The first men’s collection from Mango came out in March. I wasn’t all that interested at the time. Until yesterday, after having lunch with Lola, when I went to have a look in Mango Opéra on her recommendation.

Of course, Mango, for a lot of us, is a girls’ shop which we’ve only been into with our girlfriends or little sisters – until now. And Mango, as you probably also know, is one of Zara’s main competitors: they are both internationally-successful Spanish stores.

Back to my story. So I go into Mango, I ask an assistant the way and she directs me to the back of the store. As is often the case with this type of large unisex store, the men’s section is a lost little island in the middle of a vast ocean of women’s items. And it doesn’t take long to look around it all! If I hadn’t come with the idea of writing an article about it, as I was quite busy, I would probably have left straightaway.

But I decided to take a second, closer, look at what I had barely glanced at the first time. And what seemed, overall, fairly ordinary. To see what the clothes are about, you need to look at the label. This is the way I always work: I look at the price, the material, and only then do I unfold the garment to look at the shape.

And I very quickly made 2 conclusions: it’s all fairly expensive (still comparing it to Zara) but using better fabric! Let’s take the example of the jumpers. You might have seen the H+M jumper that Tony talked about in September, and you’ve probably been and looked at Zara jumpers in store. If you look closely, you’ll see that the jumpers are mainly made of man-made fibres.

Au contraire, a nice surprise from Mango: their jumpers are mostly made from wool. That’s unusual! Some are even 100% wool or 100% cashmere like the jumper above. Another example: their scarves. They are also more expensive than usual for a high-street store but with a much more classy touch: they’re 100% wool!

This men’s collection, called “He by Mango”, also contains jackets and shirts. They seemed good, but nothing special (though I admit I was in a rush and didn’t look at them for very long).

However, I spent longer looking at their black, slightly waxed jeans. They didn’t look too bad for €65! I’ll go back and try a pair on and let you know…And I have since discovered the entire HE collection is available online from www.mangoshop.com. In fact, that’s where I found the pictures to go with this article.

I imagine some of you have also been curious enough to go to Mango, and maybe even try some of their clothes! What did you think?

• Official website: www.mango.com
• Online store: www.mangoshop.com
• See the topic on Mango HE in the forum (in French)

As spring has been slow to arrive, how do you fancy a hoodie? I will show you a selection of a few good brands so you don’t catch a cold during this rather temperamental end-of-season weather. The first in the series is from American Apparel.

They’re well known for their basics and their premium quality, and American Apparel offer a wide range of products, from t-shirts to jeans, ladies’ tights and mens’ underwear. They offer a wide choice of quality stuff. Another unique point, not to be scoffed at either, is that all their products are made and produced in Los Angeles. A little slice of American class! As recognition of this, each garment is labelled “Made in downtown Los Angeles”!

As for their hoodies, there’s nothing too unusual, they’re a little thin, they’re neither too bling or too cheap looking, with a good balance of the subtle and the simple, using block colours and well-finished styles. Now all you need to do is to choose the right colour…from €45! Available from their stores or online.

More coming in the next few days… Stay tuned!

Vichy was one of the pioneers for mens’ cosmetics with the launch of its basic range in 1988. It was rebranded Vichy Homme in 2001 with the white, grey and red packaging that you may be familiar with. We have talked about it before with a test of the Silicium-R treatment (article in French).

As we mentioned in the previous test, the main problem with Vichy Homme was the image we had of the brand! Which they must have realised, as they completely changed the range’s packaging last year (I’m a little late writing this article but I can assure you that I’ve had more than enough time to try out the range!)

The rebranding works well, as you can see below. Nice packaging is important to keep you bathroom looking good! :) The range is made up of 9 products split into 3 families (anti-ageing moisturisers, moisturisers for different skin types, and cleansing and shaving products).

• For sensitive skin, Vichy Homme offers an anti-irritation comfort balm(Sensi Baume Ca), a shaving foam and a shaving gel.
• For tired and dull skin, a 24h invigorating moisuriser (Hydra Mag C) and an eye firming stick (Hydra Mag stick yeux)
• For greasy and imperfection-prone skin: a moisturising liquid (Normactiv CG), a cleansing gel and a shaving foam.

The textures are really great, the range offers reknowned active ingredients such as vitamin A (Retinol), vitamine C, calcium and magnesium, and of course the famous Vichy thermal water (for its calming and boosting properties). A great range at a fair price: think €17 for the moisturiser (available in chemists and health and beauty stores since October 2007).

More info on Vichyhomme.fr

Regular visitors have probably heard of this Danish brand: Junk de Luxe. Its another in the wave of Scandinavian designers along with other brands like Acne Jeans, Cheap Monday, Dr Denim, Nudie and WeSC. I mentioned it for the first time in an article about a shirt (I bought that particular style at the time, it’s great, and hasn’t shrunk! Tried and tested :D)

And fresh in this season (I kinda gave the game away in the editorial for this special): we can now wear Junk de Luxe jeans! They’re fresh in, I saw the first styles arrive at Le 66 in mid January. And I’ve just seen their pictures. This one’s the “Modomac”, which are waxed jeans (yes, there are more!) in a straight/skinny cut.

You get the “Junk” quality you’d expect, with a price tag of €100, which isn’t actually all that bad for a pair of jeans. They go straight into my Top 3 waxed jeans.

Exclusive to:

Ok, I’ve made my mind up: this spring I’m changing my trainers! My favourite Stan Smiths don’t look so hot anymore: the leather is scratched everywhere and the toe is about to give up the ghost. -More cheap
manufacturing. Ok, ok, I’ve had them for about 2 and a half years, and I’ve not exactly treated them kindly either…

Despite this minor setback, I still like the brand with the 3 stripes. So I started my research there. As I suggest in my article on cheap clothes on our French sister site, I went to YOOX to see end-of-line stuff and new styles.

In the the former category I found these high-top “Pro-model” in black with snakeskin print. Unfortunately, I can completely forget about them; there aren’t any in my size! But there might be
some styles that you like in your size…
Operation “spring trainers”: part 1. To be continued.

It’s been a while since I spoke about jewellery (or galleries or scullduggery… hmm…), then I discovered the Ikken collection. Loving their work!

Recently released by Baptiste Bataille, who trained as a stylist, this brand marries western culture with traditional crafts of the Sahel. African art inspired the collection’s refined design, with curves shaped like dunes, the use of materials such as ebony, bone, shagreen and pure silver. Various different types of bracelets, and pendants are available in the first collection available from Numanu, at 8 rue de Turenne, Paris 4 (Tell ‘em Joe from “Comme un camion / French Truckers” sent you and you’ll get a 10% discount).

The shop itself is very “ethical”, which is also the case for Ikken, which has set up an aid project for a Touareg jewllery cooperative, which is supplied for the most part by local producers.

Insight 51 was created 10 years ago in Australia on the north beaches of Sydney. The company started life making their own brand “Insight surfboards”.

As you might imagine, clothes followed, and the brand has stayed very close to the world of board sports (and music). Insight 51 is a unique brand, a bit rebellious, very colourful. Australian fashion that is becoming more widely exported, as it is now on sale in 28 countries.

If you’re in France, head to Citadium or Royal Cheese

The British brand Swear is offering many new shoe styles in its 2008 spring/summer collection, including the “I SWEAR BY HUMMEL” line, in collaboration with the Danish sportswear brand Hummel.

I think this new line is a real success! Like many other brands, Swear offer a patent style. And because this season there’s a love for all things shiny, this won’t be the last you hear of it!

Swear’s red patent style that looks particularly wicked! This style isn’t yet available but it won’t be too long before it is.

If you see them in stores please let us know ;) And for now, here is a close-up of the style in question:

And to finish off nicely, here’s an accessory that we don’t speak of often enough, which is a mistake, as scarves are very practical when it’s cold, and can even be rather attractive! -Yes!

And to prove it, here’s a brown one with contrasting stripes from Superdry (the English brand with the vintage style that doesn’t just make polos and t-shirts !).

As they say: Keep warm and eat porridge (it’ll stick to your bones)! -And porridge is pretty old school, man…

£14.99 from Cult

Ok, I’ve made my decision, today I’m going to talk to you about Levi’s! It’s a mini-event, because in three years it’s the first time! Well, at least in the articles, because I had mentioned it in a section on the French site, called which jeans? <

Now, it's not that I'm boycotting Levi's, but through the years, I've concentrated more on other brands of jeans. So much so that my last pair of Levi’s dates back to my college days…

Since then, it’s worth noting that Levi’s offer several collections: Vintage, Engineered, Blue, Red Tab. There are many different, more modern, styles such as the Levi’s 504, a semi slim, shown above! Note the the full slim style exists too, the Levi’s 511!