5 best fashion headphones

Don’t blend into the background with beige ear furniture. While you’re spoiling your ear canals with some choice beats, pimp your lugs with a dash of colour. Here are a few we chose earlier…

Monster (PRODUCT) RED Solo HD (£170)
Monster’s Dre/Gaga-endorsed range pumps some decent quality audio, but these bright red cans should also slice through the greyness of the bleakest British summer. Not cheering you up enough? Every time you buy a pair, Monster throws five bucks towards fighting AIDS in Africa.

WeSC Alp Horn (£100)
According to our fashion editor, the headphone brand du jour is WeSC (WeAretheSuperlativeConspiracy, apparently). ‘All the kids are wearing them,’ he said, ‘and all the kids can’t be wrong.’ Can’t they? Of course they can, but in this case, they’re right on the money – it’s hip to be rectangular.

Skullcandy Tokidoki (£70)
Tokidoki’s Japanese-inspired art is the anti-Hello Kitty. And that alone is enough reason to don a pair before leaving the house. But add Skullcandy’s enviable record of stuffing their stylish ear covers with decent drivers and there’s little reason for complaint. Not that you’d hear it if there was.

Nixon Trooper (£45)
Why you’d trust a watchmaker to deliver your sonic kicks is a mystery. You wouldn’t buy a timepiece made by Grado. Okay, so we probably would, too, but you get the gist of the argument. As it turns out, Nixon’s can-making abilities are none too shoddy, as proven by these jaunty Troopers.

Sony Walkman W252 limited edition Metal Gear Solid (£60)
Yes, technically these water-resistant Sony headphones are actually an MP3 player. Yes, they are also a marketing gimmick. But we think they’re styling out enough camo-chic to overlook those things. Plus, they come with half a dozen songs from MGS: Peace Walker for PSP. Anyone who says that’s not cool has to apologise to Solid Snake personally.