Hi Mr Crompton,I'm a fan of yours (Permanent Style, The Rake) from Singapore. I've been agonising over my shirts for some time and would like to ask your advice. I've been wearing bespoke T&A for about 10 years and I regard Steven Quinn as a friend. ...

Dear Simon,  I believe that I’ve read every post you’ve written about shirts. Italian, Spanish, British, even the one on Charvet in How To Spend It. I'm always looking for the same thing but still haven’t found it. Maybe I missed one, maybe I...

A 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 Hawaiian shirt...

  Men increasingly wear separate jackets and trousers. It is an inevitable result of more casual office wear, and dressing down more generally. But separates are hard. Men are not used to combining them effectively, and although I see more nice jac...

Last month, a reader asked for some recommendations of “affordable luxury”. By this, I think he meant items that weren’t necessarily that expensive, but were nonetheless luxurious. The best (a little) money could buy. Buying the best you can a...

Ten years ago, I started a blog. It seems odd to call it a blog now - given how much Permanent Style encompasses today - but back then it was definitely a blog. It contained a lot of rants. About how there were no good magazines; about how men wo...

I know I'm biased, but this shirt made in the Everyday Denim cloth we developed with Albiate/Albini last year is now easily my favourite. It has faded slowly and nicely, while stopping short of bleaching completely. The fading around the cuffs, ...

This was an idea that a reader suggested to me a few months ago. (Readers are the best...) It is a collection of all of my outfits from the past 10 years.  One hundred and sixty-five outfits, all with titles indicating an interesting aspect, and...

  One of the reasons jacket fits and styles are so hard to describe is they cannot easily be put into numbers. Trousers, by comparison, are pretty straightforward. From the shoe up, there is: circumference at the trouser openin...

I am a 39-year-old father of three wonderful daughters. My family is without question the most joyful and important thing in my life.  Why is this relevant to Permanent Style? Two reasons.  First, this demographic is not well-represented in the ima...

My philosophy has always been to buy classic items that will last me a long time, in the best quality I can afford. Over time, I will upgrade the clothes I have and give away the old ones, rather than merely accumulate. There’s nothing wrong with v...

 Men have historically always worn something at the neck - if it wasn’t a tie, it was an ascot or a workman’s neckerchief. Such things are practical, for work and for warmth. Over the past six months we have been working with weavers Begg & ...

  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, in: a rougher, preppy herrin...

Every day, when I get dressed, there is something new I’m interested in wearing.  Not necessarily new clothing, but a new outfit, a new combination of colours, perhaps a mixing of styles. And sometimes just a combination that feels new, because it...