Alfred Tong

Savile Row is less a place and more of a state of mind; a standard bearer, almost like a Royal Warrant, for all that is masculine, elegant and British. It is, for many, the world centre of bespoke tailoring, and this is our top ten of the best shops in Savile Row. RECOMMENDED: The best menswear shops in London

Ahead of the release of the latest film in the 007 franchise, 'Spectre', we find out where James Bond buys his clothes in London. A camera pans up the sleeve of an evening suit with a distinctive silk, turned-back cuff. We see the suit’s shawl lapels before the camera settles on the face of Sean Connery. Only then do we hear, for the very first time, ‘The name’s Bond…’  Ever since 1965’s ‘Dr No’, few have been able to resist the escapist glamour of 007. He’s gone through almost as many incarnations as Doctor Who, but while the Doctor’s style has adapted to whoever inhabits his skin at the time, Bond has remained faithful (if not to women) to his sharp suits and dinner jackets.  Nevertheless, subsequent looks have reflected the character of each new Bond and his era, while setting the standard for British male style. ‘Bond’s look for “Spectre” is cool, seductive, sexy and very simple,’ says Jany Temime, the film’s costume designer. ‘The colours are monochromatic: grey, white, black – a little bit film noir, and very elegant.’  Although the dinner suit is as important as ever, Daniel Craig also wears all-action, casual looks which, naturally, he accessorises with a gun holster. ‘He dresses for the occasion and he dresses for action,’ says Temime. ‘The clothes are simple in order to show off the action of his body when it is in motion.’  Whereas Sean Connery wore clothes that were almost exclusively British, Craig has a cosmopolitan designer wardrobe. ‘He is modern, and fashion

Steve Sanderson and his business partner Nigel Lawson have been two of the most influential men in chaps’ fashion since 2002 – despite, or perhaps because of, keeping their base in Manchester rather than London. Oi Polloi’s brand of aspirational casual wear – low-key clothing with obsessively thought out details – is something a new generation of menswear stores in London have sought to emulate, and their influence is everywhere – at Universal Works, Albam, Present… The shopper Oi Polloi catered for in Manchester – not necessarily wealthy, but willing to save for something special – is now the focus of men’s brands everywhere. You might have lots of their stuff in your wardrobe already: Patagonia anoraks, Superga plimsolls and Nudie jeans were all first seen at their Manchester store. Sanderson’s secret of success? ‘We always tried to buy the best, whether it’s a G9 Harrington or Gloverall duffel coat. We never cared whether it was vintage or heritage. It’s just simple, class design.’ On display in their Soho store window is a droll poster that reads: ‘We sell good clothes.’ ‘The message is pretty blunt,’ says Sanderson. ‘We like the idea of being a menswear store. We’re not going to go down the route of scented candles, face creams, shampoos or whatever.’ The interior has been designed to look like a stock room, in reference to the company’s wheeler dealer roots: ‘We started out sourcing vintage gear in old stockrooms,’ says Sanderson, ‘which we mixed with classic and contem

It’s time to recalibrate and move on, thinks Alfred Tong in the second instalment of Time Out Music's new Just Saying column.A BMW cruises through the back streets of Shoreditch. The strangulated voice of Lil Wayne can be discerned over low, rumbling bass. The driver has his seat so low and far back that only the rim of his baseball cap is visible. So far, so Shoreditch. But wait, what’s this? There’s a gang of distinctly un-ghetto children in the back. It’s Father’s Day and the ghost rider is a fortysomething hip hop dad on his way to the Fun DMC event in a nearby pub. Fun DMC is a family hip hop party where kids aged between three and eight jump around to House of Pain’s ‘Jump Around’. Some colour in pictures of Run DMC and De La Soul. Others develop their tags on an approved wall. They wear ironic gold chains while DJ dads spin gun- drug- and misogyny-free hip hop. In 2015, a culture which was once so thrillingly obsessed with the new has its own comfort zone: the musical equivalent of a pipe and slippers. It comes at a time when dad rock as we know it is transitioning into grandad rock. Given that they share certain defining qualities – male auteurs, a certain worthiness and singalong sensibility – dad hop is here to take its place. ‘Wu-Tang is for the children’   For Keane, think Kano. For Ocean Colour Scene, think Jurassic Five. Maybe Busta Rhymes is the new Bez? And who are the new Led Zep? Maybe the Wu Tang Clan. It was ODB, after all, who famously said: ‘Wu-Tang is