Urban Survival

There are a number of questions flopping around the trendy world of fashion

"Is top button done up a trend?"
Answer; too much the norm to be an interesting trend.

"Is it possible to look incredible while making one's way through the snow and ice infested inner city streets of the modern UK?"  
 A very good question and one that was emphatically answered in our latest experiment.

Out aim for this post was to look at Winter Urban Survival for the trendy man, and what we came up with was as follows: A pair of hiking boots, a gilet and a bobble woolly hat. These three items, all trendy in Winter 13/14 in their own right, make up the current winter essentials.

The Hiking Boot

 Fashion Beans

"the hiking boot is the perfect option. Stylish, sturdy and extremely practical, it is a boot with a big reputation"

Be sure to look at the man in the top right corner who embodies TTC's vision without even realising it.

The Gilet

According to GQ the gilet has become one of the most useful items of menswear a man can have. Practical usage isn't something we tend to worry about here in the chic TTC offices but when it's possible to be impeccably dressed whilst remaining warm and then not even having to worry about sleeves, the fierce Welsh winter could be just the ticket.

Something is definitely going on on the pavement, a spillage of Deep Vs maybe?

The Bobble Hat

All that needs saying about the lovable top heavy item of head ware known as the bobble hat is said  at Editor.com

"Cheer up those chilly days with a hint of old-school cuteness"

Clearly

 At TTC we are known for cuteness (double denim, duhh) so why not embrace it?

The Night

Friday was launched upon us, and neither James nor I had the items for the evening out. James went out to get the hats, whilst I was lucky enough to be able to supply the gilets. We met in the Gatekeeper, donning our attire which made us look prepared for the weather outside.
Whilst in the Wetherspoons, no-one took a blind bit of notice of the outfits we were fashioning, and as time went on this didn't seem to change.
 

Two lads ready for what the world will throw at them

With a few drinks in our bodies, we made the move. The weather outside was not all that pleasant, however with our trendy survival gear on we braved it. Walking up St. Mary's Street, we were accosted by a young chap who had taken a liking to our hats, only to provide us with a rather ungripping tale of how he had recently bought his girlfriend a hat of similar persuasion, but with penguins on (this may have been polar bears or some other unimaginative animal one would associate with winter). Having finished his tale, he then ushered us toward the door for Floyd's, seemingly a common occurrence when were are sporting trendy threads. Obliging, we entered the establishment and got some drinks.

An unsuspecting darkness covered the trend

Whilst we were obtaining the alcohol from the bar keep, a group of lads went up to James and starting asking questions about the hats. They all wanted to get in on the action, clearly they were fans, and believed that wearing the hats would be their way into a ladies' underwear (the actual quotes they were coming up with are far to vulgar for a blog of this calibre).

After a few drinks went by, the same group of guys then tried to get us into some drinking games including the classic Down It and Have Some Shots. Obviously thinking that the trendy gear we were wearing made us seem manly and therefore immediately triggered their competitive natures. Declining such advances, as we didn't wish to belittle them in front of the crowds forming, which were due to the rumours of two handsome trendy men, we made our way to Live Lounge.

Having barely settled for five minutes in Live Lounge two ladies came up to James and I, introducing each other in a way that they had only remembered each other's name and not their own. Maybe it was the utter shock of the glaringly trendy outfits we were sporting that had dumbfounded each of them, but the shock had obviously had an effect on them as they were basically drooling at the mouth. Being gents, we introduced ourselves before swiftly getting on with our night! Only minutes seemed to pass before the next girl came up to us and questioned why we were wearing hats (seemingly missing the gilet/hiking boot combo to suit). We addressed the weather outside and detailed that the outfit was to survive the chilly wet weather. However this level of detail did not seem to satisfy her, due to the fact that she stuck around for a while asking more questions. Apparently the styles we had chosen for the night sparked some form of quandary amongst the masses.

It's easy to see why

Time went on, and deeper into the evening my hat managed to leave my head. However this was no action of gravity alone, as when I spun around to see what the score was, I was faced with the female equivalent of the Dwarf for the Lord of the Rings! She swiftly buried the hat in somewhere I would like to forget, and staring me in the eyes waddled off in what may have been top speed. Luckily the gyration of her movements dislodged said hat, and with reluctance it re-adorned my head. Dancing and plenty of attention ensued, and to get away from the hectic popularity the outfits had given us, James and I resorted to covering our eyes whilst rocking out:

The blind approach

A few moments later we were once again accosted, this time by a remarkably tall lady with a little too much bluster for us to feel comfortable.  Our reservations were immediately put to rest when she bluntly asked us,

 "What's the story with the hats, you're lovers right?"

Nothing calms people like us more than realising said confident girl isn't being a predator but is merely looking for a new Gay Best Friend.  Clearly she had been hit hard by these being removed from shelves,

When revealing we weren't in fact lovers she didn't look too disgusted but did beat a hasty retreat to the smoking area. Returning later to introduce us to her boyfriend and shake our hands, calling us Gentlemen.  Perhaps our style had reaffirmed her faith in her boyfriend's equally sharp dress.

Lovers? Or just Super Stylish Gents

During one of these blind self indulgent moments I felt an arm clutch my neck. Assuming it was James, I pulled the hat from my eyes, to see that James was in front of me with an arm around his neck, as he too was lifting his hat. It was apparent that we had managed to pick up a straggler. The culprit was a lass, who introduced herself to us and then went on to say that we were the best friends she had made all night. This could mean one of two things, either we were the only friends she had made all night, or that in the minuscule amount of time she had spent with us, and seeing our banging threads, we had surpassed everyone else. With the likely story being the latter, James and I provided hearty banter until her real friends pulled her away and out the door.  Either that or she was abducted in front of our eyes (she did look unimpressed)!

Who wouldn't want to grab this neck?

As the night came to a close, and gilets were misplaced, the thought of the walk home hit hard. Going our separate ways it was clear we were dressed perfectly for this very moment. Only James wasn't. Because his boots were £15 from Tesco and all the money had been spent on lovely fluffiness around the top and the insole proved wanting. Half way home the experience was described as having squelchy heels as if they had melted and were sticking to the inside of the shoe. Eventually running on the balls of his feet became the only bearable way to get home. A week later and the recovery was not complete. Of course he knew this would happen as it had 2 years ago at New Year, so let's not blame the trend.

Urban Survival; awesome, manly, do it!