Grey Fox's Friday Favourites: socks, hair, boxer shorts, Private White VC

This is the first of an occasional Friday round-up of news and of products I've tried and approved of. If you'd like to contribute your selected tips, news or recommendations about favourite products, please e-mail me.

Archer & Peyton socks

I'm a bit of a sucker for a nice pair of socks, particularly if they come brightly-coloured. I've had to struggle hard to manipulate this image to show the lovely apple-green of these socks from Archer & Peyton, whose products are beautifully-made in Italy. Lovely colour, lovely socks.

Visit Archer & Peyton's website for a range of patterned and colourful socks, with style advice, limited editions, information and a shop to buy your choice of hosiery.

White Hot hair products

I reviewed these products for grey and white hair a while ago. I recently realised how much I'd come to rely on them when I ran out of their shooshing creme, which so effectively keeps my longer Fox locks on place. An urgent message and replacements were rushed to me by the lovely people at White Hot.

I've been using a number of their products, from shampoo to conditioner, and they've been ideal for my grey hair as it becomes whiter, keeping it lustrous and healthy-looking. Highly recommended.

For men and women, they can be ordered from the White Hot Hair website.

British Boxers introduce stretch trunks, made in England

Another brand I've talked about before, British Boxers have added stretch trunks to their range. For those of us who prefer their assets to be held more securely than looser conventional shorts, these provide the very comfortable answer. I'm planning a feature on this brand soon.

Meanwhile, you can buy the stretch trunks online at British Boxers (new website due soon) or at Susannah Hall Tailors.

Private White VC news

It's been a busy time at Private White VC. They've welcomed The Princess Royal at their Manchester factory, refurbished their shop in Lamb's Conduit Street in London, had a successful time at Goodwood Revival and are about to open a second London store. Their AW14 collection contains some mouth-watering products, including gorgeous knitwear and the rather nice cashmere Ashley blazer.

It's good to see their collection developing each year and to see a proud British menswear producer achieving the recognition they deserve.

The Princess Royal pays homage to Brutus, head of Private White VC

Grey hair 5 - with fawns and browns

This is the last (for the time being) of the Grey Hair for men series. How does grey hair look with browns - russets, fawns, chocolate, aubergine? Here's the answer. You may wish to add a highlighting splash of colour - blues, reds, oranges, mustard yellow, pinks; perhaps framed within a crisp white shirt.

All images from The Sartorialist (unless stated).

Image origins not known

Image Tommy Ton, Pitti Uomo 2013

Tommy Ton

Grey hair special - grey vixens, women proud of their grey hair

In my search for images for my posts about grey hair in men, I came across far fewer of women. Their rarity got me wondering about the social conventions, pressures and influences that require women to dye their hair, when most men go grey.

Looking at these images (many of whom you will know) I'm struck how rarely we see grey-haired women in their forties and fifties; I wish we could see more.

[Ed. Since writing this post I have started a board celebrating grey-haired women on Pinterest - see here].

I don't know where these images came from originally; please let me know if I've infringed any rights.

Grey hair 2 - Complement it with blues

Grey hair? Part 2 of a series here. Add colour with blues; pale, bright, royal, navy, cornflower, midnight, mid-blues; whatever. 

I'm grateful to Bill Gentle, who gave me his permission to use his set of images of Bradley Roberts of Oakland CA. I was struck by the power of these portraits, as well as the grey hair/blue clothes combination. See Backyard Bill for more of Bill's photography.

Look out for Grey Vixens later this week; looking at middle-aged women who go beautifully grey.

Image The Sartorialist

All images below from The Sartorialist.

Grey hair 1 - Enhance it with silver and grey.

If you're going grey, you're lucky. Greys and silvers are neutral, but very elegant, colours which go with virtually anything.

Generally, as I will examine over the next few weeks, the brighter the accompanying colour the better. However, as shown below by various men and Jamie Lee Curtis, a muted and very sophisticated affect can be achieved by simply adding greys and silvers in clothes and accessories. All images from The Sartorialist (unless stated).

Image origin not known

Image origin not known

Image origin not known

And here are two more images, found for me by Fred Gonsowski, the first from Dapper Lou.

Image Dapper Lou

Image Trashness.com