A reasonable silhouette

The BBC's Economics Editor, Kamal Ahmed, about to be the BBC's Editorial Director, finds time away from economics, promoting his autobiography, and reviewing the papers on the Marr show, to answer fashion questions from a blogger... 

Have you always worn suits or is it something you started doing for television?
I’ve always worn them. I turned up on my first day of work in a three-piece-suit. It was a small local paper just outside Glasgow.

You wore them as a child?
Actually, no. I’m not quite JACOB REES-MOGG. I don’t know what it was. I’ve always liked nice clothes and then suddenly I had a tiny bit of money, I mean tiny, but I would genuinely save up my money to buy nice suits. I would forecast my suits over a number of years and figure out when I could buy the next one. I was really into NICOLE FARHI and her suits were expensive!

You are rather tall.
I am.

How tall are you if you don’t mind me asking?
Six foot four.

Do you dress to emphasise your height?
I'm lucky that I'm slim rather than tall – I have a reasonable silhouette. I think that quite trim cuts suit me because of my shape, I am aware of that and I try and dress accordingly. I don’t look great in baggy clothes. I buy most things, T-shirts for example, in small which is quite unusual; shop assistants always tell me I’ll never fit a small.

On the weekends are you still in suits or do you dress more casually?
Oh no. I dress more casually, and I really do enjoy wearing more casual clothes. I shop a bit at ACNE. I go to DOVER STREET MARKET, MARGARET HOWELL, SUNSPEL. I quite like TOAST. I try to avoid that awkward look which is the middle-aged man in jeans and a white shirt on the weekend.

That is very sensible of you.
It’s a bad look!