The contrast between the way men dress to impress in different parts of the globe has heightened recently. Dress up for Beijing, dress down for Belgravia

The way we shop is changing. Across the globe, there is a significant shift away from the ‘Age of Bling’. This doesn’t mean people aren’t shopping for luxury brands, but it is about knowing what you have rather than showing it. People have become much more discreet and discerning.

I think the only exception to this trend is China, where they are not afraid of showing that they are successful. They are seeing positive GDP growth and are also very much a patriarchal society, so you tend to see that their buying patterns are a little more charged at this stage.

This is driven partially by the fact that the major luxury brands have flocked to China to take advantage of what will probably be the single biggest luxury market by the turn of 2010.

With regards to style, there’s a move towards more conservative values and, especially with men, a return to a classic and more formal approach to dress. That’s not necessarily formal in the sense of button and bow tie, it’s more a sense of looking more respectable and stylish as an individual. If you walk the streets of London now, you see many more people with ties on than, let’s say, 18 months ago.

The great thing about suiting is you can pare it up or pare it down. For example, I’m wearing a Dunhill off the peg suit in our St James’ fit, which means it is a bit more relaxed: a higher rise on the pant, looser in the leg. It gives me more breathing space under my arms and a little more space across my back. But it still fits according to my body shape. A great transitional piece is the blazer – which we have had record sales in over the past few months – which can be worn for business or pleasure, but always completes an elegant look.

I’m wearing a tie, but I think a man can look as successful and as classic with or without. A tie is probably the biggest statement a man can give about his personality. The watch he wears and the tie selection he has tells me more about a man than anything else.

When it comes to shopping, men are naturally more conservative than women. They also strike very strong relationships with brands. They might be loyal to one, two, maybe three brands maximum, and are now much more concerned with service: what are you doing for them? How can you make this an easier experience for them? At the end of the day it’s not something that most, I won’t say all but most, men enjoy doing. On the other hand, once you get a man in a fitting room, you are more than 70% sure of recording a sale - that doesn’t tend to apply to women.

So you have to make the experience enjoyable. That’s why in the Alfred Dunhill Home stores we really wanted to ensure that the service element was very strong. For example in our Home in Mayfair, there are plasma screens in the fitting rooms so that shopping isn’t the sole reason for being in there – you can also catch up with the latest sporting results. Men are also more concerned with style, and we help there as well. Whereas a woman might ask a friend or a partner, a man wants to know from someone in authority that a suit fits well and looks good – and if it doesn’t, we tell him. By offering unsurpassed, confident service as a luxury retailer, you gain trust, and that’s a critical part of doing business with men, gaining loyalty and then nurturing that relationship over time.

Men who shop for luxury brands still expect high standards in what they pay for, both in product and service. Classic suiting is indeed back, but these days it is about where the suit is made, the story of the cloth, how it’s constructed and the personalisation that you can apply to something from a custom or a bespoke program – rather than labels and big statements of wealth.

It’s about the confidence of the individual. Men know that knowledge is power and therefore at Dunhill we are committed to providing style with intelligence.

CHRISTOPHER COLFER is Chief Executive of Alfred Dunhill; dunhill.com