20/10/2014
A while back I wrote about my experience of being measured for a bespoke shirt by Oslo-based tailoring-firm Splendid & Fellows, and I did promise a follow-up on what the end result was like. Pardon my lateness in this respect, the shirt hasn’t actually taken this long to arrive! It did in fact arrive after the 6 weeks or so…
14/08/2014
Regular readers will be well aware of the issues I have with garment manufacturers and their sloppy and inaccurate sizing, and how this makes it difficult to predict the sizing of clothes based upon their information. Argh, I feel my ire rising just thinking about it. In a recent piece I ended with the questions “Is bespoke the only way to…
10/07/2014
So, Summer is here and you want to get your rebel on. Not the Billy Idol sneer and peroxided mullet, but more of a rebel with no discernible cause. 50’s style James Dean is more the ticket, ladykiller and generally too cool for school. The white t-shirt is like the yin to the denim yang, and you already have the…
26/06/2014
While on our usual Saturday morning trip to town this week, I joined WDG in visiting the new local ethical clothes shop. Ethical clothes shop? Sounds really lame and hippie-like, right? I could have come up with a more enticing and juicy description instead of a really poor, though short, description, so your derision is entirely my fault. Something along the…
07/06/2014
I’ve been asked occasionally for tips on how to get started sewing your own clothes, so I thought I’d do a quick post offering some suggestions on patterns worth getting. I consider patterns to be essential for the beginner, as the combination of good instructions and properly laid out patterns are a hard deal to better, unless you really know…
01/05/2014
Through Instagram I recently came to notice a new avenue of interest. Not that I needed one, mind you, as with a mind as brimming with curiosity as mine is, I don’t need further avenues to explore! This time though it was wool shirts that caught my eye, and not new ones either. We’re talking vintage wool shirts, from the 1930’s…
17/04/2014
A visit from my youngest son finally gave me the push I needed to do a write-up on ill-fitting shirts and a fairly easy remedy for it. All you need is either some very basic skills with a sewing machine, a little time and patience, and a shirt that is too large of body. There are a few measurements a…
13/03/2014
Cotton shirt, cotton boxers, cotton denim, cotton t-shirt, and let me bless your little cotton socks as well. Cotton everywhere, cotton all over and cotton everything. Is cotton the be all and end all, the perfect fabric for all uses? I’ve mentioned a few times how cotton is a huge environmental problem and that you should, whenever possible and practical,…
11/08/2013
Sometimes in life you’re not aware that you have a problem until one day someone offers you a solution. This is one of those times. Out of the blue I received an email from Robert Kay, owner of new menswear brand Robert Owen. He wrote to let me know about his new venture, undershirts for gentlemen. Now, much as I’m…
11/06/2013
Summer has finally arrived most places. At least according to the calendar. Around here we’re still short a few degrees to make it truly pleasant, but that hasn’t stopped most guys from getting out their summer wardrobe. This is the season where sartorial inelegance meets hairy white flesh in an uneasy mix that will make you want to study the…