Feeling bold in beige

We all have our favourites, mine are navy and grey. But what about when are go-to colours become our only option and everything else feels too daring. Today, I’m reintroducing more colour back into my life.

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Outfit pictured: MAGMA COAT [similar] by ACNE STUDIOS, ROLL NECK JUMPER [similar] by OLIVER SPENCER, CLASSIC WIDE LEG by SCOTT FRASER COLLECTION and ORIGINAL ACHILLES [gifted] by COMMON PROJECTS via MR PORTER

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Photography by MATTHEW SPADE

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Honing in on a particular style and feeling good is what makes everyone different and keeps fashion interesting. For me, I’m almost certain about what I like and dislike which provides a real level of sensibility and steer when putting together what to wear. Navy and grey are my key pillars and near enough everything revolves around them. When I’m wearing either of the two shades I feel comfortable within myself and also safe in the knowledge that the majority of my wardrobe interacts with one another. So what about everything else that isn’t navy or grey? And that brings me onto today’s talking point. 

We cling onto what we enjoy like a comfort blanket. We spend the best part of our early years figuring out what we like to wear and then Facebook memories does the fantastic job of reminding you of said horrors. So yes, I am happy with my grey and navy canvas, but more recently I’ve become so introverted that I do not veer away from them.

I was with friends the other evening telling them about my beige coat dilemma and how it felt a little loud and they thought I was being sarcastic. However because I am so used to certain colours, my beige overcoat that I purchased from the Acne Studios Archive in Oslo felt too much on the eye. Ridiculous right? I remember buying it to replace a previous beige coat and at the time it certainly did not feel too much. I reckon it comes down to that when winter arrived this year, rather than wearing it within the first week of when the weather turned, instinct made me opt for something that felt more subtle. The time away from it made me safer in my styling choices and I needed a couple of friends to tell me that I was being stupid in order to wear it again.

So what I am saying is… it is okay to veer away from what feels completely right in order to wear more than just a small section of your wardrobe.

With my ‘loud’ coat on I wore an Oliver Spencer roll neck with thumb holes - that I now think should be compulsory for anything with a long sleeve – for an après ski feel and making me feel like I’m more in the alps than Aldgate. Though as a nation and maybe even hemisphere might be sick of this cold weather that we’ve named Ciara and now Dennis, I do much prefer dressing for single digit temperatures. I get so much joy out of multiple layers, fabrics and the thought process behind it all so when I’m down to just shorts in July I’ll be questioning myself if I’m even fit to write about menswear.

While shorts are firmly out of the question for now, I turned to a pair of classic wide leg trousers from Scott Fraser Simpson. Overtime we’ve become friends and it is so cool to think I’m wearing my mate’s trousers. We got to talk cloths and organise a fitting to make sure they were bang on. Now that’s service and that is what investing in good brands and people buys you. Style wise what I like about them is that they tread the shoe/trainer line perfectly meaning they free up so many more choices. On this day I wore my newest pair of Common Projects which are still at their perfect white stage and I think they work just fine with the trousers.

So while February firmly has us in its coat necessity grip, it is probably about time I broadened my coat horizons, put aside any reservations about the colour beige and make my peace with it, because truth be told it is a bloody good coat.jbicon

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