Suits You, Sir

          It was slow in arriving, but winter finally nipped at our heels last week. With a touch of frost and blue skies, it showed its benevolent face, the one that invites you to take a walk in the park, simply for the joy of it – and, perhaps, to justify the purchase of that puffer jacket.

          Yes, you guessed it; I am curious about the ubiquity of puffer jackets. What started as a down-filled garment intended for mountaineers and arctic explorers, became essential kit for outdoor adventurers at all levels of competence. So far, so understandable. Then it began to appear on the high street, which also makes a degree of sense if, for example, you’re a weekend hiker who lives in, say, Sunderland, in which case you might as well get some daily use out of the warm jacket you bought for slogging around the fells.

          Where it gets less obvious is when people wear arctic-grade jackets in the city, in summertime. Notwithstanding the claim of the Andrew formerly known as Prince, I doubt there are many of us who don’t sweat when the temperature rises – and it surely rises steeply when you don a down-stuffed gilet, jacket or full-length, Russian-style overcoat, complete with fur-trimmed hood, just to go shopping. There is, of course, a rational explanation for such an irrational choice of garment: fashion.

          Is there anyone who can resist the urge to be fashionably dressed? Despite having reached an age at which the chains of vanity begin to fall away, I have not yet given up on it. But if we don’t want to fade out quietly, along with our dated wardrobes, we older people are faced with particular challenges, as High Street clothing retailers focus on younger markets. There is always the fallback M&S option, but it doesn’t suit those who have more flamboyant tastes reflective, one supposes, of their desire to express individuality, youthfulness or, well, flamboyance.

          Whatever drives one’s choice of garb, I have concluded that these few guiding principles are useful in narrowing down my shopping list: comfort, quality, utility, colour co-ordination and absence of conspicuous branding – although the last requirement is undeniably a form of fashion statement in itself. My aim is for my outfits to accommodate my current lifestyle, interests and activities, which I suppose is the same for everyone, excepting actual fashion victims.

          And so to footwear, formerly known as shoes. In anticipation of a few weeks of travelling to and from Italy, by train, I decided to minimise baggage and take just one pair of multi-purpose shoes. They would have to be comfortable yet stout, to withstand touristic trudging in and around cities come rain or shine. You may think this a tall order, yet I do have such shoes; it’s just that they are on their uppers and I would hate to be seen unfashionably and shabbily shod in Italy, of all places.

          I took some time to go shopping, without my OH as style consultant. There is, of course, no shortage of hiking shoes that would meet the specs, apart from the aesthetic stipulation. Their unsubtle designs and colours would not coordinate with the palette of my limited wardrobe of travelling togs. Black and restrained is my requirement. I trawled the shops with racks of regular, black leather shoes and found none that met the other criteria. I tried the casual, fabric styles, which were comfy but useless in the rain. I peered into the windows of trainer shops and recoiled in horror at the garish and outlandish designs.

          But all this hapless hunting around the High Street got me thinking I might be obsessing a tad too much. The shoes I had on were doing their job so well, it would be a shame to retire them. Perhaps a better course of action might be to call off the search and check out the scene in Naples, where I might just find everyone has adopted puffer jackets lurid trainers since last I was there.