That Mitchell and Webb Look

Interesting to see in The Times last week the summer fashion piece using the comedy double act of David Mitchell and Robert Webb as models. They even featured on the front page of the main paper (must have been a slow day) garbed in the cardy and shorts look, with comedy hankies knotted on their heads (ho ho). What's with that, anyway: if it's warm enough for shorts, why do you need a woolly?

But I digress. Further investigation of the piece in the glossy mag revealed them modeling - wait for it - check shirt and jeans. How original! The check shirt is so ovah, I can't tell you, but they cost £125 here. And a Dunhill pair of jeans were more than £300!

This drives me nuts. I know mags want to be aspirational and high-end but in these straitened times £300 for a pair jeans - which look not much better than a £30 pair from H&M or Uniqlo - is a joke.

By all means pay £640 for a cream linen Paul Smith suit (seen in another pic), which seems more reasonable, and to be fair the spread also featured a striped blazer from Topman. GQ has to be commended for this year doing supplements with H&M and Topman, showing you can mix high-end and high-street fashion

Shortlist (which I love, when it doesn't do whole spreads on "duffle" coats spelling it wrongly all the way through) usually takes an item of clothing and presents a range of prices, though recently it seemed to suggest that adding  a couple of pleats to the front of trousers (skinny flat front is out, apparently) now means they cost more than £200. That's fashion for you...