18 Nov 2014

I've worn the same suit for a fortnight – but not deliberately

News that one of my fellow male presenters in Australia managed to wear the same suit for a year without anyone noticing, while his unfortunate female cohort worked her way through thousands of pounds’ worth of couture, has set me thinking about my own wardrobe.

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I’ve worn the same suit for a fortnight. But that was more absent-minded than deliberate. In truth, I’m not a suit man. I rarely, if ever, wear one outside the office. But convention dictates.

It was an early recognition that I was the dullest thing on our colourful set, so I thought of wearing an occasional red suit. Or maybe pink and white striped.

Or bright green. And then I thought about the sheer cost of having all these suits. Actually, dark blue works brilliantly. Women tell me it brings out the blue in my eyes.

The bright ties were the obvious way to avoid spending thousands of pounds on suits because, as I’ve illustrated, if you wear 10 different bilious ties in a fortnight, nobody ever notices the suit.

I should mention that one way to cut the costs of a suit was to go to a Hong Kong tailor, who copied a Paul Smith number. I have it to this day, and inside is what the tailor thought was my name – “Jon Show”.

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Australian TV presenter Karl Stefanovic

Today I have become an incurable tie fetishist. I do, in fact, wear them more than once – but less than 10 times. And I probably have about 150 of them.

As fast as I buy them, they go out the other end to charity auctions. I sold one last week for £2,000, in aid of Reprieve.

To my horror, the buyer wanted it signed on the front. What I never expected, as I continue to bury the importance of my suit, was that my socks would take off. A really good tie-sock combo steals the day.

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