A symbol of luxury and style.

HOW VELVET BECAME A SYMBOL OF LUXURY AND STYLE

• WORDS: A. FOZZARD

HOW IS VELVET MADE?

WHERE DOES VELVET COME FROM?

A SHORT HISTORY OF THE VELVET SMOKING JACKET

HOW TO WEAR VELVET

SHOP VELVET BLAZERS

Master the art of the fold.

MASTER THE ART OF THE FOLD

• WORDS: C. STEWART

HOW TO FOLD POCKET SQUARE: A STRAIGHT FOLD

1. Lay the square on a flat surface.
2. Fold the square in half.
3. Then fold it into thirds.
4. Tuck into your pocket with about 1cm of the folded edge showing at the top.

HOW TO FOLD A POCKET SQUARE: A PUFF FOLD

1. Lay the square on a flat surface.
2. Pinch the square in the middle.
3. Then twist about half way down.
4. Tuck into your pocket.

SOME FINAL POINTERS

Fabric

Colour

SHOP POCKET SQUARES

Spoiler: it’s all about proportion.

FIVE TAILORING TIPS FOR BIGGER GUYS

SPOILER: IT’S ALL ABOUT PROPORTION

• WORDS: C. STEWART

1. FIT

2. DETAILS

3. PATTERN

4. SHIRT

5. TROUSERS

SHOP BIG & TALL

Meet Donegal – tweed’s city-living cousin.

Meet Donegal – tweed’s city-living cousin.

So why are we talking about Donegal? Well, now that tweed is no longer reserved for days out shooting with a springer spaniel for company, it’s made its way from national parks to the nation’s cities. That’s good news for anyone who wants to go for a Peaky Blinder look. But if tweed still feels a bit too rustic for you, try Donegal: a simpler version of tweed that looks as at home in the city as it does in the countryside.

WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN DONEGAL AND TWEED?

Partly, the difference comes down to their histories. Donegal is Irish, whereas the traditional tweed you’re probably more familiar with is Scottish.

Both are rough woollen fabrics crafted using strong weaves. They’re designed to be warm and practical for outdoor activities – exactly what you need in the harsh Irish and Scottish winters.

But it’s the weave that gives Donegal its distinct look. Unlike Scottish tweed, it doesn’t have a pattern. Instead, it’s textured with different coloured yarns woven together to create a flecked finish.

WHAT IS DONEGAL MADE FROM?

Historically, Donegal was made from pure wool dyed using local plants, like gorse, blackberries, fuchsia and moss, but you can now get it with a blend of man-made textiles, such as polyester. It’s generally a bit softer than classic tweed because the fibres are finer, but it still has a rugged look thanks to the textured weave.

Most Donegal fabrics made today are still wool-rich, so they’re warm and breathable – which makes them great for the middle of winter when you have a commute to face or an event with sketchy central heating.

HOW TO WEAR A DONEGAL SUIT

For a contemporary take on this heritage fabric, choose a Donegal three-piece suit in a muted colour and keep your styling streamlined. It’ll look best paired with a more casual shirt – something with a textured or brushed finish that’ll sit comfortably with your suit’s rugged handle. Wear it open-necked for a more relaxed look. As far as accessories go, a silk pocket square will give just enough contrast in texture while rich hues like burgundy or brown leather shoes will bring out your Donegal’s earthy feel.

Everything you need to know about super wool.

When does a 100% wool suit become a ‘super 100s wool’ suit? And aren’t they the same thing, anyway? While both promise a fabric that’s made completely from wool, only one points to the quality of the wool fibres and how the material actually feels.

Because the world of wool is one of the most specialised industries going, it comes with loads of technical terms. Super wool falls into this category and understanding how the grading system works for wool will help you choose a suit that ticks every box. Here’s what you need to know.

WHAT IS SUPER WOOL?

After a sheep has been shorn, its wool is looked at under a microscope to judge how thick the fibres are. Thickness is measured by microns – one micron is 1,000,000^th of a metre – and super 100s wool has to be at least 18.5 microns.

Raw wool is graded based on this thickness – the finer the fibre, the higher the grade. Grades range from around 70 to 200, and anything above 100 is notably fine and smooth. Seriously high grades pushing the super 160s mark are ultra luxurious – but also much more rare with high price tags to match.

WHICH WOOL GRADE IS BEST TO WEAR WHEN?

It’s easy to think you should look for the highest grade wools to get the best quality, but each grade has its plus points.

Medium grades between 70 to 90 are great quality but still robust enough to remain durable. If you wear a suit every day, those made from medium grade wool will stand the test of time. High grades between 100 to 120 are fine, soft and give a really polished look, but they do need a bit more care and attention than lower grades. Wear yours to impress at a client dinner, a party or on a date, but best not to risk it on the daily commute. Very high grades of anything above 130 are extremely fine, but they are much more delicate and likely to wear on pressure points like the knees and elbows. A suit this luxurious is going to need a good amount of TLC, so save it for when something extra special is required.

When you’ve gone all out with a super wool suit, you want to be able to wear it time and time again. And with the right care, there’s no reason why you can’t.

• GO EASY ON THE DRY CLEANING – between one and three times a year is enough for a super wool suit because the chemicals will deteriorate the fibres over time. Try waiting until there’s a stain on it.
• INVEST IN A GENTLE WOOL BRUSH – lightly brushing down your suit after you’ve worn it will help you keep it spotless between visits to the dry cleaners.
• AIR AFTER WEAR – this will help keep it smelling fresh in between washes.
• USE BIG CEDAR HANGERS – the wood will absorb moisture from the suit after you’ve worn it and the robust width will support the shoulders to help it keep its shape.
• STORE IN A BAG – as it’s such a top quality natural wool, some insects will find it very tempting. A bag should help keep them at bay. Cedar blocks can also help, but avoid mothballs unless you want to smell like one.

Stretch fabric comes in many forms – here’s what to look for.

When you think of materials with stretch, it’s hard not to picture a pair of Lycra cycling shorts. But it’s actually useful in tailoring, too.

Whether you want to show off your hard work in the gym with a shirt that hugs your muscles or you’re looking for something comfortable that moves with you, what you need is a material with some stretch.

There are three main ways fabrics get their flexibility: it can be natural, added to the material or created by how it’s woven. It may seem picky, but understanding how each one works will help you choose suits and shirts with the look and feel you’re after.

Some fibres naturally have more give than others, which comes down to scientific things like molecules and structures. Don’t worry, we won’t go all Brian Cox on you. All you need to know is that pure wool often has a slight stretch. Anyone who has put a 100% merino wool jumper in a 40’C wash will have seen this when it came out nearly half the size – it shrinks because the wool can both stretch and decrease in size.

A pure wool suit won’t stretch as such, but it will naturally move with you more than more synthetic fabrics like polyester will. Plus, wool is breathable and can hold a bit of water without becoming damp, so it will look smart and feel comfortable when the pressure is on.

Pure wool can also be woven in a technical way to create stretch cloth – this involves highly spinning yarns to enhance their flexibility. Suits made this way are often still labelled as having ‘natural’ stretch because no synthetic material has been added. Essentially, it’s a clever way of getting a slight stretch without adding in more fibres, so the cloth’s handle (how it feels) stays the same.

Mechanical weaves are designed to spring back into shape, which means they shouldn’t crease. Polo shirts, jumpers and t-shirts that are 100% cotton will usually have mechanical stretch – that’s how you can easily get them over your head but still get a good fit once they’re on – and you’ll now find lots of tailoring does too.

Elastane is a ridiculously stretchy synthetic material made by chemicals. It’s also often called Spandex or Lycra. Full-on Lycra might cling to every contour on your body (think cycling gear), but combining it with other materials, like cotton, wool and polyester, will add just the right amount of give. You only need a small amount to get a close-fitting finish – even as little as 2% – which is why we add it to lots of our skinny fit suits and shirts.

WHICH ONE TO GO FOR?

That depends on the look you want and the occasion. If you’re aiming for something smart but comfortable, the natural give of a 100% wool suit won’t let you down. Need a little more room to move and extra resistance to creasing? Look out for fabrics that are knitted to offer flexible structure. And if you’re after a sharp look that offers maximum mobility, go for suits and shirts with elastane woven in.

Because your inner game influences your outer look.

Performance psychologist Charlie Unwin delivers mental training to some of the world’s top performers in sport, business and the military. As a former front-line commander and international athlete, he’s knows all about getting your head in the game so you can do your best when it matters most. So who better to mine for tips to help you stretch what you’re capable of? Seeing as he’s helped clients like England Football, double Olympic champion Lizzy Yarnold and elite military forces perform at their best under intense pressure, you’re going to want to take notes. Over to Charlie.

Scientific research consistently demonstrates that confidence is one of the best predictors of performance in elite athletes. Why? Because when we have belief in our self, our ability and our plan, this manifests itself in thousands of other ways, affecting our energy, our focus, our commitment, our resilience, our creativity – in fact, everything that makes us good at what we do. Confidence is also the top trait in people who are considered most attractive. Therefore, it’s all very well having great clothes to wear, but actually feeling confident in what you wear and what you do is the key.

As tempted as we are to try and generate confidence from the external recognition of other people (e.g. likes on social media), true confidence originates from deep inside us, something I call inside-out confidence. Fundamentally it’s about being comfortable with who we really are rather than projecting an image of Superman. Research shows that being more authentic actually makes us more likeable, trustworthy and influential.

In my experience, those people best at developing inner confidence are the ones who regularly ask themselves three questions: ‘What am I best at?’, ‘What do I love doing?’ and ‘What’s most important to me?’.

Once we are confident in our self we must then have a plan we can be confident in. People generally don’t like to plan. It’s much easier to just turn up and do something as opposed to piling on the pressure of expectation that comes with setting goals. This was the exact challenge surrounding England and their history of failed penalty shoot-outs. That was until they decided to plan and practice penalty shoot-outs as if it was a sport in its own right.  In the same way, Olympic gold medals don’t happen by accident, they are a result of meticulous planning and execution. Ok, so we wouldn’t want to go into this forensic level of detail for everything we do in life, however, once you have made the decision to be good at something it seems a shame to let your ability down by not doing the thinking up front.

Goal-setting should always be done on a piece of paper. Start by asking, ‘What are the 3-4 most important components of achieving a successful outcome?’. For each component break it down further asking ‘How can I achieve this?’. Keep asking the same question until you get to a point where you feel 100% in control of achieving the outcome – even if it’s going to take a bit of hard work.

Now you have a plan, you can accelerate your way to success using visualisation – an essential skill for high performers. For the brain, thinking is the same as doing. When you’re rehearsing something in your mind, say a presentation or a speech, you’re using the same neural pathways in the brain as if you were doing it for real. This is a priming process and reinforces the ease and accuracy with which the behaviour or skill can be repeated. It therefore evokes a sense of familiarity around the activity which leads to greater confidence. The more accurately you imagine it, the more precise the pathways being developed in the brain. Therefore for visualising your speech, it’s not enough to go through the words alone, you must imagine the whole reality of that situation including what you can see, hear, smell and feel.

I think this is an under-rated skill in everyday life. I work with elite athletes and special forces soldiers for whom visualising is an essential part of being able to respond to what the mission or the game throws at them. In the same way, it can help us all learn new skills quicker and respond more effectively to some of life’s challenges.

It’s easy to avoid situations that make us feel uncomfortable, but it’s our tolerance for discomfort that often defines how well we maintain our confidence under pressure. To do this well we must practice emotions in the same way we would practice anything else. Therefore challenge yourself little and often to do something a little uncomfortable. These small inoculations will allow you to develop a healthier relationship with fear and excitement, emotions that are an inevitable part of a well-lived life.

One of the overwhelming messages from elite sport is that an athlete’s ongoing physical performance is only as good as their recovery. If we don’t recover physically and mentally, then our performance starts to degrade and will inevitably affect confidence. This is one of those areas we give little thought to, and yet it is easy to address by getting into the right habits.

In today’s technology-driven world we find ourselves permanently wired, but with our attention diluted aimlessly across multiple streams of data. This is the antithesis of focus and therefore performance. In order to develop a better ‘on’ switch, we must create a better ‘off’ switch. Sleep is the most important component of this and is the single greatest contributor to poor performance in the workplace. On the flipside, there is very little that can’t be addressed after a good night’s sleep!

The devil’s in the detail.

KNOW YOUR WAY AROUND A TAILORED JACKET

THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAIL

• WORDS: A. FOZZARD

VENTS

LININGS

POCKETS

COLLARS

CUFFS

WHICH LAPEL FOR WHAT OCCASION?

Your suit lapels say more about you than you might think. Should you wear a notch, peak or shawl? That depends on the occasion, and we’ve got you covered with a quick overview of each style.

SHOP SUITS

NOTCH LAPELS – THE STANDARD ONES

Most single-breasted suits and blazers have notch lapels. They’re the standard ones you’re most used to seeing around, especially if you’re shopping for a classic suit to wear to work. The notch looks like a sideways ‘v’ where the collar meets the lapel, with a visible gap in the fabric.

Why are these the most standard ones? Quite simply, they’re the easiest for tailors to make. And it means they have an understated look that’s a bit more relaxed than others. Still, they’re pretty smart, so choose a jacket with notch lapels when you’ve got to make a great first impression at an interview, or if you want to be a modest wedding guest. Every man should have at least one smart jacket with a notch lapel – it’s a staple.

If you want to slim down your chest and shoulders, notch lapels are the ones to go for.

PEAK LAPELS – THE DRESSED-UP ONES

Here’s where things get a bit more interesting. These are fancier lapels that make more of a style statement than standard notch lapels. The bottom edge of each lapel points upwards and the peak sits higher up on the shoulder.

Peak lapels first came about in France back in the 16^th century when Louis XIV’s was king – hence the fanciness. They’re not the easiest of lapels to make, so they were generally reserved for tails and morning coats. But when fashion had a refresh in the 1920s, tailors started adding peak lapels to more casual jackets, making them much more popular for the everyday.

They’re not just reserved for special occasions anymore. Wear a suit with peak lapels when you want to stand out at work or raise your game at a dressed-up party.

And where notch lapels slim the chest, peak lapels broaden the shoulders.

SHOP PEAK LAPEL SUITS

SHAWL LAPELS – THE REALLY FANCY ONES

The only place you’ll normally see shawl lapels is on a dinner jacket. They have no break in the fabric – just a single piece of material that gets narrower as it reaches the buttons in a sweeping curve.

First seen on Victorian smoking jackets, shawl lapels are definitely more play than business. Today, they’re only really at home at black tie events. If you wear one, you’re likely to wear a bow tie too, but it’s not a faux pas to wear a normal tie.

You’ll often find shawl lapels are made from a material that contrasts with the rest of the jacket, like a black lapel on a wine-red background. If there is a contrast, the buttons usually match the lapel, and the idea is to match your tie to the same colour.

SHOP TUXEDOS

How to fix up, fast.

THE TAILORING HACKS YOU NEED TO KNOW

SIX WAYS TO FIX UP, FAST

1. ROLL WITH IT

2. GET PACKING

3. GIVE IT SOME AIR

4. TWIN YOUR TROUSERS

5. BUTTON UP TO SAVE YOUR SHIRT

6. MAKE IT YOURS