Category: Suits

Given Japan’s reputation for quality and craft - particularly in denim and bespoke menswear - it would be natural to assume its suit manufacturing was of the same level. But until recently, most factories in Japan p...

A friend used to say that he knew whether a suit was going to be good at the first, basted fitting. I’m not sure I entirely agree. The first fitting is largely for the tailor, to make sure the fundamentals of balanceÂ...

One thing readers asked for in our 'We are 10' post was more reflections on bespoke pieces. When covering bespoke, I tend to write both an initial piece giving the background and approach of the maker, and then a fuller...

Renato Ciardi, who sadly passed away earlier this year, was truly one of the greats of Neapolitan tailoring. Succession planning is rarely one of a bespoke tailor’s strengths, but fortunately the Ciardi family began p...

It has always surprised me how many Italian tailors say they can’t source good, unpolished horn buttons. Particularly because, since its launch last year, even customers can buy them from UK distributor Bernstein &...

So how shall we review a suit? Let me count the ways. One: style. Still the most important thing, as much as we encourage men everywhere to care more about quality and fit. [Read my first post, with the background on Mu...

On the wall of Sartoria Panico in Naples, there is a framed picture of our Tailoring Symposium in 2016. Antonio Panico stands there with other greats of modern bespoke such as Edward Sexton, Antonio Liverano and Lorenzo...

It doesn’t feel like over three years since I covered Musella Dembech, but apparently it is. Of course, there was the Young Tailors Symposium in the middle of that, which featured Gianfrancesco Musella (above), but I ...

Thank you everyone that responded to my ‘You are the interviewer’ post a couple of weeks ago. The number of variety of questions was staggering, and I will try to answer as many as I can over the coming weeks. It ma...

There are precious few dry cleaners out there that understand bespoke tailoring.  They are likely to clean suits in bulk, with everything going into the vat together and no attention to delicate materials. The biggest...

Gigi doesn’t normally talk much. The master cutter at Neapolitan tailors Dalcuore, he normally stands back, silently, as Damiano and Cristina do the talking. This is both his character and a result of speaking little ...

This summer there were several launch events at Pitti Uomo.  Kenji opened up in Florence again, with his new Tie Your Tie store (small but lovely); Benedikt had his Shibumi showroom with new tailoring; it was effective...

It's hard not to feel that the future of the suit lies in more practical cloths than the fine worsteds of the past 30 years. We may move towards a situation where these cloths will be reserved for formal wear, while e...

This week, Thursday June 1st to Saturday 3rd, both Agyesh of Stoffa and Marcus Malmborg for Eidos will be back in London. I’ve written previously about the wonderful colours and design sense of Stoffa, but not about ...

Last night was the (soft) opening of Anglo-Italian, the new shop in London being run by ex-Armoury buddies Jake Grantham and Alex Pirounis. It’s been a long time coming. Various events have slowed things down, and eve...

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 s...

Of all the tailors we visited in Japan last year, Ciccio was the one I was excited about seeing. I'd seen and tried on examples of his work on friends, and more importantly heard good things about his attitude to style ...

The reaction to the pop-up shop so far has been wonderful: hundreds of people through the door every day, both highly engaged, loyal readers and strollers-by interested in something so different on Savile Row.  The fir...

Creare - to create Sentire - to feel  For Japanese tailor Satoki Kawai, these are the two most important things about making a piece of clothing - and are the reason his tailoring house combines the two in its portmant...

I have visited LeatherFoot in Toronto, Canada twice in the past year, and each time the aspect I have liked most is the on-site tailoring workshop. So few shops have crafts on-site, even though it gives them a direct co...

This is the corduroy suit I featured the fitting of last October - at the E. Marinella store in London.  Although labelled as Marinella, it was made by Nunzio Pirozzi - a Neapolitan tailor with a wonderful moustache...

Akihiro Mizobata, Ring Jacket A well-fitted jacket is the most flattering thing a man can own. It occurred to me recently - in conversation with a long-term reader - that we don’t talk about the importance of fit anym...

It seems to be the month for notices and happenings. This latest one is to note that the tailoring book I originally wrote back in 2011 has been republished.  I've had lots of enquiries over the past year about this ...

Looking back on it, our summer 2016 edition of the Symposium series - which focused on young tailors - was particularly interesting. It's easy to forget until you see our film, shown here, how much the backgrounds of e...

I was quite intrigued to see Ethan Newton’s Bryceland's store in Tokyo when we visited a few weeks ago. In particular, how he is presenting his view on tailoring and how that mixes with the more casual americana side....