You’ve no doubt seen Emerald Fennell’s clash of classes Salt burn. Silly, twisty and sometimes deadly serious; The film puts the inertia of the English elite under the microscope, putting a microscope on those who covet their privileges, and the wardrobe pays tribute to a certain aesthetic of a boarding school boy home for the weekend that flourished in the early to middle the nineties.
From Felix Catton (played with flawless slowness by a slender Jacob Elordi) and his bootcut jeans and V-neck sweaters and white T-shirt combinations, to the ill-fitting Moss Bros tuxedo worn by Oliver to his college bop in the opening scenes – not to mention the perfectly placed eyebrow piercing that Elordi wears during the first half of the film – Salt burn Set in 2006-2007, costume designer Sophie Canale has dressed her characters to period perfection. Rugby shirts with high collars and loafers with chiseled toes are in abundance.
“Fashion is cyclical and people often talk about the 25 or 30 year trend cycle, I think Salt burn is on the crest of that wave,” says Canale The Telegraph. “Jacob Elordi’s Felix perfectly captures the aesthetic of a 1990s chic boy with his confident demeanor. He is cool and approachable, but there is also a distant, unreachable side to his character, which makes him so charismatic.”
It’s not just the film’s popularity – it cost more than £16 million worldwide – that has sparked a clamor for British men to dress like an Etonian with a first-generation iPhone. A number of major brands have put the sartorial calling cards of the “Neo-Posh Boy” look at the center of their seasonal collections, with surprising success.
On The Row, Pythonesque twins Mary-Kate and Ashely Olsen showed off a Noughties-inspired three-button skirt suit with high lapels and a Felix-friendly wingtip collar shirt. There was also a selection of oversized, tertiary-hued blazers that looked like they had been picked up from Oxfam on the Cowley Road. Bottega Veneta’s creative director Matthieu Blazy presented a striking take on the 1990s ‘jeans and sheux’ look, first immortalized by the original Top gear trio. He combined leather pants, which resembled denim, with roomy jackets and thick leather shoes.
At Neil Barrett, the 59-year-old British designer (who founded his eponymous brand in 1999) showed gray V-neck sweaters, worn with white T-shirts and charcoal school uniform trousers; while both Officine Générale and Dior showed deep V-necks worn with suits. AKA, peak Neo-Posh Boy chic.
“Nostalgic nods to school days give every outfit a sense of comfort and sophistication. Recently, the trend has come to the fore again, with men wanting to dress smart and move away from the comfortable style of casual clothing,” says Damien Paul, head of menswear at Matches Fashion. “This has been reflected in our menswear division for Spring Summer 24. Categories such as chunky loafers have increased sales by 30 percent year on year, with brands such as Marni, Prada and JM Weston performing best.
“Sales of straight leg jeans have increased by 90 percent over the same period, from brands such as Our Legacy, The Row and Acne. V-Necks from Arch 4, Ben Cobb x Tiger of Zweden and Comme des Garçons Shirt are also performing well.”
But why is dressing like teenage Prince Harry during Short Leave suddenly so popular? For stylist Dan May, fashion editor of 10 men magazine in 2007, the look has been doing the rounds for a long time – like a top boy on the lashes at The Botanist. It’s only now that it’s trickling down to the broader fashion language.
“Walk around Chelsea, Sloane Square, Parsons Green or Kensington and you’ll see that bootcut jeans, loafers, blazers and V-necks are still the uniform of choice – as I’m sure they are in every public school in the sixth form are. the country,” says May. “I think the look is becoming more prominent now through films like Salt burn and Netflix’s recent One day amendment. It’s also why preppy brands like Ralph Lauren and Tommy Hilfiger are still so part of the zeitgeist. Their continued dominance plays a major role in influencing both the way men dress and what other brands produce.”
Performed with appropriate public school swagger by British actor Leo Woodall, One day’s Dex provides another great example of why the Neo-Posh Boy aesthetic feels so relevant right now. All oversized blazers, Levi’s Twisted jeans and trendy pink signet rings – Dex’s look is imbued with an arrogant ease, which not only feels like the next logical sartorial step after the apologetic but overbearing ‘quiet luxury’ mood, but also offers a welcome dose of millennial swagger in our increasingly dissatisfied times.
Furthermore, the Neo-Posh Boy aesthetic is class cosplay at its core. And as Catherine Hayward – fashion director of Esquire magazine in 2007 – explains: “It’s tribal. Fashion loves a gang that exudes class. Especially a photogenic one.”
In 2005, Joe Casely-Hayford became creative director of Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes. The late designer was responsible for dressing members of the establishment in the roomy blazers that formed the core of the ultra-preppy Sloane Ranger uniform. Casely-Hayford’s son Charlie, now a menswear designer, believes today’s Neo-Posh Boy aesthetic is this generation’s version of that look.
“The reemergence of the public school look resembles that of Indie Sleaze, the Noughties movement that adopted garments from Sloane Ranger’s toolbox – Barbour jackets, shrunken tweeds, boat shoes – in a conscious combination with the then-current indie aesthetics,” Casely-Hayford explains.
“The new public school boy look is this era’s reiteration of Sloane Ranger, once again serving as a backdrop for discord and friction,” he says. “This creates a new visual language that is not just a pastiche, but ironic, energetic and fun.”
If you want to try the Neo-Posh Boy aesthetic for yourself, this is the key to looking as good as Elordi driving a Defender Salt burn (and there’s nothing like Jeremy Clarkson putting in a Lotus Elise Top gear), is to focus on the proportions of the garments you choose to wear.
Choosing an oversized blazer from the likes of Our Legacy of Acne will look intentional, rather than like you’re wearing something you inherited from your Tory grandfather. Likewise, some straight-leg raw denim jeans from Bottega Veneta or The Row will provide that mid-nineties vibe while looking considerably more relevant than the baggy Levi’s Twisteds that have been sitting in the back of your wardrobe since before Elordi became born. A good pair of sturdy black loafers will be a forever investment, whether you dress like a Neo-Posh Boy or not.
You can also keep it simple and just shop in your own wardrobe. “You’ll always find an oversized tweed jacket or a grubby knit V-neck in a man’s circulation somewhere,” says Hayward, who also extols the virtue of buying secondhand. “Vintage clothing plays on that typically English, punk attitude of breaking the rules and ‘making do and mend’. It’s part of the British sartorial psyche. It’s understated.”
So, dressing like a twenty-something with a trust fund is it. But what about eyebrow studs? Should we all start booking piercing appointments at Claire’s Accessories? “It’s a huge NO from me,” says May. “Even Jacob Elordi couldn’t make it happen.”
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