Gentlemen, Just recently, ten days of intense travelling during which I had to pack and unpack my suitcase almost every day brought the constant difficulty of folding my suits and my shirts. Long after giving up on the very cumbersome and constricting suit carriers, as none of them had ever convinced me, I have joined [...] Read more – ‘How to fold suits and shirts in a suitcase’
Gentlemen, Here are two very beautiful sartorial compositions found on the gorgeous commercial website Mr Porter. Of these two objectively very well done outfits, we have identified what we believe truly makes the style difference. The idea here is to focus your attention on two different approaches. On the first outfit, it is undoubtedly the [...] Read more – ‘Inspirations and elements of style…’
Gentlemen, Last week, one of our readers, to whom we extend our warmest gratitude, alerted us on the fact that the very last invisible mending workshop in Paris is about to close. La Maison Perrin, located at 29 rue des Petits-Champs in the 1st district, is set to close after its owner, Mister Perrin, retires, [...] Read more – ‘Invisible mending: an amazing craft under threat!’
Gentlemen, For almost two years, PG has been advocating for a full force return of the double-breasted suit in your closet, and to convince you to try the very elegant and flattering DB suit. In the last edition of The Rake, Bruce G. Boyer, who we consider the safest author in terms of taste and [...] Read more – ‘How to wear the double-breasted suit’
Gentlemen, You have not failed to notice, in the last two years, the strong return of Prince of Wales. Before then, it had become rare to see a gentleman wearing such elegant tweed, despite its almost infinite variations and possible combinations. Of course, the return of the former obsolete motif goes hand in hand with [...] Read more – ‘Royal return: Prince of Wales’
Gentlemen, Since 1930, British brand Corby of Windsor has been making excellent traditional trouser-presses. These presses promise to leave an impeccable pleat on your trousers and are available in several finishes (ash, beech, walnut and chestnut) for a very reasonable 100 – 200 euros. Their British service is of course flawless and delivery always swift. [...] Read more – ‘Trouser-presses by Corby of Windsor’
Gentlemen, For a few weeks, we have been seeing here and there a number of ads featuring what seems like an increasing trend (you know how much we love those): trimmed jackets. This very morning, stuck in Rive Gauche traffic with my Smart, I spent a long time staring at the back of a bus [...] Read more – ‘Trimmed jackets’
Gentlemen, I have been blissfully reacquainting myself with the splendid works of the Prince of Paradox Gilbert Keith Chesterton. Flammarion (French famous publishing company) has just had the brilliant idea of republishing two of what I consider to be his most important books, “Heretics” and “Orthodoxy”. And while (re)reading these masterpieces, I can’t help but [...] Read more – ‘The great comeback of the Balmoral Boots’
Gentlemen, As a prelude to a long upcoming article on the subject, here are a few gorgeous variations on an often underused, even more often poorly worn, accessory. The pocket square is indeed the potentially perfect accessory to “finish” a suit. If you can coordinate and fold it (both according to the circumstances), you will [...] Read more – ‘Pocket Squares – Some variations’
Gentlemen, Following our “Anatomy of a quality shirt” article, here are a few basic and timeless rules to know and follow for the best shirt fit (imperative, especially with a beautiful suit). Most of these rules are not inspired by high-level sartorial culture, but simply based on common sense and observation. Respecting them, including in [...] Read more – ‘Little cheat sheet of shirt rules’
Gentlemen, As we have frequently marvelled at on PG, the “made-to-measure” wave currently surfed by brands is far from having delivered its last lies or its last excesses. Today, pretty much anything can be made-to-measure: cars (the success of the Fiat 500 is mainly due to the almost unlimited choice of colour, pattern and accessories), [...] Read more – ‘Bespoke? Made-to-measure? Industrial measure? Defining the concepts’
Gentlemen, Following our recommendations on shirts, here is a brief “practical” summary of the details to look for when purchasing a shirt. They will help you immediately assess quality and tip the balance to ultimately prefer one over another. Be cautious, the absence of one or more of these details should not necessarily ban a [...] Read more – ‘Anatomy of a quality shirt: guidelines’
As we all know, us aesthetes often must suffer the daily grind brought about by certain endless debates. One of the most virulent polemics (within reason) opposes the finesse and style of the Blake shoe construction to long-lasting and comfortable Goodyear-welted shoes. Suits also follow this state of affairs. Case in point: the historical style [...] Read more – ‘Italian suits : which (shoulder) side are you on ?’
Gentlemen, as you probably noticed, our so precious word “Bespoke” is nowadays abused by marketers of all sorts, and this is truly tragic. Today in Europe and in the USA, it is a word used awkwardly whether for the sale of olive oil or sheets… Unfortunately this is far from being a recent phenomenon. Mass [...] Read more – ‘A semantic tragedy: “Bespoke” used as a catch-all word !’
