The other week I has the chance to style and help art direct a shoot up-and-coming photographer to the stars of the West End Darren Bell who has taken photos of pretty much every leading actor and actress you can think off - well, when you are asked to be one of the photographers for the Olivier Awards it is a bit easier. The subject of this editorial shoot was to be leading man Alistair Brammer, who plays Chris in Cameron Macintosh’s latest revival of Miss Saigon - so you can imagine that this wasn’t going to be something I turned down. It was a fun but daunting prospect; since moving into fashion journalism it has been a long while since I styled anyone but myself! But with the chance to style Alistair and in the amazing setting of the Prince Edward theatre in the heart of London’s Soho I couldn’t resist. On the day makeup was to be done by makeup artist Lauren Appleby, and Darren was to be aided by actor and illustrator Alex Bloomer. The brief was pretty straight forward - the look needed to be classic, masculine and dapper in a blend of fashion editorial versus theatre. The harder part was making sure the styling suited the plush reds and purple’s of the theatre’s decor. After look at the brief and making initial notes, there was one brand that came to mind first; Duchamp. Having been involved with Duchamp on many occasions through London Collections over the past few years, I knew their strong aesthetic would be perfect for this shoot. Duchamp’s ethos and aesthetic perfectly matched Alistair’s masculine face and body. So I got to work.

After looking through the latest Duchamp collection I found the suit i wanted, a gorgeous print-in-print checked suit. It was a sharp double-breasted jacket with notch lapels and double-back vent for a classic finish. The print was striped check and I knew that on first look Alistair would double take at the suit, as the print looks so bold, but I knew it would shoot well and I wasn’t wrong.

  I styled the suit with a Turnbull and Asser  double-cuff shirt, this white-on-white textured shirt was a bespoke fabric that was made for especially for Daniel Craig in the Bond films - it was too perfect of a tie-in with our theme to not include and it looked amazing. I finished the suit with a silk paisley tie and pocket square, similar in pattern with with slightly different colour palettes just to give a little modern edge to the styling’s classic nature while complemented the setting. I love the double breast on the jacket; Alistair has the ultimate ‘V’ shaped body with a small waist, which meant he could pull of this look like no other. The cufflinks are Dunhill and the shoes are Alistair’s own. Last minute I decided I decided to bring along another suit just to mix it up a bit. We had only planned and need a few shots but I am in love with this suit (it does actually belong to me!) and wanted to have a go at shooting with it as I knew it would suit Alistair. It’s a three-piece wool-rich suit from Topman, as is the shirt and tie.     I’m really happy with the results from the shoot, Alistair and the clothes look amazing. Darren Bell is a genius. Make sure you check out more of his work at Darren-Bell.co.uk and don’t forget to follow him on Twitter too. I can’t thank Duchamp enough for clothes, they were absolutely perfect. You can find your own suit at duchamplondon.co.uk You can find Lauren Appleby’s website here, or give her tweet here Find Alex on twitter here And lastly, give Alistair a follow here.