After a cruel summer, a cool spell is welcome. For one thing, you can actually sleep. Even better than that is the fact you can spend seven hours in a thick chunky roll-neck, and a thick chunky beanie, and thick chunky cords if you wish to – like GQ's latest cover star, Christian Bale.
In the interview Bale discusses new film Amsterdam – which critics are calling very, very funny – and discusses the double-joy of absolute oblivion and not working (relatable, to be honest). But it's the accompanying shoot we're here to discuss, in which the 48-year-old perfectly captures the seafaring aesthetic beloved of men in Autumn.
A thing ever since blue-collar workwear was co-opted by white-collar craft beer types, there are several reasons why the trawlerman cosplay endures. Firstly, it's practical, because being battered by waves for a living required really warm (and robust) clothes. Secondly, it looks so enduringly cool because the clothes, despite all their roughness and readiness, have a smart, almost comforting edge. Clean lines to hems. Immaculate, satisfying folds. Textured, perfectly symmetrical ridges. It's ASMR in menswear form.
The designs are also functional, and have meaning: the pockets are deep and multiple, because you're a trawlerman that needs lots of tools, and the wool was probably made in the outer Hebrides because that's where the best wool is made (if you disagree for any reason, a pastoral Aran knit will convince you otherwise).
For his GQ shoot, Bale wore brands that traffic hard in The Craft of it all. The beanie is from Begg x Co: a Scottish marque that makes all of its own lovely cashmere. The sweaters: Loro Piana and Ralph Lauren Purple Label, are top brands that take a lot of pride in the making of things on both sides of the Atlantic. The boots come from specialist outfit Le Chameau, each pair made by a certified Maîtres Bottier that requires nine months of training at a very particular factory in Casablanca. And, as perhaps what might be the most Manchester by the Sea addition, a set of true blue all-American overalls from Levi's.
It's workwear proper. And in 2022, that sort of stuff works everywhere else.
