I used to follow dozens upon dozens of menswear blogs, but over the years, I’ve winnowed the number down to something more manageable as I’ve grown and developed a better sense of personal style. Gone are the ones about trends in Japan, hashtag menswear, and the Americana/ workwear movement. Those that remain tend to focus on classic men’s tailoring, and more often than not, feature long-form editorials. So, as a way of ushering in 2013, I thought I’d show who I read on a regular basis. These aren’t the only blogs I follow (so please don’t be offended if you don’t see yours in the list); they’re just the ones I frequent most often. Hopefully you’ll find something here you’ll like as well.
A Suitable Wardrobe: If I could only follow one blog, it would be this one. Will Boehlke does most of the writing, but guest authors such as Eric Musgrave, Nicholas Storey, and Réginald-Jérôme de Mans often make appearances. There is a slight emphasis on high-end custom clothing here, but I don’t think one has to be a customer of bespoke tailors to appreciate what’s being published.
Permanent Style: Simon Crompton writes some great editorials. Over the years his work has focused more on brands and artisans, and less on how to dress well. This isn’t a bad thing, and I think he does a much better job of it than most other people in the field. If you’re interested in learning about the best makers from around the world, this is great blog to follow. You can also read Crompton’s writings over at The Rake.
American Style: Here, Christian Chensvold’s blog, Ivy Style, is at the top of the pile. Menswear heavyweights such as Bruce Boyer and Richard Press often make contributions, and Christian’s own daily writings are eloquent and substantive. If you like Christian’s work, you can also follow him at HuffPo. In addition to Ivy Style, I also like Heavy Tweed Jacket. It’s not updated terribly often, but whenever it is, it’s always a great read. HTJ also has a Tumblr now, if you’re interested in following him there. Finally, there’s The Trad. Whenever I get really cynical about blogging, I come here to remind myself that good blogs still exist. No trend coverage, no press release regurgitations, no undercover marketing. Just guy with a good sense of style writing about things that interest him. It’s blogging as it should be, in my opinion.
Tumblr: Most Tumblr sites aren’t terribly interesting, and many can get quite repetitive fairly quickly. On the upside, however, there are some people here with very good taste, and from them, I take a lot of inspiration. My favorites include the guys who run The Armoury (Mark Cho, Alan See, and Ethan Desu), Voxsartoria, Beijing 1980, Grimond de la Reyniere, Gdl203, Classic Menswear, A Bit of Color, and Cooper Frederickson.
Milstil: A semi-grumpy Dutchman who blogs about classic men’s style. Mostly a photo Tumblr, so I suppose it should be included in the previous category, but sometimes he writes as well (which why he’s getting his own space in this list). Nice combination of good taste and great knowledge. The author also maintains blogs dedicated to Ralph Lauren, Gianni Agnelli, and Italian Industrialists, and has a great Vimeo account, where you can watch some of my favorite documentaries.
Mister Crew: I love this blog for reasons I can’t explain. RA (the writer behind the site) doesn’t focus on tailored clothing, like most of the other blogs on this list, but he covers great and inspiring things. He also doesn’t update that often, but I’ve been following his site closely for years and have enjoyed everything he’s published.
Trade Blogs: By “trade blogs,” I mean tailors and artisans who maintain websites dedicated to their craft. If you’re interested in learning about how things are made, I recommend The English Cut by Thomas Mahon, Tutto Fatto a Mano by Jeffery Diduch, and Bespoke Shoes Unlaced by Carréducker. These are technical blogs, but meant to be read by laymen, so they’re perfect for the enthusiast who wants to learn about craft and construction in a more substantive way. I also really like The Cutting Class, though the author there tends to focus on designer clothing (mostly women’s). Slightly different in topic, but well worth a read if you’re interested in semi-technical things.
Shoe Blogs: There are a number of shoe blogs out there, but my favorites include The Shoe Snob and Claymoor, the second of which has like a great archive of interviews. I also occasionally check in on Leffot and LeatherSoul’s blogs, though they tend to just post attractive photos of their latest stock.
Stulen stil: Mostly operates like a Tumblr photo-blog, but gives a nice distillation of great images from some of my favorite Tumblr sites. If you’re not interested in following a dozen photo blogs, this is a nice one to keep up every now and then. The archive is especially good.
Men’s Flair: Like Stulen stil, in a way. They regularly post a “linkroll” each week, where they roundup some of the best posts on classic men’s style from around the web. Writers Winston Chesterfield and Andrew Williams also do really nice columns here, but the linkroll alone makes this site worth following.
Bernhard Roetzel Stilblog: Roetzel is one of my favorite writers on the subject of classic men’s style, so naturally, I follow this site quite closely. You have to run the posts through Google Translate, however, unless you can read German. He also has an English only site, but it’s not updated very often.
Luciano Barbera: I mean, it’s Luciano Barbera’s blog. What more needs to be said?
Journal of Style: Again, the combination of great taste, appreciation for classic clothing, and coverage of tailors and cordwainers from around the world will always make me a loyal reader. Like A Suitable Wardrobe, Torsten (the writer behind Journal of Style) also maintains a webstore.
Put This On: I absolutely loathe self-promotion, so I hope you know that while I write for this site, I’m including it in this list because I’m a genuine fan. The focus here is a bit more towards affordable, classic style, which I’m proud to be a part of. I also think my colleague at the site, Jesse Thorn, makes the best video series on classic men’s style around (note: I have nothing to do with the video series, so I’m again saying this simply as a fan).
Newest additions: Three blogs got added to my reading list in 2012. The first is Wax Wane, written by Jake Gallagher, an undergraduate student living in New York City. Jake’s site is refreshingly pure. No undercover marketing or product pushing; just things that happen to interest the blog’s author, who is a young and budding enthusiast. The second is Suitology, which is maintained by Paolo. He used to write for one of my other favorite sites, Suitorial, but is now doing his own thing. I think his new blog is very promising. Finally, I also recently added Velponi. It’s a very young blog, so I’m not sure yet what to think of it, but the posts so far have been good. It also came with a recommendation from Milstil, which for me holds a bit of weight.
R.I.P: A number of my favorite sites over the years have ceased to be updated. Among them are The Simply Refined, 13thand Wolff, Rugged Old Salt, Cutter and Tailor, Dress with Style, Tweed in the City, and Sartorial Nonsense. MostExerent was also an old favorite of mine, and it’s still being updated, but has less of a focus on tailored clothing nowadays. It’s still a great blog, but it has evolved in a way that reflects PG’s new life and career. Either way, the archives at all these sites are rich in content, and worth digging through if you’re somewhat new to the world of classic men’s clothing.
If you know of any other good blogs, please feel free to email me links. I’m mostly interested in classic tailored clothing, especially custom tailoring. If you have suggestions, I’d love to hear them. Perhaps I’ll give an updated list at the end of this year, if people are interested.