Men’s Winter Knitwear

It seems that an American invasion has happened on the lanes around our beloved Brick Lane. Where once stood a solid British base of winterwear there now stands the American superbrand GANT. And seriously…its knitwear is everywhere!

Let me explain, because every weekend I take to the streets of east London in a coffee shop quest to find the best dressed. It’s not for a freelance article and it’s not because I’m psycho; I just love to partake in a little bit of people watching. You see, style watch is a personal hobby of mine.

There I sat in an annex off Brick Lane recently with a friend on a park bench and while I inhaled the strong fumes of coffee, smoke and cans of Red Stripe, a shadow drew over me and sat down alongside us… I had found my best-dressed!

There draped on the shoulders of some young fashion enthusiast was a well-fitted, knitted navy blue jumper. Then – looking (suspiciously) closer – I noticed a comfortable ribbing around the welt and cuffs, and to top it all off the top had a fuzzy, snowy and smoky-coloured deer detail on the front.

Put simply, I wanted it.

‘It’s a beauty!’ I exclaimed. ‘Looks like something us Brits do best… knitwear.’

‘Oh dear,’ he replied.

Oh dear indeed; I had committed my first ever fashion faux pas: it was certainly not British.

‘Two things,’ he returned; ‘it’s called an Oh Dear jumper and it’s from GANT… in America.’

He pointed over to another table in the coffee shop and showed me another. And then another. This was crazy; there in the same coffee shop were three guys in three different GANT pieces.

But I’ve got to admit: they did look good.

GANT is renowned for its uptown-style-meets-downtown-prep and it really looks at home here on the London streets. One of the guys was wearing what can only be described as a classic Nan-knitted Christmas sweater. It had all the festive trimmings: horizontal whites and reds, Christmas trees and oversized, in-your-face details. But it did look chic.

Men’s knitwear seems to have taken some style influence from across the Atlantic and if you’re going for the American winter knitwear look then you need to think varsity colours, collegiate-preppy and well fitted. Wear your Yankee knitwear with shades, skinnies and woolly scarves…Fashionable. Practical. Preppy!

www.gantuk.com

Image:

Oh Dear jumper: £75
Rugger Snowy Forest sweater: £85