Wolsey tradition - Grey Fox buys shorts for Summer

When it comes to style I'm a real sucker for tradition. If a jacket recreates one that Mallory wore on Everest, I'll buy it. If a purveyor of menswear supplies the Royal Family, I'm hooked.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I went to investigate Wolsey's new shop in Brewer Street in London. The company is shifting away from traditional underwear and golfing jumpers to become more fashionable.

How would this move away from a more conservative (and middle-aged) market suit me as an older man? The revamped company still depends on very traditional values and much is made of the company's history, for example providing clothing to Scott's Antarctic expedition a century ago this year. As ever, successful marketing can be very schizophrenic.

Summer has arrived at last and Grey Fox's legs need an airing - so I was after a pair of shorts. The service was friendly and enthusiastic, quite a change from the studied indifference found in many London shops. The clothes are an inspiring mix of styles and tastes. There is something for most tastes, high fashion and less so.

True to Wolsey's traditions, the Wolsey 1755 shorts (the date the company was founded) are well made and, for me, the slim cut was a welcome change from the flappy-legs style. They are knee length on me, but look good folded over if a shorter style is needed.

I recommend Wolsey to other older men in search of style.

Patriotic style for the Queen's jubilee - Fashion and the Flag, Brighton Museum

The exhibition in Brighton, Fashion and the Flag, celebrates the Diamond Jubilee and London Olympics. On display are outfits from the best of British designers including Vivienne Westwood, Alexander McQueen, Jasper Conran, John Rocha, Alice Temperley, Stephen Jones, Barbour and Doctor Martens. It runs from 3rd May to 25th November at the Fashion & Style Gallery, Brighton Museum

All this got me thinking about what might be available to a man of style who wishes to celebrate these historic events. I'll cover that in another post!

Dress by Jasper Conran - Image copyright Paul Grove 

Whatever happened to white canvas brogues for hot weather wear?

In a recent post I mentioned white leather-soled brogues. This reminded me that years ago I bought a pair of vintage canvas brogues from an antiques market in Chelsea, London (unfortunately they never fitted properly). They were ex-Royal Navy - part of a tropical whites uniform.

Photo Denhams Auctioneers

In these days of grubby Converse shoes and trainers we could reintroduce a bit of summer style by reinventing the canvas leather-soled brogue. Any shoemakers out there up for this? I suppose that a drawback of white canvas is the difficulty of keeping it clean. I remember having this problem as a child when most cricket boots were canvas. The modern naval equivalents have leather uppers (see below). They can be found at Silvermans, military clothing sellers in the UK.

Photo eBay

Harris Tweed video

As I said in yesterday's post, with spring advancing into early summer it's no longer the weather for Harris Tweed, which is best used when the temperature is below 12 degrees Celsius or so. However, this is a nice video with much information about my favourite fabric.

Dry cleaning tweed jackets? Try a hand-wash for a rugged finish!

As the weather warms, a tweed jacket becomes increasingly antisocial as the wearer slowly acquires the aroma of a damp moorland sheep. So, now is the time to clean jackets for Summer storage.

Inspired by a comment by Nigel Cabourn, in which he advocated hand-washing the Harris tweed Mallory jacket for a rugged finish, I thought I'd give it a try - if only to save the costs of dry-cleaning! Cabourn advises turning the jacket inside-out, soaking it for ten to forty minutes in lukewarm water (the longer the time, the greater the shrinkage of up to half a size) and then wringing out the water before drying the jacket in the Sun (which we've recently rediscovered here in London). Here's a photo from the Cabourn blog -

I tried this with my Cabourn Tenzing jacket and with an old Marks and Spencers Harris tweed jacket which I had put aside to give to a charity shop. Both were slightly large for me, so I was interested to see if a wash would improve the fit.

Both jackets ended up feeling considerably softer and with the worn, slightly creased appearance of a well-used and much loved garment. They shrank slightly and are more comfortable to wear as a result. Give it a try, but don't blame me if it all goes wrong!

Should older men wear white trainers anywhere except the gym?

Should the older man confine the wearing of white trainers to the gym, tennis court or sports field? I think so and present these photos from The Sartorialist in evidence. (This is a very personal view; of course you can wear what you like!)

I've admired the style of this gentleman, as shown in the lower picture, in a previous post. I'd be happy to look this stylish in middle age. However, I'm not convinced by the white sports shoes in the first picture. I love the white chinos, shirt and pocket square highlighting the pumpkin orange linen blazer - that's true style - but wouldn't a pair of  canvas brogues (see below) set off this look more successfully?

I showed the first picture to my daughter who is in her early twenties and, for me, a bit of a style guru. Seeing the top of the picture she purred in admiration. As I then scrolled down the purr became a gasp of horror as the trainers appeared. Please let me know what you think.

Wouldn't these these Trickers white leather brogues have looked better? Or maybe vintage white canvas brogues, if you can find them, as worn years ago by the Royal Navy in tropical climes. 

Hollywood Rides a Bike

Published earlier this year, Hollywood Rides a Bike - Cycling with the Stars fuses glamour and style with one of my favourite pastimes - cycling. Its photographs of stars on their bikes show how the sport need not necessarily involve sweat, Lycra and carbon fibre.

The book is a spin-off from Steven Rea's blog, Rides a Bike and it contains 125 colour and black and white images of the stars riding every sort of bike - well worth a read to get you riding in style.

And here are a couple of my favourites from the book and blog - all pictures are courtesy Rides a Bike.

Two Greedy Italians - now that's middle age style!

I've really enjoyed the Two Greedy Italians combining Italian cooking at its best, the beautiful countryside and towns of Italy and stylish Italian cars, it's a rare television treat. The two presenters show typical middle-aged Italian flair in their dress, cooking style and humorous approach to life. Antonio Carluccio & Gennaro Contaldo's book has just been published and contains some of the delicious recipes they showcased in the series.

Grey Fox is having a rest for a few days

Life has been very hectic the last few days - exciting life events - so the search for style has taken a back seat for a while. Normal service will be resumed very shortly.

Omega Speedmaster "Grail" a stylish, practical but rare watch

I've long been an admirer of the Omega Speedmaster, as discussed here. Its robust good looks and history as the only wristwatch worn on the Moon gives it a unique place in wristwatch history.

Various versions of the Omega Speedmaster "Moonwatch"

However, there is a rare Speedmaster which even the most hardened Moonwatch owner would give his (it's usually a man) right arm for. Known as the "Grail" it's superficially similar to the conventional Speedy, but, unlike this watch, which has a manual wind movement, the "Grail" has an automatic Lemania 5100 movement which is renowned for its strength and for the clarity of its dial. As a practical and legible chronograph (a watch which has additional buttons controlling the second hand, giving it a stopwatch function) it has no equal - it has a date, which the Moonwatch doesn't. It's also extremely rare, thus guaranteeing its popularity with obsessive wristwatch collectors, even though the quality if its movement is not as high as that of the Moonwatch.

I am very grateful to "Chinnock" from TZ-UK for allowing me to use copies of the pictures he took of a "Grail" Speedmaster which show the attractive and functional nature of this watch.

More influences - Free & Easy magazine

This blog is all about the multitude of influences which I stumble across on my search for middle age style (will it ever be achieved?) The Japanese have a sharply-tuned sense of style, borrowing unashamedly, but very creatively, from US and European cultures and fashions. Free & Easy magazine is an example of this. I love the way this publication puts together ideas and trends.

There's plenty of influential material here - as usual, you take or leave it as you please. A lot of it is very US-influenced, but a British twist can be applied easily - look at all that tweed!

Style...an Anglophile living in Brooklyn

I stumbled on this video about Sean Crowley who, believe it or not, lives in Brooklyn. He's clearly an Anglophile - anyway, enjoy! There's lots to inspire here. With thanks to The Dandy Portraits.

Spring in the park - trying black and white

I've always liked photography and admire those who can take powerful and interesting shots of everyday objects. I tried some black and white shots in the park on one of those fresh, sunny, Spring days that we have in London at this time of year (when not raining). I'm not claiming any merit here; I just enjoy taking them and then fiddling on the laptop to achieve a feel for the original situation I was trying to capture. These shots were taken a couple of weeks ago - the trees are now budding fast.

What's all this got to do with a search for style in middle age? Everything, I think.

All photos (c) Grey Fox.

Looks I like...influences on a man looking for style in middle age

This blog is meant to record influences in my search for style in middle age. In trawling the web I occasionally come across photos of looks I like - and which no doubt influence, in some way, how I dress. Here are a few, some of which I may have used before! 

Mr Porter - but maybe not the bow tie!

Nigel Cabourn

The great Fausto Coppi

NATO watch strap on an elegant vintage Rolex Oyster

Well, the jacket, tie and jeans work well, even if nothing else does!

Kennedy in relaxed sailing mood - chinos, Shetland sweater and polo shirt.

Ivy League Inspired - Mr Porter and Sir Paul Smith collaborate

Mr Porter are launching the first of several collections created in collaboration with leading designers. This one, "Ivy Inspired", was created by Sir Paul Smith and found its inspiration in 'Take Ivy', a book of photographs shot on US Ivy League campuses in the 1960s and originally published in Japan in 1965 (and still available in reprint). Here are some of the original shots from which the collection takes cues.

Sir Paul explains further,

 "In London the Ivy look was brought in by a lot of the GIs who were stationed out in places such as Cambridgeshire. They came into London at the weekends and went to clubs such as The Scene, in Soho. There was a quite an interest in the way these guys dressed, because they looked so cool and slick. The clothes are quite timeless, and there's always been a hard core of fans.  It's a look you can easily wear with your existing wardrobe"

There's something about the middle picture that reminds me of British mods of that time. Did they take inspiration from Ivy style?

And here are some of the clothes, all given the Paul Smith twist. Button-down collars, chinos, sweatshirt - all that we expect from Ivy-inspired clothes. I love the gingham shorts in particular. As you'd expect if you've followed my blog, I'd like to have seen a tweed jacket, but the Spring and Summer are not the time for such jackets. As a timeless style, there's something here for all ages and tastes.