I know I've written about green and pink a few times before.

I could find one old post with a little flower illustration, but there must be more. Perhaps it's the fog of Christmas food and wine clouding my mind. 

In any case, it bears repeating that pink and green can make a pleasant combination in accessories, if at least one is fairly muted, if the green dark or subtle, if the pink pale. 

Burnt orange with green or brown; bright orange or lime-green with blue: there are many such combinations, but they resist systematisation. Colour theory is of little help. 

Both tie and handkerchief are old favourites. The muted olive-green tie from Isaia, with a small black geometric detail. The pink handkerchief from Rubinacci with all its fabulously useful secondary colours. 

I tend to such favourites when asked to pose for people I like, and in this case it was Konrad at Plaza Uomo. This was my personal favourite for the cover, but it may have been too formal. 

A salve, then, to the readers who disliked the hoodie-and-chinos combination of last week, which was part of the same shoot. 

I love wearing a suit and tie, as here, but you can't wear it every day. Certainly not in these colours, and not in any colours in most offices.

Clothing must be appropriate if nothing else; otherwise it is just rude.

The suit is also an old one, cut by John Hitchcock when he was head cutter at Anderson & Sheppard.

The drape he gives to his DBs has always made me feel bigger, more heroic, than any other tailoring. It makes you feel ready for a magazine cover. 

Merry Christmas to all. I hope you went on a long walk and felt pleasure in the coat, the hat, the gloves. The pleasures of the season.

Photography: Jamie Ferguson for Plaza Uomo

Over the past 10 days I have generally prioritised writing about new brands in our Savile Row pop-up shop. 

But there are also new developments at makers you will be familiar with - Baudoin & Lange, Luca Faloni, Begg and the Hanger Project - and having these in the shop gives visitors a unique opportunity to see and try the product in person. 

Baudoin & Lange, for example, has introduced three new versions of its Sagan loafer: a tassel, a penny and a bow-tie. 

(The name, by the way, is supposed to have French pronunciation, and is therefore Bo-doin and Lornj - the latter to rhyme with 'Ange' (Angel) in French.)

I'm not a massive fan of tassel loafers, as regular readers will know, but if they're going to work anywhere it is in a casual setting like Allan's Sagan's.

The bow-tie versions are more me (seems a touch more practical, less fancy), but my favourite of the three is the penny.

This has a beautiful, sinuous line to it, as the band runs back down the shoe and then curves to the sole. It's one more example of how Allan is elevating the classic Belgian-style loafer, lending it a little more thought and artistry. 

That extension of the band also has an interesting practical effect.

As it is calf, where the rest of the shoe is suede, it stabilises the foot, holding the instep in place while the joints and toes are free to move.

If you have particularly wide feet or issues with soft loafers like these, it might be worth opting for the penny on functional grounds as well as aesthetic ones.

When I wrote about Luca Faloni last year, it was largely to focus on his cashmere knitwear, which remains a great-value staple. 

But as the weather warms up, there is more focus on the linen side of his business.

There are three styles of linen shirt: collarless and buttoning all the way down ('versilia'), collarless and half-buttoning ('forte'), and with a paramontura collar ('portofino').  

Although I would normally have shirts made bespoke, the paramontura or single-piece collar is very attractive in its casual appearance (it is also known as the 'Loro Piana' collar as the brand used to be well-known for them) and the range of colours is fantastic.

In particular neutrals - white, grey, sand - and the blues - navy, light blue, chambray.

The Hanger Project has its range of both hangers and shoecare products on display in our pop-up shop. 

The hangers are largely for display, so that visitors can see the different woods, finishes and styles, and then order online.

Indeed, this is the focus - highlighting to British visitors that The Hanger Project now has a UK website and warehouse, and can therefore shop these items cheaper and quicker to us than before. 

There is, however, stock of the shoecare, including brushes and Saphir polish, in case anyone needs to fill up. 

Finally, next to The Hanger Project is Begg & Co, our favourite scarf maker. 

We haven't focused on Spring/Summer scarves so much here (particularly given the weather) but rather picked out a few of my favourites: the washed kishorns, the wispys in all their various hues, and the nuance style of multi-coloured scarf Begg is particularly known for. 

Readers will also recognise the small square scarf I designed with Begg, and our brass scarf rings. 

Details at all those links!

Photography: Jamie Ferguson @jkf_man

1 R. Culturi

There are many brands launching ties or handkerchiefs online these days, given it’s an easy area to try and express something new - and the lack of sizing makes it relatively easy to sell online.

One that was shown to me recently with an interesting approach was R. Culturi. They work with a range of artists to commission original pieces, which are then printed onto silk accessories.

The pieces are relatively well-made, with hand-rolled edges to the handkerchiefs, for example. And there is a more interesting design and colour selection than you get with most collections.

The downside is that the complexity of the illustrations means they use digital printing rather than screen printing. (The latter usually involves five or fewer colours, which is why most classic hanks have relatively simple designs.)

Digital printing can have a problem with penetrating all the way through the silk. R. Culturi work hard to improve this, often testing dozens of different options, but this work does mean designs aren’t quite as sharp as they would be with simpler designs.

Personally, I prefer the simpler and more graphic designs of classic makers. But I also understand people that are on the other side of this trade-off, and like the more painterly or complex patterns.

I tried the copper mandala tie (which is an interesting shade of dusty pink) and both the Tides and Still Life pocket squares.

2 Mes Chaussettes Rouges and Bresciani

The French sock retailer Mes Chaussettes Rouges have long expanded beyond red socks, but they also added Bresciani underwear and T-shirts to their range last year - and more recently, hard-wearing socks and compression socks.

The Bresciani pieces are lovely - a beautiful cotton, beautifully finished.

The T-shirts are primarily designed as underwear, but aren’t too transparent to wear on their own, and a have a nice semi-slim cut.

The only design point that feels a little underwear-like (and old-fashioned perhaps) is the slightly longer sleeves. But then I often roll these up.

The underwear is also lovely, but I’d recommend the loose boxer shorts ahead of the briefs or boxer-briefs. The cotton is not a jersey and has not elastane in it, so I found the latter style a bit in need of stretch.

As for the hard-wearing and compression socks, I tried a pair each of these and found them surprisingly comfortable and even luxurious in feel, despite the high level of synthetic content.

I wouldn’t wear them regularly, as they would make my feet too hot, but for those that travel and like compression socks, they are a cut above. And the super-durable socks will be best for those that do a lot of walking or otherwise wear their hose pretty hard.

3 Private White T-shirts

These posts are largely about new brands, or significant additions from brands we’ve featured already. The T-shirts from Private White VC fall into the latter category.

Last Autumn/Winter, PWVC did a small run of merino T-shirts in grey, navy, a great copper and a few other colours. They sold out pretty quickly - with several customers buying the whole range, as tends to happen when men find a basic they love.

Merino is not for all-year-round - cotton will always be that touch more comfortable and familiar. But it performs fantastically in colder weather; I’ve often wished I could wear my Rapha base layers more as T-shirts.

This season PWVC has followed up the merino range with cotton-jersey pieces in short and long sleeve, and the same colours as the merino plus some new marls.  

4 Pochette Square

Pochette Square are a handkerchief company I reviewed several years ago - September 2011, in fact.

They contacted me recently saying that piece got a lot of play on search engines, but they had improved their product since and would I review them once more.

I’m always happy to do this, as brands change their approach and designs over time - and nothing is better than seeing a young brand learn and improve, resolving into a much stronger product.

Unfortunately, my major points had not been addressed. The hanks were still too small to stay up in most pockets (13 inches on the side) and most were not hand-rolled.

However, they have introduced a greater variation in designs - more in the area between classic and showy - such as the grey linen and some subtle map designs.

And for both ties and hanks, they have a big range and very good prices - for those not so bothered by the digital printing or hand rolling.

5 The Morning Company

Lastly, I recently tried the accessories from The Morning Company.

They do a small range of shaving products in wood and horn, but with some interesting, slightly more modern designs compared to the traditional menswear outfitters.

The wooden razor, for example, is handmade in France from a lovely rosewood, but with a metal line running down the middle and a stand that is both attractive and practical (above).

I tried one and have replaced my old, horn handle.

The toothbrushes, unfortunately, don’t work quite as well as the replaceable heads have to be bought from The Morning Company, and a pretty basic. The horn combs are also a lot more standard.  

Talking with Kenji Kaga of Sevenfold (and Tie Your Tie) recently threw up some interesting questions around what makes a tie appear vintage.

Kenji is heavily influenced by 1940s-1950s styles, as is evident in his tailoring.

But he freely admits that many of the tie and handkerchief designs he produces wouldn’t have actually been worn during that period. So what gives them a vintage look?

“Texture is important. We associate vintage silks and wools with a dry feel, and a matte finish,” Kenji says.

Colour, too, is key. Often old ties will have faded and be less vibrant than when they were first worn. So we associate more muted colours with a vintage look.

This is most evident in the silk swatches that Sevenfold offers to customers.

The set of three below, for example - a pink, a green and a blue - are all more muted, chalky shades that you would get from a Drake’s, Bigi or similar.

It was also nice to see more restrained designs in the swatch selection, because people can easily be put off by Kenji’s unusual - and often bold - designs.

It won’t be a surprise to readers to learn that most of the ties shown in the images here - from the Sevenfold showroom in Florence - aren’t ones I would wear.

But there are often subtle gems in the selections made by Barneys, No Man Walks Alone, The Armoury or other stockists.

The Armoury, for instance, stocks a lovely navy herringbone and olive jacquard alongside some much brighter vintage patterns.

And Ethan at Bryceland’s in Tokyo has some beautifully subtle navy and brown designs - which manage to appear both vintage and subtly modern. (Example below.)

The different brands can also be confusing, and come with a lot of back story. 

As briefly as possible:

• Tie Your Tie was an Italian shop founded in 1984 by Franco Minucci, which also later started its own tie factory outside Florence. 
• The brand and factory were bought by Sevenfold in 2011 - except for the rights to the brand in Asia. (The shop became Simone Righi.)
• Kenji Kaga was the manager of the tie factory, and became the creative director of the new Sevenfold/Tie Your Tie. 
• But in Asia, they can't use the Tie Your Tie brand, so they have used brand names Sevenfold, Kenji Kaga and now a new one, Atto Vannucci. 
• Ties labelled 'Tie Your Tie' in Asia are therefore from a separate company and separate factory. Tie Your Tie in Europe and the US, and the other three brands, are all from the same company and all made in the Florence factory. 
• This June, Kenji is opening a new Tie Your Tie store in Florence.

You can see how this could all be confusing - particularly so for retailers like The Armoury, who have had all three labels (not Atto Vanucci) on their ties in Hong Kong and New York over the years. 

Kenji is also now presenting 'Kenji Kaga' as a separate brand working with more unusual handwork and embroidery.

You can see examples of the designs below. Beautifully executed, but probably a little too quirky for me.

However, it's important to say that all ties out of the Florence factory over the years have generally been united by an attitude to precision and pressing.

The ties have tended to be lightly pressed, meaning the blade does not sit flat and square, but is more rounded at the edges - almost tubular.

This has the effect of feeling more natural, as if you are wearing a simple piece of rolling silk. The ties are often untipped to the same end.

The flipside is that the tie can feel less formal. But this is a tiny difference in an age when so few men wear ties at all. (And in any case the pattern and material will have far more bearing on formality.)

The level of precision is also very high on Kenji’s ties - as seen most clearly in the fineness and balance of the hand-rolled tips.

“Craftsmanship like this is something I’ve always loved working on with the tiemakers,” he says. “Getting it perfect and then seeing what else the technique allows us to do.”

The brands are brought together by this approach in the workshop (there are nine staff in Florence currently, making entirely for Sevenfold) and by Kenji's aesthetics.

In the UK, Tie Your Tie is stocked at Exquisite Trimmings and has recently started doing trunk shows in Selfridge’s.

Elsewhere around the world, it is stocked at Brio in Beijing, Double Monk in Melbourne, and various shops in Korea and Japan. 

In the image above, I am wearing:

• My Sartoria Pirozzi corduroy/cashmere suit
• Denim shirt from Al Bazar, Milan
• Cashmere tie from Drake’s
• White linen handkerchief from Anderson & Sheppard

And Kenji and I spent a while comparing our bespoke shoes - mine from Gaziano & Girling, his from Hidetaka Fukaya. His were beautiful though, he admits, not always the most comfortable.

Photography: Jamie Ferguson @jkf_man

Bigi is in many ways what Drake's used to be before the expansion of its retail and collection: a small brand and a top-line tie manufacturer making for the world's top stores.

A third generation company, it has a workshop in the south of Milan run by Stefano and Paola Bigi.

Twenty-seven people work for the company, with 15 based in the workshop and a further 12 outside. Together they produce almost 40,000 ties a year.

My general awareness of Bigi was as an Italian tie brand that offered narrow ties - just because most of what I saw was 7cm, 8cm at the most.

But I've since learned they make every width (up to 10cm) and importantly the width doesn't vary much in the middle of tie - which determines the length of the knot (the key thing for me).

When I visited the workshop this month they had hundreds of designs on display, from big and bold to small and subtle.

A particular new area for them (as well as other tie brands) is variations on the plain grenadine, such as stripes and jacquard patterns. Given there are only four looms left in the world that can do a jacquard design on grenadine, it's an obvious selling point.

"We also try to improve little things all the time," says Stefano (below). "Paola and I look at a tie and ask ourselves, 'what can we do better?'

"So for the past two years, for example, we have been using pure silk in the tippings on ties rather than bemberg. It's a tiny thing, but it makes us happy."

The workshop is beautiful, and great to have so close to the centre of Milan.

Heavy doors, brass plaques and frosted glass. Walls filled with dozens of mementoes from almost 80 years in the business.

The wall of the showroom has an enormous piece of tapestry on one wall, which Stefano and Paola's mother created out of pieces of tie silk.

And in the hallway is a display which includes an exquisite piece of vintage silk weaving, depicting an Italian street scene.

"There are maybe just four other people or workshops making ties in Milan now," comments Stefano Bigi - always the effervescent salesman, next to the quieter Paola (below).

"But most of those are getting on in age now; there is one across the street who works on his own, but he doesn't really take on any new work."

Stefano has been in the business long enough to recognise the virtues of ups and downs in the market.

"In the nineties there were lots of neckties around, but all the product was cheap," he remembers. "Now it's harder to sell ties because fewer people are wearing them, but the quality and appreciation are higher.

"I think I prefer it now. There are a few great competitors - like Drake's - but only a few."

Oddly, Stefano says the Japanese market for ties took a big hit in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011.

In order to try and save power, the government suggested ("effectively an order, given it's Japan") that office workers should take off their jackets and ties so they could turn down their conditioning.

"It made a huge difference to the tie market - though thankfully not that much to us at the high end," Stefano says.

"Japan used to be the one place everyone wore a tie, but not anymore."

Stefano is also fond of quoting an old Italian saying about family companies: The first generation creates, The second continues, The third destroys.

"I only like it because hopefully Paola and I are proving it's not always true!" he says.

Although Bigi makes for United Arrows, Tomorrowland, Barney's and many others, many of the ties are under its own label.

There are in fact three names:

- WestPoint: The parent company, not used as a brand

- Bigi: Used in most places around the world

- StefanoBigi: Used in Japan as the Bigi brand was already in use

Bigi ties are also sold at No Man Walks Alone, Trunk Clothiers and Selfridge's.

Photography: Workshop photos, Bigi; display pictures at Pitti Uomo, Jamie Ferguson @jkf_man

The world of shirtings is not as confusing as suitings.

As outlined in two Permanent Style pieces (on English mills and Italian mills), there is a huge variation of mills, brands and integration in tailoring cloths that can be very confusing.

Shirtings are simpler. But it’s still probably worth setting out who the players are, how they interact, and whether you should consider any of it when looking through books at a bespoke shirtmaker.

Founded in 1876, it has gone through a period of expansion since the 1990s under Silvio Albini.

It bought British brand Thomas Mason in 1992 when the shirting mill (the last significant one in the UK) closed down. It has since also acquired David & John Anderson and Albiate.

The four brands are presented today as distinct collections:

• Albini: Italian style, lightweight cloths, subtle patterns
• Thomas Mason: English style, often heavier cloths, bolder patterns
• Albiate: Younger style, denims and flannels
• David & John Anderson: Luxury line, Giza 45 cottons, mostly plains blues and whites

The company has more recently had a policy of vertical integration, buying up some of its partners for spinning and dyeing, for example, and looking at making its own products.

“This started off slowly and accidentally,” Silvio Albini said when I talked to him last month. “We initially just wanted to get greater control over some supply problems.”

“But over time we have realised this is best way for us to safeguard our product, to help the industry, and to enable us to experiment and innovate at every stage of the production cycle.”

Monti (founded 1911) has gradually moved a lot of its production to India, but still makes some in Italy. It also includes both shirting production and garment manufacturing under its group.

The brand most consumers will see from the Monti group is S.I.C.Tess, which does often do some interesting and unique cloths.

Canclini (1925) is perhaps a third of the size of Albini in terms of production, and doesn’t own all of its looms - designing some to be made elsewhere.

It is located up near Como, with origins as a silk weaver rather than in cotton.

Canclini consistently has interesting designs on the casual side of the spectrum - such as my grey brushed cotton I had made up by Simone Abbarchi. (Other Abbarchi shirts in Canclini cloth shown above.)

It was also one of the first to offer a large part of its shirting collection as cut lengths to bespoke makers - which most of the other mills now also do.

It is both a mill and a merchant, weaving everything itself (although no one outside Albini has the same degree of vertical integration).

Alumo produces some very fine shirtings, but tends to be more classic in its collections and less experimental.

The first is Grandi & Rubinelli, which weaves from just 15 looms. It uses this size to help small brands looking for small runs and sampling.

Bigger mills such as Albini have increasingly moved towards this end of the market, by introducing smaller dyeing minimums, for example.

Then there is Solbiati, a linen specialist that is always worth looking at for that fibre. It was recently bought by Loro Piana.

And finally there is Carlo Riva (above).

Riva fabrics have done a good marketing job in recent decades, becoming known as the finest and the silkiest shirtings.

It largely uses vintage looms with lower speeds and narrower widths (75cm or 90cm rather than the standard 150cm). These do produce particularly smooth, silky cottons, although generally not to my taste - they have a tendency to look too fancy and wrinkle easily.

Riva cloths are also produced in smaller numbers by Bonfanti, which got part of the production when the original company was split in 1995.

And then the big competition comes from Turkey, China and India. But nothing that should really be considered by bespoke shirting customers.

On that point, I tend not to favour the superfine shirtings (such as the Giza 45 or Riva fabrics) because they are so dressy (and therefore only suited to the most formal outfits) and expensive. The issues are similar to superfine suitings.

But, the standard qualities of the mills mentioned here will generally be a step above cheaper cloths from Turkey or Asia, and worth buying over them.

For example, many ready-made denim shirts are made with single-ply rather than two-ply yarns. This can make them look more distressed or worn-in, but two-ply denims will get softer and more comfortable with time - rather like Scottish cashmere.

And having said that, I would conclude that while it’s worth buying this level of quality, I wouldn’t recommend selecting shirting cloths based on the brand or mill.

As with tailoring, it is the fundamentals of fibre, weave and finish that are important. The size and structure of the mill shouldn’t be a factor.  

Suiting mill articles:

• Italy's mills and merchants explained
• Huddersfield's mills and merchants explained

Shirting mill sites: 

• Albini: www.albinigroup.com
• Alumo: www.alumo.ch
• Bonfanti: bonfantitessuti.com
• Canclini: www.canclini.it
• Grandi & Rubinelli: www.tessitura-gr.it
• Monti: www.monti.it
• Somelos: www.somelos.pt

First off, I would like to apologise to readers that this review has taken so long. There has simply been so much going on that it has been hard to find the time to prioritise it. 

Now, to Charvet.

I had this shirt made last year, following two visits to Paris - one to be measured, and one for a fitting. 

It was made in a fine cotton with a subtly shaded, closely patterned blue stripe.

The cloth is exclusive to Charvet, as most of the hundreds of bolts in the shop are, and this is undoubtedly one of the big selling points of the house. 

You have to really care about your shirtings to want something that none of the standard books, offered by most shirtmakers, have available; but if you are one of those people, few places in the world compare to Charvet. 

The staff, particularly Jean-Claude Colban himself, are also extremely knowledgeable, and can help the shirting obsessive get deep into shades of blue and casts of white.

There is a clear attraction, then, in the materials and in the Place Vendome shop itself, which is one of the last great bastions of traditional menswear. 

Charvet are also unusual in not requiring a minimum order for bespoke shirts - many require three, four or even six shirts the first time, to effectively cover the cost of developing the customer's pattern. 

But beyond these points - and a last mention of how much I have appreciated the hospitality of Jean-Claude himself - it is hard to be that positive about the shirt. Particularly given the price point. 

The fitting process at Charvet was more involved than any I have experienced elsewhere - as mentioned in my first post.

There was a fitting shirt in a cheap cotton, but rather than just pinning the changes on it or marking them on in pen (as others have done), the cutter used shears to cut away at the cloth, slicing sections and taping them back together. 

This made it much easier to adjust the balance of the shirt - making sure the back and front were sitting at the same length. 

And there is a noticeable difference in the fit of the final result. The balance is probably better than any other first shirt I've had from a bespoke maker. 

But while the fit is very good, it's not perfect. The shoulders could do with being raised up a little, and being pushed back to avoid pulling slightly at the neck. 

(Please don't try to read anything as regards fit into these photographs; if photos of tailoring can be misleading, those of shirts always are.)

The area the shirt particularly suffers is make.

There is no handwork involved other than hand-attached buttons and hand-finished buttonholes. So the functional aspects (attaching collar, attaching sleeve) are all done (with great precision) by machine.   

Attaching a collar in the round doesn't make a lot of difference (and certainly less than equivalent handwork on a bespoke shoe or suit) but it does make some.

The reason Charvet shirts don't have much handwork, of course, is that the shirtmaking tradition is more akin to the English one than the Italian, where everything is about the cutter and the fit, rather than the make. English bespoke shirts usually don't have any handwork at all. 

Lastly, I have some issues with the style.

We talked through many different spread-collar options - widths of spread, length of point, height of band - before settling on this one. Jean-Claude and his assistant suggested in suited the proportions of my face.

Having worn it several times, and considered their points, I believe it's a good option but I prefer my normal style with a higher band. You can see in the image above the height of the band, which is about 3mm smaller than my normal height. 

(Of course, I could have chosen anything I wanted, but in order to create a useful review I usually go with whatever the tailor/cutter/maker suggests. Most men won't have used several shirtmakers and have firm opinions on what suits them, so the maker's advice is important.)

Again like English shirtmakers, Charvet shirts usually have floating linings in the collar and cuffs. 

I tend to prefer the light fusing of Italian collars, because they are cleaner, no less comfortable, and adapt to how they are worn - a spread collar like this would roll around the collar of a jacket, for instance, and therefore look attractive even without a tie. 

Jean-Claude suggested I try the lightest of their floating linings. But if anything that was the worst of both worlds: it still had the disadvantages mentioned above but with a softer, less clean finish as well. 

Finally, the price. 

A Charvet bespoke shirt starts at €580 (made to measure €460). 

Not only is that objectively a lot of money, but it is more than all the English competitors, and a lot more than the Italians I usually cover. 

At the top end, a D'Avino shirt costs €350 (though with a minimum first order of three) and is simply a work of art in terms of the handwork involved. 

Below that, Luca Avitabile is around €250 and Simone Abbarchi €150. All different services, all good value for what they offer. 

Unfortunately, as much as I love Charvet and hope their Place Vendome shop is there forever, it's hard to say that about this shirt.

Photography: Jamie Ferguson @jkf_man

Shirt worn with navy-tweed jacket and grey Crispaire trousers from The Disguisery. Review of them coming soon.

I recently took delivery of a set of linen shirts from D'Avino in Naples (it's been a good quarter...) and I thought the colour selection I ended up with was interesting. 

I'm increasingly moving away from the more corporate colours of white and light blue, in favour of more interesting tones such as these. 

It's a relatively easy way to add interest to a navy jacket or grey suit, and a subtler one than windowpane checks or bright handkerchiefs as well. 

The dark blue, indigo-like colour won't surprise many people, as I've worn similar colours in cotton before. 

It goes well under casual navy jackets and with mid-greys. And on a sunny day, is particularly nice with cream trousers.

There is a suggestion of a denim shirt - if in a relatively raw state - which helps it appear a touch rugged too. 

The green shirt, lovely as it is, I have found extremely hard to wear.

I was inspired by shots from Luca Faloni's campaigns, showing a rather good-looking guy wearing the same colour with white trousers in the full glare of Italian sunlight. 

Unfortunately, it turns out that's pretty much the only time it can be worn. Certainly, it is best with cream trousers or denim - perhaps navy chinos at the outside. 

The oatmeal colour, on the other hand, is extremely wearable. It’s also a great, casual alternative to white or blue.

Just don’t wear it with tan or anything remotely oatmeal in colour itself.

I think it’s worth taking this opportunity to highlight the fineness of the handwork in D’Avino shirts.

D’Avino is the most expensive of the three shirtmakers I normally recommend (Simone Abbarchi and Luca Avitabile being the other two) and has by far the most hand stitching – both functional and aesthetic.

Above you can see the hand-rolled bottom hem of the shirt, which is perhaps the most impressive point as it is the most time-consuming. (Also arguably the most pointless since no one will ever see it. 

Above you can see the gusset at the side of the shirt - and running upwards from it, the side seam, which is also sewn by hand (though also reinforced by machine).

Below, meanwhile, is the shirt cuff, where the sleeve has been gathered in gradually by hand all the way round. 

That careful gathering of fullness is what controls the distinctive ripples of a Neapolitan shirt at the top of the shoulder (below). 

Although most shirts from Naples have this touch, D'Avino exaggerates it slightly, which gives extra definition to the end of the shoulder. 

Finally, below, you can see the back part of the sleeve (running towards the bottom right) and the shoulder seam (running towards the left). Both with the tell-tale pick marks of the hand stitching. 

We've discussed before the benefits of different aspects of this handwork, but it's hard to deny the beauty of it - and it's nice to be reminded of how it turns an otherwise functional garment into one of real beauty.

D'Avino shirts start at €350 and the first batch has a minimum of three. 

Fiorenzo is not in London that often, but will be back in September. More details closer to the time. 

He also has a new email address for those wanting to get in touch: info@davinonapoli.com.

The linens, by the way, were sourced by a friend from non-bespoke stock. But there are similar colours in the Albini and Canclini bunches. 

Connolly, which opened on Clifford Street at the end of last year, is one of the most interesting new menswear stores London has had for a while.

It offers luxury clothing, both under its own name and a few European brands (Charvet, Car Shoe, Stile Latino), covering everything from knitwear to tailoring, shoes to leather goods.

It is best understood, however as three different collections: the Driving Collection, the Classic Collection, and the leather goods.

It’s important to understand the differences, as each has a distinct outlook, and seeing just one (for example, by not visiting the lower-ground floor) could mean missing out on what is a very rich and original contribution to menswear.

The first, and easiest to get excited about, is the Driving Collection.

Although everything is overseen by founder Isabel Ettedgui, the collections have different designers - in this case, Adam Cameron, who readers will know from The Workers Club.

The collection is a mix of knitwear, soft tailoring, outerwear and accessories. All are beautifully made (by the best manufacturers I know), are good value by luxury standards, and often have small and original design quirks.

There is a cashmere knitted jacket, for example, which has piped seams and is slightly felted to give it a little more of the feel and drape of cloth. There is a cream-canvas tote with the most subtle white leather binding (above).

And there are some beautiful suede jackets. The Autumn/Winter collection had a full-length, hooded coat in unlined navy suede; it was sensational. Spring/Summer has a collarless biker jacket in the same soft stuff (pictured below, £2600).

There aren’t many pieces in each category. This is not where you go to fill up on navy ties or pale-blue shirts. But each piece has an interesting aesthetic without becoming too fashion-y.

For example, the key summer shirt is in a broad blue-and-cream stripe, linen/cotton mix, and relaxed cut. That’s it in the image below, far left.

Next to it is a herringbone-linen jacket made by Stile Latino, wonderfully slubby and softly structured. Further down the rail are that blue-suede biker and the cashmere-jersey jacket.

The Driving Collection is well-curated and highly wearable, and readers will have no problem finding things they love. It even contains the only cotton drawstring trousers I’ve ever been tempted by (deliberately in a trouser cut, rather than baggy in the thigh and pegged at the ankles).

The Classic Collection (upstairs, at the back) is a different kettle of fish.

Designed by Marc Audibet - of Hermes, Prada, Ferragamo and others - it is a more fashion-forward collection, with more unusual cuts, materials and proportions.

But the colour palette is still very restrained (mostly navy, cream and brown), and it is this that I think keeps a lot of it very relevant - in fact, exciting - for a Permanent Style reader.

To take an example, consider the ribbed cream sweater I’m wearing in the image above (£550). The colour, the knit and the materials are the same as a classic piece we’d expect from one of the Scottish knitters we know and love.

But the neck is scooped and high. The body is voluminous, high in the waist and then expanding in the chest. And the cuff is very long - 2 or 3 times the length of a classic piece.

None of these design points are extreme. This is not a showy piece of fashion (you’d struggle to pick them out coming down a runway). But the overall effect is very distinctive.

Isabel and retail director Ivan (above, who some readers might remember from Trunk) agree that the aim here is to mix the best qualities and classic menswear styles with touches of originality and fashion.

“It’s refreshing to mix these ideas, while remaining faithful to the best makers and best traditions of quality,” Isabel says.

Some pieces in the Classic Collection are less unusual - eg a beige-suede safari jacket (above, left). Others are more so - such as the floor-length liquette overshirts (fourth from left, £550).

But there are always pieces at a perfect, wearable point in the middle.

For example, the Spring/Summer collection has knitted polo shirts in either cream with navy ribbing, or navy with cream, that have extended sleeves finishing just above the elbow (pictured above, third from the right, £285). The effect is quite subtle, and the navy/cream version was my first purchase.

And there is the staggeringly wonderful shawl-collar cardigan pictured above (£1700).

(Deliberately slouchy, but not as oversized as pictured - I am wearing a large/extra-large, though I would actually be a small/medium.)

All of the pieces in the Classic Collection also seem to have nice manufacturing details - such as the full-length pleats in the liquette (below), or a strip of herringbone knitting just before the end of the cuff in the polo shirts.

Overlaying all of this in the Classic Collection is the idea that this is a shared wardrobe, with pieces that can be worn by either men or women.

I can see this putting off some Permanent Style readers, but I think it’s a little bit of a red herring.

Some materials will be too effeminate, such as silks and gauzy cottons. But these are easily avoided, and the cuts of the other pieces are perfectly masculine: more suited to women borrowing from their partner’s wardrobe than the other way around, in my opinion.

Elsewhere in the beautiful Connolly building are some unique leather bags and accessories, and a collection of vintage pieces on the top floor.

Connolly was originally a leather business, founded in 1879, and it made the interiors for some of the world’s best-known cars as well as for the British Houses of Parliament.

There is also backstory to the clothing, as readers may be aware. The original shop was opened in 1995, in a crescent just off Belgrave Square. Isabel was responsible for bringing many luxury brands to London for the first time, including Charvet and Car Shoe.

It was the best curated luxury shop in the city, and had a real loyalty among men in Mayfair, as well as a great clubby atmosphere. (In many ways, a forerunner to shops like The Armoury that we celebrate today.)

It expanded and moved to Conduit Street in 2000, before closing in 2010 with the death of Isabel’s husband (and founder of Joseph), Joseph Ettedgui.

Isabel opened again last year after a long time of looking for the right location, and the right partners.

The location on Clifford Street was perfect (Isabel also lives above the store) and the partners turned out to be both as brands and manufacturers - the key way the new shop is different from the old one is the amount of 'Connolly' product rather than just curated brands.

I’ll cover more of the ethos of Connolly in a separate interview with Isabel, but it is notable how much of the online menswear philosophy - which we discuss and analyse here on Permanent Style - has always been at the heart of Connolly.

To pick a few things from its mission statement:

“Connolly believes we don’t need more stuff, just good stuff”

“Connolly champions craftsmanship, not something designed by machine”

“Connolly thinks less is more, and more is less”

“Connolly provides truly personal service, not lip-service”

They’re all things that could have been lifted from this very site over the years. And they are still a rarity today among fashion companies.

Here’s to another great shop in London - alongside Trunk, Anderson & Sheppard, Anglo-Italian and others. It will be fascinating to see how this small but endlessly variable shop evolves.

Photography: Jamie Ferguson @jkf_man

connollyengland.com

As mentioned in our post on Marco Cerrato last week, much of the sartorial industry in Naples occurs outside the city - in the suburbs and towns of the surrounding area.

Much of this is in the north-east, just above Mount Vesuvius, the still-active volcano that sits on the horizon, perpetually hulking over the city.

On the northern slope of Vesuvius is Somma Vesuviana, a quiet suburb where shirtmaker Fiorenzo D’Auricchio has his workshop. His brand is D’Avino.

(Not to be confused with Avino, the ready-to-wear and bespoke shirtmaker that is not far away.)

The area has hundreds of shirtmakers (nearly all women) that work at home on the finishing and hand-sewing of shirts.

The larger makers in Casalnuovo, north-west of here (Attolini, Isaia, Borrelli) all make use of these shirtmakers.

When Fiorenzo was at Borrelli (he was the head of quality control in hand finishing for 15 years), he was in charge of 50 women in the area.

Today all his D’Avino shirts are made in the workshop - something he is very proud of.

“In an area like this, it is one thing that sets a maker apart,” he says. “We invest in people, we work together all day long, myself and my wonderful employees. I need to keep them happy, and they know that.”

He gestures to one lady (all six of them are women) who came with him from Borrelli: “We’ve been working together for more than 20 years. So far it’s been a pretty good relationship.”

Fiorenzo's mother also worked at Borrelli, and it was she who taught him to sew when he was young. Later he went to college to study design and pattern making.

The women of D’Avino do everything in-house, from the side seams to the buttonholes - and there is an awful lot to do.

I’ve written before about the quality of the work at D’Avino, which is the highest I have come across. Everything that can involve some hand-sewing, does. Both the practical things (attaching collar, armhole etc) and the aesthetic ones (hand-rolling the bottom hem).

A white shirt is set up in one room, with all the hand sewing done in blue, to highlight it.

You can see some of that below: the stitching under the collar around the collar-stay, and the top of the shoulder.

Fiorenzo even invented a method of using an extended collar-stay in the collar, making it easier for the women to sew in perfect, straight lines around it (below).  

"I always want to try to look to innovate, to improve these age-old processes whenever I can," he says. 

Fiorenzo shows us around the workshop, starting with the paper patterns created for each customer, then the washing machines outside to wash all the material before working on it (linen is always washed twice).

Then there is the cutting table, where Fiorenzo does all the cutting himself. "I need this kind of oversight, to be able to see everything at every stage," he says.

"In my previous job I had maybe 30 seconds to check the work on every shirt - it wasn't real control."

Another of his innovations is a button-hole sewing machine that he uses just to create guides for the women, rather than actually sewing the holes (below).

"I do this myself usually," he says. "If there isn't any thread in the machine, it will just cut the cloth and the create a dotted outline of where the buttonhole should be. It can then be sewn by hand but with more accuracy."

The underside of Fiorenzo's collars always have a middle section in linen/cotton (the white bit you can see in the image below).

This is softer than the rest of the collar, and makes it a touch more comfortable. The ends need to be cleaner and sharper, where the middle does not. 

Interestingly, Fiorenzo increasingly offers a floating lining in his collars as well as a fused one.

Although I personally prefer the look of a fused collar, I do appreciate the extra work required for floating lining, and it is nice to see that Fiorenzo offers both. 

There are three thicknesses of lining, all on rails in the picture below. All made in France. 

It's always nice to see the workshop where your favourite clothes are made. The fact they are often small, personal places is a further bonus - and a lovely aspect of bespoke clothing.  

After Fiorenzo and I had toured the workshop, we wandered down to the local cafe in Somma Vesuviano, and talked about the area. 

The land around here is particularly good for growing fruits and vegetables, partly because of its volcanic earth. This is something I had spotted on the farms on the drive in, and I noticed several shops offering fresh produce. 

After we had ordered coffee, Fiorenzo's brother-in-law (a lawyer) and his assistant joined us.

The assistant spoke fluent English (Fiorenzo's is not perfect) and we had a pleasant conversation about the history of Somma Vesuviana while Jamie wandered the street, taking shots of shops and brickwork. 

I'm not sure when I would ever go back to the D'Avino workshop, given Fiorenzo's travel to London and its location outside Naples. 

But every time I see Fiorenzo, or indeed wear one of his shirts, I will have a pleasant and very personal memory to go with it.  

Photography: Jamie Ferguson @jkf_man

I am wearing my tobacco-linen suit by Dege & Skinner. Details on the suit at that link, and thoughts on the combination coming soon in a separate post.

Although we’ve covered several mills over the years on Permanent Style (such as Pennine, Loro Piana, Robert Noble and VBC), I’ve never visited a shirting mill.

The fact that our first one was Albini was pure coincidence, but it worked out well.

Albini is by far the biggest high-end shirting mill in Europe, and the most vertically integrated, which meant we could see every stage of the process from spinning to finishing.

As I outlined in the post ‘Shirting mills and brands explained’, most shirting brands we know do their own design and weaving - but work with spinners, dyers and finishers for the other stages of the process.

This is rather different to the suitings mills in Italy, where the big names are all vertically integrated - ‘from sheep to shop’. But more similar to the set up in England.

Albini bought a spinner in 2016, setting up an R&D division there to create and design new yarns, as well as check the quality of yarn coming in from other suppliers.

The spun cotton from both arrives in the main mill on cones, and is then dyed in vats of various sizes.

Another trend at Albini in recent years has been an attempt to cater to smaller customers, and a reflection of this is the smaller vats that were installed recently, enabling Albini to offer much smaller minimums on single colours.

It is these vats that are pictured below.

Once the yarn has been dyed and then dried, samples are taken to the in-house laboratory for inspection.

The key here is ensuring that the dyed yarn doesn’t vary too much from one batch to the next. If it does, it can’t be used to weave cloth sold as the same design and colour.

Below you can see five samples from different batches, kept as a record in the lab.

The cones of dyed yarn are kept in a large storage room, where an operator uses a robot to run up and along the shelves and fetch different colours or samples.

This isn’t quite on the scale of Loro Piana, which I can still vividly remember seeing for the first time - its scale makes it feel like something out of Star Wars.

But the Albini storage is still large, and certainly the biggest of any shirting mill.

As with weaving for suits, the next stage is to create the warp - a roll of the yarn on a beam which will go onto the loom and run down the length of the finished cloth, with the weft running across it.

This is all done in the large central hall, which contains just over 100 looms. Albini owns another 300 in other locations.

The weaving varies in speed depending on how delicate the yarn is, or how complicated the desired pattern.

The four or five looms working on denim cloth are deliberately kept a couple of metres away from all the others, to prevent contamination from the indigo dye.

The resulting cloth is inspected, repaired if necessary, and then sent off for finishing at a facility in Brebbia.

As with suitings, again, the difference between raw cloth and finished product is astounding. It feels almost like a rough canvas until it has been washed and smoothed.

The final area we looked at - although arguably the first and most important - was the design department, and in particular the archive.

Albini has bought several other brands over the years, including the English weaver Thomas Mason, and that makes up the majority of the archive.

Albiate, the more casual shirting line, also has some interesting old designs.

With suiting archives the striking thing is often how complex the cloths are - quite dull charcoals and browns overall, but with intricate little patterns and brighter colours woven in.

At Albini, the sheer abundance of colour and pattern was surprising. So many big checks, bright colours and textures, such as brushed cottons or satins.

Easy to forget how much TV and photography means we imagine the past in black and white.

Read how Albini sits within the shirting industry, and its various brands, here.

In the past year there has been a lot of promotion and discussion of Italian shirt manufacturer Marol - since it was bought into by commodities trader and menswear enthusiast Bo Yang (below).

Next month, readers in London will get a chance to see them in person for the first time, when Marol come to Mark’s Club for a trunk show October 18-19, and return for fittings on the 30th and 31st.

This is a smart way to do things, given shirts normally only require one fitting.

After those two visits, there will be a cohort of London men who have ordered their MTO, MTM or bespoke service, had the shirt delivered, and can consider whether they want to use it again.

Marol is in many ways an example of a trend we’ve seen over the past 10 years on Permanent Style, of top-end manufacturers becoming brands.

Drake’s is the best-known example, and as Michael Hill reflected back at our Accessories Symposium in 2016, the company’s London factory might not exist today if it hadn’t launched a brand.

Companies like Begg and Bresciani have followed similar routes.  

Marol is not a big atelier, with around 30 workers outside Bologna.

But it has been known for a while in the industry as one of the best places to have shirts made - in the same way Drake’s or Bresciani were also known.

I have one Marol shirt, for example - a grey brushed-cotton from the Anderson & Sheppard haberdashery that I love - but I had no idea it was made by Marol until now.

Marol shirts are made to a very-high level, in the North Italian tradition.

In comparison to makers around Naples, they tend to prioritise a clean finish and precise machine work, rather than hand flourishes.

The sleeve is still generally inserted by hand, and a wide, broadening seam sewn by hand around the armhole. Buttons and buttonholes may also be done by hand.

But elsewhere the focus is on precise machine finishing: 13 stitches to the centimetre, 2mm side seams and hems. They also have the consistency of a well-run atelier and touches like a high button-shank and great pattern matching. 

It is a mix of the machine precision of a Charvet and the handwork of a Neapolitan like Kiton, or Luca Avitabile on the bespoke side.

The fit tends to be generous in the chest and sleeve, creating an athletic silhouette.

Marol is run by Manuela Vignudelli (above, left), who will be visiting both times in London. She took over from her parents, Rosanna and Luciano Saguatti, who founded the company in 1959.

That history has gifted the modern creative team - involving Bo and also Canadian writer Pedro Mendes of The Hogtown Rake - an archive of innovative designs to draw on.

And I think that will be crucial to the success of Marol, the brand.

Because while shirts are an everyday item (where a man generally wants one consistent maker) the market for shirts is crowded, and design is the easiest way to stand out.

Marol has many design styles, some of which are shown here.

They are divided into four collections: Eleganza for dress shirts, Volo for off-duty, Sogno for flair, and Opera for the evening.

Many of them are too showy for me - particularly the strong patterns and denim evening shirts.

But they do a very nice one-piece collar, some interesting cuff designs, and I rather like the pyjama shirt. (Though more for actual pyjamas than wearing outside.)  

There are also nice details on some of the shirts that are subtle enough not to be gimmicky. These include the front-panel overlap on a shirt (bottom of this post) and the pleating effects on dinner shirts.

The biggest issue Marol is likely to face is price.

Shirts are priced quite highly across all ranges: £275 for MTO (standard sizes) £318 for MTM (made to fit, from a block), and £367 for bespoke (unique pattern, with one fitting).

The ready-made shirts being sold by The Rake are £495.

This puts Marol closer to the big designer brands than to the other small Italian makers readers will know on the bespoke side, such as Luca Avitabile or D’Avino, and is almost the same bespoke price as Charvet.

In some ways Marol shirts are better made than the designer brands, but it might be tough to compete against their design teams and strength of brand.

Bo’s attitude is that Marol will produce the highest level of craft, from a maker with an authentic history, and price as they see fairly. As he sees it, like the Cifonelli of shirtmaking.

They won’t worry too much about the competition, as many tailors haven’t done historically.

Bo and Marol also deserve credit for bringing a top-quality, storied shirtmaker to broader attention. And it’s hard to think of any other shirt maker taking such a fresh look at design.

For appointments in London, contact marol@marol.it

One of the lovely things about the Everyday Denim we launched a couple of weeks ago was how quickly the cloth sold. 

It's always hard to know how well a new type of product will do, and I'd clearly underestimated the appetite for exclusive cloth to make up bespoke. 

I've talked to Albiate, and we have agreed to weave another 100 cut lengths (2 metres each). These will be available in four weeks' time, the week of November 13th. Hopefully that will sate demand for now. 

I'd ask that readers pay now, on the Shop site, so we can reserve the whole production for everyone.

Please note that we have also had to increase prices to £65 for the cut lengths, as the first batch was more of a promotional offer from Albiate. It is still cheaper than regular retail prices (as with most things on Permanent Style) - which would be around £80. 

I note that the shirts have also almost sold out, with only a few left in Medium and Extra Large.

We will product more of these too, but as it requires both a slot with Albiate and with the shirt factory in Naples, they are unlikely to be available until the New Year. 

Finally, some nice feedback so far from readers on the denim and shirts:

"I just wanted to say a very well done on your denim shirt. The look and details are wonderful but I wanted to stress one other important but sometimes overlooked point, and that is, the comfort of the cloth and collar are really exceptional. Congratulations on producing another quality item"

"I received my “everyday denim” shirt in the mail today, it is beautiful and looks even better in real life than in the (amazing) pictures."

Drake's was one of the first menswear brands that really inspired me, back in the days when I'd sit in Michael Drake's study going through old decorative art books, dissecting patterns.

Drake's managed to combine craft and style, deep tradition and wearable modernity, in a way that is still rare.

It is a very personal honour therefore, as this site approaches its 10-year anniversary, to have my name alongside Drake's.

Perhaps it is best thought of as a styling, though, rather than a collaboration.

It comprises a full outfit - jacket, trousers, shirt, tie and handkerchief - where I've selected one of my favourite materials for each, creating a look that I love, and is rather different to the classic Drake's aesthetic.

Each item is available in stock in Drake's stores, and we will be hosting a made-to-order event on Wednesday this week for anyone that wants to tweak their own version. (Or indeed order any other MTO.)

The outfit was based on these lovely photographs Luke Carby took of me at Pitti a couple of years ago.

Back then I commented that I liked the sombre green of that Escorial cloth - with its faint purple checks - and the slightly urban look of the grey brushed-cotton shirt.

It's not office-formal, nor country-casual, but something in between.

For the RTW version we went to Escorial again for the cloth, making it up in the Drake's three-roll-two style with patch pockets and self-lining in the front.

The shirt is in a similar brushed cotton, with a spread collar.

And rather than copy the original knitted-silk tie, I went for a brown small-knot grenadine - just because I love the 9cm-wide version of this from Drake's so much. I wear the navy version constantly.

That tie also has a small tweak I'm fond of: no keeper. Because a tie flows so much better without tucking in the back blade.

For the trousers, we selected a putty-coloured cavalry twill, which again is made up in Drake's standard style.

I've been wearing cavalry twill so much since writing about it back in March, and this colour is the most versatile of the lot. Pale and muted enough to go with any jacket (save mid- to light grey).

The handkerchief is not unusual, being a white 100% linen, hand-rolled. But it is my favourite.

One thing that is nice about the jacket design is that the lack of lining (and self-lining in the front) emphasises the natural stretch of Escorial wool.

I wrote about its crimp-based fine-merino properties on that original post, but you do feel it far more in this jacket than in my bespoke one, because there is no lining getting in the way.

Although readers have suggested it in the past, I've never wanted to design tailoring - primarily because so many other people do it so well.

However, it is nice to do something like this with Drake's, where I can pick cloths and as a result have the jacket and trousers available to anyone buying RTW or MTO.

These couple of months are always the biggest for menswear.

Compressed by the factory summer shutdowns at one end and Christmas sales at the other, it feels like almost a year of sales are squashed into a few weeks.

That's certainly been the case with my collaborations (sorry everyone), and it is with events too. But if you can make it down to the event this Wednesday, please do.

It's at the Drake's Clifford Street store, from 6pm-8pm. Drake's will also have their new range of made-to-order swatches to browse.

(The jacket pictured is a standard 38 chest, which is a pretty good fit on me apart from the length - the one thing I would change with MTO.)

Prices on the collaboration pieces (with links to the Drake's site):

Jacket: £1995 (Escorial is not cheap!)

Trousers: £395

Shirt: £155

Tie: £135

Handkerchief: £60

Photography: Jamie Ferguson @jkf_man

First off, I need to mention that the J.Girdwood website is finally up and active. 

Anyone that has been into the first or second pop-ups will have seen James (above) and his J.Girdwood range of products. They include some Permanent Style favourites such as Bresciani socks, Merola gloves, Maglia umbrellas and so on. 

James has got his shop site live, at www.jgirdwood.com, yesterday. More details on his aims for it in a week or two. 

Next, The Rake.

The Rake’s online shop has grown so much in the past year that it’s been hard to squeeze things into their pop-up space. Even though they’re focusing on exclusives.

The good thing about this range is there’s something for everyone. So even if Sciamat jackets (above) are too eccentric, there is the quiet precision of 100 Hands shirts instead.

And there are so many brands that, were it not for The Rake and the pop-up, you wouldn’t see anywhere in London.

There’s Sciamat, Norman Vilalta, Chapal, Marol, 100 Hands, Francesco Marino and many more.

Personally, I’m really proud to have the Chapal aviator jacket on display in the window (£2735).

I wrote two years ago about having my own made to order in Paris, and I know several readers that have travelled to France just to see and try it in person. Now you can in the pop-up.

And 100 Hands (above, £300-£400) make simply the best hand-finished shirts anywhere - with all their tiny, precise hand-rolled hems. 

They're available in several styles including a denim, a blue jersey, and a striped cotton.

Francesco Marino might be a new name for many readers. An old Neapolitan tiemaker, they do some very well-finished ties including (in the pop-up) a beautiful seven-fold printed gauze (below, ties £100-£125).

Elsewhere, some will want to try the extreme sleeveheads of Sciamat tailoring; there are Marol shirts including their denim dress range; and a range of Lardini tailoring.

Finally, nice to have my favourite Norman Vilalta back, with his swept chelsea boots (£1040) and pebble-grain derbys with super-chunky soles.

The grey in the middle below is the Rake exclusive - a patina that Wei picked out with Norman.

There are details on all the pieces, of course, on the Rake site. In case you want to check them out before visiting the shop. 

Begg & Co, our third exhibitor in Week 3, will be well-known to readers but remains a wonderful option for Christmas presents.

It’s the time of year to wear scarves - and soon the time of year to give them - and even on the first day Begg was selling strongly.

The range in the pop-up includes ultra-thin wispy scarves (above, £245), thicker brushed arran models (£260 or £360), and the more casual kishorns (£175 or £280) - all in masculine colours of grey, navy, olive and so on. 

There is also a small range of the PS squares that we designed with Begg last year, and the brass scarf ring developed with Alice Made This (pictured below). 

Photography: Jamie Ferguson @jkf_man

I'm pleased to say we have all the details confirmed for our Shirtmakers Symposium in Florence this January. 

Please do RSVP to symposium@albinigroup.com if you would like to attend. We expect it to be quite packed. 

The location is Palazzo Gondi, in the centre of Florence. So no walking south of the Arno this time. 

And the shirtmakers we will be featuring are:

• Darren Tiernan, Budd, London
• Luca Avitabile, Naples
• Paolo Maffeis, Emanuele Maffeis, Bergamo
• Justin Chang, Ascot Chang, Hong Kong
• Jack Sepetjian, Anto Shirts, Los Angeles

I was keen with this Symposium to get a range of makers from different locations - hence bringing in both Hong Kong and the US. But I also wanted to keep it to five speakers, as six has felt a little too many in previous years for everyone to get really involved. 

Each of the five will be making a shirt to display at the event - with the theme 'Smart/Casual'.

The idea is that they will be the makers' interpretation of a shirt that can work in a modern, casual office, and also transition to the weekend or another informal occasion. 

Alongside this, sponsors Albini will be presenting their latest development in a separate area. 

It should be really interesting. I'm looking forward to digging into all the details of shirtmaking - and discussing people's views of the future. 

See you there.

Simon

It’s been so fun swapping in brands every week or two during the pop-up shop.

A lot of work, but fun: it feels like a different place, a slightly different atmosphere, every weekend.

On Wednesday this week we exchanged The Armoury for Drop93 - the pre-owned and consignment store from the Armoury team.

And we welcomed in Edward Sexton.

This is a significant launch for Edward Sexton as it is the first time they have done ready-to-wear trousers.

Fortunately, the Hollywood-top style (above) is meant to be loose in the leg and cinched slightly at the waist, so it is easy to fit a range of body types.

For anyone that isn’t familiar with the Hollywood-top style, it is a relaxed, high-waisted cut with what’s called a ‘grown-on’ waistband. Basically, it looks like there is no waistband at all, and inside there is less structure than a normal band.

A series of belt loops then run a touch below the top of the trouser.

Sexton started cutting them bespoke last year, and you can see my review of my bespoke ones here.

The RTW styles are cut like a traditional high-waisted trouser - so sitting on your natural waist, above the hip bone - unlike mine which were a little lower.

They are in three different VBC flannels, all 11oz, and cost £420.

Sexton’s other offerings are the pin-collar shirts they’ve had for a while (£190) and silver and gold pins for them (£140 to £510).

There are three-fold and seven-fold ties made by Bigi and designed by Edward and Dominic (£110 and £190) and some other accessories.

The knitwear is new this year - cashmere and wool rollnecks, and a chunky cashmere cable-knit. I’ve always associated Edward with rollnecks under tailoring, so it’s nice to see those in their collection.

A few readers on Instagram have asked about how to access these things if they can’t get to the pop-up shop.

As with all the brands, Edward’s things are available on his website - EdwardSexton.com

The concept of the pop-up shop has always been to bring together brands that you can’t normally access in London - either because they’re online only, or because they are based abroad.

So the brands tend to have everything available in their web shops as well as the pop-up - and these pieces are relevant to everyone, not just those that can wander down to Savile Row. 

I’ve noticed in the past year that a lot of my favourite ties are from Shibumi.

They’re always on the end of the rail; they always get picked up first. Yet I haven’t written about them for quite a while.

Having Benedikt (below) in the shop over the next three days is a nice opportunity to correct that.

Although Shibumi offers a range of ties, a large proportion are made in a crisp printed silk that I find knot particularly nicely.

The knot sits well and stays in place. The dimples come easily. The blades hang rather than flop.

For those that like hand-worked details, the blades are all untipped and the edges rolled neatly by hand.

While it is these printed silks I’d recommend the most, there are also some unusual (but subtle) textured silks on display.

They’re both shown above. The left-hand one is similar to a grenadine, woven in Italy, but with a little less texture and made in a silk/wool/cashmere mix that gives it a matte finish.

The right-hand one is what Benedikt calls an English grenadine: woven in England, it has similar texture to a grenadine but with a little more body and is a little denser.

The former is the kind of tie I would wear in day in, day out: dark enough to go with almost anything, a subtle pattern that will rarely clash with jacket or shirt, and with brown in the mix to pick up brown shoes.

Benedikt also has some wool and wool/silk scarves (above), a big range of handkerchiefs, and some examples of his tailoring (below).

The last brand to feature on this - the last weekend of the pop-up! - is Carmen from Camiseria Burgos.

Carmen (below) was a last-minute addition, but it’s lovely to have someone else coming in from abroad. The pop-up doesn’t quite have the atmosphere of her storied shop in Spain, but her shirts and Teba jackets add a little old-fashioned craft to the place.

The pyjamas for example (shown below) have delicate hand-sewn buttonholes, instantly elevating them above most else in London.

The rest is machine made, but they’re decent value at €284, and there are four sizes across a few blues and blue stripes.

Burgos is perhaps most famous for the Teba - an entirely unstructured shirt-jacket with a square shape and distinctive lack of gorge between the collar and lapel.

They’re ubiquitous in Spain, worn over a shirt in the office in place of a jacket, and if you like the style, practical for anyone in a modern office.

Carmen has several colours, including navy wool with gold blazer buttons and cashmere jersey (€580).

There is also a new style of Teba, called the Domeck, which is a little more like a jacket - still no structure, but darts in the waist to give it a little more shape, two vents, and curved fronts rather than the shirt-like square cut.

It’s a little more expensive, at €580 for wool.

Carmen has brought over a range of reversible coats (wool to microfibre, €650) of which the Black-Watch tartan version is shown above.

On the shirt front, there are ready-made machine-made styles from €120, and both Guayabera and pop-overs. Plus boxers and safari jackets.

Together with Shibumi’s accessories, Codis Maya’s jewellery, and casual wear from The Workers Club, there’s pretty much everything covered in the pop-up this weekend.

Remember, these brands are only here until Sunday, and then the shop itself closes.

I’ll be in all day on Sunday (opening times 11am-5pm).

See you there.

Photography: Jamie Ferguson @jkf_man

The blouson in general, but particularly in brown and especially in brown suede, has to be one of the most versatile pieces in a man's wardrobe.

The shape is short and neat enough to work well with smarter clothing; suede suggests a more dressy look; and dark brown is probably the most versatile of colours.

Designs like Valstar's 'Valstarino' jacket (shown here) are also helped by their button front (rather than zipped) and neat little pockets.

This post is intended to show how such a blouson can sit at the centre of a capsule wardrobe, with various other pieces rotating around it.

So we have three looks, all featuring the Valstarino but with different sets of shirt, trousers and shoes.

There are grades of formality (largely driven by the trousers and shoes) but most of the pieces can be worn in any combination.

You might shy away from trainers with flannels, or denim shirt with jeans, but the polo shirt could be worn with any of the three pairs of trousers, the chinos with any of the three shirts, and so on.

Versatility is the key to any capsule wardrobe, and these pieces are as versatile as it gets.

Outfit 1. My bespoke jeans from Levi's (mid-rise, Cone Mills denim) with a chambray shirt and cordovan shoes.

The shirt is the dressiest of the three. Even though it's chambray, it is the fine, dressy kind of chambray offered by most of the shirting mills, and is still quite smart.

The shoes are my Edward Green Windermeres - although the last time I had them resoled, I had the welt replaced and the double sole reduced to one, so they are a little smarter than the standard model.

I like the outfit as it is, but you can easily see how a navy polo could be worn instead of the shirt, or trainers on the feet.

Outfit 2. Beige Incotex chinos (via Trunk) worn with a navy Friday Polo and my much-worn Common Projects.

Beige is a great trouser colour, equally at home with brown, green or navy, and you can see how these chinos could work with any of the other shoes in the other outfits.

The Valstarino, by the way, is a size 40 slim fit, with a wool lining for winter.

Outfit 3. Rather smarter. Grey-flannel trousers with a denim shirt and Edward Green Dovers in the company's (relatively) new redwood colour.

The shoes and trousers elevate this combination into something smarter; but the shoes could also be worn with either the chinos or the denim, smartening up each.

The denim shirt is the most casual piece in the outfit, but if it were swapped for the chambray the whole would actually be quite smart.

If I were to take this exercise a step further, it would be to suggest a jacket as an alternative to the Valstarino - perhaps a brown or navy tweed.

That addition would create an extremely versatile capsule wardrobe.

Hopefully a post readers will find useful, given comments on Wednesday's anniversary post.

Valstarino jackets available in the UK at Drake's, Fenwick's and Mr Porter among others.

Photography: Jamie Ferguson @jkf_man

We decided this time to have everyone seated, and it made a real difference: far more focus on the talk, and a stronger debate overall. It helped that we had better lighting and audio, thanks to Albini and Palazzo Gondi.

The palazzo itself is amazing. Arguably the most beautiful in Florence, it is where Leonardo da Vinci worked for most of his life.

Rather humbling - particularly when Silvio Albini used his opening speech to liken the shirtmakers to Florentine renaissance painters.

I'll write more on the actual discussion in a separate post, but as per usual, here are some details on the speakers.

Jack Sepetjian, Anto Shirts

Perhaps the most unusual of the speakers, Jack runs his family company in Beverly Hills - where most of the customers are Hollywood actors.

He had just shipped 60 shirts to Tom Cruise for the latest Mission Impossible, filming in the UK.

Jack's business is unusual in that most customers have well-established patterns, and his biggest challenge is delivering bulk orders of shirts made to those patterns, often only with a day or two's notice.

Darren Tiernan, Budd

Darren couldn't be more different, working in the tiny Budd store in Piccadilly and seeing the vast majority of customers in person.

He is celebrating 30 years as a shirtmaker this year, which made his inclusion as the British representative rather fitting.

He came across as a true craftsman, modest and considered.

Luca Avitabile

Readers will be familiar with Luca - the southern-Italian representative - given his work for me both on personal shirts and on the Friday Polos.

Luca spent a little time at the beginning talking about his family history, with his grandmother a bespoke shirtmaker and his father expanding into a shirt factory.

Justin Chang (right) with his father Tony Chang, Ascot Chang

Justin was a wonderful speaker, which was just as well as his father was sitting in the front row filming every word.

The Ascot Chang business has unique challenges with bespoke, as it takes bespoke orders from all of the stores across the US, Hong Kong and China, who communicate the fit back to HQ in a code system that has been honed over decades.

Most of those stores are run by apprentices of Justin's grandfather, who started the business. But with them all getting on in age, a big challenge is replacing them and maintaining this remote bespoke system.

Paolo Maffeis, Emanuele Maffeis

Paolo, representing the clean style of northern Italy, was a grinning foil to every question we discussed.

His business is again a little different, doing bespoke, made-to-measure and ready-to-wear, but all at a very high level.

I will also write separately about the six shirts the speakers made for the event, each of which had interesting technical details.

Photography: © Carlos Folgoso / Massimo Sestini