This overcoat from Ettore de Cesare in Naples has been featured before, in the style feature a couple of weeks ago talking about silk scarves and shades of navy.  However, there have been a few comments recently that readers appreciate articles on n...

*For more on Ettore de Cesare, and examples of the pieces he has made for me, see original post here* The workshop of Ettore de Cesare is in Vomero, a residential neighbourhood on the hill behind central Naples. But he lives in the centre of town....

You know when you think you’re not part of a trend, and then see everyone wearing the same thing? As a clothing snob that likes to think he’s different to everyone else, it’s very annoying. I had admired Michael Hill’s green-corduroy suit -...

In some ways, this navy jacket and topcoat from Ettore de Cesare are the antithesis of the Disguisery tweed jacket we featured last week.  Ettore is a third-generation Neapolitan tailor known for his close-fitting, unstructured garments and leathe...

Long-term readers will be familiar with my passion for Hermes silk scarves, which I’ve often bought over the years as a treat, and of which I now have a small collection (nine of them, since you ask).  I’ve found particular enjoyment this winter...

We covered the Korean outfit B&Tailor in some detail here at the beginning of the month. For details on them, their history and their style, please read that article.  It might seem a little odd splitting things up like this, but I find it makes...

This cashmere coat from Cifonelli, which I've had now for nine years, is similar in many ways to the two coats we’ve covered previously in this series - from Ciardi and from Liverano. There are some technical differences, however, which makes the...

Naples has the biggest concentration of high-end handmade menswear in the world. Although not so much for shoes, for tailoring and shirtmaking this is the motherlode, with hundreds of tailors in the city and surrounding region, and thousands workin...

Our Finest Knitwear, which we created earlier this year, is back in a second batch with a new colour. Alongside the navy fine-merino knitwear - in crewneck and V-neck - there is now also a dark, muted green that I picked for its versatility. Both a...

I've always liked indigo in tailoring, and find navy a good partner for it. The deep indigo of this linen shirt from D'Avino, for example, is significantly quietened by the navy blazer over the top, and makes that top half a story in t...

One of the most popular posts we’ve ever written on Permanent Style was ‘Which office are you?’, back in February 2016. It showed a spectrum of outfits from T-shirt and jeans, through knitwear and flannels, up to a jacket and tie - with just on...

One point that was particularly popular in a recent video chat - ‘How can I dress up without a suit?’ - was the idea of an unstructured or shirt jacket, to wear at home.  Something that you can throw on for a video phone call, in other words,...

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...

Hopsack and similar materials are a good choice for summer blazers - sharp jackets usually made in smart colours, such as navy.  The materials don’t vary that much, even if the weaves themselves are different. A mesh in a classic menswear dark-nav...

When selecting a cloth for an overcoat, what should you look for? This might seem like a pretty easy question: you want warmth. That’s what an overcoat is for. But how much warmth, and where it comes from, are not straightforward. As with anyt...

This groundwork for this video was laid two weeks ago, when we examined the various aspects of the cut of a jacket. It might be worth watching that first, if you haven't already. It showed the most important points of cut and structure, from the size...

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...

As I return from two summer trips - one for a week in Florence, the other a week in Naples - it seems a fitting time to run through what I pack for trips such as these. I know readers have asked about it in the past. Of course, any travelling wardro...

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 balance and so on are correct. It is ...

It's that time of year, and new things are all arriving at once. Today it's a new, lighter shade of the Everyday Denim. Everyday Denim shirting went down really well with readers, both as fabric and finished shirts, and several asked for other varia...

Layering knitwear can be both stylish and practical. Practical, because it gives particular warmth on a cold day - more, usually, than a shirt under knitwear. The multiple layers are also easy to add and remove as the temperature varies. And stylish,...

As soft Neapolitan jackets have become popular in the past 10 years or so, the phrase 'spalla camicia' has been more and more frequently used. However if it means anything consistently, this Italian phrase for 'shirt sleeve' refers to a pretty narro...

Over the past year, I’ve gradually been wearing more black. Readers will have seen that in the recommendation of this Berg & Berg black shirt, for example, and these black cords. It's been particularly pronounced with shoes though, and I also ...

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...

This is the first piece of black tailoring that’s been featured on Permanent Style, I think, outside of evening wear. Over the past three years we’ve been exploring how black’s role in the wardrobe can be expanded, beyond tuxedos and lace-ups. ...