Suits you sir: Can Britain's gents be convinced that there's more to looking good than an overpriced pair of jeans?

The TV presenter and radio DJ owns no fewer than 20 suits - with another three on order. Even when he's doing his early morning radio show on Xfm - an ideal opportunity, you'd think, to turn up in his jim-jams or, at the very least, in a pair of soiled tracky bottoms a la Chris Moyles, he's suited, booted and looking decidedly dapper.

Berry, 32, cites functionality as the reason, as well as a certain sense of decorum. "I must be the only person I know who does a breakfast radio show in a three-piece suit," he laughs. "But I get up at 5am and it's just so much easier. You grab a suit and a shirt or a suit and a T-shirt then you're out the door. I now wear a hat as well because it takes me 20 minutes to do my hair. As a TV presenter, it's nice to look smart. As my Nan says, 'You're on TV dear, make an effort.'"

Now the man who's set to be Mr Heidi Range, when he marries the Sugababe later this year, is on a mission to get Britain's blokes to smarten up their acts. And in a week when David Gandy, the Dolce & Gabbana model with the million-dollar body, has launched an iPhone app - a style guide for men who don't have the looks that turn heads whether they're wearing a Savile Row suit or a sack - it seems there's something in the air.

Recession? It's a well-documented fact that, in times of financial hardship, people start to worry more about their appearance. After all, if there are going to be any redundancies handed down from on high, better make sure it's that scruffy bloke who turns up to work in his flip-flops who's first in line, right?

Or perhaps it's just a case of smart chaps fighting back against one too many comedy ties and too-tight shirt combos.

"I could not bear seeing another bad tie," Gandy has said. "Men's fashion can be confusing and bewildering, so I started to think about how I could share some of the things I've learned that can really help to change the way you look for the better, and how to simplify the choices that men have."

He cites those who get it right as the likes of Steve McQueen and Jude Law. Berry, meanwhile, looks to style icons like Michael Caine, circa the 1960s, and mod god Paul Weller. "My first job at the age of 17 was in a vintage clothes shop," he says. "The suits and shirts we got in there dated back to the 1930s and 1940s right up until the 1960s."One of my memories of that time was when I was in the shop on my own and a group of Japanese people came in and started pulling stuff off the shelves. I was like, 'Excuse me, hello... could you not do that please?' So I rang my boss and he said. 'No, these guys are from Ralph Lauren.'

"They came in twice a year and took all the 1950s knitwear, all the 1960s suits, and it might not be a complete rip-off but they'd take the way that button was or that collar was and you'd see it on the catwalk the next season.

"So, from working there, I quickly fell in love with the 1960s side of things and mod culture."

Taking his respect for a sharp suit to the next level, he has gone into business with tailor Neil Fennell and made it his personal mission to spread the word. But he's quick to separate himself from other celebrities who lend their names to fashion enterprises. "I don't consider myself a Liam Gallagher Pretty Green or a Lily Allen Lucy In Disguise, but I've been given a unique opportunity because of what I do to invest in something I love."

Originally contacted by Fennell, who offered to make him a suit, the pair hit it off thanks to their shared passion for detail. "He came and met me where I was working, and we ended up doing the first fitting in the gents toilets at Xfm in Leicester Square," he says. "I gave him about half an hour so it wasn't exactly ideal. However, he measured me up and I forgot about it. Then six weeks later he dropped my suits by and they were absolutely brilliant.

"Obviously I've had suits made for me before." Obviously? Haven't we all? "But we'd done it in a four foot by four foot cubicle inside 30 minutes, so the fact that he'd pulled two great suits that fitted perfectly out of the bag was a real tribute.

"Then the more he talked the more I realised he was absolutely switched-on and was a top drawer fella as well. I built up the confidence and a few weeks later gave him a call and said, 'I know this is your baby but I'd like half. What do you say we go into business?'" And so October House was born.

"I've always loved tailoring. I also enjoy the mixing and matching of it all. I enjoy having the grey, single-breasted, single vent, two-button and I wear that one day with a white V-neck T-shirt underneath and a little white pocket square. The following day I can wear it with a sky blue shirt, a nice thin, black tie with a tie clip and it gives it a whole different look. I enjoy that process. It's something I look forward to when I go out or get up in the morning."

Clearly his wardrobe is a source of some pride. And possibly a little shame. "When I was away my fiancee had some friends over and apparently they were open-mouthed in shock at the way my wardrobe was. Some were slightly worried. All wooden hangers; all in colour order. It's sad, isn't it?

"Some of the suits I must admit I don't wear any more. One of my favourites was one I picked up when I was 18 - and I'm pleased to say it still fits me."

So, in his opinion, who gets it right these days? And, perhaps more importantly, who gets it wrong? Time to name and shame. "Ant and Dec always look great in their three-piece suits," he says.

"And a guy we're going to be making a suit for soon is Jamie Redknapp. Now Jamie isn't daring - you'll never see him in anything other than black, blue or grey - but it works for him. He's a good-looking chap.

"Then there are other sports pundits who just wear the suit trousers with the shirt tucked in - Robbie Earle is one of the worst. Black and yellow candy-stripe shirts paired with chinos.

"And recently on Match of the Day we saw David Ginola - now he has that continental sensibility of style. The guy had some lovely black fitted suit trousers with a nice grey blazer over the top; sky blue shirt and it's undone but he has a little handkerchief in the top pocket... the watch looks nice..."

Berry will have to put his love for the suave Frenchman aside when he weds his Sugababe. While Range focuses on the pesky details, Berry is doing what he does best. Planning his outfit. "I've got three best men so I've had several meetings with them to decide what colours I want.

"My dad wore an amazing suit, shirt and tie combo to his wedding with my mum in the late 1970s and I might borrow some ideas from him. "I can't tell you because it's a secret, but I have some ideas for linings, which will be where the real wow factor is going to come." n

• www.october-house.co.uk

• davidgandystyleguide.com

IN QUOTES

"I don't mind being a bit of a chameleon. I tend to approach fashion, not intentionally, but the same way I approach music. You take pieces of everything and form your influences. A little bit here and a little bit there, and then you use all of that stuff to forge something new and original. Smart people borrow, but geniuses steal."

Mark Ronson

"People ask how can a Jewish kid from the Bronx do preppy clothes? Does it have to do with class and money? It has to do with dreams."

Ralph Lauren

"Don't be into trends. Don't make fashion own you, but you decide what you are, what you want to express by the way you dress and the way to live."

Gianni Versace

"I've always thought of the T-shirt as the Alpha and Omega of the fashion alphabet ... The White T."

Giorgio Armani

"I come from a time when every kid dressed up. Everybody. If you didn't, you wouldn't be able to hang out. It was very tribal. There's nice things in that. It's culture, it's roots for me. Maybe I just never grew up, mate."

Paul Weller

"There's no excuse to wear a bad suit today. You can get a three-piece suit for 750 or you can go to Tom Ford for 3,000-4,000 but you don't always need to do that. Just know your body shape and have it altered. The shops are trying to cater for so many different body styles - not everything is going to fit but you can work round it."

David Gandy"People ask how can a Jewish kid from the Bronx do preppy clothes? Does it have to do with class and money? It has to do with dreams."

Ralph Lauren

"I can go all over the world with just three outfits: a blue blazer and grey flannel pants, a grey flannel suit, and black tie. The jean! The jean is the destructor! It is a dictator! It is destroying creativity. The jean must be stopped!"

Pierre Cardin

"Americans have grown too accustomed to being comfortable. I find a different kind of comfort when I know I look good."

Tom Ford

"Dressing up. People just don't do it anymore. We have to change that. There's room for the Gap, but the joy of dressing is an art."

John Galliano