Bright Shiny Lights

Ever since Brighterman gave me a pair of shades, I've blinded my outfits with their presence. I love how they can flicker a ray and spark into every style, from 70's bohemian tint to a futuristic androgyny. But Burberry have taken the specs into a brand new electric vision, with colours that are creamy in vintage appeal but with a modern structure and architecture about them. Teamed with the muted jackets that crisp and seal the brands image, I love this twist on the 'summer essential.'

Gravel Pit

I mentioned in a previous post how I’ve been blinding a slice of white into my wardrobe, and the colour has now made a literal footprint in my path. My recently adopted asos trainers buckle all the laid back rage of Alexander Wang, looking military with a basketball slamdunk style. Rather than bleaching out in white though, I’ve been misting it into a gritty grey collection, with light charcoal and cigarette jumpers that are oversized and slouch off the shoulder in a carefree funk. Black and white was designed to amazingly clash, and I can see why. And another designer I came across who revels in gritty grey with an urban summer stamp and swagger is Am Golhar. I love the unconventional knits that have bullethole designs, and the playful snoods that snake around the neck. The art to wearing heavy-ish knits in the spring is to wear them oversized, twisting them into shorts or slouched trousers like the inspired Am Golhar. To see more of the collection head to http://am-golhar.com/

Lost & Found

Menswear has a degree of detention to it compared to womenswear, in that the retail silhouette is a little more stencilled in place with a shirt or t-shirt with jeans or shorts combo. The runway breaks down all the boundaries, but sometimes this doesn't always de-construct the typical frame. Which is why a designer like Nico Didonna was such a refreshing thinker to collaborate with. His tapestry is to play with structure and texture, making a simple and polished coat from afar look like a labyrinth of intricate design and possibilities up close. There is a structure that can be camouflaged or played with, like a jigsaw puzzle with countless ways of completing. Nico introduces the ability to interpret shape, with coats that are craving to be moulded around each man and every mood. Asymmetric straps dart across like weaponry that asks for a stylish attack on the eyes, or could simply be used to corset a coat into a polished presentation. It's the subtle curves and weave of the coats that take the aesthetic on an unexpected adventure, where the coat transforms and evolves dependent on where you look at it from. He makes a tamed tailored creature into a wild and eccentric beast.

One of the best spectacles is the dark olive coat that oozes Gothic warrior intensity when the hooded waistcoat is buckled into the look. Taken off it could be a Prada man about town, but with the hood up and aware it becomes a man of the shadows who disguises himself with irresistible impact. Showing Nico's art in construction and deconstruction, I'm wearing his clothes against the art of the countryside, showing how the adaptive clothes can fuse into any landscape. Starting off with the olive green coat that looks like a quirky gentleman from the manor house, I then become a mysterious figure from the enchanted and Gothic woodland.

Nico's boutique is situated in Soho, and his website can be found at http://www.nico-d.com/ And credit where due to my brother George for taking the photos.

Dexter's Laboratory

White isn't a colour I usually invest in; with it blindingly haunting and reflecting the snow chill of Winter, I also struggle to get enough grit and texture out of the pallete. Maybe I'm just stuck in childhood eyes, when white would entail a shapeless tent of a t-shirt that drowned me and screamed a lack of imagination with a simple sport tick or logo nervously hiding on it. But my 'vegas gambling' ways on the ebay slotmachine landed me with some vintage tops from the poptastic Dexter Wong. His aesthetics electrified the 90's club kids scene, putting a cocktail of psychadelic drug colours and sci-fi designs into the nightclub crowd. I love the white top below which feels like frozen silk structure from space, with sharp triangle teasing panels of mesh that look like barbed wire. With this playful pop, I guess I've realised that white can work with my style when structure is embodied rather than texture. I've also featured some unconventional ways with white below from Braille and Neil Barrett. The poncho looks like a parachuting concord, and the trousers look like the inside of a lava lamp; absolutely magical to the eye. And seeing as I'm on the Dexter Wong dancefloor, one of his iconic spikey jumpers had to be embedded, showing that his sci-fi structure works across all the colour spectrums.

Dance The Way I Feel

London is drenched in sunshine at the moment, with all the local parks transforming into a playground of tanning and fashion. And I recently did a photoshoot in the constantly magial Hampstead Heath with Brighterman, showing the ways of accessorising colour into the short and t-shirt canvas. Summer can quite often fall victim to being the cringe-factor season of style for the stereotypical man, where it's assumed that flip flops or sandals are essential, and Hawaaiin shirts that have a cardboard-cut-out shape and kaleidoscope-gone-wrong design add some fun to the sun. But even in the sizzling heat I don't like to sacrifice, and accessorising with little snippets of colour can really keep style alive and buzzing amongst the wasps. Military boots and brogues work wonderfully in every season, where colourful socks popping out of them give a quirky twist. A tie and shirt also works well with the off-duty postman short look, showing that all the persona's can leave a footprint in the sand. My designer friend Coral Garrett recently introduced a way of splicing two ties together to create an imaginative twist, which only adds to this eclectic mix of colour that I've reflected into my Summer look. [ More of his collection can be seen at http://www.coralgarrett.net/ ] So whatever your Blue Peter D.I.Y interpretation, accessorising is the key to keeping style on show and in sight when the sunglasses are on. And to see more style advice videos, be sure to subscribe to Brighterman TV where I'm featured. http://www.youtube.com/user/BrightermanTV

Trailer Park Poet

One of my favourite designers that revels in every season is Lou Dalton. Her aesthetic electrifies a quirky take on the equestrian, with jodhpurs that have a military sort of patchwork, knits that look like tie dyed cobwebs, and a styling that stems back to young romantics; like if the 80’s adopted a touch of grunge. With this in mind, I couldn’t resist indulging in her palette, introducing a few leafs from her book into my own wear. My cardigan bobbles like a rural landscape on acid, with gritty leaves tattooed into the design. And my jumper from Topman LTD has equestrian shoulder pads that fit the Lou Dalton frame. With socks peeking out of brogues, and sunburnt burgundy trousers, my look conveys Spring with an 80’s romantic bohemian concoction.

I’ve also included a scan from the first issue of Conquer Magazine, for which I was heavily involved with as the fashion writer. The launch party was last night at Mayfair’s Babble Bar, and I was charmed to see the magazine come together into something slick and polished for the wealthy man about town.

Set Fire To The Rain

Concluding my chemistry week that experimented and revolved around fusion, here's two looks that have shades as their staple and standout piece, but are miles apart in their style. The first outfit combines urban sport attitude with a quirky punk edge, with a silky hooded zip cardigan that works well under a sticky pvc panelled jacket. With shades looking like a crazy concoction of John Lennon with Tom Cruise's 'Top Gun', the outfit was fiesty but fun at the same time.

I'm also wearing shades in an outfit that teases it's way into Spring. My postman shorts are the transition into irresistible weather, with a safari toned shirt that looks oh so bohemian with the skeleton frame t-shirt. The sunglasses seem to convey 'The Beatles' in a modern shade, where the shape of them is vintage but the result is an intoxciating sci-fi vision.

The T-Shirt featured was from Ardentees, where using the code 'PINSTRIPE' on their site will reward you with a rather irresistible 10% discount. http://www.ardentees.com/ /http://www.facebook.com/#!/ARDENTEES?sk=wall / And the video below is from Brighterman TV : http://www.youtube.com/user/BrightermanTV. Now you're all linked up!