The Lookbook page on PS has long been a hidden jewel. A lot of readers find it useful but others don’t know it’s there. I blame the way people (including me) use websites today, searching and asking before reading and browsing.
Well, the Lookbook is here, as well as under ‘Style’ in the menu, and it has had an update. You can now filter outfits by weather (winter, summer, rain, spring/autumn) and by formality. Given there are over 400 looks, you really need it now to get a sense of them.
On the formality front, I found it best to break this down by dominant pieces of clothing. So a suit is a category, then a tailored jacket, a casual jacket, chinos, jeans, then shorts. There is overlap in this system - if a jacket is worn with jeans for instance - but it works well as a rough indicator of smartness. The same goes for seasons - neither list is mutually exclusive.
Categorising all this has not been a small job (thank you Manish!) and adding new categories will take a while as well, but do let us know what else you might find useful. We waited until this was live deliberately to see what feedback and suggestions people had.
There have been some other improvements too. You were always able to click on ‘Read more’ to see the article the outfit originally came from, which would usually tell you what the clothes were, as well as why I liked them.
But you can also now select ‘Enlarge’ to get the image to fill the screen, so there’s no need to go elsewhere to get a closer look. And there are other tools in the top-right of the screen, which enable zooming and sharing. The page loading itself has also been speeded up.
As with the filtering, let us know here if there are any improvements we can make. The behaviour is slightly different on mobile compared to desktop, but both should have decent UX (my old days as a product manager coming back!).
Do also shout, obviously, if you spot any ‘shorts’ under ‘winter’ or similar.
If you look through all the images you can slowly see my hair receding and then getting shorter. You can see me wearing glasses less. You can see my style fluctuating but also improving, I think: more tasteful and more me.
More usefully, you can filter the page for what to wear tomorrow when it’s raining. Or, for wearing a suit and tie after two years of being entirely neckwear-naked.
I hope it becomes another helpful resource on PS. Other hidden gems, by the way, are a series called ‘The Rules’ which counter-intuitively attempts to stop everyone using that term, and ‘The Essentials’, which is a good place to point anyone who’s new to PS.
Enjoy.
Great news!
I am one of those readers who looks at the lookbook quite often. The categorisation puts it on another level and this is indeed very helpful.
Lovely. Thanks Markus – shout if you can think of any improvements as you use it
I also think it is an excellent resource and these enhancements are welcome. One suggestion from me: it would be extremely useful if, when you enlarged the photo, there was some text below that identified what the specific items are that you are wearing in the photo. It would make it a bit easier then having to navigate away from the lookbook to the original post and read through the article to find out.
Ah, thank you JK. Yes that’s a great suggestion, the only issue is that that would mean creating new text for all of the 400 images. A lot more work than tagging.
Still, we could try to do it later, or perhaps tag the makers at the least.
If they’re in the underlying webpages then you could automate it, especially as many articles list at bottom.
Challenge would be where the photo is one of many on the article. As you often don’t list them all. But I reckon you can get a decent proportion with some simple code. When work is quieter I’m happy to try.
Yes, true. I think there are a good few that are like that where the image is one of many or not the focus. But do feel free to have a crack
I agree 100% that it would be absolutely fantastic to identify the items you are wearing directly in the lookbook as sometimes it is not even in the linked article. I would find it even more useful than the filters…
Hey Simon,
Congratulations on the updated to the look book. That is no small undertaking given the size of the archive.
i know that adding further filters categories is no easy task, but did you consider ‘colour’ as an option? Again, it would either need to relate to the dominant / focal piece, or perhaps be restricted to warm/cool colours or complimentary colours. I just thought that might be a nice way for readers to look for pieces that work with a dominant colour.
cheers,
Tim
Thanks Tim, yes it was!
Interesting point on colour. I guess that’s trying to solve a different problem – the problem of, I’ve got something of mine and I’d like to know ways to wear it. Rather than the existing filters, which are solving the problem of, I want suggestions for this particular level of formality and the weather.
I feel like to really solve that first problem, we’d need more filters too perhaps, around material even. Do you think?
Great suggestion though, really gets me thinking
Thanks Simon – that makes a great resource even better.
I’d second the request for Colour and perhaps suggest Suede/Leather as an extra filter??
Sorry to add to your workload….
No worries, all good, all useful
“Formality” might be a useful filter, that’s how I tend to mentally categorise a day’s outfit rather than colours. “Office / smart casual / casual” or something? Something to tie into previous articles on tweaking an outfit for given levels of formality.
Thanks Sam – that was kind of the point with using articles of clothing, as they also act as a proxy for formality. A suit is smarter than a jacket and trousers, is smarter than just knitwear, is smarter than jeans etc
I’ve also used PS Lookbook the way Tim does — starting with a color in mind. So I second that suggestion. Also, all or most of your photos already describe many of the colors in your outfits — and that comes up if you use the hover feature. You likely would not have to painstakingly add tags to a lot of items — just search what is already in the description. Very useful.
Thanks Eric, yes good point
Yes agree Simon. Fabric was the other one I had in mind.
Wow – this is impressive, very useful and just a beautiful collection of images. And I never knew it was there!
To make another comment on the archival value of your website: while looking for reviews on TLB Mallorca I stumbled on the issue of low instep – which I have in some shoes – and how this may be addressed with Skolyx tongue pads. Ended up also buying several pairs of socks from them to justify a shipment from Sweden and they appear to be great value. Particularly happy with the correct length of the non-OTC socks (mid-calf).
Amazing! Lovely to hear
A cracking improvement to a great Lookbook.
What would be your thinking if I suggested that , apart from say the outfits from Manish and your other colleagues some of the photos that readers contribute could be added, albeit only if they are suitable?
Am I asking for too much?
I love this improvement!!!
Thanks Lindsay. Certainly adding those of Manish and others would be good. Not so sure about reader ones – might open a can of worms there if there are ones I don’t like so much!
if so there should be a quick filter to for example view only yours or manish ones. For Manish this would be very good because his Instagram images getting so much compression duo instagrams policy. In my view it would be nice if he had his own website, even if its just a lookbook 😉
Thanks Max, yes we could certainly do that
Hi Max. Very good point on the Instagram issues.
I don’t do “social media” as such. Possibly your suggestions could take out some of those problems.
I understand!
As a regular user of the Lookbook, I love the improvements. Now I might beat my wife getting ready for date night!
I will second (or third) the suggestion on color and adding in all the photos from articles.
It is already plenty useful so those are only suggestions if you were looking to continue to expand it.
Thank you Caleb
Maybe the reader’s argument is less about certain people (Manish or others) … but to – aesthetically and semiotically – loosen the sheer aggregation of “selfies” ?
A classified lookbook may indeed be useful, but my first impression was : as for myself, I would not stand a collection like this.
I’ve been reading PS for about 10 years and have only been using your Lookbook for the last 1 year or so. It is definitely a very good resource and I wish I used it more. It is certainly a over-lookedbook, as far as my own reading goes.
The ability to enlarge the photo and filter the entire collection in the Lookbook are both great improvements. I like these features very much and doubtless this will encourage me to use the Lookbook more. Thanks for the time that you and your team must have spent on this.
Great, thanks JSB. Anything else you think would be good in the future, do shout
There’s always going to be a bit of selfishness about what I think might be good. I tend to wear odd trousers and shirt combo’s to work rather than suits. Therefore, a filter that shows the odd ‘Tailored trousers’ would be good I think, as you have for ‘Tailored Jackets’ already in the filter.
I think another reader has already mentioned that it would be good if you could tag or add text identifying details of specific items, although I appreciate that you frequently put this info in the main article from which the image comes but again, as has been pointed out, it’s not having to navigate away from the Lookbook that would be the help.
I also think it’d be nice to have an odd pants category, covering pieces other than chinos and jeans. Thanks.
Simon
I often use the main search facility but can’t recall it ever directing me to an image in the lookbook. If the pictures are now all tagged then I assume it should be relatively easy for it access?
Regards
Hi Misbah,
The images are all taken from articles, and those articles are all searchable in the search function – so you can find all the same things that way, there’s nothing extra to find.
Do you sometimes find you’re using the search function and you don’t see one of these outfits?
For clarity, yes the search function takes me to the article and hence I see the images, which of course is useful as I then get the text putting the images in context. But the search never suggested an entry in the lookbook section.
Thanks Misbah, yes understood. The lookbook page isn’t indexed for the search as all the images are also in the articles
Fantastic. Though my first use for the filter – searching for “Suits” and “Spring/Autumn” at the same time – got me (among other looks) “Shorts. With linen shirt.” So I am shouting, as requested :-).
Thank you, will correct now!
On the new Private White VC website, there’s a good photograph of Ethan Hawke wearing the PS Donegal Overcoat. Would copyright, image rights or contracts prevent you from using it in the lookbook or in the shop?
I also draw your attention that the old website’s valuable size guides (with measurements) have been replaced by size quizes. The Donegal quiz suggested that I ( with a 42 inch chest) could get a size 4 medium which would be far too small. For comparison, the measurements in the PS shop indicate that I need at least a 5, probably a 6 if wearing a jacket under the coat. Crazy!
Hmm, that doesn’t sound good. Good to know Kent.
We wouldn’t put that image in the lookbook, not being me or maybe one of the staff, but if PWVC are using the image on their site there’s no reason we can’t use it on our shop. Thanks for the suggestion
Top notch!! 🙂 I am also one who looked the page up many times.
Wow!
I hold my hands up, I had absolutely no idea this existed and I’d consider myself a long-term reader at this point.
This is just fantastic, the photography is beautiful. The filters seem particularly useful.
Well done Simon and thank you, this is going to be a brilliant point of reference!
Amazing! Enjoy
Thanks Simon
This is brilliant,very useful.
I have just had a go of the filter option and its great.
Bests Regards
Peter.
I cannot believe with the amount of time I spend on this site I’d completely missed this! I think part of the reason is that the articles are listed so helpfully and the comments are so good to read through I didn’t think to root around fully. That will change this week
Nice to hear Michael. There is a lot in the menu that’s useful in different ways too – they’re all driven by requests over the years from readers
This is awesome thank you!
Great stuff Simon & Manish!
Found myself clicking through F/W outerwear in the lookbook for some inspiration, and am very intrigued by the Polo coat you did together with Anthology. It seems there’s only 1 post where you’ve worn it, may I ask why it doesn’t feature more often?
And if you’re looking to re-sell it, I’m very interested.
It’s been on sale ever since DV, but through the Anthology rather than us. Have a look on their site.
I wear it a fair bit but have too many coats!
Ha! I did not know this existed, now I shall no longer trawl your Instagram to such a great extent! Thank you
Pleasure, and really pleased that helps. Instagram is so useless on that stuff
Love it !
Particularly the filters.
Men are hopeless when it comes to colour so anything that lights that spark is to be welcomed.
I personally encourage friends to start off with white, blue , green on top half of body and grey, brown, navy on bottom half.
This is perfect. Thank you guys for the work you put into this.
Worth buying the PS books if you find this feature useful and haven’t purchased them already…
This is so great, Simon! This will become a handy tool in the morning, picking out my outfit, as I’ll often settle on one piece to build an outfit upon. Now I can look up your pairings with a similar piece and get some quick ideas on color combos, shoes, accessories, etc. I’ve often used Lookastic for that, which has far more terrible looks than it does good ones.
Thank you Simon and PS team. I expect to use this tool a lot.
Link on the “tobacco cord with black jeans” pic leads to an article about a double-breasted tweed jacket.
Thanks, that’s corrected now. There isn’t a full article talking about that outfit though
hi simon: As a new user of the lookbook (starting today!), the first item I hoped to search for was watch(es), or possibly jewelry (such as bracelets). Did I miss something, or is there the possibility of adding additional categories. If not, I have to admit the keyword search is excellent, although I wish the results could be categorized by date (newest, etc.) since a recent column sometimes causes me to dig further. Many thanks.
Thanks Howie. They are done normally by newest first – are you saying you’d like to reverse that to oldest first sometimes? If so can I ask why?
These are looks about the clothes, there are very few articles about styling watches or jewellery – BUT, those can be found in the watches and jewellery categories. Look under Categories in the menu
Fantastic Simon. I’ve often used the lookbook for inspiration but found it hard to find what I was looking for. The filters are an excellent addition.
The only suggestion I have so far, is filtering by colour (perhaps of the dominant garment?).
As the number of images grows, so will its usefulness to readers.
Thanks Noel, yes that has been suggested and I can see how it would be useful
I’m a keen user of the lookbook so these additional filters look very useful indeed.
As someone who works in design I am very much enjoying the equally spaced borders around all the imagery
Ha! Thanks Tom, I’ll pass that on to the developer
Simon,
This is a great addition. I’d say this is the next best thing after the “Style Guide” and “Casual Style Guide”. These being offline and thus helping in de-screen-timing life. But dynamic filtering is a real value add and I think adding color would be helpful, at the top/bottom granularity level.
So you could filter for “ecru bottoms” and then select “season” and “formality” and there would be a lot of outfit ideas that would provide actionable insights into a) what to wear today and b) what items to potentially acquire to broaden the wardrobe.
All the best,
Timothy
Just wanted to let you know that the image of you wearing a charcoal high twist suit is in the winter suit section.
Aha, thank you. That’s been updated now
Hi Simon, just an idea for a future post – do you think you could explain how each of the mills release bunches? When I go to holland and sherry or Fox (which have better sites than most mills), the bunch release schedule and naming system is quite confusing. Do they release the same bunches every season, or every year? Is it the same except different colours? For instance, the Dakota bunch that you used for your Cav twill trousers from holland and sherry is no longer, but there are Cav twills in a different bunch with a different name. It’s a bit confusing. Will they be releasing a winter bunch that people should wait for before commissioning a garment, or does it not work like that. Do some bunches exist for a few years before being replaced? And are there permanent bunches that are part of a primary collection. It all seems rather opaque.
Next, do all tailors have access to all bunches or does it work on some kind of system of scarcity where there’s only enough yardage to share with certain tailors that are prioritised? It’s hard enough to try to make decisions on what fabric to choose from a half hour appointment with a tailor – it would be great to know more about this so people can research before they get to an appointment. As in, if I knew approximately what bunch and color codes I liked from their website I could streamline and make more efficient going to the tailor and not wasting their time looking through 20 bunches.
Hope that makes sense. I know there is a cloth guide, which I’ve read, but it doesn’t seem to cover much about the naming, seasonality, availability etc of bunches and how they are released. If there is any system at all. Cheers.
So in brief:
– Every mill is different, which makes it confusing
– But most bunches are refreshed every handful of years, which means new numbers, some new colours
– And then some mills, mostly Italian ones, do bunches that are only available for that season
– Not all tailors have all of them, no. Mills don’t want to work with everyone, as there is some cost involved. But a big tailor will have everything they want
– Overall, the current system is not set up to be customer-facing. It is designed to be BTB, dealing with tailors. The tailor should be presenting you with the cloths and helping you choose, maybe in advance. That’s the major reason it makes no sense to you as a customer
Thanks Simon. Can I also ask how the fee structure works when you use source your own cloth. I saw in one of your posts that you used an Anglo Italian cloth with a different tailor. Is this in anyway impolite or frowned upon by tailors when you source your own cloth? And if you have any guidance on how much less the bespoke fee should be if you are sending the tailor the cloth yourself. That would be useful to know.
– Generally tailors are happy for you to supply your own cloth as long as it’s a mill or maker they know. They might lose a little profit, but they’re usually more concerned about using a cloth they don’t know and being sort of responsible for then how it makes into a finished garment
– How much comes off varies a lot, as some tailors pass on the cloth cost directly, others more than double it and take the extra margin.
Thank you Simon, helpful as always.
Known generally as CMT. Most tailors will happily quote you a price on this basis but don’t expect them to pass on 100% of their savings on the cloth.
Hi Simon,
A useful idea and very good photographs. One thought (apologies if this is raised in another comment) , perhaps have a subsection (or integrated) with some of your guest writers such as Manish who always looks good.
On a related point you haven’t done a reader profile recently although I may have missed it.
Have a good weekend.
Thanks Stephen – yes it has been made, but a good point.
No, I just thought that this morning. Need to arrange another one
Flawless, just flawless, Simon!