Category: Jackets

First off, I need to mention that the J.Girdwood website is finally up and active.  Anyone that has been into the first or second pop-ups will have seen James (above) and his J.Girdwood range of products. They include ...

Drake's was one of the first menswear brands that really inspired me, back in the days when I'd sit in Michael Drake's study going through old decorative art books, dissecting patterns. Drake's managed to combine craf...

Sartoria Formosa - led by Gennaro, above - is similar in some ways to the likes of Dalcuore or Ambrosi, in that it is a traditionally bespoke Naples house that has expanded into ready-to-wear in recent years. Five years...

Thank you everyone that responded to my ‘You are the interviewer’ post a couple of weeks ago. The number of variety of questions was staggering, and I will try to answer as many as I can over the coming weeks. It ma...

Good trunk shows pick good locations. Not necessarily fancy, but convenient and in a space that shows the product in a good light. This is particularly true with ready-made or made-to-measure brands, where customers are...

As regular readers will know, I am a big fan of leather and suede outerwear - whether from the superfine Seraphin, historic Chapal or uber-modern Stoffa. I have tried, used and love them all. When it comes to tailored j...

Gigi doesn’t normally talk much. The master cutter at Neapolitan tailors Dalcuore, he normally stands back, silently, as Damiano and Cristina do the talking. This is both his character and a result of speaking little ...

As mentioned on my ‘What I pack’ post, I’ve been travelling a lot in high heat recently. There was Pitti in Florence, where the temperature topped out at 37 degrees. Naples in July was very similar. And Puglia at ...

Dressing well becomes a matter of habit, over the years. You get used to wearing long socks, or high trousers, or being draped in slightly heavier cloth. But these habits have to be instilled. One I find most powerful t...

As with most of my reviews, I wrote a first, introductory post on P Johnson last year, after they opened in London. My apologies that the full review, here, has taken so long. In that time John, James and the others hav...

*For more on Ettore de Cesare, and examples of the pieces he has made for me, see original post here* The workshop of Ettore de Cesare is in Vomero, a residential neighbourhood on the hill behind central Naples. But ...

This is a nice exercise in combining summery, pale colours. The challenge is being light and pale overall, while retaining enough contrast between shirt, jacket and trousers - both in colour and texture.  The startin...

In some ways, this navy jacket and topcoat from Ettore de Cesare are the antithesis of the Disguisery tweed jacket we featured last week.  Ettore is a third-generation Neapolitan tailor known for his close-fitting, un...

I recently remembered these shots we took last year in Japan - it was September, but Tokyo was hot and humid, as Europe has been in recent weeks. Although wool, the checked jacket is 9 ounces and half lined, wearing pre...

Last year I got to know a group called The Disguisery , based in Fitzrovia. (‘Disguisery’ is a collective noun for tailors.) A trouser workshop for many houses on Savile Row, they have been branching out into jacket...

This week, Thursday June 1st to Saturday 3rd, both Agyesh of Stoffa and Marcus Malmborg for Eidos will be back in London. I’ve written previously about the wonderful colours and design sense of Stoffa, but not about ...

Last night was the (soft) opening of Anglo-Italian, the new shop in London being run by ex-Armoury buddies Jake Grantham and Alex Pirounis. It’s been a long time coming. Various events have slowed things down, and eve...

In a similar way to Stoffa (covered recently here), I loved the aesthetic of P Johnson tailoring before I ever got to see any in person. We are all - in our various ways - battling to show how useful, beautiful and rele...

Although we discussed last week that the fit of a jacket is the most important - and flattering - part of tailoring, a waistcoat is in some ways the most satisfying.  Of all the tailored garments, it is the one that si...

In recent months a few readers have asked for a breakdown of how I built my wardrobe - my plans, my process and my lessons learned. Doing so across all types of garment and even styles would produce a very long, unwield...

Looking back on it, our summer 2016 edition of the Symposium series - which focused on young tailors - was particularly interesting. It's easy to forget until you see our film, shown here, how much the backgrounds of e...

This outfit was used in a piece written recently for Drake's regarding corduroy.  The piece mentions some of the associations that corduroy often carries, and ways to avoid them; basically, keeping the colours dark and...

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 required for courtiers ...

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 this is a piece tha...

Those on the Drake’s mailing list may have seen this outfit on Friday, accompanying an article on their new trouser range. To fill in the details: the olive Drake’s chinos were worn with a white lightweight pique-co...