British GQ February 2022

OLIVER FRANKLIN-WALLIS Feature Writer Franklin-Wallis is a freelance writer based in London and a lifelong Liverpool fan. For this February’s cover, he profiled Mohamed Salah. “I was struck just how much he has reconfigured his entire life around becoming the world’s best player,” says Franklin-Wallis, “and after his performances this season, it no longer feels like bias to call him that.” Office Grails TEO VAN DEN BROEKE Style Director “Dressing like a Hungarian shepherd has never been more chic – or so I keep telling myself and my delish Dunhill gilet.” ANNIE JONES Junior Visuals Editor “2022 is the year to embrace leather trousers. Versatility and warmth are key.” ANGELO MITAKOS Fashion Editor “’80s racing gear, some red Kickers and a Fred Perry x Loverboy tartan beret – it’s a mishmash of vintage, new and nostalgia.”…

AT 5AM, A LITTLE OVER 10 YEARS AGO, I woke up jet-lagged after a 25-hour journey from Australia. I ironed a shirt that I had tailored within an inch of its life. I added a slim silk tie, a steel tie bar, and trousers that, like the shirt, were way too tight. I walked to Stockwell tube station and made my way to Vogue House, to the same floor of the same building where I’m writing this letter a decade later. I spent two weeks doing work experience at British GQ. I was asked to extend to a third week, which I took as verifiable proof that I didn’t totally suck. All these years later, it is a wild and wonderful honour to take leadership of British GQ, and to be asked…

Welcome to the first-ever global sports issue of this magazine. Instead of waxing about Mohamed Salah, Stephen Curry and Shohei Ohtani, though, I want to use this space to share about the loss of a titan in our world: Virgil Abloh. Virgil’s death on 28 November 2021 precipitated an outpouring of new remembrances online and off, but my favourite Virgil story has been the same for years. It goes like this: Kanye West’s longtime publicist, Gabe Tesoriero, is escorting New York Times pop music critic Jon Caramanica backstage at Ye’s Governors Ball gig when the pair run into Virgil, who was then still working as Ye’s creative right hand. The year is 2013. Ye is at the height of his powers, arguably the biggest artist in the world, and Virgil is…

THE NEW ATHLETICWEAR Seven Strong (pictured here) and his Supreme-sponsored compatriots know better than anyone that skatewear has gone luxury. And now luxury – beefy Fendi Men’s cashmere sweat suits included – is right at home at the skate park, gym, and running route (hoodie, £3,319; trousers, £3,922). WHERE WATCH MEETS WEAPON The RM 65-01 is a game-changing timepiece that comes with a split-second chronograph – the most complicated automatic winding watch ever made by Richard Mille (£538,710). LOCKED AND LOADED Introduced by creative director Mark Weston in 2019, Dunhill’s signature crossbody bag has since been locked in as a modern man’s It-bag for the ages (£1,250). BEAST MODE, ACTIVATED Who says you can’t wear loafers with sportswear? These chunky new monkeys from Prada, which come finished with lightweight rubber soles, will look as good with your…

I REALISED THAT HORological nomenclature was getting out of hand when I was told that the primrose-dial Rolex Oyster Perpetual had a nickname. One of the hot quintet of candy-coloured dial watches the Crown issued in 2020, it’s got a playful personality. Yet I was unable to keep a straight face when a collector friend told me that the yellow watch is called the Pikachu. Rolex is particularly rich in informal shorthand, bestowed by fans and collectors. There’s an entire extended universe of cartoon characters in the brand’s ranks: Smurf, Kermit, Hulk, Batman, and Batgirl. There are soft drinks: Coke, Pepsi, and root beer. Even cigarettes: The John Player Special refers to a black-and-gold Daytona. And, most famously, there are the film stars like Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and Marlon Brando,…

ONE OF THE things that separates Kamaru Usman – the UFC Owelterweight champion and number one pound-for-pound in the world – from other fighters is the sublime efficiency of his tool kit. Take his second-scariest punch: the right cross. He landed a big one last year on Jorge Masvidal to close out their second UFC fight. The shot was the result of a hand trap that Kamaru had been meticulously plotting since the first round, in which he used his left hand to yank Jorge’s right arm away from his head, and when the cross was deployed, Kamaru really committed and threw all his weight behind it. The setup was flawlessly executed. Beautiful maths. The punch cracked poor Jorge so hard that his body went limp and the sweat from his…