Tuesday 15 November 2011

Buying casual for the Autumn

I've been buying casual clothes for my Autumn wardrobe and I'm happy to say the non-flashy, discreet-logo-only look is back in. My favourite barometer for this sort of thing is Fat Face; it sells good clothes that wear well, but some seasons it's aimed so squarely at a younger market the rest of us would look ridiculous. This year the gilets and above all tops are available in plain Autumnal colours and are likely to suit a lot of people. My wife says the mustard top I've just bought is less flattering than the darker ones they sell; I couldn't keep wearing navy blue forever, it was getting boring.

Original Henley T-ShirtThat said, the Henley T-shirt (pictured) looks pretty good. I'm not the same shape as the picture of course, which of us is? It covers the unwanted bulges well enough and with a white or off-white tee underneath it I find it hits the look I was after.

(Incidentally when did tee-shirts start sprouting buttons and long sleeves? I was always under the impression they were lightweight short sleeve thingies, I'd recognise this newfangled thing as a "top" - but it's very comfortable so I've bought it in dark green as well).

I hadn't heard of Fat Face seven years or so ago and it's become a welcome new name in the High Street. Another new arrival looks promising; Cornish company Seasalt is starting to sell online and in John Lewis (never knowingly undersold which is relatively easy when you never knowingly sell anything someone else stocks).

This picture is of the company's Neap Tide shirt which looks pretty good; there are also a lot of knitted items, shirts, gilets - everything you need to pretend you're the seafaring type, which I gather from this and Fat Face is the thing to do this year. Everything's available in sizes up to XXL, although as yet I don't know exactly how big that is - bit of a moveable feast, these XLs and XXLs.

The other company I've noticed creeping up on the High Street is Joules, a leisurewear company again. I bought a jumper from them in the summer and it's well made and comfortable but they only go up to XL. I'm clearly overweight but when an XL shirt won't go round you while all the other brands are fine you know someone's cutting their cloth on the slender side.

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