When we approached the headquarters of 45R, I was a little nervous. I'd been given an introduction by a friend, but had no idea what the management team knew about me or Permanent Style, or how much they cared.  It was late afternoon and already get...

During a recent trip to Manchester, I visited a lovely little vintage shop called Bionic Seven. A partner store to Levison's in London, it leans towards more modern and more sports clothing, but has quite a few little gems in amongst the racks.  I d...

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 ...

There are more vintage shops in Japan than anywhere else. Particularly in Harajuku, the fashion area of Tokyo, and in Koenji, a district about 40 minutes from the centre.  But elsewhere too - Osaka, traditionally a fashion centre in Japan, has high-...

A friend of mine once told me about regular meetings with Prince Charles (as he then was). Assembled at Clarence House, a team of six would wait in a shockingly cold room, to the extent that anyone who was near a window could see their breath. Charle...

Simon is only our second reader profile from outside the UK. He lives in New York, although when we talk on the phone he’s actually in Washington DC, having just landed on the red eye from Arizona.  Simon travels a lot. He’s a journalist and his...

In my continued exploration of all things the colour of mourning, I commissioned this black-corduroy suit from Pommella (trousers) and Zizolfi (jacket) last year.  The logic seemed sound: if black is going to work in tailoring, I’d consistently fo...

By André Larnyoh When I first got this Barbour jacket, I remember wondering if it was really me. I was around 19, taking all my inspiration from Pinterest boards and The Ivy Handbook. A waxed motorcycle jacket seemed off the beaten track. But it was...

About eight months ago we made the decision to discontinue our trench coat in favour of something simpler and subtler. A few conversations with friends had brought up the issue, repeatedly, of not being able to find a really stylish but understated, ...

By Manish Puri The attention of Permanent Style has always been - and will continue to remain - trained upon the highest quality garments in the world. However, there are barriers to accessing the very best – especially with suits. You might live h...

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...

In our voluminous Guide to Cloth series, we’ve already done an article on tweed. But that was about the history, the style and a little about the types. There was no mention of bunches. Today’s article takes on that introduction, fleshes out the...

Earlier this month I visited Seoul, to see some of the tailors I had been intrigued by but mostly seen from afar, and to visit some of the shops and brands. My impression was of a dynamic city – new development, new retail, every shop with a dis...

Is it possible to look good in cheaper clothes? Absolutely. But that doesn’t mean you can’t look better (in some ways) with better quality ones, or that there aren’t other reasons for choosing them.  This question often comes up when we featur...

I get asked surprisingly often what I wear with my children at the weekend - when there’s a chance I’ll be running round a park, on my knees in a playground tunnel, or simply within range of a ketchup spill.  There seems to be a presumption that...

Ian is retired, and got into luxury menswear late in life. But he always had an interest in clothes, from his early days in Ivy clothing to the forties and fifties influences that came with learning jive dancing.  It could be easy to see him as bein...

This is one of the many great questions people submitted in response to the ‘You are the interviewer’ post a couple of weeks ago. In fact, it brought together a few of the questions, as many of the good ones do. It’s an extension of the topic w...

Frieze, the contemporary art fair in London, makes for great people watching. The art world brings in such a broad spectrum of types, of tribes. Although from a clothing point of view there always seems to be one consistent theme, which is a specific...

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...

Peter Nitz is a Swiss craftsman based in Zurich. He does a lot of teaching of hand-sewn leather techniques, including classes, videos and individual training. He also sells leather-working tools. (When you’re a bespoke craftsman, it’s good to hav...

Seiji McCarthy is someone I've wanted to cover on PS ever since we hung out in Tokyo some six years ago. But with no prospect of travelling to Japan soon, I turned to local writer and friend Christopher Berry to visit Seiji and report - on Seiji's Am...

I met Ben at our recent pop-up party, and liked what he was wearing (first outfit below). We got to talking and I discovered his interesting background - always good, as I’d like these profiles to explore different types of PS reader - and his pure...

Tim owns an antique luggage and travel accessories shop, and spends a lot of his time either in the store or on the road sourcing. His clothes are eminently practical, but they also speak of a love of old things, including all second-hand clothing. ...

* This article is the first in a series that will look at New York bespoke over the years* By Manish Puri. In the 1956 version of the song New York’s My Home, Sammy Davis Jr. is eager to address the crazy rumour that some foolhardy New Yorkers are ...

I’m often asked by readers whether a particular piece of clothing is ‘worth it’. Yet the older I get - the further along my clothing journey - the more I realise how subjective this can be.  Also, I’m finding my particular subjectivity is ch...