Uggs Bailey Button , Moncler winterjassen "christian louboutin bianca Corduroy. Never in the field of human fabrics has so much negativity been applied to so many garments by one material. The mere mention of this hapless textile can set eyes rolling as their owners recall their geography teachers and uncle Toms of old, dressed head to toe in brown cord, complete with elbow pads, of course.Well it’s got to stop. If this describes your knee-jerk reaction to corduroy, it’s you who’s living in the past, because the material is well and truly back, and it’s smarter than ever.To be honest, corduroy trousers have been rehabilitated for quite some time now. They’ve been a staple in the men’s fashion world since the late 90s, and yes, they were available (even desirable) in brown. Once you actually get to wear a pair of cords, the light bulb dings above your head as you realise why the dullest people have always gravitated to the material – it’s damn comfy. It’s actually quite a light fabric because a good deal of the perceived volume is taken up by fresh air, which makes them flexible when creased but also relatively rigid when straightened, and that’s pretty much the optimum combination. But most of all it is soft on the skin, which will come as no surprise when you realise that corduroy is in fact a form of velvet in terms of fabrication.It’s perhaps these qualities that have made corduroy a popular material for creating marvellous shirts. They are at once informal and luxurious, and they carry printed patterns surprisingly well, considering their cross-section, the effect creating matte pastel shades that look fresh and not just overwashed. They did have a bit of a surge in the 1990s thanks to their being worn by bands like Oasis and the countless laddish bands that came in their wake. It was a great time to be a shirt-wearer. Although they were structurally no different to the suit shirt you’d buy from M&S, these were designed to be worn as outerwear, like a tee shirt – that is, not tucked in. All too often blokes would pick up any old formal white shirt and let it hang out, the effect being similar to that of a vet, a 70s lollipop lady or an office worker who has just been in a fight over lift etiquette. No, the custom-made cord shirt was chic, smart and structured. It was the height of cool urban wear for a season or two.Although the corduroy shirt has never gone away, it’s worth taking a step back in time and sourcing some authentic articles from vintage clothing stores. There’s a strong, sharp vein of Mod running through these examples, whereas the later ones became a little more comfortable, loose and informal. They can be worn under a blazer or short jacket, but they come into their own when worn for all to see, as nature intended, hanging over the belt as part of an overall look of masculine style. Corduroy minus elbow pads equals cool.,From the late 1980s right up to the turn of the millennium, the reconditioned jeans business was more than a cottage industry in the UK. Every independent or alternative outlet (you know, the places where you’d buy joss sticks, second-hand records and curios) would have one, and you’d be able to wend your way around the hangers looking for interesting versions of popular denim brands and buy them for about half their current retail prices.The fashion came after a massive 50s revival in the mid-80s. For the fist time since the War, the younger generation was actively copying the looks and sounds of its parents’ generation. With a little help from some shrewd advertising from the big brands, especially Levi’s, jeans were probably cooler than they had ever been in the decade they were mythologizing. Although the fifties craze receded after a year or two, several elements of the look survived. Whether you were into dance, indie, rock or easy listening, your look would only be complete when you pulled your jeans on.The problem was that the late 80s also saw something of a hike in the price of new “designer” jeans (a phrase that would have been unimaginable a few years earlier) as the demand and supply tussle became energised. So what better way to get hold of a pair of Wranglers, Levi’s, Lees or Lee Coopers than owning a pair of pre-loved jeans? There had always been charity shops, and although no self-respecting style lover could walk past an Oxfam without at least popping in to see what was in that week, there was a bit of a stigma attached to admitting you wore charity-shop clothes. These cool new outlets banished that mindset, and might even have done their bit for the charity shops too, by removing the yuck factor some felt towards wearing “other people’s clothes”.It wasn’t long before the pre-owned jeans outlets started to diversify a little. Before the “stressed denim” look became popular, an obviously old pair probably wouldn’t do, so many remained unsold. That’s when they started to dye them and put patches in them to offer a whole new lease of life. Those of us who lived through the era will remember that first wash of a new pair of dyed jeans, and would make sure they only went into the washing machine unaccompanied from then on.So successful was the reconditioning phenomenon, however, that the high street shops started selling old-look jeans, purposely ripped, repaired, patched and dyed, even though they were actually factory fresh. And eventually they went the whole hog and started competing directly with the smaller outlets, selling genuine vintage jeans. By then, though, jeans were already starting to lose their cool, and combats and cargo pants started to grow in popularity.Nowadays, jeans are back on the agenda, and there’s a committed band of denim enthusiasts who still insist on the genuine article. They can still be seen rifling through the hangers in vintage clothing stores, looking for those limited edition jeans from the fashionable brands. The average Joe in the street might not be able to tell them from a brand new pair of factory-aged denims, and therein, probably, lies the appeal.