Do men feel afflicted by the same pressing, slightly panic-inducing narrative as women at this time of year? You know the one – or maybe you don’t – the “sharpen your pencils” shtick that decrees that September is the month you shed every vestige of your summer wardrobe and commit fully to autumn, emerging in a symphony of brown and russet hues that signal your readiness for the new season ahead.
Guy Ritchie got the memo. At the London premiere for season two of Netflix hit The Gentlemen, the show’s 57-year-old director looked relaxed and dapper in a smart layering of chestnut and camel brown. “He’s dressed like it’s pumpkin season,” notes Esquire’s luxury director Johnny Davis, not disapprovingly. “It’s a softening of the geezer. You move him out of Soho and into the Cotswolds, put him in suede and corduroy, but you suspect there’s still a sovereign ring and a hip flask somewhere nearby.”
Ritchie is not the only one to be breathing a deep sigh of relief now that summer is in retreat. For many men – let’s call them “autumn dads” – September and October are the months in which their style comes into its own. Finally, they don’t have to go through the pretence of being able to rock a pair of shorts. Their toes need no longer suffer the indignity of sandals, but can be stowed away in shoes, as God intended.
Clothes have structure. Pastels are off-menu. Goodbye, linen. Hello, corduroy.
Opt for caramel and cinnamon tones
Some men might be wedded to their beloved blacks and navies, but not you. You’ve always felt that brown looks softer and less formal, with a broad spectrum of hues that suit all ages and skin tones. “Brown is a very easy next move for men who live in navy,” says Davis.
“Corduroy is particularly good: brown cords, a cord jacket, even a cord suit à la Wes Anderson/Jarvis Cocker. Or a suede bomber, which gives you the colour and texture without making you look as though you’re about to announce the Boxing Day shoot.”
Corduroy easy trousers, £24.90, Uniqlo; Corduroy suit jacket, £330 and trousers, £155, Gant; Fine cord shirt, £185, Sunspel
Invest in good knitwear
Your wife always fawns over the sight of Colin Firth/Daniel Craig/Pierce Brosnan in a knit, and frankly, you don’t blame her. At this time of year, a fine-gauge polo à la Brosnan is the way to go – graduating to a chunkier cable knit à la Firth as the weather gets colder. Don’t discount rich berry hues: they tone well with forest greens and darker browns, as well as navy. Fair Isle and Argyle knits also look pleasingly autumnal.
Extra fine merino polo, £265, John Smedley; Lambswool argyle crewneck, £465, & Daughter; Aran cable knit jumper, £135, Peregrine
Country catwalks
Now that you don’t have to set foot on a beach for another 11 months, you can truly relax into one of autumn’s greatest pleasures: layering up for a bracing walk with your beloved lab/spaniel/cockapoo. While The Gentlemen’s Theo James looks good in his Fair Isle knitted vest top, his breeches might be a “country gent” too far.
“The danger is looking like you’re in costume,” says Davis. “The horror-show version is Nigel Farage, who I saw memorably described on social media last week as looking like he’d got dressed entirely from the contents of a yacht club’s lost-property box. So I’d pick one or two things rather than doing the full look. A really good suede jacket is an easy one. Brown cords are another.” Other autumn dad options could include a checked scarf, a waxed jacket and a worn-in pair of brogues.
Cashmere scarf, £395, Begg x Co; Cotton wax jacket, £130, Marks & Spencer; Leather brogues, £319, Loakes
A shoulder season jacket
While a woman’s biggest fashion purchase tends to be a winter coat, yours is going to be a bomber – certainly if you opt for Ritchie’s £1,395 “Charleton” by Polo Ralph Lauren. While they can be pricey, a good bomber is an investment that will last for years. If Ritchie’s suede feels too high-maintenance, consider nubuck, which shares suede’s soft feel but is buffed from the outer grain of leather, making it more durable. A chestnut or sage iteration will look less “midlife Fonzie” than black. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Fonzie at any age.
Suede Charleton jacket, £1,395, Polo Ralph Lauren; Technical button-through bomber jacket, £198, Reiss; Upcycled leather jacket, £555, Deadwood
Opt for solid footwear
Unfashionable as it might be to admit, you’ve always felt woefully underdressed in trainers and have no truck with the received wisdom that they can be worn almost anywhere these days. If men are wearing their Sambas to dinner, you feel it’s only right to ditch the archaic “never wear brown in town” rule.
“Suede shoes are absolutely the way out of trainers,” says Davis. “Crockett & Jones would be my first stop, and I’d go dark brown rather than the pale tan Guy’s wearing. This is Britain: rain, leaves and one splash of real ale and he’ll have ruined those.”
Suede loafers, £525, Crockett & Jones; Leather shoes, £325, Grenson; Suede ranger shoes, £215, GH Bass
Top it off with a cap
Truly, your penchant for a checked cap has nothing to do with a bald patch, nor a desire to cosplay David Beckham cosplaying a country gent while he tootles around the grounds of his Cotswolds farm checking the health of his aubergines. You just love the rakishness of a cap. Even the King looks rakish in a cap. While you wouldn’t be seen dead in a baseball cap, a tweed iteration is a different thing entirely, adding a gentlemanly air to every outfit. Pipe optional.
Tweed cap, £70, Schoffel; Harris Tweed baseball cap, £39, Kiltane; Wool tweed cap, £100, Paul Smith