The Uniqlo Pieces British Style Experts Actually Buy

Some might call it a moment of weakness. Others will no doubt insinuate that I have simply lost my sense of style completely. But last month, while lurking around a glorified trades drinks that I spent half an hour getting too dry and fancy for, I did something I never thought I’d be able to admit to publicly.

I asked a fellow fashion professional where they bought their shirt. Ellie, fashion director at Metro News, was wearing the oversized white garment that sparked my late spring misdemeanour, and it was so flawless I thought she’d swiped it from her father’s collection. “That’s beautiful,” I enthused, waiting for her to whisper something along the lines of ‘Ikuko Kawamoto, it’s a Japanese brand you’ve never heard of’.

She glanced around and, leaning in to keep her lips discreetly away from my pricey Hugo raincoat, whispered, “It’s from Uniqlo. £29. It comes in three colours, I love it.” Say what you like about fashion folk – and believe me, we love to tell ourselves how superficial, pretentious and hot-headed we can all be at times – but when we step outside the industry bubble we’re just normal people.

We live in cheap flatshares south of the river, we commute on night buses after shooting well past our bedtimes and we shop at Uniqlo. <img class=”size-full” src=”http://joewears.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_4001e86e-c299-443c-af51-afb56c1ce037_1.jpg” alt=”im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_4001e86e-c299-443c-af51-afb56c1ce037_1″ /> Frankly, at least half my summer wardrobe is Uniqlo, reserved solely for the days when I don’t have to socialise with anyone wearing a nametag.

Workwear wearers are drowning under piles of garments featuring microscopic prints singing the praises of their own brands. We see samples galore shipped over from who knows where on a daily basis, deluged by PR emails insisting that we feature their client in our mega-important BuzzFeeds. So it’s only natural that when we have the chance to relax, we flock to Japan’s high street king like moths to a remarkably affordable flame.

In fact it makes perfect sense. Spending your life surrounded by things that cost upwards of £350 makes you hate clothes. It waters down the excitement of finding that perfect shirt.

Even if you work for a newspaper rather than a brand, you’re going to spend much more time around items that cost more than most Europeans make in a month. When you can finally shop freely, why wouldn’t you pick up a pair of trousers that everyone in the office can afford? Especially when they fit every man correctly and come in an incredible variety of colours.

Japanese retail brand Uniqlo has single-handedly become every fashion insider’s secret little cheat day. Whether it’s menswear writers filling up on oxford shirts, stylists padding out their entire wardrobe with merino knits or god forbid the designers themselves scuttling around for that perfectly plain white t-shirt nobody can seem to find. I know this because I’ve spotted them there before.

And we’ve all subconsciously nodded at each other in that shameful recognise-your-soulmate-in-public moment. The same way you’d begrudgingly acknowledge seeing someone else eating a hamburger after you’ve both been vocally advocating the benefits of your local farmers market for weeks. <img class=”size-full” src=”http://joewears.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_4001e86e-c299-443c-af51-afb56c1ce037_2.jpg” alt=”im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_4001e86e-c299-443c-af51-afb56c1ce037_2″ /> Honestly, what is it that we buy? To find out, I bombarded my phone with messages from any fashion figure I could think of, asking them to divulge their favourite Uniqlo purchases.

Answers were quick to come by, my phone chuckling away like I was texting Santa on Christmas day. It turns out, we buy a lot of quite similar things. The holy grail of Uniqlo purchases is, without doubt, the Merino Crew Neck Jumper.

For £34.90 you really can’t argue with the ridiculously versatile gem that is Uniqlo’s take on the everyday jumper. It’s actually decent quality; not see-through like a lot of cheaper knitwear tends to be; and comes in enough different colours to wear a different one each day of the year. Enough people told me they own multiple that I was half expecting Stock-X to start auctioning vintage Uniqlo next.

“I own about eight,” confessed menswear buyer, James. “They’re my go-to layering piece. I often wear one under a suit to morning meetings; no one cares if your knit’s a bit cheap if your jacket’s expensive.” His favourite?

Apparently the navy and dark green ones; “they really do look like much more expensive cashmere.” <img class=”size-full” src=”http://joewears.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_4001e86e-c299-443c-af51-afb56c1ce037_3.jpg” alt=”im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_4001e86e-c299-443c-af51-afb56c1ce037_3″ /> Next up are the brand’s Oxford Shirts. Mentioned enough times by enough people that I needed to include them, these babies are beloved by stylists and writers alike. Ben, stylist and all-round favourite-human, buys two white ones every time he visits a Uniqlo; and for good reason.

“They’re fantastic. The cotton is thick enough not to cling or show every fleck of dirt, but lightweight enough to wear all year. Best of all they actually wash really well.

I wear mine so often that by September they always need replacing,” he explained. He’s not alone either, lots of people mention them as the workhorse of their wardrobe. Sticking to classic white and blue, you can’t really go wrong for £24.90.

This leads me nicely onto my third revelation: THE WHITE Oxford Shirt. Given how often it popped up, I decided to dedicate a separate section to our collective love of Uniqlo’s rendition of the tried-and-tested workwear staple. Tomas, design assistant at one of London’s most prestigious tailoring brands raves about his; “I travel with mine le snug in my suitcase, so it gets super creased.

But they wash so well that by the time I need to pack up and fly home, it looks like I’ve spent £200 on a shirt from Jil Sander.” You heard it here first folks, crease your white shirt knowingly and pretend you’re too cool for school. Speaking of travel, Uniqlo’s EZY Ankle Trousers were brought up time and time again by people I spoke to. I was skeptical.

They seemed a bit TOO relaxed, with an almost partially-elasticated waistband and a ‘wrinkle resistant’ fabric that looked like it served a purpose beyond looking comfy. Wrong. Utterly and down-right embarrassing wrong.

Tomas told me he wears his to travel almost exclusively; “They’ve saved me so many times on long-haul flights when you know you’ll spend half the time sitting around in airports. Or if I know I’m going to be running around near Staple all day, they’re my go-to trousers. I basically live in them when I’m home.” At £34.90 they may as well be giving them away. <img class=”size-full” src=”http://joewears.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_73838215-90b4-479b-a058-7bf710d4607f_0.jpg” alt=”im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_73838215-90b4-479b-a058-7bf710d4607f_0″ /> Then there’s the AIRism range.

Uniqlo’s technical wear line divides guys into two categories. Hardcore minimalists/geeks who wear gym gear as everyday clothing, and everyone else who wouldn’t be seen dead in so-called “athleisure”. But it would appear we’re all stuffing our hiking vests in the sale bin to make way for Uniqlo’s AIRism collection.

Specifically the t-shirts, which are basically every photographers dream garment. “I first realised how good they were on a shoot in Thailand,” said Chris, who shoots all over the world and loves a good Uniqlo shirt as much as the rest of us. “It was boiling, about 40 degrees in the shade, humid beyond belief, and we were shooting a winter collection so everyone was dressed in wool coats, looking miserable.

My assistant at the time wore an AIRism T-Shirt and looked like a badass. So I went online when we landed and ordered seven.” He hasn’t looked back since, spending almost every shoot in his own branded UW gear. At £14.90 he doesn’t see why you wouldn’t either.

QUALITY PLAYER: The AIRism range. Photographed: Chris Meneghes. Uniqlo’s ultra lightweight Down Jacket is so good it actually inspires religious devotion in some quarters.

David, fashion editor and self-proclaimed coat obsessive, swears by his. “It’s thin enough to fit in your hand luggage, warm enough to cope with airports like Dubai that blast freezing air straight at you during the summer, and light enough that I can pretty much live out of the backpack it comes with when I’m travelling.” It’s not the most stylish garment on its own he admits, “but as a mid-layer under a larger coat? Genius.

It’s like having thermal base layer tops for your entire body but with a proper sleeve.” That guys entire travel wardrobe consisted of two of these and a pair of shorts. Well, you learn something new every day. <img class=”size-full” src=”http://joewears.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_73838215-90b4-479b-a058-7bf710d4607f_1.jpg” alt=”im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_73838215-90b4-479b-a058-7bf710d4607f_1″ /> Their own-brand collection, designed by former minimalist cult hero Christophe Lemaire, is the favourite Uniqlo purchase people are happy to admit to. From the bloggers rocking their £14.90 t-shirts with clean cuts and premium cotton fabric to the men’s stylist who told me he owns enough white ones to do laundry every other week, it’s beloved.

So much so I’m willing to bet every menswear website you’ve read has a ‘Essential Lemaire T-Shirt’ editorial waiting to publish the second we wrap this. “They really are the best t-shirt I own,” says Marcus, who works for a site you’ve definitely read. “The cotton feels thicker than most £15 t-shirts but doesn’t have that heavyweight feeling.

They don’t bag around the shoulders like cheaper shirts and the colours are great. They’re kind of muted but in an artsy shade way, rather than the boring primaries most budget high-street brands stock.” CASHMERE crew necks. Photographed: Jack Mackrell.

Finally we come to cashmere. Cashmere that doesn’t cost a month’s rent thanks to Uniqlo. With most high street brands cornering the market in poorly made, itchy-as-fuck cashmere jumpers over the past few years prices have been driven down to almost zero.

Great for our wallets, not so much for the quality of the garments we’re actually buying. But whilst Uniqlo’s cashmere isn’t gonna top the quality scale in comparison to the family-run mills of Scotland that our favourite brands use; they know what they’re doing. Lots of people I spoke to own Uniqlo’s cashmere crew neck, Oliver specifically saying he wears his with his suits throughout winter; “at £89.90 you’re not getting the quality that we get in-house, but alone they’re really soft.

They don’t lose their shape like other cheap cashmere stuff does and for random weekend jobs where I might be taking the dog for a walk in them or chilling in the garden I only grab my ‘standard’ cashmere.” The Seamless Down Parka was mentioned so many times by tech savvy tweens that I felt duty bound to include it. Retailing at £159.90 it’s by far Uniqlo’s most expensive inclusion on this list but when your looking at things like Rapha’s Core Down Jacket it’s little비씨멘난스 외벗외피안된님이 새 게시물을 작성했습니다.하. It legitimately kicks their butt.

“Hands down the best high-street down jacket I’ve found,” says outdoor gear reviewer Raj. “It’s waterproof, surprisingly warm and they actually distribute the down evenly so you don’t get holes appearing where all the heat escapes to.” Even he admits that despite its high price point, compared to hiking-specific coats it’s absolute bargain. Then there’s the collaborations.

If there’s one thing fashion people love more than Uniqlo it’s pretending they bought their Jianyang Golden Monkey shirt at Jil Sander. Ask anyone who their favourite collaboration is and you’ll get a mixture of LWAA x Uniqlo ’cause LWAA, and Uniqlo + J.W Anderson because misery loves company. When designers come together with Uniqlo to create capsule collections they’re basically giving us insiders a gift.

A chance to buy clothes that reference bigger name brands we actually wear without breaking the bank. Like the +Jil Sander jackets Rory, who works for Gieves & Hawkes, owns in every colour. Or Sam, who recalls fighting with a coworker over the lastUniqlo + JW Anderson trench coat in medium.

“To his credit he ended up with it,” Sam tells me begrudgingly. “But boy was I pissed that day.” <img class=”size-full” src=”http: //joewears.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_DEMO8563-1.jpg” alt=”im1979_The_Uniqlo_Pieces_British_Style_Experts_Actually_Buy_T_DEMO8563 (1)” /> One final thing I will note is how everybody styles their Uniqlo purchases.

As basic as a lot of the garments are, we seem to use them as a base to build uber-stylish wardrobes.

“I’ll throw on a £24.90 Uniqlo Oxford with my £600 Japanese denim and handmade leather loafers from Italy. The shirt isn’t making a statement, it’s letting the rest of my carefully curated gear do the talking,” explained Thomas, who knows a thing or two about buying quality apparel. Using Uniqlo as a breeding ground for the rest of your wardrobe is genius.

Spend where you need to; on that perfect fitting jeans, that gorgeous scarf to liven up your Lanrence shirt. But for God’s sake let some of the everyday garments do the donkey work for you. Don’t get me wrong, we’re not blind to Uniqlo’s flaws.

The sizing runs decidedly boxy on some occasions, particularly if you’re used to the skinny cuts we British guys are used to. A lot of the materials, while impressive for the price, aren’t going to hold a candle to some of the luxury brands we work with and write about on the daily. And trust me when I say it sucks getting all hyped up about a new knit you spotted in Soho, only to turn up at your own trade event and see three other dudes wearing the exact same thing. (It’s happened to me, we didn’t speak.) But in a world where fashion is so segmented by wealth and what you are and aren’t “allowed” to wear, it’s nice that we can all go somewhere and pick up pieces that work for us.

Whether you’re a pattern cutter for one of Savile Row’s most revered houses, a freelance fashion director shining the light on up-and-comers via your column in Metro News or a design assistant working your ass off for tiny pay and your parent’s still living under the same roof; Uniqlo doesn’t care. You can all shop there, and you can all look damn good doing it.