Based on Instagram, you’d assume every man over 30 in the UK wears head-to-toe Italiantailored suits with beautifully inserted pocket squares or heritage shirts with whisker-layered jeans and clay-baked desert boots. Every. Single.
Day. The alternatives being rustically undone workwear, faded Hudson jeans and mid-weightaxedLong Johns with vintage store bowl hats, all sat comfortably on top of Instagram-perfect golden hour lighting. News flash, they don’t.
None of them do. I should know – I’ve been researching and writing about what British men actually wear for the last fifteen years and the disparity between online/seen IRL has never felt more exaggerated.
This time last month I was sat in a Premier Inn breakfast buffet with what I can only describe as a perfect cross-section of British masculinity: salesmen dressed head-to-toe in their Gap work shirts cradling plates of buttered beans, young dads in football shirts struggling to contain their small children as they launch handfuls of toast across the room, blokes probably in their mid-50s wearing Harrington-style fleeces with weird sleazy zip-ups for sleeves.
Instagram followers: NONE. Instagram perfection: ZERO. Real lifeBritish men: ABSOLUTELY FUCKING TONS.
So let’s take a dive into the truths and realities of how British men actually dress from age to age, versus what Instagram would like us to believe… Instagram: Peak contemporary-yet-classic style. Slim but not skinny Japanese-inspired workwear, broken-in Red Wing boots, and head-to-toe layers that would take EITHER A: Olympian level fitness OR B: photoshop to look that good whilst remaining nonchalant. There will always be an effortless looking watch on full display, whilst their arms are never laden down with the crumpled weaklings we regular humans tote around on our person: Tesco Meal Deal bags, crumpled Newspapers, oily pasta boxes, crumpled Oyster cards.
Never. Real life: Don’t get me wrong, plenty of British men in their 30s F*CKING LOVE what they see on Instagram. Plenty spend their hard-earned on Japanese t-shirts, lovely shoes, and lovely jackets they never really have the opportunity to wear.
But speaking realistically, the men I know and speak to personally wear what they can squeeze into around their LIFE. My good friend Dave – who is one of the most effortlessly stylish guys I know and works as a graphic designer in Manchester – recently summed up his “everyday uniform” as “whatever hasn’t got baby sick on it” thanks to the birth of his daughter. Others I know buy their clothes from anywhere that’s convenient; the “more you buy” multipacks of Os at Marks & Spencer because “life’s too short”.
Weekend attires consist almost entirely of whatever the Next sale offers; most weekends are spent doing errands with the kids, heading to the pub, or at his parents house, so why bust out the nice stuff? I spoke to several British men in their 30s last year for a magazine feature on modern male style; none of them said they wanted to dress ‘well’ or ‘nicely’ per say, most just wanted versatile clothing that could take them from work to a pub with their mates, to school runs and parents evenings WITHOUT standing out for the wrong reasons. They all owned a good rotation of shirts they wore for work/socialising, then spent the rest of their weekend wearing the same three t-shirts and jeans. “Finding a pair of chinos that actually FIT me correctly” one guy told me passionately “was life changing.
Now I just order a couple more colours when I run out.” There’s no photoshopped perfection of trailing Louis Vuitton luggage through streets paved in gold, an entire Contents Of The Suitcase dresser organised by colour when we know realistically your weekends are spent cramming a dirty washing shirt and pair of jeans into a overnight bag five minutes before you leave the house. Instagram: If we’ve learnt anything from Instagram it’s that men in their 40s have collectively found the holy grail of smart-casual. Oversized yet perfectly fitting knits in calming beige tones, expertly faded jeans and shoes you’d think came from their office Uniform but are actually NIKE COURT SUPREMES.
Sports jackets are now for every occasion and have basically replaced the office shirt altogether; paired with quirky crewneck jumpers or just-rolls-off-the-shoulders-enough-to-look-good-enough shirts. Also, the vintage Stacy Adams are back. Thanks.
Real life: To find the truth about what British men in their 40s are wearing, I sat down (figuratively) with almost every 40 something guy I knew. Friends, work colleagues, my brother- in-law. You name it.
One thing I quickly realised is that if there was one brand that every man owned pieces from, it was polo shirts. Whether it was an actual branded polo from their work uniform, or more lifestyle-focused ones from Ted Baker, Hobbs or Boss; chances are they owned at least one. There was also a strong theme of slim to straight-leg jeans/chinos – and boy did they know their cotton blends and fits.
Turns out guys in their 40s have FINALLY caught onto what works on their frames and stick to it religiously. The same editor I interviewed owns (and I mean literally owns) the same outfit religiously. Blue Oxford shirt, navy crew neck jumper when it’s cold, smart dark jeans and brown brogues.
EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
When quizzed on why he said “it just works? Do you see me wearing anything else?” Funny enough, that’s honestly how MOST 40 something guys I know feel about their clothing. Wear what you know works; why risk ruining a good day with an fashion mishap?
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Real life British weather also rears its ugly head when it comes to the reality of what men in their 40s wear vs. what we see online. You’ll never see an Instagram post depicting the hastily-jammed kagoul from your girlfriend’s backpack thrown into your suitcase “just in case” or the pair of backup shoes you keep at your desk because the good ones got soaked on the way to work. You won’t see the “[brand] dribender” jumper you’ve owned since University that your partner has been bagging behind your back for three years either.
Instagram: The “middle-aged dad but give him a big old pair of trousers” trend is very much still alive and kicking on Instagram. Here we have stylish silver foxes in perfectly tailored suits, or if they’re opting for casual; unintentionally hipster dad wearing vintage beanies and blanky layering all their clothes in black to “look woke” but accidentally looking like Uncle Fred from Accounting in IT. Genuinely unkown to me is how they’re all able to maintain SUCH good skin at this age – digital filters or not.
Real life: OK hear me out on this – I love older mens style. Always have, always will. What I will say is that like the rest of their decades before them, guys in their 50s tend to know what works on their bodies…and then stick to that formula.
For every Trailblazer embracing Johnstons of Elgin shirts and L.L.Bean boots; you’ll find three guys who just buy good dress shoes and don’t give a single shit about the rest. My Uncle Mike who owns his own building company has basically just perfected his uniform of smart-but-not-too-smart M&S clothing with the odd “nice” shirt from TM Lewin for weddings and Christmas Day. He looks smart, he looks appropriate for any occasion, and he couldn’t give a shit about what the fuck Virgil Abloh thinks he should be wearing this season.
Something I found interesting when speaking to 50+ guys about their style was the divide between those that have dressed the same way for the past 20 years…and those who’ve only just “discovered” fashion as a form of expression. One fifty-something lecturer told me he “started caring more about how he dressed after he got divorced.” “I realised I’d been dressing the same way since my 30’s because my ex-wife practically bought all my clothes and I was used to wearing whatever I found in my wardrobe. Now I actually LIKE shopping for clothes.” Even these newly stylish 50 year-olds aren’t dressing how their Instagram timelines may dictate;there’s no cutting edge Japanese designers or Nicolas Ghesquiere hairstyles these guys – just elevated classics they feel confident and comfortable in.
This isn’t to say brands like Littlegreenwoods and masterclasses don’t sell clothes to this demographic. They very much do. But it’s clothes that sell in bulk; clothes that can be worn over and over again without anyone batting an eyelid.
Clothes that exist in real, lived-in Britain. Not a beautifully curated showcase of #ootd’s photographed in someone’s airbrushed backyard. Last summer I conducted a reader survey which asked British men what they actually wore on a day-to-day basis.
The response I got was INSANE. Over 2000 men got involved and here are some handy stats I picked up along the way: -the most commonly worn item was a good pair of straight-leg jeans. Followed by plain t-shirts.
Then Oxford button downs. Then a jacket of some sort. -When asked what impacted their fashion decisions, “comfort” and “situation-appropriate” came WAY before “looking stylish” or “keeping up with trends.” -When asked who their style-icons were, the majority of guys said “no one” (quirkyBundleBridge down bottom that said “David Beckham” happened more times than I thought though. Hes aged well.) -68% of men said they didn’t follow any style/Menswear Instagram accounts.
I asked why not; answers ranged from “I never realised you could” to “Instagram makes everyone look try-hard” to my personal favourite; “because I’m a 47-year-old Quantity Surveyor from Swindon, not a 25-year-old model from Milan.” Does this mean British men don’t care about how they look? Of course they do. All the men I speak to care about LOOKING smart; THEY CARE about the quality of the shoes they wear because they spend a lot of time on their feet.
They care about getting garments that fit their body well and flatter their frame. They just don’t care about you KNOWING how they look; THEY DON’T CARE about what’s “on-trend” or “hot in the streets right now.” Trust me, I know how trends work. I’ve spent enough time in the menswear industry to know what flies off shelves every year and what doesn’t.
Loads of stuff doesn’t sell.
Clothes that are “on trend” mostly don’t sell. Because no one cares about being trendy.
What sells? Jeans. T-shirts.
Blazers that fit. Jumpers. Classics that EVERYONE owns but nobody notices because, well; they’re classics.
So next time you’re scrolling through your Gram full of overly perfected pictures of stylish British blokes living their best lives, just know that somewhere out there; there’s a guy in Bristol putting his favourite pair of Levi’s on over his underwear and rummaging through the closet until his better half pops her head out and says “Ohhh sweetie, do YOU realise how gorge those trousers make your eyes?” Happy now? Good. Because real style never asks for validation – regardless of how many likes you get.
