Grey Fox Blog is nearly seven years old and is long overdue a revamp. As a largely unsponsored blog I wanted the redesign to pay for itself and, while it's taken some time, I'm pleased to say that recent collaborative projects on behalf of a number of brands have enabled me to do this. This has resulted in a slight change in the blog's focus to reflect the wider lifestyle character of these brands.
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| Working with Maserati earlier this year |
I'd love to talk more about menswear style. I'm not interested in reprinting press releases about menswear collections - I want to wear clothes from quality men's brands and show readers how they can be styled here and on Instagram. This last year has made me realise that this isn't going to happen. I work collaboratively with a few menswear brands, to whom I'm very grateful, but most expect me to promote them without compensation and I find this increasingly difficult to do.
Most of what I do on the blog is uncompensated. Blogging costs me time and money. I am not a fashion journalist with a wage and expense account. For these reason I cannot buy products to review them (as one eyewear brand suggested I do) or to pay courier charges and photographers' fees for photoshoots. Sadly several menswear brands have been unable to help me with these costs over the last year, reflecting I'm sure the difficult fashion and clothing market.
So, I've been working over the last year with brands covering a wider range of products including cars, accessories, holidays, English sparkling wine, watches, even a dating app for over-50s. I've done this not only because they've helped me to fund the blog and to cover my costs but also because they are brands that fit with a basic but developing theme of the blog: ageing with style.
Style is not just how you look and what you wear: it's how you live - where you go on holiday, what car you drive, the watch you wear, what food and drink you like, what you do in your spare time, how you treat others, what books you read. Luxury and high cost don't necessarily equate with style (look at the appalling tastes of many of the world's richest) so I try to look at products of all price points as long as they're well-made, well-designed and stylish.
I want to develop this ageing with style theme. Some 47% of consumer spending is by those over 50, but the older demographic is largely ignored. I hope this isn't the reason why I've found it hard to feature as much menswear as I'd like, but, whatever, I aim to provide a resource for the older man looking, like me, for style.
Finally I want to thank those brands who've supported the blog over the last year - both menswear and more general lifestyle brands. I hope you enjoy the slightly wider scope of the blog, As ever I value your feedback and comments. Please e-mail me for more information, with questions, thoughts or suggestions or for a Media Pack (which explains how I work with brands to our mutual benefit).
