Jack Wills

As I mentioned in a previous post, it definitely seems that old English clothing brands are coming back into fashion. Jack Wills 'the university outfitters', is an English brand for the younger generation that brings these old English styles with a modern twist. I regularly get the Jack Wills Handbook through the post, which is a high quality catalogue for the brand containing a lot of arty lifestyle imagery. The brand has a lot of critics, mainly due to the price of their clothing and the typical 'rah' that would be seen in them, however it has become a lot more commonplace in the past few years and brings with it a quintessential English lifestyle with Polo and manor houses.

I have to admit as a brand I really enjoy Jack Wills. Not just because of the clothing, it's incredibly overpriced, but in the way that it has created such a brand identity for itself and has managed to convert many critics into lovers. English is back in a big way and Jack Wills is making sure that the public know about it. The website is updated regularly and has a lifestyle section which currently holds dates of a university tour. Targeting the market perfectly I think.

English Revival

Old English clothing brands are definitely being revived in todays fashion. I lost count of the number of Hunter wellington boots that I saw at Bestival over the summer, and everyone around campus is wearing Barbour jackets. I like that such brands that are the backbone of English clothing are now coming into fashion.

A year ago many people wouldn't have been seen dead in most of this clothing, mainly because it's main target market are farmers, a not so glamorous profession, however it just shows the influence that the media has on today's fashion. If it wasn't for Kate Moss wearing her Hunter wellington boots to the first festival of the summer, then I very much doubt that so many would have been sold over the past few months. Style icons influence us every day, even when we don't realise it.

The Barbour jacket - how it's meant to be worn

In fashion today

Kate Moss in her Hunter boots - practical, and now thanks to her also fashionable.

Peter Saville's New England Shirt Design

Peter Saville has designed a new England shirt that will be worn on the teams home match against Bulgaria on September 3rd. The shirt will be available to the public for £49.99. The makers, Umbro, state that the design is inspired by the more formal classic shirts of England's footballing past.

Not being a great fan of football I have noticed little difference in the new design. Saville has had very little input by only adding a number of different coloured crosses on the shoulders of the shirt, which is meant to be 'evocative of stitches synonymous with bespoke tailoring'. They also aim to represent the diverse nature of modern English society.

Coming from a design aspect I have no clue how this is meant to represent our society in anyway. Possibly the colours to replicate the different ethnic groups? I do however know that England fans will not be impressed with having to pay such a large amount of money for a shirt that has very little difference to it's predecessors.