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By Christian Rose Day

A word to the wise for all men folk out there; this is the year of the Prince: Young William has just been lauding the praises of Australian property whilst enjoying a royal visit to the colony; Hollywood directors John Carpenter and Mike Newell are debuting horror flick ‘The Prince’ and action movie ‘The Prince of Persia’ later in the year; and, naturally, this year we’ll no doubt bear witness to the artist who is again known as Prince doing something magnificently purple.

However, the big ‘Prince’ chatter of the year is all about Prince of Wales. Unfortunately, it’s not the year in which Charles finally takes over the reigns (hurry along, Liz). No, 2010 is the year of Prince of Wales check.

The Economist magazine put POW check in their ‘must have’ list for 2010, alongside black cars and white wine. “It will be back big time in 2010 as a business-attire option. Bankers blew the cred of pin-stripes and chalk-stripes in the financial crisis of 2008-09,” they claim.

But hold it right there with your ‘business attire’ insinuation, Mr Economist. Take in a good lungful of the future’s changing winds. Can you detect the hint of prêt-à-porter, non-vocational attire on the horizon? Businessmen of Great Britain might well be opting for POW check for their working week, but they’ll also be actively encouraged to do likewise outside of their industrious zone.

Classic hairstyles are back in 2010, and so too is the elegance of POW check. Caps, suits, shirts, scarves, umbrellas, trainers, jackets, waistcoats, bags, you name it, nothing will resist the charms of POW.

You might claim that it has never really been ‘out’ of fashion. Ted Baker, Paul Smith, Hackett’s, Adidas, Calvin Klein, Jaeger, even Clarks shoes have all utilised it’s versatility in recent times (incidentally, the POW check was actually designed by the Prince of Wales, or King Edward VII as he’s better known, to wear whilst out shooting in Scotland).

Looking at where we find ourselves today it’s easy to see where the onslaught began. Rebellious Alexander McQueen flecked paint onto POW check in his Analyze That collection late last year, and Diesel threw it into their winter collection. When Adam Tschorn of the LA Times absorbed the Spring/Summer 2010 runways in Milan and Paris for men, this is what he had to say: “key components of most modern men’s luxury wardrobes: linen pieces – jackets and pants in gray pinstripes and Prince of Wales checks.”

Saville Row’s Gieves & Hawkes have POW in their Spring/Summer 2010 collection. As do Giorgio Armani and Junya Watanabe. According to The Guardian website, one of 2010’s key fashion trends is the men’s grey overshirt by B Store: “It ticks the tonal grey box nicely”. Even golfing brand, Stromberg, have their funky Quinta POW check trousers.

At the Paris Fashion Week earlier in January we saw tailored POW playsuits from Yves Saint Laurent, as well as autumnal/wintry, monochrome POW jackets, cardigans and sweaters from Maison Martin Margiela.

If it’s good enough for business attire, if it’s good enough for mods and skinheads, if it’s good enough for Daniel Craig, David Walliams, and Micky Rourke, it’s most certainly good enough for you. The writing is on the wall, people. Classical touches are making a comeback, and they’re marrying out of their kind (thanks, modern menswear). Take up the challenge, buy into the hype, but if you are going ‘business attire’, leave the chalk-stripe in the early naughties where it belongs. Long live Prince of Wales!