Menswear

Menswear stand as the quintessential act of the Britpop period, a quintet whose sound and presentation captured the flamboyant peak of the mid-1990s. Within the five-piece unit based in Camden, visual style and sonic output remained fused: dressed in sharp attire, the musicians projected the image of a fully formed group. That sartorial appeal ignited an intense contest among U.K. major labels eager to land the next Blur or Oasis. Months after forming in October 1994, Menswear inked a deal with Laurel, the London Records imprint, and issued their first full-length effort, Nuisance, twelve months later. Two singles landed inside the Top 20 (“Daydreamer,” “Stardust”) while the ballad “Being Brave” climbed to number ten, yet the swift ascent reversed just as abruptly. Their follow-up album, Hay Tiempo, surfaced solely in Japan during 1998, signaling an imminent dissolution. Though the spotlight proved fleeting, Nuisance cultivated a lasting audience that prompted later reunions and reissues, most notably a comprehensive box set of recorded material in 2020.

True to a group rooted in one particular movement, Menswear first gained notice inside an article devoted to that same movement, well before any band existed. Vocalist Johnny Dean and guitarist Chris Gentry were quoted in a Select piece on the mod revival sparked by Blur’s Graham Coxon, both touting a project still called Menswear. At that stage the outfit existed only as a concept. Soon the pair recruited guitarist Simon White, bassist Stuart Black and drummer Matt Everitt, and made their live bow at the Britpop venue Smashing. U.K. music papers hailed the performance, sparking a bidding war that London Records won; the label placed the act on its Laurel subsidiary.

Menswear performed on Top of the Pops days before issuing their opening single, “I’ll Manage Somehow,” in 1994. The track reached number 49, a placement improved upon by “Daydreamer” and “Stardust,” which peaked at 14 and 16. Nuisance arrived in October 1995 and entered the British album chart at number 11. “Sleeping In” climbed to 24 upon release, while “Being Brave” became their highest-placing single early the next year at number ten.

Even amid this burst of activity the foundation remained unstable. After Everitt’s departure the group released “We Love You” late in 1996, which charted at 22. Laurel terminated the contract the following year once Hay Tiempo was completed, a jangly pop album colored by country-rock accents. The record appeared only in Japan during 1998 and never reached Britain or North America. The band then disbanded following a final concert at Camden Palace.

In subsequent years the individual members stayed involved in music. Dean and Black formed Messiah, which disbanded after 2000. Everitt became a music reporter for the BBC radio station 6Music. White pursued a career as a session musician. Following an Asperger syndrome diagnosis in 2008, Dean collaborated with the National Autistic Society to promote autism awareness. In the mid-2010s he assembled a new lineup of Menswear that performed at the 2015 Shiiine On Weekender festival before he disbanded the project and launched another group called Fuck Explosion.

To mark the band’s twenty-fifth anniversary, Menswear issued The Menswear Collection in 2020, a four-CD box containing virtually every recording they made, among them the previously scarce Hay Tiempo.