A couple of weeks ago I was walking in Covent Garden when I came upon a shop selling beautiful shirts. I did not know it then but it was the shop/studio/workshop of Pauline Burrows, a talented British designer and shirt-maker. Pauline introduced herself and very kindly offered to show me her collection and this week we were able to get together to talk about her designs.  Our conversation took place in Pauline’s shop in Covent Garden. All the pictures in this article were taken there.

The shop
Pauline has a shop/studio just off Covent Garden’s Seven Dials. Tranquil, light and airy, it has a quiet ambience that feels just right for the important task of buying stylish hand-made shirts. PB makes and sells shirts for both women and men and her tailoring team are right there in the shop, in the tailoring workshop below the shop. PB has an off-the-peg range which is seasonal ands has some standards, some classics and some prints. She also has a bespoke service on site, once again for both men and women. What is special is that all of PB’s shirts, retail and bespoke are handmade by herself and her team of tailors, right there in the shop. Everything you buy here is an individual craftsman tailored product. It is so good to find this in Covent Garden, which is now largely given over to multinational brands.

PB History
PB is a fashion designer for both men and women and moved into menswear some 15 and some years years ago. She saw a need for more colourful, creative and original men’s shirts. I remember that time well and also remember how few designers were creating well-made fun shirts for men, so her timing was pretty near perfect.

She sold her first shirt collection to Les Deux Zebres, which at that time was a pioneering menswear shop in London’s Covent Garden. The two guys who founded and ran Les Deux Zebres were the forerunners of the upscale menswear stores we have today. They hosted a range of small collections, had a marvellous eye for quality menswear and helped promote several great menswear designers. Their store closed a few years back but their menswear was inspired. Not only shirts, PB worked with Les Deux Zebres on a signature range of luxurious black dressing gowns, which were lined with a black-and-white zebra print patterns.

PB’s shirts were soon picked up by stores such as Harrods and Corniche in Edinburgh, who knew that there was a market for English craftmen-made shirts that were both creatively individual and made of high-quality fabrics. PB’s shirts were soon stocked at Browns of South Moulton Street, whose reputation for stocking and selling edgy and stylish British designers has no equal.

As her reputation grew, she opened her own shop, in the OXO tower, near London’s Gabriel Wharf, at Waterloo. She moved from there to her current shop seven years ago. Over that time she has refined her style and further developed her range. Along the way she has grown a dedicated following of men, both in England and America, who know that PB’s definitive style suits them.

The shirts
These shirts leap off the rail at you. Look at the blue eton-collar shirt below. All of the shirts are made in exclusive fabrics, chosen by Pauline. Most of her shirt fabrics are Italian, along with a few very high quality swiss cottons. Fabrics are richly coloured, luxurious or have interesting weaves and patterns. In fact they often have all of those qualities. The eton-collar is a rich royal-blue, with a depth of colour that can only be achieved by using the best fabrics and dyes. It has a pin-point weave which makes it feel substantial, silky and soft at the same time. It feels alive to the touch.

Each shirt is handmade and of course hand-finished. The shirt below is a luxurious heavy linen in a beautiful and unusual steel-blue. If you look closely you will see that all of seam-threads on the breast pocket (and the right side of the placket) are “pulled” from the seam, to give a slightly unstructured look to the shirt. To get this effect each one of those threads had to be carefully pulled by hand. The effect is original and quirky and is a clever, creative way of emphasising the hand-made qualities of the shirts.

Pauline Burrows Steel Blue Linen Shirt

The Linen shirt below illustrates PB’s design signatures really well. Her shirts are beautifully made to a very high standard, with micro-fine stitching, very carefully proportioned collars and cuffs. Though not shown in this photo, the shirt has squared-off tails, so it can equally be worn in or out. The overall effect is to produce a linen shirt that is both casual and beautifully smart. Many linen shirts err on the side of casual to being downright sloppy. PB’s linen shirts have a finely- tailored structure that enables them to keep their shape, while still looking relaxed.

Customers
PB’s shirts have a sophisticated and enthusiastic following. Many of her bespoke customers are American, who re particularly drawn to her innovative cut and excellent taste in fabrics. Men who dress more creatively, (both for business and for leisure), are drawn to the shirts because of their exceptionally fine tailoring and the originality of their cut and finish. The shirt-making process results in a unique pattern for each customer, called a “block”. Once this is made PB’s customers can, and do, order shirts from her from all over the world.

The shirt tailoring process
This is the easy part. Go to the shop. You can drop into the shop and if Pauline is free she will measure you up. You can also call the shop (details at bottom) and set a time to get measured and fitted.

There are three main PB shirt fits (blocks), in varying degrees of slimness and shape. P. gets new customers to try these designs on, which allows her to get a first approximation of size. She then measures customers to get the exact dimensions of the pattern she will make for them. This becomes the customer’s block. It takes 30 minutes to do this.

The next stage is designing the shirt. Customers choose from the high quality Italian and Swiss fabrics that Pauline stocks. Once the fabric and colour is chosen, customers can choose from amongst PB’s original designs. Once again there are ready-to-wear samples of the shirts to try on and see how the shirts look on.

Making the first shirt takes two to three weeks. The customer tries the shirt on. If there are minor alterations then they are done quickly and the shirt is ready to wear. From that point onwards customers can buy shirts, either in person or by phone. New shirts will be cut to the bespoke pattern that the tailoring team keep for each customer. PB also has a swatch fabric service for existing customers. Further shirts take two weeks to make.

Shirts cost from £165 each, depending on fabric. A block, if necessary, is a one-off cost of £75.00. Often this is not required as a block can be created out of one of the three master blocks, with minor modifications.

The ready to wear collection
PB’s collections are seasonal and she gets her inspiration from colours, shapes, the many fabrics she discovers. Each collection contains some solid colours, some standards (the current one includes a seriously cool black shirt, with a rich silky sheen to it), some prints and some boned-collar shirts for business wear.

Here is a stripe from the current collection.

Pauline Burrows striped shirt

More than shirts
Pauline also makes raincoats for men. These are very modern, dark and sleek, made from a dense but light cotton. The cotton is interwoven with an invisible metal thread, which gives the coat a subtle metallic sheen and a substantial luxurious feel.

Recently added to the collection are cotton and linen summer jackets. They had not arrived at the time I wrote this article but are in store now, so if you are in the market for a stylish summer jacket put the shop on your list.

Who wears these shirts
These shirts really appeal to men who understand quality and creative style. There is something almost Japanese about the quality of the fine tailoring of Pauline Burrows shirts, they have the ability to “lift” your look to a new level. Think shirts for a very important date, work social event (the ones with management present), or a semi-formal occasion such as a dinner party.

They will certainly get you noticed, as their colours and design touches combine to create a shirt which is pretty much unique. Their sense of fun make them ideal for a social occasion and their quality makes them ideal for a occasions which are “important fun”. The shirts also look great under a suit. If you want definitive design that people will notice, here is your designer, and here are beautiful shirts.

The shop and the designer
London is a great city for style. We think of Savile Row and Jermyn street but there are some really modern and creative tailors working independently, right across the city. In my view as a long-time stylemeister I think Pauline’s work stands with the best of them. And it gets better, I am looking forward to seeing Pauline’s summer jackets in the next couple of weeks, and I know she has other ideas still to come to fruition. So we will write more as time goes on.

So great style, very relaxed, go check it out. Just so you know her on sight, here is a picture of Pauline, looking very good in one of her own shirts.

Pauline Burrows

Details

Pauline Burrows makes original ready-to-wear and bespoke shirts for both men and women.

Pauline Burrows
13 Shelton Street,
Seven Dials,
Covent Garden,
London WC2H 9JN

Tel +44 (0) 20 7240 9722

Opening Times:
Mon-Fri  11.00 – 19.00
Sat       11.00 – 18.00
Sun       Closed

Email: mailto: pb7dials@mac.com

www.paulineburrows.com

I recently posted a piece on Panama Hats and today read an article about the modern approach to wearing hats. It was posted by the BBC and there is a link at the bottom of this piece.

For me, wearing hats became a style necessity in the Eighties. I never liked umbrellas and working in the City, London’s financial district, meant that every joe schmoe had one of those garish golf umbrellas. It looked very precious, grown men so afraid of a little rain that they needed to carry around their own marquee. For me a hat was stylish and left my hands unencumbered. There were minor complications, in that most offices had nowhere to hang a hat, but as I say, that was minor.

My first fedora was a classic Borsalino and I looked very elegant in it and that made me a hat devotee. I quickly noted that there was a community of hat-wearers in the City. At that time there were several hatters in the City, all gone now, alas. But other men were interested in hats and we would swap notes.

I still wear a hat (a fedora) in autumn/winter, but only if I am reasonably formally dressed, a suit or a jacket and tailored trousers. I am tempted by the jeans, skinny jacket and stingy-brim fedora look but as a classic dresser I do not do jeans well, so that is probably out. The full-on casual Indiana Jones leather jacket does not work, in my opinion, so for me it is a classic look. In summer I have a Panama, bought in the City some years ago and now in need of replacement. The Panama is easier to wear, chinos, open-neck shirt, summer or sports jacket

I like the fact that hats are now not generally worn. It means that men of style have another weapon in their armoury, another way to distinguish themsleves from the herd. Whenver I see a man with a hat I automatically think of him as being a bit quicker, a bit sharper, a bit more aware. Also, I can tell you that nothing will please a lady so much as tipping your hat to her. Also if you are a shorter man, a hat gives one a little bit of a height improvement.

The BBc article is here and has some interesting observations, including some from the MD of Bates, Jermyn Street’s magnificent hatter. I hope you enjoy it

The latest issue of S Magazine is out. As regular readers will know S Magazine is the brainchild of four Scandinavian photographers and contains cutting edge photography, mostly of beautiful young women, nude. S Magazine reads like a who’s-who of gifted modern photographers and looks like an art monograph bound and published by a high-end museum. The quality of paper and print is magnificent.

But, hell, we do not read it for any of that. S Magazine is one long paen of praise to the female form, unadorned except for the odd scrap of designer clothing, and even that gets lost…..

S magazine never worries about titles, so I am going to name this piece after its content. The focus this issue, accidental or otherwise, seems to be blondes. So for me, this is “the Blondes Issue”.

S Magazine Spring 2009

In this issue we get another set from Italian photographer Lorenzo Bringheli. It was Bringheli who shot a pictorial (in the last issue) of a rather aristocratic brunette in a bob, naked at night in public, always on the verge of being discovered. Here he goes from brunette to blonde, but keeps the aristocratic edge. The blonde has a Grace Kelly hauteur, even when naked. This guy is really good, this is very sexy stuff.

Another blonde features in Massimo Leardini’s “patterns of surrender” pictorial. However Leardini shows us a very different blonde, a woman who is natural, vulnerable and extremely sensual. It is an intriguing pictorial, one that draws you back to each picture. Mascus Ohlsson, one of the magazine’s founders gives us yet another blonde, truly beautiful, playing strip-tease games with light and shadows, aided only by a pair of super-high black stilettos.

This issue is over 400 pages long and I want to review it, not catalogue it. But I have to mention Steven Lyon’s shoot. His petite model is all attitude (think bitch) and the poses are all “take me, if you can”. If you want to see how sexy a girl can be wearing only a Panama hat this is the pictorial for you.

For those of you who want more than girls, there is an intelligent and thought-provoking interview with American artist Richard Phillips, amongst other articles.

Whenever I review S Magazine I am struck by how difficult it is to describe to you how good it is. So I know, what you need are the pictures, which is what I cannot give you. Just take my word for it, this is the most erotic photography magazine around. Buy it, you will become a subscriber and a collector.

Erotica for men of style.

Details

S Magazine is a mag with limited distribution and can be a little difficult to find. I buy it in London and know of two places to get it;

The Covent Garden branch of Waterstones Bookstore at 9-13 Garrick Street, London WC2E 9BA, Tel +44 (0) 20 7836 6757

The Covent Garden branch of Magma at 8 Earlham Street, London WC2H 9RY
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7240 8498

For those readers outside London and in other countries, I direct you to the S Magazine website www.spublication.com

Just a brief post on Nickel, as I was in the shop a day or so ago.

Nickel is a bright, modern men’s day spa and men’s cosmetics shop. They are located in London’s Covent Garden, convenient for those of us who work in central London. In fact Nickel are both a spa company and a French men’s cosmetics brand. The upper part of the store comprises the Spa reception and the shops and the Spa treatment rooms are downstairs.

Nickel men

The Spa rooms are well-designed, cutting-edge modern, very quiet and well-equipped. The Spa has a wonderful calm atmosphere and once you are there, it is hard to believe that the bustle of Covent Garden is a just outside. Nickel had a wide range of treatments and I can personally vouch for their facial, (and Nickel’s therapists), which is superb for restoring a tired complexion. If you want to see the full treatment list you can pick it up from the website, details below.

Nickel also sell their own brand cosmetics. Nickel is actually a French company and their skincare, shave and hair products are much better known across the channel and more widely used. I find their products, especially the cleansers and moisturisers, easy to apply and effective. I like the fact that they provide products for both light and dark skin types, a welcome recognition that men come in all shades.

However for me the killer product is their silicon valley anti-aging crème (picture below). This is the best stuff, one application of this will take ten years off your face. It takes the edges off wrinkles, smoothes out your rough skin, scales down the redness of that razor tear you got when you were shaving hung-over.

Nickel silicon valley anti-aging cream

Nickel also sell colognes from a number of top-end brands, including Canali and Loewe. All in all, worth a visit.

Remember this is a popular Spa, with a lot of loyal regular customers. They are open seven days a week but if you want an appointment you really need to book. Marie Campbell runs reception and she is a simply wonderful gal, she can get it sorted for you.

Details:

Nickel Spa London,
27 Shorts Gardens,
Covent Garden,
London WC2H 9AP

Tel +44 (0) 20 7240 4048

www.nickelspalondon.co.uk

I buy my moustache wax from Taylors of Old Bond Street, but even if I did not, I would still go buy something from them, just to shop there. I love the shop.

Taylors of Old Bond Street, Jermyn Street

When I step over the threshold I expect, and get, the most superb service and the best shaving products in the world. I have never left the shop without feeling like their most valued customer. Just knowing Taylors exists is enough to restore my faith in the world.

Taylors of Old Bond Street was founded in 1854, when Queen Victoria was England’s ruler, by Jeremiah Taylor. They are a combined English gentlemen’s cosmetics company (“Toiletries” in the old phrase) and gentleman’s barbers. They were making men’s cosmetics from natural and herbal products before the large cosmetics companies had ever heard the word “organic”.

The same Taylor family run Taylor’s today, the great, great grandson of Jeremiah being in charge. Despite their name, Taylors of Old Bond Street are actually in Jermyn Street, near their peers Trumpers, (and Truefitt and Hill are just the other side of the block).

Taylors sell razors and badger-bristle brushes in the old style (picture below). Their razor and brush kits are very highly esteemed and to my mind, a thoughtful gift if you want to give a gift with English character. Taylors have gift-sets in a manly packaging for those of us who want to do that.

Taylors of Old Bond Street, razors and shaving brushes

Taylors also sell those wonderful old-fashioned colognes, like Eau de Portugal. For me Eau De Portugal is the definitive scent of the traditional barber. The sharp citrus scent as the barber finishes your haircut and clears the tiny cut hairs with a wipe of Eau de Portugal is the fitting end to the ritual. I emerge cleansed and revitalised.

Taylors of Old Bond Street, Eau de Portugal

Taylors also sells the famous Bay Rum cologne, which was once beloved by military men everywhere.

Taylors of Old Bond Street, Bay Rum Cologne

In fact Taylors sell all manner of things a man needs, from shoe-horns to skincare, from travelling kits to toothbrushes (with their logo, of course). If you look on their website you will see all of this and more. Below is a photo of their luxury herbal skin moisturiser which I use extensively. It is easy to work in, has a slight fragrance and is very effective. It s also very competitively priced, at £12.95. A giveaway, as the English market traders like to say.

Taylors of Old Bond Street - luxury herbal skin moisturiser

Also, here is the aforementioned moustache wax, again, highly recommended. It holds form well, is non-greasy and not visible.

Taylors of Old Bond Street, moustache wax

But men’s products are only half the magic of this store. If you walk through the store to the back, where the sales point is, there is Taylor’s barbershop, the “Gentlemen’s Court”.

This is like entering Narnia, going from one world to another. From the main floorspace of the shop the barbershop is not visible. But go to the back, take a slight half-turn and you enter a world of calm manliness, where experienced traditional barbers tend to your every need.

It goes without saying that Taylors shop has class, but the barbershop also has that air of masculine ease which permeates a good barbers. Here you can get a haircut, traditional wet shave and services such as facials, all in the comfort of a traditional leather-upholstered barber’s chair. Nothing is too much trouble and skill and manly competence rule. This is dark wood, barbers in white jackets and of course the smell of Eau de Portugal. Go here, you deserve it. But book in advance, it is a busy shop.

A great shop and an icon of the best of British.

If you cannot get to Taylors, they sell their products by mail order and across the Internet. My last picture is of the front page of Taylors catalogue. Most fittingly it emphasises their service.

Taylors of Old Bond Street - Catalogue

Details:

Taylors of Old Bond Street
74 Jermyn Street,
St James,
London, SW1Y 6NP
England

Tel +44 (0) 20 7930 5544 / 5321

Email: sales@tayloroldbondst.co.uk

www.tayloroldbondst.co.uk

I was shopping in Gant and it was kinda prosaic, I was buying underwear, and I rate Gants’ underwear as good. As regular readers will know I also think Gant sell the best chinos in London and I was also in the market for a pair of their New Haven navy chinos, which have weight and a smart yet rugged cut.

What was interesting was of course the Gant spring/summer collection. Gant’s summer clothes have (for the last few years) been a variation on the New England preppy goes to Florida for Spring Break. They do these types of clothes so well. Here is a picture from their shop window;

Gant summer check shirt

Light, bright checks over the palest of faded jeans, relaxed, casual and clean.

This next picture shows the best thing I saw in Bond Street today. The piece is an off-white soft wool lightweight sweater with a white placket and a hood. Fitted tight to the body it combines originality, casual style and manliness in a single piece. Superb.

Gant sweater with hood

The picture below demonstrates Gant’s mastery in the mid-market casual summerwear range. The bright-stripe, pre-wrinkled button-down, matched with the slim-cut pale tan Harrington work really well. Unfortunately the crop of the photo prevents me from showing the white jeans. But Gant have really excelled with their bleach-washed soft white denim jeans. At the moment no one is doing those jeans better. Style on legs, literally.

Gant Harrington Jacket with white jeans

Details

Gant
107 New Bond Street, London, W1S 1ED
Telephone: +44 (0)20 7629 3313

www.gant.com

Lyle and Scott Polo Shirts

I thought it was a clever display, and a quick way to see if they had a colour one liked. It also shows the breadth of their range. For those readers who are new to Lyle and Scott they are a long-established (130 years) Scottish haberdashery company who are now chiefly known for their iconic Polo shirts and mens casualwear.

Their shirts all bear the Lyle and Scott logo, which is a Scottish Eagle in flight. Like Fred Perry, each generation of smart-casual young Englishmen seems to discover them anew. In my experience their Polo shirts are a shade heavier than Fred Perry and a little less subtle in their colouring, which is not a bad thing. As you can see from the picture, there are some rich and striking colours to be had.

Here is another window display showing some of the t-shirts in the spring/summer collection. Lyle and Scott have been on a bit of a roll for the last few years, their collections are very brit-pop style and their shirts are well-made, hold their shape well. Besides the current collection the shop stocks a Lyle and Scott Retro collection, which has some cool sixties styles and designs with a more tailored collar.

Lyle and Scott T-Shirts

Details:

Lyle and Scott
40 King Street, London, WC2E 8JS

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7379 7190

www.lyleandscott.com