Removing the white stitch on a new coat
I am not, by nature, a confrontational person. But there is something clothing-related that forces me to confront strangers, and in fact in some ways to criticise them. It hasn’t always gone well. Some brands use white basting thread to sew a ...
Removing the white stitch on a new coat
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Years ago when I'd just graduated from university and was between jobs, I did a lot of film extra work. On one such shoot, a production assistant told me to fasten the bottom button on my suit jacket. First time I just i...
Awards 2025: Who’s your favourite menswear brand ...
The Permanent Style Awards are back. We had a bit of a hiatus last year for ‘Dry January’ but I wanted to do the annual awards again, with some of the most popular categories from previous iterations, plus a couple of new ones. So I wou...
Awards 2025: Who’s your favourite menswear brand ...
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Drake's - but either discounted or secondhand Rolex Explorer 124270 - it was a big birthday and I'd been on the waiting list for three years! N/A Marks & Spencer Learning how to re-weave the moth damage in a vintage ...
Merry Christmas 2024!
Thank you everyone - readers, friends, customers, contributors - for a wonderful 2024. It's been quite a year, with more people than ever before reading PS, and The Casual Style Guide being such a success. Trust me though, there's more exciting thin...
Merry Christmas 2024!
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Thank you...
Be a patron
A friend of mine has been into menswear since he was a teenager. He obsessed over three-piece suits with collared waistcoats, dreamt of visiting Savile Row, and for years sought out second-hand bespoke online. He briefly worked in menswear, and be...
Be a patron
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Being a patron is a sensible idea as patrons help keep the companies in business. Currently I’m a patron of 5 British firms, each producing outstanding products. In no particular order they are: John Smedley 30 knitwea...
The menswear and culture of Bangkok
I was in Thailand last week, holding an event at the shop Decorum, and I have to say I was impressed with the local menswear culture. I’ve travelled a fair bit round east Asia, but not much in the south-east – just Singapore many years a...
The menswear and culture of Bangkok
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Good morning..as a always a very impressive article..Simon you are a globetrotter and a man for all seasons..HAPPY NEW YEAR 2025!!!!!...
Is there a ‘crew’?
Looking back on it, I think I found the first few years of doing PS as a full-time job quite lonely. It’s hard to make friends with anyone in the industry when you’re constantly commenting on them publicly. The kind of person I was inter...
Is there a ‘crew’?
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Interesting share. From the outside it always looked like you were the centre of all anyway. Based on my experience setting up three companies, I think what happens is that simply you become more successful and so natura...
The rules and how to break them #12: Don’t ...
The ‘Rules’ section on PS is a repository for all those conventions that have built up over the years around classic menswear and which people quote too much, often without thinking what they mean, why they exist, or why in fac...
The rules and how to break them #12: Don’t ...
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I say just do whatever feels comfortable for you. I'm about to graduate university in Canada (where not a lot of people wear tailoring outside of the financial world) in computer science, a field where almost nobody wear...
Furuki Yo-Kimono: London’s vintage kimono collection
Men's Kimono with Haori (jacket) and Hakama (pants) By Ben St George. Ben is a freelance menswear writer and has been exploring some unusual brands and shops for us. I wasn’t aware of Furuki Yo-Kimono, a small kimono specialist tucked away at...
Furuki Yo-Kimono: London’s vintage kimono collection
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Hello Simon, thank you for introducing me and my shop. I am very honoured. and hello RTK, very nice to meet you here! In response to your question, some Japanese people still avoid second hand clothes (including vintage ...
The (61) bespoke tailors I have known
This article has been updated every four years for the past 12 years. It was originally written in 2012, and has had new versions in 2016, 2020 and now 2024. The number of bespoke tailors we have tried and covered has increased, but the g...
The (61) bespoke tailors I have known
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Another new tailor! Fedro Gudenzi in Cork Street. I’m sure that you may be already aware of this new tailor! I learned about him from the Savile Row Bespoke Association website. Thanks Lindsay...
Cheyul: Traditional Korean lacquer craft
Every time we go on a trip to a new country, we try to cover a bit of the local non-menswear craft alongside the usual tailoring, shirtmaking and shoemaking. When we were in Japan a couple of years ago, we visited the master blade-maker Sasuke in S...
Cheyul: Traditional Korean lacquer craft
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Thanks James. Yes, I have some lovely pieces myself. Also visited Nakaya pens years ago in Japan. Might be able to do a piece on them if I dig up my notes...
Lorenzi, Milan: The rebirth of a menswear jewel
One of my favourite shops in Milan used to be a little hole in the wall on Via Montenapoleone. Squeezed between big luxury boutiques, it was a real jewel of a place, tiny but perfect, selling equally tiny but perfect accessories - knives, cutlery, s...
Lorenzi, Milan: The rebirth of a menswear jewel
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Thank you...
Broadway & Sons: A sunny afternoon in Stockholm
“Shit. Look at that Simon, it was all shit.” David Asseraf is scrolling through his WhatsApp messages, showing me various deliveries of clothing. “This one they said it was all dungarees - US-made, 300 pieces - but they turned out...
Broadway & Sons: A sunny afternoon in Stockholm
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I'm afraid I don't know any, sorry Richard, it's not an area I know well. Except for La Botte Gardiane, which we have covered and are excellent value...
London: A menswear shopping guide
In some ways this is the hardest of the shopping guides for me to write – I know so many places so well and have so much to say. Luckily, nearly every place here is also covered elsewhere on Permanent Style. So if you want to kno...
London: A menswear shopping guide
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There isn't a dedicated high-end sock shop, now. Best to go to those general haberdashers...
Autumn/Winter 2024 on the PS Shop
Hello lovely readers, Here’s our regular update on what’s coming into the PS Shop over the next few months. We’ve included the information we have, but feel free to ask questions if you have them, as chances are someone else is th...
Autumn/Winter 2024 on the PS Shop
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Next year now...
The ultra-service at Saman Amel
I’ve been really interested to see how Saman Amel have changed their business model in recent years. They’ve made a conscious decision to offer a far more involved service to customers, which is then reflected in their prices. The cheape...
The ultra-service at Saman Amel
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Thanks for the extensive reply....
The state of German bespoke tailoring
Max Dietl and Curd Jürgens. I’ve always found Germany an interesting country stylistically - one with a rich bespoke past but little left today, perhaps hampered by its attitude to dress and to smart clothing in general. In order to give the...
The state of German bespoke tailoring
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It would be more gracious and more responsible to mention and address the 1920s, 30s, and 40s — especially given that so much of tailoring and fashion design in Berlin was a Jewish industry, and that Jews exiled to New...
How a cape is made – and would I wear one?
By Manish Puri. During a recent trip to Madrid, I paid a visit to Casa Seseña, run by Marcos Seseña (the fourth generation of the family), and one of the few shops in the world still dedicated to making capes. In part one, I covered th...
How a cape is made – and would I wear one?
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Nice article on a rather special store/business: I purchased one of the more plain ones as shown in the lower photograph about 6 years ago and am looking forward to wearing it in a trip to Japan. On the topic of outer ga...
The Casual Style Guide back in stock
I swear, we didn't try to create any of this hype. The Casual Style Guide, the book Jamie Ferguson and I published in March, was just popular. Particularly with wholesale accounts - menswear shops around the world - who bought up much of the stock b...
The Casual Style Guide back in stock
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Ha! Lovely to hear Aaron, and feel free to carry on asking questions here....
Losing your hair gracefully
(Me aged 20, just before the hair started to go. I still reckon that monkey has something to answer for.) I started losing my hair in my twenties. Looking back at pictures from college, you can see the tell-tale signs of receding hairline and, less ...
Losing your hair gracefully
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My experience was a little different to most men. My uncles started losing their hair in their late teens so I'd come to accept very early on that the Norwood reaper had likely marked me. I first noticed my hair thinning...
The 2024 readership survey results: Younger peopl...
What PS content do you like best? The single most powerful thing about Permanent Style has always been its closeness to its audience. I have over 100 mini-conversations with readers every day in the comments; Lucas has half that again on the shop si...
The 2024 readership survey results: Younger peopl...
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Thanks Peter, and nice idea...
Luca Museo: Bespoke that feels like luxury retail
Imagine walking into a bespoke tailor and finding clothes on long racks, inspiration pieces on mannequins, and unusual mid-century furniture. A tailor, in other words, that makes it immediately clear that they have just as much of an aesthetic visio...
Luca Museo: Bespoke that feels like luxury retail
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Thank you, and you make good points. No, absolutely not. The other thing I always make clear is that I can afford to buy anything for review, and often do even when they are expensive...
Movie Stars and Matadors: The Story of the Seseña...
By Manish Puri In 1957, Irving Penn arrived at Villa La Californie, the Cannes residence of Pablo Picasso, for an appointment to shoot portraiture - only to be told that the man of the house wasn't in. Undeterred, Penn instructed his assi...
Movie Stars and Matadors: The Story of the Seseña...
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Alan, I would recommend taking a look at Seseña's Mr. Darcy, Port, and Club Cape models! These (might) feel less costume-y for your taste....
How Loro Piana’s style has improved
I thought it would be interesting to discuss Loro Piana here on PS, given it's probably the luxury menswear brand that has grown most in prominence in recent years, and which has changed most in that time. My personal history with LP goes back a fa...
How Loro Piana’s style has improved
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That's not really a classic menswear style Luke, it looks quite chunky and exaggerated. More of a fashion thing to wear just with wider-legged trousers...
How was Pitti?
Forgive me dear reader for writing about Pitti, but so many people have asked about it since the summer edition last week - both industry people and, perhaps surprisingly, readers - that it seemed worthwhile. The news isn’t good. There are fe...
How was Pitti?
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Yes, in the end these shows are not aimed at customers and brands have a hard enough time making them work for wholesale buyers, let alone dealing with end customers as well. It's more an issue with Chicago that there is...
How is menswear protected by intellectual property?
When we talked about copying in menswear recently, there was some discussion about intellectual property (IP) protection. The main question was why there are so many copies around - do brands not want to sue each other? Or does the law not protect t...
How is menswear protected by intellectual property?
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This is fresh in the news in Denmark, so I apologize beforehand for posting links to articles in Danish, hope it's not a bother to run them through google translate. Danish brand Ganni just won a lawsuit in Denmark again...
