Get the Jeremy Corbyn look: 'retired postman' is the big fashion trend at Labour conference
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Version 0 of 1. Corbyn Casual is the dominant look at this year’s Labour Party conference. You can’t move for beige jackets, elbow patches, Bic pens stuffed into shirt pockets, slacks, sensible shoes and grey beards. There are, of course, dissenters. The blue-suited, starch-shirted, slick-haired corporate high flyers still rule the late-night hotel bars, but that is new-Old Labour for you. “Sartorial heterogeneity is the mark of a truly democratic party,” as Jezza almost said in Tuesday’s conference speech. But it is the Corbynistas that rule the Brighton catwalk. Many of the Corbyn clones have been coming for decades, but were ignored, or even disappeared, under the old neoliberal order. Now they are having their day. Roger Gillard, 72, selling the leftwing magazine Chartist (renamed Corbyn as a special conference one-off), insists he has had his look since 1970, although the beard was red in its salad days. He is delighted that we recognise the Corbyn in him, and has noticed the changing fashion at this year’s conference. “The look has changed. Yes, it’s a different mood. More people have come who are ordinary members rather than trade union delegates and people in suits. I’m pleased we’ve got a leader who doesn’t feel he has to change his clothes style much.” Gillard admits he doesn’t go the full Corbyn – no shorts, for example. But he more than compensates when he removes the magazine from his chest to reveal a Bic pen in his shirt pocket. Roger is Chartist Corbin. Mike Dixon, on the other hand, has adopted Corbyn chic right down to the shorts. “We’re sick of being told what to think; keep your mouth shut, don’t rock the boat, we know what’s best for you.” I think he is talking about politics rather than style – but either way works for us. Mike is Come and Have a Go if You Think You’re Hard Enough Corbyn. Semi-retired university lecturer Dr Keith Edwards gives great Corbyn – beige jacket and perfectly greyed beard. This is his first conference. What has brought him here? “The feeling that at long last we’ve got a leader speaking the language of the Labour party – tackling issues of anti-austerity, egality, fairness.” How would he describe his style? “Casual … with a bit of finesse.” Keith is College Lecturer Corbyn. The two Johns – Saunders and Whitworth – are everything you would expect from proud Corbynistas: grey-bearded, casual-jacketed and profoundly political. With the cravat and finer shades of blue, Saunders is Chic Corbyn, while Whitworth’s shades and anarcho-syndicalist beard suggests Punk Corbyn. Of course, you don’t need to look just like JC to channel the spirit of Corbyn. In Brighton, we enjoy young Corbyns, old Corbyns, bearded and unbearded Corbyns, male and female Corbyns. Eighteen-year-old Sam Gillespy, who campaigned for the Labour leader, is Art School Corbyn. Sam Kingsley-Fried, also 18, is Drama School Corbyn. Twenty-two-year-old Jack Homer (“I think it’s the best thing that’s happened in the past 20 years to have Jeremy Corbyn as leader; it’s the start of a whole new type of politics”) is Class-War-Hero Corbyn. Cindy and Dennis Matthews (first picture; top) are Married Couple Corbyn (though, to be fair, they voted for Yvette Cooper), while 83-year-old Anne Cross (“Cross by name, not by nature”) shows there is no gender discrimination in the new-Old Labour world of Corbynalikes. Ann is Effortlessly Cool Corbyn. |