A Stefano Bemer bespoke solePlease remember, loyal readers, that I am now writing every week - indeed, twice a week - for The Rake online, which is expanding into a great source for international artisanal articles.Recently we have had posts on:- Lor...

Following last week's announcement of our pop-up shop on Savile Row - under the banner 'Permanent Style presents' - here are some details of the shop and the brands. I also include an invitation, above, to any readers to come to the opening party on...

  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...

Patrick Dawson is a retired news correspondent, now living in London. During his career he worked for ABC, CNN and NBC and covered the Balkans War from Kosovo, the Gulf War from Kuwait, and was the first NBC correspondent on the ground during 9/11. H...

I’ve known Ben for a long time now. He worked round the corner from me during my journalism days, and we were both customers of visiting artisans like Elia Caliendo and Simone Abbarchi. We even did a shoot together for Elia years ago. Ben and I hav...

What shoes do we still find ourselves wearing after 10 years, and why?  I find this is mostly about making sensible, functional choices; then a little bit about quality and fit; and almost nothing to do with bevelled waists or stitches per inch.  W...

Bespoke shoes are a luxury for me, rather than the norm.  Unlike bespoke tailoring - which I will always buy over RTW as long as I can afford to - I’m quite happy with a shoe wardrobe which is mostly ready-made.  This can put more pressure on bes...

The colour combinations that we discuss every week in regards to formal wear, can be applied just as readily to casual wear.  Although there will always be elements that don't crossover (such as the immense versatility of denim) a lot of the themes...

 This is our friend Tommaso Capozzoli. He is, among many other things, the sales manager for Stefano Bemer, and we usually stay with him when we’re in Florence. Tommaso has style. It is not loud, and it's unlikely to stand out at Pitti, but it is...

Our ever-popular Friday Polos are back in stock, in the four colours of navy, brown, green and light grey. You can buy them on the shop page here. Please don't forget to include the size you want and the colour(s) in the notes section. We dropped w...

  The third in our Symposium series, looking at some of the finest makers of accessories in the world, was an absolute pleasure on Wednesday. I'll write more next week about the discussion and the broader event, but it was lovely to see how people...

 At the BTBA party last month I wanted to try wearing my tobacco-linen jacket separately. It is part of a suit of course, but it was commissioned from Sastreria Langa in Madrid with a 'shirt' sleeve and patch pockets to make it casual enough to wear...

 Scuola del Cuoio, the Florentine leather manufacturer, has a great story. Most of the products may not be suited to Permanent Style, but the school is worth highlighting and the story worth telling. Scuola del Cuoio was founded in 1950 by the Fra...

Summer outfits often involve white somewhere, as it’s nice to reflect the brightness of the weather – particularly if you’re in Italy and the sun is that much more consistent than it is in the UK.Combining more than one white – or cream – t...

    Hidetaka Fukaya, also known by his nickname Il Micio, is as much artist as artisan. Shoemakers tend to divide into two groups: those that are primarily driven by the artistic side of their work and those that are motivated principally by the...

There are precious few clothing shops anywhere in the world that can still be called ‘destinations’: unique stores that aren’t in every country and every airport, where visiting them is a distinct pleasure of travelling to the city. I think New...

Pitti is a beautifully set-out trade fair full of brands I love, exhibiting on often lovely stands. But it is still a trade fair.This is a place for sales and negotiation. Friends such as Mats at Trunk Clothiers, Will at A Suitable Wardrobe or Kirby ...

  Laces are to a shoe what buttons are to a jacket. Often ignored, but with a disproportionate important effect on the overall look. The most attractive buttons, for me, are always matte horn with a touch of contrast in their colouring. They produ...

 At one point in the evening, I introduced John Carnera to Pierre Corthay. These two titans of bespoke shoemaking - and gentlemen both - yet of course they had never met. Later, at the Villa Cora party, it was introducing Edward Sexton to Luca Rubin...

Masaru Okuyama - the Japan-trained but Hong Kong-based shoemaker - made me this pair of shoes over the past 10 months.  Their relevance is twofold. As a review of Masaru and his work, of course, but also as an experience of Japanese shoemaking, as t...

   A few weeks ago I received my final pair of Foster & Son bespoke shoes. The process has, unfortunately, been both good and bad.  First, the good. The fitting I had with John Spencer - Foster’s lastmaker - was impressive. The fit around ...

Our Young Tailors Symposium last week in Florence - in the beautiful Stefano Bemer atelier - threw up some really interesting areas of discussion.The six tailors all had rather different backgrounds: some trained in completely different fields before...

   Earlier this year I started a bespoke summer suit with tailors Manning & Manning. They are a small operation comprising old Row cutter Bryan Manning (above) and his son, with the making outsourced to various coatmakers and trouser makers.?...

 At the next Pitti Uomo in January I am organising a shoe symposium, together with Stefano Bemer and Bespoke magazine, with the intention of showcasing the work of some of the best men's shoemakers in the world. We will have Cleverley, Corthay, Bes...

Pitti is a long trade show: four full days, when most are usually three. As a result, by Friday everyone is exhausted, with selling, talking, and late dinners. Although it does depend on why you’re there. Most people fall into one of three groups: ...