By Tom Mastronardi. Anyone that knows me appreciates my resolute affection for being well-tailored. Even as a kid raised in a decidedly blue-collar neighbourhood on Chicago’s South Side, I never required any coaxing to don a jacket and tie. But of ...

This bespoke jacket was made for me by Paolo Martorano, the tailor in New York I first covered in 2020.  It’s particularly significant because of the dearth of bespoke tailors in the US. Although many tailors travel to the US from the UK and Europ...

Our New York pop-up (now in its second year) brings in an interesting range of people - more, perhaps, than London.  There’s Guy, who came last time too, an old-school New Yorker in bespoke, red socks and Warren Edwards loafers; Duncan, the knitwe...

Thomas Mastronardi is one of the best-dressed men I know. So, in the spirit of welcoming a greater range of voices onto Permanent Style, I asked Tom to bookend the summer by writing something on the seersucker and linen suits he loves so much. We dis...

By Tom Mastronardi "The story I’m about to relate is true; it really happened, just a few short years ago, before Covid upended the simple everyday pleasure of running into someone you know on the street and having something marvellous happen. But ...

Most bespoke tailoring in New York is structured differently to the old houses of Europe. It tends to be based around a designer or salesman - with extensive bespoke experience - rather than a cutter.  There are exceptions of course, including Leona...

  It’s taken a while to get round to writing about my glasses from Tom Davies. Partially, that was because it took a while to have them made. I was a guinea big for the bespoke service for horn glasses, and as with any new service it took that bi...

        It turns out my neighbour is friends with a guy called Tom Davies, who is the largest maker of bespoke glasses in the world. And Tom’s studio is half a mile from where I grew up (East Sheen, south-west London). So, interested in l...

You’d be forgiven for thinking that Tom Baker makes rock ‘n’ roll suits. After all, that’s what he’s known for, that’s what he is pictured wearing and that’s what you see if you look through his window on D’Arblay Street, Soho. But ab...

The following feature was commissioned by an international fashion magazine, but cancelled at the last minute. It is reproduced here for Permanent Style readers - Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising, given the vogue for everything ‘bespoke’ ...

Alden has this particular shape of shoe, on what is referred to as the ‘modified’ last.  It’s unusual, almost orthopaedic in appearance, with a narrow waist that hugs the middle of the foot and rather bulging sides to fully accommodate the joi...

 My last 'reflections on bespoke' post back in January was very popular. Readers seemed to respond to the assessment of bespoke commissions with the wisdom of hindsight, and I have to say I sympathise.Here, then, are five more, with the items selec...

  Before the public part of Tailoring Symposium in June, we all gathered next to the pool at the Four Seasons to have a chat about tailoring and its future, with The Rake busily making a video of the event in the background. This was perhaps the m...

The photographer Milad Abedi is someone whose style I've liked for a long time, but in a quiet way. Whenever we’ve shot together I’ve been interested in what he’s wearing and found something I liked, but he wasn’t the first person I thought...

The greatest contribution Tom Ford’s new eponymous line has made to menswear is nothing to do with design – it is the creation of a compromise between bespoke and made to measure. Bespoke, as regular readers will recall, involves creating a suit ...

The Valet has become an all-round care and repair location in the past couple of years, which is great for our general push to encourage readers to look after their clothes better. Having started with pressing, then adding dry cleaning and shoe care,...

  The simplicity of classic wedding attire - in colour, in pattern, in tone - is a reflection of respect  for the importance of the event. Business attire, once-upon-a-time, was similarly restrained; but while I can see the argument for relaxing c...

Dear Simon,??I hope that you don't mind me emailing you, but I have a few questions regarding bespoke and made-to-measure suits that I need to ask someone who knows about style, and you seem to be one of the most knowledgeable on the subject.??...

Following the recent post on how to buy fragrance, this is the second installment – the brands I like and some suggestions of ones to look for. First, though, a reader asked about the difference between molecular and natural ingredients. Natural in...

A beautiful Norfolk jacketWhen Tom Phillips, the author of Menswear: Vintage People on Photo Postcards, first put together this collection, he expected to see conformity across menswear in the roughly 40 pre-WW2 years it covered. What he got was a co...

   A capsule collection has many uses. When you travel for long periods, for example, you want a small but versatile collection of clothes that has a large number of permutations, and suits different occasions. And if you commute by bike (as I d...

There are very few bespoke tailors I would have faith in to explore an entirely new style or new medium. They include Lorenzo Cifonelli, Davide Taub and Rubinacci (Luca plus cutter). Many more, although highly innovative, tend to make within a defini...

Ferdinando Caraceni is one of the world's best-regarded bespoke tailors, based in Milan. It has been run since his death in 2004 by Ferdinando's daughter, Nicoletta, and they have made me three jackets over the past 10 years. You can see them and oth...

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...

A shawl (or stole) can be a really practical thing to wear. Simply hung round the neck, it’s a lovely layer of warmth down the front of the body and on the back of the neck. And when looped or tied, it’s also effective protection against the cold...