CHICKEN LEGS.

I've always considered shorts to be something I was never able to wear decently. As the title suggests, I am somewhat a slimmer man and was never known for my sporting abilities. I was simply too "push-over-able". Walking around the highstreet in my hometown therefore is a bit of a surprise to me. Not only have the mannequins that used to be so butch and tough been replaced conveniently by slimmer men, but they seem to have acquired shorts.


Ok, so the mannequin is this shot here is very realistic, which I appreciate. He also illustrates my point well. Five years or even five months ago, you'd be shot for fashion treason for these bad boys. Not only were you wearing knee-length shorts, but you were rolling the buggers up. Heresy. It wasn't a great look, yet worked in war-time dramas you see on the television every Sunday.




And of course, what better example than Ken:




I tried to find a picture of the scene from the Notebook when they're on the beach too. Unfortunately the only photos I could find were of them snogging, so I won't bother putting those on here. There are other websites for that kinda stuff.

What happened was that the slick and sophisticated look of wartime and post-wartime Britain arguably disappeared. At least on a fashionable level. It was the seventies and everything was being questioned, including what looked good. Controversial and shocking ways of presenting yourself came about such as punk, with bands like The Sex Pistols heading the way for that. These were the ways of grabbing attention and instantly appearing "cool". As opposed to looking like an angry ginger kid who stumbled into Scotland.


Yes, he is now making butter adverts.

The point is this: fashion is heading back to the sleek way of dressing, and it's dragging back to the top not only rolled up shorts but other things such as three-piece suits for going out in, thick knitted jumpers, and double denim (shudder). The hair-cuts, vintage glasses and a lesser focus on muscles all plays well into the average young man's hands who wants to pull off the "Neo-Vintage" look of being from the 1940's (even though everybody knows he's not and he used to watch Playdays). It comes across as confident, established and sheek. Or if you're French - "Chique".

Here's Alex Zane sporting a laaavely suit for his show about internet virals, "Rude Tube":


Mark Ronson also has picked up on this, but completes the slick look by somehow ruffling up his collar. Weird.


Suave. I'm surprised nobody thought of this earlier.

Jib-o-meter: 4/5

Shorts like the ones described are available on www.rokit.co.uk, but because it's a bit mainstream are also available on highstreet shop websites such as www.topman.co.uk.