The Fashion of Now

Fashion isn’t only about following trends. We spoke to some comic individuals, both on stage and off.


Say hello to comic group, The Care of Douglas. (With thanks to Harry Carr for photography).

Please click on the photos to enlarge them…

George Potts:

My individual style is sort of pensioner-y I suppose. I really like the clothes and style of the 1930s, and I’ve got loads of the genuine gear, but sometimes it can be a bit uncomfortable wearing the full ensemble all the while.

I think I do judge people on what they are wearing, but sort of the wrong way round. If I see someone who looks really, really fashionable, I tend to think they should tone it down a bit. It’s them people who wear them really big black square glasses with the sort of neo-Morrissey hairstyle. Sort your jumper out, it’s way too big for you. Is that geek chic? I don’t know. Pierre says they’re called ‘Hipsters’ in America. Sounds like a pop band formed by residents of an Old Folks’ Home.

My most prized item of clothing has got to be a close tie. I don’t mean my prized item is a ‘close tie’, I don’t even know if those exist, what I mean is it’s a draw between a few things. I’ve got a pair of gold plated 1920s cufflinks I found in a vintage shop once, they’re good. I’ve got an Edwardian frock coat I’m rather proud of as well.

Pierre Novellie:

My individual style is a little thing I like to call “Which clothes are nearby?”

I do not like to keep up with current trends. Animal print fills me with primal terror, but I do own a beige tie for when I wish to appear very dry. Very dry.

I judge everyone for what they wear: frankly I don’t see the need for clothes and I am somewhat disappointed every time I leave the house.

Is ‘high fashion’ is pretentious? Anything is pretentious if you set your bar low enough – LEATHER shoes? Ohhh lah-di-dah!

Emma Sidi:

There is nothing I can say to avoid the realms of Gimpdom regarding my individual style. Other than that my dress-sense is HAWWT.

I judge people on what is inside their hearts, not on their naked bodies. But I do really hate fleeces, so this often tends to have a pretty extreme influence on my judgements. Nasty consequences.

My most prized item of clothing is my 60s printed shift dress which I bought for a quid at a jumble sale aged nine – I know this sounds like I’m trying to sound ‘so cool, babe, even at such an early age’, but actually it’s a really sad story.  I insisted on wearing the shift dress as an ankle-length maxi dress. I can truly say that I suffered aesthetically from a complete lack of parental guidance.

Jason Forbes:

My individual style originated from a massive insecurity as a child whereby I thought that, if I dressed formally enough, at least the cool smart-casual people would think I was simply ‘going somewhere important’, and that presumably my cool smart-casual clothes must have been set aside for another cool smart-casual occasion at a later date, for which I would obviously dress down. I am often seen sporting a v-neck and tie.

I couldn’t tell you what was in or out. I didn’t know that ‘camel’ was a colour.

I very rarely notice what people are wearing at all. Someone once tried to kidnap me at a train station in London when I was fourteen. When he asked me to join him and his ‘friends’ for a ‘chat’ in his Ford Fiesta parked outside, I guess, even if I had spotted what they were wearing beforehand, but I couldn’t even give a description of him to the police, because I’d forgotten what he was wearing. I still judged him, though.

Ironically, fashionableness is often about individuality. When Lady Gaga dresses up in a meat-dress and animal rights activists are up in arms, or your average person just finds it a bit gross, or some academic lauds it as ‘anti-fashion’, the point is that, because it is so peculiar to her, people in all camps are talking about it. I don’t know if Gaga is an icon or a victim, but she’s certainly a damn clever businesswoman.

Ahir Shah and Lowell Belfield: