133 articles
Showing 21–40 of 133 articles
Charles Jones and Sir James Crockett founded their shoemaking partnership in Northampton in 1879, joining a town that had been the centre of English shoemaking since the English Civil War, when Cromwell's New Model Army ordered thousands of boots from Northampton's craftsmen.
2025-08-18
The French cuff — a double-folded shirt cuff fastened with cufflinks rather than buttons — emerged in the mid-nineteenth century as a solution to a practical problem: single cuffs frayed at their edges from contact with desk surfaces, and the double fold created a reversible cuff that doubled the garment's useful life.
2025-08-18
The Norfolk jacket emerged in the 1860s on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, where the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) commissioned a practical shooting jacket that allowed the freedom of arm movement necessary for swinging a shotgun while maintaining the fitted appearance that Victorian tailoring demanded.
2025-08-17
Anderson & Sheppard, founded in 1906 on Savile Row and now operating from Old Burlington Street, perfected a style of tailoring so distinctive that it constitutes its own school within English bespoke: the drape cut.
2025-08-10
The Chelsea boot was invented in 1851 by J.
2025-08-09
The peacoat — from the Dutch pijjekker, meaning a coat of coarse wool — emerged as standard naval outerwear in the eighteenth century, issued to European sailors who needed a warm, water-resistant jacket that allowed free movement for climbing rigging and working on deck.
2025-08-08
John Lobb, a Cornish farmer's son born in 1829, walked to London with a single sovereign in his pocket, apprenticed himself to a bootmaker, and eventually established a bespoke shoe business that has served royalty, heads of state, and discerning civilians for over a century and a half.
2025-08-05
Seersucker — from the Persian shir o shakkar, meaning milk and sugar, describing the fabric's alternating smooth and puckered stripes — arrived in the American South via the British colonial trade routes of the eighteenth century.
2025-08-02
When Pierce Brosnan stepped onto the screen as James Bond in GoldenEye in 1995, he wore suits by a variety of Italian tailors.
2025-08-01
Ralph Lauren was born Ralph Lifshitz in the Bronx in 1939, the son of Belarusian Jewish immigrants.
2025-07-26
Before the First World War, real men carried pocket watches and wristwatches were dismissed as women's jewellery.
2025-07-23
If shaving feels like dragging a blade across sandpaper regardless of which cream or razor you use, the missing step is almost certainly a pre-shave oil.
2025-07-15
The instinct when hair begins to thin is to hide it — longer comb-overs, thickening sprays applied in layers, caps worn indoors.
2025-07-01
Salicylic acid — a beta hydroxy acid derived originally from willow bark — is the single most effective over-the-counter ingredient for acne-prone skin, and its relevance does not diminish with age.
2025-06-30
Activated charcoal toothpaste arrived with the force of a social media avalanche — black paste smeared across influencer teeth in videos promising dramatic whitening through natural detoxification.
2025-06-24
The anti-ageing skincare market is valued at over sixty billion dollars globally, and the vast majority of that money is spent on products with no credible scientific evidence behind their claims.
2025-06-21
Choosing your first fragrance is daunting precisely because the industry offers thousands of options with no coherent navigation system for newcomers.
2025-06-02
Using the same moisturiser in January and July is the skincare equivalent of wearing a wool overcoat to the beach.
2025-05-30
The straight razor is the most elegant and intimidating tool in men's grooming — a single exposed blade that demands respect and rewards skill with the closest shave attainable by any manual instrument.
2025-05-29
The four to six weeks between barber visits are when most haircuts fall apart, but a few minutes of home maintenance can extend a fresh cut's lifespan significantly.
2025-05-23