How Charvet Became the Shirtmaker to Kings and Presidents
Christofle Charvet founded his atelier on the Place Vendome in 1838.
Catherine Avery · 2025-09-13
The Vault
Archival features, deep reads, and enduring perspectives.
Showing 61–80 of 166 articles
The Bomber Jacket's Long March from Flight Deck to Fashion Week
The bomber jacket's ancestor is the MA-1, developed in the mid-1950s as crews transitioned from open-cockpit to enclosed-cockpit jets.
James Alderton · 2025-09-13
The Mackintosh Coat and the Scottish Chemist Who Waterproofed the World
In 1823, Charles Macintosh, a Glasgow chemist, patented bonding two fabric layers with India rubber dissolved in coal-tar naphtha.
Catherine Avery · 2025-09-12
The Submariner: How a Dive Watch Became the World's Most Recognised Timepiece
Rolex introduced the Submariner in 1953.
William Ashford · 2025-09-12
The Vacheron Constantin Overseas and the Quest for a Luxury Sports Watch
Vacheron Constantin, founded in Geneva in 1755, is the oldest continuously operating watch manufacture.
James Alderton · 2025-09-11
How the Leather Belt Replaced Suspenders as the Default
For most of sartorial history, trousers were held by suspenders.
William Ashford · 2025-09-11
How Church's Shoes Have Been Made in Northampton Since 1873
Thomas Church founded the firm in Northampton in 1873 with sons Alfred, William, and Thomas Junior.
James Alderton · 2025-09-10
The Nehru Jacket and the Brief Moment It Captivated Western Fashion
The Nehru jacket takes its name from Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first prime minister, who wore a mandarin-collared achkan as his signature.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-09-10
Jaeger-LeCoultre's Reverso and the Polo Match That Inspired a Swivelling Case
In 1931, British Army officers in India faced a peculiar problem: wristwatches could not survive polo impacts.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-09-09
The Bow Tie: From Formal Necessity to Deliberate Eccentricity
The bow tie descends from the cravat Croatian soldiers introduced to French fashion.
Catherine Avery · 2025-09-09
How Loro Piana Cornered the Market on the World's Finest Fibres
The Loro Piana family has traded in textiles since the early nineteenth century in Trivero, in the Piedmontese Alps.
Oliver Ramsey · 2025-09-08
The Safari Jacket: Colonial Baggage and Sartorial Reinvention
The safari jacket emerged in the late nineteenth century as a practical garment for European hunters and colonial administrators in East Africa.
Oliver Ramsey · 2025-09-08
The Driving Moccasin: How a Shoe Designed for the Pedal Became a Summer Essential
The driving moccasin was conceived to give the driver's foot maximum pedal sensitivity.
Marcus Wei · 2025-09-07
The Ascot Tie and the Racecourse That Lent It a Name
The Ascot tie takes its name from Royal Ascot, the annual horse-racing event founded by Queen Anne in 1711 at Ascot Racecourse in Berkshire.
Catherine Avery · 2025-09-07
The IWC Portugieser and the Fishermen Who Needed a Marine Chronometer on Their Wrists
In 1939, two Portuguese retailers walked into IWC's Schaffhausen offices with an unusual request.
Catherine Avery · 2025-09-06
How the Pocket Watch Yielded to the Wristwatch in the Trenches of World War One
Before 1914, the wristwatch was a novelty for women or a gimmick for polo players.
William Ashford · 2025-09-06
How Burberry's Check Pattern Went from Lining to Icon to Problem and Back
Thomas Burberry founded his company in Basingstoke in 1856.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-09-05
The Duffle Coat: Monastic Origins and Military Adoption
The duffle coat takes its name from Duffel, a town in Belgium producing thick napped woollen fabric.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-09-05
Audemars Piguet's Royal Oak and the Night That Changed Watchmaking
In 1972, AP's managing director needed something radical as the quartz crisis devastated mechanical watch sales.
William Ashford · 2025-09-04
The Varsity Jacket and the American Campus That Gave It Meaning
The varsity jacket traces to 1865, when Harvard's baseball team began awarding a letter H sewn onto grey flannel sweaters.
Daniel Hurst · 2025-09-04