Fashion and Beauty: All change for our Mr Frumpy
Dec 9 2010 by Hilarie Stelfox, Huddersfield Daily Examiner
All change for our Mr Frumpy
EXAMINER features writer John Avison has a sartorial problem that is probably shared by other men in his age group.
They only have a casual interest in fashion and their wardrobes are not exactly overflowing with the latest trends.
In fact, 61-year-old John claims: “I last bought new clothes back in 1977.’’
Colleagues may well believe this, but he is actually joking.
“I shop maybe once a year, if that,’’ he said. “I’ve got a wardrobe full of stuff that’s out of date and not very trendy, but I’m not quite ready to dress like an old man. There’s a bit of fight left in me yet.’’
John recently made the momentous decision to buy an entire new wardrobe and wanted advice on where to start.
“I’ve got to give it more thought and be more proactive about my clothes,” he said. “I tend to go for things in my comfort zone, things that don’t draw attention to me.”
Attempts by his wife, Pip, to buy him something different are usually met with rejection.
“She has bought things but I usually take them back,” confessed John.
With a penchant for khaki, drab green and other camouflage colours that keep him blended into the background – as well as crew neck jumpers and workaday striped shirts in pastel blues and creams – the mission was to get him into ‘cleaner’, fresher colours and introduce him to the wonderful world of the patterned shirt.
As House of Fraser has a large menswear section, that’s where we began the search, with the store’s menswear supervisor, Andrew McDermott.
