MR. SLOWBOY: Portraits of the Modern Gentleman

Product Information

In partnership with fashion illustrator Fei Wang, the range’s T-shirts don a legion of graphics depicting city bikers. On shades of navy, white and grey, the artist’s work, more regularly recognized under the moniker Mr. Slowboy, appears front and center on each design. Christophe scribbles his canvas sketches in Merci notebooks that he carries everywhere with him. He often strolls through the stationery department upstairs while his partner polishes her collection of corduroy pants from the eponymous brand and Rive Droite waist bags made of upcycled fabric. Mr.Slowboy is highly respected in the art and fashion worlds for his pencil illustrations having worked with global luxury fashion brands including Barbour and Fortnum & Mason. Through his creative networks and large community of social media followers, Mr.Slowboy shares his unique vintage and retro style creations with a modern touch. Inspired by The May Fair, A Radisson Collection Hotel, Mayfair London’s strong fashion heritage as the official hotel for London Fashion Week, Mr.Slowboy has created detailed illustrations that depict characters in everyday situations wearing different outfits to fit the occasion, whether a special evening dinner, or relaxing in one of the hotel’s award-winning suites. We have been talking a lot about menswear brands and clothing. Do you maybe work with any other type of brands? Fox Brothers, the English woollen mill established in Somerset in 1772 is credited with being the originator of fine woollen and worsted flannels during the last century and is still said to produce the best in the world. According to style connoisseurs, when choosing flannel, “always be sure to ask for it (Fox) by name”.

The first “Slowboy” as a semi-fictional character was created in June 2015 to share my personal fashion tips with colleagues and friends on my blog for a hobby. It’s rather a random by-product when I was trying to insert images to demonstrate the styling of garments I wanted to discuss or comment on, because I felt it was wrong to just grab images from the internet without any authorisation. I therefore decided to draw them myself as illustrations. At the beginning yes, it was this guy, dressed in a specific way and he looked very much the same on every illustration. Lately as I started doing more commission work I think the meaning is more about the style. So Mr Slowboy would be the style of illustrations rather than a specific person. As I mentioned above, I saw a very different picture when I was mapping all of my previous work on the floor, and they certainly evolved from time to time, not just the proportion of the figures or the drawing techniques, even the preferable styling is subtly changing along with the fashion trends. However, I could tell from the work that classic and traditional menswear was still my favorite subject and most of the sitters in my favorite portraits are in suits. They are especially proud of their bedding, as they benefited from a 30% discount on cotton percale during the Merci Days!Actually yes! There is a line on my blog that says “slow fashion is always the best fashion”. So for people who do not know anything about me, that could be a hint. I like ‘slow fashion’. It would be easy to look at the rise of the illustrator-as-style influencer and say it’s connected to the fact that people aren’t out and about, dressed up and ready for Scott Schuman or Joshua Woods to capture them on the street. Or maybe that virtually anybody can cosplay Bill Cunningham with the aid of their iPhone. And that’s certainly part of it: there are a million selfies and candid shots of people standing on city streets, but only a few people can really draw. Mr. Slowboy and his contemporaries also present a nice change of pace, a different way of looking at style. Moreover our couple goes religiously every Sunday to Merci, when they are in "Paeris, rivee dwoite".

There’s also tees for men and women donning illustrations by Fei Wang, a.k.a. Mr Slowboy that depict cycling in the city, as well as a holdall, city bag and pouch crafted from Barbour’s signature fabric and that have also been designed to specially fit on the bike. It is rumored that he bragged in a nearby café, l'Étincelle, that he even had Sofians personal mobile number! Thank you for taking the time to chat with us, Fei. For the blog readers that don’t know you, can you tell us a little about yourself and your work? Have you always been interested in fashion? I mean your illustrations caught my eye because they are very stylish, the way you create the looks is really good. He planned a brunch on Sunday with Elie, at FLOR, the only "decent Mexican restaurant in Paris" according to them... of course.

Lin certifié OEKO-TEX et fibres cultivées en France

Tell us a bit about yourself and the journey that has led you to becoming an established illustrator. As a Correspondent for this legendary Northwestern US daily newspaper, he has an endless sense of curiosity. Our man dresses in wear topical to concourse exhibitions and car racing in Britain. He stands before the bonnet of the iconic Jaguar E-Type - a unique piece of automotive design and engineering. Timeless design recognised and admired the world over.