07/06/2013
I’m sure I’m not alone in taking time to notice the subtleties and details of garments I buy. The first impression invariably takes in a lot less than the full picture, and I’ll keep noticing, and mostly appreciating, the smaller details of the design and construction. And this is good, as if all garments showed their full array of features…
22/05/2013
Continuing on my mission to be the middle-aged menswear blog that provides the best value for money for my elite group of readers, I am today offering up something of a top-tip for those of you struggling to come to terms with the amount of gravel (or small stones, for the non-engineers among you) your commando-soled brogues are picking up.…
21/05/2013
I recently came across the word “mantiques” whilst doing my daily trawl of the Interweb. It was used to describe antiques that men were collecting. That is of course the short description of it. The longer description would include words such as obsession, toys, old crap, collectables, historical and so forth. For most women the critical words here are most…
20/04/2013
I thought I’d write a little about shirts today. Then it struck me, I don’t really have much actual knowledge about shirts. I don’t know all the technical words a tailor or stylist would use, or have an encyclopaedic knowledge of the minutiae of The Shirt. I do know mostly what I like and how I use shirts though, so…
15/04/2013
Brogues are seemingly everywhere these days. While long being the quintessential shoe for the proper tweedy gentleman, available through shoemakers and expensive outfitters, nowadays you’re as likely to find them in the lower end high street shoe shops, vying with trainers and dessert boots for the attention of a man with an aspiring taste on a more limited budget. So…
11/04/2013
Something that should occur in your life shortly after buying a pair of nice shoes is to start wondering how you’ll best take care of them. Given how nice shoes usually cost a fairly decent lump of cash, you’ll most likely wish for them to stay in service for a while as well. So how do you go about doing…
06/04/2013
I quite rarely find myself with a pair of trousers that doesn’t require some assistance in not dropping of their own accord. Given how my oldest offspring is now 24, even though I still think of myself as a young buck, I must start considering myself to be an adult, and hence striding around with my trousers hanging halfway off…
30/03/2013
Something I’d never really considered before I started trying to dress better were the complicated and seemingly well known, yet largely unwritten, rules of how to button up the various types of garment. To me it seemed quite obvious that if there was a button and a corresponding button-hole, then it intended to be buttoned up. Easy-peasy, nothing to worry…
17/03/2013
Harris Tweed cloth must be the most fabled and mythical of cloths in use today. With a history going back over 200 years, the story reads more like a fairytale than a straight history lesson. A fairy tale with highs and lows, a fairy godmother, an evil persona, a prince to save the day and happily ever after. Let’s not…
09/03/2013
Update: The Mallory jacket by Nigel Cabourn is now also reviewed in my new Outerwear review! In the third instalment of my series about Icons of menswear I’m revisiting Nigel Cabourn’s work again. The first post dealt with the Cameraman. This time I’ll be looking at the jacket we now know as the Mallory, and we’ll do a some historical…