The London Lounge

Hamilton in Houston (at the store, as opposed to the mail order service) does a fine bespoke OCBD. http://www.hamiltonshirts.com/ Since moving to Houston, I have become a very happy customer. They are MUCH better and more reliable than my previous London-based shirtmaker. I still have and wear sever...

Does anyone have contact information for Darsonville? The article to which Alden originally linked is no longer available online.

I decided to try Cleverley for my first pair of bespoke shoes and received the results recently. It was about 3 months between order and fitting and then again 3 months between fitting and delivery. My ready-to-wear shoes are from Alden or Allen-Edmonds. The Cleverley shoes are unexpectedly light an...

The shanking seems good to me -- the stitching is clean on the back, diagonal across the button, it seems very secure. I'm not sure what you mean by bad shanking, though. No extra charge as far as I can tell. I didn't ask when I ordered and he didn't say. The stripe matching is not seamless. It is s...

I'd asked earlier for comments on Robert Whittaker at Dege's bespoke shirtmaking work. I gave him a try -- 14 shirt order, mix of dress, business, and casual, sample to start -- on his last US visit. The sample shirt came recently and it is mostly a winner. The only glaring error is that I had asked...

I've a collapsible top hat from Oberwalder on Karntnerstrasse in Vienna about two years ago. It's invaluable for traveling.

Off topic, there are a whole bunch of interesting shops with friendly and knowledgeable people around the opera house in Vienna. The area is well worth a visit.

A good introductory single malt is the Glenlivet 18. This has much more character than the Glenlivet 12 -- enough character to give you a sense of what single malts are about. Moreover, it's in the middle of the range in terms of flavors: some nuttiness, but not too much; some fruitiness, but not to...

Has anyone any experience with Robert Whittaker of Dege bespoke?