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Paul’s Permanent Style watches – Permanent Style
By Paul Croughton Not so long ago, Simon and I were discussing watches – specifically what would make a ‘Permanent Style watch’. As both a PS reader of well over a decade and a watch enthusiast and collector, I saw this as a welcome, if dangerous, opportunity to get sucked...
Removing the white stitch on a new coat – Permanent Style
I am not, by nature, a confrontational person. But there is something clothing-related that forces me to confront strangers, and in fact in some ways to criticise them. It hasn’t always gone well. Some brands use white basting thread to sew a small tacking ‘X’ on the vents of their...
Awards 2025: Who’s your favourite menswear brand right now? – Permanent Style
The Permanent Style Awards are back. We had a bit of a hiatus last year for ‘Dry January’ but I wanted to do the annual awards again, with some of the most popular categories from previous iterations, plus a couple of new ones. So I would like to know -...
Michael Browne ‘Body coat’: Style breakdown – Permanent Style
Last year we did a series of articles analysing four of my overcoats from different traditions: Sartoria Ciardi, Cifonelli, Liverano and Edward Sexton. They were discussed, measured and picked apart in the ‘Style Breakdown’ format that also formed the basis of the book Bespoke Style. There was one, however,...
Packing for travelling between seasons: cold then hot – Permanent Style
When I travelled to Thailand last month, I had a slightly different packing challenge to usual: in London it was eight degrees (celsius) with cold drizzle; in Bangkok it was 30 degrees and balmy. Now I wouldn’t be outside in the UK that long on the way to the airport,...
A Neapolitan ‘caban’ coat, from Luca Museo – Permanent Style
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 being worn by Barbary pirates (or corsairs)....
Suits and shirts: A sliding scale of formality – Permanent Style
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 of clothing in terms of how...
Campbell’s of Beauly: Keeping Scottish tradition alive – Permanent Style
If someone were to tell you that there was an old tweed shop in the Scottish Highlands, Campbell’s of Beauly is exactly what you’d picture. An old stone building, worn wooden shelves, stacked with dozens of bolts. There are similar piles of tweed caps, shetland jumpers and brightly checked blankets....
La Bowtique made-to-measure: Review – Permanent Style
By Manish Puri. The first dinner suit I ever purchased was from the online vintage shop Savvy Row: a nineties bespoke Anderson & Sheppard double-breasted. And, after some alterations - which, out of a sense of custodianship of the suit, I chose to have done at A&S - I turned...
Merry Christmas 2024! – Permanent Style
Thank you everyone - readers, friends, customers, contributors - for a wonderful 2024. It's been quite a year, with more people than ever before reading PS, and The Casual Style Guide being such a success. Trust me though, there's more exciting things coming in 2025. Have a fantastic holiday, and...
Be a patron – Permanent Style
A friend of mine has been into menswear since he was a teenager. He obsessed over three-piece suits with collared waistcoats, dreamt of visiting Savile Row, and for years sought out second-hand bespoke online. He briefly worked in menswear, and began to access these kinds of makers. He made the...
The menswear and culture of Bangkok – Permanent Style
I was in Thailand last week, holding an event at the shop Decorum, and I have to say I was impressed with the local menswear culture. I’ve travelled a fair bit round east Asia, but not much in the south-east – just Singapore many years ago. Frankly I didn’t associate...
Ralph Fitzgerald: The Chrysler Tailor – Permanent Style
By Manish Puri. For my money it’s the most beautiful building in New York. And yet, despite being lucky enough to have been to the Big Apple on more than a dozen occasions, I’ve never actually been inside the Chrysler. But today, after leaving Grand Central via the correct exit...
Learning lessons: Light-grey overcoat and horsebit loafers – Permanent Style
I had this overcoat made earlier in the year by Sartoria Ciardi from Naples, but have only had a chance to wear it consistently the past few months. The cloth is CT17 from Fox - a 20/21oz wool in their overcoatings bunch. I was confident of the style, as it...
Métier: A fashion bag brand, but with quality and functionality – Permanent Style
There are a few reasons why I think the bag brand Métier might appeal to PS readers. Let me set them out in typically geeky PS-style. First, they don’t have any branding. The prices might be fashion-brand prices, but there’s no big name stamped on the outside - the identity...
Bryceland’s made-to-order chambray shirt: Review – Permanent Style
Made-to-order services are useful with workwear shirts, where bespoke makers can rarely replicate the construction or the materials. We covered one such service recently, from The Anthology, and today we’re reviewing another, from Bryceland’s. I should say, by the way, that in that Anthology review I didn’t mean to directly...
August Special: Innovative, rugged boots and loafers – Permanent Style
August Special is a new shoe brand - they launched online back in May - and it’s an interesting proposition I think. Comfortable versions of traditional shoes that have more style than most in that combination, and rugged styles that are actually made in a refined way. The reason the...
Christmas Gift Guide 2024 – Permanent Style
This is always fun. Each year the gift guide is an opportunity for me to mention non-menswear, or at least menswear-adjacent, products and brands. And given PS readers are fussy (perhaps we should we say discerning?), it also necessitates unusual or at least mildly surprising choices. This year those choices...
What Frasier could teach us about dressing today – Permanent Style
Every evening, our family goes to the living room after dinner and watches an episode of a sitcom together. My wife, me, and my two eldest daughters all on the sofa. It’s lovely family time and now such a tradition that no evening feels complete without it. It’s been going...
The case for the ‘stimulating’ shirt – Permanent Style
By Lucas Nicholson. Whilst nattering away to Simon as I usually do on one of our days working together, I mentioned I had a revelation recently. In my past life at Drake’s, I always favoured slightly eccentric tailoring (cream cord suit anyone?). But I’ve recently found my tailoring commissions have...
Is there a ‘crew’? – Permanent Style
Looking back on it, I think I found the first few years of doing PS as a full-time job quite lonely. It’s hard to make friends with anyone in the industry when you’re constantly commenting on them publicly. The kind of person I was interviewing was also generally older than...
The versatility of olive: Anthology MTM in PS/Fox flannel – Permanent Style
By Manish Puri. I’ve had my eye on a dark green suit for a long time. So when Simon very kindly offered me a length of the olive flannel that he’d collaborated on with Fox Brothers, I jumped at the chance. To give me an idea of what I was...
Reader profile: Pedro – Permanent Style
Pedro is a reader in New York - one I’ve known to say hello to, but never really had a long conversation with. It was lovely doing so a couple of weeks ago. He’s thoughtful about clothes and his relationship to them, self-aware yet also a real menswear guy in...
Simon’s sizing advice (winter) – Permanent Style
Every six months, I forget what it’s like to run the pop-up shops. They’re only four days each (London and New York) but they’re so intense, just talking to people non-stop for eight hours, giving advice and fetching sizes. I don’t know how salespeople do it. I also find I...
The unique shoe tradition of Austro-Hungary – and where to get them today – Permanent Style
The Austro-Hungarian tradition of shoemaking is a significant one - until fairly recently it was the most influential in Europe, after the English. It is also a type of shoe (rounder, larger, more comfortable) that is perhaps a little more fashionable today. I've tried a few such makers, including Vass,...
Denim and tweed: My Scotland travel capsule – Permanent Style
I usually find packing for work trips quite straightforward. I know what I’ll be doing, in what kinds of places, and therefore what clothing will be appropriate. The challenge is smaller things like a summer jacket that with go with both tailoring and jeans - as with my Japan capsule. ...
What does a green shirt (and a brown stripe) go with? – Permanent Style
I really love playing with new colours in clothing. It’s like a fun little exercise in how much you know about what goes with what - how far you’ve come in your menswear journey. Yet at the same time, I also find it consistently throws up surprises. You try the...
A Guide to Shawl-Collar Cardigans – Permanent Style
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 sound fabulous. What you might need is some reassurance...
The rules and how to break them #12: Don’t use your pockets – Permanent Style
The ‘Rules’ section on PS is a repository for all those conventions that have built up over the years around classic menswear and which people quote too much, often without thinking what they mean, why they exist, or why in fact they should be followed. We’ve addressed a fair...
How to do double denim, and mixing rough and smooth – Permanent Style
One of the things Jamie and I were keen to do with The Casual Style Guide was bring in comments from some of the people featured - what they thought about the outfits, rather than just us. So we approached five people, and asked them to give us a couple of...
Unmilled Coarser Heavier Worsted Wool Twill Trousers – Permanent Style
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 cold for high-twists,...
Furiko Yo-Kimono: London’s vintage kimono collection – Permanent Style
By Ben St George. Ben is a freelance menswear writer and has been exploring some unusual brands and shops for us. I wasn’t aware of Furiko Yo-Kimono, a small kimono specialist tucked away at the back of The Factory creative hub in Dalston (East London) until Simon put it on...
The (61) bespoke tailors I have known – Permanent Style
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 peaked somewhere in the...
Personal and practical: How to dress like Alex Natt – Permanent Style
I’ve admired the style of photographer Alex Natt – who takes most of the pictures for Permanent Style these days – for several years. He’s not the kind of person to talk about it much, and he certainly doesn’t post fit pics online, but to me his functional, easy-going...
August Special, Besnard, Haversack: Autumn highlights 2024 – Permanent Style
1. Snow Peak Boa Fleece jacket £220, Large If a Permanent Style reader wanted a good fleece - for park wear as much as mountain wear - this Snow Peak one ticks most of the boxes. It’s a nice style, in a good fleece, without any obvious branding and certainly...
Introducing: The Court Jacket – Permanent Style
For the new collaboration this Autumn, I wanted to design something that would suit the PS audience but be sportier - for taking the kids to the park at the weekend, rather than to town during the week. The inspiration came when I found an old nylon popover - bright...
Made-to-order Anthology shirt: Review – Permanent Style
The Anthology has an interesting shirt offering that I only really discovered recently. Perhaps because it’s not that clearly flagged up on the website. You can get most of their shirts to order, selecting a size that determines the chest and the collar but then specifying the waist, sleeve length...
Casual craft: How a Real McCoy’s leather jacket is made – Permanent Style
Casual clothing like jeans or a leather jacket require rather less craft than a bespoke jacket or shoes. There isn’t the same amount of precise handwork, or the visual engineering required to cut cloth perfectly around our imperfect bodies. But that doesn’t mean there’s no craft, and often in discussions...
Luca Museo navy three-piece suit: Review – Permanent Style
Yeah, the collar on this shirt is kinda high. I remembered it as soon as I saw these images - it was one I tried with a higher collar in order to wear with my A&S tailoring, which always has a high collar itself. It looks nice with those pieces,...