Best Artisan of the Year: Musella Dembech This award, readers may remember, is the only one of the Permanent Style Awards that will be decided purely by me. The overlap of readers that have used a bespoke artisan in 2017 is simply not enough, i...

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...

Several readers commented on the post highlighting pieces from No Man Walks Alone that articles on other shops would be helpful, if objective and analytical. If there’s any area that needs this most, it’s trousers. Once men find a model that w...

I've had a few requests over the years to do one of these, our wardrobe-building guides, about knitwear.  One of the challenges of doing so is that very little is right or wrong, and a lot is personal. Still, there are some helpful things that ca...

For the past five years or so, I’ve been wearing Hamilton & Hare’s tubular T-shirts under things.  They’re what I wear underneath knitwear, what I wear under a shirt, even what I sleep in. They’re the best fine-cotton tee I’ve ever wo...

Sweatshirts vary hugely in price, from £20 at a fast-fashion brand to well over £200 from a specialist Japanese maker.  And even though the price difference is that large among brands we cover - say Merz b Schwnen at £130 and The Real McCoy’s a...

Wool/silk/linen blends have been a favourite for summer jackets for many years, although in the UK they only started to be offered about 10 years ago.  More recently, English mills have also started offering their own versions, sometimes without one...

In quite a few European cities, including most in Italy I’ve visited, you see small, slightly old-fashioned shops selling underwear and nightwear, often with these little hand-written price cards.  Although charming, the quality in these shops is ...

Our seasonal summary of things I’ve seen and liked rolls around again, and as ever is a good mechanism to answer questions about new products from established brands, such as the City Moc from Saman Amel (above). But it’s also, by design, a mix o...

  Chinos from tailors never feel like chinos. Why is this?  I used to think I knew the answer: the fabrics they used were too fine - dress cottons, made with fine fibres, finished for a sleek look and good drape.  Chinos, eve...

In some ways, summer trousers are more challenging than jackets in terms of cloth, and therefore more interesting. Trousers present the challenge of having something cool, but with enough body or crispness to hang straight. Jackets are less res...

*My experience of this underwear in the months since has not been as good, and I would therefore not recommend it as highly. I experienced quality issues with both the waistband and the material* Long-time readers may remember The Underwear Project i...

If the last chinos we reviewed in this series were a little more unusual (from Casatlantic) then today we’re back with a very good, very everyday pair.  Similar in that respect to the first brand we covered - Rubato - just more on the workwear en...

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...

   Dear Simon, I’ve always been extremes: a worsted wool suit or denim jeans. But having had my first couple of “sports jackets” made I thought it was worth while moving up in the formality stakes with trousers occasionally. I realise up from...

I don't tend to wear brightly coloured ties. Too often they’re brash and loud, where a dark simple tie would be more tasteful. The only time I’ve regularly worn them is in unusual colours like lime green, rather than primary reds ...

As with our previous article in this series - on bags - five coats might seem like a lot, but actually chances are many readers already have that in their wardrobe, if they account for smart and casual coats, for warmth and for rain.  And given t...

Last Friday was annoyingly cold, and damp.   Combinations of subdued, rich colours always give me the most pleasure - but it felt particularly appropriate on a day like this. The textures of the three pieces also went well together: the fuzzy sur...

  It would be easy to ignore the difference between fully fashioned and normal T-shirts or polos. There aren’t many around, and the distinction is subtle. But good examples of the former create a very distinctive look.Ninety-nine per cent of...

If there’s one thing I have a (very relative) lack of, it’s summer sports jackets - casual pieces for warm days, using the linen/wool/silk mixes the Italians are so good at. So it was nice to have this jacket from Dalcuore made up in time for Pi...

This may be a little niche, but it’s something that often stresses me out in the morning, so hopefully it will be of some use to others.  My plans for what to wear on a particular day usually don’t account for rain.  I might be going into town,...

Last week a friend in the industry asked me what aspect of writing Permanent Style I like the most. It is always, easily, discovering a new tailor, cloth or product that is different and inspiring. That journey from discovering something new, to se...

It’s that time of the year again. Brands have been receiving all the spring clothing they ordered last year, even though they weren’t quite sure whether it would arrive, or be swallowed by an unexpected lockdown.  So rejoice, there are new ideas...

I know from experience that casual jackets often involve a compromise, for me.  Usually one size will be perfect on the neck, waist and sleeve, but another will be better on the shoulders, chest and body length. Basically, I’m a little taller and ...

I’ve always found that an oxford shirt fills a very specific gap in my wardrobe. Smart enough for almost any sports jacket - from cashmere to corduroy - it is also the perfect partner for jeans. It might bridge formal and casual perhaps better tha...