Over the past decade, Beckham's dedication to the trendsetter role has been as reliable as his crossing, although the supermini swimmers are, like that sarong, unlikely to be bought in their millions. One female colleague reassured me that Becks' body looked a bit “doughy,” but if that's doughy then there really is no hope for the rest of us. Most ordinary men just sniggered, knowing their thin/fat/white/pot-bellied forms could never be bared like Beckham.
The sportswear theme has also been echoed in music, where Arctic Monkeys' determinedly casual approach is more anti-style than style. The suburban-night-out look has been taken further by Mike Skinner, whose threads have followed his musical journey from boy-next-door to disillusioned celebrity. Adding shop to his other holics, Skinner's Marc Jacobs threads are out of the reach of most men, but you can't walk 10 yards through Topman without stumbling across the sleazy Miami Vice vibe, also reprised in film. However, as Needham points out, the Strokes did the whole suit-sleeves-rolled-up thing a couple of years ago. “It's a look that pops up above the parapet every few years,” he says. And is fairly rapidly shot down again.
Needham believes dandyism is far from on the wane. A recent poll found sales of fake tan for men had risen by 120 percent while sales of hair removal creams for men were up 78 percent. There is no going back. “Men are enjoying dressing up,” he says. “They won't go back to your basic jeans-and-T-shirt look. Younger men in particular are relishing the chance to be flamboyant.”
The skinniness of everything from ties to trousers could be on the turn. A hefty pelt of beard adds weight to the skinniest of souls, while Dior Homme is pushing opera coats and baggier, but still immaculately creased, trousers with wild bow ties. It is more Thin White Duke-era Bowie than anything else, according to Needham. And he reckons today's iconic hirsute dandy is not Brand but Devendra Banhart.
Championed by Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel's creative director, for his “beautiful long hair and beard and women's clothes mixed with men's,” his look is classically folky in facial-hair terms, with a fair dose of dandy as well thanks to waistcoats and jewelry. From a distance it all looks a bit Woodstock, until you see the painted nails and other feminine detailing. Steady on, I hear you say, but the style icon suffers for us all. We can be perfectly content with being pale imitations.
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