Every year, Simon Crompton at Permanent Style does a year-end reader-voted ‘best of’ post, where readers nominate and/or vote on the best, in their opinion, of a variety of categories in the menswear space. In years past it’s included categories like best online menswear retailer and best menswear writer.
This year, Simon instead had readers comment with their own personal favorites/bests from their own personal wardrobes, to share in the comments. It’s a great idea, since everybody reading these sites is striving to put together their own wardrobe, one that will make them feel cool, look good, and express their style.
He then posted his own personal favorites, from his wardrobe, in the four categories he selected. (Boy is his pick for number 2 something special… and pricey).
So, I thought I’d play along, too.
My blog is not focused on bespoke or made to measure, unlike his, in part because I’ve always imagined my blog reader to be: me 10 years ago. Landlocked, in a city no fancy tailors are visiting, and not particularly fond of the idea of traveling to NYC for trunk shows. I want good ready to wear, or online MTO/MTM, from great internet retailers who will ship things to me that I can try on and have altered at a good local tailor if need be.
So I’ve adjusted his third category to be applicable to me.
And I fudged a little on number 4, to include an accessory, rather than an item of clothing.
So, check out my selections for ‘favorite items ever’, and I’d be interested in you sharing your selections from your own wardrobe in the comments!
Simon’s Four Categories for 2021 Year-End “Best Of”
- Your favorite item of clothing you bought in 2021
- Your favorite item of (ready-made) clothing ever
- Your favorite bespoke (custom, MTM) ever. [Since I don’t have any bespoke, I’m going to write about my favorite tailored item of clothing ever]
- Your favorite piece of ‘luxury’ clothing, and why it feels luxurious to you. (Not price, but fit, rarity, make, materials.)
1. Favorite item of clothing bought in 2021: Eidos Chiaia Gray Herringbone Raglan Coat
This should be no surprise to anybody who’s read my blog. The story of how this coat was the one that got away 5 years ago, when it was originally designed and released, can be found here.
I’ll quickly recap what makes the Chiaia so special, for those who haven’t watched my Instagram video describing it (and perhaps have no desire to). At the macro level, it’s a perfect dress-up/dress-down coat on account of several factors. First is that it’s a raglan coat, with a collar, instead of lapels. More traditional topcoats with lapels are an inherently dressier design, in my view, including their use of flapped pockets. Having a raglan sleeve plus having a collar makes it less dressy by default—but raglans have a long history of being worn with tailoring, so it’s not a completely casual piece.
Secondly is the gray large-scale herringbone. The scale of the pattern gives it a casual feel, but the fact that it’s gray (a ‘color’ more at home in the city than the country, where you associate earth tones) allows it to work well with dressier fits.
Lastly, it has unique details that set it apart from a typical raglan balmacaans, namely its applied patch pockets and cinched waist. The former gives it some visual interest where normal raglans have just an expanse of fabric punctuated only by slit hand-warmer pockets; the latter gives it shape.
So there’s no question this five-years-in-the-making purchase was going to be my top choice. It’s been my most-worn wool coat this winter, and I expect it will be near the top every winter hereafter.
2. Favorite item of ready-made clothing ever: 18 East Trekking Turtleneck
Antonio Ciongoli recently stated that knitwear and outerwear in Eidos’ last few seasons were far and away their best-performing product categories. So when he launched his new brand 18 East in 2018, he understandably had a ton of great sweaters on offer. He has since revealed that that was a misplaced assumption—in his words, ‘sweaters nearly put us under.’
Which is a bummer, because one such sweater—the Trekking Turtleneck from the brand’s very first collection—is my favorite item of ready-to-wear clothing ever.
Which is high praise, I know. I’m a tailoring guy. But my affinity for my tailored clothing is spread out amongst a wardrobe full of clothes; there is only one incredible specimen of this sweater.
What makes it so great? A few very basic things. First, the merino wool is thick, and soft, but smooth, not fuzzy. It has a slightly sophisticated feel to it, therefore, without making you feel like you’re a fuzz-ball.
Secondly, the fit is perfect, which has to do not just with its proportions from the pattern, but also how well the chunky, heavy wool drapes. It’s not slim, but it’s not droopy and oversized. The neck isn’t tight and constricting; the hem gathers a little bit but does not create that paunch most sweaters do.
Third, while it is indeed thick (Ciongoli described it as ‘gutsy’), and does wear warm, it’s not super hot. I can wear it to my climate controlled office and be fine, not sweating continuously. I think that has to do with the wool’s lack of brushing and the low-gauge knitting being a bit loose. So it’s very wearable in my normal environs.
3. Favorite tailored piece of clothing: Navy Summer Blazer from Eidos
It’s hard not to be obsessive about whatever. I follow menswear accounts on Instagram; I am a member of a menswear-oriented web forum; I have a blog about menswear. So when I have an idea of some type of clothing I want, it becomes a project. Endless hours of research. Comparisons between makers and particular items of clothing to weigh pro’s and cons. Agonizing over the details.
Yet what strikes me is that so often, the things that are simply an impulse buy, or a spur-of-the-moment purchase, are often the favorites amongst everything else we own.
Such is the case for my all-time favorite tailored item of clothing: a raw silk navy blazer from Eidos, in the brand’s Tenero cut, from possibly my all-time favorite collection of theirs, SS2015 “Il Cuore di Pescatore.”
The story behind the jacket makes me feel warm and fuzzy just recalling it: In 2015, I’d known about Eidos for a few months and become a superfan; I’d even purchased my first tailored jacket of the brand’s from No Man Walks Alone as a birthday gift for myself. It was a chocolate brown raw silk jacket in the No Man Walks Alone-exclusive cut (which was in its first season of existence). My wife and I were living in Cincinnati, and the closest retailer who carried Eidos was four hours away (in any direction, take your pick: Chicago, Nashville, or Pittsburgh).
On an extended weekend visiting friends in Nashville to see Death Cab for Cutie at the Ryman auditorium, I was able to visit a great local menswear shop called Haymakers, which had an incredible full selection of Eidos for that season. Suits, shirts, jackets, outerwear; just look at the photos I took that day. I was wearing my brand new NMWA chocolate brown jacket, and tried on the one they had in navy (same fabric, different color), in the Tenero cut.
It fit perfectly. It was incredible. And the shop’s co-founder Miranda offered me 20% off for some mid-season ‘friends of the shop’ sale I think she invented on the spot.
But I couldn’t afford it, having just purchased the NMWA jacket. I regretfully declined. But I couldn’t stop talking about it as we drove away from the shop.
My wife, who had a successful photography business at the time (the income from which we’d always agreed was hers to do whatever with, reinvesting in her business or just, whatever she wanted), piped up: “I’d buy that jacket for you if you really want it, lovey.”
No way.
So I went back the next day and bought it. It needed a sleeve alteration, so they kept it for that, then shipped it to me at home in Cincinnati a week later.
It has always been my favorite Eidos jacket—and indeed tailored jacket, period—for a few reasons.
First, it is a perfect representation of what the Eidos Tenero cut should look like. I’ve written before how one of Eidos’ achilles heels was its parent company Isaia’s apparent lack of desire to cut the product consistently and according to the patterns. The NMWA cut, so beautifully executed that season in SS15, was so totally different for that fall’s collection, it seemed like a different jacket (narrower shoulders, different lapel shape, higher buttoning point; none of which Antonio or Greg of NMWA had requested or asked for; the pattern didn’t change, the execution was just poor). The Tenero suffered the same fate. Lapels would be a full centimeter or more narrower than designed some seasons; buttoning points a full inch higher; jacket sizing a full size small in some instances. In particular, the poor execution as it affected the design of the jacket was a bummer because that’s what made Antonio’s vision so exciting to me. Super stylish tailoring that was unique but not wild and crazy; still very wearable in a normal context, but just that little bit extra to make you feel cool. Just look at that pic of the jacket on the hanger and tell me it isn’t perfect.
Second of course is how it fits me personally: perfectly (at least at the time; today, after body shape changes, it’s a little snug in the shoulders in a way it wasn’t before).
Lastly is the hallmark Ciongoli ability to choose fabrics that look pretty conventional from afar (it’s a navy blazer), then make you take a second look a little closer up (wait is that wool, or not?), and when you see it up close you see the texture and appreciate the hand (wow, it’s a raw silk hopsack). Indeed, my top disappointment in the world of menswear is that his unique eye for fabric is only being applied to skater clothing. I’m glad I have as much of the good stuff as I do.
4. Favorite piece of luxury clothing ever: An Omega Seamaster
Nearly everything I own could be considered “luxury,” so none of it stands out; then again, the things that do stand out, I just wrote about in category 2 (the turtleneck) and 3 (the blazer).
When I buy clothes, I have a strong focus on utilitarian functionality in addition to style. It’s a mindset driven by opportunity cost: any dollar I spend on something superfluous is a dollar I can’t put toward something I really want/need. A luxury item in my mind would be something that’s so much more money than I could really justify spending on it, that I just can’t bring myself to do so (ideas that come to mind would be like a $1,000 cashmere sweater, or $1,200 pair of shoes).
But there is one category I’ve been spending money on that is truly superfluous, luxurious and completely irrational: watches. While it’s not menswear per se, it’s still within the universe. So I’m going to cheat a little and pick a watch.
And in that case, it’s an easy choice: The blue Omega Seamaster Professional 300m, in particular the co-axial pre-ceramic model, reference 2220.80. I happened to have bought it in 2021, too, so it works well for this piece.
To be honest, I don’t need any other watches. I wrote a big long post about why the Bond Seamaster is my favorite “one-watch collection” watch. And all my reasons are still the same. I think I would double down and specify that this particular reference is the best one, though. The original 2531.80 lacks the lux feel of the applied indices that this has; the later references in ceramic are bigger, bulkier, and flashier. This has the perfect combination of glitter and subtlety.
These are my choices for Simon’s four 2021 year-end favorites/best of list. I am interested to know what my readers would choose from their own wardrobes. Please comment below! Since you can’t post photos on the post, feel free to link to photos, like on Instagram, of the items in question. I want to see what you folks are wearing that’s so great!
(Help support this site! If you buy stuff through my links, your clicks and purchases earn me a commission from many of the retailers I feature, and it helps me sustain this site—as well as my menswear habit ;-) Thanks!)
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