The Interview: The Grey Fox
Each week, the Dapper Chapper style team will be introducing to our followers a new individual and explain why you need to follow them. The individuals will range from stylists and bloggers to models and designers but will all share one thing in common; they are playing a part in shaping men’s attitudes towards fashion.
Everyone we speak with will have a significant social influence and we want to know why that is by understanding a little about what makes them tick.
This week we spoke with the real deal in the blogging world, The Grey Fox. The Grey Fox is a London blogger who I’ve met numerous times at industry events. After spending time at events standing quietly gazing at peak lapels, drinking champagne, it’s quite nice after a while to get your head up ans actually speak to people and speak we did. Now, I’m happy to say, The Grey Fox Blog and The Dapper Chapper are officially blogging allies.
The blog is a mature search for style, focusing on fashion and menswear for the older man and here’s the interview with the man behind the blog.
The Dapper Chapper: What inspired you to start blogging?
The Grey Fox: I have no background in menswear or fashion, I’ve qualified both as a lawyer and a teacher, but I wanted to write and thought that a blog would be an outlet for this. I started to write about my search for style simply because I thought it was something an older man could write about, as we all reach the age where it’s hard to know what to wear or where to buy suitable clothes. I thought I’d move onto another subject quite quickly, but it hasn’t worked out quite that way!
The Dapper Chapper: What are your favourite designers and places to shop right now?
The Grey Fox: I buy wherever I like the product. Looking around and selecting well-made, stylish and properly fitting clothes needn’t be an onerous task. I go from Marks & Spencer and John Lewis through to Private White VC, Universal Works and on to Richard James, Oliver Spencer and other brands, depending on what I’m after. For shoes I go to Cheaney, Loake and other British manufacturers. I’m in London and like to explore Lamb’s Conduit Street and Duke Street off Oxford Street. We are lucky in London, but most big cities are getting some exciting shops and brands as the menswear market grows.
The Dapper Chapper: Who is your style icon?
The Grey Fox: I’m often asked this. I don’t really have one. I think we all develop a style that’s an amalgamation of influences. A strong inspiration for me is what other men wear in street style shots – so my style is not really from any individual source.
The Dapper Chapper: Whats your best perk of being a blogger?
The Grey Fox: Meeting new friends and exploring things totally new to me. You’d expect me to say being given wonderful items of menswear. Some brands are generous in giving me clothes to try and write about, but many expect coverage for nothing – not even a retweet. I think this is a problem for many bloggers at the moment and I’d like to see brands being prepared to give something back for the very targeted coverage they receive on social media from bloggers. I now expect something in return for the considerable time I put into the blog – whether it be a retweet, payment or a gift of a product depends on many factors. I like to support young and British brands, but I feel larger companies should pay for what they get. It will be interesting to see how brands respond.
The Dapper Chapper: If you could travel back to any fashion decade, which would it be?
The Grey Fox: I love clothes from the forties and fifties. These were decades in which men wore suits daily and a basic style was easy to achieve. Nowadays the style options available to men are so wide that there is much room for error. The overuse, or misuse may be a better word, of sportswear has led to a loss in style. Men need to learn how to use the choices available to them to dress with style again as they did in the forties and fifties.
The Dapper Chapper: What would you say to any aspiring fashion blogger?
The Grey Fox: Write about what really interests you. Use several social media. Don’t try to appeal to all – you will only do that if you blog full time with a team helping you. Keep your own style of writing and don’t copy others. Find a niche of your own, or your blog will just fade into the background. Enjoy it; if you don’t – do something else. Be prepared to work very hard!
The Dapper Chapper: Where do you see men’s fashion going in the next 5-10 years?
The Grey Fox: It will retain its strong classic influences – men won’t embrace fundamental change in terms of style. I hope we will begin to shop more ethically and sustainably, buying locally-made products and owning smaller collections of higher quality clothing rather than large amounts of cheap, foreign-made products. I think men will become more adventurous with colour, but practicality and comfort will remain key to our wardrobes.
The Dapper Chapper: How do you communicate & how can people follow you?
I love to hear from people with questions or suggestions for collaborations or articles. I can be contacted by email here.
The blog is at www.greyfoxblog.com but I cover other social media as well. The most important are Twitter and Instagram I am also on Facebook , Pinterest and Tumblr
You can also follow the blog on Bloglovin
Interview questions by Dapper Chapper Style Writer Rash Amrit