Category: Shoes

Two weeks ago, Deborah Carre of Carreducker and I organised a talk among five very different shoemakers, to talk about how and why men are buying bespoke today. It was scheduled to coincide with London Craft Week, held ...

Last week the weather in London turned from 12 degrees to 22 in a couple of days. It seems that what passes for the English Spring is finally here. Of course, with most shops and brands Spring/Summer collections arrived...

Last Saturday was the Super Trunk Show in London – an event for shoe brands and enthusiasts that has been in London twice before. (It was originated in Stockholm, where the sixth iteration takes place later this year)...

Artisan of the Year 2019: Gaziano & Girling   The Artisan of the Year category in our annual awards is an opportunity for me to personally recognise a bespoke maker, outside of the usual cycle of reviews and pr...

At the beginning of this year, Allan Baudoin and Bo Langeveld introduced their first fundamentally new design since the Sagan in 2016. Allan’s initial concept was a winter Sagan, which makes sense given how dependent ...

  While in Florence last month, we took the opportunity to film some of the practical videos we've produced in the last year, with artisans based in the city. This is the first, with Stefano Bemer, talking about bu...

  The starting point for any decision about what shoes to wear with an outfit, is that they should be darker than the trousers. So with a charcoal trouser, a black shoe or very dark brown. With a mid-grey trouser, d...

  As with the first in our shoe polishing videos, this film is more discursive than most, with context and analysis around both the talk and the demonstration. Most videos on polishing just show one person doing wh...

For the next in our series of practical videos, I wanted to tackle shoe polishing. But, also to present it in a way that was more discursive, and explained rather than just taught. Most videos on polishing just show one...

Samuel Gassmann Last week I was in Paris for two days, catching up with old friends and artisans, and seeing a few new ones. One of the most interesting things was an interview with Lyne Cohen Solal, the new head of the...

A few shoemakers have launched unlined or softer versions of their shoes this year, in order to try and make something more comfortable in hotter weather. Of course, completely unlined shoes with cemented soles will alw...

So, my friend Tommaso Capozzoli has this pair of shoes. They’re bespoke, by Stefano Bemer, and made in their replica Russian-reindeer leather. They seem to go with everything he wears, from grey flannel to cream linen...

Getting out of Naples early in the morning is not easy. Traffic is intense: bumper to bumper around the mountain roads leading out of the city, and through long, dark tunnels. By far the best way to get out is by scoote...

Last week a friend in the industry asked me what aspect of writing Permanent Style I like the most. It is always, easily, discovering a new tailor, cloth or product that is different and inspiring. That journey from dis...

Travelling to India on holiday this Easter gave me a reason to get the hot-weather clothing out early. It was unseasonably hot even for there, with the temperature pushing 40 degrees. We took the opportunity to visit th...

I now have three pairs of Saint Crispin’s shoes: the alligator/calf wing-tips pictured above; brown-suede chukka boots; and most recently a pair of dark-brown suede cap-toes. I have ordered steadily and regularly, eac...

This is the first in a series of videos that we will be doing over the coming months, looking at caring for good clothes.  They will be instructional, but not too technical, and we plan to build them up slowly over ...

The hatch-grain loafers I commissioned with Gaziano & Girling back in 2012 have consistently been among my favourite shoes - both for me and for readers. The mid-brown colour is tremendously versatile (everything fr...

These bespoke suede loafers from Gaziano & Girling have been a while in the make - I last covered the first fitting back in September 2016.  It hasn't taken over a year to get from that fitting to now, however. Th...

A few menswear shoemakers have expanded into women’s shoes in recent years. These shoes will generally be a lot better made than the other women’s shoes in the market, and not necessarily more expensive (given the d...

When I cover an artisan where I’m genuinely interested in the product - its quality, design and often heritage or story, I have something made. I then tend to cover the maker in one, initial post that explains their ...

Enzo Bonafe is one of only two men’s shoe factories left in the area around Bologna, Italy. The other is Testoni, and when Enzo left Testoni to set up his own factory, in 1963, there were more than 40 factories in th...

This post is an illustrated explanation of how I wear trainers, or sneakers. As with similar exercises on the blog, I have attempted to be as structured as possible, keeping some parameters constant in order to focus o...

In recent years, as premium trainers/sneakers have increasingly popular, readers have asked for my view on when they might be appropriate, and when they are, what they should buy. I covered that last point in the first ...

Following my post two weeks ago on what I pack for travel, a reader asked about non-clothing items - electronics, toiletries and so on.  So here are a few of my favourite things, which will certainly be going on holida...