Why it's time to dust off your corduroy

Stephen Doig
Updated
Steve McQueen wearing corduroy in 1963 film Soldier in the Rain - 2011 Silver Screen Collection
Steve McQueen wearing corduroy in 1963 film Soldier in the Rain - 2011 Silver Screen Collection

As we head into autumn and all that the season offers stylistically – the chance to wrap up, the ceremonial putting-on of your Proper Coat – there’s one natural fit that men overlook too often. Corduroy gets an astonishingly bad rap. It’s substantial, warm, carries a weight to it without being overly cumbersome, and there’s something about its texture that’s happily mimicked in the crunching leaves and rustling foliage. So why the negative press?

Corduroy jacket, £310, Mr Porter
Corduroy jacket, £310, Mr Porter

Corduroy’s associations with fusty academia – the worn jacket of your geography teacher, complete with elbow patches – is partly to blame. Its tufted fabrication is associated with a cosiness that borders on the geriatric. In 2006, taxi drivers in Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth were banned from wearing it because, apparently, it looks shabby when it fades.

Men's autumn jackets

It has, however, always held a place dear to my heart – and my wardrobe. A pair of knife-edge-sharp corduroy trousers was one of my first “fashion” purchases. These came from Gucci in the Nineties, when the house was pumped full of adrenalin in the hands of Tom Ford.

Universal Works trousers, £120, Farfetch
Universal Works trousers, £120, Farfetch

The designer had taken the bad-taste mores of the Seventies and turned them into ultra-covetable items, which might explain why a teenager in Scotland would commit most of his student loan to one of Ford’s designs. They were as soft as butter and a joy to wear, not least because one wouldn’t expect something as sedate as corduroy to come in a narrow, crisp cut.

Prada corduroy jacket, £1,805, Mr Porter
Prada corduroy jacket, £1,805, Mr Porter

Today the twisted, ribbed fabric has been given a fresh lease of life by the likes of Prada and Brunello Cucinelli, who has rendered the material in the most Sea Island cotton. If the pile is flattened on your “vintage” corduroy pieces, you can revive it by brushing gently with a clothes brush when damp, then allowing it to air-dry. Because for every Woody Allen, there’s a Steve McQueen, ready to look rustic and masculine in this most maligned of materials.

Hans Holbein the Younger's depiction of Henry VIII, a firm fan of corduroy's earliest form
Hans Holbein the Younger's depiction of Henry VIII, a firm fan of corduroy's earliest form

EARLY INCARNATIONS

Early incarnations were known as fustian and a firm favourite of Henry VIII. In the French court of the 18th century it became known as the “cloth of the king”.

Woody Allen in the 60s - Credit: Getty
Woody Allen in the 60s Credit: Getty

SIXTIES

Corduroy became known as the attire of academia, with Robin Williams’ professor in Dead Poets Society, set on the cusp of the Sixties, donning a corduroy jacket, and Woody Allen, right, making it his mainstay in a host of films.

Corduroy in cashmere form at Brunello Cucinelli
Corduroy in cashmere form at Brunello Cucinelli

MODERN DAY

Alessandro Michele’s love affair with the Seventies at Gucci has led him to employ corduroy in a series of searing shades, while Italian fabric specialist Brunello Cucinelli has created a light Sea Island cotton version. 

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