OFFICIAL Simon Crompton thread (PermanentStyle.com)

[Texasmade]

It’s not “bad”. But the guy is a prominent menswear blogger buying bespoke, not a corporate VP. Shouldn’t he look great at least most of the time?

That's very hard to do with those sloping shoulders...

 

[mak1277]

That's very hard to do with those sloping shoulders...

Yeah, I’m similarly afflicted. All the more reason to use the tailor to help your silhouette

 

[corpseposeur]

It’s not “bad”. But the guy is a prominent menswear blogger buying bespoke, not a corporate VP. Shouldn’t he look great at least most of the time?

I will say casual wear is not something Simon does well. He went through a phase where he wore a UC baseball cap with tailoring which I just associate with old business men that live in suburban New York. Casual outfits just not his thing. But again, I like that he's at least trying something with casual styling of tailoring which I think is helpful for ideas.

That's very hard to do with those sloping shoulders...

I think of all of his suits, I feel that the structured cuts of Edward Sexton, Dege & Skinner and Cifonelli look the best on his build. I have broad square shoulders so the structured cuts can look a bit excessive on me.

 

[Knurt]

Why should he look great? As a model he is just the ordinary man dressing. That is the purpose of what he is aiming for. What I find strange is that he seemingly never seeks esthetical advice from anyone else. He has a preference for dark and muted colours, for example, which not only makes his blog repetitive, but also monotonous. Bringing in new writers has been a good thing, and the «normal guy» profiles really add diversity. My attitude is that he is what he is, he has great technical knowledge for a layman, I am less impressed by his esthetics, I am increasingly concerned about how commercially independent he is, and his choice of tailors and especially manufacturers is narrow. Increasingly, though, he is the one remaining menswear blogger publishing with some regularity? I read him, appreciate him, and I do not expect him to change my world.

 

[mak1277]

I will say casual wear is not something Simon does well.

I’m only talking about fit really. Critiquing his style is too subjective to be of value.

Why should he look great? As a model he is just the ordinary man dressing.

If you wear mostly bespoke, and know as much as he does, you should look great. Bruce Boyer is a “normal” guy, but he always looks great.

I do enjoy reading PS though and appreciate the huge amount of content he’s created.

 

[smittycl]

Got some of his Fox Brothers fabric for Christmas. Will get it made into a sport coat for next season.

1 : FOX x Permanent Style : Black and Brown Houndstooth

Permanent Style offers readers an insightful account into traditional and contemporary tailoring, showcasing a unique collection of pieces that are designed to complement classic suiting. Renowned as an illustrious author, journalist, and founder of Permanent Style, Simon Crompton has built...

foxflannel.com

 

[Knurt]

If you wear mostly bespoke, and know as much as he does, you should look great. Bruce Boyer is a “normal” guy, but he always looks great.

Good point, and in one way you are right. For for one thing, Boyer is much better at colourcombinations and using different colours to make a lively outfit. But this comment also made me think he uses average photographers, or directs them awkwardly. Most photographs of him are action pictures outside, more often than not from cloudy London.

 

[comrade]

I think Crompton considers a lot about the people and craft involved in clothing production. The amount of labor and labor conditions of the people making clothing. Before he was dedicating time to selling his stuff, I enjoyed reading his experiences with Savile Row tailors and what worked for him and what didn't, different styles of shoulders or drape, different nuances between different regional styles in Italy. He also considers tailoring in a contemporary setting so his suits for the most part are in neutral tones but wearable. He's also written a full article on why or why not to wear a belt. You can also just take a look at Permanent Style and see for yourself. He has been a good source of information in the past when I first got into bespoke in 2019. I think Permanent Style suffers from the same issue that many blogs written about any niche interests has; there's only so much information one needs on a subject.



Kirby Allison seems very invested in an anachronistic idea of dressing like "a gentleman" as if we lived in some P.G. Wodehouse novel set in 1910s London. Dressing like this requires rules of wearing dark colors or wearing a fedora and an umbrella with a fob chain while strolling through London. I think he wears a stroller suit which expresses an idea that this is how British aristocrats dress. Kirby wouldn't wear brown in town...that's against "the rules" or some silly nonsense like that. There's a distinction between "classic" which I think Simon does well, and "costume" which is how I often feel about Kirby.

Re: "The rules", from Kirby, when I was maybe 14 I regularly received the Rogers Peet catalog for their "University Shop" In it were drawings of younger versions of the Patrician Types illustrating clothing that Esquire used at the time. In the RP catalog the word "correct" appeared on practically every page. For me it was a window into the wealthy WASP culture that I encountered at the Ivy university I later attended.

Rogers Peet - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[corpseposeur]

 

[TimothyF]

Bruce Boyer has, let's say, 30 pieces from 2 tailors that know him well, and dialed in on his fit and preferences. Simon has 30 pieces from 30 different tailors. That's the difference

 

[Knurt]

Bruce Boyer has, let's say, 30 pieces from 2 tailors that know him well, and dialed in on his fit and preferences. Simon has 30 pieces from 30 different tailors. That's the difference

But look at the pictures of Simon above. Bruce would not have matched that jacket with those colours. It works, but conveys a dark, almost funerally impression.

 

[SailingIvy]

Boyer is also not experimenting. I mean that in a good way. I think Boyer looked the same some 20-30 years ago. He always went with the same aesthetic. And he's not shy about it either. He perfected his style and it suits him very very well. Simon on the other hand is always trying something out. Because he maybe is more curious, but also because it's his job.
In my mind and from my perspective his style got so much better over the years and it has been getting more of a direction. And also I find it more interesting than the pictures I see of Boyer. But that's ofc totally subjective.

 

[comrade]

Boyer looks like a College Professor who wears bespoke tweedy clothes. His wardrobe
seems like straight-line from the Ivy clothes of his youth. I doubt that he ever tried the
Armani look in the 80s. I dress more or less the same way -directly connected to the
tailored clothing I wore as a teen. No real detours from the style except in my case I
stopped wearing button downs in my thirties and embraced more shaped jackets when
they were shown at Paul Stuart maybe 50 years ago. Simon also adheres to a style
but experiments within it. I've never seen him in anything from Edward Sexton,
or even Huntman.

 

[epsilon22]

I think he had some double breasted jackets made by Sexton that I thought looked good on him. Seems like I just prefer the look of more structured shoulders on him due to the sloping shoulders.

 

[Ivylaces]

You know, being a lover of tailoring and also someone that has at times been an serious weight-lifter I've only ever heard the criticism of sloping shoulders from the tailoring crowd. Not something I've ever heard anyone else talk about in weightlifting circles, nor elsewhere! Is it something that is that bad?! I've always thought slightly sloping shoulders look nicer and more elegant than someone who is very square!