Launching a brand is not hard. Someone does it in our area every week, and is nice enough to email to let me know. However, launching a brand, making it a success as bespoke, then launching ready-to-wear, setting up your own factory off the back of ...

Looking back on it, our summer 2016 edition of the Symposium series - which focused on young tailors - was particularly interesting. It's easy to forget until you see our film, shown here, how much the backgrounds of each tailor varied. Each was a...

I'm really excited about our next Symposium, scheduled for Tuesday, January 10th. First, because while it brings together some of my favourite people - as with all the symposia - the subject is very different.It will not be about artisans, but rathe...

Our Symposium on fashion and the media, held last week at Teatro del Sale in Florence, might have been our most enjoyable yet. Certainly, it ran the smoothest, with no logistics issues and a set of speakers that, frankly, could each have talked for ...

Our debate at the Media Symposium last week covered everything from influencers to Interview, story-telling to Supreme. It was one of the best discussions we've had, and probably the one with the broadest appeal. The audience was made up of largely b...

Charcoal is a surprisingly useful colour in an odd jacket. Great with muted tones of tan, green or brown, it's also dark enough to go with lighter grey flannels. And charcoal is my favourite colour to wear with cream trousers. It tends to tone down...

Thank you for waiting so patiently - particularly those on the waiting list, who were alerted to the Friday Polo's availability a couple of days ago. The Friday Polo is now back in stock, in its original four colours: navy, green, grey and white. You...

I’m very fond of the cut of this Vestrucci suit, and it is more unusual than I realised when I first received it.  Although many aspects are similar to Liverano and other related Florentine tailors, there are small and large differences.  So th...

The opening party for our Permanent Style Presents shop has gained a bit of a reputation in recent years. Certainly, it's one of the parties each season I enjoy most. This time the party will be co-hosted with Holland & Sherry, and take place on ...

I recently did this interview with Kirby Allison of The Hanger Project, as part of his Shoe Shine Sunday series. It's a little bit meandering (and my shirt seems determined to reveal more chest than anyone would want) but I think there are some inter...

Nothing is more satisfying than when long-grown projects come to fruition. Indeed, I'm not sure many media today could support a project that's taken this amount of work and time.  It began in 2016, with the idea of trying to commission a suit or ja...

I've known Deborah Carré and James Ducker (below)for many years, having first covered their workshops when they were at Cockpit Arts (those pictures of me and Luke!), then the opening of their service at Gieves & Hawkes, and more recently tried ...

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...

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...

  It feels great to say it: Permanent Style 2015 is now live, and ready to buy. You can place orders here. I know the first few have already gone, to some inquisitive readers who were searching around the Hanger Project site (who are doing all ful...

Shades of tobacco and tan are one of the loveliest things to wear in the Summer.  As the weather warms up, I've put together three outfits here - all somewhere in the 5 to 7 formality range, also known as smart/casual - that illustrate this.  The...

Almost a year ago, back in January, I began the process of making a pair of bespoke shoes with a new outfit in Romania, Petru & Claymoor.  Shoe fans might have seen some coverage of the brand over the intervening year. It was set up by Mircea Ci...

 Well, you asked for more pictures... First, the speakers.    

Ferdinando Caraceni is one of the world's best-regarded bespoke tailors, based in Milan. It has been run since his death in 2004 by Ferdinando's daughter, Nicoletta, and they have made me three jackets over the past 10 years. You can see them and oth...

Having met the Florentine tailor Vittorio Salino last summer, I took the opportunity of being in Florence this past January to commission a jacket. I got on with Vittorio, was impressed with his outlook, and realised PS readers would be interested in...

Five years ago, in 2018, we began the PS awards series by asking about favourite brands, shops and stylists.  This year I'd like to invite everyone to do the same, but actively reflect on how things have changed in the past five years.  Five years ...

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...

I recently had these boots made bespoke by Roberto Ugolini in Florence, and they have turned out very well. I have two reflections about bespoke shoes off the back of them. One is that I am increasingly specific about what I need in terms of fit, and...

Yohei Fukuda is one of the finest shoemakers in the world. And given his longevity - he set up on his own 12 years ago - he’s been at the forefront of Japan emerging as the primary world force in bespoke.  But like many Japanese, it's taken him a ...

As mentioned in my recent article on Yohei Fukuda, I ordered a pair of bespoke shoes from him last year, when I was in Tokyo.  However, I opted for bespoke without a fitting.  Why? Well, at the moment I seem to be getting to Tokyo every three years...