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 ...

By Manish Puri Whenever an article related to Rome is published on Permanent Style I’ve noticed there’s usually a reader comment or two about Sartoria Ripense – either asking about their style or praising their work. With this in mind, I decide...

Last year, I wrote about how one of my favourite tailors in Milan - Ferdinando Caraceni - was closing. It was an interesting article about the challenges of running a bespoke tailor today, but sad for all the customers that had built up a relationshi...

Rome doesn’t have the menswear reputation of Milan, Florence or Naples. But there are some unusual little gems nestled in different parts of the city.  One of the most interesting is Atelier Bomba. Started by Cristina Bomba in 1980, it has a reput...

Bocache & Salvucci was a bit of a surprise when I visited last month.  I’d come across the shoemaker at Jean-Manuel Moreau, in Paris, and had assumed that in Rome I would find a small (because relatively unknown) bespoke craftsman.  What I ac...

Chez Dede is a lovely little multibrand shop in Rome. It sells clothing and accessories, books and furniture, including some familiar brands such as P. Le Moult and Camoshita. However, for me the most lovely thing about the store when we visited was ...

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...

Gerardo Cavaliere is someone whose style I've admired for a while, but rarely had a chance to talk to for more than a few moments at an event.  While Milad and I were in Rome recently, therefore, I spent some time with Gerardo and his partner Margar...

I do not know Roman tailor Gaetano Aloisio. But I've heard good things, and seen one or two as well. So when Bruce Boyer told me he was having a suit made by Gaetano, I asked whether he would write something brief about his experiences.  It's not a...

In many ways, today's outfit is a natural extension of things we’ve been talking about recently.  There was, back on August 12, our discussion about wearing all black, which has some bearing here. The outfit is not all black, of course, but it is ...

There is an old saying that you can tell a lot about someone by how they treat waiters. Actually it probably extends to anyone that serves you - bus drivers, bar staff, shop staff.  The thinking is that if a seemingly nice, charming person is rude a...

Jacques Tiberghien and Vincent Metzger discovered the small house of Gammarelli in Rome several years ago. Although only a small workshop, it makes all the outfits, from robes to mitres, for the pope, cardinals and bishops of Rome. Jacques and Vincen...

The reason Milan became the centre of Italian fashion was Florence and Rome couldn't sort out a fight.  Italian clothing itself became successful abroad because people were tired of the 'haughty, arty' French.  Spurred by our recent discussion of A...

When I visited T&G Caraceni in Rome last year, a particular bolt of vintage cloth caught my eye. It was a brown-and-black houndstooth tweed, mid-weight but densely woven (as a lot of that vintage tweed tends to be).  Unfortunately only 1.5m of i...

This article has been updated every four years for the past 12 years. It was originally written in 2012, and has had new versions in 2016, 2020 and now 2024.  The number of bespoke tailors we have tried and covered has increased, but the growth p...

Like most Italian tailors, Sartoria Seminara is hidden away. There is no Savile Row grand entrance, just a name and a buzzer and a short walk up a flight of dark stairs.  The effect is all the greater because this entrance is on Via dei Calzaiuoli, ...

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 ...

Among the many pocket-sized books on women’s style, dressing like a Parisian is a popular category. Many, it seems, find the idea of the Parisian woman who dresses fashionably but not fussily, in a way that is simple but chic, appealing. I was skim...

Boat shoes and their ilk (deck, moc, canoe etc) have become a bit of a trend in the past year. Miu Miu, Bally and Loro Piana launched styles in the fashion world, while the likes of Ghiaia, Crockett & Jones and Saman Amel have introduced more cla...

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...

 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...

By Tony Sylvester This Autumn past, I took my first trip since before Covid. A short flight to Copenhagen, a city I know well. A very brief holiday, it served as a primer of sorts; a way to ease back into the idea of travel.  Everything was familiar...

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...

Cifonelli Parisian tailors tend to be located on the first floor of big mansion blocks. Savile Row tailors are more likely to be on the ground floor of a terraced house, with workrooms underneath. Though certainly a generalisation, this is not an emp...

When I visited US tailor Chris Despos last month I was slightly surprised to find that his house cut was so Italian in style. I think in London we often forget the influence of the Italians on US clothing – due to immigration, the openness of the m...