LONDONERS: WELL PLAYED...

I've noticed lately just how well, spiffy everyone looks in London at the moment. In spite of the fact that I've developed an irrational fear of asking well dressed folk if I can take their picture, there's just too damn many of them to capture each and every one.
I think there are a few reasons for this. The weather for one. After a warm September it's now damp, humid, a bit cold - the perfect conditions for us Brits whose wardrobes are filled with trans seasonal clothes for dank, moody seasons. (Ie: autumn, winter, spring and two thirds of summer.)
It could also be down to the fact that apparently the U.K has more credit card debt than the rest of Europe combined. Add to this a high street churning out directional fast fashion and it's not surprising everyone looks so tippety top. Although the people I'm noticing don't look like they've been kitted out at Primark. I do believe I have a keenly tuned eye for such things and the young man I saw on the tube wearing the most beautiful navy suit with the buttonholes picked out subtly in pale blue stitching did not get it at Zara.

English people are usually known for looking a bit dishevelled but - and again with the statistics (I've been watching too much London local news), if more than 50% of London schoolchildren don't speak English then I suppose all these people walking round in perfectly co-ordinated tweed, cashmere and sheepskin ensembles - not a bobbly jumper or scuffed shoe in sight, may not in fact be English. Actually when I walk down Jermyn Street or Savile Row all it reminds me of is "Lo Stile Inglese" that Italian men pull off so perfectly.
Whoever these sartorial sharp shooters are, I don't care. It's nice to walk around your own city and see style on a par with Paris or Florence - and I do mean style, not fashion. Maybe it's not so important in the scheme of things, but seeing others so well put together puts a much needed spring in my step too. And reminds me I need to get my shoes re heeled and my coat dry cleaned. Both things I would usually do before going to Paris but wouldn't worry too much about here. Raising the bar fellow Londoners, me likes it.