Archival features, deep reads, and enduring perspectives.
Showing 121–140 of 166 articles
The Gurkha trouser — distinguished by its double-pleated front, extended waistband that wraps across the abdomen, and double-buckle closure — takes its name from the legendary Gurkha soldiers of Nepal who have served in the British Army since the Anglo-Nepalese War of 1814-1816.
Marcus Wei · 2025-08-14
The Panama hat is not from Panama.
Catherine Avery · 2025-08-14
Vacheron Constantin, founded in Geneva in 1755, is the oldest continuously operating watch manufacturer in the world.
Oliver Ramsey · 2025-08-13
Cashmere — the downy undercoat of the Capra hircus goat — has been harvested on the high plateaux of Inner Mongolia, western China, and the Himalayas for millennia.
Marcus Wei · 2025-08-13
The brogue's signature decorative perforations were originally functional drainage holes, punched into the untanned leather shoes of Irish and Scottish farmers and gamekeepers who spent their days crossing waterlogged bogs and marshland.
James Alderton · 2025-08-12
The double-breasted jacket descends directly from the naval reefer jacket of the early nineteenth century, a short, double-fronted coat worn by Royal Navy officers that overlapped across the chest to provide a double layer of wool protection against Atlantic winds.
Catherine Avery · 2025-08-12
While Switzerland dominates the luxury watch industry, one German manufacture stands apart as the equal of any Geneva or Vallée de Joux competitor: A.
William Ashford · 2025-08-11
The ascot tie takes its name from the Royal Ascot racecourse in Berkshire, where the formal dress code for the Royal Enclosure historically demanded a specific style of wide, flat neckwear knotted at the throat and secured with a stickpin.
Marcus Wei · 2025-08-11
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.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-08-10
In 1823, Charles Macintosh, a Glasgow chemist, patented a process for bonding two layers of fabric with a solution of dissolved rubber in coal-tar naphtha, creating the first truly waterproof textile.
Sebastian Cole · 2025-08-10
The Chelsea boot was invented in 1851 by J.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-08-09
The International Watch Company, founded by American engineer Florentine Ariosto Jones in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, in 1868, produced its first purpose-built pilot's watch in 1936 — the Special Pilot's Watch with a rotating bezel and antimagnetic inner case.
Daniel Hurst · 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.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-08-08
Gieves & Hawkes of No.
Oliver Ramsey · 2025-08-08
The Henley shirt takes its name from Henley-on-Thames, the Oxfordshire town that has hosted the Henley Royal Regatta since 1839.
Marcus Wei · 2025-08-07
In 1931, a Swiss businessman named César de Trey challenged Jaeger-LeCoultre to create a wristwatch that could survive the violent wrist impacts of a polo match.
Sebastian Cole · 2025-08-07
The blazer's most colourful origin story traces to HMS Blazer, a Royal Navy vessel whose captain, allegedly dismayed by his crew's ragged appearance before an 1837 inspection by Queen Victoria, outfitted them in double-breasted navy blue jackets with brass buttons.
William Ashford · 2025-08-06
Edward, Duke of Windsor — formerly King Edward VIII before his 1936 abdication — was the most photographed man of his era and arguably the most influential male dresser of the twentieth century.
William Ashford · 2025-08-06
Christofle Charvet established his shirtmaking house at 28 Place Vendôme in Paris in 1838, creating what is widely recognised as the world's first shop dedicated exclusively to men's shirts, ties, and accessories.
Daniel Hurst · 2025-08-05
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.
Thomas Nakamura · 2025-08-05