the times | Wednesday December 2 2020 1GT 7
fashion
style leader of 2020, and should
provide the inspiration for your
weekend look forthwith.High Connell’s chain
In April the BBC’s adaptation of
Sally Rooney’s novel Normal People
introduced a new rising star: jewellery
for men. The male protagonist
Connell’s silver chain necklace even
inspired its own Instagram fan
account. My 68-year-old dad conceded
to wearing a wedding ring only last
year, so he might not be ready for a
necklace yet, but for those that are,
the cult-favourite Missoma launched
a capsule collection for men in
November (from £75, missoma.com).High Doggy style
In the year that dog sales soared,
Orlando Bloom gave us a compelling
new look to suit: canine co-ordination.
In February Bloom matched his Boss
suit and jumper to his teacup poodle,
making me want a camel jumper
and a Werther’s Original.Low Doghouse style
Nothing says “my wife and I have
never been happier” like being
photographed smooching your
wife in the same outfit you were
photographed canoodling with a
co-star in. Dominic West’s dishevelled
re-wear suggested that either he
just really likes the way that shirt
makes his eyes pop, or that his wife,
Catherine Fitzgerald, had already
boxed up his wardrobe.High Hot priest’s blazer
Andrew Scott, or as I shall for ever
think of him, Fleabag’s hot priest, has
resurrected the velvet smoking jacket.
If you’re wondering what you should
be wearing to dress up on Christmas
Day, or in fact for any (government
sanctioned) festive occasion on the
horizon, it is this. Much cosier than
a tux too.Low Bezos’s blazer
Do not be tempted to stray from
velvet into printed jacket territory,
lest you inadvertently come to the
(government-sanctioned) party
dressed as Jeff Bezos.
Twitter: @timesfashionthe Hawaiian shirts, string vests and
statement sunglasses that he wore in
the video for the summer anthem
Watermelon Sugar. Finally, the former
One Direction star Harry Styles
became the first man to appear solo
on the cover of the December issue
of American Vogue, which is as big
a stamp of fashion approval as
they come. That he did so wearing
a Gucci gown, and that Piers
Morgan disapproves, only serves
to further cement Styles’s vanguard
fashion icon status.High Keep Calm suits
While most were experiencing
loungewear for the first time, some
preferred business-as-usual suits.
Nothing will keep Keir Starmer from
his — not even a collision with a
cyclist while en route to see his tailor
in Kentish Town — and there is
definitely something about a well-cut
suit that says “safe pair of hands’’ in
a way that, say, Boris Johnson wearing
a lab coat, hair net and a mask under
his nose in a testing lab does not.
Military uniforms also apply: see the
centenarian Captain Sir Tom Moore
raising £32 million for the NHS
in full regalia.Low Dye jobs
The reality of covering your greys to
appear forever young trickled down
Rudy Giuliani’s cheek at a press
conference last month. Giuliani must
have tried to mask his with a quick-fix
spray or even a bit of mascara, which
melted almost as fast as his credibility.
But even though a dye job is safer, that
doesn’t mean you should try one; even
Donald Trump seems to have laid off
the dye recently, perhaps realising that
it wasn’t convincing anyone that he
was a thirtysomething, and Biden’s
white hair looks more distinguished.
Should this article reach you too late,
may I recommend a buzz cut, as
sported by Riz Ahmed, Tom Hanks
and David Beckham during lockdown.High Andy Burnham
Piercing eyes beneath Clark Kent
glasses. An everydad sport coat. The
very British lack of a top lip. The
impassioned mayor of Manchester,
Andy Burnham, became a surpriseMagnum PI ’taches
unless you are,
in fact, Tom
Selleck.High
Cottagecore
— Beckham
editionDavid Beckham
wearing a flat
cap, corduroy
trousers and
gardening gloves,
holding a trug.
Beckham sitting
in an armchair
wearing a flat
cap and pink silk
pyjamas. Beckham
out for a big walk
wearing a cardi
and brandishing a
walking stick topped
with the carved head
of a duck. Beckham,
on a hilltop in the
rain with three
spaniels, wearing a
waxed jacket, flat cap
and wellies. Beckham
as modern-day
Thomas Hardy type
tapped into our
collective desire to
be outdoors during
lockdown 1, and
probably inspired a
fair few cottage gardens and rural
property searches. Special mention to
Ruth Wilson’s dad, who wore a flat cap
and matching jumper to celebrate with
the actress as she accepted a Bafta
over a video call in October.Low Cottagecore —
Cummings editionOn the other end of the spectrum we
have Dominic Cummings popping out
of his Islington townhouse wearing a
creased, mis-buttoned linen shirt and
battered straw hat, and using a broken
branch as a walking stick. Clearly that
trip to Barnard Castle was in vain.High Harry Styles
First there was the pearl necklace that
he wore with a Princess Diana-esque
big-collared jumper in March. Thenplays him, shouldn’t be tarred
with the same brush, not least
because of his eye for a cracking
jumper. See the Loewe cream
cable-knit that he wore on The
Graham Norton Show in November,
and the Ami jumper worn to a
gallery opening in October, bearing
an illustration of a party-hatted man
— inspiration for your festive knit this
year. Special mention to the actor
Ncuti Gatwa for his services to
knitwear layering at fashion week
in February.High Beards
Good news for weak-chinned men:
2020 was the year of the beard, born
of not being bothered to shave every
day if you weren’t planning to leave
the house. Justin Trudeau’s was,
naturally, a god among beards, and
only added to his je ne sais quoi. Brad
Pitt’s salt-and-pepper stubble was
equally glorious. But keep it short: the
Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey’s
beard was part wizard, part cult leader
(and all the worse for being paired
with a nose ring). And don’t be
tempted by the lockdown 1 trend for(and who didn’t)
For her:
luxe
slippers
M PI’t h th Hawaiia
BBC; DAVID BECKHAM/INSTAGRAM; PA; GETTY IMAGES; REUTERS; RISHI
SUNAK/INSTAGRAMBest doggy style
Orlando BloomBest all round
Harry StylesBest beard
Justin TrudeauBest hoodie
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