Houndstooth

An uninspired sigh as I open my curtains. Grey skies and dark by 3pm. This year I'm deciding to ignore the weather and do my best to keep creating.

Topman

Houndstooth coat (sold out)

Paul Smith

Ecru organic-cotton sweat

Natural Selection London

Navy boxer chino

The Great Frog

4mm rounded plain band

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I’ve just realised that this post may as well of been titled ‘Jordan holds his arm behind his back’. Nonetheless, it’s a blog post I wanted to put together. These days are far too common recently. For someone that likes to play around with light and shadows, grey skies are not something I enjoy and almost puts the kibosh on shoot days. This particular day involved strong winds and rain… lots of it.

It can be quite demoralising to plan shoots only for the weather to cancel them. Bloggers, content creators and photographers are mercy to the weather. So last week, Natalie and myself decided to drive to Birmingham regardless of what the weather app was telling us.

The reason I was so keen to shoot was to talk about my new houndstooth coat and to kickstart the year. I’m really excited for what this year holds. I feel it’s going to be one of experimentation, rewarding opportunities and new challenges. But less about my fortune teller predictions, let’s talk about the coat. The fabric drew me in and is something of an autumn winter 2017 trend. Heritage prints, from herringbone to houndstooth have been seen everywhere this season. It quickly became my favourite outerwear piece, but sadly it has fallen victim to a rip under the armpit. I’ll be on the hunt for a similar one soon or take it to the tailors to assess the damage.

Putting the rip aside, I really enjoyed this outfit of muted colour for the muted weather. Although stepping out of my grey and navy circle - with the exception of my trousers - I still felt comfort in what I was wearing. I often tell people its comfort first and then style a close second. Straight fit trousers from Natural Selection London and an ecru sweatshirt offered up answers to the former, while the houndstooth coat (rip) replied to the latter. The perfect balance of pushing personal style, while feeling confident doing so.

Also last week I was down in the city for London Fashion Week Men’s. It’s an exciting three days of celebrating menswear and reconnecting with friends I’ve made within the community. So often people are busy doing their own thing throughout the year it’s difficult to catch-up with people who I now call good friends. I briefly talked about my thoughts on the long weekend over on Instagram and what I’ve taken away from it. Now I’m back home, it’s time to really start winding up for the year. Regular content, new ideas and improving on what I felt was a pretty good 2017.jbicon

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Photography by Natalie Jade Reading

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