Sales shopping - a guide for men

Now's the time for the braver man in search of style to get out to the sales to buy those designer clothes at more affordable prices.  Alternatively, of course, he can stay at home with a turkey sandwich, washing it down with the dregs of that vintage wine from Christmas Day.  

I took the plunge last year and found this tweed jacket at the Ralph Lauren sale in Chelsea at a good discount.  The fit and details are outstanding; good designer clothes are worth snapping up in the sales before they disappear.

Like most men, I hate sales shopping, but this year I shopped locally to buy a few post-Christmas essentials.  It was early and still relatively uncrowded in John Lewis and  Massimo Dutti, where I've found interesting and reasonably-priced clothes in the past.  This approach to sales shopping is recommended; target two or three shops early in the day - they will be packed later.

Anyway, I came away from Massimo Dutti with this wool, cashmere and silk waistcoat, half price. It's actually more of a sleeveless cardigan than a tailored waistcoat as the fit is a bit slouchy, so I will wear it with the bottom button done up.  Although hardly top designer wear it has, like other clothes I've bought from this shop, interesting details in the pockets and buttons so has some of the features of a pricier designer garment. In the picture I'm wearing the waistcoat with the jacket from a vintage Harris Tweed suit.

Good luck at the sales.

For the middle-aged cycling man of style there's vintage cycling jerseys

Well of course we could wear modern cycling jerseys for our rides, but surely there is more style and fun to be found in itchy, hard-to-wash, sweaty, smelly woollen vintage jerseys like this Italian example.  Note that Grey Fox has been careful to match bike and helmet to the grey(ing) hair.

Pink is the colour of La Gazzetta dello Sport which gave its colour to the pink jersey worn by the leader of the Giro d'Italia - la maglia rosa.  Yes, real men wear pink.

And here's part of my jersey collection -