Following on from French bespoke style with Camps de Luca, we now arrive in Milan with Ferdinando Caraceni. Milanese tailoring has quite a distinct style, with light structure overall but a strong shoulder. So while tailors from Milan will talk a...

  Back in February I began working on a jacket project with Nicoletta Caraceni, of Ferdinando Caraceni in Milan. There are, as you know, several tailors with the name Caraceni in Italy. They all stem from Domenico Caraceni, the founding father, a...

   My final jacket from Ferdinando Caraceni in Milan is superb in many ways, including fit, make and finish. The style, however, is interesting and not necessarily what I expected. I started this project last year with Nicoletta Caraceni, the dau...

  At the Milan event last month I had my final fitting on the cashmere herringbone jacket being made by Ferdinando Caraceni. The more I get to know Nicoletta - Ferdinando's daughter, although not a cutter unlike her father - the more impressed I a...

  When I was in Milan two weeks ago I had a first and second fitting with Ferdinando Caraceni in a day. This isn’t something that all tailors are happy doing, but for some such as Caraceni – which has a lot of foreign clients hoping to have su...

This is my final cotton jacket from Ferdinando Caraceni - which fortunately I received a few weeks ago and was therefore able to wear a fair bit before the weather turned. It is obvious even now that this is a piece that will wear in beautifully. As ...

When we went to see Nicoletta Caraceni (above) in Milan recently, she had been approached several times by the Italian media to speak about the death of Silvio Berlusconi, who was a customer for much of his life.  She didn’t want to talk on TV, bu...

This 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 sec...

Tommy e Giulio Caraceni is one of the great tailors in Italy, but it’s fair to say they’re in a process of transition.  The shop is run by Andrea Caraceni, grandson of Tommy. His father retired last year, and now when in the shop you’re greete...

In our recent articles on menswear destinations in Rome, a couple of readers asked about the outfit I was wearing for beating around the hot city.  The individual pieces should be pretty familiar:  cotton double-breasted jacket from Ferdinando Car...

We covered the appeal of cotton as a tailoring material generally last week, but didn't talk about the different types of cottons. There are corduroys and moleskins of course, gabardines and seersucker. But a difference I find particularly interesti...

 Although I decided to have my first Milanese suit made at Ferdinando Caraceni (see previous post), I've visited and got to know Carlo and Massimiliano Andreacchio at A Caraceni as well. Between them, they are the highest form of central-Italian tai...

In recent weeks I’ve been playing around with this button-through cardigan from Colhay’s.  Initially I was sceptical as to whether I’d ever wear it tucked in - and afraid it was a little lightweight to wear untucked. The same fear put me off t...

Last month we talked about how small changes in the proportions of a double-breasted jacket can have a radical effect on its style - and therefore on the people or situations it suits. This week I've used five of my own jackets to demonstrate these ...

When I was young, my family used to play a game on holiday. The question for all of us was: what can you see that tells you you’re in a different country? It could be the types of trees, the style of road signs, the way people gesticulate. It made ...

A couple of weeks ago, when our little Indian summer here in the UK came to an end, I started the process of switching my wardrobe around for colder weather.  I keep winter sweaters, roll necks, coats and heavy tweeds stored in the attic, and slowly...

This Brioni jacket was made for me under their bespoke programme, using the London store on Bruton Street. We also made a pair of cotton trousers, which I cover lower down, and a shirt.  In our previous article, I made the case for Brioni as a bespo...

I’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 the f...

  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 about, the handkerchief is plain. But still, t...

This post was originally written in 2012: a breakdown of all the tailors I have tried personally (rather than just written about), split into different countries. It was updated in 2016, and I have updated it again now in 2020, adding a further 1...

A reader recently asked about what constituted the ‘finishing’ of a suit - and what indicates quality.  I initially planned a response going through every aspect of this, with examples, but that quickly became unwieldy. There are just too many t...

When I first had this cotton jacket made, I noted that it was a tricky one to work into an outfit. The vintage cotton cloth (more details here) is rather rough and casual, yet the cut and style are quite smart. Having it as a double-breasted jacket...

   Milan is the centre of the men’s fashion industry, yet as far as style is concerned, there are surprisingly few shops worth visiting. Via Montenapoleone, Via Della Spiga and the roads that run between them are all pleasant places to stroll....

In the coming months I will be writing more posts again in our ‘How great things age’ series, which aims to illustrate the beauty of quality clothing over time.  Basically, it’s an antidote to the new clothing that it’s much easier to wri...

UPDATE: The readers' special edition of this book sold out on its first day. It is now only available from the shops listed at the bottom of this page. The standard edition is available in bookshops and will be on the PS Shop in the future too.  Ove...