Author Archives: Mark Gill

Cary Grant dressed like the film stars of old, containing more than a hint of Douglas Fairbanks Sr; his sporty-but-elegant style gave him an edge over other leading men of his day. A classic Grant ensemble would be a grey Prince of Wales checked double-breasted suit, the slightest hint of a pocket square, a sober tie and a buttonhole. For it’s day, this was understated. Grant belonged in his clothes in a way that countless others do not. And it was not something to be taught. Try finding a picture…

All In Good Time Should anyone wish to further analyse the style of a man once you’ve taken a look at his footwear (see previous article), then the next step would be to take a glance at his watch. Like the shoes and clothes, it should allow you to draw some interesting conclusions about the person. There has long been elegance and prestige associated with owning a fine watch. Originally, finely crafted, precision mechanical watches served a serious need in accurate timekeeping, which was essential when travelling and communicating across…

Feet Up Ask the majority of women what’s first thing they look at when meeting a man and you may be surprised by the answer. SHOES. I happen to agree. The single most important part of any gentleman’s attire is his shoes. All that effort into honing one’s appearance can be rendered useless in an instant if a man’s footwear is inappropriate, cheap or ugly, or even worse; inappropriate, cheap AND ugly. Personally I’d rather go barefoot, or in socks, citing mental health issues or that my luggage had been…

Editor Note: A Saturday update? What is wrong with me?! Anyway Based on all the comments below I think I probably need to come back to this subject and explain a few things. Mark is in his thirties and wrote this article with the Title: “Fashion can be bought, style one must possess”. I changed this on purpose to get people interested in the article and promote a debate (plus it has benefits in search engines: the geek in me ). What we have had is quite a brilliant reaction…

While most of us chaps take time to grow into ourselves, learning to understand our physiques and wardrobe choices with advancing years, there was one man who achieved effortless sartorial perfection with an almost pathological aversion to following fashion and, well, crap clothes in general. In his time Steve McQueen was the highest paid actor in Hollywood and his rebellious persona (both on and off screen) gave him a compelling attraction to men and women alike. His was a no-nonsense classicism and it’s this style that is still exerting an…