Phil Brown: Hello winter, welcome back turtlenecks

He has a quiver of four for daywear and a zip-up one that is part of his active wear wardrobe. The Courier-Mail arts editor and Brisbane News columnist Phil Brown is quite possibly Brisbane’s biggest fan of this winter wardrobe staple.

Steve McQueen knew how to wear a turtleneck, and according to Brisbane News editor Phil Brown the winter fashion staple is still alive and well.

Winter is here and finally my turtlenecks are getting a good run.

This is the time of the year when I spend most of my time in a black turtleneck although I have expanded my repertoire to include navy.

I even have a maroon one too, which is as close to a State of Origin jersey as I will get.

I do love a nice turtleneck although it’s surprising how hard it is to find just the right one.

I have for the past few years alternated between two fine merino numbers but tragically I had to retire one late last winter. I did search high and low for a replacement but you wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find one.

“The King of Hollywood” Clark Gable wearing an overcoat with a turtleneck sweater.

My go-to now is mail order from the London-based gentleman’s outfitter Charles Tyrwhitt and I already had a heavier navy one from them but found they also do a nice fine merino black one which I ordered recently.

When it arrived I tried it on and it was perfect. I can’t tell you how happy that made me. Now I have a suitable quiver of turtlenecks to get me through the winter.

I have always been a wearer of them and when I lived in Melbourne I spent most of the year in a black turtleneck which seemed to suit the Bohemian demimonde.

In Melbourne you can wear one all year round, which I liked.

It’s a bit of a beatnik look I know but it suits me, I think. Although it did once mean that I was the subject of ridicule.

That was when I did an in-conversation event with the incorrigible actor and author William McInnes, the boy from Redcliffe, who spent half the evening ridiculing me for being a black skivvy-wearing, inner-city trendoid. Bless him.

I don’t care for the word skivvy actually. Turtleneck or roll neck is preferable and a bit classier.

Don’t call my turtleneck a skivvy, says Phil Brown.

I have been wearing this attire since I was a kid and in fact a blue turtleneck was part of the uniform of the rock band I was once in.

That band was called The Sidetracks and was the pride of Kowloon Junior School in Hong Kong. It had a fleeting moment of fame at a school concert in 1967. Just one gig and then it was over.

Our uniform was blue turtleneck sweaters, stovepipe jeans and Beatles boots, which were all the rage then. We combed our hair down to try to look like the Fab Four.

The Beatles pose for a portrait in circa 1965. (L-R) Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison. Picture: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

That turned me onto turtlenecks and I have been a devotee ever since.

I have a quiver of four for daywear and a zip-up one that is part of my active wear wardrobe. I love a cold winter’s day when I can wear my jumbo cords, a black turtleneck and my tweedy hounds tooth sports jacket.

That’s really living, right?