IT’S WAISTCOAT WEDNESDAY!
Unfashionable for decades, suddenly they’re selling out thanks to Southgate
As England’s footballers lined up for their penalty shoot- out against Colombia last Tuesday, the temperature inside Moscow’s spartak stadium was a balmy 20 degrees.
Watching at home and perspiring like wildebeest, there was something so reassuring about the team’s unflappable manager Gareth southgate, who remained on the touchline a Zen-like figure of calm.
His blue shirt remained devoid of any flecks of damp. His tie was affixed in a neat Windsor knot.
Most of all though, it was that waistcoat which, in this tensest of situations, remained resolutely fastened. That, my friends, is what I call style. Waistcoats have had a rough ride over the last few years. They are to men what the beret is to women. Hard to pull off, oh so easy to ridicule.
But Gareth’s waistcoat is leading a resurgence. M&s, who provided the England team kit, say they’ve nearly run out of the £65 garment such has been the demand – and their other styles have seen huge spikes in sales. Even the Moscow branch of M&s has run out of most sizes of the waistcoat.
And now there’s ‘Waistcoat Wednesday’ – a huge social media movement urging both sexes to wear waistcoats in support of England during the semifinal against Croatia. Hugh Grant has tweeted he’s taking part, as have presenters Andrew Marr and Jeremy Vine.
Why the waistcoat resurgence? It helps Gareth wears one properly – wellfitting (never baggy) and with the bottom button unfastened (don’t ask why, you just do). But perhaps people feel they also in some way reflect this likeable young England side: They’re bold, innovative, endearing – a hark back to more genteel, civilised era. so chaps, get rootling around your wardrobe to find that cast-off you wore several years ago to your mate’s wedding. Now fasten it up – doesn’t that snug sensation around your front make you feel more muscular, more, dare I say it, manly?
Thanks to Gareth, waistcoats are cool and ripe for a comeback.
Bring ’em home, boys.