The article ‘Which office are you?’ in 2016 was one of the most popular we have ever done on PS. I think largely because it showed clearly how outfits could be adjusted to different levels of formality, at a time when office attire was already ch...

   Dressing well is as much about propriety as it is about style, quality or personality.  This is particularly true at work, where there are often prescriptions, or at least expectations, about professionalism and clothing. I have often talke...

One of the most popular posts we’ve ever written on Permanent Style was ‘Which office are you?’, back in February 2016. It showed a spectrum of outfits from T-shirt and jeans, through knitwear and flannels, up to a jacket and tie - with just on...

Linen : Linen We haven’t done one of these in a while, but a reader requested one in a comment on the ‘How to pick shirt fabric’ article, and it reminded me how useful people find the sliding scales.  The idea is we break down two categories o...

By Manish Puri Last week’s article by Simon, ‘Which office are you? A cold current 2024 update’, focused on cold, wintry colours. I’m here to provide a similar step through using warmer, summery tones. The colours I’ve chosen are those that...

By Manish Puri. When I started to wear more tailored clothing - and it won’t surprise you to learn that coincided with when I began to read PS regularly - it seemed to me that the epitome of elegance was the ability to mix darker jackets with light...

One of the things that first attracted me to Rubato as a brand was their style: that particular mix of laid-back Ivy and tonal Scandinavian (ref. our five casual paradigms). It managed to feel refreshing yet familiar.  Style is more important to the...

I’ve known the brand De Bonne Facture for a long time, seeing them at stockists like Trunk and No Man Walks Alone over the years, and chatting to the founder Déborah Neuberg over dinner or at Pitti.  I’ve also admired their philosophy when it c...

What is a ‘caban’ coat? Well, it's meant different things at different points in time, but it has a particular meaning as a sartorial version of a pea coat in Naples.  The caban was originally something European sailors called a coat they saw be...

At Pitti Uomo back in January I took the opportunity to wear mostly tailoring and ties - the two outfits shown above and below. And it felt great.  I know there are traditionalists who see me as the antithesis of this, as I’m rarely pictured weari...

As Permanent Style is now 11 years old (that past year went quickly…) I thought it would be nice to consider what my favourite 11 posts from that little-more-than-a-decade. And I’d be really interested to hear what your favourite is too. It??...

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...

Last week I explained why I find the knit polo shirt to be such a fundamental part of my summer wardrobe.  This week, I’m using that polo and a pair of cream linen trousers as the basis for three different looks - three different ways of doing ...

This is intended to be a partner to the ‘If you only had five shoes’ article in our Wardrobe Building guide, which was all smart footwear. Today’s piece is shoes that aren’t smart enough for a traditional office or - perhaps a better defini...

My day begins around 6:30am, when my three-year-old starts shouting over the monitor that she wants to get up. That’s my job, in the highly organised division-of-labour that is our family life. I have to coax her out of her pyjamas and downstairs f...

By Manish Puri. Unless you’re a complete newcomer to classic menswear (welcome, take a seat wherever you like) you're unlikely to need me preaching to you about the elegance of a shawl-collar cardigan. You’re already a member of the choir and sou...

There are two parts to this piece: one, Fred; two, chalkstripes. Given it's a review, let's do the first one first.  This is the first piece of tailoring Fred Nieddu has made for me, having previously made a more unusual piece, a belted suede jacket...

I wore this new hopsack jacket from Paolo Martorano quite a bit this summer, which surprised me. Although I’ve had navy jackets in the past, since I stopped working in an office I tend to wear more earthy colours, such as browns, taupes or that eve...

When we cleared out my grandparents’ house last year, we discovered an article my grandfather had written about bowler hats in the late 1950s.  I've written about him before, publishing an interview in 2012 that talked about what it was like to dr...

In the past few months on Permanent Style, we’ve shown a few outfits that are a little more unusual than perhaps typical: a notch or two further along the subtle/showy scale.  The Art du Lin suit at Pitti probably falls into that category, as does...

This jacket from Ferdinando Caraceni has become one of my real favourites in the past couple of years, and I think it’s worth exploring why. It says something about where tailoring is today, at least for me.  It was made in 2021 by Nicoletta Carac...

James is a reader I met in Korea last year. A friend of our host Sam Ahn, he joined us for dinner on the last night with Assisi.  James has been a customer of various bespoke tailors for about 10 years, but has largely settled down to using Sartoria...

Not everyone likes flannels. They can bag a bit, at least more than the worsteds guys are used to wearing to the office. That just means a press now and again, but hey some people are very lazy busy.  If flannels aren’t an option, and it’s too c...

Espadrilles are my preferred, casual summer shoe. I’ve always liked their clean lines and simplicity, which make them more elegant than pretty much any other option. I also quite like the massage-like feeling of walking on rope. They’re cheap, ea...

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...