The London Lounge

Wearing a suit without a necktie is an act of submission. Courage is elegant. Submission never is. Bravo! A suit without a tie looks unfinished. As if the wearer forgot something. You need something at the collar.. Very true. In London among many professionals, especially in finance, a (tight) plai...

I know I'm sounding a little bit wimpy, but can you drop a couple of names? Not best coffee / food / price-quality ratio, no -- just a few good places for "sitting outside ... watching the Torinese world go by." The main pedestrianised retail street is via Giuseppe Garibaldi. The caffes are aimed a...

Im presently doing some work with a business based in Turin / Torino – and have been lucky to have an excuse to visit there a few times over the last 3 years. One of the best things about Turin is that it is not on the tourist trail. It’s a true working city – the centre of the Italian motor industr...

I suppose it depends on the severity of the weather but I find these work quite well as a sturdy outdoor shoe that is acceptable in a more formal setting - https://trickers.com/collections/country-shoes/products/ilkley-country-shoe-black-scotch-grain Tricker's is definitely the place for this sort ...

I have accumulated several GT cases down the years and like them very much. They are very practical, the fibreboard being very light yet tough - and a fraction of the weight of a leather equivalent. One word of warning however, even the very best cases won't stand up to the mistreatment that the wor...

My wife thinks I look far more elegant - and slimmer - when I wear a 3 piece suit. Funny, but I thought I was both those things anyway?????? You absolutely are - the waistcoat simply draws attention to that reality.. :wink: With the benefit of the sage advice given above, I have gone for the 4-piec...

Not a previously unpublished book by Robert Ludlum, but a new project for 2023 that involves some cloth acquired a while ago & overlooked for too long - there's 7.3m of it.. It's a 9oz pinstripe. Very boringly, I always take the same approach - SB jacket and 2 pairs of trousers which will normally u...

I would avoid anything other than black for the tailcoat. The material for mine is a very narrow herringbone (you'd need to look closely to notice). The classic morning dress trouser material is grey & black stripe - long rise as mentioned and a black or grey waistcoat. Black with 'slips' (as worn b...

May I ask a closely related question, ? (without wanting to hijack the thread...) Is a blazer traditionally cut to a different shape from a suit jacket of similar fabric/ weight? Or would a tailor default to the same jacket pattern.? I suppose the suspicion that it might not be the same as a suit ja...

I’d echo that sentiment. In a world where some people look to gain advantage by driving a wedge between others and whipping up hatred as a means of gaining power and influence - the best counter-strategy is surely kindness and decency? True leadership in all areas of life is founded on selflessness ...

History today has tweeted a 1999 article (then 150 year anniversary of the event) concerning one of the UK's foremost political figures of the 19th Century - Benjamin Disraeli. https://www.historytoday.com/archive/disraeli-and-conservative-leadership His reputation as a snappy dresser was, in those ...

Some years ago (ok, make that, over a decade ago) I convinced myself that I needed a not-quite-formal overcoat and settled on the idea of an overcheck tweed made up as a covert coat. In a Dugdales book there was a John G Hardy tweed that appealed fine green check mix with an orange overcheck. Choice...

Interestingly, the fine folks at The Anthology yesterday introduced a version of their Simon Crompton collaboration polo coat in a grey and white herringbone Donegal. The change of cloth changes the coat utterly, and to my eye makes the coat much less attractive and almost unrecognizable as a polo ...

This Woolmark Company youtube presentation is worth viewing in its entirety, but the section on wool cloth finishing is relevant to your request [youtube]https://youtu.be/gefa6emNxKA?t=1230[/youtube] WT Johnson services many weavers from all over Britain as a finisher, and they work closely with th...

Could any learnèd volunteers possibly share with me their knowledge of cloth finishes - and what the variously bandied-about terms actually mean? What are the processes available for worsteds? What are they called and how do they affect durability and performance? For example, "milled" I believe I u...