The Italian handmade shirt
Many countries still make shirts by hand, including in Spain with the likes of Burgos and, further afield, someone like 100 Hands in India. But it is Italy that has really kept the flame alive. Indeed, it’s one of the most most surpr...
The Italian handmade shirt
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Sure, that's Wil Whiting. His work is superb...
How to wear a cream jacket
A cream jacket is more useful than you might think. Certainly, I’ve found myself using this one from Jean-Manuel Moreau more than I expected since I received it earlier in the year. This post describes, and illustrates, three ways I&am...
How to wear a cream jacket
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That would certainly work Christopher, yes...
Introducing: The (brown) reversible Valstarino
*Update: Although a couple of sizes have sold out, several customers have bought two jackets in order to compare sizes, and will be returning one. So if your size is sold out, do email [email protected] to receive an alert when it comes bac...
Introducing: The (brown) reversible Valstarino
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Yes, dark brown, very similar to this. I wasn't thinking green in the future, but certainly good to have the vote...
Indigo, navy and natural: A summer combination
I’ve always liked indigo in tailoring, and find navy a good partner for it. The deep indigo of this linen shirt from D’Avino, for example, is significantly quietened by the navy blazer over the top, and makes that top half a story...
Indigo, navy and natural: A summer combination
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Linen can look a little smart with jeans - it's a casual tailoring material, but still fairly smart overall. Navy can look a little smart being a darker, smarter colour as well. The important things in making it work are...
Italian aristocracy: Black and white
Last summer, a reader responded to a post by reminding me that in Slim Aarons's photography of Italian aristocracy, most wore cream or tobacco-linen suits, a white shirt, white hank and black knitted-silk tie. The post had been on 'Dressing pale c...
Italian aristocracy: Black and white
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Hi Aaron, If you have your arms forward like that, and twisted slightly inwards, that's always going to happen. It might be a little less with a softer cloth and bigger sleeve, but then you're changing fundamental aspect...
Sage green and tobacco brown – earthy summer
Finding new colour combinations I like makes me disproportionately happy. I know this doesn’t apply to every menswear enthusiast, but for me the interrelationship of colours is one of the most enjoyable and creative aspects of dress....
Sage green and tobacco brown – earthy summer
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Yes I think so. But if you're in doubt, this green is fine too...
The D’Avino shirt workshop – Somma Ve...
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 ...
The D’Avino shirt workshop – Somma Ve...
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Yes there's no easy way out of that. Probably just have to accept that if your watches have changed, your sleeve cuffs will have to change slowly as well...
Naples: A sartorial shopping guide
Naples has the biggest concentration of high-end handmade menswear in the world. Although not so much for shoes, for tailoring and shirtmaking this is the motherlode, with hundreds of tailors in the city and surrounding region, and thousands working ...
Naples: A sartorial shopping guide
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I'm afraid I don't know any Terence, sorry. I really only know Milan, Florence, Rome and Naples well...
D’Avino linen shirts – in denim, oatm...
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 lig...
D’Avino linen shirts – in denim, oatm...
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You're on the right lines with it being more casual, but that's more about a softer more open linen, a bigger fit, maybe a chest pocket...
Wearing a grey linen shirt – or the virtues...
A style post today, after several product and profile pieces in recent weeks. To break it down into bullets: I love grey shirts, primarily with navy suits or jackets as an alternative to white and blue. It feels urban and modern The problem is, wit...
Wearing a grey linen shirt – or the virtues...
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The greys have generally been linen (for summer) and brushed cotton (for winter). Both this D'Avino one and my Simone Abbarchi winter one are from Sictess...
D’Avino in London
The exquisite shirtmaker D'Avino (that's the brand name, the man being Fiorenzo Auricchio) is here in London for a rare visit in two weeks. D'Avino makes to the highest level you will see, with handwork absolutely everywhere - not just the practica...
D’Avino in London
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No problem. Some points on my previous shirt posts about unfused vs fused collars, but I can do something separate on it....
Your next sports jacket: Oatmeal cashmere from El...
This pale, oatmeal-coloured cashmere is my new favourite sports-jacket material. When men are picking colours for sports jackets, their second choice (after the obviousness of navy) is usually grey. Which can be great, in: a rougher, preppy herrin...
Your next sports jacket: Oatmeal cashmere from El...
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I would have to see the colour Jack. I'd worry there wouldn't be enough contrast with the trouser...
What is quality? What about design? – Stock...
At our book launch in Stockholm last week, Konrad Olsson (above) – editor of Plaza Uomo magazine – asked some rather stimulating questions. Such as, what is quality? Well, for me quality (in clothing) is aspects of manufacture that lea...
What is quality? What about design? – Stock...
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Hi Hugo, Well spotted. It will be launching on the website next week - there is a special edition of it just for readers... S...
Video: How to look after your suit
This is the first in a series of videos – made in conjunction with Richard Anderson – on maintaining, brushing and pressing a suit. [It’s worth enlarging to full screen if you want to watch it all] They are p...
Video: How to look after your suit
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How wide should such a "wide-shouldered" hanger for suits be?...
D’Avino shirts – the zenith of visiti...
D’Avino is a small Neapolitan outfit run by cutter Fiorenzo Auricchio (above). He has no website, an abandoned blog, and little used social media. Email is the best contact option. But he visits London regularly, usually twice a year at l...
D’Avino shirts – the zenith of visiti...
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Fiorenzo Auricchio has great designer clothes. I have heard so many things about him. He weaves the suits so well....
D’Avino bespoke denim shirt
This is the final shirt from Neapolitan maker D’Avino. It is, as I expected, absolutely beautifully made, and a very good fit for the first order. Neapolitan shirtmakers vary both by their price and their priorities. The shirtmaker I have used ...
D’Avino bespoke denim shirt
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This denim isn't available anymore - the Everyday Denim is the equivalent...
Cifonelli jacket, D’Avino shirt and others
A reader asked what I was wearing at the dinner of Parisian Gentlemen last week. Fortunately, a profile photo was taken that day at the intellectual property conference I was speaking at – the reason I was in Paris in the first place. In t...
Cifonelli jacket, D’Avino shirt and others
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Here are some more pics of Simon's DB: http://dirnelli.tumblr.com/post/69709009635/simon-crompton-shows-you-how-the-cifonelli-bespoke...
D’Avino shirts, Naples
One of the new makers I met in Naples last month was D’Avino, a small shirtmaker run by Fiorenzo Auricchio (above). Fiorenzo trained as a boy under his father, who worked for Gino Borelli – so a pretty decent education – and then se...
D’Avino shirts, Naples
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There is no shop, just a workshop, and it's a good 40 minute drive outsode Naples I'm afraid...
