Category: Scarves

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...

The biggest potential pitfall with tailored dressing is looking fussy. Fussy is not sexy; it is not attractive. It is closely related to appearing ‘affected’ or ‘mannered’. Looking relaxed in clo...

First off, I need to mention that the J.Girdwood website is finally up and active. Anyone that has been into the first or second pop-ups will have seen James (above) and his J.Girdwood range of products. They include s...

Many readers said they liked the personal, behind-the-scenes approach of Plaza Uomo's cover story on me last year. Here, then, is another angle. My desk, where I write most of these posts, and therefore probably the mo...

The Style Guide has been wonderfully received so far - at the launch events in London and New York, but also online and through personal messages. Thank you all. There are a few things I realise I haven't emphasised so...

Over the past 10 days I have generally prioritised writing about new brands in our Savile Row pop-up shop. But there are also new developments at makers you will be familiar with - Baudoin & Lange, Luca Faloni, Beg...

The Permanent Style scarves that we introduced last winter are in stock again in two new colours, and available to buy from the Begg & Co site now. The two colours are grey and green - the grey is pictured above, ...

I’ve had a few questions from readers as to my views on The Rake’s new collaborations – products that the magazine started selling on its site a couple of months ago. I’ve seen most of them fi...

Another practical piece for everyone: my five favourite ways to wear a scarf – with a jacket, with an overcoat or with knitwear. Begg & Co and I collaborated on the video, which is also available on their...

As promised last week – when we introduced our latest collaboration, the PS square scarf – here are some step-by-step guides to wearing it. All images can be enlarged by clicking on them. The scarves are...

Men have historically always worn something at the neck – if it wasn’t a tie, it was an ascot or a workman’s neckerchief. Such things are practical, for work and for warmth. Over the past six months w...

For those that follow my column for How to Spend It magazine (part of the Financial Times), there have been two articles in the past month – on Barbour and on Begg. We’ve stuck with this format for almost ...

The video above shows the key aspect of quality control at most weaving houses. Workers quickly scan the cloth for faults, then either snip off the stray end or – much more laboriously – manually reweave th...

Begg & Co is not in the most prepossessing location. Ayr is far from a glamorous location anyway, but the factory itself is down a side street, opposite several blocks of council flats. Still, that’s often th...

This is a milling machine. An old one. Part of the finishing process for woven cloth, milling involves pummelling the material in order to break up the fibres and pull them together. The cloth shrinks slightly, becomi...

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...

One of the interesting tensions in a factory visit is the way machinery is portrayed. Some manufacturers will boast of their old, traditional methods, when in fact the same thing could be done, quicker, by a newer mach...

A silk scarf, tied any way, is a great way to recreate the contrast achieved by a suit and tie and keep the neck warm. The sheen of this Hermes silk scarf contrasts particularly nicely with the deep texture of a Shetland...

One of the nice things about having nice advertisers is the range of Christmas shopping ideas they present. Here are my favourites. Among the best additions to the collection at Drake’s are the untipped cashmeres i...

It is perhaps understandable to assume that the new Anderson & Sheppard store on Clifford Street is expensive. Bespoke suits round the corner certainly aren’t cheap, while in Clifford Street the trousers are ov...

One person it was nice to catch up with in Florence was Ann Ryley, who used to be sales and marketing director at Drake’s but left last year to help Scottish company Begg launch its first collection. Begg is an o...

Drake’s was founded in 1977 by three ex-Aquascutum employees: Michael Drake (head of menswear design), Jeremy Hull (export sales director) and Isabel Dickson (export sales administration). “It always helps wh...

As the days begin to grow colder, one of the most tactile pleasures is wearing a short scarf at the neck. I’ve never taken to wearing an ascot in an open shirt collar, much as I agree with the rationale of retainin...

The decorative instinct of Mitchell Jacobs, one half of the team behind accessories brand Penrose, is something I’ve written about briefly before. But I had a chance recently to delve further into the craft behind ...

inen scarves have been something of a revelation to me. I confess I’ve never invested much money in scarves in the past, but the nice ones I do have are all cashmere. There didn’t seem to be much of a choice ...