British GQ August 2021

This is the last issue of GQ under my editorship. I have had such a brilliant time working for Condé Nast these last 22 years. It has been one of the most rewarding professional adventures of my career, and it has been one hell of a ride. I am hugely, immensely proud of the fantastic team I have been lucky enough to build around me, a team that has won 80 awards, more than any other magazine in the country. There is no greater recognition of journalistic integrity. I leave the brand in extremely rude health. British GQ remains the most successful title in our sector, we reach over five million readers on our website each month, and last year during lockdown we were the only brand to pivot all of…

Ciaran Thapar Youth worker and regular GQ contributor Ciaran Thapar wrote this issue’s cover story, profiling Dave at a key juncture in the South London-born rapper’s career. “I first met Dave in 2016,” says Thapar. “Speaking to him now and tracking his journey since, ahead of his sophomore album, is a blessing. He is the British voice of a generation.” Sean Williams War in Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region is tipping into a human rights disaster. While Ethiopian and Eritrean troops, aided by local militias, seek to destroy the region’s militaristic former leaders, civilians have suffered awful abuses. “Following the war was like chasing ghosts of battles,” says GQ writer Sean Williams. “But also ghosts of Ethiopia’s past that have returned to swallow its vulnerable minorities.” Hannah Blacklock This month, GQ Social Media Editor Hannah Blacklock…

Can you smell it? We can. The warm tang of kerosene combusting in a jet engine, the coconutty slap of too much sun cream, the brûléed burn of excessively exposed skin. Holidays! They’re back on the agenda and not a moment too soon. But what to pack? And, more importantly, what to pack everything into? It’s been a while since we’ve stepped into an airport terminal, so take the opportunity to re-up your luggage game. Here, to help you choose your new travel buddy, is our essential edit of the best carry-on bags for every type of man – and how to rock them… Styling Angelo Mitakos Grooming and manicure Alexis Day using Dior Backstage and Capture Totale Super Potent Serum Model Daniel Chitra at Body London…

Whatever happened to ‘boys will be boys’?” Junior Soprano rhetorically asked when Tony’s scallywag son, AJ, had just been caught redhanded in some adolescent crime. His implication was that the boys of today are what boys have always been: confused bundles of raging hormones, unfulfilled urges and growing pains enlivened by moments of rank stupidity. Boys, Uncle Junior posited, are the same way that boys have always been. And it is just not true. The evidence is piling up that many young males are very different to previous generations, specifically in the way they treat girls. The website everyonesinvited.uk was created last summer as a space where young women could leave personal testimonies of sexual abuse. Described as sparking a Me Too moment in British schools, the site currently features 16,000…

It’s assumed, isn’t it? People think Nike is the best. After all, it makes the famous Next%, the carbon fibre-plated, energy-returning shoe worn by every serious marathon runner and holder of every serious record. But here’s the thing: not only are those shoes crazily expensive (£239.95), but they’re also utterly impractical for anything other than road races (the squidgy ZoomX foam and precarious four-centimetre stack height will see you turn an ankle if you try to take them on a park run). So what to do? Well, the actual best running shoe in the world is made by lesser-known rival Saucony. Called the Endorphin Speed 2, it also has an energy-returning plate (but nylon rather than carbon, so it lasts longer) and similarly springy foam (called PwrRun PB), except the latter…

If “Where to first?” is a question you find yourself asking after staring at the same four walls for what seems like forever, then the Philippines might be the answer. It’s hard to imagine what long-distance travel will look like in the coming months, but pictures of clearer Venice canals and wildlife returning to popular tourist spots has fired our imagination about how a reduction in tourism may have impacted the already sublime Filipino landscape. It’s been a challenging time for everyone and it’s certainly put a lot of things into perspective. The idea of a sunset walk down the beach or a cold beer overlooking a dramatic landscape that’s anything other than your kitchen table has made us value travel more than ever. Of course, when choosing that first getaway…