With so many social and sporting events coming up, and in preparation for the summer, Anderson & Sheppard Clifford Street is offering some beautiful Panama hats.

I leant recently that a Panama can only be a genuine Panama when it has been hand woven in Ecuador. Also that it takes 1 week to weave a single hat.

We have them in two shades: Natural and Tea. The first being a lighter, more classic shade; while the other is a little darker and more of a vintage look. The bands around the hats are rose pink or black, and chocolate or dark navy respectively.

With sizes from 57 to 63, they are the perfect accessory for the coming months.

Southeastern New England’s only comprehensive art museum, the Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design—also known as the RISD Museum—was established in 1877. Its permanent collection of more than 86,000 objects includes paintings, sculpture, decorative arts, costume, furniture, and other works of art from every part of the world—with objects from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, and art of all periods from Asia, Europe, and the Americas, up to the latest in contemporary art.

Open from April 28^th until18th August 2013 is the first exhibition of its kind to focus on the persona and history of the distinctively dressed figure of the dandy. The exhibition features more than 200 objects including: innovative garments, bespoke clothing, works on paper, and paintings — drawn from the Museum’s collections and loans from individuals and national and international institutions. Beginning with the elegant dandy George “Beau” Brummell (1778-1840), the exhibition traces artist-dandies from the 19th to 21st centuries, exquisite craftsmanship in custom design, and the dandy’s role as both fashion icon and caricature.

With garments lent to it by the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising, the exhibition breaks ground by emphasising the personalities of well known fashionable men, focusing on the enduring bond between identity, creativity, and self-presentation.

Anderson & Sheppard has had the pleasure of dressing two men featured by the exhibition – Fred Astaire and Lapo Elkann.

Fred Astaire’s white tie (ca. 1933)

Fred Astaire, the world renowned Hollywood star of stage and screen, was an advocate of the A&S cut because of the softness and freedom it allowed for dancing. With a high armhole, and comfortable silloutte he was known to dance in the changing rooms to see how he could move in his garments.

Lapo Elkann’s navy seersucker suit (2012) (left)

Lapo Elkann, the Italian Entrepreneur and Fiat heir, is equally renowned for his sense of style. His love of good clothes, his awareness for cut and indulgence in colour has handed him the crown of the modern day dandy.

“The exhibition and its companion book offer a sumptuous view of the power of clothing and fine craftsmanship. It comes at a time of renewed appreciation for the nuances and attention to detail of traditional tailoring but also innovation and boldness in menswear design. The dandy, a historical figure, is central to this development,” says RISD Museum Director John W. Smith.

The mid grey triple stripe is back after a leave of absence and numerous requests. Designed exclusively for us by cloth merchant H. Lesser, in 2000 we refined the design by bringing the three stripes closer together along with keeping the dot making up the stripe, smaller. This made the design more intricate. From a distance this suit gives the impression of a classic bold stripe, but come closer and the rest of us see the detail making up the stripe.

Stripes are not just for the city and should remain a real favourite. If you’re building up a wardrobe you might prefer to start with your plain options – serge, pic n’pic (shark skin), birdseye or herringbone. But then comes the stripes.

If you’re looking for something exclusive, that you won’t find anywhere else then consider the S331 12oz Mid grey triple stripe.

What makes the difference between something being good versus excellent is its attention to detail. When it comes to the cloth, Mr. Hitchcock will match the design at every opportunity. While cutting he matches the two forepart pieces, the pockets, the sleeves, and the back. The jettings (the ridge directly above the pocket flap) are also matched to the fore part and pocket so as to demonstrate a continuous and uninterrupted design. This really is a skill and something that not all tailors go to the trouble of doing.

Some people ask me why making a suit takes so long? It’s because not only is everything tailored by hand, but it’s carried out to such a high level of attention to detail. Once a jacket has been made it goes to our Finishers for the final stages of its make. They will sew by hand every button hole, fell the collar and attach all the linings. Minuscule stitch work insures for a flawless finish.

For the purpose of a conventional jacket we have four button holes. Three of them will be working buttons and the fourth will not. This is done so that if there is a necessity to bring the sleeve length down, then we can. Reworking the configuration of the button placement.

The final element of attention to detail is the pressing. We give the finished garment a thorough check on all aspects at the pressing stage and check all the work meticulously before it leaves us.

Jennie has worked so hard and it was great to see her do so well at the Golden Shears this year. At Anderson & Sheppard, apprenticeships play a really important role in securing the continued success of what we do and Jennie has proven this.

On the evening of the Golden Shears a group of us went to offer our support. We all had a great night and it was particularly nice to see our company so well represented and by so many of a new generation of tailors and cutters.

In the photo are a group of us,  all at different stages of our training. Having served my time (in a non custodial sense of course!) I have now become a Junior Trouser cutter and have many of my own clients. Also pictured is Sunna (pictured third in from the right) who has finished her apprenticeship and is now working as a qualified Coat maker. Some of the others in the photo are either beginning their apprenticeships or in the middle of them. Emily (pictured far right), is the newest of our apprentices and has just begun her training as a Coat maker.

A number of our apprentices have come via Newham College, and if you are thinking about a career in our profession, it is certainly a place to consider starting at.

As we head into the time of year that weddings tend to appear there’s always talk of Morning suits. As far as I’m concerned you can wear Morning dress for right up to around 5pm for the special day. After that then you could consider another option.

Morning dress is formed of three elements: The coat, vest and trousers. I think the coat weight should sit in the realms of 10/11oz. This will insure for a ‘wearable’ weight that won’t be too hot but will give the cloth a good opportunity to drape well. I can imagine there is nothing worse than delivering that all important speech in the knowledge that your dress coat is too heavy and you are warm! The Smith Woollens herringbone 10/11oz dress coating is my favourite option, and one that I recommend a lot. In fact, I would recommend the Smith Woollens formalwear bunch for all three elements.

Morning vests are best served double breasted in my opinion. You can have a single breast but there is nothing better than the double. While grey is perhaps the most traditional colour, many customers choose the duck egg blue, yellow and buff options. All are very smart.

The trousers are striped, and having them cut braces will insure that they sit high enough to meet the waist coat as well as deliver an elegant line for the legs. Whether you have plain fronts or pleats is up to you and your trouser cutter, but as with all formalwear they won’t have turn-ups. In terms of the trouser cloth, there are a host of stripes to choose from. Generally, the wider the stripe, the louder the trousers.

The final word of advice is to think about ordering in good time. The bespoke process takes time, so don’t think you need to get round to ordering once everything else is in place for your big day. If you consider your options early you’ll avoid the added pressure for you and your tailor!

Two years ago I sat in the audience at the Merchant Tailor’s Hall watching Sunna compete in the Golden Shears 2011 competition. Having been inspired by what she had achieved, in early 2012 I decided that I wanted to and was ready to take on the challenge. I sat with my Mum looking through the Anderson & Sheppard book “A Style is Born” and wanted to find something that would inspire me.

After I saw Sebastian Guinness wearing a hunt coat, it got me thinking. Here was something that would stand out. I then came across another picture of Henry Koehler, but it was the background that caught my eye. Again a hunt coat and dress coat in the form of a painting. I thought it was really striking, but I wanted to take it a step further. Having grown up in Keswick in Cumbria, my Mum reminded me of the local hunt, ‘The Blencathra Hunt’. It seemed like the perfect focus for the project.

A local artist known as ‘Wilk’ was renowned for doing sketches of the local hunt, illustrating all the characters that used to take part. Wilk had since passed away so I went about talking to his family to see if I could secure the rights to some of his sketches. What I was thinking was using them to create a vibrant lining that would tell a story.

Wilk’s family kindly agreed to help and I set about creating a design with the use of Photoshop. I married the hunting sketches up, creating a scene of a hunt in full flow. These were subsequently digitally printed in Macclesfield onto silk lining. I had to pay particular attention to making sure that nothing would be lost within the seams of the coat, so kept all the goings-on firmly in view.

I wanted to highlight some of the characters of the hunt, also made up of some of my family and friends by placing them in picture frames. These were used as the sleeve lining of the hunt coat, waistcoat and the trouser waistband.  I also added a pocket bag which plays the part of a pocket square with a framed illustration of the Hunt Master.

As for the cloths I used for the project, it was really important to me that all were British. The red cloth used for the hunt coat is from a bunch called ‘Eskdale’ by John G Hardy. Eskdale being very close to my home town – so that was a nice link.

My waistcoat was made from the off white A&S stock flannel made exclusively by Fox Flannel in Somerset. I decided upon a shawl collar with the same grow-grain facing as I used on the coat, and also made the decision to add demis and make it backless – making it more formal. It’s also something that I prefer on a waistcoat.

The trousers were an unknown quantity until I paid a visit to the deepest depths of W.Bill. I was looking for a dark cloth, but with something that would tie together the whole look. And there it was: a beautiful check with red over check. This would work so well with the scarlet of the hunt coat.

Working with a company in Birmingham and having discussed it with the authorities that be at the Blencathra Hunt I set about updating the hunt buttons. With a slight tweak to the design, I am pleased to say they have now adopted them permanently.

The deadline for my entry was looming, the coat and vest were complete and it was down to the trousers. I really enjoyed meeting HRH The Prince of Wales when he came to visit Anderson & Sheppard, but with everyone present it was a good opportunity to get some advice from Michael and Keith about my trousers!

Finally my garments were finished. It was such a relief, and I was really proud of what I had achieved. But I wasn’t done. I still had to finish my work file, so I headed home to the Lakes to get it done. After 3 solid days of work, all was complete and I was ready to submit my entry. I was there!

After over a year of preparation and many hours of work, the day had arrived. I went to the Merchant Tailor’s Hall early to soak up the atmosphere – trying to ease some of my butterflies. Once there I had a few preliminary photos taken. I can remember being concerned about which model would be wearing my garments as he would obviously be playing a key role. We met and I was pleased.

We then had a rehearsal in the form of a walk through but without the garments on show. This meant the intrigue of what others had made continued. The models each walked the catwalk on their own and then were joined by the tailor who made the clothes they would be wearing.  There were 25 people left in the competition and I was at number 17 in the running order. I remember well being quite surprised by the fact that the competition was predominately made up by female entrants this year.

Funnily enough my nerves became calmer once the audience began to fill. The moment had arrived, my model was ready and so was I. He walked down the catwalk and I was really pleased with the reaction. Then I too joined him for the second walk. I enjoyed it, and it was nice to have a short biography read out about me at the same time. We then stopped at the end of the catwalk and paused for some photos – It all went so quickly!

There were three prizes up for grabs: First prize was the Golden Shears, second was the Silver Shears, and third was The Rising Star Award. While there had been a round of technical marking by those in the industry, it was also down to the panel on the night, and so their deliberating started. I was thinking that all I wanted was to not come away empty handed.

When they announced the results, my first feeling was that of complete relief! I had been awarded the Silver Shears and had taken second place. With such a strong field this year I was so thrilled and proud. Then followed a host of photos with David Gandy, my model and the judges. It was a great night and it was time to celebrate. So we all packed up and went off to do exactly that!

In time for Spring we have taken stock of some new ties. We have long been known for our classic Anderson & Sheppard designs, and in the Bespoke shop are really pleased with our new collection. While there is a larger collection to be found in our Clifford Street shop we are pleased to be showcasing a capsule collection in Old Burlington Street.

There are the classics in the form of our woven blues with white spot, along with the more spring / summer like light blues, yellows and lilac spots and stripes. We also have some beautiful cashmere ties that work so well with both sports jackets and suits alike.

One of my favourite looks can be found in the form of our Prince of Wales check Lamlana sports jacket that we recently put in the window. We combined it with one of our navy blue cashmere ties. Both aspects are so soft and demonstrate everything that we are about. Elegant, soft and classic.

Whether it’s a woven, printed, cashmere or a wool tie, we have insured that the theme of softness continues through to our accessories. It is really important to us that our ties tie well, while keeping them as soft and supple as can be.

If you see ties that you like, we will gladly give them a steam and even gift wrap them if you’d like to pass them on as a gift to someone. Oh, and there are more on the way!

Is there anything more comforting to wear than a flannel suit? Even though we’re heading into Spring, I really enjoy wearing my 12/13oz Mid Grey Herringbone Flannel Special from Fox Flannels. It’s a cloth that we had commissioned exclusively for us a few years ago by Fox, and has been really popular ever since. It’s a lovely mid grey with a herringbone weave that becomes apparent when you see it closer up – something that makes for a more interesting alternative to a plain flannel.

It comes in a host of weights, but I think by its nature a flannel should come with some weight. It is a woolly, soft and warm cloth that to my mind should be at least 11oz. Flannel that is as low as 8oz doesn’t really cut the mustard for me.

Like a good sports car, a cloth as beautiful as a quality flannel needs looking after. The trousers in particular will need pressing regularly to insure for a razor sharp crease down the middle. As a cloth it also tends not to spring back into shape as much as the more elastic worsted wool, so again needs a helping hand from a press. If you are looking for a suit that you will wear and wear, I think it’s fair to say that a medium weight flannel does wear a little quicker than a worsted and is perhaps a better option once you have your wardrobe established on a good rotation.

Having said all of this, there really is nothing quite like a flannel suit. You cannot beat it for elegance, comfort, and warmth during the colder months. And while it does require some care, as with everything decent in this life it needs looking after!