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Notes from Paris Deux: Rollers that don’t curl your hair

By 23rd December 2008November 30th, 2019No Comments

Along with a string of onions, the male in the roll neck sweater has ‘Je suis French’ written all over it. The festive season, like the Parisian man’s sweater, is all about the roll. Sausage rolls, rolls of wrapping paper, paper hats with bad jokes rolled up inside crackers, and then there’s the festive Yule log, which is essentially a chocolate roll.

American's have their own roll varieties

American's have their own roll varieties

If you open your eyes I sure you’ll see that the roll is all a round. Those French boys know it, and during my trip to Paris the roll neck could not be escaped. I’m not denying that a plain-black, slim-fit roll is completely repulsive on a man in any way, in fact wiz a falze franch accent zay can make you look vairee continental, but you do have to have a certain physique to pull them off.  Coupled with that it’s wise to avoid hairy sweaters otherwise you end up looking like one of Santa’s helpers…yep, that’d be a reindeer. Excepting one memorable example of a tweed effect, super-hairy, super-thick roll neck at the airport, my trip was punctuated by a number of surprisingly tolerable male rollers, and I have to admit that when done right the roll-neck does have a splash of Carte Noire charm about it. If you’re keen on replicating the definitive Parisian neck and you have the body of a honed athlete then practise your French accent because you’ll be all right tight. I’m sure that if you stick off the mince pies for the foreseeable future this snug Lyle & Scott roll neck will make you look more Parisian than the Arc de Triomphe. And if you love mince pies so much that you’d like your roll neck to replicate a pastry pattern in its neck the S.N.S. Herning have made your dreams come true with their bolt roll neck, just look at that lattice. Good luck guys you’re going to need it, this one’s tricky to pullover. Just remember that contrary to the musical claims made by Oasis, you’ve not got to roll with it.

Roll up, roll up

Roll up, Roll up