Charlotte Horton Wine Producer - Seggiano, Italy

The Look: Wool Jacket, 2nd hand market Bolivia 3 Euros; Scarf, a present; Jumper, Grosetto market; Grey Trousers, Castel del Piano 2nd hand market; Boots, by Arandu, bought new in Argentina £80.

Charlotte has been producing prize winning wine and olive oil at Castello di Potentino in Tuscany for ten years.  She doesn't go in for major clothes shopping, she has better things to do, but she does like classics that last and has a large collection of vintage items. She loves good boots and buys them in Rome and Buenos Aires. In winter she she takes off to Argentina and Bolivia where she raids the second hand clothes markets.

Angela Piddock Headteacher - London

The Look: Jacket Phase 8 last year; Black Top Gap four years old; Trousers Hobbs last year.

The joy of plain clothes is that they last, we are happy with less. We aren't interested in endless trends,  and buying into the 'must-have' culture. It's a relaxed approach yet it's not boring, we're aware of structure and what works. Less is definitely more. 

Gerald Marks Painter - London

The Look: Jeans - Wrangler from Debenhams, Levi shirt - (Gerald has an increasing problem finding plain ones that haven't been stonewashed) from www.jeanwise.co.uk. Jacket - Levi, again, difficult finding classic plain ones. Boots - Russell & Bromley.


Gerald will be 90 in June and has been wearing his uniform of Levi or Wrangler jeans, shirts and jackets for years. He is a true example of ageless style.
A lot of us like wearing a look that becomes a uniform. If you actually look at fashion designers. you see that they often prefer to wear a uniform of pared down classics, even though they are turning out multicoloured and elaborate designs on the catwalk.

Carmen Du Sautoy Actor - Hampstead, London

The Look: Jacket - Ventilo Paris circa 1998. White Cotton Ribbed Camisole - Paris circa 2004. Jeans - Classic Cut On The Waist Slim Leg Armani circa 2008 (now sadly obsolete, Carmen had the sense to buy 6 pairs in the 2 years they were available).

Plain clothes people are unashamedly fond of black, we rather like a crisp white shirt and a well cut pair of jeans. We're not averse to colour but use it sparingly. We like to look relaxed, rather than trussed up and have an eye for proportion and detail.
We're low key, minimal types (sartorially speaking), but also real people who enjoy comfort and a certain degree of practicality. Shops in the main seem to have forgotten about us (such as a certain chain store we could mention). They think their customers either want to look like designer fashion victims, head to toe in patterning, detailing, draping, embellishing, logoing etc, or offer clothes that are just plain dreary, dull and horribly middle of the road. Yet we are not a tiny minority. There are thousands of us out there on a quest to find those items that still have that edge that we want.