Why can't I find the clothes I want?

February 12, 2006 4:09 AM

Where can a guy find plain, boldly-coloured clothes in London?

I'm getting frustrated with the way that every time I walk into the "man" section of a shop, I'm assaulted by dingy colours, or worse yet, almost-OK clothes spoiled by all sorts of annoying prints.

My ideal shop would be one where things were categorised by the shape of the clothes (so long-sleeve T-shirts here, V-necks there, and long-sleeved V-necks in the corner, and so on), and everything comes in plain, bold, 'real' colours -- blue, red, green, yellow, you know. Things I could mix-and-match much more easily without looking daft.

I don't understand why this is so hard to find and everyone seems to want to sell me expensive and crappy 'fashion' instead. Is there some great shop that I'm missing?

posted by reklaw to Clothing, Beauty, & Fashion (11 answers total)

H&M will sell you simple shirts for almost nothing compared to other London stores. You'll have to avoid some of the things you disdain to get to them, but they're there.
posted by allen.spaulding at 4:16 AM on February 12, 2006

Best answer: American Apparel does exactly what you want in their stores, and they have two in London.
posted by MadamM at 4:20 AM on February 12, 2006

It's been a while since I was there but aren't you describing The Gap?
posted by ceri richard at 5:10 AM on February 12, 2006

Best answer: UNIQLO?
posted by public at 5:16 AM on February 12, 2006

What about the Japanese place Uniquo - lots of plain stuff with good colours?
posted by laukf at 5:18 AM on February 12, 2006

Zara too, has tons of solids.
posted by amberglow at 5:44 AM on February 12, 2006

American Apparel makes great stuff - they have a location off of Old Street and in Covent Garden. It would be perfect for you.

UNIQLO is more affordable, for sure.
posted by k8t at 6:17 AM on February 12, 2006

I have a zillion shirts etc. from Emile Lafaurie that are exactly like this. There's one in Paris--which is kind of near London, in a Google Earth kind of way.
posted by josh at 8:10 AM on February 12, 2006

Ralph Lauren has some pretty bold colors, at least last time I was in that section of my department store. There are several in London, according to the website.
posted by 6:1 at 9:28 AM on February 12, 2006

The great shop you are missing is indeed American Apparell, at least for your more casual wear. For sweaters and such, I've had pretty good luck at Gap finding things in fun colors, but I'm not sure how many of those there are in the London area (surely not as many as here in Seattle).
posted by rossination at 12:20 AM on February 13, 2006

Does anyone know what Uniqlo's labour record is like? Obviously American Apparel sells itself on being sweatshop-free but Uniqlo's very cheap and I always wonder how their stuff is produced. I buy from American Apparel but in my opinion it's very poorly-made and doesn't last as long as I'd like. That's the downside of having your clothes made by sexy American college students instead of Indonesian child labourers, I guess.
posted by skylar at 1:36 AM on February 13, 2006