One of the things Jamie and I were keen to do with The Casual Style Guide was bring in comments from some of the people featured – what they thought about the outfits, rather than just us.
So we approached five people, and asked them to give us a couple of hundred words – roughly the same that we wrote each time – about what the style meant to them. I think they’re interesting, both for the content and for the different voices that I, at least, can hear each time.
So I thought it would be nice to reproduce three of them here: Luke Walker of L.E.J, Ethan Newton from Bryceland’s and the photographer James Harvey-Kelly.
Ethan:
“I like double denim as a look; there’s a bit of a stigma around it, but I think that’s dumb. It looks great when the denims are both really dark and raw – there’s something of a 90s hip-hop vibe to it then – and when they’re really beaten down, like here.
It helps if the denims have a similar cast. They’ll start to look strange if one has a really green cast, or a red one, and the other doesn’t. Or if one’s a right-hand twill and the other a left hand, like a Levi’s jacket and a Lee jean. That’s more important than whether they’re faded the same. Usually denims from the same brand – like these from us at Bryceland’s – won’t have those issues.
This is a good example of colour blocking too, which I do a lot, with just a little point of colour. All denim (or it could be all navy) with a touch of red in the Papa Nui hat. Oh and velvet slippers really appeal to me here because of the textural contrast between the beaten denim and that smooth, dark velvet.”
James:
“For me, most good outfits combine something fresh and even delicate with something more rustic and masculine.
That’s nothing profound or new, but it is a way of dressing up the dressing down, or dressing down the dressing up – and when they meet somewhere in the middle the clothes start to feel more like yours.
Here this is about the urbane-ness of the Belgian loafers and Bate’s hat, played against the classic sportiness of the Barbour and the Polo rugby shirt that I love.”
Luke:
“I think it’s interesting you’ve put this outfit in the workwear section of the book, because it very much is workwear, even if it doesn’t look it.
Jeans obviously have workwear origins and I think most people can relate to that – they’re clearly still a tough pair of trousers, and have that association. But the jacket is actually an old French waiter’s uniform, something that would have been mass produced and then mass laundered. It’s not what people associate with workwear, but it is as much as any pair of trousers.
The bag over my shoulder is unfortunately out of shot, but that’s another example. It’s a Noé bag from Louis Vuitton, a bucket style with a drawstring that was apparently originally made for champagne salesmen, to hulk around town. It’s tough, even if the modern association is luxe.
So many clothes are like this – like tweeds, which were real utility clothing but just seem refined today because they’re made into smart jackets.
My go-to style is mixing workwear pieces with finer ones, like a silk shirt. I love that high/low, the rich and don’t-give-a-fuck look. I like old jeans like this with elongated, French calf shoes in the same way.”
