The science of what makes something popular (or fashionable) in todays über-socially-linked society is as fascinating as it is mind-boggling. Take the unfortunate rise of the skinny jean on men for example. We know that Hedi Slimane in his former role as designer at DIOR Homme had a great deal to do with exposing this rock-inspired look into the mainstream of fashion, but I still cannot believe how acceptable it has become in most large cities to see men in what basically amounts to a pair of tights. I do not condone them on most men – unless you happen to be a rock star yourself (or Hedi Slimane). A word of caution to anyone over 100 lbs: don’t try it. There is something just wrong about men in ‘meggings’.

A more interesting menswear trend that I unconsciously adopted recently is the Rolled Up Trouser. I am not sure when exactly I decided to start rolling up my jeans this past spring, but I strangely just ‘felt like it’. I had visions of myself in the perfect pair of RRL ‘Ghurka’ coloured chinos, rolled four or five times paired with a smart loafer or even a beach friendly flip-flop and set about perfecting the scene. There is something so relaxed and sporty about this look and as a she designer, I naturally have a great footwear wardrobe to display – but were there outside influences at work here that I am unaware of or have I just been watching too many John Hughes movies lately?

The weather here in London this summer has been downright tropical and the Harrys Design Studio is not air-conditioned (The English cannot seem to justify the expense for a mere two week summer) so a fresh breeze on the old ankles has been nice.

The Creative Director in RRL and Harrys 'JAMES' loafer

Cut to the week of Pitti Uomo in Florence, Italy. The greatest menswear brands in Europe were on display and the well dressed crowd of menswear buyers is legendary, but what I began to notice was how many men were rolling. As I became more aware of it – it appeared to have clearly reached epidemic proportions. Suffice to say, it’s a trend. How long it will last is anyone’s guess, but based on the last appearance of The Roll in the 80’s, I would give it about two years in the current juggernaut-state of online fashion. It bodes well for the shoe industry. The exposure is fantastic.

Now…if your considering trying this at home, a few notes of caution:

First: tanned ankles are a must – so that rules out most of the UK straight away. Nobody wants to see a couple of pale, pasty pegs on any man, chic loafer or not. Get some self-tanner or get thee to the beach pronto!

Second: Please avoid the skinny jean. I am seeing a outside movement towards a wider trouser lately on the Truly Fashionable, so Slightly-Older-Big-Guys like myself might want to adopt a more baggy ‘Workwear’ approach and leave the Breakfast Club look to the kids.

Good luck gents and enjoy the breeze.

Our Gordon

While scanning the International Herald Tribune today, I noticed an OP-ED piece by famed NY Times journalist Paul Krugman titled ‘Looters in Loafers’ which went something like this:

Looters in Loafers

By PAUL KRUGMAN

Published: April 18, 2010

“Last October, I saw a cartoon by Mike Peters in which a teacher asks a student to create a sentence that uses the verb “sacks,” as in looting and pillaging. The student replies, “Goldman Sachs.”

Sure enough, last week the Securities and Exchange Commission accused the Gucci-loafer guys at Goldman of engaging in what amounts to white-collar looting.”

Now…call me biased, but I had one of those ‘oh-no-he-didn’t’ moments in my head and had to re-read for clarity. Have our banking brothers and sisters become so vilified that we now single them out for ridicule based on their footwear choices? Is a respected NY TImes journalist really acting like a high school Mean Girl or am I missing something here? Is Mr. Krugman trying to insight the public stoning of men in Sloane Square just because of their weakness for pricey footwear trends? Ouch.

What amuses (and disturbs) me even more is that the conspicuous consumption and famously flashy style of the High Flying Investment Banker has now become a mark of shame. The once celebrated and enviable lifestyle of the ‘City Boy’ here in London might have to go underground. No more Gucci Loafer – no more Pinstripe Suit – and please, please, please…stop buying all the nice apartments – it will give you away!

Note the following excerpt from this week’s New York Times about a Chelsea (NYC) flat that was used in the new sequel to WALL STREET. Seems that he insisted his personal effects be hidden even from the film crew for fear of envious retribution:

“The owner, not surprisingly, works in finance. He declined to comment, saying the bank he works for would not allow it; because of populist anger over Wall Street bailouts, financial institutions have been asking their high earners to keep as low a profile as possible. He did not even want to be named.”

The era of Gordon Gheko style is over. The new Era of Discretion is upon us gentlemen…and luckily we are here to help.

Survival tactic number one: New shoes.

I would like to remind those of you still risking your lives on the DLR in Gucci Loafers that there is an alternative.

We at Harrys have been preaching the subtle bliss of non-logo since Day One. Here it’s about quality, fit, comfort and a quiet respectability that will get you noticed more for your sharp tailoring and personal style than for the scarlet G on your foot.

Shoe of SHAME!

The cool classic look at Brunello Cucinelli

The Harrys of London team has just returned from the 2010 Pitti Immagine Uomo in Florence, Italy which is traditionally our first show in the fashion calendar as well as the first important menswear show of the new decade. If the higher attendance figures were any indication, there are certainly some ‘green shoots’ starting to pop-up in Retail.

The scene inside the Fortezza da Basso was a lesson in cool sartorial splendor and teaming with the usual parade of the best-dressed men on the planet. We too were suited & booted and certainly eager to show off our beautiful new Autumn/Winter 2010 collection to the industry and hopefully see off some of the gloom that permeated the last two seasons.

The messages covering the seasonal ‘art’ installation in the courtyard of the central pavilion were asking [in english and Italian] things like ‘WHAT’S FASHION ABOUT?’ or ‘CHANGE YOUR SUIT OR YOUR BODY?’. Not very insightful. But one message that was very clear: Classics Rule.

Apart from our own mantra of reinventing and embracing classic design and proportion in our footwear, it was very apparent that the successful brands in menswear today are also flying a classic flag and the customers are responding in kind. Brands, like Brunello Cucinelli, Corneliani and my personal favourite, Belvest are showing some of the most intriguing, high quality clothes in the industry. No bells and whistles here, just timeless fabrications and flawless tailoring. This is not standard suits and ties, but a renewed exploration of sportswear and outerwear that are the building blocks of wardrobes.

Granted, Pitti is not Milan, so the brands and the crowd are decidedly less ‘fashion’, but as I read the reviews of the Milan shows each day this week, it appears that the big design houses there are also taking a classic or ‘heritage’ approach in these troubled times but often struggle to make it look relevant.

We’ve always been a classic brand, so the Pitti message was like preaching to the choir. We invite you, dear consumer, to do your own research and resist the temptation to contaminate your closet with silly fashion mistakes. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with settling for another nice cashmere v-neck. If your feeling rebellious, go for the lavender.

Sorry ALDEN...We still love you.

In Episode 2 of Name & Shame, we bid farewell to a nice pair of classic ALDEN lace-ups. Now, I really have nothing bad to say about ALDEN. They are, in my opinion, one of the most respected brands in the business. I have two pairs myself and from a classic styling and quality point of view, I completely understand why every well dressed man has a pair or two in his wardrobe; however…It goes without saying that maintaining your heritage and trusty welted construction for over 100  years has it’s drawbacks. Charles Alden himself understood the idea of progress and modernisation when he converted his factory to include new mechanised stitching and lasting machines in the late nineteenth century, but let’s face it, Victorian era ‘progress’ is proving outdated to today’s more comfort conscious culture.

The customer who tossed his old lace-ups in our bin today walked out of the store in our Brown suede SIMON cap-toe with a VIBRAM lug sole, featuring our exclusive TECHNOGEL innersole. Sorry ALDEN…we still love you.

SIMON in Dark Brown calf suede, £395

Apres Ski is another story. How do you look stylish in the posh alpine cafés on non-ski days and while lounging about the hotel with all the trendy Russians while still maintaining an air of practicality?

Some things I have learned from observing the natives:

1. It’s all about the lug sole.

Now I have always been a big fan of a rugged lug sole and deftly inserted a few into our current Harrys Autumn/Winter 2009/2010 collection much to the shock and horror of Jason our Retail Manager. Surely we would never require such wintery footwear in W1?

Naturally, we use the most traditional version from VIBRAM, who have been producing rubber soles for hiking and skiing on the Italian/Swiss border for over 70 years. If you wonder how this applies to trekking to Credit Suisse in Canary Wharf, see below:

The SIMON cap-toe lace-up with VIBRAM lug, £385

This is what I call practical, functional, classy and versatile. Great with a suit or knee socks and lederhosen!

Back to the Austrians…

There is a traditional style of dressing in these parts of Europe that has always fascinated me. The head-to-toe buck deerskin trousers and suits, the wool felt jackets with Nehru collars and the smart hats and embroidered belts. I know this would look ridiculous in Mayfair, but I have been having a Sound Of Music moment all week.

Julie Andrews styled by the girls from HEART.

Respect to the couple that own this shop in Kitzbühel. This is Alpine fetish couture taken to another level. Leopard fur corset anyone?

On a more sober note, but no less amazing was a traditional menswear store in the center of town where you can purchase a shearling riding boot (with welted lug), suede sport coat and fur lined overcoat all at the ready. Christopher Plummer, eat your heart out; The-Hills-Are-Alive-With-The-Sound-Of-Elegance.

In Kitz, it's Prada and PRADER!

The BENTLEY Desert Boot in Black Crinkle Patent, £295

5 Reasons Why I Love Black Patent Shoes for New Years:

1. Because it’s the one night of the year when you cannot be too over-dressed, so why not give it all you got?

2. Because they are slick, shiny and never go out of fashion (especially in Milan).

3. Because you can just sponge off the crusted beer and cigarette ash the next morning and they will look brand new again!

4. Because it’s the male equivalent of the ‘Fuck-Me-Pump’.

5. Because you’ll feel like Fred Astaire (after a few bottles of bubbly).

After the feast I left the leafy, tranquil suburbs of Connecticut for New York to catch up with old friends and check in with Agent Honeypot (otherwise known as Julia, our US Sales Director and glamorous gal-about-town) in our new 5th Avenue Harrys of London office.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I (Heart) New York. I lived and worked there in the late Nineties/early Noughties and never thought I would leave. But after almost 10 years in Europe, I feel less and less like a New Yorker and no longer have the brain capacity or desire to know all the hotspots or trip-the-light-fantastic until the sun comes up. I prefer to experience New York these days in a slower, more low-key way and hopefully eat some Huevos Rancheros at some point during the trip (London has such shit Mexican food doesn’t it?). Anyway…I digress.

Along with my trusty oldest friend in the world, The Artist Formerly Know As Dunbracken, I spent the weekend eating and drinking in many of Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan’s cooler bars and eateries. Amongst all the hipsters something began to strike me as an odd and glaring trend. Apart from a crippling recession, New York seems to be in the throws of a full-fledged Industrial Revolution and stylistically obsessed with Gangs of New York. It’s as if the hottest new interior design firm and hipster style icon is lead by Bill the Butcher.

Daniel Day Lewis as Bill The Butcher

The modernist white box interiors of the Sex and The City Manhattan have been replaced with a darker, decidedly simpler vision of Gotham. It’s as if the Recession Depression has turned peoples idea of Downtown back to a time when Wall Street was nothing but a ramshackle cow pasture surrounded by derelict buildings (I guess things have not changed that much).

It was decided after a heated argument with The Artist that the style in question is actually referred to as Jacobethan, (the style designation coined in 1933 by John Betjeman to describe the English Revival style made popular from the 1830s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (1550 – 1625), with elements of Elizabethan and Jacobean). Are New Yorkers so depressed that they have regressed all the way back into the Old English womb? Is Bill the Butcher the new Gordon Gecko for our time? I knew Wall Street has been a blood bath lately, but this is taking things way too far.

The Jacobethan trend has been bubbling up for some time now. It is obvious that the all the recent attention in the fashion world towards classic tailoring and English menswear has crossed the pond in a somewhat theatrical homage to Shoreditch. The popular Freemans restaurant started things off a few years ago with it’s ‘Rugged, clandestine Colonial American Tavern’ decor [and I must admit it is quite charming]. Naturally, the idea has even spawned a new clothing label Freemans Sporting Club complete with vintage logo and scruffy bearded models.

The New York Times has also caught on to the trend with their recent men’s fashion editorial entitled ‘New Victorians’ featuring a similar style that was photographed using a Civil War era Tintype camera to complete the effect. I noticed this first as one of the models bore a striking resemblance to my friend Elise’s handsome husband (turns out it actually was him…on the right).

New Victorians by David Sokosh for the New York Times

The ‘edgy’ theme park that is now Brooklyn seems to have reached the apex of Jacobethan style in the decor of the trendy Williamsburg Bar-B-Que joint ‘Fette Sau’ where the beer tap handles had been replaced with rusted meat cleavers and assorted cutlery (once again…Design By BTB).

I guess now that New York has successfully redecorated and gentrified the Meat Packing District into a New Jersey Mall, everyone seems to be looking back to the days of refrigerator trucks, trannie hookers and pools of real blood in the streets.

Cut to December 2009. All  those pretty shops along west 14th Street sitting half empty and hopeful that the shopping hordes will turn out in the coming weeks til Crimbo. If  uptown is any indication, the hordes are staying home and sharpening their CVs instead of shopping. Agent Honeypot and I went for some research shopping at Bergdorf Goodman one evening after work and were practically the only people on the entire men’s designer floor. We were also the only people shopping in the men’s shoe department, but unfortunately for the sales people on commission, we were not buying (my closet is full of Harrys, thank you).

I feel for you New York and wish all you retailers luck this season with all that plaid. I will be sitting here in the land of Dickens counting my retail blessings as the recession continues for yet another Christmas season. Thankfully, most men can still appreciate the lasting benefits of a nice pair of shoes. But let us pause for thought and fade out to that famous Pogues song:

Happy christmas your arse I pray god it´s our last. 

And the boys of the NYPD choir’s still singing Galway Bay 
And the bells were ringing out 
For christmas day.

Naturally, there are quite a few guys in the Harry of London office. We like to refer to ourselves as ‘target consumers’. It is also now November in London, which generally means a great deal more rain than usual (naturally). Lately, we have all been extolling the virtues of our classic DOWNING loafer for the wet morning trudge to the office. This shoe represents everything we are as a company: timeless, classic design, the finest quality materials and function, function, function.

Whether you live in London  – or sunny California, you will appreciate the innovation in this cool classic penny loafer. A hand-finished Italian calfskin upper, fully leather lined and featuring our exclusive Technogel footbed. The VIBRAM sole was created for Harrys of London and provides exceptional traction in a variety of environments…(including your office).

We also like the signature pink colour on the sole that was originally introduced in 2003 and reissued this year by popular demand. We think it builds character and represents a secret act of defiance no matter how traditional your office dress code may be. It’s like my banker friend who specializes in private wealth management for Russian oligarchs at a well know Swiss Bank: he wears a standard banker uniform of dark suit, white shirt and blue tie, but he also secretly sports underwear with little pink monkeys all over them. It’s for his own personal enjoyment.

On a recent trip to Milan, I had a conversation with a friend who is starting a new product design/concept studio about why that city embraces Design (with a capital D) with such passion. For most casual visitors – and even the seasoned fashionista – Milan is a big, confusing, angry, drab industrial city that is either too hot or cold and damp. The Milanese are famous for not only their chic style but also their chilly indifference to foreigners. But scratch below the surface, beyond the shiny boutiques and posh restaurants, behind the grand imposing doorways and what you’ll see is a culture that heartily embraces new design and an intelligent mix of history and the future. It’s like looking at one of those visual brain teasers that requires you to relax your vision in order to see the embedded image. There is something in the Italian psyche that holds tightly to tradition but also looks forward to creative (and stylish) solutions in everyday life.

I did not feel a recession depression in the spirit there, although my beloved Trattoria Bagutta was noticeably quiet during Monday lunch service. In fact, I thought the city looked fresh and bustling in the September sunshine. I think the European sense of history helps to (mentally) weather cyclical ’storms’ like we are experiencing now as we are reminded everyday of past periods misery and prosperity in our architecture, style references and rich culture.

As for the retail business and our own attitude toward the future: I think traditional Italian (and certainly Savile Row’s) attitudes towards longevity in clothing can teach us a lesson or two about changing consumer attitudes. Anyone familiar with Italy knows that Italians LOVE to window shop and store windows often contain more merchandise than the actual store. Prices are displayed and the merchandising flawless. In store customer service is generally excellent if a bit formal. Many an American tourist has been chastised for rushing into a store and pawing the neatly stacked sweaters like they would at the Gap, much to the screaming horror of the sales staff. Why is this? Because Italian consumers already know what they want when they walk into a shop. They have spent night after night passing by the beautiful shop window on their evening ‘passeggiata’ and have already made a conscious decision to purchase said sweater. They know the price and need only assistance with a size. These are well considered investments – not fast fashion crazes. Men purchase ONE suit per season and build wardrobes of lasting quality, not bins full of Primark. Fiat heir Lapo Elkann famously inherited the suits of his uncle Gianni Agnelli and has had most of the made-to-measure pieces re-cut to fit his frame. Now that’s quality shopping and recession-fabulous all in one.

We are seeing a shift in the luxury consumer towards this kind of considered purchasing that bodes well for brands that value quality and design. This is where the intelligent consumer is heading, like it or not. Fast fashion is here to stay – but I prefer to advocate a longer term approach.

Like the famous poster here in England says: Keep Calm and Carry On

Everyone is back from holiday; tanned and ready to roll up our sleeves and get to work. Today, I opt for the simplicity of the white shirt with a new pair of jeans (prps are my jean of choice for the past few years). This is my uniform when I need to get down business and not make much of a statement. There is nothing more simple and stylish, whether you wear a tie to the office or sleeves rolled up over a t-shirt.

Speaking of cashmere blazers: I took a stroll down Bond Street yesterday with a bit of free time on my hands. Since returning from hols, I have been thinking about adding a new staple to my wardrobe for the winter: a cashmere navy blazer. It sounds boring, but the right cut will make it modern and since I am a denim-every-day-kind-of-guy, I thought a new navy blazer just felt right – and not flashy or trendy in any way. After trying on a few things in Brunello Cucinelli, I went back into my old favourite, Armani. Armani Collezioni to be exact. The Collezioni label caters to a more classic aesthetic and always has something smart in cashmere each season. There it was – the Perfect Blue Blazer in 100% cashmere and the deepest navy blue. Say what you will about Armani, but the man knows what a good navy blue looks like. He should – he wears basically no other colour everyday. There is something right again about the understated, friendly refinement of an Armani jacket that needs to be experienced in order to understand. The cashmere is of the best quality and the shine that comes off the dark navy is nothing short of sexy. The soft construction looks sharp, but feels like your wearing a bathrobe. The 52 was a perfect fit and will become a member of my bedroom closet soon – but at over £1500 – I may have to wait another month and pay off my holiday bills first: a continuous drip of Prosecco for three weeks can really add up.