“I’ve just got an invitation through the mail…” It’s not often that one gets the chance to wear white tie these days. Even in the days of Irving Berlin’s Top Hat, the fourth decade of the twentieth century, its rare use was cause for particular celebration. A recent invitation to a themed birthday party seemed to cry out for tails and as I gathered my thoughts on the topic, I realised that in order to achieve the highest elegance … [Read more...]

...I have 8 suits that I have purchased over the course of 6 or 7 years. They still ‘fit’ me and are from decent quality manufacturers but, since I have become interested in style and have read a lot of blogs about suits and how they should be worn, I think they need adjusting (narrowing shoulders, taken in at the waist, length on the trousers). I never have much spare cash and have had to save over the past two years in order to fund these … [Read more...]

If there’s one thing that readers of this column know it’s that everything matters; shirts, ties, jackets, trousers, braces, buttons – the lot. As soon as you prioritise something, you realise how important something else is. However, there are two items in the gentleman’s wardrobe that are said to require significant thought, consideration and investment, items which can make or break ensembles with their quality: suits and … [Read more...]

The morning suit, though a type of formal dress used on special occasions today, is very much an ensemble of the past. In its fullest splendour, when a gleaming top hat is the crowning accessory, it is a silhouette of the late-Victorian era, a visual symbol of the 19th century. The emblematic nature of its aesthetic both attracts and repels; traditionalists relish its deployment, modernists recoil from its antiquity. And though it has been … [Read more...]

“What, like Don Johnson?” they asked barely concealing their mirth, as I indicated my intention of pursuing a pair of white loafers for the summer. “No” I responded, wearily “not like Don Johnson.” White loafers are an unusual sartorial prospect. Whenever I have mentioned them, people repeat the word ‘white’ in an emphatically inquisitive manner, as though I had misspoken, as if I had announced my intention to purchase … [Read more...]