British GQ October 2021

It might, to some, seem a bit frivolous to be throwing an awards ceremony at a time like this. In truth, when we were putting together the GQ Men Of The Year Awards last year – with the vaccination programme but a moonshot and the autumn wave of the pandemic cresting in full grizzly style – we all agreed: go digital, cancel the parties, take the champagne off ice, hold the air-kissing and stop all that touchy-feely hugging. Begrudgingly, we did just that. Twelve months ago, the scientists, doctors, nurses, school teachers and frontline workers all needed more time, more of our stoic patience (and more pay), to heroically wrestle this virus into submission. Last year, the gongs and the speeches could – and should – wait. Stay home, mix a…

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s watch collection is as action-packed as you’d expect We’ve taken a deep dive into the Predator and Terminator actor’s watch collection, from an ultrarare Panerai Pre Vendôme Luminor to a classic Audemars Piguet. Furry shoes are all the rage The world’s most important menswear designers seem to be going nuts for fluffy, furry, Big Foot-friendly shoes right now. The latest news in your inbox Subscribe to our free newsletters – The Daily and The Commuter – to find all the talking points from the day. Fifa 22 gives goalkeepers their long-overdue glory The latest release in the franchise is a tale of small changes that add up to a more organic game and goalkeepers are finally getting their day in the sun.…

Rebecca Myers This issue, GQ contributor Rebecca Myers, who covered the Olympics in Tokyo for the Sunday Times, wrote about why Team GB deserve to win Outstanding Achievement at the GQ Men Of The Year Awards 2021. “The Olympic Games is not usually an event where you hear ‘It’s the taking part that counts’,” says Myers. “In Tokyo, however, it was poignant and true.” Danny Kasirye Ed Sheeran is GQ’s Solo Artist Of The Year and photographer Danny Kasirye shot him for the interview feature and one of this issue’s nine covers. “It was such a pleasure shooting Ed,” says Kasirye. “Funnily enough, I had actually taken his picture before, when I had first picked up a camera seven years ago. It was a nice little ‘full circle’ moment for me.” Paul Solomons Over the…

Italian outerwear brand Moncler was one of the first luxury labels to harness the power of high-fashion collaborations to full effect. With its Moncler Genius project, the brand has teamed up with everyone from Pierpaolo Piccioli to Craig Green. Now, for AW21, it has looked closer to home for its directional 2 Moncler 1952 offering, working with designer Sergio Zambon to create a collection that is part lockdown-inspired loungewear, part comfy urban outerwear, part outdoorsy climbing gear – the kind with which the brand first made its name back in the early 1950s. “Basically, the collection is a mix of the cosy stuff we used to wear during lockdown mixed with outerwear,” explains Zambon. “It is like going out in the street straight from your bed, with your pillow and…

It is 19 February 1996 and Jarvis Cocker has been “arrested” by security at the Brit Awards for storming the stage during Michael Jackson’s all-kinds-of-wrong performance of “Earth Song”. The normally mild-mannered Pulp frontman had been so enraged by Wacko Jacko’s act – the King Of Pop was suspended from a crane at the time, in full Messiah mode, surrounded by children – that he took matters into his own hands and protest-mooned the peak-Britpop crowd that included Oasis and Blur, David Bowie and Chris Evans. In the ensuing chaos, Jarvis had been roughly removed and detained in a Portakabin. And just when you thought this story couldn’t get any more 1990s, here is the best bit. Oblivious to all the controversy, comedy royalty Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer are at…

The watch world’s dark ages began very recently. Sure, since the 1970s makers have experimented with black cases and dials, but a watch where the indexes, hands, sub-registers, bezel gradations – the whole shebang – is blacked out? This now relatively commonplace trend only began about 15 years ago – and not everybody does it well. See, handled badly, an all-black watch looks flat and is therefore completely illegible. How do you ensure at-a-glance readability when the colour palette is colourless? That’s the challenge that Omega confronted head on when designing its new Seamaster Diver 300M Black Black. This entirely black 43.5mm ceramic piece (yes, even the helium escape valve and crown are made from the material) has four different finishes, achieved with lasers, that heighten contrast between different elements of…