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Episode #015 - Chris Modoo - Freelance Menswear Stylist
106 Plays1 year ago
Today's guest is Chris Modoo, a freelance menswear consultant offering everything from styling consultancy for brands and individuals, as well as creative direction, content creation, and much more.
Chris has a wealth of knowledge in the classic menswear industry, having co-founded a clothing brand Kit Blake, and worked as the creative director for Savile Row tailoring brand Chester Barrie, which included designing lines for John Lewis. He has also styled supermodels, and celebrities alike, written for magazines such as The Rake, and more.
In this episode, we discuss how to dress up in an ever increasingly more casual society, his golden rules when it comes to getting an outfit right, how you can dress up without looking out of place, why you should make more of an effort when you go out, and much more.
Instagram: @chrismodoo
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Transcript
Introduction to Perspectives Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to Perspectives.
Who is Chris Modo?
00:00:04
Speaker
Today's guest is Chris Modo. Chris is a freelance menswear consultant, offering everything from personal styling to creative direction, merchandising, content creation and much more. Chris has a wealth of knowledge in the classic menswear industry, having co-founded a clothing brand Kit Blake.
00:00:26
Speaker
and was a former creative director for Chester Barry, a tailoring brand that was situated on Savile Road for its closure.
How to Dress Up in a Casual World
00:00:33
Speaker
During his tenure, he has styled supermodels, celebrities, presenters, and has a very keen eye when it comes to nailing the basic details. In today's episode, we discuss how to dress up in an ever increasingly more casual society, his golden rules when it comes to getting an outfit right, how you can dress up without looking out of place, and much more. Chris is a phenomenal guy. I actually met him
00:00:59
Speaker
because I spotted his outfit, which was kind of cool. So it was really, really interesting. He's got a lot to offer. He's got some very, very cool style as well. Very classic, obviously based on his background, but he is not a snob about it. It's nice. He offers some actionable practical advice on people's style. He doesn't force you in any particular direction of what to wear, but just gets you to focus on some golden rules on how to get your outfit right and
00:01:28
Speaker
maybe elevate your look without looking like you have just been thrown into a suit. So without further ado, Chris Modo.
Chris Modo's Career Journey
00:01:59
Speaker
Perfect. Well, Chris Modo, welcome to the show. I'm very excited, very excited to have you on perspectives. I know we've been discussing trying to get this state in the diary for a while. So a few months. Yeah, it's good to finally get you on here. So for anyone who isn't familiar with Mr. Chris Modo, who are you and what do you do?
00:02:19
Speaker
I am currently a freelance menswear professional, is how I describe myself. So I offer all sorts of services around the menswear world and the fashion world and the style world. So I come from a menswear retail background and I set my own business in 2017. So it's been going quite a while now. So I was doing the whole working from home thing way before COVID.
00:02:43
Speaker
I work with various companies in different capacities. Some companies I do planning, sourcing, merchandising. Other companies I will do some design work. Sometimes I'll do some content creation.
00:02:59
Speaker
I have private clients who use me as a image consultant, personal wardrobe consultant, stylist, or I do it for brands. Yeah, so if it's classic, pretty much in the classic menswear world, I sort of offer on a freelance basis all those things. It's probably what I think I do as well, I'll probably come out.
00:03:20
Speaker
So classic menswear, so a lot of tailoring and things like that. Tailoring based, definitely, yeah. Certainly I come from what's in and around Savile Row for a large part of my career. So tailoring is always a big part of it.
00:03:39
Speaker
But of course, what comes with tailoring is the knowledge and the etiquette. So it's now applying some companies want my expertise of tailoring and etiquette, but expanded from the modern world. So I do a lot of things for companies and for individuals on how to navigate modern dress codes.
00:03:58
Speaker
So I saw you were obviously a creative director as well down at Chester Barry when that was... Yes! When Chester Barry was trading, I did... That was a thing, so you may have... parents may have... or some sort of the generation may remember seeing it. I think it was in like... was it M&S that you used to stalk like Chester Barry? No, you'd be handed... You did the fusion line for John Lewis. John Lewis. Well, I was taking bums with her.
00:04:25
Speaker
more involved with. I designed a collection for John Lewis every season alongside the main collection which was sold on Savile Row. So it's sort of a three-tier thing. You have that top line in Savile Row and then the range for House of Fraser and the range for John Lewis. So that's probably where most people probably knew the Chester Barry branding from. But I was involved with all three of those.
00:04:46
Speaker
Yeah. So what would a role like, you know, create a directory saying about, you know, you design sort of stuff. What would a role like that entail in terms of how do you go about designing lines essentially?
Designing Classic Suits
00:04:58
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good thing. The thing is, how do you design something which is classic? Can people often get a suit to suit? You have to sort of know about the different nuances, different fits, different styles, and obviously fabric is hugely important. So yeah, whilst to a lot of people a blue suit is a blue suit,
00:05:19
Speaker
with every brand I've worked on would go into the shape of it, the fit of it, how it feels, what the feature is. So yeah, it's very subtle and seasonal changes don't scream like they do in the fashion world. But yeah, a strong understanding of tailoring and fit is essential. But then of course you have to be a stylist in the sense that
00:05:45
Speaker
as a senior creator, if you're putting together a whole collection, so you had to be able to do the shirts, ties, the accessories, the outerwear, bags, wallets, socks, shoes. So yeah, you have to sort of have a working knowledge of a lot of different product categories. And of course then make sure it all works together and appeals to the same person. Yes, it has to be right as far as taste, cost,
00:06:10
Speaker
Yeah, and fiction to the lifestyle. So I've noticed particularly with your style you seem to be obviously a mix of quite classic stuff but you tend to put a little bit of a modern twist on certain elements and you've got your own personalised twist such as I think the way you style your cuffs as well. I've never really seen that before, the way you sort of do your cuffs over the jacket.
00:06:30
Speaker
Oh well, that's a mentor. It's a mentor, I think. It's a mentor thing, yeah. You don't see it in the real world, but in my world, it's like it's a given there. There's certain things we do, and I remember first seeing it, and you put your shirt tufts over your jacket, and you would do it on a photo shoot, you wouldn't do it in real life, and then you think, oh, I might do it on holiday, but I find it so comfortable,
00:06:54
Speaker
It just sort of keeps, I just find it comfortable. If I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt, I can very rarely roll the sleeves up. And I just find pushing it back here. So yeah, so here's something I do. It's not something I'd recommend on a personal styling point of view. I always say to people, if you're listening to it confidently, don't do it. But that's a cool, I like it. It's a summer look. But it's a nice, cool summer look, yeah. But that's, I guess, something you'd do in men's wear.
00:07:23
Speaker
Yeah,
Developing Personal Style
00:07:24
Speaker
so you talk about like subtleties there and that's kind of one of the things and we talked about personal style there and I was gonna ask about how he might go about Starting to find and maybe develop and then start refining your own Personal style what's the kind of key areas you would you normally recommend when someone's looking to blood best not?
00:07:45
Speaker
I always say your personal style will come through naturally. You don't need to sort of search for it. It comes through. You don't have to sort of, I'm gonna find it one day, this is me. It's about dressing the best version of yourself and dressing better. So it's about having clothes that are good, the quality you like, the best quality you can afford, clothes that fit, and how you wear them and how you put them on. Your style will naturally come with time. So I'd never say to anybody, we need to find your style.
00:08:15
Speaker
Like he would say, I guess if I've worked with, I've worked with more high media people, sort of in the actors and people in the music industry, they're different. They're going to want a style because they need to get there. They need to get there very quickly and have a look and pop their message. But for real people, it's a very different approach. I just say, no, you don't need to have this strong administration away because it won't be you.
00:08:43
Speaker
just concentrate on really, I'm quite boring in my style of advice and people are like, oh, they're kind of hoping for like this great little secret I'm going to tell them about how to dress better. And it all comes down to polish your shoes and mind your shirt. I'm sorry. It's like, you know, it's like, oh, I didn't want that. I want to see something a bit more fun. It's like, if I, if I wore pink, I look amazing and it's like, yeah, my pink might suit you, but not as well as her polished shoes. So I'm kind of,
00:09:10
Speaker
Get your jackets altered. Make sure you're showing enough cuff. Make sure you tie a nice tie knot. Make sure your shoes are polished. And then once you've got your basic spaces covered, you can discover new tailors. You can discover new brands. And then eventually, how you put that together, the style will come. I never consciously set out to have my own, my look. I just follow the classic look and just picked up on classic quality and how, and then it's just evolved into my guess, my look.
00:09:40
Speaker
Yeah, you find stuff you like and then sort of naturally go down that route. You find stuff you like and you buy good quality, you look after your clothes and you keep them for a long time. I wear, I'm constantly wearing very old clothes. I mean, I've lost a little bit of weight recently and some of my later suits are a little bit baggy. So I'm sort of now tempting between, do I take them in or not? I just wait to, am I going to keep this way off? But I found a suit I had made
00:10:09
Speaker
in 1994, so that's 30 years ago, and I found it in the back of my wardrobes. I've just had it, I'm having it repressed and I'll be wearing it. And yeah, I think there's a style to wearing older clothes because they become you, certainly for shoes, you know, good shoes. So the longer you keep something, the longer you wear it, the more it becomes part of you. So that's, I guess that's part of my style and part of my boring style advice.
00:10:39
Speaker
Well, if it's, what do they say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And I think it comes down to people trying to run before they walk. It almost sounds like they're trying to do the more flamboyant stuff before they can do the basics. Yeah. But then, of course, I'd never want to let a young person indulge fashion because that's what it's about for. I mean, again, of course, I make some mistakes. I make some horrendous mistakes when I was younger.
00:11:03
Speaker
That's what being young is about. Particularly when you first get into tailoring and you get your first made-to-measure suit, you see it all the time. You want to tick every box. Because you have all the features on your made-to-measure suit, you can't get off the page. So you want every pocket, every detail.
00:11:24
Speaker
And I did it to a degree when I was younger, and now when I get something made, which is quite rare, I'm so conservative, but I'll be wanting the chest a particular shape, or I want the shoulder a particular line, or I want a particular lapel shape, which looks like any other lapel shape. But for me, I want to be just that right, that perfect little notch.
00:11:40
Speaker
So, again, yeah, you get more subtle as your taste is refined. I never want to say, don't do it, but I always give them context in my customers and say to me, if you want a brown, linen, double-rested linen suit before your charcoal grey tee button, go for it, but how often do you want to wear it?
Dressing Celebrities
00:12:01
Speaker
You spoke about you've dressed a few sort of actors and things like that in your time. Can't say so. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I've seen David Gandy won't mind. I thought you had style David Gandy.
00:12:19
Speaker
Yeah, I've made, I made, actually funny, I've made David Gandy a really lovely, dark brown, double-breasted linen suit in 2016. And every now and again, I still see him wearing it. It's like, wow, I can't help messaging him saying, are you still wearing it? Are you still wearing that soon? He goes, yeah, I love it. I was like, she's really nice.
00:12:38
Speaker
It's good to set that example as well of like, I think, obviously being the person he is and the stature he is. Yeah, I've got a lot of respect for him. It'd probably be quite easy for him to fall into that trap of just get the next best thing because he kind of would have access to most things at this point. He wouldn't have to wear the same suit twice.
00:12:59
Speaker
because he'd be giving stuff, but that's not his personal style, and he's very true to himself. I had the real privilege of working with him when I suggested Barry for my making two, maybe three outfits for different London collections, and it was a real privilege to work with him.
00:13:17
Speaker
Because he had so much integrity. And he would wear things. He knew what suits him. He's got a very strong idea of what his taste was. And he'd work together and make a lovely suit. And he'd wear it amazingly. So yeah, it was lovely to show taste. Working with him.
00:13:33
Speaker
Yeah, he does seem like a real genuine from what I understand and what I've seen for me to see. He is a really good genuine guy and I have to say again, this is what I found really good about David, is when you see celebrities, I'm used to celebrities, you see designer collaborations. So you might see a famous designer doing something for a high street brand.
00:14:00
Speaker
and sometimes there's literally just, can we borrow your name for two seasons we'll pay you X amount. I know if I ever see David Gany's name on something he's all over it because he just knows he'll he wouldn't put his name to anything unless he actually
00:14:18
Speaker
knows the cut, the fit, and actually has integrity. And it's really more so than some brands that do collaborations. So no, he has a lot of integrity. But I think it works for him because he's well respected. Yeah, I think I've seen his new well-oiled line as well. It looks really nice, the stuff he's producing.
00:14:40
Speaker
really nice really i've got a couple of pieces yeah as i purchased and uh yeah really good stuff there's some other figures i you know i don't get any being one of them but uh andres venus he's um oh yeah i think swedish guy very stylish such a but never had the opportunity i met him a few times at London collections and he's got such a strong i mean i would have loved to have made him a suit when i was at jester barry
00:15:04
Speaker
because he had such a strong sense of style and he puts himself together so well and I think he doesn't like that horrible skinny suit which is still out there.
00:15:16
Speaker
Not quite. It was the bane of my career for about five years. Unfortunately, my time at Chester Barry was probably the era of the very skinny suit. I was there 2011 to 17. So I loved it. I loved the original slim suits. Philip Stark was doing some amazing stuff on the slim. He was calling it skinny, but it was skinny for the time. And he had such an amazing eye, and he still had a great eye. Slightly shorter jacket, shorter pocket flaps.
00:15:45
Speaker
just a little bit so then we're in the chest, narrow the pelvis. It was a really cool sort of shored it kind of cup thing and then it just went too far.
00:15:55
Speaker
Yeah, and that was unfortunately my time in several rows, so it made my stuff very baggy and old-fashioned, and it wasn't, it was just classic. I think that's what I like about his style, Andreas' style, because he seems to be able to bridge that gap really nicely between sort of quite classic styles, but he seems to be able to modernize it, and it never looks too...
00:16:20
Speaker
It never looks too dressy or out of place, I think. I think we're in a... He looks very... No, he always looks very comfortable in his clothes, which I think is key to whoever you are and however your style, is that ability to wear your clothes without being self-conscious. And I always say that about, I think, probably four or five years ago, because I've always wanted to wear a cravat or a neckerchief, always wanted to. I remember my early 20s, I finally got the courage to buy one.
00:16:50
Speaker
But I was so self-conscious, I was constantly touching it and playing with it and tucking it in and looking in mirrors. And that just destroys it. At the same time, so often I see guys, some of my customers or people I work with or people I have worked with, and the first time they wear a pocket square with a suit, they just can't help it. And it's like, put it on and forget about it. As soon as you touch, if you have to touch your neck, if you have to touch it about more than sort of twice in a day, don't wear one. Just put it on and forget about it.
00:17:18
Speaker
So that's the whole point too. But if you see someone just a little bit aware of it, it cures the effect. If you're wearing something which is slightly out of ordinary, you just have to act like it's the biggest, the most normal thing. If it isn't, consider not wearing it. You were mentioning confidence earlier in how that makes such a big impact on what you're wearing essentially.
00:17:43
Speaker
Oh, completely. I mean, I can wear things. I mean, not many of the arches are getting old. But I think I can wear things more constantly than when I was 25. Or again, another thing I love is two-tone shoes. I had a pair when I was 24, 25.
00:18:03
Speaker
And I think things were different first few years ago. But I felt like the guy in the two-tone shoes. I was probably a bit too conscious of wearing them because I felt like I was wearing them. Now I wear a pair of parenthood. I just wear them as confidently as I was wearing a pair of brown loafers. I think being older helps.
00:18:24
Speaker
because you look like someone who should be wearing two-tone shoes. Well, so a younger person that was probably a bit pretentious, I don't know. So there's certain things I can carry off now just because you're older. Yeah. I have my introduction to two-tone shoes. I've never owned a pair or already worn a pair. Do you like them? I like them. I think my...
00:18:43
Speaker
There was a professional golfer, he was a Spanish golfer, he's called Miguel, Angel Hibidez. And he was this guy I always used to find when I was growing up. I used to think he was the coolest guy. Always walking around with a big cigar hanging out of his mouth around the golf course.
Impact of Casual Fashion on Social Occasions
00:18:58
Speaker
And he always used to wear these two-tone shoes. Fantastic. Just used to think he was like the coolest, you know, the coolest golf.
00:19:04
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I kind of know you've said that as kind of just made me think of him and and sort of It's interesting the people that kind of have little impacts on your life Yeah, sure that leaves me quite nicely on to my next point really I think obviously we live now on it in quite a dressed-down world I think it's everything's getting very casual now and and even for I think I was watching a permanent style art like interview and they were talking about that exact question about dressing up in a dress-down world
00:19:33
Speaker
and they were saying about people have kind of lost their sense of occasion really so even now when you see people going out for dinner it's very rare you'll see people in like you might see a jacket but you it's very rare you'll see a tie or you know a pocket square or anything like that
00:19:50
Speaker
No, I think that's a real shame. I won't mention the restaurant, it's an amazing restaurant with great food. But me and my wife, when I had a gift voucher for this restaurant, we had an F for Sunday lunch, and the restaurant was grand. It was like a New York style dining room with bonnet seating and dark woods.
00:20:17
Speaker
And I knew it was a Sunday lunch and it was casual so I was wearing a t-shirt and I was wearing sneakers. But I was still wearing tailored trousers and a shirt and I thought I was put together quite nicely. And I thought this is right, this is Sunday lunch, it's relaxed.
00:20:38
Speaker
and I walked into the restaurant and my eyes went straight to a pair of guy's toenails because he had flip-flops on it, it just kind of lowered it. It kind of took away the occasion because this was a birthday gift and it wasn't a cheap restaurant and I just feel that
00:20:54
Speaker
Had that where I mean Kevin you can't go back in time, but you just think that this could have been the same madmen Yeah, and just imagine if everyone was just dressed like in enough see like a TV show It wasn't just adding to the glamour to it. He just felt a little bit sad
00:21:09
Speaker
And I just feel where I think we miss out now is because we're dressing less formally, which is fine. We don't put as much care into the clothes, but I think that was the whole point. I just, I checked myself. It's like,
00:21:26
Speaker
If I'm wearing a three-piece suit, I make sure that I'm very well groomed with it. But I just feel that when people dress less formally, they kind of put less emphasis onto it. So I think one of the looks I think is so smart, and my father always does it, and it's such a cool look. If you're selling a pair of washed-out jeans, clean washed-out jeans, don't start me on that, never washing the jeans stuff. That's just disgusting.
00:21:54
Speaker
and in a pair of like really highly polished brown chelsea boots and I just think if I see someone in like a navy crew neck washed out jeans and some chelsea boots or even have a polo shirt washed out jeans and that's a really beautifully polished highly polished I think that combination between that real attention to detail but dress formally just creates such a lovely impression and that's that's all it takes
00:22:22
Speaker
You know, just good quality, a really nice pair of shoes. The bad shoes just kills the outfit. And that's what I think we're missing now. How to be dressed up in the dress down world is polish your shoes, pay attention to the details, wear a nice color sock with it. Don't just rely on bad jeans.
Current State of Office Fashion
00:22:41
Speaker
I, you know, I'm very much, you know, I'm into men's wear and I, you know, I wouldn't say I'm like particularly experienced with it but I know that I've started to curate a few pieces that I like and some sort of vintage pieces and whatnot. And I think it's a nice thing that I can kind of share with my, you know, my dad as well because he's always been a very snappy dresser. He's always, you know, always had nice clothes, nice jackets and stuff like that.
00:23:06
Speaker
He, you know, but going to a modern office now, so, you know, the past few companies I worked at, it's very, it's very, very casual. So, you know, the place I work now is it's very much jeans and a t-shirt. There's, you know, you might get the occasional person that's wearing like, you know, chinos and a shirt, which is kind of like the default office dress code is jeans and a shirt.
00:23:29
Speaker
But you know i've noticed for me if i if i wear a jacket or you know i've even dared to wear a tie a few times to work. The people you get the comments which is i think inevitable when you're looking at the dress down stuff and you start sort of you putting your head above the parapet a little bit with the way you're dressing so to speak.
00:23:50
Speaker
But I've noticed that I think there's been a bit of an impact on the people around me. I'm not saying I'm a style icon by any means, but I have noticed that even just with the slightly elevated, you know, I've got Nissi to put on today, just like that versus a t-shirt, for example, or, you know, a nice pair of trousers that are well fitted compared to your chinos.
00:24:13
Speaker
i think it does just elevate you a little bit and it's not to say i'm better than you and and which i think it does get misconstrued as and i think there's a fine line between being pompous with it and over you know overzealous with how you dress versus you know just kind of enjoying your clothes and being a bit more but i've certainly noticed that if i spend enough time in
00:24:34
Speaker
With a sort of slightly elevated sense where I start wearing a jacket more I have noticed it might be my vivid imagination But I feel like other people around me do start to sort of up their game a little bit as well
00:24:46
Speaker
Yeah, no, I can see that. No, I've noticed that. Yeah, I've had. Yeah, I have. I have noticed that too, that things that you wear. Yeah, it does have an impact. Yeah. But no, I think I think the modern, the modern office look is I remember starting work in the late 80s and the train was just full of people smartly dressed to work. And that was that was the norm now.
00:25:17
Speaker
I could be the only guy on a time of train at sort of eight o'clock from the suburbs. And it's just the modern corporate uniform is, of course, is it gee-lay, chinos, bad shoes and a rucksack? Yeah. These rucksacks. I mean, what are people taking to work these days? I mean,
00:25:40
Speaker
It's not a city. The city of London needs to be quite a glamorous place. It had a wall filled to it. You go into the city and it felt exciting. It felt different to the left end of London. Now, I don't know, it's not the same.
00:25:55
Speaker
I noticed it when I went to Milan. I went to Milan for a business trip. Um, I was only there maybe a couple of days, but just noticed it was stark contrast to anywhere else sort of I'd been in terms of sort of going office, office related stuff, professional capacity. Yeah. You know, we always said that the Italians are, you know, quite snappy dresses and things like that, but it was, it really did surprise me just how well everyone was put together and it wasn't, it was quite conservative.
00:26:25
Speaker
Yeah, very flattering, I think, in the way they dress. So, you know, just clothes fitting well, trousers flattering their shape, you know, and the odds. And even the, you know, the women were wearing tailoring as well. It was, you know, someone who was meeting with and...
00:26:41
Speaker
actually said so she had a lovely it was a chalk sort of chalk stripe gray flannel sort of suit with some sort of wider leg trousers but the jacket was sort of cut off at the sleeve so it was almost like a vest but a nice sort of peak lapels and and i just thought she looks you know really really good it was just such a well put together very
00:27:06
Speaker
quite powerful outfit, so to speak. So yeah, it was just nice. It was quite refreshing. It kind of restored my faith a little bit.
00:27:14
Speaker
No, it is. I mean, yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, I don't get my hands off what I used to, but everyone is well put together. Everyone looks considered. You use that term a lot, actually, I've noticed in what you considered. In what, in some of your content and stuff like that, that you do considered.
What is Considered Style?
00:27:33
Speaker
What does that, you know, what does that mean to you in terms of your, what do you mean?
00:27:38
Speaker
My sweet spot in style and whether it's a brand I'm working for, I'm designing for, whether it's a individual consultation, is I think if I dress somebody or put an outfit together, I always wanted to be anonymous.
00:27:57
Speaker
So you can look long and people that aren't into clothes, in the case of Guinabue, see, didn't look in twice. But if you like clothes, you'll notice the detail. You'll notice the robe shoulder. You'll notice the shape of the lapel. Maybe it's a peak lapel. Maybe it's not an expected peak lapel. Maybe it's got a slightly longer pocket back.
00:28:14
Speaker
And those are the details, maybe it's a turn-back cuff on the sleeve. So you would say that most people would just say, oh, there's a black in the sleeve, don't look at you twice, but people that like clothes. And I think that to me is my absolute sweet spot. So the average person, he looks well put together. I like that he looks smart. Can't tell you what, I can't tell you those details, but he just has an overall effect.
00:28:36
Speaker
So that to me is more is is why refers to as considered and that's that's why I try and convey in every hour that I work in rather than a very attention-grabbing tie.
00:28:50
Speaker
Yeah. And that's, I think that's how we met, isn't it? I, um, I spotted you. I was wearing an attention weapon tie. No, no, no. Add my chemicals on. No, it was an event where I kind of... Oh, it was. It was at the Conquers of Elegance.
00:29:08
Speaker
Yeah, so it was a bit of a, I kind of did a bit of a double take. I was like, that car looks really cool. Let's not displace you make up your backside already. No, keep going, mate, I take it. But yeah, I saw, you know, you had, I think you had two-toed lifers on, a nice pair of, obviously, trousers, and it was, I think it was a linen shirt and the cravat. Yeah, the cravat. Yeah, that sounds kind of like a summer outfit, yeah.
00:29:34
Speaker
I just thought, oh this car looks really cool and obviously being someone who is kind of into clothes and things like that and I like sort of seeing stuff as a bit different and as you say, well put together. Yeah, I kind of want to start off and go speak to this car and see what he's doing.
00:29:50
Speaker
I remember, but to me that's very comfortable because I just want to be comfortable. Well I'm wearing loafers, I find a lightweight fuller cut trouser, more comfortable than a heavy jean on a hot day. And I'm probably a polo shirt and a necker shift would be my thing and maybe I've got quite a few over shirts.
00:30:12
Speaker
So it gives me, I like pockets as well, that's the other thing, is tailoring gives you pockets. So you've got a place for your wallet, your keys, and I have to carry stuff. I think that's a more elegant way of presenting yourself than having to have bags on the side and rucksacks.
00:30:28
Speaker
I think that's, the idea of comfort is quite an important point there because I feel like a lot of people when I get certain comments, it is related to, oh, that looks really, you know, is that not comfortable or, you know, why are you wearing that? And it's more of a, you don't realize actually when you have, you know, I bought a nice jacket, I actually bought it secondhand, but it's a really nice purple label Ralph Lauren cashmere jacket.
00:30:54
Speaker
Got it for an absolute steal. So I didn't you know sort of this price and that would be Eyeballs. Yeah, I got it for very very much under that I bet but it was it's just every time put it on it. It just feels so comfortable It's just like silk silk lining. It's very Yeah, comfortable. You got freedom and movement and things like that. I
00:31:16
Speaker
No, sure. You can be elegant and comfortable. It's not mutually exclusive. And then having said that, and this is why I do sound a bit pompous, I'm going to say anyway, is that true comfort is looking great. I mean, you've been comfortable in yourself. And if you look your best, if I look my best, that's a real sense of comfort more than say,
00:31:41
Speaker
having baggy, baggy taxi buses on. So everyone's comfort is, well, what do you really mean by comfort? Walking into a room knowing that you're best gives me a sense of comfort rather than
00:31:56
Speaker
wearing slippers or tracksuit bottoms or baggy soft clothes. I love the feeling it gives me when I put on something. I think the idea of comfort and confidence as well. I immediately get a confidence boost when I wear something that's a little bit nicer. I know the quality is good. They had a little bit of money for it and things like that.
00:32:21
Speaker
That's not to say you have to go and spend, you know, £5,000 on a bespoke, you know, bespoke pair of shoes and, you know, and then another pair of jacket or whatever. No. No, that's the whole point as well, is I'm very much a big advocate. I mean, I do, I don't know if you've seen them, but I do some videos for a rambling code style of ice and general things. I don't think it's come out yet.
00:32:43
Speaker
But I'm not involved in their design process. They're just using me for content creation for the brand. And a lot of the time they'll say, can you talk about matching and can you talk about how to dress?
00:32:57
Speaker
And now they're saying, you know, everything you want to talk about, this is your platform, which is really kind of them and it works well. And I did one about, you know, dressing well can seem like you want to dress well and funds are limited. It can seem daunting and just a world for somebody else. So I just talked about these are the things you can do that don't cost so much money that make a significant amount of difference. What would they be? I think that that's what she would be at.
00:33:31
Speaker
I'm going back to shoes, you know, I don't, I mean, whether you've got a pair of history, black oxfords, or a pair of bespoke from Gazziano and Girling, the ones, if one's dirty and one's polished, the polished ones are better. So again, it's just be more resourceful. So if you can put effort in,
00:33:49
Speaker
Yeah, come back to doing the basis. That's the thing, so if you want to dress better, you want to put effort in, and like you say, you know, you've picked up your Ralph Lauren purple fur still and then you just, you buy better, you buy considered and you look after, my thing is just look after what you had. I'm now wearing my own vintage because I'm wearing suits from 30 years ago.
00:34:11
Speaker
Well I will be wearing a suit from the first years to come. Just seeing how it comes out of the press. The jacket looks like it. I haven't tried the trousers yet. I've had a few odd park runs. They might need to do that out of bed. Maybe a few more park runs, yeah. I've got some ties that my dad gave me and I literally raided his tie rack. I don't wear ties very often. I know there are a couple of people who are in men's wear. I think Rakesh.
00:34:36
Speaker
Yeah, well, yeah, he's a big tie fan. Yeah, he's big tie fan Very cool. Very cool sense of style for some it may be a bit over the top But for others, you know, it could be a bit it's true to myself. That's the guy I get I think he's known him for a few years and I've seen his style developed It's never been contrived. It's always thought if you look at how he dresses now to Somebody came from memory when I first met him 2018 2019 and he looks quite different Never a long that time to I think wow, this is new Rick Hesh
00:35:07
Speaker
It's been very natural to him and very true to himself. Are there any common mistakes that you see people making with style? Common mistakes and mistakes. Big ones are not having something altered, just thinking the expensive suit will allow for buying an expensive suit and not spending another 100 quid to get it altered.
00:35:31
Speaker
is the classic one. I think spending too much on one garment in the outfit, thinking it compensates, it doesn't always, rarely compensates, poor grooming. I think men need to, I've never lived in this, I can't believe that we are
00:35:52
Speaker
There are so many barbers now. Every shop opens up as a barber and they're quite good value. 30 years ago, to get a wet shave, you had to go to St James's. Now you can get a wet shave in any high street in England. It's amazing. Why are we so poorly? I look at men, I think they're so poorly groomed. We've got access to all these things and it's just a case of
00:36:14
Speaker
poor poet, no, not paying attention to the person grooming when it's available quite reasonably. You don't have to go to a fancy St James's place, although I do like a fancy St James's place. Yeah, so it's just, it's those sort of details and just, you know, and understanding that resting down isn't dressing scruffy.
Common Mistakes in Style
00:36:37
Speaker
I think they did an article on the permanent style one that Simon Crompton did and it was really, it was quite handy for me actually, it was the sliding scale of formality called it. So essentially how you can just take a real dressed up outfit
00:36:54
Speaker
like let's say you've got a three-piece three-piece suit on and then you can you know take it one step down by removing the waistcoat for example and then then the tie will come off and then so you just got that and then maybe you can substitute the the suit without the tie thing
00:37:12
Speaker
is just I mean I remember late 90s Savile Row I was a salesman and my colleague was young we'll say young we're all young in our 20s but he was quite slim and we were wearing our slim fit suits and we were wearing high-collared shirts and he used to not wear a tie and to be a salesman on Savile Row in the 90s without a tie was kind of a statement of like no we're cool tailors here we don't we don't wear ties all the time
00:37:39
Speaker
And it was quite subversive. Up until sort of the early 2000s, I was wearing like my Taylor blue suit and the white shirt two button collar. And then sort of the Tom Ford did it really well. If it looks good, it looks amazing, but it's such a default setting for so many blokes now and it looks shit because it's really hard to get the collar right. So look like you're doing this because it doesn't look considered. It looks lazy.
00:38:09
Speaker
and I think most men would look so much smarter to put an eye on.
00:38:14
Speaker
I mean, I'll be honest, the reason I'm so into tires and neckerchiefs is you get older, your neck doesn't look any smarter. You know, your neck starts to get a bit back in, a bit wrinkly. It's more flattering, so that's why I love a roll neck in the winter, and I love wearing a cravat, or a neckerchief, or I like wearing a tie, because it fasses me. Yeah, I just think that sort of, the bad bling, you know, the like, the open neck shirt thing with a suit is not, it's not cool anymore. It was cool 25 years ago, and yeah.
00:38:42
Speaker
And Tom Ford carried it off, but it's a really hard look to carry off. Well, it's a bit daytime TV presenter now. Yeah, I see. Tom Ford likes the black suits as well, which I think I put hard to wear whatever you want. Well, you can wear them. And I think, ah, I need a black suit to sum it up. It's all those things that I guess it's very difficult being a Wyson star. I used to do so much. I used to write a lot of style with Wyson for magazines.
00:39:09
Speaker
And there's certain things you kind of get across, get across, get across. And once it hits the mainstream, you kind of change your mind, you should know as well that it's like never wear a black suit. When the black suit was massive, not having a black suit was a statement. And I've never owned a black suit.
00:39:25
Speaker
I'm tempted now, the right black sink, just because I like to not find my own advice. It's like, I never wear winds or not. Occasionally, I just think, I know I wanna wear winds or not, just to annoy people. I actually wore matching tie and hankie ones, just to confuse people. Just to really, really upset the trajectory. After saying don't do it, don't do it, yeah. Upset it, just get some comments on Instagram. That's awesome.
00:39:52
Speaker
So, you've given us some sort of common mistakes, and I think that there's kind of some golden rules there as well. I was going to ask about, do you have any on the flip side, the golden rules when it comes to style, but it sounds like, you know, polishing the shoes and just doing yourself well. Boy! Yeah. Well, it's just, I wouldn't say it's boring. I'd say it's just getting the basics right, which I think in a lot of fields, people do, you know, they try and step over, step over pounds to pick up pennies, so to speak.
00:40:22
Speaker
Well, no, no, sure, but I mean, okay, I think I noticed myself doing this in my twenties and I was a salesman on German straight.
00:40:33
Speaker
And obviously, if you work in the shirt shop, you do a lot of shirt and tie combinations, which was a massive thing. Nowadays, I bet you don't get to do it so much, but everyone, in 1996, if you bought a shirt, you rarely bought a tie with it. And if a guy went through the tool, bought three shirts without a tie, the manager would be like, it was just, of course you're on the tie with it. So you're always looking for interesting combinations and how to match your shirt and tie.
00:41:01
Speaker
And if I saw somebody in the street with an unusual shirt and tie combination, I'd immediately look at their feet and think, is it considered or is it? And I never knew I did it but I remember picking myself up doing it once. So I'd look at the shirt and tie and go, oh that's unusual, that's a weird colour combination, or that's a funny pattern, or that's a weird colour shape.
00:41:21
Speaker
And I looked down to their feet, and if I had to wear a nicely polished, good shoes on, I'd think, okay, he meant to do that. They felt bad if I had just some mistake. And it was just, just something you do. You see something going, not too sure if that's good or not. And then you think, yeah, that was so, you sort of carry it off. So yeah, it's, it's boring stuff. It's going to, it's getting things altered, it's getting things repaired. It's maintenance. Look after your, look after your clothes, and they'll look after you for a long time.
00:41:52
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I've got, I've spent, I've got more clothes than I need, but I, I look after them and like I said, I've got, I'm wearing a suit from, hopefully if the trousers haven't shrunk too much, I'll be wearing a suit from when she's 30 years old. Excellent. Which was made for me. Yeah.
00:42:11
Speaker
Yeah, I like the idea of having something and it develops a bit of character over time as well, especially with shoes and their own sort of patina and you just get them resold. Yeah, how you polish them, but even though, you know, if otherwise there's a clothing, you know, how you break in an old cotton jacket, for example, a blazer becomes yours.
00:42:30
Speaker
I think it's interesting how now we sort of, we don't hesitate to spend like a thousand pound on a phone every year for the new one to come out, but people don't want to spend 500 pound on a pair of shoes that's going to last you like 40 years. Yeah. Well, the focus is pushing it, but yeah, but, but at least, you know, we're looking at, you know, 10, 15, 20 years if you're looking after them. I think the last time I did a study on it with a brand, we got some intelligence, sort of marketing intelligence.
00:42:58
Speaker
And clothing is a much less of a priority than it was 20 years ago, 30 years ago, when we used to work in a city shirt shop.
00:43:11
Speaker
when bonuses came out. I did a really interesting feature with Thomas Bank, looking at old Thomas Pink customers from the 80s and 90s and recoloring shirts. It was a really fun thing about two or four years ago. I was chatting to a bloke who was a trader in the 90s and he wore Thomas Pink shirts.
00:43:33
Speaker
And when he got his bonus, he bought 10 shirts and two suits. Now, I just think that was like his thing. We're going to have a Prince of Wales check suit and like half a dozen German street shirts.
00:43:45
Speaker
I'm thinking the young guy now, he was 23, 24. I think for 23, 24, I've got a nice bonus. It's not going to go on his bulljoke. It'll go on holidays, property, watches. I don't think many are spying a pair of upper green shoes. And that's just the world we live in. Yeah.
Conclusion and Social Media Follow-up
00:44:10
Speaker
Well Chris, thank you so much. If people want to follow your work or perhaps get a bit more insight into the world of Chris Modo, have you got any platforms that you'd recommend visiting? Instagram is my platform. So at Chris Modo and then you can always DM me. If you're interested in private consultations or you have a brand, DM me through that.
00:44:32
Speaker
and we can talk. Amazing. All right, I'll put that link in the bio or the description, so to speak, of the episode. Thanks so much for your time. I really enjoyed the conversation and the tips and the certainly ones that have given me a bit more.
00:44:48
Speaker
bit more confidence to carry on wearing what I wanna wear. So I think it gives you a bit of, you know, when you do get a few comments, people are always questioning what you're wearing or like why you're dressed up, so to speak. It can get a bit tiring after and sometimes it's just useful to blend in with it all. But one life, so might as well push yourself. Exactly. All right, thanks very much. Great talking to you. Thanks very much.