Mgilets, according to The Spectator, are back. This threw me off: did they ever leave? And if not, can they?
I still don’t understand why the gilet is everywhere. For the past decade it has been associated with men who work in financial services so that when I type “finance bro look” into a Google image search, a sponsored shopping center immediately pops up. I know some women find this trend attractive but I have a hard time seeing it. My rule of thumb would be, dress like Matthew Macfadyen? Of course! Dress like Tom Wambscans? No.
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I would assume that the advantages of such a thing, with a proud torso and no arms, should be a combination of warmth and elegance. In that case, I don’t know why it matters to men who work indoors at desks.
The answer turns out to be historical: business gifts. Companies were able to print their logo on a large number of Patagonia wool gilets and give them to workers. The sentiment began on such a scale that, as Business Insider once put it, “walking around Wall Street at lunchtime was like swimming in a sea of wool”.
But in the end, it seems that Patagonia, like me, may have the ick. Peter Howarth, editor and chief executive of Show Media, says: “They were so disgusted with the fact that banks were doing this, and all their staff were wearing them, that they stopped offering them. It’s an external company, actually.
The fact that the financial bros were so fond of the gilet says something about the meaning of the math desk job; they wanted to test rugged masculinity. Fashion editor and stylist Catherine Hayward explains it this way: “With the popularity of shows like Succession and Industryappearance is now regarded as ‘the passive ruler of the universe’.” Henry Muck of the last show – a high-ranking professional, played by Kit Harington, with entrepreneurial ambitions and confident clothes in gilets – is an example of this.
Since they are clearly “back”, you may be tempted. If so, here are some guidelines for you to consider.
Be sensible…
Not all gilets are created equal and neither are their wearers. “I remember talking to [the designer] Paul Smith a few years ago,” says Howarth. “It was cold and under his window check suit he was wearing a very heavy nylon fabric. I was impressed by it and he said: ‘Uniqlo! You cannot defeat them.’ I thought that was very interesting – and made sense. “
The great thing about Uniqlo, of course, is that you never feel like you’re making a statement by wearing their clothes. They are so useful that they are almost invisible. For this reason I will allow them, especially if they are dressed in the Smith style, with good sewing.
… or be fancy
Another option is what Howarth calls a ‘fashion gilet’, a quintessential example probably by Brunello Cuccinelli. For £2,295 you can get a quilted one with down and goose down.
It’s a clear message, and let’s be honest, not many can convey it.
Be experimental
Howarth argues that even if you don’t think you like gilet-wearing models, you don’t need to ban any clothing. “Men don’t have the flexibility that women have in their closets – we’re very limited to jackets, trousers, shirts and ties,” she says. “And in the last ten years, the gilet has entered the list of classic pieces. That’s not a bad thing, because we need more options.”
He points out that there is a fourth type of countryman who wears a gilet, buys Barbour, likes corduroy trousers and good wellies, and wears his heater to walk the dog. “And that’s fine with me,” he adds. “The problem with all these things is when they become uniform.”
This brings us to the final point…
Be original
Perhaps, I now realize, my problem is not with the gilet itself but with the financial bros who have taken it seriously. There’s nothing wrong with wearing anything as long as you think about your clothes and don’t build your personality around looking like the rest of your coworkers.
According to the report, the only man I accept with all my heart is my father: he warms the battery, to keep him warm when he is in the hole. Wambgans eat your heart out – it doesn’t get any harder than that.
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