Awards 2025: Who’s your favourite menswear brand ...
January 15th 2025The 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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Your favourite menswear brand in the world right now, and why Visvim Your favourite product you bought last year (still why) Old deadstock US military M65 fishtail parka Your favourite artisan in the world (OK why for al...
Merry Christmas 2024!
December 25th 2024Thank 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...
Be a patron
December 23rd 2024A 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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I could not afford a tailor while living in Argentina, but I know Natalio Argento is one of the oldest and has trained, and is still training, many others. Maybe that could be a place to start looking. For shoes I would ...
The menswear and culture of Bangkok
December 20th 2024I 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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Haha, I wouldn’t take an experience with Tanaka as any kind of indication as to how long something takes (or frankly, as to quality). The tailors I’ve worked with, including Toast Bespoke and Endel, order and receive...
Is there a ‘crew’?
November 29th 2024Looking 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 ...
November 8th 2024The ‘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 fact they shou...
The rules and how to break them #12: Don’t ...
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King Charles III got that habit from his father, the Duke of Edinburgh. While not as bad as potting your hands in your pocket, it still ruins the flow of a good tailored suit....
Furuki Yo-Kimono: London’s vintage kimono collection
November 1st 2024Men'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
October 30th 2024This 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 growth peake...
The (61) bespoke tailors I have known
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Thank you for the suggestion, if I can I'd love to. One thing is that it tends to make sense to wait a couple of years or more before covering a new tailor, as many change in that time...
Cheyul: Traditional Korean lacquer craft
September 23rd 2024Every 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
September 16th 2024One 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...
Broadway & Sons: A sunny afternoon in Stockholm
September 9th 2024“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
August 28th 2024In 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 know more abou...
London: A menswear shopping guide
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On ones that are no longer what they used to be you mean? Yes I can see how that would be useful - though it would be quite a negative story!...
Autumn/Winter 2024 on the PS Shop
August 23rd 2024Hello 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...
The ultra-service at Saman Amel
August 16th 2024I’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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I don't, but to be honest I wouldn't place much importance on them if I did. Factories are not brands - they can make different qualities as well as styles for different people...
The state of German bespoke tailoring
July 22nd 2024Max 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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You should have a look on the Instagram of Sven Krolczik who is based in Kassel, not far from you. Hes a top notch full handcraft tailor☝️...
How a cape is made – and would I wear one?
July 15th 2024By 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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Haha! Wonderful stuff, James. Long may you wear it 😊...
The Casual Style Guide back in stock
July 12th 2024I 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
July 8th 2024(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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I use Wahl, they don't seem to do the model now but it's pretty easy to adjust the length with the use of the attachment combs (or not) and the adjustment of the clipper blade itself to add a half measure...
The 2024 readership survey results: Younger peopl...
July 5th 2024What 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 Zawaad, yes I still have it in mind. It's often something that comes up in the reader profiles as well, if you're looking through any of those...
Luca Museo: Bespoke that feels like luxury retail
July 3rd 2024Imagine 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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Not fot a bit, still haven't received it!...
Movie Stars and Matadors: The Story of the Seseña...
July 1st 2024By 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 assistant, Robe...
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
June 28th 2024I 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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What I didnt say is what concerns me is that being under LVMH there will be overproduction of items and that can already be seen in men's knitwear and pants, for example. It means that LP is losing that uniqueness it onc...
How was Pitti?
June 21st 2024Forgive 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?
June 17th 2024When 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...
The second PS Readership Survey (with prize)
May 31st 2024Four years ago we did a readership survey, and it was incredibly helpful. It gave us a clear picture of who the reader is, and what they want out of Permanent Style. We always have feedback on PS - the comments section is one of the best around - b...
The second PS Readership Survey (with prize)
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Thank you Mike, useful and interesting...
