Senior Lecturer in Egyptian Archaeology at UCL and Director of the EES Survey of Memphis, Dr David Jeffreys, has become the highest profile figure thus far to criticise the recent launch of sometime Minister of Culture and TV archaeologiser, Zahi Hawass's eponymous line of men's clothing.

Olivia Robertson, a PhD student under the renowned Memphite scholar, told egyptastic that, like most people who stumbled across the collection's website, Dr Jeffreys had assumed that the whole thing was a spoof - a staggering work of satirical genius by our very own hand. However, social media soon confirmed that Dr Hawass's foray into hawking sartorial kitsch was very real indeed. Ms Robertson explained: "We were all horrified. David found the use of the King Tut exhibition as a backdrop for the images and the timing of the launch to both be in incredibly poor taste, utterly appalling."

Robertson went on: "In fact, David was days away from launching his own eponymous clothing line, and was convinced it would be the first archaeology-inspired menswear collection in the world. He's thoroughly disheartened that Hawass has beaten him to it. We spent months working on his range of pre-holed blue marl t-shirts and soft cotton jog-pants with frayed drawstrings (for the field) and black polo-neck tops (for the library and the lecture hall). Only last week, we spent hundreds of pounds on a promotional photoshoot in the archives of the EES's London office. We even developed a signature fragrance, Daoud: a sexy, rugged aftershave blending hints of Scotch with earthy tones of Bedrashein silt and notes of babaghanoush and hibiscus tea. We're sure Zahi has had these same ideas completely independently, but still, we're spitting mad."

Dr Jeffreys declined to comment on the matter, but tweets of support from eminent British Egyptologists have been appearing in his official Twitter account throughout the day (see image).

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