Regent Street once again feels like one of the major luxury shopping streets in Europe.
Walking down from Oxford Circus to Piccadilly Circus these days is a fabulous retail adventure that rivals Place Vendôme in Paris, Fifth Avenue in New York, Via Montenapoleone in Milan, Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles or indeed any major shopping street in the capital.
Regent Street is elegant, upmarket, yet decidedly idiosyncratic, with the likes of Burberry, Polo Ralph Lauren, Coach, Hackett and Brooks Brothers sharing space with Apple, Hamleys and – just a hop away – Liberty, one of the city’s grandest department stores.
It is also a street to find the very best of what’s happening right now. Having just spent four days at London Fashion Week Men’s, seeing over one hundred shows and presentations in the West End, various themes and trends made themselves known, and you can find most of them already on Regent Street.
The seasons seem to come around quickly these days, and some of the emerging trends on the runways at London Fashion Week Men's included camouflage, fluro, bomber jackets, printed t-shirts, collaboration training shoes and exciting multi-coloured knits.
Of course, what the audience was wearing was also interesting and indicative of what we will all be wearing in the near future, as there was a lot less tailoring, and far few hipsters congregating outside the LFWM headquarters at 180 Strand, and far more men wearing winter white jeans and chinos, big parkas and back packs. This season we have gone extravagantly casual.
If you want to adopt these themes immediately then it's possible simply by walking up and down Regent Street, exploring the likes of Coach, Polo Ralph Lauren, Karl Lagerfeld, Michael Kors, J Crew, Hugo Boss, GANT, Liberty, Stone Island, Woolrich, 7 for all Mankind, Larsson & Jennings, Cos and Murdock London. There is such a huge variety in these stores, that you are bound to find items that fit the bill.
Specifically, I would recommend the selection of white and beige slim-fit trousers from Hugo Boss, as well as their bold print t-shirts. Neighbouring COS also has a great pair of raw-cut leather sneakers (black with the one inch white sole) that could be straight off the runway.
Also, check out Coach for bright accessories, including the flat card case in one of ten bright colours along with camouflage, and of course their own array of sneakers.
Liberty has a great selection of cross-trend items too. Including Barbour's big parka jackets. You can also find great parkas at J. Crew, and some seriously on message bomber jackets at Stone Island (especially their SQM-N jackets).
Elsewhere you can find some smart on-trend back packs at Michael Kors, seriously cool camouflage knitwear at Wolsey and some fabulous fluro and multi-coloured knitwear at the likes of Topman and GANT; all of which will make you stand out from the crowd, the herd, and the other brightly lit, covered up souls around you.
Happy shopping.
Dylan Jones is the editor-in-chief of GQ and GQ Style and the chairman on London Fashion Week Men's.