Menswear second best when it comes to stores

What's happening to the so-called revolution in menswear? GQ Style this month announced that it's (finally) ok for men to spend time and money on grooming and that men can herald being fashionable. In clearer words, if you were not aware already, it's ok for men to want to look good.

Menswear on the catwalk has certainly become more directional in the last three seasons (even Levi's is doing men's skinny jeans these days) and with publications dedicating more and more pages to men's fashion, it seems as if we're finally on equal footing with womenswear design.

So why is it that key stores and boutiques such as Harvey Nichols, Harrods and Liberty have their menswear brands tucked away in dingey basements, not so subtly stating that menswear isn't good enough for first floor fashion? On a recent shopping exercise this editor visited the aforementioned department stores, only to find menswear hidden in underworld passageways - where complicated routes and never-ending escalators and staircases lead to so-called "lower-ground floors", subterranean spaces and men's areas which resembled more a panic room than a floor dedicated to aspirational fashion.

Not surprisingly, women's fashion enjoys floor upon floor of luxury displayed clothing, in pleasing and accessible surroundings (which includes the magnificence of natural light). At Harvey Nichols, for instance, going up the first escalator your eye catches a glimpse of delectable Lanvin dresses and Jimmy Choo shoes, without even setting foot on the floor. In the men's department the nearest thing to catch your eye is a rail of socks, or the latest briefcase styles from Dunhill. Ooh, hold me back.

In Harrods, which is arguable the best menswear floor in London at present when it comes to fashionable brands, there seems to be a little more headroom when browsing the men's collections, however, its still in the basement opposite the lost and found department and staff locker rooms. It's surprising to see that in a store of this magnitude - it was once the world's largest luxury department store - that sections such as the pet salon, pottery area or children's hairdressing get better space allocation than menswear.

The rigueur amongst department stores, it seems, is to keep men's fashion stocked in gloomy, low-vaulted ceiling boites, and for fashionable blokes to browse and buy their favourite designers under flashes of artificial lighting in cramped surroundings. This is hardly motivating to make a shopper want to spend £269 on a Balenciaga short sleeve top?

Selfridges, on the other hand, has dedicated its first floor entirely to menswear and its shoe department, with its comfortable daybeds and sofas, is one of the best in London. Still, the men's superbrands room, which was hailed to be London's most directional shopping area, has about the same energy level as a morgue (i.e. on a Thursday night) and isn't nearly as chichi as the womens superbrands on the second floor.

It's wonderful to see designers such as Raf Simons, Dior Homme and Dries van Noten get their justified floor space. A pity, though, that they've been forced to stake out in many a basement.