Summer holidays are over

The best part of six months have passed, but now I’m back better than ever. That’s what you’re supposed to say right? While I’m sure some of you didn't even realise the blog had gone anywhere, I thought it was best to share with you why I’ve been taking a break and how I plan to move forward with everything.

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Outfit pictured above: NAVY V-NECK JUMPER [similar] by LES BASICS, PLEATED NAVY TROUSERS [similar] by JOSEPH FASHION, SIMPLE COIN POUCH by CAMPBELL COLE and WHITE RETRO LOW LEATHER SNEAKERS by COMMON PROJECTS

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Well, that short pause in March turned into quite the unexpected break. So much has happened since, so many important conversations that needed to take place. With so much going on this year I felt a platform that talked about fashion wasn’t what was needed and I certainly didn’t need to take eyeballs away from more important discussions.

This time has given me chance to reassess and with six years under my belt as a blogger - do I get a loyalty reward for not packing it all in for TikTok? - my opinions on fashion have progressed. In short, we all need to buy less. I’m undoing a life of bad habits that I probably didn’t realise were bad habits. Out of sight, out of mind? (Read: the second wardrobe in the spare room, the clothes in the attic, the clothes under the bed, the clothes at your family home, the clothes at your friend’s family home). So when I say buy less, but buy better I really mean it. And only when you need to. I don’t mean to sound like a drill trainer, because fashion is ultimately a tool of expression, but I feel for far too long have we normalised our buying habits and recycle the same book of excuses. It’s time to ignore trends, hottest items of the week, hottest items of the month, fast fashion, hauls, over consumption and complete negligence to the impact our decisions have on others in the industry and the planet.

“But Jordan your job is about clothes?” Yes, talking about clothes and highlighting brands inevitably leads to consumption. But I think what’s important is I’m able to highlight the right brands, who make in the right way and those who are changing their business model while underpinning this with talking about consuming in a responsible way.

My wardrobe is a lot more streamlined and I’ve changed the way I work using samples and loans where possible rather than adding to my consumption which still provides the opportunity to show you what’s new when you need it, as well as being proud of my old wardrobe too. So seeing ‘similar item’ next to product details is something to be normalised. There are great things happening within fashion and a lot more I am yet to learn about: upcycling existing materials, the wider use of organic cottons, natural dyes, development of more environmentally friendly materials and the possibilities of circularity, all of which we need to talk more about.

So with a renewed focus on what I want to talk about it was time to make some changes on here. I excitingly have a new section which I have decided to call The B Brief. It’s a space on the site that will allow me to write more regularly to comment on what I see happening in the industry, both good and bad. See it as a column section to a newspaper if you will. They’ll still be plenty of posts documenting my personal style, but I’m interested to see how this opens up the possibilities of what I can talk about. For now you can check out The B Brief section over in the top left corner where I’ve already got to work to give you a taste on what I’ll be talking about.

Thank you for returning and for those of who you are visiting the blog for the first time, I hope you enjoy the open conversations around menswear and the idea of slowing down, buying less and buying better.jbicon

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