At this time of year I normally do a list of Christmas gift suggestions. Apparently last year a reader took the initiative and left a print-out of the list sitting on a coffee table at home. It did the trick – a couple of the items turned up under the tree come Christmas day.
I am also told that today is Black Friday, and in three days’ time it will be Cyber Monday. These things don’t mean much to a UK resident, but one up-shot is that a lot of the Permanent Style advertisers (whom we love) are doing special offers. Here, therefore, are some of my favourite items from them. Feel free to print out and leave around the house.
Drake’s is doing more and more ties in an untippend, hand-rolled style. This is catching up with other brands to an extent, but I love the style, consistency and quality of Drake’s. I suggest the 50oz untipped navy tie. Michael Drake gave me a plain navy 50oz years ago and it is still probably my favourite piece of neckwear. Among other ties, the white floral design from Viola Milano (left) is nice – white works well with a blue shirt and conservative jacket.
The Hanger Project is one of the sites with some big discounts coming up. My favourite item on the site, though a little expensive for Christmas, is the walnut shoeshine valet (right). Nice that it’s made in Dallas where Kirby is based.
Other than Permanent Style’s perfect-sock collaboration, my hosiery recommendations take in the linen stocked by Mes Chausettes Rouges (left). They soften up pleasingly over time and are great with more casual trousers, even jeans. While we’re on underwear, I’ve recently taken to wearing the Merz d Schwanen undershirts offered by Trunk in the winter. It’s an instantly recognisable lumberjack look, but again works well with denim.
For lounging around the home this time of year, my favourite dressing gown from Fox Brothers (top, made by Budd in PoW Fox flannel). Indulgent yet not showy. And of course some leather slippers from La Portegna – Jose now puts a half leather sole on the front and back, which works well.
Merola gloves remain my favourite brand – both for their quality and fantastic fit (on me). They actually fit better than the bespoke ones I had made a while ago. Try the unlined peccary from Exquisite Trimmings. Or if find Dent’s fit you better, their yellow peccary. Top it off with one of Begg’s Kishorn lightweight scarves. Unsurprisingly, my favourite colour is ‘dark olive’ (right).
What else? I’m a fan of the naturally dyed T-shirts from Sunspel, such as the woad, although the Riviera cut fits me best. Pelikamo does some nice cotton sweaters with patched elbows. And for jewellery, Alice Made This have made me a convert to the beauty of industrial processes and materials. Have a look at the copper ‘Elliot’ models (left): clean, simple and highly functional.
And lastly, the Edward Sexton gold collar pins (right) are beautiful. It’s often hard to find collar pins outside of vintage stores, and these are usefully split into two different qualities.
Phew. I think that’s it. Happy shopping everyone.
Hi Simon, thanks for this great list, my wallet is about to get a lot lighter! On the Alice copper ‘Elliot’ cufflinks, I see they do a cufflink & stud set for black tie.. but do you think this color works for black tie, or should I stick with traditional silver and black onyx studs? Thank you!
I like what they’re doing with the studs, but personally I’d stick with the onyx
Hi Simon. Your site is the ne plus ultra on sartorial matters. Glad to see you mentioned Viola Milano. I have bought three of their ties recently, two seven-fold cashmere and a seven-fold garza fina. The former are very special indeed. Expensive, but not too much more than, say, Drake’s or Marinella. They come in bow-wrapped box and the service is fast and (over Euro150) free. So ideal for Xmas!
Are the Edward Sexton collar pins only available from Edward?
F.
From their site, yes.
Oh dear Simon, I’ve just bought a scarf and some gloves! I absolutely love that dressing gown, one day…
I have to say I am not quite so much of a fan of the copper cufflinks in real life, the metal is a bit dull for me, the rose gold plated ones on the other hand are beautiful.
Hi, Simon FYI, reading on Kindle…but pages aren`t loading properly and images are out of focus with aliasing (jagged edges on images). Thought you should know…Stephen.
Thanks Stephen, I’ll look into it
Why not recommend Lochcarron wool ties? High quality, made in England, the correct dimension (9 cm width) and a bargain at 17 pounds. I just bought a couple of them for myself as a christmas gift. I am a very happy customer.
Bless you Simon – Christmas is now secure. Once again printed out and left on the coffee table!
I am getting some flack over the $80 socks though – I think I might have to buy them myself – how is stock looking?
Hey John, yes I can sympathise!
I think we’ve sold around half, so you should be ok for another couple of weeks I would have thought. The product goes on offer to the general public on the William Abraham site on the 8th though.
Simon
Thought that was just me. Products completely out of focus on iPad too. Not seen that effect for posts.
Meant to say ‘other’ posts.
Never heard of Pelikamo before, they do have some nice items in their collection. Care to comment on their quality Simon? I love their navy wool down coat, too bad the price is sky high, although I’m still tempted to pull the trigger…
Regards,
Tom
I don’t have much experience yet I’m afraid, no. Nicely designed stuff though
Hi Simon – Thank you for this post! My wallet got much lighter. Apologies for being pedantic, but just thought I’d let you know that the URL corresponding to the text (Merz d Schwanen undershirts) points to http://violamilano.com/product/4899935134/white-floral/ and the one corresponding to (copper ‘Elliot’ models) points to http://www.dents.co.uk/shop/heritage-gloves/15-1041-mens-handsewn-unlined-peccary-gloves/
Or maybe it’s just my browser…
Thanks, updated…
With regards to ” lounging around” I don’t think I’ve noticed any articles that go into what you wear when lounging at home. Aside from the afore mentioned dressing gown and slippers, are you a pyjama man and if so, which do your recommend?
I wear grey linen, from New & Lingwood.
Thanks very much. Looks like they’re no longer selling pyjamas (at least through their website). I’m somewhat surprised you mention linen for sleepwear. I’d have thought its propensity to wrinkle would make it uncomfortable to sleep in.
I actually find that fine linen is very comfortable in that regard