The London Lounge

Cufflink 79 reminds me of another important point - people in high stress jobs should not iron their own shirts. Not only do many such people lack the time to do so, but if the phone rings, well, the distraction of stress that continues even after one leaves the workplace brings the risk that one mi...

One way to make easier ironing a cotton dress shirt is to put the freshly-laundered shirt while still damp into a plastic bag and put it in the freezer for a while. Once it is good and cold, the iron will take out wrinkles quite easily.

Excellent, as always.

As I said, he's excellent for alterations.

Senol Custom Tailoring (a one-man shop, Naim Senol is his name), 211 E. 60th St., Apt. A1, (212) 308-5063. He's excellent for alterations.

Avoid the attached wing collar, which, as Amies put it, are "miserably mean in height" and cannot frame the face properly, the way a real wing collar should. It is often so low that it resembles a collar band with flaps. Also, as it is attached to the shirt and is not made of the cotton and fiber bl...

I concur with everything bry2000 said, and would add that, from personal experience, they are a pleasure to deal with in after-sales care matters as well.

As it happens, some time ago TVD and I spoke independently with our cutters at Henry Poole, both of whom said that Abimelech's top end melton cloth is of a decent quality. Abimelech's market niche is military reenacting, film and tv, so much of what they make is intended for historical uniforms and ...

Here is Art's website: http://www.vintagesilhouettes.com

I happen to like Vincent Nicolosi very much and I am steadily filling up my closet with suits from him. Manton's comment on Nicolosi's construction is correct; the degree and quality of his handwork is absolutely first rate. Nicolosi also cuts and sews nearly everything himself, except for trousers,...

Sixteen years ago, a number of my "well-heeled" classmates at the University of Salzburg law school swore by an old shoemaker in Kitzbühel, who operated a little shop and did everything himself, by hand, in the finest medieval Meister tradition - though his shoe prices were firmly twentieth century,...

Art Fawcett is a member of the Lounge, I believe. I second vonwotan's endorsement of Art; I am thoroughly pleased with the two fedoras he made for me.

Hendrick's is wonderful, but vonwotan does have a point - it is different from the more conventional juniper-flavored gins, of which I like Bombay in martinis, and Bombay Sapphire in summer drinks. Now you have an excuse to drink all three.

Tampan:

Smith's Fresco No. 4034 (11/12oz) is a good RAF blue.

I daresay all the New Yorkers will have a particularly elegant weekend cleaning the salt and slush off their shoes. But at least we don't have to tread through manure-choked streets, as Blazac did. For what it's worth, I find EG's 888 last in an "F" wide fitting to be appealing, as the wide front po...