A familiar sight for my green eyes...

Casely-Hayford AW10. Plaited leather sits on top of padded leather to create a biker jacket bursting with protection and style.

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to take a sneak peek at Casely-Hayford AW10 after I was invited to The Showroom Next Door. The Touba Distribution curated showroom allowed me the opportunity to inspect and salivate over a few of my favourite brands and introduced me to a few new ones. I spent the best part of two hours fully immersing myself in the new collections of Mr. Hare, Casely-Hayford, H by Harris and Bruno Chaussingnand before being acquainted with Japanese denim specialist Sable Clutch and amazing knitwear by The Inoue Brothers. After my first post, I returned to the the Showroom to show EJ the items that I have been obsessing about ever since my first visit. In recent weeks I've had a recurring dream that sees me wake up inside of the showroom and everything was mine. The space becomes my ultimate wardrobe and I can choose between The Inoue Brothers' hand knit chunky bubble cardigans or Casely-Hayford's military influenced outerwear. Unfortunately the dream always ends the same. I awake and my bleary eyes are greeted with a view of my messy room that houses none of these fabulous items.

The object of my obsession and fascination.

A number of labels attempt to combine a street and sport aesthetic with formal tailoring but very few truly pull it off. Casely-Hayford are leading the few who have done just that throughout their first three collections. Men's tailoring has certainly moved on since the days of the Duke of Windsor, and although he is a great inspiration and a foundation for the brand, the modern sartorialist has a different appetite. The modern sartorialist's requirements, desires, and practical needs have been drawn towards this synergy between the formal and athletic. For AW10, the design duo include the requirement and need for protection. The leather and wool biker jacket took my breath away the moment I saw it and it embodies this new element to the design mix wonderfully. The military influences can be seen in the battle friendly palette and the armour like finishing. I love the shoulder detailing in particular and I've never seen anything quite like it before. Plaited leather sitting atop padded leather to create a biker jacket bursting with protection and style in equal measure.

A familiar sight. A close up of John's leather biker jacket from Gieves & Hawkes

I've since been waxing lyrical to anyone who would listen about the latest object of my obsessions and this led to one of my friends, John Howard Little, taunting me with the revelation that he owns a Gieves & Hawkes leather biker jacket possessing a number of similar key features. Regular readers and style buffs will know that Joe Casely-Hayford is the former Creative Director Gieves & Hawkes and has been justifiably credited for bringing the Savile Row company into the twenty first century. As John's jacket is a few years old I would not be too surprised if Joe had a hand in its design. If I were not jealous enough, he then proceeded to run salt in to the wounds surrounding my green eyes by conceding that the jacket was a complete bargain because he managed to pick it up from Bicester Village a few years ago for £100. It was 90% off from the original price. I've been meaning to make my way to this outlet shopping mecca for some time now and this is the final kick I needed to make my first excited trip to discount shopping paradise. John worse the jacket out yesterday and I could not resist taking a few shots of the object of my envy. Still, I always have my dreams. One day that Casely-Hayford jacket will be mine but in the meantime I am planning a weekend jaunt to Bicester Village.

John modelling his bargain jacket.