Category: Shoes

Stivaleria Savoia is an old Milanese bespoke bootmaker ( stivaleria means bootmaker, and it was founded by craftsmen who made for the Savoia, or Savoy, cavalry). The designs are classic and practical, and unlikely to se...

Shades of tobacco and tan are one of the loveliest things to wear in the Summer. As the weather warms up, I've put together three outfits here - all somewhere in the 5 to 7 formality range - that illustrate this. Th...

I've always had a problem with Corthay shoes. Not so much the style - while many of the designs and colours are too brash for me, I've consistently found interesting light and dark browns to keep me interested. No, th...

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...

He looks pretty suave doesn't he? Got a good lean on. Patrick at Swedish shoe shop Skoaktiebolaget recently posed for an article of mine, above, in How To Spend It magazine. (A supplement of the Financial Times, and ar...

Good things are happening in London at the moment. There was our pop-up shop, of course; the new Drake's shop looks amazing (do visit if you haven't already); and an increasing number of artisans are coming to London. ...

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...

As the last post on building a wardrobe - focused on Neapolitan tailoring - proved popular, I thought I'd do a second looking at shoes. But rather than look at my whole shoe collection, which numbers more than 40 pairs ...

On Permanent Style we have always pushed the intelligent, considered acquisition of a quality wardrobe. This has many advantages. But it also has a large disadvantage: it removes, or at least makes less frequent, the un...

The ability - or more perhaps significantly, the willingness - of Saint Crispin's to re-last a pair of shoes is a key part of their attraction. Having a personalised last is great, and arguably better value than bespok...

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...

Ludwig Reiter is an old shoemaker used to catering to a wide variety of customers. It sells bags, sandals and trainers alongside oxfords and brogues, for both men and women. Many of the styles also look a little old fas...

There is a bewildering number of shoemakers in Japan, somewhere between 35 and 40 depending on how you count. Although many have people working for them, they are all essentially sole operators. One person founded the h...

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 ...

At the beginning of December, there will be an event in Brussels bringing together some of the craftsmen that featured in the Permanent Style trunk show last month - Lavabre Cadet and Michel Heurtault - as well as sever...

Edward Green recently made this video showing step-by-step the stages of making a pair of shoes in the Northampton factory. I like the lack of pretentiousness to it - others would desaturate the imagery, use slow motio...

During Alden’s recent trunk show at Trunk Clothiers in London, I chatted to John Happ (Alden’s Director of European Sales) about why he dislikes talking about heritage - and the penny loafers they didn&rsquo...

The older I get, the more I wear well-made clothes, and (most importantly) the more I think about clothes, the simpler I seem to dress. I am rarely without my navy grenadine tie. I now have Crispaire trousers in three ...

Launching a brand is not hard. Someone does it in our area every week, and is nice enough to email to let me know. However, launching a brand, making it a success as bespoke, then launching ready-to-wear, setting up yo...

Those on the Drake’s mailing list may have seen this outfit on Friday, accompanying an article on their new trouser range. To fill in the details: the olive Drake’s chinos were worn with a white lightweight ...

A brief post today, with some pictures from holiday. Casual but still classic in cut and colour, and catering to the heat. First, above, 'Dani' espadrilles from La Portegna. I'm still in two minds about these, after a...

These bespoke oxfords from Stefano Bemer are the best fitting shoes I have ever owned. The zenith of - from a fit point of view - everything that bespoke should be. But before I go into the product, I want to talk abou...

I promised on my original post that I would tell readers when these loafers were available to buy, and they now are. The site www.baudoinandlange.com is up and running and you can now purchase, rather than just pre-or...

I recently became involved with - and more importantly, started using - the best Belgian-style loafers I have ever worn. They are made by Allan Baudoin, a French bespoke shoemaker who now lives in England and has a work...

The colour combinations that we discuss every week in regards to formal wear, can be applied just as readily to casual wear. Although there will always be elements that don't crossover (such as the immense versatility ...

If you like the style and structure of Saint Crispin's shoes, they offer some of the best value available anywhere. Pictured here is my first pair, made a couple of months ago - a wingtip in brown, with an alligator ad...

Yesterday's post raised a few questions about other aspects of the outfit - specifically the black suede shoes and cream-coloured cardigan. I think it's interested to discuss both together, for stylistically they have ...

When I visited shoemaker Philippe Atienza (above) in his new Parisian atelier, back in March, his furniture had just arrived. Some nice chairs, rugs, tables, and a lot of old machinery. He’d been in the space fo...

A few weeks ago I received my final pair of Foster & Son bespoke shoes. The process has, unfortunately, been both good and bad. First, the good. The fitting I had with John Spencer – Foster’s lastmake...

The following is an extract from my book Best of British: The Stories Behind Britain’s Iconic Brands , published by Prestel. Dedicated copies are available to buy here – James Smith & Sons Two or three...

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...

Designer trainers – or sneakers as our American friends call them – are all the rage. A cynic would say that’s because brands have realised they can make big margins on a cheap, lightly designed pro...

This pale, oatmeal-coloured cashmere is my new favourite sports-jacket material. When men are picking colours for sports jackets, their second choice (after the obviousness of navy) is usually grey. Which can be great...

When I fantasise about running my own shop, stocked with the greatest menswear money can buy, it normally involves having the finest tailor and the finest shoemaker on site, beavering away just for me. I discovered l...

*Stock is now very limited. For the current position please check the Shop page* I’m pleased to say that the next batch of our Friday Polos – handmade in Naples and designed by us here in London –...

I began the process of having trousers made by Salva (-tore Ambrosi) just over a year ago. Since then I’ve had two pairs made – in fresco and flannel – and while the quality of the product has been g...

Dressing well is as much about propriety as it is about style, quality or personality. This is particularly true at work, where there are often prescriptions, or at least expectations, about professionalism and cloth...

Floris, the storied London perfumers, recently invited me to try their fragrance customisation service. And I have to say it was one of the most pleasurable bespoke experiences I’ve ever had, rivalled only by my...

There are just 19 of our cashmere squares left – the beautiful collaboration we started a few weeks ago with Begg & Co. The colours have sold pretty evenly, with 9 navy and 10 ‘natural’ (pictured...

The new Edward Green website launched last week, and it’s very impressive. Unusually for the fashion industry, the site is both attractive and highly functional. The photography and colour palette are lovely, bu...

If there is one question men ask more than any other, it is how to wear a jacket with jeans. Behind this usually lies a desire to dress up an outfit without appearing too up-tight. Friends in the creative or digital i...

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...

As readers never fail to point out, I have had a lot of bespoke items made over the past 10 years. But while I love pretty much all of them, some get a lot more use than others. These pieces become staples – the...

As with many reader questions, this one evolved over several email messages back and forth. I know Joel won’t mind if I restructure that exchange into a conversation, in order to put the inquiries in the right o...

Four things contribute most to the formality of an outfit: shine, darkness, contrast and desaturation. We see all four of them in formal outfits such as black tie. Dark black or midnight blue is contrasted against sta...

At the BTBA party last month I wanted to try wearing my tobacco-linen jacket separately. It is part of a suit of course, but it was commissioned from Sastreria Langa in Madrid with a ‘shirt’ sleeve and patc...

Last week’s explanation of how I put an outfit together seemed to be popular, so let’s try that again. This outfit is simpler than last week’s. There are fewer colours, there’s no tie to worry ...

  Last month we had a book launch at the Brio menswear store in Beijing. It’s worth running through a few more details of the shop – because the stock is interesting, and because it is part of a pleasi...

Laces are to a shoe what buttons are to a jacket. Often ignored, but with a disproportionate important effect on the overall look. The most attractive buttons, for me, are always matte horn with a touch of contrast i...

  Next week there are two great events to get along to if you can: a trunk show by Saint Crispin’s and a drinks evening with Camps de Luca. The Saint Crispin’s event takes place in the Drake’s s...