There wasn’t much in way of role models for me, growing up in the 90’s, save for Pierce Brosnan’s 007. I think all of us at that age dreamt of or at least thought about what it’d be like to single-handedly take out a barrage of minions, save the damsel in distress and thwart the evil mastermind’s plans of world domination. And of course to look damn suave doing it. All these thoughts we’re reserved for just that, dreams, especially since the nineties sprout, in my opinion the worse in terms of men’s style in the last century, partly due to the strong influence and surge of rap and pop cultures. Thank God those days are over. Those days of trying to impress a girl whilst wearing oversized baggy tracksuits, big bling bling chains and baseball caps on top of du-rags and bandanas. Yes i’ve been a victim of this very specific crime. And boy do i wish i could go back in time and tell my 16 year old adolescent self to chill, and at least buy clothes in the right size. And that’s the same for suiting, where the cheaply made commercial high street product had really impacted it in such a way that many men don’t even know what a well fitted suit should look like.

Fast forward to 2017, style seems like it’s on the brink of a literal explosion with resurgence of styles from every decade since the 1950s splashing out onto the runways every season. Giving us guys much more of a selection and creative freedom to be more unique. It’s great to see how all those different subcultures have taken from each other and evolved. But what I find is more interesting is that amongst all the change; tailoring seems to stay afloat as it always has, only adapting to trends in a modest way, keeping it fresh and allows men the choice to be more experimental with fits, colours and materials without losing it’s sartorial charm. Allowing guys like myself to realise childhood dreams into actual reality. That’s why i think the KINGSMAN collection created in collaboration with Mr Porter and Director Matthew Vaughn is genius. By realising that an action movie is only part-action, and in equal parts; style, he’s helped create a unique world taken from Mark Millar’s graphic novels, and materialised it through not only these films but also making it accessible through menswear. Who’d have thought you could watch a movie and think ‘i’d love to wear that’ and actually be able to buy what you see and create your own personal nostalgia in the process.

– JOHN