Corduroy is back!

In which G.M. Norton comments on the burning issue of corduroy.

Apparently, corduroy is the big hit for fashionistas the world over this autumn, after Prada clad one of their models in this most triumphant of fabrics and shoved them down the old catwalk.

For me, corduroy has never gone away, although that’s not the same for everybody. 

Take this exchange I had with a very plummy fellow at the Cordings launch party when their Harrogate shop opened a couple of years ago. Standing by their trouser rail, with corduroy trousers in every colour imaginable, I brought up the subject of one of my favourite fabrics. He laughed and told me with a definite smirk that he stopped wearing cords when he grew out of short trousers. I quite liked his sense of humour. When he asked where I was from and I told him Manchester, he instantly retorted, “Well, somebody has to I suppose.”

Like Manchester, Corduroy just can’t be beaten. It’s the perfect fabric for this time of year when leaves are rustling and the days are short. It has a whiff of academia too, which I quite like. The bumbling professor, with glasses falling off his nose and surrounded by lots of books. Perfect. Available from shops the world over, including the magnificently named Chums, I'm plotting a made to measure pair in the near future made from Brisbane Moss. 

Corduroy actually has it's roots fixed in Manchester, when the industrial revolution was in full force and the fabric was made in northern mills before being shipped far and wide. In fact, in Sweden, cord trousers are still known as Manchester trousers.

I have a couple of cord jackets and two or three pairs of corduroy trousers. I had to retire a pair as they became saggy and shapeless, as some trousers do (a bit like the wearer!).

I'm not a particular follower of fashion, but if it means that there's more corduroy being worn, that's just marvellous. 

G.M. Norton

Protagonist of 'Norton of Morton'

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