I think one of the most widely held assumptions of men’s clothing aficionados is the belief that softly tailored jackets offer more freedom of movement and comfort than structured jackets. And why not? It seems intuitively obvious. However, as many a philosopher can confess, unexamined beliefs are often the cause of much misunderstanding and misinformation. […]
Soft v. structured tailoring: Myth and reality Read More »
Blogs can provide short-term sales spikes and perhaps even smooth out the seasonality of sales in the bespoke tailoring business and provide a predictable demand curve. Of course, the most well-known and successful example of this is Thomas Mahon and his blog the English Cut. Beyond simply sustaining a business, he actually grew and expanded
For tailors: Managing/shaping demand through blogs Read More »
Fellow sartorial blogger Will has published a useful post on essential odd trousers on his blog, A Suitable Wardrobe. This is tremendously useful advice for anyone seeking to expand his clothing repertoire, especially MTM and bespoke. The only thing I would add is perhaps a hardwearing fabric like whipcord or venetian for frequent travellers and
A nice photo essay in French on the well-known shoemaker J.M. Weston, with useful commentary by the shoe aficionados of AskAndy.
J.M. Weston photo essay Read More »
An enterprising AskAndy member (Doctor Damage) recently posted a photo series of 1950s London city gents. This should provide a nice visual bookend to my two recent posts on brollies and English icons (including the bowler hat). It is remarkable to note the drastic change in dress in less than 50 years. Even more generally,
London in the 1950s: Brollies & bowlers Read More »
Today three makers remain of the classic English “brolly”: Brigg James Smith T Fox Brigg (now Swaine Adeney Brigg) appears to have the largest remaining manufacturing operation in the UK with two dedicated umbrella makers, a cover maker, repair personnel among the 30 people in Swaine’s Cambridgeshire factory. As mentioned in my previous post, see
Today I found this interesting site on English icons (http://www.icons.org.uk). The site seems to be the kind of public-private partnership that one wishes would happen more often. Creating win-win scenarios should not be exclusive to the private sector. There are at least two clothing related entries (see entry on the Bowler Hat) and an interview
A definitive list of English icons Read More »
In this recent London Lounge thread, Nicholas Antongiovanni, author of The Suit, has ably furnished what might be the single best all-in-one guide to wedding attire from the bridegroom’s prospective. It’s also an excellent, well-illustrated primer on the essential distinctions between day and evening semi-formal and formal wear. Didactic interventions like these may help thwart
Wedding attire: What should the groom wear? Read More »
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