Two things are making the rugby shirt this summer’s most exciting casual clothing item:

1.    Clint Eastwood’s film Invictus, showing South Africa’s World Cup quest has won critical acclaim; it’s the ‘Best Movie for Grownups’ according to AARP The Magazine catering for the 50+ audience in the USA, as well as being popular with rugby players themselves. Starring Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela, the film is likely to be one of the most popular historical dramas of the year.

2.    The Six Nations Rugby, ahead of the 2011 World Cup, promises to be a more equal, and therefore more exciting, European tournament than for many recent years. And for England fans, Jonny Wilkinson is back in the frame for both the Six Nations and the World Cup.

So how should you wear your rugby shirt to be in with the latest fashion?

•    This item of sportswear is likely to be more popular in a solid colour than in the traditional hoops of colour in 2010.
•    Never, ever, tuck it in.
•    While rugby shirts have been worn a lot with jeans in the past, this year – because of the links to the film, Invictus – they will be most fashionable worn with sports shorts especially white ones.

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As recently reported across the UK, a pressure group is asking parents not to buy their little girls pink presents for Christmas, and of course, little boys see pink as the most horrible colour in the world, associated with frills, playhouses and kissy games.

But if you’re not so little, pink is the new black. For several decades, City bankers and other financial types have worn pink shirts and pink ties, and even read the ‘pink pages’ which contained the finance news. Pink polo-shirts and golf shirts have been popularised by the world’s sporting stars and next year’s 2010 English cricket opener between county champions Durham and the MCC will be played in Abu Dhabi …using pink balls

Pink is the colour of choice in high fashion and the High Street, according to  Robert Johnston, associate editor of GQ magazine and it’s not just fashion, 5% of shirts sold by the English shirtmaker Turnbull & Asser, are pink.

To wear pink well, pick a shirt or polo-shirt with a strong colour, a pink that’s too pale can make a man look as if he’s just washed a white top with something red and had the colour run. Team a pink T-shirt with black trousers or with jeans, but not white, brown or red which look a bit Starsky and Hutch, and if you’re not entirely comfortable about starting with pink clothing, choose a T-shirt or rugby shirt that is striped pink and other colours to ease you into this flattering colour.

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Why should you buy organic cotton Christmas presents?

•    Because buying organic gives a gift to people and the environment.  Organic cotton offers a better future for the people who work with it, and for the entire planet.  Non-organic cotton farming uses one quarter of the world’s pesticides causing damage to the environment and illness and deaths among cotton workers. An organic cotton T-shirt benefits everybody involved in its production and manufacture.
•    Because organic T-shirts, polo-shirts and especially baby clothes are better for the health of people who receive your gifts. Believe it or not, as many as  8000 chemicals can be used to turn conventional cotton into a teeshirt or baby’s sleepsuit. But Soil Association standards for organic cotton actually ban the use of chemicals that are hazardous to the environment or health, so buying organic means you safeguard the well-being of your loved ones.
•    Because you’re helping the world’s poorest people – organic cotton supports labour rights because organic cotton farmers in developing countries tend to have higher incomes and definitely enjoy better health. Non-organic cotton workers often live and work in poor conditions, and are exposed to hazardous chemicals. Buying organic clothing such as T-shirts can mean that your purchase helps improve the life of the world’s poorest communities.
•    Because it feels good – organic cotton is literally softer than other forms of cotton, it doesn’t contain chemicals that can be irritating to sensitive skin either, so an organic cotton rugby shirt will be softer and remain ‘snuggly’ longer than many conventionally produced cotton rugby shirts.
•    Because organic clothing such as T-shirts is often more focused on style and comfort than more traditional cotton clothing manufacture – this means that new designs can be more wearer-friendly and high fashion than you ever dreamed.

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There’s nothing more comfortable, more practical or more welcome as a Christmas present for both sexes and all ages than a rugby shirt. With Johnny Wilkinson’s return to the England squad and return to winning form, retailers everywhere are expecting a run on the eponymous rugby –shirt for gifts this year to rugby mad boys, and Wilkinson-mad girls!

So why is the rugby shirt so popular? Well it’s made to be both durable and eminently wearable – unlike some sturdy clothing which is hard-wearing but hard to wear, it’s designed for maximum movement and comfort, so whatever you’re doing, it feels great against your skin and allows you to bend and stretch if you’re working out, or simply to slob out on the sofa.

A rugby shirt’s cotton, or cotton-blend, material, means it transfers moisture out, so you don’t get clammy but keeps warmth in so you don’t get chilled and it’s easy to wash and wear so that you don’t have to look after with excessive care. And the colourways that are traditional for rugby-shirts are winter bright and positive, unlike the drab grey that is usual for clothing like jog pants, so you look good wearing a rugby shirt for casual events.

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A traditional rugby shirt, often referred to as a jersey, was a shirt worn by players of rugby union or rugby league. These days, players shirts tend to have short sleeves, but the fashion garment worn by people who don’t play rugby, almost always has the traditional long sleeves.

What distinguishes a rugby shirt from a polo-shirt? Two things, the first is the longer sleeves, the second is that although both have a button front opening, the rugby shirt tends to have a stiffer collar.

The sports version of the rugby shirt usually has a logo on the chest and the player’s team number on the back, but fashion versions may have an imaginary logo and no number on the back at all. While traditional designs usually had five or six hoops (stripes travelling horizontally around the body) but modern fashion rugby shirts are much more likely to be a solid colour with a contrasting white collar. They are also more likely much more likely to be made of pure cotton, while the sports-based rugby shirts are often made of a blend of cotton and synthetic fabrics for lightness and ease of wear.

A rugby shirt is a durable and extremely comfortable item of casual clothing that maintains its classic status.

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If you want to dress well but don’t have the budget, aren’t particularly good at laundry and stuff, and never feel very sure about clothing rules, rugby shirts are the perfect solution.

To begin with, they are a durable garment, so they put up with being washed at the wrong temperature, with the wrong stuff, being used as a dish-towel or a cushion to sit on in the park, or a goalpost for a game of scratch football, and still look great.

Secondly, rugby shirts come in a range of colours and designs, they are ideal casual wear but the longer sleeves give an added touch of formality that a polo-shirt or a sweatshirt doesn’t have.

Rugby shirts keep you warm while looking cool – if you’re one of those people who hate to wear a jacket, or forget to carry one, then a rugby shirt is the ideal option – it keeps you warm enough without looking like you’re bundled up in clothing.

White collars look great. If you’re a bloke and have a hangover or didn’t have time to shave, the collar lightens your face and suggests that you’re rugged rather than wasted. And any woman looks great in a rugby shirt – just ask a bloke!

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Alan Green of 5Live called it ‘grotesque’.  Umbro, who produced it, call it a ‘technically specific capsule wardrobe’ – what would you call it?

The new England strip is deliberately supposed to remind us of the beautiful decade (1964-1974) of the beautiful game (Brian Clough coined the phrase) in England terms, in other words, when we won the World Cup.

So this kit is supposed to look both elegant and intimidating. It’s white, it’s mid-length in the shorts department, which is a bit odd, because by ’74 we were definitely into the era of the short-short, which was a pretty ugly fashion but there you go, designers have a certain amount of blindness to the faults of previous eras, thank God. And that top is definitely a polo shirt, not a round or even a V-neck but a properly collared dazzling white shirt. And as far as the England squad is concerned, it’s tailored. Oh yes, each of the lads was measured and fitted into a bespoke set of kit by a tailor.  The shirt sold to the general public will also be sold in chest sizes, like a formal shirt, not in small, medium and large, which are the normal kit sizes.

If we win through to the final this time, you can safely guess that white polo shirts will be the biggest selling item in casual clothing. So why not get your white polo bargain now? The key details here – if you want to emulate the football version -are to try and get it to look fitted, to ensure that the collar is soft and rolled rather than popped or sharply creased and to avoid front pockets.

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If you care about fashion, and who doesn’t want to look good,  you need a distillation of what appeared on the Spring catwalks and will turn up in the High Street in the next few months.

What’s hot this spring?

Preppy styling is fighting with the biker look – in other words, classic USA looks have been storming the catwalk, possibly as a result of the election of the new American president.

What does this mean in fashion terms?

For men and women there are some signature elements in common. Show your free spirit in white tops, which have been this year’s big hit – worn under dark denim, or with grey sweats, the plain white T-shirt or white sweatshirt is a must have item.

Leather and suede, a la cowboy look, are everywhere too – as are fringes: on bags for women and on boots for men. Other big trends were bright colours, especially clear blues, and colour contrasts such as yellow with purple or green with pink.  Crumpled shirts are big for men (so you can forget the iron, isn’t that great?) worn over T-shirts with metallic elements like glam rock chains. Lots of stripes turned up on casual wear this year, with arm stripes on polo-shirts predominating.

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Spring is typified by new growth, chilly sunshine and Easter which is a strange festival, because it’s movable – some years it’s early enough to count as winter, other years it’s late enough to be fully into spring. It’s also both a religious festival for Christians that often more or less coincides with a traditional and pagan celebration of the arrival of spring. And that makes it difficult to know what to wear.

Spring, in general, is a very difficult time of year for clothing choices – when one day is cold enough for thermal underwear and a woolly hat, the next is plenty warm enough to be outdoors in a T-shirt and jeans, with a baseball cap keeping the sun out of your eyes!

So what’s the best way to second-guess the weather, feel comfortable, and look smart at this time of year?

There are two key factors: colour and layering.

Colour is important – this the time of year to retire your navy and grey clothing and pull out the warming tones of cream, beige and even brown – match them with soft pinks, ice-blues, catkin-yellows and spring greens and your outfits will immediately look springlike, even if they are heavyweight clothing. As an example, pick a cream jacket to go over a thick sweater and it will look more summery than a navy blue one, even if the jackets are the same weight.

Layering is vital – what you want is to be able to remove and replace clothing without fuss, as the weather changes throughout the day. As an example, a gilet or sleeveless jacket over a long-sleeved rugby shirt or hoodie gives you a perfect balance of warmth and coolness. An alternative is to wear lighter inner clothing, such as a spring coloured  polo-shirt, with a scarf and a zipped hoodie or waterproof jacket – once again you can take layers off or add them back on without looking daft and you’ll always feel comfortable.

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Buying for children can be a thankless task, they hate their school uniform and do everything they can to avoid wearing it. But on the other hand, anything you buy them for casualwear is bound to be uncool, non-rad and totally yuck.  And children’s clothing can be expensive too, especially once they hit the adolescent years and start to develop designer tastes.

There’s not a lot we can do to help you with the teenage spending drain, but before that, you can save yourself quite a lot of money by sensible purchasing and clothing management.

Buying with a Purpose:

• Kids outgrow trousers much more swiftly than they do strap overalls which can be adjusted for several months more. While they are small enough to wear what you buy, keep them in dungarees!
• If you can’t buy dungarees, remember that cuffed trousers and shirts can be uncuffed as your child grows, to give a longer wearing period before the garment is outgrown.
• Classic clothing like plain T-shirts and blue jeans both last longer and look good longer than faddy items.
• Buy a season in advance – pick up last season’s summer tops at knock-down prices in winter, and in summer, look out for long-sleeved tops and good jackets at bargain prices.

Buying Secondhand:

• If you have a teenager, particularly a girl, get her to resell her ‘old’ clothing via the local paper or ebay to fund new purchases – often girls will wear something for less than a season and it can still be resold for a reasonable price. Trendy T-shirts and tops will often sell fast.
• When buying second hand, look at all garments well, checking buttons, zippers, and seams and turn them inside out to spot stains and worn areas

Caring for Clothing:

If you hope to sell your children’s clothing second hand, you need to take care of it during its lifetime with you. So make sure you deal with any stains immediately and loosen any buttons or buckles that become tight – this keeps the garment in better shape for resale or for handing on to another child. Where possible, fold T-shirts and tops shop-style, rather than in half, as folding down the middle can exacerbate the tendency for cotton to lose its shape, folding sides to middle helps keep a garment’s form.

Form a Buying Consortium:

It sounds really upmarket, but all it means is that you’re buying bulk items: nappies and bibs for babies, T-shirts, polo-shirts and school trousers for kids, socks for teenagers, for say, twelve kids. You can find mums and dads who’d like to consortium buy through schools, sports clubs or youth clubs and by negotiating a group discount or making a bulk purchase, you can save up to 40% off the retail price for the item.

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