British GQ

Contributor For this April/May issue, our style editor Mahalia Chang spent time with the denizens of Savile Row – the trimmers, cutters and designers upholding the street’s formidable reputation. “People think of Savile Row as being a bit snooty or inaccessible, but I found everyone who worked there very kind and generous with their time. When you love something a lot, you want to talk about it. The cutters that have been there for 40 or 50 years have amazing stories to tell.” Office Grails HANNAH ENDERBY Audience development and social media manager, British GQ “Dressing up a Represent tracksuit is the easiest way to make your comfiest clothes office-proof.” YASMIN LAHOUASNIA Content operations manager, GQ Middle East “When you have a meeting at 9am and a workout at 8pm.”…

And I resisted it. I resisted it. I resisted it. Glorious denial. But piece by piece, day by day, I found myself unwilling to do… anything. There were stretches of time – weeks, maybe – where getting into the shower felt like lifting a car, brushing my teeth like scaling a mountain. Some days, I’d do nothing until 4pm. By the time I saw a therapist, I was far gone. In my first session, I sat opposite her with my arms crossed. I avoided eye contact. “This is so embarrassing,” I said. “Why?” she asked. And with that, we were off to the races. I learned a lot. The most humbling lesson: I could be spectacularly, staggeringly wrong. I wanted to not have depression more than I wanted to feel…

BOTANIC BELTER A fancy floral coat can take you from the farmers’ market to the beer garden without straying into costume territory. Versace demonstrates. PLUS 3 high-impact trends to reap ALFIE NICKERSON IS GROWING HIS OWN WAY Life’s a lot of fun when you own a flower farm. Alfie Nickerson, part-time model and the green thumb behind biodynamic farm Burnt Fen Flowers, is making it creative too. For the farm’s 15,000 Instagram followers, Nickerson stages elaborate floral sets – a sailboat filled with blooms; a pool table of ferns with dahlia billiard balls; a bed of tulips planted in a phallic configuration. In every shot, there’s Nickerson with a handrolled cigarette and a mud-flecked tee: a living symbol of the dirt and endeavour that goes into such works of beauty.…

Not so long ago, if a guy stepped out carrying so much as a solemn leather tote, he’d have to be wary of the “man bag” pejorative. In 2025, your new fear may be leaving home without a sick carryall by your side – one that amplifies your outfit’s aura by way of vibey beadwork, artful materials or screaming hues. A-List Shades Nothing wrong with your trusty tortoiseshell Wayfarers, of course. It’s just that it’s never felt so right to embrace bigger, brasher frames with a whole lot more juice. Weirdo shapes! Gaudy gold rims! Gradient lenses! If it looks like something Bowie would’ve worn in 1973, it’s what you want on your temples this summer. City Slickers When downpour season’s got you down, treat yourself to a jacket so…

ON A VAST FLOOR above the old Smithfield meat market, six very different design teams are preparing for fashion week. They’re the first cohort in the Fashion Residency, a new mentorship programme that wants to light a fire under British design and turbo-charge a capital city that’s responsible for the likes of McQueen, Westwood and McCartney. Some mentorship schemes are tokenistic and tail off on their commitments, but this one, courtesy of Paul Smith’s Foundation, GQ, the Mayor of London’s office and event space provider Projekt, gives young designers a full suite of support. There’s guidance, counsel and – maybe the most valuable thing of all – free studio space in an absurdly expensive city. Since Paul Smith moved from making clothes in a small rented room in Nottingham to…

I WASN’T NOT like James Bond. In January, after I solemnly swore to protect Omega’s classified information (ie signing an NDA), the storied watchmaker issued me a precious piece of equipment in order to complete an operation of the utmost importance. The gadget in question? A new, top secret Omega Seamaster Diver 300m in bronze gold – the brand’s proprietary blend of nine-carat gold, silver, and palladium – with a burgundy bezel. My mission? Simple, really: test-drive the sickest wristwear not yet on the market. I bring up 007 for a couple of reasons. The first is that my orders were similar to those of former Bond and current Omega ambassador Daniel Craig, whom the brand routinely tasks with wearing unreleased watches at high-profile events – the Venice Film Festival,…