There are some interesting things going on in French menswear.  Although France has generally been the poor cousin to Britain and Italy here, in the last 30 years it seemed to get worse. Most of the good shops closed (O...

I've always had a problem with Corthay shoes.  Not so much the style - while many of the designs and colours are too brash for me, I've consistently found interesting light and dark browns to keep me interested.  No,...

Perhaps the thing that makes me happiest about writing Permanent Style is when it kindles a love of clothing in readers. Men come up to me in the street, or at events, with a twinkle in their eye that says they have disc...

Laces are to a shoe what buttons are to a jacket. Often ignored, but with a disproportionate important effect on the overall look.  The most attractive buttons, for me, are always matte horn with a touch of contrast in ...

Pierre Corthay   Well, you asked for more pictures… First, the speakers.    Tony Gaziano Tommaso Melani Phillip Car Norman Vilalta John Carnera Dean Girling Andy Murphy...

Last month was our biggest ever on Permanent Style, with just over 330,000 pageviews on the site. Of course, numbers only mean so much – it is the quality of the readers that counts. So I’d like to say thank you t...

Pierre Corthay takes around an hour every day to play guitar. Impressive dedication, given the pressures on a growing company. But then there’s something about shoemakers – as I’ve mentioned before – that often m...

During a sunny, late lunch in Madrid last month, Norman Vilalta and I spent some time talking about his experiments with new materials, and ideas on working with high-technology companies like Nike. It occurred to me tha...

I do like it when readers suggest posts. You feel you’re fulfilling a need. Two weeks ago, on Five Tips on Bespoke Suits, a reader requested a similar post on bespoke shoes, so here it is. 1 Be conservative I know it�...

Read my one-day guide to bespoke operators in Paris in the latest article for Essence Lifestyle. Pictured, Pierre Corthay in typically playful mood....

Wall art from Corthay in Paris. I never tire of talking to Pierre about his creative endeavours, or his collection of the endeavours of others. In fact it’s interesting how much more creative bespoke shoemakers are, in...

These photos were taken at the Gieves party for Rose Callahan’s book I Am Dandy last week. Michael ( Browne, Chittleborough & Morgan) and I were rather underdressed, perhaps deliberately so, for an evening of fops and ...

Hidetaka Fukaya, also known by his nickname Il Micio, is as much artist as artisan.   Shoemakers tend to divide into two groups: those that are primarily driven by the artistic side of their work and those that are moti...

In Paris this week visiting all the big tailors, interviewing Jean Grimbert of Arnys and looking at slightly odd watch straps. Look out for posts over the next few weeks. Below, my Wilfrids from Pierre Corthay (slightly ...

My first visit in New York was, naturally, to the shoe store Leffot. When I was in New York four years ago, I stumbled across Steven Taffel’s new shop the month it opened. At that point you couldn’t get half the bran...

I had a lovely evening last week at the first of Corthay’s glaçage events – that’s a high polish to you and me. Myself and three Frenchmen, quietly polishing our Corthays and getting tips on technique from maitre ...

At last, after many rounds of correspondence by email, Hugo and I had a chance to meet at Anderson & Sheppard last week. Hugo was over in London for a couple of days, touring the Savile Row houses for the purposes of his...

Pierre Corthay’s little atelier is growing, with a bigger space for ready to wear, an office across the courtyard and a new home for the workshop just across the hall. Add to that the underground caverns that house the...

In New York this week, and I popped in to see my good friend Steven Taffel, founder of Leffot – far and away the best shoe store in the city. In fact probably anywhere in the US outside Hawaii (the competition there be...

Here’s a thought on wedding attire. It’s not really traditional and it doesn’t really fit with the rules. In that sense I suppose it is a way to break the rules. Anyway. I’ve written before how the default attire...

Permanent Style has expanded its reach to other languages, with articles on the site translated into both French and Russian for a foreign audience. This week Hugo, who blogs at Parisian Gentleman, translated my intervie...

Leffot, the shoe store I described as “a gem in New York” almost a year ago now, is going from strength to strength. Back then it had only been open a month and was still finding its feet. Now it is expanding its off...