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Overweight middle-aged male style icons

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I would like to posit the argument that there is no-one in the world carries off the above with sufficient elan to be considered a style icon.

Chris from Eggheads?
Eammon Holmes?
Pete Shelley?

None are going be gracing the (reinforced) catwalks of Milan any time soon, sadly.

So who carries it off well? I am not just being unkind. I am also interested on behalf a friend of mine who thinks he might be in this category and wants to polish the sartorial turd as much as possible, pending the hitherto unapparent interest in exercise and eating well.

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  1. Tailored suits. Overweight people need clothes that are tailored especially for them, anything off the rack will look ill-fitting and sloppy, unfortunately.
    Expensive, but they will probably last longer. And as long as you have the clothes made for you, go bold, I say. They’re going to notice you if you’re big, so you might as well look suitably eccentric.
    (Overweight middle-aged male style icons? Hm, I first thought of the Swedish food and drink historian/TV personality Edward Blom, but I think his many fans see him more as a lifestyle icon actually… 🙂 )

  2. Thanks @locust. I know nothing about Edward Blom but having studied him on Google Images I can tell that he’s a tremendous bloke. My only reservation though is that his size gets him into Mike McShane big-boned, larger than life rolypoly funnyman territory rather than the cut price Stan Ogden look that I am cultivating. Someone like Edward can wear braces and a tweed suit and look confident and assured – a bellowing Simon Callow of a man, I’ll bet.

    Not me – if I did that, I’d be ridiculed and pilloried and people will be mean. Although I will make out that it’s water off a duck’s back and laugh at my detractors, it won’t be long before my bottom lip quivers, burst into tears and flubble back to Primark where I belong.

    • You say “I” there, BC, but we know you well enough to know that you are saying that simply to protect the feelings of your friend.

      THAT is the mark of the man you are, BC, and THAT is why we love and respect you on here; what is important is the size of the soul inside, not the vast, wobbling, dirigible-draped, meat-robot that struggles to transport it around.

      Chin up, fella.

      Aaaand the next. And another. Only another two more to go now. Maybe three.

      [catches @drakeygirl ‘s eye, does Lineker-to-Robson gesture]

      • @jeff – I appreciate kind words – even when they are bookended by almost unimaginably cruel jibes. It’s OK, on a good day I can bleep out the hurtful bits. Sniff.

        But essentially you’re right – I was still talking on behalf of my friend, NOT me. I had a syntax accident and also the words were autocorrected (ber-loody Ipad!) and now it reads like I was talking about myself. As if!

        • I’m really sorry @black-celebration – reading the words “…unimaginably cruel jibes” has just made me wince and writhe with regret and embarrassment. I was just free-associating there, just playing with what I’d assumed would be obviously and ludicrously exaggerated images, but I evidently let my imagination get the better of my judgement. I sincerely apologise.

          • That would be a superb template apology for Twitter purposes, next time a celebrity calls someone else a wobbly, fat-arsed pig:

            “I was just free-associating there, just playing with what I’d assumed would be obviously and ludicrously exaggerated images, but I evidently let my imagination get the better of my judgement. I sincerely apologise.”

    • Uncanny likeness, especially around the eyes – and identical dietary habits. However I am not sure if a furry blue onesie will cut a dash at my next Board meeting or when I next entertain clients on the yacht.

  9. Dara O’Briain carries off the tailored suit well. I read an interview with him where he admitted it was the look of choice for the gentleman of more considerable stature.

  10. I can certainly second what Locust says. Most shops seem to tailor for the slim fit wearers. If he can run to a tailor, suggest this. It doesn’t have to be overpriced Savile row stuff. Other than that, a well cut waistcoat looks good on the over-sized gent. No idea about celebs, though Italians tend to look smarter then most and know how to look good.

  11. Another thumbs-up for a tailored suit. You can get them from the far east, or from the many Indian and Pakistani tailors in more multicultural parts of our cities. For the cost of a crap off the peg which will NOT “suit you, Sir”, you can have something decent, and with those little personal touches that enable you to cut a dash. Ignore “fashion”, “slim-fit”, etc: you are a man, not some boy trying to impress hairdressers and so pop his cherry. Gerard Depardieu was a style icon to me in the ’80s, and he remains so now. TBH, i think i now look better.

  12. The last pile of work shirts I bought had the label “Tailored Fit” – Tailored for who?

    Being of slight frame, not a bag of bones but not the fuller figure either (ie bang average) I do get off the peg stuff.
    Locust makes the statement: “Overweight people need clothes that are tailored especially for them, anything off the rack will look ill-fitting and sloppy”
    That is the exact look I go for – shabby too.

  16. I get the feeling that the late, great James Gandolfini was a quite stylish dresser.

    Italian Americans might provide some good role models for you. They seem to be able to put away an enormous amount of pasta and yet still maintain their elegance.

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