Andrew Groves: Menswear Systems

Menswear as a system of power: class, masculinity, visibility, discipline and belonging.

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The Shirt That Wasn’t There

How Umbro’s blue England shirt refracted football, music and memory into a summer that would not go away

Jun 17 • Andrew Groves

A Stain on the Beautiful Game

Look at these overalls. What do you see?

Jun 11 • Andrew Groves

Burberry’s Crowd Control

How A Good Sport reframes football for luxury

Jun 4 • Andrew Groves

You’ve Got No Taste

RAF Dark Sea Grey, tabloid judgement and the military specification on my wall

May 28 • Andrew Groves

The God Jacket

Vollebak, sound, and the menswear of bodily control

May 21 • Andrew Groves

The Death of the Designer: How Creative Directors Took Over Fashion

Sep 18, 2025 • Andrew Groves

Prada’s Worn-Out Aesthetic and the Labour It Erases

Jan 22 • Andrew Groves

Visibility Without Recognition

Jan 8 • Andrew Groves

Stone Island’s Instructions for Authenticity

Nov 27, 2025 • Andrew Groves

Football Casuals

Burberry’s Crowd Control

How A Good Sport reframes football for luxury

Jun 4 • Andrew Groves

A Casual Obsession: Inside the British Sock Fetish Council

At Christmas, men get socks.

Dec 25, 2025 • Andrew Groves

Lamppost Loyal: Football Stickers and the Making of Belonging

Most people never notice them. The small vinyl stickers layered on lampposts, stuck on bus shelters or plastered above the piss stones in the pub…

Nov 13, 2025 • Andrew Groves

The Business of Violence: Fashioning Hooligan Calling Cards

From engraved civility to photocopied menace

Oct 16, 2025 • Andrew Groves

Worn at Wembley: How Wembley Made Menswear Matter

This Saturday, Manchester City will arrive at Wembley wearing C.P.

May 14 • Andrew Groves

Palantir Makes Domination Casual

May 7 • Andrew Groves

How Men Are Schooled

The tie and the making of masculine order

Apr 30 • Andrew Groves

Menswear and the World It Promised

Before I knew anything about class, status, or style, I knew this: if you wanted to enter a world, you had to be dressed for it.

Apr 23 • Andrew Groves

Masonic Regalia: How Meaning Holds

Most people misread Masonic regalia as decorative, as a ceremonial display of aprons, collars, and metal jewels, even though each element has a specific…

Apr 16 • Andrew Groves

What the System Wanted All Along

Digital ID and the End of Ambiguity

Apr 9 • Andrew Groves

Pep Guardiola’s Winning System

By the time people started talking about Pep Guardiola’s trousers, the easy story had already been written.

Apr 2 • Andrew Groves

A Change to the Newsletter Archive

From this week, I’m making a small change to how the newsletter works.

Mar 31 • Andrew Groves