Introducing: The Guide to Cloth
This week we are launching another big project for Permanent Style: The Guide to Cloth.This has been a long time in the works, but we wanted to do it right.There is a lot of piecemeal information out...
View ArticleThe basics of selecting cloth
Selecting cloth may be the hardest part of the bespoke (or made-to-measure) process. You pick the style of a suit every time you buy one off the rack, but you’re unlikely to have ever looked at a tiny...
View ArticleJapanese retail and the growth of bespoke
Our trip to Japan this week was meant to be roughly split into three parts: retail (for a shopping guide), bespoke makers (for a range of posts and freelance articles) and Japanese crafts (around...
View ArticleBallantyne/Berk cashmere available again
UPDATE: Original article published in 2013 The article in the bottom of this post was originally published in September 2013, when Berk in the Burlington Arcade was closing. Ballantyne, the factory,...
View ArticleSartoria Pirozzi at E Marinella, and the ‘three-way’ suit
The amount of good soft-tailoring in London seems to increase by the month. And not just because people decide to start travelling: sometimes I just miss them. Nunzio Pirozzi has been travelling to...
View ArticleInterview: John Happ of Alden, and the danger of fashion
During Alden’s recent trunk show at Trunk Clothiers in London, I chatted to John Happ (Alden’s Director of European Sales) about why he dislikes talking about heritage - and the penny loafers they...
View ArticleRepairing, darning and reviving cashmere: Love Cashmere, Hawick
Few things given me more pleasure than looking after good clothes, and being rewarded with a better-lasting and even better-looking wardrobe. This happens most obviously with leather products like...
View ArticleFerdinando Caraceni double-breasted cotton jacket
This is my final cotton jacket from Ferdinando Caraceni - which fortunately I received a few weeks ago and was therefore able to wear a fair bit before the weather turned. It is obvious even now that...
View ArticleVideo: Edward Green shoes being made in Northampton
Edward Green recently made this video showing step-by-step the stages of making a pair of shoes in the Northampton factory. I like the lack of pretentiousness to it - others would desaturate the...
View ArticleFriday Polos available again – with new brown colour!
With excitement and not a little relief, given how many people have been asking, I'm glad to say the Friday Polos are now back in stock. You can place your order here, on the Permanent Style shop....
View ArticleThe Permanent Style trunk show
Thank you. Thank you so much on my behalf, and more importantly on behalf of the four artisans - who trusted me, and by extension you, to come over to London and do something they'd never done before,...
View ArticleThe guide to jacketings
What makes a cloth suitable for a jacket, but not for a suit?This is a question I know many readers struggle with, particularly as offices become more casual. Without the safety of a dark suit and dark...
View ArticleJapanese tailors: Anglofilo, Sartoria Domenica, Vick Tailor and Pecora Ginza
The Japanese tailoring tradition is relatively short. After all, until the Meiji Restoration in 1868, almost no western-style tailoring was worn in the country. The Restoration made western dress...
View ArticleLuca Faloni knitwear – a high-quality staple
For the past four months I’ve been wearing and trying out the knitwear of Luca Faloni - an Italian with an online store based here in London. Luca offers quite a broad range of things, including...
View ArticleFriday Polo – down to the last few again
As per usual, the Friday Polos have been very popular and we are down to the last few. Fortunately, we have also had a handful of returns that have filled out some previously empty slots -...
View ArticleOrtus bespoke leather goods, Tokyo
Ortus leather goods are run by Naoyuki Komatsu (above) from a small leather workshop in Tokyo, just around the corner from Clematis shoes, where Komatsu was based until he set up his own company in...
View ArticleWearing a grey linen shirt – or the virtues of grey with green
A style post today, after several product and profile pieces in recent weeks. To break it down into bullets: I love grey shirts, primarily with navy suits or jackets as an alternative to white and...
View ArticleBrussels craft event
At the beginning of December, there will be an event in Brussels bringing together some of the craftsmen that featured in the Permanent Style trunk show last month - Lavabre Cadet and Michel Heurtault...
View ArticleThe guide to worsted suitings
Choosing a suit cloth is, in some ways, harder than any other area of clothing. Because they all look so similar. If we leave aside the more aesthetic – and subjective areas – of colour and pattern, we...
View ArticleInterview: Brunello Cucinelli on formal/informal style
A few weeks ago I was invited by Brunello Cucinelli to visit the HQ in Solomeo. Perhaps surprisingly, when I interviewed him Brunello was one of the most open and unpretentious people I’ve met. He was...
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