A flamboyant wedding
June 5th 2009A colleague of mine is going to a wedding this summer, on the beach, with the proscribed dress code of “flamboyant”. Now, a dress code like that has the potential to condone all manner of horrors. From black tie with flip flops to Hawaiia...
Navy stripe: The most useful tie
May 11th 2009From a purely logical standpoint, the most useful tie you will own is a navy-blue club stripe. Followed by a brown or burgundy in the same pattern. The first reason is that a dark tie is more versatile than a pale tie. It is more sober, more business...
Navy stripe: The most useful tie
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I don't think it makes much difference to be honest Darren....
The rules and how to break them 6: Black-tie trad...
May 8th 2009Rule 6: Black tie should follow the rules In my previous post, one reader commented: “You did a good job of pointing out common ‘sins’ of black tie attire, yet I feel you could explain better why these things are sins. “I ...
The rules and how to break them 6: Black-tie trad...
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Hello, I'm a little late to the party, but for the lost reader wandering here, I'd like to share my opinion. I believe the smoked mop to be less showy than black onyx. Yes it shines, but the eye is used to see mother of ...
Permanent style: What took you so long?
May 1st 2009How fashion writers do love a theme. Every time the shows roll around, there they are – in the front row (if they’re lucky), pens at the ready, all desperately searching for a theme that will tie all the different collections together. Th...
Permanent style: What took you so long?
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Dru, Your right, winter clothes don't necessarily have to be sombre at all. It is, however, fairly inevitable that on average, designer's collections in autumn/winter will be more sombre that the winter. Not a personal p...
The indelible influence of the Teds
April 27th 2009I’ve been learning about the Teddy Boys. Most interestingly, about how they were the first working-class movement to alter the course of men’s style. And gave formal tailoring a much-needed kick up the arse. After the second-world war a g...
The indelible influence of the Teds
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You should have a look at an even more defining and interesting British fashion-mad subculturel: Yes, you guessed it, the style-obsessed Mods. Mod culture has informed mens fashion in regularly repeating cycles, from the...
The rules and how to break them 5: DBs for big men
April 17th 2009Rule 5: Double-breasted suits add breadth, and so should only be worn by slim men. To reiterate the philosophy behind this series: All rules are there for a reason. They become rules because they have practical advantages. But there’s nothing w...
The rules and how to break them 5: DBs for big men
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I have to say, the slimming effect of narrower overlap is completely lost to me. Maybe that's just me, but I always find that the opposite is true, that a narrower spacing of the button columns widens the man. Because su...
Style paradigms: Ignore your peers
April 10th 2009“God, you look like a …” Insert the appropriate style paradigm here. Sailor, English huntsman, City banker, Italian lothario, geography teacher, preppy Ivy Leaguer. This is the reaction you normally get when an outfit has particula...
Style paradigms: Ignore your peers
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Thank you Alexander, yes good point...
The style of America’s Main Street
April 6th 2009A rich vein of style runs through American men. It is a style that is partly imported and partly their own. But each part constantly and consistently informs how they dress, and gives them a little-recognised advantage over their peers in England and...
The style of America’s Main Street
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Ryan, I couldn't agree more with your description of Annapolis. I think the town lends itself to a diverse casual style because of the Naval Academy. Officers have often traveled the world's waters, but know the style ru...
Look at me! I’m a banker
April 3rd 2009The G20 has revealed a lot about bankers’ sartorial taste. It has shown uniformity and a complete lack of awareness of what ‘normal’ people wear. As protests were announced for the day before the G20 meeting in London, City workers ...
Look at me! I’m a banker
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Dressing up in defiance of the protesters is definitely in better taste than throwing photocopied bank notes out of your office window!...
Wear grey with brights
March 30th 2009I’m in New York and spring is in the air. To be fair, spring was in the air last week in London too. Suddenly everyone seems that little bit more optimistic, as they stand on the street with their upturned faces bathed in sunshine. Sartorially ...
Wear grey with brights
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I was interested in your article on shirts. I love to wear bright shirts and have colours such as purple,red and orange. I usually wear a three piece grey suit with grey tie which you say works well with bright colours. ...
New York Times recommends us
March 24th 2009The New York Times magazine has recommended Permanent Style to its readers, through its blog The Moment. Alongside other great blogs A Continuous Lean, Men.Style.Com and The Trad, this site is recommended as one of the 15 best on men’s styl...
New York Times recommends us
The New York Times magazine has recommended Permanent Style to its readers, through its blog The Moment. Alongside other great blogs A Continuous Lean, Men.Style.Com and The Trad, this site is recommended as one of the 1...
Longevity, not profit, at Hermes
March 17th 2009Ties are not easy to clean. Those made of silk, at least, are very delicate things. They are carefully folded lengths of volatile material that are sewn together with loose, sparse stitches – to allow room for the silk to flow, to stretch and t...
Longevity, not profit, at Hermes
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Hermes tie prices are now stratospheric. Pre-Covid prices hovered around $170. My wife has yearly gifted me one for Father's day. This year $240. Despite the "buttery" silk and "Made in France" mystique this price point ...
Are you pretentious or not? Take the test
March 5th 2009On more than one occasion in the past, I have been accused of being pretentious in the way I dress. Presumably, that means those people think I was pretending to be something I was not. Sometimes, whether accused of it or not, that may be true. After...
Are you pretentious or not? Take the test
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"To thine own self be true And it must follow as the night the day That thou cans't not be false to any man." Or,more importantly, yourself ....
Bright wool for cold, sunny days
February 28th 2009Today is everyone’s favourite type of day: bright and sunny with a chill in the air. Sweater weather but lovely sitting in the sun. Yes, hot days in the UK are longed for and looked forward to more than any other. But cold sunny days are everyo...
Bright wool for cold, sunny days
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Guest Comments » Great article. Except I would definitely not eschew the yellow socks. But you definitely have to mute the colors for the most part to pull this off. Comment by Thestyleadvisor — February 28, 2009 #...
The sad, trapped co-respondent shoe
February 25th 2009The co-respondent is such a beautiful shoe. Made with a mix of leather and white buckskin or canvas, it is a summer shoe that leaps out from an outfit. It makes a definite, rakish statement – and even has a rakish story behind its name. The sho...
The sad, trapped co-respondent shoe
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Sunset Blvd is worth its own post. For a rundown of Holden's wardrobe, if I recall correctly he claimed perhaps a dozen custom-made shoes! There must be some artistic licence there because that many pairs of shoes would ...
Reader question: Wearing suit jackets separately
February 23rd 2009Ted: In reference to your post on building a wardrobe, if the man in question mostly gets navy and grey suits, does he need to buy sport coats? He can just use the suit jackets and mix and match. The short and simple answer, Ted, is no. He can’...
Reader question: Wearing suit jackets separately
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I guess if you don't have a suit you don't have much of a choice, but I'd certainly wear a suit if I could?...
Reader question: Building a wardrobe
February 14th 2009Christopher, US: I am a 21-year-old who just received a senior-level job at a local corporation. However I’m trying to build a collection of business clothes, and trying to perfect my own style that will be acceptable amongst my executive peers...
Reader question: Building a wardrobe
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Yes I would - but I would also try to find a tailor that travelled to somewhere close to me in the US...
The rules and how to break them 4: The waist button
February 7th 2009Rule 4: Always button the waist button of your jacket. And only that button “Rules are there for a reason, but there is nothing wrong with breaking them. These statements are not contradictory. Once you understand the rules, you can work ou...
The rules and how to break them 4: The waist button
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I generally have it a little lower than the navel, yes. You can actually see what I have and how it varies between tailors if you look at the measurement breakdowns in the Guide to Tailor Styles. However, the lapel roll ...
Book review: History of Men’s Fashion
February 4th 2009History of Men’s Fashion: What the Well Dressed Man is Wearing, by Nicholas Storey, is a book evidently written with real passion for the subject. Personal touches abound, such as Storey’s relation of the fact that Lord Nelson’s hat...
Book review: History of Men’s Fashion
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Great! Would love to have a copy. Thanks....
Inspiration on mannequins 2: Cesare Attolini
February 2nd 2009In 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 pieces that provide just enoug...
Inspiration on mannequins 2: Cesare Attolini
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Even in the event that these arrangements did not appeal to me personally(though in this case I find all of the combinations quite fabulous) I would have enough before me to envision what each piece might become. These a...
Inspiration on mannequins: Domenico Vacca
January 30th 2009Rejoice and give praise: the world is a beautiful place. High art is not dead; aesthetic creativity lives on untarnished. This is a great time to be. Pulse-racing inspiration is merely a click away, on the mannequins of designers such as Domenico Vac...
Inspiration on mannequins: Domenico Vacca
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The quiet sophistication of purple and green
January 26th 2009Smart ties are dark ties. That is a rule of thumb not hard to understand: a dark tie is less showy, more discreet, more serious. It is also easier to wear a dark tie with an outfit. The Lawyer Background that I have described elsewhere on this site e...
The quiet sophistication of purple and green
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A drop of inspiration every day
January 21st 2009This is a wonderful time of year. Yes, last Monday was meant to be the most depressing day of 2009 (cold, short days, post-Christmas and the middle of the month). But the runway show season has started. Not that I get to go to the shows. Nor that I f...
A drop of inspiration every day
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The "off runway" scene is so much more interesting right now. Yesterday I was looking at swide.com (the Dolce and Gabbana web-site) and thinking what the models look like backstage is so much more inspiring than the catw...
Menswear myths, fact and fiction
January 19th 2009How do I know that the Blucher shoe was developed by a German general who wanted to create a boot his troops could easily remove and still be sturdy on the march? How do I know that UK menswear outfit Daks is a compression of ‘Dad’s slack...
Menswear myths, fact and fiction
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Good story Horatio, What other symmetrical knots have you experimented with and which is your favourite? Simon...
Style icons: The Cincinnati Kid
January 17th 2009“I’ll see your two thousand and raise you five thousand.” Gasps around the room. The Cincinnati Kid leans back in his chair, hand on chin. Is that a knitted tie he’s wearing? It’s so hard to tell in black and white. &ldq...
Style icons: The Cincinnati Kid
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A good point Anirudh. The Logical Waistcoat is not necessarily exclusive of being costume (think cowboys). But it seems to work for the gentleman here - after all, it must be hard to handle your bird in a cockfight if yo...