A Guide to Mohair
There are two main reasons people use mohair for tailoring today. One is for eveningwear, when they want something with a little more sharpness and lustre; the other, less common, is as an alternative to high-twist wools in the summer. An...
A Guide to Mohair
Match in comments:
I don't know if this is something that's noted often, but it I think it's really nice to see references to your articles from 15 years ago. It shows a great deal of consistency in ideals even with the evolution of styles...
Maison Hellard: Tasteful, experimental linen
By Manish Puri. I’m in a car with Nathan Hellard - the founder of French linen merchant Maison Hellard - and we’re kindly being chauffeured by Nathan’s father, Philippe, from Pau to the commune of Assat, where the company is based....
Maison Hellard: Tasteful, experimental linen
Match in comments:
While not really the point of the article, I can't believe no-one has mentioned that you managed to avoid getting pizza on your suit, given light colours seem to have a magnetic attraction to brightly coloured food!...
Introducing: The Permanent Style collection at Fox
When I visited T&G Caraceni in Rome last year, a particular bolt of vintage cloth caught my eye. It was a brown-and-black houndstooth tweed, mid-weight but densely woven (as a lot of that vintage tweed tends to be). Unfortunately only 1.5m ...
Introducing: The Permanent Style collection at Fox
Match in comments:
Not really to be honest Michael - they are tailoring materials! An overshirt in the tweed would be nice though. A few shirtmakers would do it - Luca Avitabile, 100 Hands, possibly Budd...
Manish’s five bespoke lessons: Picking cloth
By Manish Puri. This article is the second in a series dealing with my personal experiences of having bespoke/MTM clothes made over the last six years. The first covered some of my tips for working with tailors, while this piece focuses on the lesso...
Manish’s five bespoke lessons: Picking cloth
Match in comments:
Hi Manish. Thanks for the article. I believe that the grey trousers that you are wearing with the gun-club jacket are from The Anthology? Do you happen to know what cloth they are made from? Thank you!...
The story behind the English Tweed coat
When we develop a new coat with Private White VC, Lucas and I generally travel up to Manchester to them in person, to talk through the idea and dig into the archive. At the end of last year, when we went up to discuss our ‘English Tweed&rsquo...
The story behind the English Tweed coat
Match in comments:
Thanks Simon...
The Guide to Tweed: Bunches
In our voluminous Guide to Cloth series , we’ve already done an article on tweed. But that was about the history, the style and a little about the types. There was no mention of bunches. Today’s article takes on that introduction, fleshes...
The Guide to Tweed: Bunches
Match in comments:
That’s a big help as I love the Fox Tweed Dark green POW check and the some of the dark blue choices in same POW check. Nicely saturated with various colors mixed in the design. Best, Robert...
Swedish craft companies playing the long game: Sv...
By Dag Granath Something that’s true for most – if not all – companies covered by Permanent Style is that they aspire to create something that stands the test of time. Two of my favourite Swedish companies outside menswear have th...
Swedish craft companies playing the long game: Sv...
Match in comments:
Most certainly. It is something worth bringing up with them. For good or bad, many international customers find their way to MMF via interior architects which means they rarely connect personally with the company....
The guide to hopsack (and mesh, mock leno and bas...
Hopsack and similar materials are a good choice for summer blazers - sharp jackets usually made in smart colours, such as navy. The materials don’t vary that much, even if the weaves themselves are different. A mesh in a classic menswear dark...
The guide to hopsack (and mesh, mock leno and bas...
Match in comments:
I think for that kind of jacket the Italian bunches are often very good - Loro Piana, Cacciopoli, Drapers, Ariston etc...
A guide to wool/silk/linen: Mixes, colours, bunches
My Brioni jacket in a cream beige wool/silk/linen Wool/silk/linen blends have been a favourite for summer jackets for many years, although in the UK they only started to be offered about 10 years ago. More recently, English mills have also started ...
A guide to wool/silk/linen: Mixes, colours, bunches
Match in comments:
Are there particular reason why? and if you can suggest summer suit (semi-formal) would you pick worsted,high-twisted,Linen Thank you Josh...
A guide to corduroy: Colours, wales, fibres, bunches
I’ve been buying and wearing more corduroy in recent years - including the new dark-brown jacket above, from Sartoria Ciardi . I think the reason is that if you’re not dressing for a formal office, worsted is likely to feel out of place...
A guide to corduroy: Colours, wales, fibres, bunches
Match in comments:
Yes I think those sound nice and could be worn with either. Cream trousers are so versatile - if you like wearing them and they're not too showy for you and where you are, they're great in that respect...
Fitting a bespoke jacket – in de Le Cuona s...
The first fitting is where the craft of bespoke tailoring most reveals itself. Imagine lifting up the point of one shoulder. That shortens that side of the jacket, so it will have to be lengthened. It changes the angle relative to the other shoulde...
Fitting a bespoke jacket – in de Le Cuona s...
Match in comments:
No worries John, nothing is ever too late. The fabric has held up well, but it's never going to be something I wear intensely, so it's not necessarily a fair test. It has given me enough confidence to commission somethin...
Linen, paisley and velvet interiors: de Le Cuona
I recently followed a thread of interest from shirtmaker Emma Willis, to the slow-woven fabric of her dressing gowns, to the company that produces them, de Le Cuona. It was a fairly speculative journey. I had no idea whether anything I discovered at...
Linen, paisley and velvet interiors: de Le Cuona
Match in comments:
There will be a post on mine next week JH, so you don't have to wait long. But it was a plain cashmere from Budd...
A visit to Molloy & Sons
Living in a city, it’s easy to become reliant on Google Maps. After all, it will tell you not only where things are, but how to get there, which train is fastest, and the branches of Pret a Manger along on the way. Driving from Belfast to Don...
A visit to Molloy & Sons
Match in comments:
I haven't tried that one Larry, but I suspect it would be too soft, having had jackets from the same bunch. There are probably other suit-like options for tweeds other than Thornproof, but it's not a type of material I'v...
The Willy Wonka wool room
OK, so when I wrote last week about how Donegal yarn is spun, I left out the best bit. It was deliberate, as I thought this process deserved a post on its own. When Maureen at Donegal Yarns started our tour of the factory, she said she had taken a ...
The Willy Wonka wool room
Match in comments:
That’s what I figured. But thought I’d ask....
How Donegal yarn is made
*Donegal Coat update: The first batch is ready and will be shipping out this week. A smaller second batch will go on sale next week. Use the form on the shop page to be added to the waiting list for that if you're interested* Jamie and I travelled t...
How Donegal yarn is made
Match in comments:
Thank you Lindsay. Yes that's a nice idea but, not to always throw a spanner in the works, usually these kinds of points are more nuanced than that. Irish linen is wonderful, but stiffer and more formal than lighter Euro...
Introducing: Permanent Style Plaid
Two years ago, when we visited the Joshua Ellis mill near Batley, Yorkshire, I spent a happy couple of hours browsing their archive. As you might expect, the vast majority were classics: plain or textured cashmeres, houndstooths and herringbones. T...
Introducing: Permanent Style Plaid
Match in comments:
Thanks Leif, the material is coming back into stock this summer, for autumn/winter jackets...
Introducing: PS Harris Tweed
My favourite Harris Tweed has not been available for a few years now. Originally offered by Holland & Sherry, I was such a fan that I used it for one of my favourite tweed jackets (from Elia Caliendo, below ), a fantastic ulster coat from L...
Introducing: PS Harris Tweed
Match in comments:
Not those two, no, I think they're really quite different...
Whitcomb & Shaftesbury RAF-blue suit: Style ...
Whitcomb & Shaftesbury have achieved great popularity in recent years because of their pricing. They offer one service where the majority of the suit is made in their Indian workshop, and as a result can offer a Savile Row suit for just unde...
Whitcomb & Shaftesbury RAF-blue suit: Style ...
Match in comments:
I am aware everything has become quite quickly expensive over the past few years but their offshore suit now starts from around £3,200 which in my opinion is a massive jump in two years. I wasn’t really sceptical abou...
The guide to cloth for black tie (or tuxedo)
My Cifonelli velvet jacket The cloth that you select for a tuxedo (or black tie) probably won’t get as much thought as the design, the shirt or indeed your bow tie. The options are fairly limited, and all those other things will have a greater ...
The guide to cloth for black tie (or tuxedo)
Match in comments:
I think it's nice to be honest......
Introducing: PS Selvedge Chambray
Back in 2017, Jamie Ferguson and I visited fabric mills in Japan - like Hosoo, in Kyoto (pictured below) , which produces the most extraordinary silks. It was really interesting to see the weaving side of Japanese heritage, and the typically innovat...
Introducing: PS Selvedge Chambray
Match in comments:
Yes I do...
Shibumi bespoke checked jacket – Review
This bespoke jacket was made by Shibumi, the Italian/Japanese company better known for ties and accessories. Over the past couple of years, founder Benedikt Fries has been working with a small Florentine tailor to offer this bespoke tailoring servi...
Shibumi bespoke checked jacket – Review
Match in comments:
Quite a bit I think. Liverano is a little harder, but this works OK I think and particularly in something like a tweed - see my Vittorio Salino jacket for example...
Escorial Tweed is available again
UPDATE: Please note that the tech sheet for tailors, mentioned below, also includes information on the small shrinkage that sometimes occurs with Escorial. If your tailor is unsure on how this will affect the amount you need, please request this she...
Escorial Tweed is available again
Match in comments:
Perfect, thanks!...
The best cloth for unstructured jackets
One point that was particularly popular in a recent video chat – ‘ How can I dress up without a suit?’ – was the idea of an unstructured or shirt jacket, to wear at home. Something that you can throw on for...
The best cloth for unstructured jackets
Match in comments:
Hi Biswajit, I think you may find that a suit in a light construction, such as from a Neapolitan tailor, in a lightweight material, may make as much difference as regards the weather. The biggest difference an unstructur...
The best cloths of Spring/Summer 2020 – fea...
The headline news in this season’s round-up is the launch of Anglo-Italian cloth . That’s right, the shop that does MTM tailoring is also selling cloth that customers can take elsewhere to have made. The move was spurred, according to ...
The best cloths of Spring/Summer 2020 – fea...
Match in comments:
Probably not Dennis to be honest, the reception of them generally wasn't that great, and 90% of the questions I get are about classic cloths rather than seasonal ones, or new unusual bunches. There's probably a better ar...
Tengri: Sustainable, luxurious yak fibre
Anyone that has been on or around Savile Row in the past year would have likely come across the force of nature that is Nancy Johnston (above), founder of Tengri, and her yak fibre. Nancy is a social worker, traveller and campaigner, who founded Te...
Tengri: Sustainable, luxurious yak fibre
Match in comments:
Hi Simon, hope your coat is holding up and keeping you warm this winter. Phong, Khangai yak fabrics is relatively new to the world, so it hasn't been wear-tested for years but I can say all our fabrics are heavily tested...
