01/03/2024
Step into the world of heritage menswear with this week’s guest, Yuki Matsuda, the mastermind behind MEG Company and renowned brands Monitaly, Yuketen, Epperson Mountaineering, and Chamola. From his roots in Osaka to his early passion for vintage apparel, Yuki shares his remarkable journey of being thrust into the heart of the industry as a teenager sent to the US…
18/03/2022
Following up on last week’s Japanese theme, this week I’m joined by Ian Haydock, Lancashire born, Tokyo resident. We talk about his family history in the Lancashire textile industry, the joy of sifting through the Tokyo second-hand shops, especially finding forgotten British brands, how the ecosystem of vintage and secondhand garments works in Tokyo and the collector mentality. You can…
11/03/2022
Today’s guest is Takè Sato, former fashion editor of Smart magazine in Japan and fashion editor of Monocle magazine. Today Takè is based in London and works as a creative director and fashion stylist. He recently published “An obsession made in Japan”, about the “happy victims”, fashion victims, as documented by Kyoichi Tsuzuki. We talk about the Japanese otakus (aka…
11/02/2022
Today’s episode is another insight into the world of vintage, courtesy of John Gluckow from New York. John got into the world of vintage sourcing and selling at a young age, moving on to working for Ralph Lauren, sourcing vintage for RRL, studying menswear and starting a vintage-inspired menswear brand in Japan. Some interesting tangents are taken, and we even…
25/01/2020
Welcome to the anniversary 21st instalment of the “Garmsman Dozen” question and answer session. Did you miss earlier ones? There are links at the end of the page. This week we extend a warm welcome to John B from the UK/USA! Who are you, where do you live and what interests you? John B, Brooklyn, 50 Instagram: johnbbrooklyn I grew…
23/06/2019
Over the soon 7 years I’ve been writing this blog, I have been on something of an adventure. Or a treasure hunt, if you like. I’ve built up a decent collection of pieces and sold or passed on a fair number as well. It would also be fair to say that there has been an escalation in what catches the…
26/02/2016
Well, it’s time for another anniversary celebration here at Well Dressed mansions. The fire is roaring, as per usual, the G&T’s are flowing freely and the hounds are running wild. Good will to all mankind, fireworks, overwhelming feelings of accomplishments and all that malarkey. Wish you were here, all of you, seriously. In lieu of filling the mansion with denim…
06/02/2016
This weeks book is a natural follow-up to my recent review of “Ametora“, the book about how the Japanese adopted the Ivy style from the US, improved it and exported it back. Well, in few words at least, the story is twistier and more involved than that. Yet “Take Ivy”, in both film and book, was instrumental in the process,…
24/01/2016
I tend to buy most of the books published within the scope covered on this blog, and they tend to follow a quite similar formula along the lines of “plenty of photos, a bare minimum of text, nice layout and a quality feel”. Most of them would be considered more for browsing than actually reading.This weeks book turns the formula…
18/12/2015
Denim is a curious fabric. I can’t think of any fabric that is currently so torn with regards to which way it should develop. On the one hand the traditional denim companies are doing what they do, continually creating a better and more technical and high quality product. On the other hand you have the heritage-orientated companies taking development back to…