Category: Coats

Last year The Anthology asked me to help design a new polo coat they were going to produce. They’ve only gradually added coats to their bespoke offering, but are now doing so more, as they expand into ready-to-wear. ...

Anyone interested in buying or commissioning a new coat will be thinking about styles right now - what they are, what they’re called, what their relative advantages are.  In this piece I’m going to set out the basi...

Every year for the past four years, I've developed a piece of outerwear with the lovely team at Private White VC in Manchester.  The aim each time is to realise my version of a classic piece in the male wardrobe, often...

My love of bespoke overcoats continues unabated: the thing I was most excited about this Autumn was the prospect of wearing them again.  It's annoying that, useful as they are (and arguably today, more useful than a be...

This is the new Donegal Overcoat - the update on the raglan coat released last year.  The only change on that version is the colour and the weight of the cloth. We decided to go with a heavier tweed this year, to make ...

There is a handful of menswear shops in London that I recommend regularly to friends visiting from abroad.  They include Trunk, Connolly, Drake's and Anderson & Sheppard Haberdashery. All boutiques, all founded in ...

With stock delayed and most shops closed, there seemed less point in doing our regular Spring/Summer round-up earlier in the year. So here, rather later, is a Summer-targeted piece on items I've tried myself and especia...

  Our ‘complete capsule’ article last month went down particularly well with readers. Setting out a concentrated, versatile wardrobe, I think it provided both a good starting point for new readers and a way for ...

*Update: Although a couple of sizes have sold out, several customers have bought two jackets in order to compare sizes, and will be returning one. So if your size is sold out, do email [email protected] to rece...

Benson & Clegg is not a button shop.  I didn’t realise until I went in, earlier this year, quite how much it has gained that reputation. It's partly a result of their own good promotion over the years, but perhap...

I’ve been looking at a lot of old Ralph Lauren imagery in recent months. Because of the 50th anniversary, but also because of the Ivy Style talk we did in New York , where everyone admitted some kind of debt to Ralph,...

Best investment product: Private White VC Runners up: Alden, Edward Green   What makes one machine-made product better than another? At Permanent Style, the fact we cover mostly smart clothing, and mostly high-end,...

Just before Christmas, I took my belted coat into Whitcomb & Shaftesbury to have it converted into a normal overcoat.  As detailed on my original article, this was always a possibility.  I began the experiment of ...

Over the past year, I’ve gradually been wearing more black. Readers will have seen that in the recommendation of this Berg & Berg black shirt , for example, and these black cords . It's been particularly pronounce...

Permanent Style prides itself on honest reviews of clothing.  Please be reassured that this policy continues in this piece on Michael Browne. Despite the fact that there are basically no negative points. There's just h...

Over the past six months I’ve used the Soho workshop Pinnas & Needles for several alterations - from the simple to the complex - and feel I can now fully recommend them.  Being able to satisfyingly alter clothing...

This fur lining for my vintage field jacket - originally mentioned in January - has finally seen some active wear in recent weeks, as the temperature has dropped.  It was cut, made and fixed into the jacket by fur spec...

Michael Browne is one of the most talented and creative tailors I’ve known in my time writing PS.  He is also one of the nicest. We talked for years about whether and how he would set up on his own, and when he final...

This week is vintage week. You didn't know that, but it is. We're starting today with an article on a vintage piece of mine; we continue on Wednesday with the advice of three experts on buying vintage; and we finish on ...

This is the Donegal Overcoat. Yarn from Donegal, woven in Lancashire and manufactured in Manchester. As an idea, it had its origins in the observation that I wore my brown raglan coat ( shown here) more often than any o...

Pitti is a long trade show: four full days, when most are usually three. As a result, by Friday everyone is exhausted, with selling, talking, and late dinners. Although it does depend on why you’re there. Most people ...

The tangerine orange looks nice against the brown tweed, doesn’t it? This combination, worn up to see Joshua Ellis recently, spurred a few thoughts on colour. Here they are. First, I don’t wear many strong colours j...

Following our discussion before Christmas about waste in the clothing industry, I was interested to learn about the remodelling and re-use of fur at Yves Salomon. Yves Salomon is one of the best fur workshops in the wor...

So this was an interesting experiment. My idea was to make my first overcoat with Whitcomb & Shaftesbury as a belted wrap coat. So no buttons on the front, just a belt. A jigger button inside to keep the inside laye...

  When selecting a cloth for an overcoat, what should you look for? This might seem like a pretty easy question: you want warmth. That’s what an overcoat is for. But how much warmth, and where it comes from, are n...