Reader profile: Ben C
December 10th 2021I’ve known Ben for a long time now. He worked round the corner from me during my journalism days, and we were both customers of visiting artisans like Elia Caliendo and Simone Abbarchi. We even did a shoot together for Elia years ago. Ben and ...
Richard Burke: Style hero
November 5th 2021There’s this one outfit worn by the character Richard Burke in Friends , played by Tom Selleck, that has stayed with me for years. It’s in the penultimate episode of series six. Richard comes to Monica’s restaurant to try and win ...
Richard Burke: Style hero
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Thank you Max. Yes the 'How to dress like' section is very specific - just about people in the menswear industry. But I can see that isn't that clear....
Reader Profile: Andrew
October 27th 2021This is the third in our series of articles meeting, and questioning, Permanent Style readers. The first profiled Manish , who enthused about Russian watches and recommended that readers should start building a wardrobe with good trousers. And the s...
Reader Profile: Andrew
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David - did you ever end up commissioning a suit or jacket with T&G? Do you visit Rome often? I was wondering because I saw that you are in LA, and I thought it may be difficult to do a bespoke commission on vacation...
Be open minded. Or, what is style?
September 3rd 2021I believe that core to understanding clothes, and perhaps even to enjoying them, is appreciating styles that are not your own. If you can’t, it closes you off to dozens of ideas - something as simple as the shape of a sleeve, or a colour comb...
Be open minded. Or, what is style?
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Agree - there’s always something to learn from or admire in great dressers no matter their style. If nothing else, I always try to pay attention to how they coordinate proportion, color, and texture....
Playing around with white bucks
August 4th 2021During 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 shoes were a recreation of a 1...
Playing around with white bucks
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Forty plus years ago, I had a pair of Brooks white bucks, and a buck bag. Somewhere along the line, I got rid of the bucks but kept the bag. Now, I'm 72 and trying to find my unspent youth, with a new pair of white bucks...
Should you dress for yourself, or for others?
July 14th 2021Should you dress for yourself or for others? Unsurprisingly, the answer is both. Anyone that dresses without any regard for people around them is probably being rude, and certainly inconsiderate. Dressing purely to conform, other the other hand, i...
Should you dress for yourself, or for others?
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Yes I'd say so...
A casual Summer capsule
July 7th 2021About a month ago, proper Summer started in the UK. Now I don’t define Summer by the solstice, the calendar, or even the moon. Summer, for me, is when it's so hot that it severely affects the clothes you can wear. Anything consistently above...
A casual Summer capsule
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I'm afraid it's really not possible to tell much remotely Joshua, and the pictures don't help. I think that's one you'll have to make up your own mind on....
How relevant is 80s Armani?
July 2nd 2021By Tony Sylvester It might seem counterintuitive to be talking about past fads or subcultures on a platform named Permanent Style. But while it is certainly admirable for a man to build a wardrobe around the timeless and perennial, it would be fooli...
The rules and how to break them #10: Suits withou...
June 30th 2021This is a new installment in the series ‘ The rules and how to break them ’, which has been a little neglected in recent years. It’s a great little guide, exposing myths of menswear and calmly explaining the rationale behind advice...
The rules and how to break them #10: Suits withou...
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I'd say they are unusual, but not really more casual....
Flash vs fuddy
June 18th 2021Here's an idea. I reckon men face two, polarised dangers in their style that we haven't discussed before, or at least not formalised. O ne is being too flash or showy; the other is appearing too old-fashioned - a ‘fuddy duddy’. When guy...
Flash vs fuddy
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I’ve not been a big fan of the “western style” renaissance. It might be because I’ve grown up around it, but, to me, it’s a very particular look that requires equally particular pieces to make it work - in orde...
The Western shirt four ways (with Begg & Co ...
June 14th 2021One of the reasons Western and denim shirts have been so popular in recent years is their versatility. On the one hand, their conventional pale blue means they sit easily beneath all manner of jackets or suits, while adding an intentional, unexpect...
The Western shirt four ways (with Begg & Co ...
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I don't think you should shorten the collar, as that's likely to look odd. But taking in the body a little (always err on the side of caution) is usually fine. I'd do that...
The T-shirt under tailoring
May 26th 2021I’ve never actively disliked T-shirts under tailoring. I just tend not to wear them myself and, when I have seen them worn, I think it can be done quite badly. Done well, wearing a T-shirt rather than a collared shirt can pleasingly subvert t...
Tailoring and milsurp: How to dress like Ethan Wong
May 21st 2021Like many men that feature in this ‘How to dress like’ series, I find the differences between how I and Ethan Wong dress just as interesting as the similarities. In fact more so. We have similar influences in classic menswear and vint...
Tailoring and milsurp: How to dress like Ethan Wong
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Ethan and Simon are the two writers on style that I enjoy reading the most. My personal style is more like Simon’s – probably because I’m staunchly middle aged and live in Northern Europe. However, Ethan’s concep...
Learning to dress my body better
May 17th 2021I've learnt many things over the past 13 years of writing Permanent Style, but one I've learnt most intimately is how different clothes suit my particular physique, and physiognomy. This does come up on PS, in articles about collar height perhaps, o...
Learning to dress my body better
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Hi Drew, Consider Stefano Bemer on 57th. The company was started in Florence by the eponymous shoemaker and later acquired Sartoria Vestrucci. Moreover, their US head cutter, Eric Jensen, visits the 57th Street shop for ...
Layering and accessories for cold Spring days
May 7th 2021Back when these things were possible, I remember an American friend visiting in the Spring and asking: “How on earth do you dress for this weather? I can see my breath in the morning, but my midday I’m roasting and can barely wear a jack...
Layering and accessories for cold Spring days
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I don't think so, no. Though it's also one to think yourself - if you saw someone wearing one around where you are, would it look odd to you?...
Both chic and bold: How to dress like Angel Ramos
May 5th 2021Although Angel Ramos and I have only met a few times, we’ve always seemed to have something in common when it came to styles we liked. Angel wears slippers a lot, and has more of a tendency towards bright colours and patterns. The overall image...
Both chic and bold: How to dress like Angel Ramos
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I think it can look cool but you need to want to look like Angel, which is rather bolder than most styles we feature. Also has to be appropriate to you and where you live/work of course...
White jeans: how to buy, wash and wear
April 7th 2021White jeans are a classic example of menswear that has been damaged unreasonably by association. Unfortunately, they carry connotations of flash Mediterranean men, wearing their white jeans with a shirt unbuttoned to the navel. Or skintight ripped ...
These are the tools: you have to use them
April 5th 2021“Can I wear dark-brown shoes like these with a suit in my office? Do you think it would be appropriate?” The answer is, I don’t know. I don’t work in your office: I don’t know what the implicit dress code is. You have t...
These are the tools: you have to use them
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I haven't thought about it to be honest. There may be something in the contrast colours, yes, though I think key is probably just having colours you're not really going to wear elsewhere...
My favourite outfits
March 12th 2021In our recent article ' Outfits that I got wrong', a reader commented that he would be interested in the opposite post. Not outfits I got right - hopefully there are lots of those - but ones I got the most right, or I like the most. Perhaps, those t...
My favourite outfits
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The Galway just about, the Ambleside yes with the storm welt etc...
Outfits I got wrong
February 19th 2021Everyone gets stuff wrong. We all have outfits we look back on years later, and cringe. Fortunately, I believe this is something where you learn and progress. It is not a cycle of fashions, where every few years you wear something different, and di...
The imagery that inspires me, by Oliver Dannefalk
December 21st 2020This is a guest article by Rubato designer Oliver Dannefalk, explaining what the hell he was looking at all the time on his phone. And then showing to everyone. It is a description of how he works, what inspires him, and what keeps him de-stressed. ...
The imagery that inspires me, by Oliver Dannefalk
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I don't, sorry Albert. You could ask 40 Colori, who do MTM knitwear, but it might be too complicated for them....
The cold-colour capsule
December 9th 2020I realised recently that an increasing number of my casual clothes fall into a narrow colour range. A good proportion of my favourite things - and certainly combinations - are a mix of brown, cream, black and grey. With some secondary colours at th...
The cold-colour capsule
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Hi Simon, Permanent Style is easily my favorite menswear resource and a big influence in my style journey, so thank you for that! I do have some constructive criticism. I would like to add my voice to those of multipl...
The style and price of Berg & Berg
November 25th 2020I’ve always liked the way Andreas Larsson at Berg & Berg designs - and styles - the clothes for the brand. In particular, I think his approach to casual chic (I’m sticking with that term) is impressive: he consistently demonstra...
The style and price of Berg & Berg
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I sadly can’t vouch for Berg and Berg *at all*, having decided to give them a go after reading coverage of them on PS. First and not a dealbreaker, but their fit is strange. The claim to be a classic cut and a true-to-...
Colour in the city: How to dress like Jean-Manuel...
October 2nd 2020I asked Jean-Manuel Moreau to be the next chapter in our ‘ How to dress like’ series specifically because of the way he wears colour. Creating jacket/trouser/shirt/shoe combinations that feel new and interesting, yet remain modern and re...
Colour in the city: How to dress like Jean-Manuel...
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Good to hear Lindsay....
The formal tieless jacket – with Steven Hit...
September 28th 2020How smart can you be without a suit or tie? Formality in tailoring is often discussed in terms of these two things. And it is true that wearing a suit rather than a jacket, and a tie rather than an open-necked shirt, will usually be smarter. But i...
The formal tieless jacket – with Steven Hit...
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Look at the bunches from harrison's, W Bill...