SPEAKER_02 0:13

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Menswear Style Podcast with me, your host, Pete Brooker. In this episode, I'm going to be talking to influencer Carlos Costa, the bearded Portuguese Wonderman that has over 200,000 followers on Instagram. This was less of an interview, more of a conversation with questions, as Attenborough would say, and here's a clip.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Yeah, I like to edit my pictures a little bit, you know. I don't do massive edits, I'll do little tweaks on the image, that's about it. No, not a lot retouching goes on on my images, nothing like that.

SPEAKER_02 0:44

But if it only if it's requested, but very rarely.mensworth style.co.uk to keep up to date with all the UK fashion news. Subscribe to us in iTunes and follow us on the social at menswear style. If you'd like to be featured on the Menswear Style podcast or want to get in touch, then the email is info at menswearstyle.co.uk, okay? Let's crack the nut on this. Here is Editor at large for Men's Wear Style, Beckloads. I'd like to speak to Beck Loads. Beckloads, I always want to speak to you. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 1:44

I'm good, thank you. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 1:45

I'm really well. Editor at large at Menswear Style. Beck, it's really early in the morning, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 1:51

It is quite early.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

And this is like our fifth take because everything's dropping out and technology is going against us, but we'll persevere. Beck, you've got to get on to work, so I think I might just go straight into the articles and the news stories that have been circulating the British fashion press. We may as well start with the Gareth Gates waistcoats. Gareth Gates.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

I caught him Gareth Gates the other day, actually, and I felt very bad about that.

SPEAKER_02 2:19

Gareth Gates was a singer, right? He was the X-Factor guy.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

He was. He is. You know what?

SPEAKER_02 2:24

I'm not even going to edit that out. I'm going to just leave it in. Here's a little plug for Gareth Gates. I meant Gareth South Gates, of course, and his uh and his wonderful waistcoats. The renaissance of waistcoats has been quite spectacular, and he's been the catalyst for this, hasn't he?

SPEAKER_00 2:38

He has indeed, yeah. It's it's mad actually, the the takeoff um from it. There's yesterday, actually, as we're recording after the uh the uh unfortunate event of the World Cup, um Gareth Gates was wearing his waistcoat again, and even the nation were behind him, and we had waistcoat Wednesday. Um so the sales have gone mad for especially Mark Suspense and um they were handing out waistcoats yesterday, and apparently even on a flight, I think, uh to Russia yesterday, they were getting free waistcoats. So uh yeah, it's gone mad.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

How wicked. Well, you actually were given waistcoats on the flight. BA are stepping it up, aren't they? I think it's because they're uh they've stopped all of their free meals.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

Yeah, probably.

SPEAKER_02 3:22

They've got a little bit of leftover expenditure, they can just now hand out waistcoats. So MS has sold out, and uh apart from a couple of ridiculously massive sizes, it's just been quite a revelation, really. No one's actually thought of having a waistcoat as a fashion piece for a long time. But I'm guessing the climate and everything else, you know, you can't go around in a free piece. He wants to just be a little bit smarter than just wearing the the the sports athletia wear. So a waistcoat is a nice in-between for him, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 3:53

I think it's great. I think he looks really good in it, and I think it's kind of given a different look to the team, and yeah, I think it's a great idea, and hopefully more people will wear that. I are you aware of a waistcoat?

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Um I'm not aware of a waistcoat, I have to say. Uh but that's purely because I don't go out and hunt them out. I think it's just you know, if there was more waistcoats readily available in my eye line then maybe I'd I'd give it another look. But he also doesn't rock the waistcoats for a fashion thing. I don't think and what I mean by that is I don't think he goes out and says, This is the waistcoat, this is gonna be me, Mr. Fashion. It's just him putting something on that is right for the climate. He wears light blue cotton shirts, you know, the chevron ties that go with it. He he doesn't try and do anything bilious and say, Right, I'll go for the floral print tie or whatever. It's all very subdued, it's all quite muted. So yeah, good old Gareth and uh a shame they went out. I was enjoying that.

SPEAKER_00 4:53

A shame, yeah. I was gutted to watch them more than anything, to be honest, their reaction afterwards. But um, it's one of those things, it happens, and um, yeah, let's see who wins it.

SPEAKER_02 5:05

Yeah, well, by the time this goes out, we probably already know.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

But yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

But you know, it could be a revelation, people might not know yet. Uh, what else is in the news, Max?

SPEAKER_00 5:14

So we had a launch recently um from Bulldog Skincare, and um they've actually come out with their first razor. That was a really interesting uh product, actually. Although it sounds like a very simple product, it's actually had a lot of thought put into it. Um, they they're a very eco-friendly company. I had no idea they're actually a vegan company. Um, so their packaging is made out of sugar cane plastic and things like that. So they're desperate to try and find a way to get rid of any plastic um in the product. The only bit left that they couldn't get rid of is the bit that surrounds the actual blades. Um, but yeah, they've come out with this great product with a bamboo handle. So um, yeah, I really like the design process behind it. Um, so yeah, have a read up on uh menswear style about it. It's very interesting.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

I've seen Bulldog on the shelves and I just assumed it's plastic, like everything else. It just has there's no noticeable difference to the naked eye that this is not a plastic product. So and if they've been doing this from day one, then credit to them because it's everything now people are scrutinizing plastic and it's it's getting zeroed in on. But these guys have been doing non-plastic since day one.

SPEAKER_00 6:26

Yeah, definitely. They're they're really taking everything into consideration. The packaging, I mean, it's just like a cardboard recycled cardboard packaging. Um, so you can just chuck that in your compost or in the bin. Um, yeah, so they really do they they keep it quiet, which is quite nice. They're not ram ramming it down people's throats, you know, like but they're doing it in a nice way, so yeah, good good for them.

SPEAKER_02 6:52

And also they don't have any plastic in the product itself, do they? So I think with a lot of exfoliators and creams, they have these uh I think they're called micro beads.

SPEAKER_00 7:02

Oh yeah, in the uh in their other products, yeah, definitely. They've never used microbeads, they've always stayed away from that. Um there's no cruelty at all um with any of their products. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

I I always look at the the how did this start bit on on any product or any brand. Uh, you know, how did this come about, who who got it going? And the founder will always be someone or a couple that said, I couldn't find the product for me in my life, so I went out and invented it.

SPEAKER_00 7:30

So true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

I really like that, but at the same time it would be refreshing to see someone that goes, I had an idea that would make me a shit ton of money. I couldn't do it myself, but I knew someone that could, so I gave the idea to them. Okay, cool. So check out the the article that you did on the Men's Wear Style site about the bulldog skincare, and also go and check them out. They're on the shelves and ready and online. And lastly, I wanted to touch upon the new James Bond swim shorts by Oliver Brown.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

They're very cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:01

And did you notice about did you see them before I told you about them? Because I just feel like they're everywhere, but I'm worried that they're everywhere in James Bond forums.

SPEAKER_00 8:09

I hadn't seen any uh pictures of them. Um and when you sent the link, I was like, oh, that's what they look like. They're really I think I mean I actually really like Oliver Brown. I remember when they first started, I was actually selling them in a shop uh way back when really um yeah, and um the founder came to the store and things like that, and it was um really really nice company and a really good quality brand. Um but yeah, this James Bond thing sort of capsule collection is fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 8:38

Oh, what shop what shop were you wearing in?

SPEAKER_00 8:41

Bluebird, actually, the bluebird in Chelsea. They were um sort of yes, and they did film around there for the main Chelsea fans out there. Um but there was a great store um downstairs below the restaurant. It's actually not there, they've moved to Common Garden now. They have a a huge new store in Common Garden, which is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_02 8:59

Well, yeah, because I was checking to see where else they sell Oliver Brown, and they've got stores all over now. So I I believe they've only been going around ten years, maybe twelve years or so. But they're they've got a lot of stores out in London, they've got Canary Wharf, Knightsbridge, um tons of other places. I couldn't actually remember them all, but they've they're all over the place. But these shorts uh they've got the original illustrations from the poster work back in the day. But I did think that the only thing that I would say uh the mini criticism is I think they're slightly misleading on the website because they're photographed with all of the other recruitments like the magazines. So for example, you've got the Sean Connery fundable shorts and you've got the harpoon that can come with it, the underwater camera, the flippers, the magazine of Sean Connery on Life magazine, and it's all pictured around these shorts. So whilst I was talking about these shorts on an another podcast that I run that's dedicated to James Bond, I was saying how cool these shorts are, because you know, you get your own underwater camera with 'em, you get your own harpoon, you know. And then when I realised what a what a fucking idiot I've been, I had to go back into the podcast and completely re-edit it. Oh yeah. But that's my fault. They at no point do they say that you'll get any of that stuff for free. So but do check them out if you haven't done already. Bex, I think that's about it. You've got to get to work.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

I do, yes. Another day in the office. But um, yeah, hopefully the uh mood will be alright. Hopefully people won't be too down in the face.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

So how come you're not ridiculously hung over today?

SPEAKER_00 10:38

I was quite well behaved. Um there was definitely uh some rum cocktails flowing. Um but yeah, it was uh interesting on the way home. There was definitely some very sad faces and some slightly uh yeah, some legs sort of flying all over the place. A lot of alcohol been uh consumed, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Beckloads there, thank you, Beck's editor at large for menswear style. Now that interview, as promised, with influencer, content creator, traveler, menswear style writer, all of the above, Carlos Costa. Okay, so I'd like to introduce to the podcast now Carlos Costa. Carlos, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 11:15

I'm great, thank you very much. How are you?

SPEAKER_02 11:18

I'm wonderful, Carlos. It's really good to speak to you, Carlos. For the uninitiated, could you just give us a little bit of a backdrop of well, A, where you are now. I know you're in Bournemouth. Yeah. But where you uh where it all began for you.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Where it's all began for me. Uh in influencer modeling, it's all begun about five or six years ago. So I started quite late on these um stuff. Uh I think was when Instagram started kind of thing, and um that's all where all it kicked off for me. Um my picture just got shared and shared uh all around the world, and then um pretty much every brand and uh photographers and and uh scouts and stuff just start reaching out and very overwhelming.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

Because it started six years ago for you. I mean, at the same time that Instagram was starting, so it's almost like fishing for the first time and then catching a great white within like 10 minutes of putting your rod in the water, right?

SPEAKER_01 12:10

I know, and um you know what? I didn't even plan it. That's the best thing about it. So it all just happened crazy. Like I said, like my picture got shared, and um I wasn't really paying much attention to Instagram. I didn't plan being a model or an influencer. I was actually working as a keyworker in a treatment center at the time, and they yeah, my Instagram just exploded when the uh you know beards and tattoos and fashion stuff just started going crazy. And um, so uh one day I've got to thank Ash uh uh um a blogger who reached out to me. Um her name is Lee Ann Walker, and she reached out to me and um asking if I wanted to like uh maybe start blogging and stuff. And at first I was like, uh maybe this is not for me, but with so many brands and opportunities, I just decided to try it. And you know what? I really liked it, and you know, I enjoy creating stuff for brands. I I I love fashion, I love uh I love life, lifestyle, so I just decided to yeah, go for it, and I'm really grateful for it. So it's been a great adventure.

SPEAKER_02 13:17

Just take us back a little bit before six years. So it must have started for you, I'm guessing, in Portugal.

SPEAKER_01 13:23

In Portugal where I was born, yes. So I I was born there, but I lived there I don't know, maybe altogether about 17 years, 18 years. I left I left Portugal quite a few times and then went back for a little bit. Um I always traveled a lot again uh around Europe. I was in Germany and um I went back to Portugal. I think this was like 2002, 3, something like that. Yeah, 2002. And I met this girl. Actually, we knew each other from when we were kids, but she disappeared. So I met this girl, and she was back from England, back to Portugal, and uh we start going out together. And it's like a month later, I was living in England.

SPEAKER_03 14:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

Uh that quick, yeah. And um, you know, she's the mother of my daughter. I've got a 13-year-old daughter, her mom and I are friends. We got a beautiful kid together, and then yeah, I just uh made my life here in UK, so I've been here since 2013. Uh 12, sorry, sorry, 2003.

SPEAKER_03 14:27

2003, okay.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

It makes no sense, 2013. Yeah, it's 2003 I came to England.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

So just talk to me a little bit about the uh the website. So or so it's six years you've you've been on Instagram and you've seen your your following grow like to 214,000 followers. In fact, if I can just talk about that for a minute. So what's the what is like the the procedure now? Do you when you upload a post, do you have to like take time out of your day, make sure it's edited right, make sure your manager sees it. I mean, what's when you get to that certain level of cachet? Um what's what's the policy like uploading a post?

SPEAKER_01 15:05

Uh so uploading a post, um it's not like when I first started at all, you know, we used to get an iPhone picture and everything was cool, or then I went to um uh do collaborations with photographers and or share whatever budget I had to create content for a brand with a photographer and just go around and shoot. Now it's totally different. So I've learned to take pictures, I invested in cameras, and my wife, so we pretty much do most of it ourselves. We do still work with other photographers, obviously. The normal routine would be we scout the location, plan a little bit, and then go and shoot it, and then come home. I will edit the pictures, resent to the brand for approval, then post on the date required. If it's nothing, uh because I also like to create content that is not all just uh paid. With those, yeah. I like to edit my pictures a little bit, you know. I don't do massive edits, I'll do little tweaks on the image, that's about it. No, not a lot of retouching goes on on my images, nothing like that. But if it only if it's requested, but very rarely.

SPEAKER_02 16:17

Right. And your wife is Jenna, and she works on the website which is rock and soul with you. Yeah. Yeah. So how much of a say does she have in terms of you both you're both on Instagram, you're both in the pictures together, a lot of the pictures, you're on hers, she's on yours, vice versa. So when you've you're uploading the pictures onto the laptop, is she over your shoulder saying, yeah, that one or no, not that one? So like who gets the final vote?

SPEAKER_01 16:42

I think we both agree. Um depends who the picture is. So um I think she will have the final say if she's in a picture for sure. Um I think if women are a bit more particular.

SPEAKER_03 16:56

Oh, tell me about it. Tell me about it.

SPEAKER_01 16:58

So um, yeah, she will have to have the final say, and you know, I think uh most women are like that.

SPEAKER_02 17:05

I know there's um for like my personal Instagram, I'd I'd even get a picture or post a picture of my girlfriend, and she would just say, No, not that one, my hair's a mess. And I was like, You're kidding, right? That is the best picture I've ever taken in my life, and you're complaining about a little tiny bit of hair that's off.

SPEAKER_01 17:21

Hey, hey, yeah, I know, I know. Look, I was actually having a friend um a conversation with a friend of mine about that because it's like, does your wife um like you take a really good picture of her and you want to post it, but you feel like you have to uh ask for authorization or approval? And um I'm like, yeah, dude, yeah. I I like I take this picture and I'm like, Jenna, look at this picture, it's really good. And she's like, Oh, you're not gonna post that, are you? That's like, I don't like this, I don't like that. And I'm like so proud of that picture, but I think she just sees it in a different way, you know. They know themselves better than than we do, I suppose. So yeah, but what's funny? He had exactly, exactly the same uh experience with his girlfriend that I have with my wife. Right. So it's it's just so funny, actually.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Yeah, I've I've pretty much got the same thing. I mean, my girlfriend's not precious in any slightest way, and she doesn't give too much of a crap about Instagram. She likes the cats, so she's got her own Instagram profile for the cats. So she'll she'll update uh like pictures of the cats two or three times daily, and she's talking to other cats in Australia and they're commenting back and forth as cats, so in the voice of a cat. Um so that's her that's her level of insanity. Um, and then I'll just try and post a picture of mine that might get about ten likes versus a hundred likes for a cat, you know. And I've spent like an hour or so editing the pictures down, getting the location, and it's just yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

Yeah, animals are very popular.

SPEAKER_02 18:49

I I don't think there's any bias towards an animal. So, like if you see a picture of a guy or a girl, um you have a decision to make on so many different things on whether you like that picture, whether you fancy that guy, like that girl's dress. There's too much stuff going in to factor into a decision, but if you see a picture of a cat, there's no uh there's no prejudice there, is it? There's no agenda of a cat.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

It's just sort of too cute or it's doing something nice, or yeah, it's uh yeah, it's an easy decision to make there.

SPEAKER_02 19:17

Carlos, you just got married, or did you get married last year and the video's just gone live?

SPEAKER_01 19:21

No, I got married last year, yes. I got married in August last year. I proposed about three years ago in Isle of Wight. We rented a little cottage and then we planned to spend another two years planning the wedding. Oh, Jenna spent two years planning the wedding. I was just I was just observing. Nice. Um, I tell you what, Jenna did such an amazing job. I think she should be a wedding planner. She created the website just for the wedding, you know. People are SVP'd, uh, people chose what they ate, where they slept. It's like insane. Anyway, so we got married in Portugal. Uh and um a lot of our friends and family, most of my family is in Portugal anyway, but a lot of our friends and family like to travel, so we we took the opportunity to get them on the holiday and come to our wedding. So uh yeah, we got married up in the mountains near my hometown in Portugal. We had um a nice outdoor wedding, lots of safari tents, and the ceremony was by the rivers. Seriously, um I don't know if this is because it's my wedding, but it's one of the most beautiful weddings I ever seen. And um Bena. Uh it was very emotional too. Lots of guests from all over the world, so uh it was just was amazing. I'm getting emotional now, it's really really nice.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

It looks great. Um I just saw the video on your website, which by the way, I should give a shout out. It's rockandsoul.com. Am I pronouncing that right because it's R-O-Q-U-E? So I don't want to screw that up. But yeah, rockandsoul.com. And uh you can find um a little video on there on one of the on one of the blogs that you posted.

SPEAKER_01 21:04

Um yeah. Can I give a shout out to the people who did the video because they did such amazing jobs, and everyone thinks they're my sisters because we s we share the same surname. Uh the Costa Sisters, you know, they they were brilliant. They spent uh I think five days with us there. It was amazing. Our video is probably one of the best I've seen from uh from them as well. So um yeah. Thank you for the Costa Sisters and the photographer, Claudia Rose Carter.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

Yep. No, it looks great. Are they based in the UK or are they out there?

SPEAKER_01 21:39

They're based in UK. So the Costa Sisters, uh they're not my sisters, by the way. Everyone thinks they are. Uh even yesterday someone was asking. Um yeah, so they're based in Cardiff, they travel around the world, creating amazing videos, and the Claudia, the photographer, she's also based in um She was in London, but I think she just moved somewhere else. I can't remember, but she's based in UK.

SPEAKER_02 22:02

Uh a little bit about your suit card. Your your suit was fantastic. I looked at it and I thought that looks like linen. So just it is. If it is, because I I checked on the blog afterwards. I thought this looks like a really nice, uh cool fabric which you'd need out in Portugal, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:18

Yeah, but it's August, it's hot, it's up in the mountains, so it needed to be linen. But it was again, that was an amazing experience with uh John Lincaster from VS Mono. He designed the suit and he made the suit. Um, but that was an amazing experience. You know, I went to to his um office, I picked the fabric, picked the buttons. He asked me a bunch of questions on what I wanted, and I explained what I wanted, and he gave me suggestions, and then he said, Okay, I'm gonna draw, and I'm gonna then we meet again in two weeks. And then when we met, I was like, Man, you don't need to change anything. Amazing. Just do it.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

What were the kind of things that you had in your mind that you wanted him to design? What was the concept?

SPEAKER_01 23:04

So I wanted um like cropped and folded in the bottom of my trousers. I wanted a pinstripe, obviously, so that's when I picked up linen pinstripe fabric. This construct disconstructed, you gotta bear with me, some words I struggled to say in English. Yeah, so it was a bit this deconstructed, it was very light, you know. Um the only bit um it had um any um inside um was on the arm, so we could slide in very nice to through the arms when you put it on. Also, the uh the waistcoat was open in the back, so you could see the braces from the back. It's just amazing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:50

No, it looked great. So you had like it was a short collar waistcoat underneath uh like a peaked collar jacket, which yeah, I don't see a lot of, but it really, really worked in this combination.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

John is a really good designer, do you know? And uh when we were talking and everything he he said, like I would say something like, Oh, about like you know, the trousers to be like this, and you go, Okay, I've got an idea, we can do this, and you know, with a fish tail in the back, and you know, I'm like, oh, it's like he's reading my mind, yeah. So yeah, it was an amazing experience, you know. And I love that suit. I've not worn this since, but everyone's like, dude, you gotta wear that suit again.

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

So summer's coming, I think I will.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Yeah, well well, definitely. I mean, that's the great thing about I think the guys versus the girls that can get extra mileage out of their wedding suit, right? Girls that girls aren't that fortunate, I think, when they buy a wedding dress, they're kind of locked down to a certain few days of the year when they can wear it.

SPEAKER_01 24:47

Yeah, I think I I think Jenna was good in that because she can wear a dress, uh just one little bit needs to be altered, and that's it. It can be a nice, actually bohemian kind of dress. She was actually a little bit worried my suit was gonna clash with a with the wedding dress, but I think it went really nice. No, no, it didn't perfectly because she felt like, oh, that's not what I had in mind for you. I was like, oh, okay, I can't see your wedding dress, so I don't know what this is. But it actually went really well, and uh I'm glad I didn't want to steal any attention of her. I think uh it's a lot about the woman for a wedding, you know, it's about a cop, but I think it's more pressure on the woman, especially she um organized it all.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Did you have a wedding planner at all? Was it no Jenna?

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Yeah, Jenna did uh did it all pretty much. I would like I did very little. I'm very honest. I'm so proud of her, and uh I I can't steal that off her. I did very, very little for the wedding. And um, yeah, that was part of my speech. Actually, it's just like she did amazing, she planned it all.

SPEAKER_02 25:58

Oh well, she did a great job by the looks of things. Actually, it's a really good blog on the site, kind of detailing all the behind the scenes, everyone that contributed, all the arts and craft that went into it. So I recommend checking that out because that's one of the best wedding blogs I've read in a long time.

SPEAKER_01 26:13

Yeah, so with uh our website, you know, we're turning into a shop in the next few days. We're gonna start selling stuff in there.

SPEAKER_02 26:20

Oh, interesting. Uh tell us a little bit more about that, please.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Um I was starting a brand in a brand with Jenna called Rock and Soul. That's why the website is called Rock and Soul. We've we've made a few things, uh, but our business partner can't do it anymore with us. So we had to kind of stop that. But we still want to go ahead and sell some stuff for now. So we got a few vintage bits we're gonna sell, and also we did collaborations with a lot of uh brands that we like uh for homeware and stuff like that. So uh it's cool. Just keep an eye out, it's gonna be really cool. Um, also, uh I'm selling some stuff that you know I used or clothes, uh like um X Wordrope stuff, I call it.

SPEAKER_03 27:06

Right.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

Uh so we're gonna sell some of that stuff to stuff um I liked and I still like, but you know, it's time to let go or stuff I used in shoots, but I didn't keep. So if people want to grab um something cool, a bargain, yeah, keep an eye out. But definitely we we want to work towards uh finding somewhere else to produce our clothes because the idea was brilliant and still is brilliant, and I think it'll be something a little bit different than what most people offer out there and cool.

SPEAKER_02 27:39

And will you both be having a hand in the design element of this brand?

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Yeah, we did. We did, yeah. Um we did. We both designed some of the jackets, and then our business partner designed um a lot of the shirts and trousers.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

We all had a bit of a designing in our so I guess what's the fashion scene like down in Bournemouth? I know this might sound a bit of a tangent, but I've been to Bournemouth a few times. I was just thinking, the last time I was down in Bournemouth, I actually played a gig in Bournemouth called the iBar. I thought, oh wicked, this bar's uh it's like this very futuristic bar with about 50 odd plasma screens, and the idea was that they were gonna have about 50 of these scattered around the country and you could actually interact with other people in other bars. Like you'd actually be in a bar talking to a screen with somebody else on the other side of that screen that's in London or Scotland, whatsoever. And I went I went on I went on the the website to have a look and thought, huh, I wonder if that really did take off. And uh and it shut pretty much the week that I went down. So uh it shut about seven years ago, sadly. But um, that aside, what's uh what's Bournemouth like in terms of nightlife, in terms of people? Yeah, give us uh give us a spiel.

SPEAKER_01 28:48

Okay, um I don't really go out that much, uh not anymore, uh especially in Bournemouth. Actually, uh we don't spend much time here, only in a week, and then most of the the weekends we travel and stuff, but nightlife in Bournemouth, if someone is looking, my type of night here would be smoke and ices. They that it's a small bar, they they get a couple of like bands of solo guys playing in there. 60 million postcards is also cool. And there used to be a pub club that I used to go a lot in when I first came down here after uh the treatment. It called the Winchester, but that that closed down I think this year or last year. But Bournemouth is a very it's um a university, it's a mix of university and retirement houses at the moment. So uh universities getting bigger and bigger, so you see a lot of young guys getting absolutely smashed. Yeah, so I don't I don't go out that much. I'd rather go somewhere else. I'd rather go up to London or you know I I'm a guy I I like gigs, so I'm up for like music all the time. And down here you you get some, but when we have the nice gigs around here, I'm somewhere else in uh around uh in the world, so I I don't get lucky to actually see much down here. Uh well I tell you what I like about Bournemouth and what I don't like about Bournemouth. I don't like Bournemouth at all. I don't like the town. I don't. It's uh it's nothing special, it's not you know, but I love uh the mix of cultures down here. I love the fact that we have a sandy beach and stretches quite long from you know sandbanks down to Inglesbury Head, Murdyford. It's very nice. I like the mix of the beach and uh I'm near the new forest. All the little villages around Bournemouth are amazing. Christchurch, Murdiford, uh just goes on and on. All these little villagers are just just worth leaving down here for that, you know. Because Bournemouth is just, I don't know, it's just a little town but with a big uni.

SPEAKER_02 30:54

Yeah. Listen, thanks, Carlos, for jumping on. I just wanted to finish off with a couple of uh quickfire questions that we'll perhaps be doing as a feature on the end of all these influencer questions, and also my editor has just WhatsApp's me as I was on the blower, and he said, Can you can I ask him this question? So, Craig, my editor wants to know how do you plan to continue influencing in the future and balancing it with family life?

SPEAKER_01 31:20

Uh, the same way I've been doing it now. We sp we we spend a lot of time together. I actually Jenna works from home, so every time I get a job that is traveling, I always try to get Jenna to go with me. And so that's our family life. One thing I've been losing a little bit is as I mentioned, I've got a 13-year-old daughter, and she moved to Oxford, and so we don't see each other as much. So I'm planning to maybe when she's getting a little bit older to travel make her travel with me a bit more when she's off school. So that's that's how I plan to balance things up.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

Yeah, okay, that's nice. Yeah, so uh it must be quite surreal for her, because obviously social media is very much for the youngsters. I still believe it's like the lifeblood driven by the young people. Then as she's on Instagram, seeing her dad become this uh sensation on Instagram. I think quite a spectacle for her.

SPEAKER_01 32:16

I think she's proud, she doesn't really let much go, but I think her friends are more proud than she is because her friends keep coming up to her, oh your dad, uh your dad did this, your dad did that, your uh dad met this person, your dad worked with so I think she's very like laid back. So even like she only just got Instagram, but she she doesn't really like um use it. I think she uses the Snapchat for kids a lot.

SPEAKER_03 32:42

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

That that's a thing with her friends sending weird messages to each other. Yeah, I I I'm pretty sure she's um she's very proud. She's um, you know, she just like um keeps it cool, I suppose.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

Have you tried out this new uh Vero thing?

SPEAKER_01 32:58

I have, yes.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Um how's that going?

SPEAKER_01 33:00

I actually like it, you know. Um I like Vero. Um I like the fact that you can just like, you know, I'm listening to some stuff and suggested without the weird algorithm, so it's still chronological. Uh and they plan to keep it that way, apparently. Um yeah, I like it. I know people have been sending me messages about the CEO and all that, but oh they um he's under fire for not paying his workers, apparently, is that right? Yeah, yeah. So yeah, that's sad. So I don't know. They they and it was very slow at first. It kind of I was kind of like uh I'm gonna get off these, but it seems to be they sorted that out a little bit. I don't know, let's see how it goes, but I like it. You know, if it takes off, I think we'll be a good app. If they keep it uh um chronological, so we'll be I think we'll be good. Um to be honest, I've posted more pictures than anything else there than myself, which is opposite to my Instagram.

SPEAKER_02 34:01

Oh, really? Okay, so it's another form of another way of expressing yourself, really I suppose, isn't it? Just that you can be uh I guess Instagram, because you've got such a following now, you have to be so careful with it.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

Um I don't I don't not not I don't that that's not yes and no. It's like so my Instagram was built on fashion mostly and lifestyle, so you will see a lot of me wearing stuff. That's why I promote there, that's what you know what was built on. I like to take pictures of other things, I like landscapes, you know. And um when I post out on Instagram, it just doesn't have that engagement that I think it should this that deserves, you know, a picture. And um so it's a little bit frustrated in a way, you know. Uh people appreciate my face, which I'm very grateful for, and my body or you know, my fashion sense. Uh but there's other things to life, and it would be nice if people appreciated those on my Instagram, but it's just not the way it was built for me. Like I built it on fashion, and you know, if I knew that at the beginning, maybe I would have done it differently.

SPEAKER_02 35:12

Yeah, that's really interesting you say that because I'm experiencing a very similar dilemma here because I've built myself as a public figure, even though I'm not a public figure, but it was just what everyone else was doing at the time. So you have a succession of seeing my face on everything and b you know promoting all these brands. And then uh at the same time, I think public figures and influencers pick up a camera and start taking pictures themselves of other people and other things, and what they do with that stuff then becomes a bit of an anomaly. You know, where does it go? That picture of a building that I took, or that great picture of a stranger that I took, where can I upload that? It's much better than, in my mind, a picture of my face going out with the internet. It's much more interesting, but it doesn't it doesn't seem to have a space in the world where I can actually house it.

SPEAKER_01 35:58

Yeah, I tell you what, I don't even like to post pictures of myself. But I have to. I have to um I have to, and you know, um I know I inspire a lot of guys out there, you know. I get amazing messages from people saying, hey, you know, I look up for you, uh you really inspire me, fashion sense, grooming sense, uh lifestyle, you know, even your life, how you turn your life around. So I get like a really, really uh artwarming uh um messages, and I'm so grateful and I really appreciate them because they they actually bring me down to earth. Um but I really would like to post pictures, not just of me, you know, and get the same reaction of people. But I don't think my Instagram platform was built for that, so I don't think it's gonna work. Um friend suggested maybe just open one for deeper photography. Uh, but now Vero came along, so maybe I'll go and use that one.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Uh what's your do you have a handle for Vero?

SPEAKER_01 36:58

It's just my name, Carlos Costa. Cool.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

Well, everyone get out there and see what Carlos is doing differently. The world outside of Carlos' face. Yeah, it's going.

SPEAKER_01 37:08

I think there's two people, two pictures with my face, and the rest is pretty much uh uh I've recently been to Morocco, so a lot of stuff I took in Morocco.

SPEAKER_02 37:17

Oh, wicked. Cool.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Little little pictures. But I've got like I've got um files and files of uh landscape images I've took throughout the years uh that I've never posted. Some of them I've not even edited.

SPEAKER_02 37:30

Great. Well, Carlos, uh thanks again for your time. If I can just end with these quick fire questions. Vans or Converse.

SPEAKER_01 37:37

Wow, how can you say oh my god. You just like, do you know I don't like to I forgot, I don't like to favorite things. Um there's too many good stuff out there. Okay, but yeah, do I have to pick one?

SPEAKER_02 37:50

Uh you don't have to pick one.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

Yeah, I hate favorite things. Both uh I grew up with both Converse and uh Vans. Uh I think depending I don't know. I go for I go for Converse.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

It sounds like we're gonna dedicate it another episode to this.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Yeah, yeah. I I go for Converse as I don't wanna I'm breaking my rule. I'm I'm gonna pick one.

SPEAKER_02 38:18

Alright.

SPEAKER_01 38:18

Well I I go for Converse for my style at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 38:24

Your favorite Bond, James Bond, and favorite James Bond film.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

I forgot the name of the film. Uh it's gonna be Sean Connery and the one with the golden gun. What's the name of it?

SPEAKER_02 38:36

Well, it's Goldfinger.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Goldfinger, that's the one.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

Nice, nice pick. Uh tie or bow tie? Uh make of watch.

SPEAKER_01 38:48

Make of watch, omega.

SPEAKER_02 38:50

Omega, oh very bond. Um do you have a walk-in wardrobe?

SPEAKER_01 38:56

I do. You do?

SPEAKER_02 38:57

What you got you got a separate room dedicated to it?

SPEAKER_01 39:00

Yes, uh, so in our house there's um a bedroom that was very small, so we I put some shelves and some um uh some like um things to hang. We bought this stuff to make a walking wardrobe, and we made our walking wardrobe, got drawers, go shelves, go uh things to hang. So it's a walking wardrobe.

SPEAKER_02 39:23

Oh, you got some pictures of that.

SPEAKER_01 39:26

I think we have, and I think there's a video somewhere down the line on my Instagram that I did a collaboration with a watch brand before, and uh some of it was filmed in my wardrobe. One side's Jenna's, one side is mine, but it looks like my shoes have taken over Genocide 2.

SPEAKER_02 39:42

Oh god. How did you manage that? That's it.

SPEAKER_01 39:45

That's a I've got too many shoes. I I think I've got a problem uh shoe addiction or something. I've got too many shoes. I just love shoes.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

See, I think I've got a shoe addiction, but not the money to back it up.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

Uh yes, uh I'm I I I think I always have because even when I was a kid I used to sort of collect trainers. Uh so yeah, the money was like very limited back then, and um I think I'm very fortunate now as well. Uh you know, I get brands to to um give me these amazing shoes. So um I'm lucky, but yeah, it's it's hard to keep up when they're so expensive.

SPEAKER_02 40:27

It's uh well it's a good place to be. Uh how many pairs of denim do you own?

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Denim?

SPEAKER_02 40:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

Uh I have no idea. Uh but probably 12, 15, 20 pairs of jeans, and I gave a law away recently.

SPEAKER_02 40:46

That's manageable. Well, that leads me on to my very last question. Who gets your hand-me downs?

SPEAKER_01 40:52

Who gets what? Sorry.

SPEAKER_02 40:53

Yeah, uh your hand-me downs. So uh I know you said you're gonna be putting them up for sale or auction almost now, but previously to that, who would get the stuff your your stuff that you no longer wear or all the stuff that you um I sold some stuff on my on my wife's Depop because I don't have one.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

We sold some on eBay. But usually I give it to friends, uh, give a lot of bags to charity once in a while. I have a clear iron I I just fill a few bags. Some give it to um some charity shops and some um some I put them up. Uh even the other day I went to a carboot sale and I just sold so many stuff so cheap. I think um the a woman pretty much both most bought most of my stuff. Uh she recognized there was like, oh my god, there's a lot of good stuff here, and um she she kept coming back, she went home and got some more money and came back.

SPEAKER_02 41:46

She did a supermarket sweep of the place.

SPEAKER_01 41:49

Yeah, so I'm pretty sure a lot of the guys follow me on Instagram would like to buy stuff, so I think the website will be away for that without using other um platforms. So yeah, that's why I'm open anyway, because I I I get guys like I I like that jacket you're wearing, but it's a bit too expensive for me. You know, not everyone can afford everything we post, and uh so maybe you know you can't buy it right then when it's in fashion, but you can buy it later on, man. Sure, you know.

SPEAKER_02 42:19

And you look like a a a regular build, if you don't mind me saying, what about six six foot?

SPEAKER_01 42:24

Oh yeah, I'm six six one or six, yeah. Yeah, and um yeah, 30 waist. Yeah, I'm uh I put a little bit weight at the moment, but I'm still like a 30 waist anyway.

SPEAKER_02 42:37

So there you go. Well listen, uh Carlos, thanks again for your time. If uh people want to go check out your Instagram, it's rock, which is R O Q U E underscore 80 for the people that aren't there already. And your website is www.rockandsoul.com. Again, well by the time this comes out your store will be up and running, hopefully, on the website, and people can uh have a look and buy some really cool things that you've been wearing and sharing.

SPEAKER_01 43:02

Yeah, hopefully this week. We're aiming to launch it this week. There's a couple of things we need to do, but uh hopefully I'll be able to shop there this week.

SPEAKER_02 43:11

Carlos Costa there, thank you, Carlos, thank you, Beckloads, and thank you for listening. That's it for the Menswear Style podcast for this month. Remember, folks, it's only fashion and you're never fully dressed without a smile.