The “Spring 2018” Han Solo

With all the excitement surrounding the release of “The Last Jedi” (which I’m seeing this weekend!) my Star Wars obsession has once again been reignited and kicked into overdrive (as often happens!) so I decided to put together a little warmer-weather look book inspired by everyone’s favourite scruffy lookin’ nerf-herder.

Han Solo is, without a doubt, my favourite character in the Star Wars universe – while a lot of my friends growing up wanted to be Luke, and most people these days think Boba Fett is the ultimate bounty hunter (for some reason) for me, Han has always been the most interesting, most human, and simply coolest character in the franchise.

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The “Carnaby Street” Rorschach

If you follow the blog over on Instagram you may have seen on my story that I recently re-read (for the fifth time no less) the stunning masterpiece that is Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ ‘Watchmen’.

The writing is, of course, absolutely stellar and takes a beautifully dark and gritty look at a world where superheroes exist, yet come with all the murkier parts of their humanity still in tact. Dave Gibbons’ artwork is breathtaking to say the least with a genius use of golden-age line work with some truly inspired colour palettes which really help to breath life into every panel on the page.

Of the two favourite characters I have, Rorschach is perhaps the most simply designed character, but as a result, I feel he’s most effective and most believable character in the book. A dark vigilante with no powers or gadgets (save for his grappling gun, built by former partner Nite Owl) Rorschach has a black and white world view where wrong is wrong and, as a result, must be punished with extreme prejudice.

Rorschach’s now iconic look was, in turn, inspired by a no less iconic comic book character; Steve Ditko’s ‘The Question’. The outfit worn by Rorschach throughout the book is a simple one; pinstripe suit, white scarf, Chelsea boots, trench coat, stingy brim fedora and his eponymous inkblot mask.

The “Surprisingly Accurate” BoJack Horseman

‘Neigh way, Jose!’ I improvised that line. I mean, it was scripted, but I gave it the ol’ BoJack spin.

Season 4 of the absolutely astounding animated comedy ‘BoJack Horseman’ recently burst onto Netflix and after a day’s worth of heavy bingeing and more coffee and biscuits than I’d care to admit, I’ve watched it all much too soon and now I’m sad there’s no more new episodes to watch.

To placate myself and to satisfy my cravings for BoJack (the character, not the illicit in-universe drug…!) I’ve put together this shockingly effective look-book inspired by the horse-man Horseman!

The Thirteenth Doctor: A Concept

Welcome to the universe, Jodie Whittaker!

What an astounding piece of news, the future is female. I’m so thrilled that the show has finally made this step forward and I can’t wait to see what Jodie and Chris do with the show; I think we’re in for a real treat in the coming years and the 13th Doctor will certainly go down in history.

Speculation right now is rife as to what Jodie will do with the role and what sort of bearing her gender will have on the character. She’s already being put through the usual run of the mill questions regarding how it feels to be cast, what she’s excited about, and more importantly, what she’ll wear.

Obviously, I don’t tend to focus on women’s clothes on this blog but with the casting of Jodie I thought I’d turn my hand to designing the Doctor’s new look. Obviously, I’m almost certainly miles off and she could end up in something totally different – but this is just an initial musing on my part…

The “Off Duty” Bill Nye

So I’ve recently discovered the brilliant Netflix produced “Bill Nye Saves the World” and I flipping love it.

Being an Englishman born and bred, I wasn’t too aware of Nye growing up, he didn’t really grace the screens over here but due to the internet I’ve become increasingly aware of him throughout the last decade or so, and what with appearances on shows like ‘The Big Bang Theory’ and Americans’ adoration of the original bow tie bad boy of science, I’d become a fan of Nye’s work by proxy, by cultural osmosis.

So when I saw that Bill Nye was back on screens in a big way this year I was really excited to delve into the show and learn all about small changes and big steps we can all make to help save the world.

In addition to being incredibly informative and entertaining, Bill Nye sports his trademark look throughout the series and it’s pretty clear that few men other than Nye can pull off a bow tie with such a louche attitude.

Combining American collegiate preppiness with a quirky professorial edge, Nye’s personal style is an absolute hallmark of geek culture and it’s a carefully put together look most men would do well to replicate, so without further ado, lets learn how to dress well, look smart, and perhaps (dare I say it) ‘Save the World!’

The “Rockabilly” Starfleet

“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.” – Star Trek: The Original Series

As Trekkies all over the world celebrate 50 years of boldly going where no man has gone before, it’s perhaps fitting to create a warm, layered, and stylish look-book influenced by the 60’s chic of the original Starfleet crew uniforms.

The original costumes incorporated lots of TV friendly fabrics and designs and had a surprisingly basic silhouette at heart. The loose military vibe is easily forgotten when looking at the vibrant colours and textures of the costumes and the subtle insignia add great layers of detail in a time when it was easy to forget the little things.

The “Autumn 2016” Number 6

“I am not a number, I am a free man!” – No. 6

If, like me, you’re eagerly awaiting the cooler months and wishing this abysmal heat would finally dissipate, it might be wise to look forward to some autumn looks comprised of soft silhouettes, textured fabrics, and several layers.

One such look that manages to tread that tricky line between summer and autumn is the aesthetic worn by many of the villagers in 1967’s  ‘The Prisoner‘. Shot on location in seaside village of Portmeirion, the villagers would naturally want to keep warm against the sea breeze while also being able to shed layers or wear breathable fabrics when the climate called for it.

‘The Prisoner‘ has a passionate cult following but isn’t very well know these days – which is a crying shame as the series is visually rich and wonderfully inventive. I’d really recommend giving it a look.

The “Everyday” Driver

“If I drive for you, you get your money. You tell me where we start, where we’re going, where we’re going afterwards. I give you five minutes when we get there. Anything happens in that five minutes and I’m yours. No matter what. Anything a minute on either side of that and you’re on your own. I don’t sit in while you’re running it down. I don’t carry a gun. I drive.” – The Driver

2011’s Drive is, perhaps, one of my all time favourite films. The soundtrack, the story, the effortless cool, and – as ever – the clothes all make this one of the most thrilling, engaging, and memorable films for years.

Ryan Gosling’s nameless protagonist cut such a swathe on film that he was instantly catapulted to icon status; the sort of plateau only occupied by the likes of Marlon Brando’s Johnny Strabler or James Dean’s Jim Stark.

Dressed in classic Americana, Gosling looks every bit the leading man. His look consists of an quilted satin souvenir jacket, worn denim jacket, slim fit jeans, off-white boots, a tight fitted henley, and a pair of brown driving gloves.

The pared down, yet high-quality outfit sported by the Driver has spawned literally hundreds of imitators yet it’s important to remember that the detail of the look can change around, yet the silhouette and texture is perhaps more important than the overall style.

(Reader Suggestion) Time Differential: Ten to Twelve

Recently, @DaveceptionYT – a friend of AAWTIS and loyal reader of the blog – got in touch and suggested a Time Differential post combining the looks of the tenth and twelfth Doctors.

Not wanting to disappoint such a stand up chap, I naturally jumped at the chance to come up with a look book to combine these two iconic Time Lords.

The basic design for this look is taking the shape, silhouette and pieces of Twelve’s ‘Space Hobo’ aesthetic and twisting them to match the colour palette of Ten’s blue suit variant.

The pinstripe jeans are a unisex style from Topshop and are available on eBay. Sadly, these seem to be a one off pair left in the overstocks. Alternatively, a pair of blue (or brown) chinos, either striped or otherwise), would work just as well.

The boots are a fantastic pair of Doc Martens Mayports in canvas twill. These are burgundy, in order to reference Tennant’s deep red converse worn with the blue suit but they also come in cream if you wanted to do a brown suit version of this look book!

The jumper I’ve selected is the blue version of the BooHooMan holey jumper I’ve mentioned before; I own this jumper myself and it’s absolutely fantastic – it’s comfortable, well made, dirt cheap, and makes a great substitute for the Paul Smith original – they’re out of stock in black but the blue works especially well with this colour palette. To go with this, I’ve selected a burgundy long sleeve t-shirt from Topman – the burgundy showing through the holes in the jumper make a neat reference to the rust pinstripe on the screen used suit.

The hoodie is a terrific burgundy version of the Fat Face hoodie I’ve shown before and helps to tie the whole look together.

I’ve chosen a pair of tortoiseshell RayBan wayfarers in order to reference both Ten’s brainy specs and Twelve’s sonic sunglasses – these are available from lots of retailers, but cheaper alternatives are everywhere at the minute so be sure to check your local high street to grab a bargain!

Lastly, the coat featured is a beautiful mash-up of Twelve’s Crombie style with Ten’s overcoat colours; it even has a great blue lining! The coat’s even in the sale at the minute for £150.

What do you reckon? How would you mash up these two styles? Be sure to send in any suggestions or requests via Twitter!

Save the Arctic with Doctor Who & Greenpeace

The ‘Save the Arctic’ campaign is one that’s been running for a while, but recently came to my attention when, researching images for this very blog, I came across this photo of Peter Capaldi wearing this very spiffy t-shirt.

Upon clicking said image, I was graced with several Doctor Who stars all sporting the same shirt.

Delving deeper, I discovered the shirts were designed by Vivienne Westwood and are available on the designers’ site here. The shirts were designed to promote awareness of (and to raise money to combat) climate change. We’re all too aware of what climate change is doing to our planet and making just a few small changes to our lifestyles can have a huge impact on our carbon footprints.