The Grey Fox Blog Autumn/Winter Photoshoot

I love autumn and winter for the opportunities to dress casually to keep warm and dry. Wools, tweeds, knitwear, waxed and quilted cloths, canvas and leather bags and holdalls, fine shoes and boots, cotton corduroy and moleskins are all elements in this chilly equation. In this feature I've worked with several brands, Blooming Stuff PR, photographer Polskey (all links below) and Harry, my long suffering labrador retriever, on a photoshoot to bring you some seasonal inspiration.

Dry-waxed jacket Peregrine Clothing, gilet Lavenham, cords Spoke London

Accessories Tyler & Tyler, bag Billingham, gilet Lavenham (book and vintage Leica are mine)

This is one of a series of photoshoots designed to give brands the opportunity to affordably put their products before a growing and enthusiastic Grey Fox audience here on the blog and on Instagram.

See below for links to participating brands and a 20% discount for blog readers from Tyler & Tyler.

Quilted jacket Lavenham, bag Billingham Bags

Cords Spoke London, bags Billingham, shoes Bodileys

Denim jacket Lavenham x Blackhorse Lane Atelier, bags Billingham

Dry wax jacket Peregrine Clothing, gilet Lavenham, cords Spoke

Shoes Bodileys, cords Spoke, socks Tyler & Tyler

Jacket and gilet Lavenham

Bag Billingham, quilted jacket Lavenham

Cardigan Peregrine Clothing, shoes Bodileys, socks & tie Tyler & Tyler, cords Spoke London

Tie and socks Tyler & Tyler, shoes Bodileys, cords Spoke

Knitwear Peregrine Clothing, cords Spoke, shoes Bodileys, socks Pantherella

Bag Billingham, cords Spoke, coat and gilet Lavenham

From top left clockwise: Bodileys, Peregrine Clothing, Bodileys, Lavenham, Lavenham

From top left clockwise: Lavenham, Bodileys, Peregrine Clothing, Billingham, Tyler & Tyler, Bodileys, Spoke

I'm very grateful to the brands taking part who helped sponsor the blog. Please email me for information about future photoshoots and features.

Links to brands:

Socks and cufflinks: Tyler & Tyler Birmingham. Accessories, cufflinks, socks, ties [Tyler & Tyler are offering an exclusive 20% discount for Grey Fox Blog readers. Quote GREYFOX at the checkout].

Jackets & gilets: Lavenham. Best known for its Suffolk-made outerwear/street and countrywear.

Bags: Billingham Bags. British-made canvas and leather bags and cases.

Shoes: Bodileys. Footwear made in England.

Trousers: Spoke London. British-designed trousers, chinos and cords to fit all sizes.

Knitwear and outerwear: Peregrine Clothing: English-made knitwear and outerwear.

Socks: Pantherella. English-made in Leicester.

I'd like to thank Polskey for her superb photography and Clare at Blooming PR for her organisational support without which this wouldn't have happened.

With many thanks to Harry for his unconditional love

Grey Fox on Instagram has the attention of The Times

My efforts on Instagram attracted the attention of The Times last week. 'Meet the Instagrans: silver stars of social media', featured eight older users of Instagram, from Iris Apfel to Linda Rodin. All were women, except for me, which underlines the scarcity of older male bloggers and sadly means I have to put up with the 'Instagran' epithet. However, I was lucky to make the cut as I was the youngest there by a margin. Here is what was said about Grey Fox:

You can read the feature here (subscription required).

I'm building Grey Fox's presence on Instagram. Its speed and ease of use enables me to post material in a fraction of the time that a blog post takes. The impact is similar, although less long term. Periodic 'outfit of the day' posts, mixed with images of things that catch my eye and of Harry, the #BlogDog, can be found. Please follow me on Instagram by clicking here.

Grey Fox/Inkling Father's Day shop

It's nearly Father's Day, so, for those of you looking for gift ideas, I've selected a few favourites from the Grey Fox/Inkling shop for you to consider. Of course, other items are available through the shop by clicking on the tab at the top of this page.

The Merchant Fox - British luxury goods of a foxy nature

Quite why it has taken me so long to feature The Merchant Fox, I don't know. Clearly anything foxy is good, but if it involves luxury British-made products it hits the spot with Grey Fox. Clothing, accessories and of course cloth for tailoring (Fox Brothers have made wool cloth since 1722) are featured on a well-designed website.

I'm showing you only a small part of the collection - and of course I've concentrated on matters foxy. Have a browse around the rest of the site (link below); you'll find much more to tempt you.

Visit The Merchant Fox for a fascinating collection of gifts and menswear.

Fashion and the older man - style past 40 - Grey Fox scribbles in The Guardian

Image Alan Paine 

I thought I'd gather here links to some of my writing on The Guardian Fashion Blogs network. I'm doing this to make these posts available from here on Grey Fox and to ensure that what appears here is a more complete collection of articles on style and fashion for older men, men past 40 years of age - those of us in middle age. Some of these are revised versions of posts here on Grey Fox Blog.

Meet the bloggers, Grey Fox, the old blogger, goes large. Why I chose to write about older men's style here and in The Guardian.

Are men (especially older men) afraid of dressing well? Why is it that the man over forty is often reluctant to dress well?

Denim jeans and the middle-aged man Why shouldn't older men wear denims?

Where are the grey-haired men in advertising? Why do we see so few middle-aged, older, grey-haired men advertising menswear? Are we being ignored by the fashion industry?

Ageless style What suits the older man? How can the middle-aged man dress with style?

Shorts - an older man never grows out of them Shorts and the mature man. Older men are often criticised unfairly for wearing shorts. How can this be avoided?

Marks & Spencer Best of British collection An older man tries it on. Grey Fox emulates Oliver Cheshire.

Men's fashion in 2014 - What's there for the older man? 

Grey Fox emulates Oliver Cheshire for The Guardian Blog

Grey Fox's second birthday

Two years ago today I wrote my first blog post on Grey Fox. I intended to write for only a few months before moving onto another project. However, I found that no other older man was blogging about fashion and style in quite the same way and, after a few months, the funny and talented Polly Vernon at The Times wrote a five page article in the Saturday magazine called 'Shades of Grey' based on ideas from the blog. This was followed by mentions elsewhere (see Press above).

With such encouragement, I felt I couldn't give up and here I still am, enjoying every minute of it.

The blog recently reached a total of 500,000 views since it started. Grey Fox has nearly 3,000 followers on Twitter and visitor numbers increase daily. I'm totally in awe of this. I want to thank all of you for sticking with Grey Fox, commenting and e-mailing with ideas, questions and suggestions. It's been a truly humbling experience. 

I've made lots of friends through the blog and Twitter, many of whom I've had the privilege of meeting face to face. All are generous, creative, intelligent and funny people - aged from twenties to older than me. This has been the best part of being a blogger.

The blog still isn't a commercial venture, it costs me more than I earn from it. I won't allow commercial pressures to get in the way of blogging, unless someone has a bright idea.

Meanwhile, please keep in touch; tell me what you like and don't like, make suggestions, ask questions, tell me about your products, your businesses, your style and your plans. You are this blog.

David Evans, a.k.a. Grey Fox.

Grey Fox is now on Pinterest

Grey Fox is now on Pinterest, so please pay a visit for more images around the Grey Fox themes of the search for style in middle age and fashions for the older man - and I celebrate grey hair on both men and women! Click on the button below -

In Camera - London Fashion Week February 2013 Part 1

I hadn't intended going to London Fashion Week to pursue my new street photography career; but it was a beautiful sunny day and I couldn't resist.

I was on the lookout for images of older men of style - grey foxes. Here's a mixture, not all fashion world types. More to come!

Middle-aged man wears vintage Harris tweed suit

Vintage oatmeal herringbone Harris tweed two-piece suit.

Image by Carole Evans photography - cropped by Grey Fox!

Grey hair special - grey vixens, women proud of their grey hair

In my search for images for my posts about grey hair in men, I came across far fewer of women. Their rarity got me wondering about the social conventions, pressures and influences that require women to dye their hair, when most men go grey.

Looking at these images (many of whom you will know) I'm struck how rarely we see grey-haired women in their forties and fifties; I wish we could see more.

[Ed. Since writing this post I have started a board celebrating grey-haired women on Pinterest - see here].

I don't know where these images came from originally; please let me know if I've infringed any rights.

Why Grey Fox and not Silver Fox?

I've been asked why this blog isn't called Silver Fox (defined as an attractive older man), so I thought I'd offer an explanation.

Here is an excellent reason for not calling this blog Silver Fox!

Here are a few reasons -

1. When conceiving the idea of a blog I heard a young woman describe an older man as a silver fox and this formed the basis of the name. I felt, however, that the term sometimes has predatory connotations; Terry Thomas leering at some gorgeous young girl - "helleeeeww". He is a bit of a bounder, cad and scoundrel. I continued my search for a name.
2. I am in my fifties and my hair is greying, rather than completely silver.
3. Someone pointed out that the word 'grey' can mean boring or lifeless. I was aware of this, but felt that I would use the word with an ironic sense - grey foxes need not be uninteresting.
4. A silver fox is, by definition, attractive. A grey fox is generally smartly-dressed and stylish, but not necessarily conventionally good-looking.

And, no, the name's got nothing to do with Fifty Shades of Grey. I hadn't even heard of the book when I arrived at a name.

Terry Thomas (left) in School for Scoundrels. The ultimate silver fox and cad.

Of course, the spelling of the word 'grey' marks this blog out as British, rather than US, where the word would be spelled 'gray'. With access to UK and US English an everyday occurrence on the Web, I felt this was no problem - and, after all, I am British. I didn't anticipate, incidentally, that I would welcome so many readers from the USA.

So, there you are.