Style and substance
Land Rovers aren’t just popular, they’re almost fashionable. Why should that be? To answer the question, Alisdair Cusick meets David Evans, one of the most prominent UK style bloggers and Series IIA owner
We meet one of UK’S most renowned style bloggers and Series IIA owner
WE all know that Land Rovers have a wide appeal, but since Defender production ended, the desirability of the model has never been greater. You’ll see them on motorways, even in London and as everyday vehicles; demand for them has never been higher across the spectrum of buyers, pushing prices ever higher. Land Rovers have also become the go-to vehicle for marketing props, TV shows or catalogues. You name it, you’ll see a Land Rover helping to sell it, not a sports car. Put simply, they’ve almost become fashionable.
Why should this be, we wondered at LRM? To answer this, LRM turned to men’s style writer and blogger David Evans, creator of Grey Fox Blog, a blog about men’s style for the over-40s, with a penchant for British products. With 40,000 monthly page views and 27,000 Instagram followers, he is the perfect person to comment on the current vogue for all things Solihull. He also drives a 1967 Series IIA.
ALISDAIR: How did the Grey Fox Blog come about?
DAVID: I was a solicitor of 25 years before qualifying as a teacher for another 15 years, so all my working life, words were the tools of my trade. Feeling I had a book in me, I began an experimental online blog in 2011. I really didn’t know what to write about, I considered cycling, the great outdoors, but settled on the topic of what to wear for the older man, a new topic for me. Without realising it, I’d walked into a hole in the blogosphere. After five months, Polly Vernon in The Times one Saturday interviewed me for a feature entitled “Are you a Grey Fox?” My intention was to do the blog until I found something better to write about, but that Times feature doubled my readership overnight, and here I am, seven years later.
Did you have a knowledge of style beforehand?
My parents were very artistic, and I think that rubbed off on me, so I feel I have an instinctive understanding of style, proportion and what nice things look like. I didn’t want to write about pure fashion, so I looked around for British-made menswear, and found there were still plenty of people making things over here, so I found myself writing about that. That became a theme of the blog. Recently I’ve included lifestyle items; cars, watches, all that. Older guys have a wider interest – if you have a nice jacket, you’re likely to also have a nice watch or a nice car.
You’re taking about style not fashion then; what’s the difference?
I look around the high street and I see fathers with their sons, and they’re dressed the same; jeans, trainers or sportswear. That is fashion. People see what everyone else is wearing, what they’re bombarded with in
Fashion comes and goes, but I cant see these classic Land Rovers ever going out of favour”
advertising, and that is what they then wear to fit in. My blog is instead about finding what you really like and going with that. I try to dress in a way that is slightly different, and make a bit of an impact, which is a fundamental part of human nature. If you like sportswear and looking a bit of a clone, fine, but it takes a bit of courage to break out from that. We judge each other when we first see someone, so if you’re groomed, wearing clothes that fit and are stylish, you can alter how people judge you. It isn’t about vanity, it is about being yourself rather than pushed by the herd to fit in.
Fashion then is the style imposed on you by the brands or leaders of fashion. You’ll choose your clothes and your cars by what people say you should be wearing. Style instead is more finding objects or items of clothing that reflects your nature, that you like.
I like to support young brands in the UK, people who like to make the best item they can. They’ll be slightly more expensive, because they’re up against products made in Asia where someone is paid tuppence ha’penny. Really cheap clothes have to be made abroad, so you have to ask where the materials and labour came from ethically. With British-made items you can assume it has been sustainably made and well designed, with a strong story behind it. As consumers it is down to us to make a good choice.
So what is your take then on the recent move of Land Rovers being fashionable?
Fashion is the wrong word. Land Rovers have that fundamental aspect of style about them, like the Coke bottle, or the Leica camera. There was no design team originally, and when objects are put together for a purpose, they develop an aesthetic of their own. When things get appreciated as style objects, they often get picked up by people who are influential. Like Paul Smith, putting his mark on a Defender, that then runs the risk of being a fashion item as well after him giving it attention. That attention is part of something being stylish.
Fashion comes and goes, but I can’t see these classic Land Rovers ever going out of favour, because they’ll always be appreciated for their looks. I hesitate to call them beautiful, but I think they are. The short wheelbase Station Wagon is one of my favourites because all the proportions are right. David Bache’s touch on the Series II only tweaked it to add the barrel sides. I love the look of Defenders, but it isn’t the pared-down look of the originals.
Where do you think the new Defender fits in with that?
I think when you carry on the name of something that has become an icon, you’re putting yourself up for criticism. They’ve put so much work into it, I’m sure it will be fantastic. It will be judged by all the things they shouldn’t be, but people’s needs have changed since the old Defender. Any car company has to respond to buyers’ needs, and now most farmers already have a basic utility vehicle, they won’t need another. They will need a capable off- and on-road car that can handle any conditions – that is what I’d like to see in the new car, from basic to really luxurious.
So where does your Land Rover fit in?
It came about because it was owned by a very good friend nearby. He had several cars, but that had been his car for 20 to 30 years, and he moved it on a trailer seven years ago, and simply parked it up at the back of his house. Sadly, he had a heart attack two years ago. He’d always intended to do it up, and I’d always liked Land Rovers, though I’d not owned one. I bought this off his widow – without really understanding what I was taking on – and I had it restored by Leaf Sprung Landys. I bought it because I really liked John, and wanted to do it up in his memory, but I’d always wanted one. I absolutely love it as an object, and I love the fact you’re in contact with the car. In a modern car you’re in an armchair, but with that, you really have to anticipate, use the gears more, but I really like that as it takes driving back to a simpler level. If it hadn’t been John’s car, I’d probably have just bought a Defender.
Was there a plan for the restoration?
I started out wanting to have it minimally restored, but that wasn’t possible. The doors needing replacing, I had a new chassis, so it ended up being resprayed, but keeping what we could. It looks good now – like a new car – but I’ll be quite happy as bumps and scratches appear, I think that is part of the car. All