The men’s fashion jury on Harry Styles, Skepta, Justin Trudeau and more

Can Harry Styles put a foot wrong? Is Justin Trudeau Mr Average? And does Skepta look like an undertaker? Our celebrity judges give their verdicts
  
  

Justin Trudeau, Donald Glover and Skepta
Have Justin Trudeau, Donald Glover and Skepta nailed their looks? Our jury decide. Composite: Getty Images / Reuters

Justin Trudeau

Reverend Richard Coles, musician turned vicar, broadcaster and Strictly contestant He’s a handsome fellow, but he looks like he’s wearing the sartorial version of dad dancing.

Greg Rutherford, British long jump champion and Olympic gold medallist White trousers terrify me. Not just because they’re very “female divorcee having a moment”, but because I’d need so much Daz to make sure my children didn’t ruin them before I left the house.

Rick Edwards, author of Science(ish), presenter and broadcaster He’s dressed like the world’s most average man. I guess the belt is interesting. I can never get these to work, so maybe I’m feeling repressed jealousy.

Stephen K Amos, comedian If you saw Donald Trump dressed like that, you’d think, “No, that’s not right.” But Trudeau looks like he’s about to go boating.

Helen Seamons, the Guardian’s menswear fashion editor JT could have tried a bit harder with his Pride look. The stripy belt wants to be a rainbow, but is four colours short. White jeans are too high-maintenance for real life, and on a march everyone’s mobile with refreshments, which to my mind equates to higher odds of spillages.

Donald Glover

RC He looks smashing. Purple was my favourite colour as a child, but I can’t wear it now because I’m not a bishop. Still, I do love to see it on others.

GR It’s all too matchy-matchy for me, but I do like suits in unconventional colours, so props for that. Childish Gambino isn’t afraid of fashion, so he (and he alone) can pull this off.

RE He’s wearing something awful, but he looks fantastic, so I’m confused by this image. He seems to be taking style cues from the Joker, a natty dresser but also a comic book villain – not a group generally renowned for being style icons.

SKA The suit is amazing, the colour complements his skin tone, it’s very smartly cut; he just looks incredibly chic.

HS Three cheers for Donald Glover and red carpet risk-taking. Full marks for his “dress for the award you want” strategy: nothing sets off gold better than purple, a regal classic, and what could be a better accessory than two Emmys?

Skepta

RC I adore this look. He looks like a super-cool undertaker. Sadly, it’s not one I could adopt: there’s a fine line between compelling and sinister.

GR The sunglasses, the shirt, the coat, the trousers, the shoes… everything was going great, until he visited Claire’s Accessories.

RE I really like this. The coat length is perfect, and I like the cuffs just poking out: it looks fitted and well-tailored. He looks excellent. I’m quite jealous.

SKA He needs the shades to block out the glare coming off that brooch. Last time I saw a brooch that fine was on my grandmother, Constance.

HS Do you know what that crystal brooch is? It’s the medal for the fastest wearing of a catwalk look after a show (Burberry). He might even have taken it off the model’s back as they passed by. Bonus points for the beret, the on-trend hat this winter.

John Legend

RC I always have to wear black – it’s part of the uniform of being a high church vicar – so I rather like something patterned. It’s certainly an interesting look.

GR I love the bomber. I think it’d look better with a plain black T, but who am I to argue with a bloke who’s married to Chrissy Teigen?

RE I like the trousers. I’m all about a drawstring waistband these days: what a treat for your waist. But then there’s the thorny issue of what the hell he’s doing with his top half. It makes your eyes go funny.

SKA I’m convinced that the T-shirt is attached to the jacket. Like one of those jumper-shirt combos you might have worn to school.

HS It’s quite Hampton Court gift shop, no? A tapestry menagerie from Henry VIII’s banqueting hall reimagined as a men’s twinset. I don’t hate it, but I am pretty sure my mum has the tea towel.

Harry Styles

RC He has budgies on his moobs: they look as if they’re flying away from his armpits. I think this is a wonderful fashion thing that I’m just not getting.

GR I tend to wear a lot of black myself, and you can’t go wrong with a black skinny jean, but the shirt gets a thumbs down. I really like birds, but swallows? That’s been done to death. Now, if it were a pair of pigeons, I might be on board.

RE I like the shirt a lot. It reminds me of a souvenir jacket, in shirt form.

SKA With that face and mane of hair, he can wear what he likes. Just look at the name, Harry Styles: he’s an originator of trends, not a follower.

HS Full disclosure: in my eyes, Harry can’t put a foot wrong. The boots are bang on trend and I love this shirt – it’s quite a meta choice, and matches his chest tattoos.

Armie Hammer

RC This outfit is high in my esteem – it’s the only thing I could possibly imagine wearing. Although I would look like someone who’d retired early and run out of money. Still, on him it’s very guy-next-door-who-has-a-six-figure-income.

GR If a zombie apocalypse struck, this is what I’d want to be wearing.

RE He’s essentially wearing my winter look so I’m all for it.

SKA Brown shoes with the right outfit can work, but I’m not sure here.

HS This is a perfectly fine casual look from Hammer, but it does look a bit like he forget he was supposed to be at an event and has abandoned his shopping trolley in the cereal aisle and dashed here. Verdict: a little underwhelming but the components are all good staples. Nice sweatshirt.

Noel Fielding

RC I admire the liveliness of this ensemble - it’s distinctive and unusual.

GR If my memory serves me correctly Noel Fielding once wore a smock dress emblazoned with his own face, so this isn’t the zaniest of outfit choices. It’s not necessarily that the outfit’s awful, more that the fur on the gilet is matted to the point it looks as though it’d wield the faint aroma of fox piss and doughnuts.

RE You can’t really judge Noel by other fashion standards because he’s 100% doing his own thing. You still look at him and think that’s a hot man, because it’s carried off with such zeal.

SKA I’d imagine a lot of this comes from a vintage shop, though of course we all know that when we say ‘vintage’ what we actually mean is ‘secondhand’… they may even be a dead person’s clothes. He looks great.

HS Noel marches to the beat of a different style drum to most of us. I’m a fan of his jazzy GBBO shirt collection, but not these sausage-skin jeans teamed with one of Kate Moss’s castoff gilets circa 2011, though he looks happy enough.

  • Interviews by Alexandra Jones

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