A Peacock with Buckstyle—Steve Doyle

Steve Doyle is a stylish peacock and entrepreneur who resides in London. He’s the founder and editor of Buckstyle.com.

Buckstyle premiered last year in a printed format (above), and has segued into a website that covers fashion, furniture and food. It’s still evolving, and will include video and even Doyle's Kitchen! The fashion show reports are very informative, and the images are large enough to see the details of each collection. Buckstyle promises to be a favorite bookmarked site for gentlemen peacocks everywhere.

Above: One of Mr. Peacock's favorite fashion stories from Buckstyle.

Mr. Peacock: How would you describe your own style?
Steve Doyle: New Dandy, perhaps. I like to challenge pre-conceptions of what young men should wear, both in my shoots and in my personal styling. At the moment that means wearing a mixture of traditional ‘old man’ clothes like bow ties and Barbour jackets, with dandy touches. I like formality—button down shirts with buttoned-up collars, that kind of thing, but with a twist—clashing plaids are a current favourite.

MP: How old were you when you realized you were a peacock?
SD: I knew it from a very young age. I was always interested in aesthetics; the aesthetic of everything in fact from clothes to cutlery to car design. I used to drive my parents mad because I was so picky. I always knew what I wanted, and still do. To be a peacock takes confidence though and on that front I have gained, lost it and regained it over the years. As a teenager I worked for the BBC’s local TV centre in Birmingham, England (where I grew up) and worked on several fashion TV programmes. At that time, everyone in my class thought I would work in fashion but as it turned out, I took a degree in Japanese Studies (long story!) and only came back into the fashion world for work years later.

MP: What's your favorite item in your wardrobe?
SD: OK, I get it; you want me to tell you what underwear I wear? Ha-ha! A mixture of Calvin Klein and American Apparel. I always like to wear something red in my outfit—it gives me some kind of extra strength, and so sometimes the underwear is red.

MP: Do you wear vintage clothes or only "new" clothes?
SD: Lots of vintage. At Buckstyle, I created a policy of always including designer, vintage, and high street pieces in every shoot—I call this D.V.H—because this is how real men dress. Personally, I love vintage, the cheaper the better! I am fortunate to live close by some really lovely vintage stores as well. A mix of old and new looks more individual I think.

MP: Who is your style icon?
SD: In terms of style, Diana Vreeland (above left). Not from her own look, of course, but from her thoughts on fashion and style. Editor of American Vogue (above right) in the Sixties, she appreciated and enjoyed all forms of beauty, and was a maximalist—always pushing for more, always “going all the way” as she would have put it. I have seen pictures of her office at Vogue—clashing reds, Persian rugs with Japanese wall hangings; a riot of colour—she always looked forward and believed fashion should be fun, as I do.



MP: Do you have a favorite menswear designer or brand?
SD: For the Autumn/Winter season (above video), my favourite collection was by Les Hommes. They have a great aesthetic, very intelligent, bold, quite feminine but strong. They get better each season. My must-have buy for next season is a pair of wedge-brogues by Armand Basi—truly stunning; a metallic leather brogue in burgundy and navy with a thick wooden sole. For regular wear, I always find something interesting in Topman’s Design range.

MP: Any sartorial disasters you can share?
SD: As a teenager, there were countless! At 16, I used to go clubbing in the same outfit every week—black T-shirt, black trousers and a diamante belt! Truly horrific, although it was the Nineties, when block colouring looked sophisticated rather than dull. Haha!

MP: Any menswear trends you adore? or abhor?
SD: Love—wedge-brogues (not a trend yet but it will be!), Barbour jackets (above), Dr. Martens shoes + boots, plaid. Loathe—Crocs! Although that probably goes without saying.

Above: A Buckstyle interior shot.

MP: What city has the best-dressed men?
SD: So difficult. I like guys who take pride in their style, whatever that style is. In London, New York and Berlin, I think you find some really adventurous guys but there are other parts of those cities that are awful. Paris and Milan are chic but quite conservative. Overall, Tokyo probably has the best-dressed—smartly turned out conservative men as well as young, adventurous hipsters. Everywhere is exciting though; some people think that globalization has made us all look the same but I think those people must have never left their own country. Parisians wear American Apparel, but in a completely different way to Chicagoans, and that’s how it should be.

MP: How did you conceive or get the idea for Buckstyle?
SD: A couple of years ago, I was in a job I didn’t enjoy and decided, after a lot of soul-searching, that life is too short for jobs you don’t enjoy. So I took the plunge and decided to follow my dream—running my own business, publishing a fashion magazine. I lived in Tokyo back in 2002 and during my time there, fell in love with a men’s fashion magazine called Men’s non-no (above). It’s really accessible and commercial but still adventurous with its styling. So, this was my starting point—an accessible men’s fashion magazine for guys like me who know their own style and do their own thing but want to see what’s new and how other men the same age are styling themselves. I plan to continue this with Buckstyle.com, taking it forward with video fashion shoots.

Above: A sample of Buckstyle—from Three Ways to Wear: Pyjama Trend. Of course, Mr. Peacock loves the red tasseled loafers!

Mr. Peacock finds Steve Doyle’s entrepreneurial spirit inspiring, and his style sense superb. Stop by Buckstyle.com and check it out. As I said, it will only get better, especially in the hands of Steve Doyle. Mr. Peacock is crossing his fingers they may produce an occasional special printed issue of Buckstyle. Thank you Steve!