How would you describe your style?

I think I’ve settled into a routine of wearing jeans, shirt and a jacket most of the time. But I do like the idea of changing your style with the seasons by wearing linen in the summer and heavier materials like tweed in the winter.

When did your interest in clothes begin?

I remember being very young and painting a picture of my grandmother in her Sunday best one day. I can see the picture in my head now; she was wearing a black suit with a red trim, so I must have been aware of clothing details even then. My father and both grandfathers never paid much attention, and never really had a choice in the clothes they wore, so I must have picked up my interest from my mother and grandmothers.

What does your family have to say about the way you dress?

They’ve always been bizarrely supportive, but I don’t think they always fully understand the way I dress. I remember coming home from Oxford every now and again and visiting my grandmother wearing something slightly more traditional every time. I don’t think she quite understood how I dressed. For example, if I wore cufflinks her only remark would be, “Oh! Are cufflinks back in style? That’s nice”.

People associate Oxford with a traditional gentleman’s style.

I remember arriving for my first day in college and driving through Oxford with my dad and there was a young man, a few years older than me walking down the street in a tweed suit. My dad said, “look at him!” but I just thought he looked great! So I guess there was a tradition of dressing like that in Oxford and it was a very appealing look for me.

Did you conform to the style or did you feel that you were setting your own trend?

I think there was an element of me conforming to the traditional style, but I’m very aware that this style is just a small part of contemporary Oxford. One of the great things about the city is that you have the freedom to try different things. Even though the traditional ‘Brideshead Revisited’ style is common there, it’s not the only path you can take these days. I’ve got friends; many of them from Wales that went there that have chosen different ways of expressing themselves that also makes them feel confident.

How much influence did your time at university have on you?

I believe that when you go to university it’s a time that is full of changes. You discover what fits, by way of clothes, personality and relationships of all kinds. It’s a time not of reforming but of discovering, discovering what’s on the outside and inside. I think that both things go hand in hand.

Would you say that these blues and greens are Welsh colours? Is this the first suit you bought?

Unfortunately I only have the jacket; the trousers are a little tight now. I walked past this shop, and usually things are extremely expensive there, but that day there was sale on, and that’s what made me go inside. This is one of only a few they had left that was small enough to fit me, and it fitted me perfectly, so I took the plunge and bought it.

All your shirts are very colourful and kept extremely tidy!

Pink and blue are quite traditional shirt colours, so that’s what I’ve gone for. I was bought up on Anglesey where everyone wore their Sunday best to go to Chapel. The men wore suits and the women wore hats, but by now I think people have shied away from such traditions. I’m comfortable yet uncomfortable about dressing differently to others. Part of me is happy that I don’t dress like everyone else, but there’s also a shy part of me that’s very conscious about looking different and that wishes that it could be more like others.

These don’t fit into the rest of your wardrobe at all. Where did you get them?

Every year I go on holiday to Italy, or some other cultured country, but last summer I went to Ibiza, or I was taken to Ibiza. I had to buy a whole new set of up-to-date clothes to take with me to wear and that was a whole new shopping experience for me. I went to high street shops, most of them I’d never even been into before and came back with t-shirts and tight white linen trousers. They’re in a box in the attic now, but maybe they’ll come out again if I go on another beach holiday. These are a souvenir of my Ibiza holiday, something daft I bought back with me. I came across this shop that made espadrilles in every colour imaginable and I bought these so that Cardiff could appreciate the fruits of my Ibiza shopping labour!

Does your job influence the way you dress at all?

Since leaving university I’ve been working for the Church, at the moment I’m working at one of the denominations’ headquarters in London. I was bought up in the Chapel but began attending an Anglican Church while at university. The Welsh Chapel tradition always focused on the Word, words and sermon, but the Anglican Church focuses more on the visual side of God’s beauty. This is something I find very useful when considering faith and I think some of that reasoning has trickled through to the way someone lives their life in general.

Does you religion have any impact on your style?

There’s a tendency to see religion and Christianity as something strict and restrictive, but I’ve never felt that was the case, in fact it’s something that’s broaden my horizons. A result of this kind of Christianity is being able to feel comfortable and happy in your own skin, and that expressiveness, fulfilment and the fulfilment of life is something visual that can be seen in all aspects of life.

Do you judge people by the clothes they wear?

Sometimes I can be a bit of a clothes snob, especially when it comes to men. I sometimes think that men have it easy, they can just wear a suit and anything goes. But there’s enough lye-way there to look fantastic but also enough to be lazy and boring. Sometimes when I’m on the tube in London I’m tempted to go up to some and say, “you should have made more of an effort to find a jacket that fits you properly,” or “to button up properly”!

Do you think that your style has influenced others?

I like the fact that I encourage others not to conform and to find hidden personalities within themselves. Hopefully I dress somewhere in the middle. At the moment I’m happy with the way I look and I hope that I stick with it for the time being.