?) 130 model and a V8 powered car have appeared since I bought mine. There is a basic commercial model, but I have yet to see one used as such. A hybrid model is available but is pricey and, like all hybrids, has a limited electric power range of less than 30 miles. A fully electric is promised for 2024.

This is a capable and fun car and I love it. If only there was a greener car that equalled its capabilities.

See Land Rover Defender

PS: I don't mean this post to diminish the old Land Rover in any way. That remains a superb workhorse capable of most tasks. I'd never sully my new Land Rover by throwing a pile of logs, soil, a sheep or a couple of hay bales in the back. That's a task for the original - they are different cars, both supremely capable in their own ways. The last load in my '67 Land Rover was a pile of dirty cobblestones which I wouldn't put in the new vehicle!

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Ralph Lauren Autumn Winter '22: Honouring Roots and British Style

For Autumn/Winter 2022 Ralph Lauren Polo (link below) say they honour their "roots of distinctive details, tradition in textiles, and time-honored tailoring". The two videos below show their collections for men and women. It's interesting to see the strong British influence that underlies the American Ralph Lauren brand: tweeds and cloths from British mills, country life and sports, mountains, rugby football, a classic Land Rover, the Aston Martin, a steaming cup of tea and the heritage of the English country house. 

Ralph Lauren Shetland Tweed Jacket - Abraham Moon & Sons England cloth

Ralph Lauren's preppy and Ivy League looks owe much historically to British styles. Ralph Lauren himself said in an interview with Esquire in 2014, "England has always inspired my style and designs, and my respect for things that have a quality the more they are worn. The British have a true appreciation for heritage and tradition...."

So, the U.S. Ralph Lauren brand oozes British menswear heritage and styles - what British brands do the same? See here for my thoughts on this question: British Style: Is It Time for a Revival?

 

See Ralph Lauren.