Category: Overcoats

Thank you everyone that responded to my ‘You are the interviewer’ post a couple of weeks ago. The number of variety of questions was staggering, and I will try to answer as many as I can over the coming week...

*Check the Shop page for stock levels* Our first collaboration this Autumn/Winter is, for me, the perfect trench coat - a limited edition of a Ventile coat being made with Private White VC. Visitors to the pop-up shop,...

*For more on Ettore de Cesare, and examples of the pieces he has made for me, see original post here* The workshop of Ettore de Cesare is in Vomero, a residential neighbourhood on the hill behind central Naples. But he ...

In some ways, this navy jacket and topcoat from Ettore de Cesare are the antithesis of the Disguisery tweed jacket we featured last week. Ettore is a third-generation Neapolitan tailor known for his close-fitting, unst...

When I first heard about and tried Cohérence outerwear last year, I wasn't sure it would be for me. I tend to favour outerwear that flatters the figure and creates a straight-cut silhouette. So long in the body,...

As 'heritage' has become more popular in recent years, brands have increasingly emphasised their longevity, their history and their traditions. This has several issues. Most obviously, the brands that push this hardest...

These things always seem to come in bunches. First Esquire named me in a top 10 and now Plaza Uomo have published their latest edition, with a profile of me as the cover story. Plaza is a Swedish fashion magazine, and...

Although some of the products aren't to my taste, I always keep an eye on what The Rake are doing in terms of collaborations. It's interesting to see a clear vision move through different brands and categories. One tha...

This outfit was used in a piece written recently for Drake's regarding corduroy. The piece mentions some of the associations that corduroy often carries, and ways to avoid them; basically, keeping the colours dark and ...

This is the finished charcoal overcoat from Edward Sexton, and it’s hard to over-estimate how much pleasure it gives me. It’s a very different feeling from my navy Cifonelli coat. That is practical, every...

Last summer, Edward Sexton and I were sitting in the gardens of the Four Seasons hotel, Florence. It was a beautiful evening. Warm, with a light breeze, scattered groups sitting at the tables and wandering across the ...

For men who – for reasons of economy or laziness – want a coat that will go with everything, this might be the perfect candidate. But that doesn’t necessarily mean I’d recommend it. It was made...

One of these days I’ll put together an editorial calendar. It always comes as a surprise when people start asking for advice on overcoats as the weather turns cold, but it shouldn’t. The same people ask fo...

I interviewed Vincenzo Attolini (above) back in January. This post is therefore a little late, although the advantage is the clothes will be dropping into shops now, unlike other pieces from trade shows where you have...

Re-fitting for a Simone Abbarchi shirt, Florence In comments to Friday’s post on my ‘go-to’ clothing, readers said they would like to see a post suggesting which types of clothing it is most worth ha...

For the reader who commented that my pieces on Cifonelli tend towards the emotional, I apologise in advance. This is a beautiful, beautiful coat, and one of the finest things I have ever worn. Right, that’s over...

A few more details on the bespoke pea coat from Gieves & Hawkes, as promised. (By the way, isn’t the pitch of the sleeve above gorgeous? Easier with a heavy cloth of course, but it is a uniquely pleasurable s...

In our last post in this series on new London shops, we looked at how readers – with a natural affinity for fit and materials – could analyse the casual wear offered by Private White VC. In this post we shall...

Two weeks ago I finally received the pea coat that Davide (Taub, Gieves & Hawkes) and I have been working on for just over a year. There are a few pieces of clothing that make me literally dance for joy when I get ...

I’m so excited the weather in London has finally turned cold. Summer clothing is great, but there’s just so much more of it in winter: hats, scarves, gloves, overcoats, plus heavy-gauge knitwear and serious...

Often the most charming aspect of a factory is the way its industrial environment has been altered by the employees. Usually that amounts to no more than photos of children on desks, or the scores of the five-a-side co...

A reader recently asked me how an overcoat should fit – around the armholes, in the shoulder width – and given that I already had a post planned on this fitting on a Cifonelli overcoat, I thought I would co...

The bespoke pea coat had many inspirations. Among its foremost influences were the personal creations of Davide (Taub, Gieves & Hawkes head cutter); the Gieves military and naval archive; and the embroidery designs...

I was in Paris last week for a couple of articles, as well as visiting the usual suspects. Here in a green raincoat from Hermes with brown leather collar detail. Because green is the third colour. Traveller trilby from...

At the end of last year I began a project to create a versatile top coat with Sartoria Vergallo – the Italian tailor based in Varese that I have used twice in the past, for a navy cashmere suit and a silk houndstoo...

Capes are extremely practical things. They cover all forms of clothing, from tailoring to the bulkiest knitwear, without any fussing with sleeves or fit about the waist. They are highly versatile, as well as being warm a...

The pea coat being made by Davide Taube at Gieves & Hawkes is slowly coming together. As with previous projects, we are approachng the design I had in mind wanderingly, through a series of fittings. No matter how ...

The greatest pleasure at Pitti, of course, is discovering new things. But there are fewer than you might think. The majority of what’s on show is ready-to-wear suits, shirts and jackets, and if you have those made ...

This extract from The Tailor & Cutter from 1935 should give some ample inspiration to those considering which of the winter coats to snap up in the sales after Christmas. An interesting point to note in the styling ...

The overcoat commission from Graham Browne – a grey herringbone DB, Bateman & Ogden 600g – was ready this week. Russell returned it initially to the coatmaker because he wasn’t happy with the finish...

Right, it’s definitely overcoat weather now. It’s dropped below 10 degrees in London during the day and a scarf and hat just won’t cut it. Of course, this is entirely the wrong time of the year to start...

Something we predicted a year ago Esquire, March 1935: “In the March issue for 1934, we introduced the black Homburg to this country. We said then that it was an established English tradition, having already enjoye...

The copy of Men in Style I bought recently is proving a daily inspiration to me, so I thought I’d share some images with you here. While some of them will be familiar, they are often reproduced without the accompan...

I haven’t been good at posting pictures recently, so here’s an attempt to make up for it. Here we have images of the polo coat that has been documented in detail over the past few months, but of which I never...

We’re almost there with the camel polo coat. Since I covered it last we’ve had a second basted fitting, where it was ripped apart again and re-cut. Then it went away to be made-up and today I had the final fi...

I had the first fitting last week for my bespoke overcoat – a traditional polo coat in camel hair, with the addition of a full-length pleat in the back that can be adjusted depending on what is worn underneath. (Se...

Yes, that’s right. It’s a picture of me cutting the cloth for my polo coat. Russell at Graham Browne realised that I just have a natural tailor’s touch and decided I would cut the whole thing better tha...

My thanks to all of you that either commented here or emailed me about my decision on the polo coat I am having designed at Graham Browne. The response was fairly unanimous: go for double breasted as it best fits the cla...

I used to buy overcoats too small. Because I didn’t wear a jacket all the time, I picked the size that fitted over a sweater, which was too small with a jacket. Now if anything I buy overcoats too big: to make sure...

In my last post I got a little giddy over the colour combinations at Domenico Vacca. And with good reason. Whatever the value-for-money of his clothes, he is a master at combining the brights of menswear with background ...