(The Observer)

For years, men have been bombarded with low-cut bumsters, gaudy tracksuits and blinged-up denims. But a taste for blazers and neck-ties, safari suits and Savile Row tailoring, says Peter Howarth, means skate punks and hardcore hoodies are losing ground to the New Conservatives

About 10 years ago a cover of The Face magazine featured a picture of the darlings of Britpop, Blur. I seem to remember the boys were dressed in smart suits, shirts and ties and, wearing serious expressions, were crowded around a computer monitor. The joke could not have been clearer if each copy had come with its own free bass drumbeat and cymbal crash. No band would want to look like a bunch of corporate wage slaves. This was irony of the first order.

And yet fast-forward to today and we have pop chart-toppers McFly on the cover of Smash Hits in suits, shirts and ties, no gag intended, while this month's GQfeatures its men of the year, a stellar line-up of comics, actors, sportsmen and yes, musicians, all wearing immaculate tailoring, in a decidedly un-ironic way. Meanwhile, our capital has been fly-posted with an image of former Libertine Carl Barat advertising Swedish fashion brand J Lindberg, wearing pinstripe suit, cardigan, shirt and tie; while rapper Jay-Z stares down from billboards endorsing Reebok trainers, not in ghetto fabulous gear but a grey chalkstripe suit, black-and-white striped shirt with stiff contrast white collar and double cuffs, and paisley tie, looking for all the world like something out of a Ralph Lauren catalogue.
What we are seeing seems to be a new twist in menswear, a form of traditional dressing, favouring formalwear and tailoring instead of street-influenced casualwear or ostentatiously designed clothing which screams 'look at me'.

The man responsible for GQ's suited-and-booted cover image, editor Dylan Jones, thinks this is the result of the pendulum swing of fashion. 'We've been through a period of casualwear and sportswear. Men are now turning their back on it and embracing tailoring,' he says.

Italian legend Valentino would seem to agree. He is enjoying a revival because the pendulum has swung back towards the glamour and sophistication he has never deserted. 'I refuse to do grunge,' he explains, enthusing that now, 'Young girls, 18 to 22, when they have a ball, their dream is to have a Valentino dress.' In his spring/ summer 2006 menswear collection we saw the men's equivalent of glamour and sophistication, a collection dedicated to Capri in the Seventies, where the designer and his friends hung out. The outfits included white linen trousers, slick tailoring, loafers, pastel colours and double-breasted blazers with silver buttons.

Valentino's world is unashamedly luxurious and aspirational, and this is also a feature of the new tailored look. GQ's Dylan Jones thinks it is key: 'Casual clothing has regressed and it's become reductive. You only have to look at the way the hoodie has become symbolic of a new underclass, and not really a pop underclass. People don't really aspire to that.' So beyond pure fashion trends, what we're seeing is menswear as a social statement. Welcome to the New Conservatism.

At Christopher Bailey's spring/summer 2006 collection for Burberry Prorsum, the aristos of the Sixties and Seventies were overtly referenced in a collection which the designer said was inspired by the personal style of Lord Lichfield, Lord Snowdon and David Hicks. Lichfield photographed and modelled in the Burberry advertising campaigns in the Sixties, and here was a nod to those days - safari and military details, navy patent-leather golf shoes and washed-silk neckscarves. Snowdon's holidays in Mustique and the south of France inspired needlecord shirts, check sailing caps and loose pyjama trousers, while interior designer Hicks prompted blazers, raincoats, college-stripe cardigans and fob chains for watches. Bailey's attention to detail even extended to casting Tom Guinness of the brewing family as a model. After the show, the young Yorkshireman explained: 'I wanted to go back to the history and heritage of the company, to the classic and sartorial beginnings - elegant, sophisticated but still fresh.'

But by quoting from arguably the last period when posh was trendy, Bailey also introduced aspiration into the mix. Sir Paul Smith was a young man in the Sixties, and remembers the social revolution well: 'The more rebellious sons and daughters of the aristocracy were hanging out with kids from the world of pop, artists and writers. You'd get a rock star going out with an Ormsby-Gore. I suppose it was a Chelsea and King's Road scene, and I suppose my interest in fashion stems from there.'

The Paul Smith aesthetic was forged by the merging of tradition and modernity, and his collections still reflect this. They also reflect his love of English heritage - he was trained by a military tailor. 'The tradition of Savile Row was started by the military tailors - and to this day, my style has elements of the military cut about it. It's also an aristocratic look, a look which stemmed from the fact that a lot of the aristocrats were originally from the army ranks.'

A desire to make an upscale impression might also account for the current revival of interest in Savile Row. Carlo Brandelli, design director of the recently revamped Savile Row tailors Kilgour (founded 1882), which used to make suits for Cary Grant, says that a bespoke suit is 'a serious status symbol'. Kilgour now numbers Jude Law, Noel Gallagher and Matthew Vaughn among its customers, and Brandelli believes that his clients are in search of timelessness in clothing, rather than an overtly trendy statement. 'Turning to something which is, yes, conservative and traditional is a way of making you feel very secure - you're not buying something which is seasonal and fashionable.'

And here is another clue to the New Conservatism - the regular guy's fear of fashion. Take Ralph Lauren - one of the world's best-selling fashion designers - but who told Time magazine that he was not a 'kiss-kiss kind of fashion guy' and told me, 'I'm not into trendiness.' Ralph has built his empire on the philosophy that men like classic clothes and great style, but don't want to be thought of as fashion victims. 'The word "fashion", I don't like the word,' he says. 'I like to buy a jacket and know that it suits me, that it's mine. If someone says, "You've got a new look," it's a negative. I hope people say, "Hey Ralph, you look good, you look fit." Not that you're wearing the new coat or latest tweed jacket.'

This is why the New Conservatism foregrounds things other than the clothes at retail. At Dunhill in Jermyn Street you'll find classic motorbikes in store, and at the recently opened Bamford & Sons, the men's lifestyle store on London's Sloane Square, there are books, a Scalextric set, a saddle, riding boots, Ferrari steering wheels, and even a whale's vertebra on display. The shop also stocks modern gadgets and vintage watches. The Bamford & Sons collection is, incidentally, pure New Conservative, featuring updated classics such as cable-knit sweaters, cord and moleskin trousers, chunky wool scarves, grey flannel jeans, a quilted waistcoat and a beautiful navy blue cashmere double breasted, belted overcoat with epaulettes.

There are, of course, some designers who have always made wearable clothes. Giorgio Armani, for example, has spent 30 years creating collections with the express aim of seeing his customers buy and enjoy them. 'I have never designed for design's sake,' says the Milanese maestro. 'For me, fashion is only fashion if it is worn. When I am designing I always ask myself, "Would my customer wear this?"' Armani is famous for his tailoring and muted colour palette, and his pioneering of deconstruction in the Eighties helped change men's expectations of their wardrobes. Armani knew that modern technology could deliver comfort as well as style. That style was based around ideas of understatement and elegance, and when you ask him about modern menswear he still holds true to his personal aesthetic: 'Elegance is the key. Make a man feel relaxed and elegant and he'll feel confident and look good. Make him feel self-conscious and he'll look awkward.'

You'd expect this sentiment from a man famed for his minimal approach. What is more surprising is to find someone like Alexander McQueen endorsing the idea of restraint. McQueen, who is famous for being an enfant terrible (see his 1996 womenswear collection of ripped garments and bloody models entitled 'Highland Rape', and his low-cut bumster trousers), told me: 'I no longer see myself designing for fashion students who want to wear McQueen - three sleeves and a bumster.' He says, 'It's a business,' and believes his menswear, in its fourth season next spring, could be bigger than the womenswear: 'After a year and a half, the sales are nearly the same as the womenswear.'

McQueen's menswear is still dramatic, but the drama is expressed through details like grosgrain ribbon and Victorian ticking fabric. 'I won't stretch it too mad now. I concentrate on cut, technique - from my training with Givenchy Couture,' he says. McQueen worked on Savile Row as a teenager and acknowledges that this experience of tailors talking in fractions - a quarter or an eighth of an inch to change the appearance of the physique of a man - has had an influence. 'The basis of all my design is changing the body,' he says. For spring/summer 2006, his collection was inspired by William Golding's Lord of the Flies and opened with models in white public-school-look tailoring - an Eton tailcoat, a double-breasted blazer.

But if McQueen's catwalk reflects the New Conservatism, his awareness of the business potential of his menswear gives us another clue to the rise of this trend. Twenty years ago, fashion was considered to be pretty much the preserve of womenswear. These days, the designers have realised that there is big money to be had selling to men, and so rather than being a sideline, menswear is now serious business - there is a real appetite for men's fashion. As well as new store openings and collections (like Emanuel Ungaro), this season sees the launch of three new magazines for men: Men's Vogue in the US, and Another Man and GQ Style in the UK. GQ editor Dylan Jones says, 'Ten years ago a stand-alone men's fashion magazine would have been considered leftfield. These days men are more sophisticated consumers and are far more interested in fashion. We thought the time was right to launch a dedicated mainstream men's fashion magazine. There hasn't really been one before.'

The key word here is 'mainstream'. The editors of GQ Style are realising what the designers seem to have understood - to tap into the market of regular guys, you have to remember that most men, wherever they reside, do not want to look like fashion victims.

Donatella Versace appears to have arrived at the same conclusion. In the Eighties Versace, designed by Gianni Versace, stood for menswear that was showy and loud - fans included Elton John and Guns'N'Roses. After he was killed in 1997, Gianni's sister Donatella took on his mantle and continued in much the same vein. Up until this winter. Suddenly, a post-rehab Donatella is talking about a new approach. 'Versace will always be glamorous, but I believe the time is right to leave the rock'n'roll excess behind and instead to concentrate on a more sophisticated approach,' she says. 'We have always made great quality tailoring, but perhaps have not promoted it before. I want sophisticated men to wear Versace, even to work, and so the autumn/winter collection is full of beautiful tailoring.' Incredibly, it's true - gone are the big logos and excessive use of gold, and instead we have sharply cut dark suits and coats, simple knits and smart shirts and ties.

If Donatella Versace can embrace the New Conservatism, then you really know the world of menswear is changing.

The New Conservatives

Well-turned out young men you could take home to mother

James Blunt 31, The chart-topping Harrow boy's sartorial choices betray his military background as a cavalry officer

Hugh Grant 45, Nips around town in an Aston, often working on his golf handicap, rarely seen without a collar - very New Con

Daniel Craig 37, Always crisply turned out, the handsome actor and Kate Moss's ex is a regular client of Kilgour of Savile Row, whose suits are 'cut so beautifully'

David Walliams 34 , The 'randy funnyman' is a regular at Richard James in Savile Row and runs an old Merc

Tom Parker Bowles 31, Former It Boy reborn as food writer. Prince Charles's stepson recently wed in v trad morning suit

Guy Ritchie 37, Even in his Mockney days, Mr Madonna was a Jermyn Street regular, and now he's a country squire he has the full New Con wardrobe of wellies, barbours and shotguns

Jacobi Anstruther Gough Calthorpe 24, Knightsbridge restaurateur whose family owns most of Hampshire. Apparently split from Tara PT because she was a bit gauche

Boris Johnson MP 41, Dresses like his father. You can't get more conservative than that.