Oi Polloi's finest: Their Christmas gift guide
Stevie Mackenzie-SmithNorthern Quarter’s Menswear favourite puts the quality in Quality Street (ho ho ho): Oi Polloi share their alternative Christmas shopping ideas.
Oi Polloi, with its philosophy of timeless wears and heritage brands, stands in the face of all that is fleeting and throwaway about December. Poke around their Thomas Street outpost and you’ll find yourself stroking stacks of quality knits and thumbing denim whose stitches promise the next 20 years spent together in sartorial matrimony.
The real pleasure of Christmas is not the novelty or the sparkles or the short-term promises, but the valuing of the long-term and of the year(s) ahead. Did James Dean get a grooming gift pack from Boots for Christmas? He did not. Some kind soul bought him a pair of Levis 501s to wear forever more. And therein lies the Oi Polloi Christmas philosophy: a parcel under the tree, filled with well-made and timeless treats. We asked the Oi Polloi lot to share what they’ll be buying for their loved ones this Christmas. Here are their picks, for your perusal (all pictured above):
The Baracuta G9 (£279); this handsome Harrington jacket and a stalwart of youth subculture has undergone a redesign in British Racing Green as part of an exclusive collaboration with Oi Polloi; the new version launches this month. The Cottonopolis scarf (£35) – designed in house and made from the finest merino and angora blend – comes in a Bruce of Kinnard tartan and is cosy enough to warm the cockles of Scrooge’s heart. “Ah 501s, how do I love thee?” This 1947 edition of the Levis classic (£215) pays homage to the year in which Levis reintroduced their original zinc buttons and back-arcuated pocket stitches (they were removed during World War II to save vital metal and fabric). Oi Polloi’s Polo belt (£45) is another classic stocking filler – and made of “aromatic Argentian leather”, no less. We’re big fans of French brand A.P.C. and particularly of founder Jean Touitou’s life manifesto ‘Behaviour Guide’ – this minimalist Army Duffle bag (£250) stays true to the brand’s minimal ideology.
