A critic of mine, eavesdropping on a conversation I was having with a colleague, smiled wryly across the table as she uttered the utterly unanswerable; ‘Why do you criticise people so much?’ Few awkward silences have matched what followed; it was a terse remark, warranted but strangely alien to the spirit of discussion. After ponderous finger drumming, cheek reddening and forced smiles I offered the deadpan and rather gauche riposte; … [Read more...]
Good tailors for adjustments to suits, trousers and shirts are not always easy to find. There is a raft of pretty poor establishments dotted around London, staffed by dressmakers or general tailors with no specific experience of men’s tailoring. For the last few years I have used a small outfit in Mayfair called Atelier Colpani (on Avery Row, parallel to Bond Street), which is where both Etro and Paul Smith send their customers’ … [Read more...]
If you are a man who is resigned to the idea that you are unlikely to stop buying shoes, referring to a shoe collection in terms of completeness might be misrepresentative; I myself view my shoe pile in terms of progression, an evolution of sorts. It changes and grows as I learn and adapt; it’s not a question of simply adding further choice but adjusting to changing needs. The warm season can be an awkward time for footwear. Though winter … [Read more...]
We hear it over and over, from our friends to the magazines to the message boards. Men want to step up their game, cast off the teenage garments that have taken many of them far into their 40s, allow the marketers and the designers to steer them towards the classicist world of traditional gentleman's raiment, and emerge as the best dressed that they can be. Year in, year out over the falling years of this early 21st century decade, the … [Read more...]
This month’s GQ features an unfortunate example of how not to have a suit made in Hong Kong. The column in the Talk section features a description of a flying visit to the (in)famous Sam’s Tailor. Sam is famous for having walls decorated with famous people posing in his shop, including Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. Sam is infamous for being more of a tourist destination than a tailor. Although one of the best known tailors in Kowloon, I … [Read more...]
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