Fine and dandy: London's men's fashion shows - The Guardian
The menswear industry used to be a little on the lean side – the Stan Laurel to womenswear's Oliver Hardy. The numbers were smaller but the sizes larger, and the places to find it few and far between. Step into a department store and you'd have to wade through armies of girls squirting Estée Lauder Happy to find the escalator that led you to all things manly; visit a fashion website and you'd hope there'd be a small tab tucked away on the side indicating that there might be a little for him as well as a lot for her.
Well, all that has changed. The menswear industry may never rival that of womenswear, but it's growing up mightily quick. So quickly, in fact, that the British Fashion Council has finally deemed it necessary for menswear to have its very own fashion week. London Collections: Men launches this June with a three-day festival of shows, parties, exhibitions, dinners and talks. The fact that London's menswear shows will now be on the fashion calendar alongside those of Milan and Paris is no mean feat and is the reason why both the mayoral office and HRH the Prince of Wales are lending their support – the latter is to celebrate the occasion with a party in the state apartments of St James's Palace.
This is no vanity exercise. In the past year or two, menswear sales have gained momentum across the world. In the States, a key territory for most British designers, last year men's clothing sales increased by 4% to $55.71bn. Department stores such as Selfridges and Harrods have invested unprecedented space in their menswear floors recently, and it's no coincidence that last year Net-a-Porter decided the time was right to launch a brother e-commerce site for its successful womenswear one. As editor-in-chief of mrporter.com, I was delighted to sit on the London Collections committee (our own bash on the Friday night will probably be a little racier than HRH's).
So why, with a wobbly economy, have the sales of men's fashion – especially at the luxury end – taken a turn for the better? First, Asia, and especially China, has proved to be a huge growing market, with a strong appetite for designer brands with clout and heritage – many of which are British. And in times of increased competitiveness in the workplace, most men realise the importance of looking smarter, stronger and fitter. Sales of tailored clothing jumped 26% in the 12 months to February, with a lot of vendors seeing a sharp rise in their made-to-measure business.
There's also the sense that when times are tough and news is bleak we seek comfort in the things that surround us. This spring, for example, retailers have seen surprisingly strong sales of brightly coloured shirts and trousers. Not long ago, you would never have imagined that our city centres would be populated by men happily sporting emerald-green trousers, pastel-pink patterned polos and dusty-blue suede brogues (step forward, Prince Harry).
The joy, and saving grace, of the British men's fashion industry is that it has so many facets: Savile Row, an institution whose traditions and aesthetics are copied the world over; a shoe industry in Northampton that boasts unparalleled levels of craftsmanship and expertise; and a neverending supply of talented and innovative young designers emerging from the country's leading fashion colleges. All these and more will be celebrated in London as the ideas, talent, polish and skills of the British menswear industry are paraded in front of an international audience – not just those seated at the events, but also those eagerly watching on Twitter, Facebook, street-style blogs and magazine websites.
And not only have the country's leading style makers, magazine editors and industry leaders come together to support this venture, but so, too, has a host of fashion-conscious celebrities, including David Walliams, Tinie Tempah, David Furnish, David Gandy and Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens.
If you're still wondering what all the fuss is about, take a look at some of the talent here that will be on display in June. British menswear is looking very fine and dandy indeed.
London Collections: Men runs from 15-17 June. For more information, go to londoncollections.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: Jessica Ennis breaks Denise Lewis' UK heptathlon record in some style in Götzis - Daily Telegraph
Tatyana Chernova, the 6ft 2in Russian who dethroned her at last summer’s World Championships in Daegu, finished a huge 132 points behind in second place, while Nataliya Dobrynska, the Ukrainian Olympic and world indoor champion, was a long way adrift on just 6,311 points in ninth place.
But Ennis said her record-breaking points total was not about sending a message to her rivals but proving to herself that she was capable of a big score.
“I wanted to do it for me, to prove to myself that I can do it, that I am capable of scoring a big score and that I am in good shape,” she said. “That gives me the self-belief and the mental capacity going forward.”
Ennis said the most important aspect of her weekend’s work was that if confirmed that she was in excellent shape just two months out from the Olympics.
The key now was to maintain her physical condition without risking the kind of devastating injury that wrecked her Olympic dreams four years ago when she suffered multiple stress fractures in her right foot at the same Götzis meeting.
“I am going to train sensibly,” she said. “I have done a big block of my work now, so it is freshening up, sharpening up and getting race sharp. It’s nice to be here in Olympic year and not be injured and have a great result as well.”
She said her recent defeats had been an impetus to work harder in training, and the weekend had reassured her that everything was going in the right direction.
Leading overnight on 4,113 after lowering her 200 metres lifetime best by a huge 0.31sec, Ennis knew that if she get could close to her personal bests in her three remaining events, it would be enough to overhaul the record set by Lewis in Talence, France, in 2000.
Her first event of the day, the long jump, provided the perfect platform as she leapt out to 6.51m with her third and final attempt, equalling her lifetime best and, crucially, beating Chernova in the Russian’s specialist event.
But it was the javelin, the event that proved Ennis’s nemesis at last year’s World Championships, that had the Sheffield athlete punching the air in celebration as she opened up with a huge throw of 47.11m — 40cm in excess of her lifetime best.
In the final event, the 800m, Ennis adopted her usual tactic of striking out from the front and crossed the line in 2-09.00 — the third fastest outdoor time of her career — before sinking to the ground in exhaustion.
But, in a telling moment, Chernova put in a desperate effort to catch her in the final straight, and passed her with a couple of strides to go. It was a clear message to the Briton that she has no intention of backing down in August. But there can be now doubt that the pendulum has now swung in Ennis’s direction, and it could not be better timed.
She made her breathrough with with her runaway victory at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. Further multi-events triumphs in 2010 at the World Indoor Championships in Doha and the European Championships in Barcelona served only to cement her status as one of Britain’s outstanding gold-medal prospects for London.
But the first sign that the weight of expectation was beginning to weigh heavily on her shoulders emerged in Daegu last September where her disastrous javelin performance opened the door for Chernova to take her world crown.
Then, in Istanbul three months ago, she displayed more vulnerability under pressure when a misfiring long jump allowed Dobyrnska to walk away with her world indoor pentathlon crown.
That is why Sunday was so important. After losing two world titles, another defeat in her last heptathlon before London would have been a psychological hammer blow.
But, having complained in the past that too many people have been “hanging a gold medal around my neck” before the Olympics have even started, Ennis will not be getting too carried away.
Four years ago, the inconsistent Dobrynksa finished ninth in Götzis before going on to win Olympic gold in Beijing, and she is certain to be in far better shape in London than she was in Austria this weekend.
The Ukrainian admitted before the meeting that she had only been training properly for a month following the death from cancer of her husband and coach, Dmytro Polyakov, in March. Chernova, too, looked undercooked compared to her brilliant performance in Daegu.
Ennis said her next competition would be the Bislett Games in Oslo on June 7, where she would be taking part in the 100 metre hurdles, before she gets ready for the UK Olympic trials in Birmingham.
Ennis may have ensured her place in the history books, but she will need to run, jump and throw like she did over the last couple of days if she is to become Britain’s Olympic golden girl.
Heptathlon results
1. Jessica Ennis, Britain, 6,906 points.
2. Tatyana Chernova, Russia, 6,774.
3. Lyudmyla Yosypenko, Ukraine, 6,501.
4. Austra Skujyte, Lithuania, 6,493.
5. Lilli Schwarzkopf, Germany, 6,461.
6. Jessica Zelinka, Canada, 6,393.*
7. Dafne Schippers, Netherlands, 6,360.
8. Jennifer Oeser, Germany, 6,345.
9. Nataliya Dobrynska, Ukraine, 6,311.
10. Nadine Broersen, Netherlands, 6,298.
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