Alwyn: I don’t need any more shirts and I try to tell myself this but then, if you see something you like, you just think why not?

Nia: Is there one item in particular that stands out in your wardrobe then?

Alwyn: Well, shirts are certainly important to me. I remember a shop opening in Bangor – it was called Horesh – and it was completely different to any other shop there. I remember looking, when I was about 14 years old, at the Ben Sherman shirts in the shop and that’s when I actually saw that brand for the first time. There was a turquoise shirt in the shop with big collars and I thought to myself at the time how I’d love to have the shirt, but I couldn’t afford it at the time. Until, one day, I could go to the shop and buy that shirt and that was my first ever shopping thrill. Ever since that day, shirts and ties feature heavily in my wardrobe.

Alwyn: I do realize that it is actually a kind of disease really – that is, this obsession I have with shirts, I do admit that and I believe that’s important for someone to admit an addiction. I started to get rid of a few but it was too painful. My heart sank over having to get rid of some of them. So I had a choice. Either to be like an alcoholic who might buy bottles and hides them in the house, so I’d buy shirts and hide them behind the wardrobe, under the bed maybe and my problem or illness would worsen or to be honest with myself and admit defeat and this is what I did. I have to iron every now and again but to be truthful I can last six months without having to iron a shirt if I just dip into the collection.

Alwyn: This Versace denim shirt has nice details on the collars and pockets.

Alwyn: What I like about Tommy Hilfiger’s shirts are the details around the collar. Does this worry you Nia?!

Nia: Yes, I am a little worried about you!

Alwyn: I bought this Ben Sherman shirt recently and I haven’t worn it yet. Look at the details around the buttons – don’t you think that’s a little different and therefore interesting?

Alwyn: For the first time ever, I noticed the actual Ben Sherman label which are on the shirts – it gives you a little Ben Sherman history. It says he was the ‘Mod God’ during the late 50’s and was considered the ‘King of Trend’ in Carnaby Street.

Alwyn: Everybody imagines that the shirts I wear to conduct choirs are completely plain and I apologize if I offend anyone with what appears on the back of this shirt which my wife bought for me – extremely friendly elephants! You can’t take your jacket off in a concert with this kind of thing on the back but little do people know!

Alwyn: This black and white shirt is the same as far as people never actually knowing what’s on the whole shirt. I fancied this one because it had the placenames of some of the locations I have visited. I’ve only actually worn it once because the front of the shirt is very stiff. When I wore whilst conducting, the whole shirt moved with me! There was no flexibility whatsoever so although I do like the design, it’s quite possible that I’ll never wear this one again.

Alwyn: I remember when I wore tails for the first time. Some of the wives of the choir members complained that they couldn’t see my bottom anymore and I never realized how important it was for the ladies in the audience to see the conductor’s bottom! It appears that the conductor’s bottom is more of an attraction than a lot of other things, so I stopped wearing tails to keep the wives happy – wives by the way and not young girls, unfortunately.

Alwyn: The ‘ceremony’ of opening a shirt gives me so much pleasure - taking all of the pins out especially. I love the feeling of a new shirt and the smell, it’s wonderful isn’t it. It’ll never be the same again. When you open a shirt, it starts on its new career, that is its first day of the rest of its life and who knows where it’ll go. It gives me great pleasure to open a shirt and wear it for the first time.

Nia: Can you crystallize how you feel about your clothes?

Alwyn: When I wear a new shirt for the first time, it makes me feel good and much more confident. I’m a fairly shy person. A lot of people don’t understand this and I have to battle within myself to be social and to be confident about meeting people. But, clothes do help because at least then people might come up to you and say ‘oh, I like your tie, where did you get that one’ type of thing or maybe ‘where did you get your shirt?’. And it’s a good feeling to wear nice clothes that fit you well and are comfortable. It can give you that little extra confidence when you might not actually be all that confident.