Notorious J Marvellous

Post 2.  Here it comes.  This is the one where the tweed comes out.  I like tweed.  I wore a variation on this outfit to work the other day and a lawyer told me that he very much liked my “English dandy sort of thing” which I took to be a compliment.  He lavished particular praise on the pocket square and the shoes, but as the shoes I was wearing then were some ropey looking brogues I bought from a Marks and Spencers outlet store in Devon I have taken the footwear up a notch for your pleasure.  Anyway, enough scene setting, let’s move on to what you’re really here for:  pictures of clothes.  As is fast becoming customary, I will start at the top and work my way down like some kind of fashion blogging Another Level.

"English dandy sort of thing....yeah."

So there’s a lot to chat through here.  The jacket is a grey tweed which is a bit of a family heirloom having seen previous service as my dad’s school blazer, manufactured by a firm called Cobleys who proudly proclaim themselves to be “School outfitters to Brighton, Canterbury, Hove and Tonbridge” at some point in the mid seventies.   It’s much nicer than my school blazer which was a hideous brown polyester affair, about which I’m certain that, should I ever spawn, my offspring would not be blogging about forty odd years down the line.  This on the other hand has some very nice twill work going on, a good cut, and it’s useful for crossing that awfully rocky divide between work and casual wear which has a lot of potential for going hideously wrong.  Cobleys, I salute you.

The belt was another charity shop find, and does the job, nothing too out there, but I do have a thing for leather belts.  I had a short lived phase when I was a young teenager of wearing ties as belts, but as I’ve matured I’ve found leather to be far more satisfactory.  In the above shot it’s wrapped around the waistband of a pair of blue slacks which I got from River Island.  Whilst River Island may never be in the same league as Cobleys, I have to compliment them for the fit on the derriere on these, and the colour is nice.  Granted they do a lot of terrible student t-shirts and hideous scarves, but if you have the time to trawl through the detritus you can find some good stuff.

Tie fighter

This shirt is a Farah which I picked up at Urban Outfitters in the summer last year.  It’s proved itself to be a versatile piece; short sleeved so good for casual summer vibes but also gives a good account of itself in a slightly more formal setting.  I would like to get a long sleeved version as it’s flatteringly cut, and the collar really lifts it for me.  I think that essentially Farah are good at the basics, done well.  Not a statement piece necessarily, but it sits just right, looks right; you don’t need to worry about it.

For today’s look I’ve added a natty bow tie and pocket square.  The tie was picked up from a charity shop a little while back.  It cost me the princely sum of £1, and was sold to me amidst gales of laughter from the guy behind the desk (who was wearing a fetching pair of stained jogging bottoms) but I like it.  The pocket square was a stocking filler (via Father Xmo) and it’s a lovely print.  I’ve also  had fun looking up the different ways you can fold them which was a previously unknown art form to me.  Here’s a link if you want to get into double peaks and the like:  Fold your pocket square child, you walk like a peasant.

All Rise.

Moving on down to the shoes, we round off this look with a pair of sky blue DMs from the summer.  I really like these shoes visually.  What can I say about these that you won’t have seen from the picture?  They rule.  Sky blue canvas, white laces, showing why DMs are having yet another of their resurgent periods.  They’re never far from the action although they do have periods where they go off the boil a bit, but I fell in love with these the moment I saw them staring out of the DM store window.  I’ve never really been a fan of the standard black DM, tarnished for me by their association with rubbish goths who like Carter USM and the Wonder Stuff, but these are some next level bsns.  These shoes have attracted compliments from complete strangers in pubs, inspired slavish devotion from friends, they really do look that good.  The only down side I can think of to mention is that they are absolute swines to break in, and if I walk any distance in them I develop blisters on parts of my feet that I didn’t even know existed.   That said, I think they’re worth the pain.