....... And what is wrong with an Elvis T shirt, Combats & DMs on a 54 year old man ??

You lot be down Greenwoods, perusing cravats and very high-waisted trousers?

and already I have decided that T-shirts are a no-no on a man of my age. I wear nice, ironed shirts (Jasper Conran mainly, if anyone's remotely interested). I am also considering ditching jeans and wearing suit trousers. I spent most of my youth looking like a slob (I once went up to someone in the street to ask him the time and he told me I wasn't getting any money) so now I've decided that 'quite smart' is the way to go...

....it is because I wore a Military uniform for 25 years, that I dress how I dress now?

What is wrong with an old tee shirt and Levis is simply that a) the old tees wouldn't be acceptable to Oxfam, let alone the general public, due to the extensive just-short-of-destruction testing they've been subjected to over the decades, and b) the Levis don't fit anymore, and haven't since 1998.

So it's new tees and combats for me, most of the time when off-duty. The Saville Row (hah! M&S more like) stuff is kept for Mon-Fri 9-5.

I haven't managed to make it to a Word piss-up yet, but expect to detect the presence of one when I find myself in the vicinity of a retrospective display of John Lewis and M&S high turnover menswear items from the collections of 1990 thru' 2009.

t-shirts/sweatshirts, black Levis, red Converse hi-tops. If I'm feeling daring I might wear a different colour pair of Cons.

seeing my colleagues off duty. The slightly more fashion-aware ones invariably look like past-their-prime rent boys, in worn t-shirts and artlessly distressed jeans. The fashion-unaware ones seem to be dressed by their mothers, but are probably dressed by their wives or girlfriends. It may be deliberate - to put any interested competing woman off the scent.

The other problem is the average middle-aged male physique which doesn't really lend itself to casual clothes. Once past 40 gentlemen, you really need something with plenty of cover and a decent fit. I still shudder at the recollection of a Steely Dan gig just a few years ago where everyone - except the Dan (and me) - had completely let themselves go. September's Wilco gig at the RFH should be a sight...

Is happens that today was the first 'dress down Friday' at my place of work. In brief, people were meant to feel priviledged to be allowed to wear casual clothes instead of their usual work gear (pretty indistinguishable in many cases, particularly the women's), within carefully proscribed limits, on one day a month. Call me passive aggressive but I wore my usual summer work gear of chinos, white cotton shirt and tie.

fellas.

It strikes me as fundamentally daft for any man over 25 to be talking about "fashion" as if "fashion" for men over 25 is a social phenomenon let alone a cultural one. One of the benefits of being 30+ is that you don't have to dress according to any fashion code, that's for yo'uns and the terminally vain. Embrace the freedom of not having to feel the pressure of following any kind of trend in clothing. Be smart, be casual, be suited, be DM booted, be T'd or be shirty, be innocuous, be eccentric but for christ sake just be yourself and stop fretting about it.

There is truth in the phrase "Clothes make the man" but that has nothing to do with looking at clothes in terms of fashion. Make an effort when it's needed and if it isn't needed don't make an effort. That's it.

As for Massive meet-ups you have my permission to shoot me if I start a conversation with anyone about what people are wearing. If I want a conversation about what people are wearing I'll open a hairdressing salon.

Fashion and me have ever met is going in opposite directions.
I have long been a proponent of "been there, got the" tee shirts, shorts,and flip flops. Sorry ladies, I'm taken.

Well, I recently turned 42 and I like my threads now as much as I did as a callow 20 year old, the difference being that these days I can afford the stuff I like as opposed to back in the day, pressing my teenage fizzog against the windows of the likes of Pilot's like a Dickensian street urchin. To quote yer man from t'Fast Show, this week I have mostly been wearing Ted Baker, Nigel Hall, and Paul Smith. Scratch that, its 95% Ted Baker's these days, wonderful gear, all of it.

I can't explain why this is still the case - I neither wish to remain perceived to still be in my youth by wearing the gladdiest of rags than I am eager to embrace the standard Saxondale-ish stereotype of a middle-aged man in a tour T and jeans. But if that floats your sartorial boat then good luck to you; clothes matter to me, but other things that typically matter to those of my age don't - unlike a lot of chaps I know, I couldn't give a stuff as to the vogueish or technical qualities of what car someone drives, and especially what watch somebody wears - listening to some mates talking about the relative horological merits of their Omega Seamasters / Tag Heuers etc etc is an exercise in tedium!

BR
FT

In fact, I was about to buy a record by The Farm and then read an interview with Peter Hooton where he was obsessed with clothing and labels etc. Completely put me off that band.

I do know (these days) that T shirts are not flattering for the generous frame of 44-year old man. I know this much is true.

... because t-shirts were getting distinctly unflattering and proper tailoring is something I can't afford. So I'm hanging onto my departing youth by my fingertips basically...

T-Shirt. Blue jeans. End of story.

Is to try a little not to be an old fart. But not so much that its makes me look a cock. I work on the basis that if I get it really wrong, my wife would tell me (or piss herself laughing). And as I get older, the wearing of a tailored jacket with jeans seems to help me in the shape department a little.

Although it must be said that I do tend to prefer a somewhat blingier, more in-ya-face thong (silver lamé in particular can bring out the inner you with a pomegranate colourway, I've always found). Brazen is best, boys.

A quick rinse of the chest hair with Grecian 2000, followed by a triple wash with good old Vidal's utterly timeless Wash 'n' Go for extra silky fluffiness, plait the old p-tail toot-sweet and you're in business.

The night, gentlemen, will be quite simply all yours to conquer.

to wind up the missus all Summer long by wearing combat shorts, flip flops and hoodies to the office ( fortunately it's an art-studio ) while she has to conform to regular office wear. She say's I'm dressed by Baby Gap, I think I look relaxed. The Hoodie does usually hide the rapidly expanding belly but when it's particularly warm off that comes and proof that I can't admit to myself that an XL T-shirt is probably more realistic is there for all to see.
Every now and then I think maybe I should grow up and start dressing my age but then the inner rebel kicks in and i think "Sod it, she can tell me what to wear to a wedding but i'll take my chances elsewhere".
I realised the other day that I no longer know what is a decent make of jeans or fashionable shirt so I looked in the Levi's store ( brand of my late teens ) and almost choked at £80 a pair, went online and started to hyperventilate at the £120+ prices for other brands.
It's sometimes hard to remind yourself that your a 41 year old father with more salt than pepper up above and a widows peak that no amount of gel/wax can disguise.

Thank God that's off my chest, I'll now finish my cider and mentally prepare myself for a "relaxing day"of wandering round Brighton looking for furniture we can't afford.

Am kind of limited with my choices of labels. Being 6'7" and at the last count about 22 stone if High and Mighty don't sell it i'm kind of knackered.
All the more frustrating as i used to be a bit of a label merchant and as much as I hate to admit it probably would still be.
There's nothing more likely to give you a reality check as the fact that the shop you HAVE to frequent has as its advertising messages a huge picture of Bill Beaumont looking wistful on a park bench in Autumn.

Honest.

But at 37 I'm falling into a Moddy/ Suedehead dark blue jeans (turn-up to hide short arsedness)/ Clark's Wallabies or DM Chelseas/ white t-shirt under a check shirt. Harrington on top in spring/ summer, a nice Pierre Cardin Mac for winter.
I have American style t-shirts for dress down occasions - a few relating to The Wire for North West Massive Mingles. The old Clash T-shirt looks like it' biting the dust rapidly, alas.
I fear for work, I'm going to have to switch to the chino/ check shirt uniform beloved of lecturers the world over. I have a very nice knitted Duffer tie the GLW got for me to joosh things up a bit.
A Burton's suit for weddings/ occasions and graduation.

need only involve comfort and confidence, put the two together and you can't go wrong.

....and Jeff Banks jeans. Sorry, but at 40, my mid life crisis is just beginning.

Have me suits done bespoke now, in a sharp, fitted mod style. Them off-the peg baggy looks weren't working. (When your in your 40s and up, BTW, having your stuff tailored is a bargain - your better off spending 400 quid on a suit you'll wear for 20 years than going to MnS and spending 125 quid every year on something that won't last)

for casual, Japanese stuff like Bathing Ape and Evisu and Nike limited editions, some SeanJohn, Jasper Conran from Debenhams....though all from the understated end.

Pathetic, I know, but up until my early 40s I was confident enough in myself to wear any old shit I'd picked up at Oxfam or from the sale bins at TKMaxx..proper middle age has really fucked up my self confidence for reasons I don't really understand, and the clothes do help..

And like other posters, me male menopause hasn't extended itself to cars, or fancying 23 year olds for that matter..

T-Shirts,Converse or Vans,A nice Hat and a smile.

You don't have to be a fashion plate in middle age - indeed, it probably betrays some sort of fatal weakness in your moral fibre - but you can avoid the most obvious pitfalls. Some unsolicited advice from the Bathmat:

1. Comedy Ties.

Everyone who's ever worn an 'amusing' tie featuring Homer Simpson drinking from a beertap, etc has no sense of humour whatsoever.
what your saying here is you beat your children when they get 'C's for their homework assignments. See also novelty cufflinks.

2. Short sleeved business shirts.

There's aircon in here, and your not cutting meat in Tesco's . What are you trying to say, exacty?

3. Hawaiian Shirts

You can wear these if your a fat party guy in a 1980's comedy movie, or a homosexual. Otherwise, generally speaking, your shirt will suggest you have more of a personality than you actually possess.

4. 'Distressed' jeans with factory made rips, appliqued paint splashes, creases, patches, etc.

You being a struggling New York abstract expressionist artist who's just returned from a Summer job working as a ranchhand, it's going to be a bit difficult to explain how you've ended up in the Whitley Bay branch of Wetherspoon's for the 3.99 Tuesday Night Curry offer.

5. Them 'Fitness' trainers that make you look like your wearing a pair of miniature rocking horses on your feet. They work. Are you by any chance interested in this historical bridge I 'appen to be selling?

6. Any casual shirt printed wth any combination of skulls, flames, wolves, or any other crypto-fascist insignia. Especially when it was 3.99 at Peacocks.

7. An official Football Strip top.

These make the fittest men in the world look like gits, and your beergut and moobs aren't helping. I can also see every duct on your womanly nipples.

8. Unpolished shoes with a suit.

Look, we understand that you never wanted to sell out to the man, and wearing a suit is just a necessary capitulation to the straighties. But either ship out and start a glassblowing course in Wales, or buy some Cherry Blossom.

9, 3/4 length shorts.

The Stupid Trouser Fairy bought me these to wear on my holidays.

10.

Cufflinks worn stuck through a hole you've made in your non-frenched shirt.

Look mate, do it proper or don't do it at all. There are rules.

Stripy Boden socks. Bulletproof.

Pair of 501's.

Pair of black Calvins. Cradle the ol' Jacobs better than any other in my experience.

Sort of sailing-type top. Heavy-duty cotton. Probably by Crew or T&G.

A hat. Baseball or bucket.

Hmmm, replica football kits are the main problem aren't they?
Or worse still, the middle age man who takes his top off at games.

Indeed, one of the principal reasons why I watch Newcastle United games from behind the sofa is that you're only ever a minute away from seeing one of the 'Toon army' with his kit off.

The ultimate crime are those knee-length khaki shorts though, surely?
Pretty much every bloke who ran on to the pitch during that West Ham-Millwall game last year was wearing them.

Me?
I'm partial to Cornish pub T-shirts (can last for decades) with blue jeans topped off with an obscure enamel non-league badge.
It's in the detail see.....

It's where to shop. The minute I step into an All Saints or a Diesel I instantly feel about a thousand years old. It's a shame because they do some decent stuff that I can get away with at my age, so I tough it out. I still have an interest and I know what suits me (I think).

I'm not quite ready for Dunn & Co. or John Lewis casuals.

particular bug bears is "leisurewear".

What the feck is all that about?

Any High Street, any supermarket, any pub you'll see people bedecked in this awful excuse for clothing. It started with the shell-suit but then, lo and behold, some git somewhere had the bright idea of extending the range to include all manner of outfits that suggest "sport" but in reality suggest nothing more than people whose participation in "sport" involves getting pissed down the boozer watching football on Sky Sports 1 or introducing their kids to the delights of passive smoking while watching Total Wipeout.

The materials always look incredibly tacky, their "man-made" status a visual reminder that the concept of man-made extends to stuff like anthrax, sewer outlet pipes and Anusol. That towelling fabric is uniquely dreadful, scraping the backs of your retina with lurid shades of green, pink and vomit but inevitably just looking cheap, nasty and in immediate need of a trip to the incinerator. The twin set and pearls has been replaced with the tracksuit and cap.

People who wear leisurewear never have to worry about having nothing to wear because you can buy leasurewear anywhere: Asda, Argos, JJB, B&Q, the Petrol Station; in fact anywhere except a clothes shop.

Leisurewear: it makes you wish sewing had never been invented.

Where do we stand on long sleeved shirts and jeans?

Tucked or untucked?

Obviously a belt is required if tucked... but is tucked essential?

I go untucked, with Converse, tucked with DM shoes... and prefer untucked (more flattering).
How am I doing?

were affordable so we could all tell uppity sales staff not to foist young people's fashions on paunchy middle aged men. In Italy tailors are and they are almost considered a human right. My Italian relatives regularly shame me where I regularly feel like an interloper on the set of Mad Men. My fashion bugbears are untucked shirt tails beneath jumpers - it just seems lazy - poorly knotted ties, dirty shoes and having a faceful of Calvin Klein underpants going up escalators. How do the kids keep their sodding trousers up ?

At work I wear M&S suits, plain shirts, leather brogues or chelsea boots and well-chosen ties. I like ties. Classic, timeless lines if you like

Not at work I wear plain but well cut jeans (that fit properly) and plain but trendy t-shirts. Fat Face, White Stuff and the like. No garish designs or logos. Not now, they don't suit anyone over 40.

I'm still quietly amazed that these outlets can charge over £25 for what are essentially 3 pieces of cotton sewn together but bypass that by waiting for their regular sales. 'Up to 70% off!' they cry. 'More like what you should charge in the first place', I cry.

I follow some of the "rules", but I never pressure myself to adhere to certain designers and certainly ensure I avoid looking as if I've spent hours carefully tousling or distressing.

I'm a Wilco fan so I have to wear a check shirt/t-shirt/jeans ensemble to set off my paunch and beard.

Apparently I'm a bit of a twat though because I've got a really nice car and I enjoy driving it.

and like to project a mod look, without being too slavish over the very finest details. Slim fit shirts, Harringtons, desert boots etc will always have a certain style regardless of whether they're regarded as currently 'in' by the fashion bibles.

That said, I've never got on with the narrow trousers you see 'proper' mods wearing, so like to stick to my bootcuts. And don't go for the more garish end of the look (eg brightly coloured paisley shirts) after the age of about 25 - you'll just look ridiculous.