Category: Shoes

It’s that time of the year again. Brands have been receiving all the spring clothing they ordered last year, even though they weren’t quite sure whether it would arrive, or be swallowed by an unexpected lockdown.  ...

Le Vif in Paris is one of the most curated vintage stores around.  What do I mean by that? Well, it has a particular view on the clothes it offers - in terms of quality, style and origin.  It sells Americana, normally...

Alden has this particular shape of shoe, on what is referred to as the ‘modified’ last.  It’s unusual, almost orthopaedic in appearance, with a narrow waist that hugs the middle of the foot and rather bulging sid...

This is Andy. A long-time reader and customer, Andy had led, shall we say, an interesting life. Currently a hydrographic surveyor, he has also been a pilot, a mountaineer, and dabbles as a model (fashion and life).  He...

Anatomica is one of my favourite shops in Paris. It’s unique, with a range of menswear that’s often exclusive to them - whether under their brand or others’ - and always centred around quality. In fact it has such...

Over the past two or three years, a group of mostly Chinese shoemakers has come to prominence for making high quality, usually hand-welted shoes at relatively cheap prices. I’ve experienced some of these, and talked t...

Rag Parade in Sheffield sells quite a lot of ‘modern’ vintage clothing (let’s call it 1980 onwards, for the sake of argument) as well as more standard militaria and workwear from earlier decades.  I was intereste...

A friend once told me that he gets a kick out of finding an unusual piece of menswear, and working out a way to wear it. Like a challenge: how can he make this esoteric bit of clothing wearable.  I’ve never really ta...

When you stare at a shop enough on Instagram - seeing new stock highlighted every day - it can seem bigger than it actually is.  That was the case with Jojo’s General Store (or Rag Parade) in Sheffield, which myself,...

Our Indulgent Shawl Cardigan doesn’t need much introduction.  Indeed, since this new grey colour was released to the waiting list yesterday, half have already sold. Quite a list had built up. Thank you everyone for y...

I met Mattia during our recent pop-up shop on Savile Row. A Permanent Style reader, he is also a fashion student, which gives him an interesting perspective on classic menswear.  I enjoyed talking to him, and his frien...

People did different things over lockdown. Talking to Tommaso Melani, owner of Stefano Bemer shoes , it turns out he started resoling trainers.  Stefano Bemer has a talented in-house team of shoemakers. They’ve made ...

It’s that time of the year again. So, with both apologies and thanks to readers that bemoaned the lack of this list last year, these are just a few of my favourite things... In these lists we try to go beyond menswear...

I’ve always recommended Crockett & Jones to readers over the years, as a solid, good-value English shoe. But I’ve only briefly owned a pair. I had some when I was in my twenties, but bought the wrong size - so s...

This year’s A/W Top 10 list includes a sprinkling of new names, but a lot of familiar ones too.  I don’t think this is unexpected or unwelcome. The world of classic, crafted menswear is not large, primarily because...

When is it worth buying the best possible quality, and when can you economise?  This, of course, was part of the subject of my book The Finest Menswear in the World , which examined what constitutes ‘quality’ in va...

Every time I do a review of bespoke shoes, the question comes up as to whether they're worth the money. Whether bespoke shoes in general can really be worth it, given the little issues I often report.  My short answer ...

During sunny weather in the past few weeks, I've been playing around with these old shoes from Lodger, the shoe shop that used to be on Clifford Street in London, and where I first started writing about menswear .  The...

I think when craftsmen are doing remote fittings, they err on the safe side.  That’s one consistency I can draw from my online bespoke over the past year.  Whether it’s with WW Chan , Massura or Ferdinando Caracen...

I've known Deborah Carré and James Ducker (below)for many years, having first covered their workshops when they were at Cockpit Arts (those pictures of me and Luke!), then the opening of their service at Gieves & H...

Somehow, Jake and Anglo-Italian manage to keep relatively under the radar here in the UK, despite being one of the few classic-menswear shops keeping that spirit relevant.  Perhaps it’s because they don’t actively ...

During the past Winter, I was vaguely looking to replace my longstanding work boots from Wolverine (above) .  They’d done great service: on long country walks, camping in different parts of the country, and just goin...

  This article was originally written back in 2014. Back then I had tried seven bespoke shoemakers, and nothing in Japan. Seven years later, the number has more than doubled, and the spread is wider – also enc...

Best stay-at-home wear: Baudoin & Lange Runners-up: Luca Faloni, Sunspel   PS readers voted Baudoin & Lange the best for ‘stay at home’ wear in 2021 Awards, principally based on their Sagans or Sagan Lu...

What shoes do we still find ourselves wearing after 10 years, and why?  I find this is mostly about making sensible, functional choices; then a little bit about quality and fit; and almost nothing to do with bevelled w...