Curiously colourful rowing fashions

If I told you I’d tickled Sir Steve Redgrave’s ear with a feather, you might get the wrong idea. But the problem with ‘substantial’ fascinators is they sometimes get in the way. I was at Henley, on the lookout for curiously colourful fashions, when I bumped into the Olympic rowing superhero at the Leander Club. He towered over me, even in my skyscraper heels, and we had a ffffascinatingly close encounter.

It’s so exciting when men make an effort to dress up – and Henley Royal Regatta is an occasion when they can go overboard (not literally, I hope). Rowers seem to go to all sorts of lengths to look original. One fellow had even cut up his old school curtains to create a strikingly unique Hampton School jacket (below).























Under a table, I spotted these fabulous socks, worn by an ex-naval officer, in port red and starboard green. I wasn’t so sure about the shoes though…


There were the usual striped ensembles – including some with very distinctive buttons.
























And there were plenty of unique accessories...

















... from brightly coloured watches to curiously clashing ties, preppy waistcoats and suave cravats.


















I bumped into my old friends from Bedford Rowing Club, whose flower corsages were wilting a little in the sun.



















And for some, the heat of the day was all a little too much.

Not so for 99 year old Rex (below) who kept me amused for ages with tales of Henleys past - and he'd been visiting the regatta since 1936!








By the way, in case you’re wondering about my unusual charm necklace, it was one from ShopCurious, which can also be worn as a belt.

Oh, and you can read more about the Henley dress code over at the Dabbler.

Will You?

Real men wear pink

This isn't an official sample survey, but I’ve collected some evidence over the past few weeks and, apologies to anyone who’s into statistically correct analyses, but I’ve already drawn my own conclusions:

There’s no doubt that men can look attractive without even a hint of pink – take Richard, photographed right, with Jo at Henley Royal Regatta. He simply oozes casual modern style in his Ralph Lauren suit and colourful orange tie. And I reckon Max, pictured left, would look cool whatever he wore - but that stripey blue shirt works a real treat with his fab blond look (d'you think he could be related to Boris Johnson?)



Generally, even a soupcon of pink on a man is considered somewhat unusual – and the mere thought of wearing more than a smidgen of said colour could possibly be quite alarming to some red-blooded males. Most traditional men will stretch to a touch of pink, when appropriate for the occasion - about as much as appears on this chap’s Leander Club tie and umbrella (right) – though, unfortunately, I’m unable to confirm whether or not he's wearing Leander Club pink hippo boxers (left) underneath.




By the way, did you know that the Leander Club, home to real men like British Olympic medal winners Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell (swoon), has a pink hippo as its mascot … you can even buy this rather cuddly version from the shop in their Henley-based Club House.







Other gentlemen's clubs have similarly curious colour combos, including the Garrick Club’s salmon pink and peppermint green, as modelled, left, by all round topping fellow, Tony.









It’s a rare man for whom pink is the colour of choice – men who wear pink are often highly individual characters who like to stand out from the crowd. Martin’s coral pink tie and Ascot button hole, shown right, look effortlessly stylish, as do Steve from the Army Medical Corp’s pink chinos (left) - in fact those trousers look so curiously cute that he’s probably got people queuing up to have CPR practised on them.





Finally, some men wear pink with purpose. Take Angus’s stunning Lacroix trousers, pink brocade tie and chunky cut glass cufflinks. Seems like he's a bit of a fashion hound, but it’s actually fairly easy to create an individual look of your own by simply picking out a few key pieces that are just a tad different from the mainstream.







In fact, at ShopCurious we’ve got some rather unique Murano glass cufflinks that are both arty and sophisticated – though these are orange, so you’ll have to let us know if you want some pink ones to be ordered specially for you.

Do you?

Jolly stylish fellows

To Henley-on-Thames, for the Henley Royal Regatta, where I was curious to see what the ladies were wearing. But, as I soon discovered, it's the men who really dress up at Henley... so I decided to devote some serious blogging space to the men's fashion week that is Henley.


One of the things that the rowing regatta is noted for is its brightly coloured blazers. The rowing clubs usually offer summer and winter blazers - the summer ones are often stripey or in lighter colours eg cream with a piped ribbon edging, whereas the winter jackets are thicker more woolly/felt-like material, but also with a piped edging. Lots of men retain these from their school or university college days and continue to wear them year after year, which makes for some interesting and sometimes ill-fitting sights by the river - though everyone I met this year looked immaculately turned out...
From above left to right: the guys in red from Kingston Rowing Club, the Army Boat Club blazer (you'd never guess!) and the curiously colourful Nat West Rowing Club jacket.

Then (above left) the bright young things from Radley College, a more seasoned type and member of Tideway Scullers (above right) and the wearer of a very prestigious jacket from the Cambridge 1999 Boat Race team (above centre) - and right, a close up showing the stains acquired over the years - of great sentmental value, since each stain has an associated story of how it got there ... we don't want to hear, thank you very much!


Some opt for the more traditional type of blazer - be it the traditonal navy blue, gold buttoned type, as modelled by the statuesque Leander Club member below left, to light weight cotton and linen (below centre) - but some men just don't know how to do the understated look and have to go the whole hog, especially if they belong to the London New Zealand Cricket Club (below right).





Men of the cloth also get to wear their blazers too. Like the honorary curate (left) from Holy Trinity, Clapham, who once rowed in the 1st eight for Pembroke College, Oxford. Of course, there are others for whom the blazer is simply not an option.


And there's the street cred factor to consider as well. Have you ever heard the phrase 'hoodies hardly ever happen at Henley'? Probably not, because I just made it up - and there were some very happening hoodies at Henley this year, as pictured below left, along with some friendly (I managed to get a smile at least) locals, centre, and possibly the most curiously cool guy around - a very Brideshead young man sporting a Monaco Yacht Club blazer, which was beautifully fitted with hand-stitched panels at the back...I was so impressed by the workmanship I even have a photo if you want to see it?




Finally, there were also the lycra-clad rowers as well ... the reason for all the dressing up I suppose, although they all seemed to be in various states of undress - from the start of the race as shown below left, to the finish (the chap in the middle was unfortunately in a losing team from Hamburg) - and even baring their chests: most un-British!
I'd like to mention that we do have a few bits and bobs for men on the ShopCurious website, including some rather unusual gifts and vintage accessories. We'll be offering a wider selection in the future, so please let us know if you have any preferences - we aim to provide things with personality and style to ensure that you remain jolly stylish fellows.
Are you?