I took advantage of the T&A "sale" and purchased some of the AW15 patriotic blue and red stripes/checked shirts: €390 for 3. Not bad when you consider the starting price. You need a large rotation once you get into bold English eccentric shirtings, you need to keep them guessing what comes next.

Those T&A shirts move fast in the sale. On Boxing Day there were 42 shirts in my size and this morning it was down to 29 and a couple of shirts I had my eye on where already gone by then.

Indeed, by its very nature eccentricity must be rare.

I've noticed the likes of Gieves & Hawkes and New and Lingwood have long thrown in the towel when it comes to the more splendid shirtings and have gone for a theme of dour and drab conformity, or some farmer Giles check in flourescent yellow or pink. Garish to the extreme and without due thought. With T&A you know the clash is well thought out and will work.

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