Six fashion trends midlife men can kill with one wear
Rishi Sunak’s apology to the adidas Samba community for ending the run on the classic trainer is very welcome, says Simon Mills. He looks at what else the over-40s are more ‘outfluencing’ than influencing these days
Rishi Sunak has a new “side hustle”. As well as being prime minster – a job that requires him to get the British economy back on track, stop everyone from smoking, and win the next general election – the man with more than 3 million followers on Instagram has managed to find time for another key role: men’s fashion outfluencer.
Unlike an actual influencer, whose visual endorsement of a particular product or clothing item can cause a spike in sales and a rush on pre-orders, the outfluencer’s effect is the opposite.
He can kill a look, or a style, or a beloved adidas Samba sneaker with just one picture, which happened last week when Sunak wore his pristine white, Dadidas footwear with narrow-cut trews and a crisply ironed white shirt during a Downing Street interview.
Public outcry and fashion outrage were so strong that on Wednesday Sunak was forced to issue a “fulsome apology to the Samba community” for killing the trend for the classic sneaker, which had been regarded as the “it” shoe of the moment.
But this midlife male outfluencing effect also extends to TV personalities, business moguls, and, well, pretty much any politician over 40. The cruel combination of age, occupation, position, sartorial ambition, appeal, attraction and societal aspiration all contribute to a state of stylistic flux and fashion conundrum. Do I make an effort or let it all go? Can I get away with this... or will I look like I am just trying too hard? Should I be down with the kids, or just sit down and watch the snooker on BBC2?
Here are some other fashion items that midlifers have ruined for young people with just one wear...
1. Belstaff
Back in 1997, a dramatic dip in UK sales of Levi’s jeans was largely attributed to something the schmatta press called “the Clarkson effect”. The then 37-year-old Top Gear presenter’s penchant for the 501 style apparently destroyed their appeal among fashion-conscious teens and twentysomethings.
Since then, denim has recovered, while the house of Top Gear and its varying triumvirate of blokey, knockabout presenters has proved a reliable outfluencing force. It is now almost impossible for a man to wear a buckles-and-pockets Belstaff jacket without triggering images, not of Steve McQueen, but of James May or Richard Hammond. Or Freddie Flintoff.
2. Hoodies
Outfluencer Rishi strikes again! In 2020, when he was chancellor of the Exchequer and still in his thirties (and therefore, statistically, actually allowed to wear one), Sunak murdered the hoodie. Pictured working at his desk in a grey ”athleisure” zip-up number of a next-level normcore ilk, worn with – oh dear – a shirt and tie underneath, the future PM’s catastrophic effect on the hooded sweat top was almost as seismic as Danniella Westbrook’s very public execution of the Burberry check back in 2002.
3. The beanie
Conservative fashion disruptor Dominic Cummings is wholly to blame for the demise of this once democratic and stylish headgear staple. As well as ruining the padded gilet, French-tucked shirts, shapeless jeans and surfing tees – often wearing them all at the same time, and apparently dressing in the dark, with no mirror, during a tornado – Cummings also trashed the beanie by placing it on his head with all the sprezzatura of a geriatric Smurf.
Justin Bieber and Jacques Cousteau can get away with this. A schlubby, former Tory spin-doctor? Not so much.
4. Oversized headphones
On teenagers, and on young, coach-disembarking Premier League footballers, they look annoying, antisocial and excluding. On midlife men, they look like a cry for help. Past a certain age, a chap might think he seems hip and “wired for sound” (as Cliff Richard used to say) with his massive Bowers and Wilkins or Sennheiser or Beats-branded bass bins oontz-oontzing into his cranium, but really, the image is much more tragic.
Remember when Mr and Mrs game-show host Derek Batey used to send the husband into a soundproof booth to “put some earphones on” while the wife was asked some probing questions? Dude, that’s what you look like.
4. Tattoos
Think tattoos are cool, kids? The recent news that nerdy 53-year-old Canadian PM Justin Trudeau has a big and blurring Haida raven tat on his upper arm did not cause a worldwide rush of copycat inkings among the youngsters. Laser removal services, however...
5. Rucksacks
Unless you are hiking, skiing or mountaineering, the old fella should leave the backpack at home. Teamed with a cheap suit and a pair of the dreaded “dress sneakers” (now de rigueur for middle-management types on commuter trains), the rucksack lends an air of sad, hot-desking homelessness to a man’s already greying image. After the age of 25, when interrailing adventures are all done, a briefcase (tucked under the arm) has more age-appropriate dignity than a backpack.
6. Stone Island
Meet @keirstarmer... opposition outfluencer. With a slightly pathetic 204,000 followers on Instagram, perhaps “micro-outfluencer” would be more apt, but the Starmer effect is still strong. Off duty, the Labour leader likes to give it loads of Madchester with his gear, particularly the Lads on Tour label-of-choice Stone Island. Several jackets and polo shirts’ worth, in fact.
So, just as David Cameron tried his best to sully the good name of Orlebar Brown, has Starmer killed Stone Island stone dead? Other devotees of the perennially hip Italian brand include hip-hop superstar Drake... but also Stephen Spielberg and Adam Sandler.
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