The Grey Fox It was our pleasure to see Grey Fox once again just before Xmas, having earlier in the year worked with David on his Grey Fox curated stand at BOB. David's 2016 was remarkably successful and 2017 looks likely to follow much the same path; so to toast this and, of course, participate in some festive gifting we invited David to Seaward & Stearn London to choose a fabric of his liking that we would then make into a made to measure bespoke tie for him. From the rolls of woven silks, printed silks, and wools, there appeared only one direction that David was heading.. and it wasn't long before rolls of Madder's were out over the cutting tables...
Check's, Plaid's, Tartan's. There's something of a renaissance in check's right now and, it's fair to say, a good amount of dapper creativity on display across various media; whether it's with the simplicity of a single check garment worked into the mix alongside plain colours, or playing with pattern combinations.. check on check, checks with stripes, checks with herring-bone, checks with dots... There's an art to all this of course; the perennial fine line of striking the right balance and carrying off your look with a sense of dapper formality or an at ease sprezzatura, versus, simply... getting it wrong. And getting it wrong with checks can be pretty severe, leaving you with a horrendously pieced together jumble sale look of vagabond proportions....
Bring on the New Season. And so, as an indian summer keeps the sun out for just a little longer we begin the turn, with mixed feelings, to the changing of the season. Once more, we first weigh up our losses and the quiet ache of giving up those pleasures of sun and warmth… the loss of light shirts and cool jackets, summer colour ties and linen pocket squares; the dilemma of.. to wear socks or not; the ease and comfort of short cut tailored shorts; light summer floral scents; sunglasses; open doors and windows, and seasonal refreshments. As we now concede to the passing of these joys (possibly in the reverse order of the above..) we mix and mingle into seasonal transition and look forward to...
Francisco's tie. It was a great pleasure to receive a visit from Francisco Javier of Suit and Tie Fixation this week. Francisco has a real passion for tailoring & gentleman's styling and displays this on his blog in a cool & considered manner, presenting a neat balance of dapper assuredness and understated flair.For Francisco's visit we asked ourselves.. what better way for us to show our hospitality than to invite Francisco to a tour of Seward & Stearn London 'HQ' and an introduction to our tie-making? .. Well, we decided a better way might be to present Francisco with some of our A/W16 designs and invite him to choose a style that he liked, so we could make him his own Seaward &...
To sock or not.. Arguably this is more a sartorial decision than one of practicality. Shoes without socks can be sore, sweaty and let's face it, often a little uncomfortable; and yet, at the same time, going sock-less offers a sense of cool and abandon, which then leads oddly to a feeling of ease and comfort. Something of a paradox. A certainty though is - that in not wearing socks your other apparel should promote the idea that you know precisely what you're doing in the dapper stakes; with or without, what goes on in this region is as important as all the other components that make up your look and all things must chime. You need to feel comfortable and confident in this, otherwise,...
