British GQ December 2018

Trying to find constants in the 30-year history of GQ has hardly been difficult. Style. Technology. Entertainment. Politics. Mental health. Fitness. Finance. Cars. Sport. Food. Even sex. The constituent parts of our magazine – our brand – have been fairly consistent since the magazine dropped onto newsstands in December 1988. The pitch has always been simple: this is the culture; this is the way it should be done; this is the best. Of course, the culture has changed beyond recognition. The way it should be done is less about proscription and more about nuance, while the “best” is no longer determined by strict algorithmic precepts, by which I mean that 2018 is a world away from 1988. The late Eighties now look as if they stepped out of a movie, although…

Happy 30th birthday, GQ Watch a selection of well-known names and former cover stars – including Rose McGowan (above) – send us their birthday greetings. Watch Week begins on 5 November All your wristwear needs sorted with guides to the latest models compiled by our Deputy Editor, Bill Prince, including the annual GQ “Watch Directory 2019”. Breakfast read Start your day with our long-read, from what really happened to EDM star Avicii to a look inside James Dyson’s electric car quest (above). What does it mean to be a man in 2018? Throughout the month of November, read new and regular GQ columnists on the subject of masculinity and how it continues to change.…

Always ready to look forward rather than back, GQ shot this month’s cover on a phone. And just as this was no ordinary cover, Google’s Pixel 3, with its 12.2MP rear camera, is no ordinary phone. Photographer Gavin Bond took on the challenge of capturing Britain’s world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and his son, Joseph (“JJ”), in a series of portraits that reflected this State Of Man issue, and with its quality and flexibility Bond found the phone perfectly suited to preserving these intimate moments. “Normally phones don’t shoot the raw files that are crucial for magazine-standard images,” says Bond. “But the Pixel 3 shoots a raw file and a jpeg, which is a huge, huge bonus.” As the shoot developed, it was clear the Pixel 3 offered a different dynamic to…

Andrew VOTTERO Since 29-year-old trans-male model Laith Ashley began his medical transition in 2014, he’s defied expectations by walking at New York Fashion Week, starring in a Diesel campaign shot by David LaChapelle and now fronting our underwear and denim fashion feature, styled by Andrew Vottero. “We are celebrating the beauty and variety of the human experience,” says Vottero. Eleanor HALLS Would you outsource Tinder to a stranger? Hundreds of others have done just that through Vida, a business offering virtual dating assistants for hire. “It’s fascinating and depressing that something as intimate as love has become a chore we’d rather give to someone else,” says GQ Senior Staff Writer Eleanor Halls, who has also written in this issue about the pressures of all-male online spaces. Olive POMETSEY Has feminism clipped the wings of the…

Since the first allegations of sexual misconduct by Harvey Weinstein emerged in October 2017 there has a been a monumental social shift in the representation of the sexes. So far, 2018 has been a pinnacle year and the focus has firmly been on women. Both the Me Too and Time’s Up movements have understandably – and quite rightfully – garnered huge global attention, with women finding a voice to express themselves and champion equality across all walks of life. But in an era when the male sex is in some ways on the back foot, what – and where – has this left the men of the world? Where has it left, well, us? One of the many positives to come out of the scandal that managed to debunk an industry figurehead…

Having been given a keyboard for his 14th birthday, the first thing David Orobosa Omoregie learned was an original score from Transformers. Makes sense: the musician, known as Dave, has a noticeably cinematic production style – something that has earned the 20-year-old rapper a fan in film composer Hans Zimmer. Best-known for his lyrical prowess, the youngest Brits nominee of 2018 went on to win Best Contemporary Song at this year’s Ivor Novellos for “Question Time”, a state-of-the-nation anthem in which he takes shots at the PM about Grenfell, Syria and the NHS. His lyrics oscillate between the personal and the political with compelling candour. The sons of a nurse, Dave’s brothers were in prison while he was growing up, one still inside. Dave tells his story to inmates when he visits,…