By Manish Puri. This article is the second in a series dealing with my personal experiences of having bespoke/MTM clothes made over the last six years. The first covered some of my tips for working with tailors, while this piece focuses on the lesson...

Readers have commented fairly regularly that it would be good to include more local UK tailors on Permanent Style.  I’ve generally been resistant, largely because those tailors would be relevant to only a small number of people. As they tend not t...

“I’ve had five shirts made by XX on Savile Row, and I’m not currently in possession of any of them. They are all being altered or the sleeves lengthened, some have been there weeks and some months. Every time I phone up the reaction is ‘oh ye...

  The Bespoke Tailors Benevolent Association dinner is a wondrous thing.Every year, 300 or so tailors, friends and cloth merchants gather at the Merchant Taylors’ Hall on Threadneedle Street in London.There are speeches; there are medals; there a...

I was in Warsaw for a couple of days last week, a city with a strong shoemaking tradition, a smaller group of tailors and a couple of great glovemakers.It was particularly interesting to learn about how tailoring fared in this area under Communist ru...

 Dear Simon,My name is Lukas. I've been an avid permanent style reader for several years and absolutely love your articles. For about four years, I have been altering RTW blazers, trousers and suits. On two occasions i've also had MTM suits made. Ha...

The search function on Instagram can be a bit useless.  No matter how many great, quality brands I engage with, most of what IG pushes at me is men in suits so tight they can barely breathe, and people doing silly stunts. Far more useful, often, is ...

Among my peers, Savile Row, its suits and tailors, is a thing of aspiration. It makes the best suits, has dressed the best people and justly carries an air of arrogance. One day, when we have enough money to sensibly spend a lot of it on a very nice ...

 In the past year or so, having got to know a few of the Spanish tailors a lot better - and having had things made by them - I have become very fond of their attitude, their openness and approach to catering to more international clients. Hopefully...

UPDATE: The current edition of Savile Row has been exhausted, but James informs me a second edition is coming out shortly.-James Sherwood’s latest book has been out for a while, but I like to wait and review a book once I’ve actually read it. And...

Quite a lot of tailors and cutters don’t wear jackets, even waistcoats during the day. Certainly if they are hidden away from the eyes of customers, they quickly dress down. Partly this is because such work is difficult to perform all day in anythi...

During my visit to India I met Raghavendra Rathore, a member of the Jodhpur royal family and a designer who worked with Donna Karen, Oscar de la Renta and Bill Blass in New York before returning to India to set up his own label. He presented two fash...

I made a promise to myself after I had my last suit made in Hong Kong that I would never buy another suit off the peg. It fit so much better, was so perfect, that every suit or jacket since has felt awkward. But it does take a lot of the fun out of b...

  Neapolitan coffee, at Kiton I was in Naples last week for this site and The Rake, talking to tailors, shoemakers and those of associated crafts. It was nice to spend a few days in the city and get to the point where I knew my way around, where I...

 Next month, on June 17th, we will be holding a follow-up to our shoemakers event at Pitti in January. This time we are focusing on the best tailors in the world, and I'm proud to say that we will have Cifonelli, Anderson & Sheppard, Panico, Li...

This week the young tailors featuring in our Symposium at Pitti will be taking over my Instagram account.Every day, a different one of the six tailors from England, Italy, Hong Kong and Korea will post images of the pieces they are making and the thi...

* 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 ...

Tokyo is one of the most varied, creative and stimulating retail experiences in the world. Not only is the city huge, but each area has a distinct feel and atmosphere, reflected in its shopping. There are small, niche brands everywhere, as well a...

On the Wednesday night of my recent trip to Seoul, there was a party to celebrate the anniversary of the local cloth agency, Renovatio. The founder Sam Ahn invited everyone in the industry, and over 200 people turned up.  I have never seen so many w...

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...

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...

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...

By Manish Puri A few months ago I had the privilege of speaking with Alan Flusser about the history of New York bespoke tailoring. From the opening beats of our conversation it was clear that Alan wasn’t about to be constrained by the narrow parame...

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...

By Manish Puri Bel y Cia opened in 1842 as a camiseria (shirt maker) on Passatge de Bacardí – a narrow walkway that connects Barcelona’s Las Rambla to Plaça Reial. Following the demolition of the city walls (1854-1866) and the end of the Spanis...