Sew this is Christmas!

Last Sunday I enjoyed a perfect quiet moment to myself. Wallowing by the log fire with a belly full of lamb shanks, I raised a glass of Chianti to the newly installed Christmas tree in the corner and looked forward to my favourite time of the year.

To me, Christmas is all about the build-up, and mine has well and truly begun. Last Monday evening was the final of the Michelsberg Debating Competition.

Held at the Malmaison Hotel in Leeds, there was a really festive vibe as judges, teams and guests enjoyed carols and a glass of red wine, amongst twinkling lights and candles in the Chateaux lounge.

Jo Bancroft, trainee solicitor at Ford & Warren, won the award for Best Speaker, her prize, a bespoke suit, which will be made for her future husband when they get married in September 2012.



The motion was, 'This house would rather be East than West,' and judges included (from the left) myself, David Parkin (TheBusinessDesk.com), Adam Roney (Best Speaker 2010, ex Eversheds, now Founder of Calls9) and Andrew Stubbs QC (St. Pauls Chambers)



Sairish Tahir and Tom Woodhead of Pinsent Masons, pictured above, were voted Best Team and other finalists included Alex Cook & Dorothea Shreiver of Eversheds, and Nicola Collins and Anna Moran of Clarion Solicitors.

Other participating firms included DLA, Gordons, Squire Sanders Hammonds, DWF, Addleshaw Goddard, Cohen Cramer, Shulmans and BPP Law School.

The event was everything I’d hoped for – it was fun, edgy, and I have nothing but admiration for everyone who took part. Next year I will be opening it up to trainee barristers and young professionals outside the legal sector.

Then on Thursday evening it was my Christmas Drinks party.

Despite the filthy weather, well over a hundred customers and suppliers came to support me and let their hair down. What a buzz. It was my party and if alcohol consumption is anything to go by, we had a ball.

It was a bit like a private members club for people with a shared love of fine threads and a healthy disregard for clean living.

One of the great things about tailoring is that over time, many of your customers become friends, such as Steve and Anje in the photo below.

I got a real kick out of them all enjoying each others company and devouring my liquid hospitality provided by the legendess that is Miss Sophie Bratt.



The Christmas spirit was well and truly raining down upon (and into) us and to cap it off, I had my youngest daughter's christening on Sunday.

There are few places more beautiful, charming and special to me than The Priory Church at Bolton Abbey, and the Rev. James Turnbull made what is always a joyful event, truly magical for us all.

Our best friends made it up from London to be with us and here is Paul Flynn, The Godfather, with the lady of the hour, Elizabeth Jasmine.



So, to all you 'Bah! Humbug' gibbons out there, I'll say it loud, and I'll say it clear. I love Christmas! Things are winding down a bit, my brother and his family are heading over from Melbourne and the final of 'Strictly' and 'MasterChef' are still to come. It's all good.

Wishing you all a truly wonderful time of it over the next couple of weeks and here's to more fun, fine suits and new friendships in the year 2012.

Sharp suits and sniffles.

As I staggered into the coat-makers with half a dozen fittings in each hand, my bag over my shoulder and a length of cloth and lining under my arm, I recalled the words of Thomas Edison: "Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration."

I raised my eyes to the sky, thanked the Lord for Right Guard and made a mental note to book in for an IQ test.

This month has been full-on. Absolutely Mental. It hasn't helped that I've been suffering from that terrible affliction known as man-flu, but like many a chap, I've put on a brave face and battled on without a whimper, or, request for sympathy...sniff..

Business has been great and I'm not complaining. I've delivered some of my finest suits yet, real Michelsberg specials, including a stunning, very classical dinner suit in Summer Kid Mohair and Cashmere from Taylor & Lodge (as worn by Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace) and a couple of belters for the lead singer and drummer of 'One Night Only.'



I love the contrast of the brown velvet collar and pocket jets against the electric blue Dormeuil cloth (made-up using the reverse side). It's extravagant, louche and wonderfully decadent.

Then there's this fella made in the finest Italian Flannel from Biella - that stripe and acid yellow lining just oozes confidence and attitude.



On top of the day job, I've been running the Michelsberg Debating Competition and last night was the second round.

All the big law firms of Yorkshire are involved and so far Pinsent Masons and Clarion are through to the final. Co-ordinating twenty-four young lawyers and ten barristers hasn't been easy, but so far so good, and the final takes place this coming Monday at the Malmaison Hotel in Leeds.

Then I've been organising the Michelsberg Christmas drinks party which kicks off on the 8th December from 6pm. It's to coincide with carol singers and late night shopping at the Victoria Quarter. I've ordered the bubbles, glasses, bar staff so all I need now are my thirsty customers and suppliers. They haven't let me down yet :-)

And finally, there's been some very exciting developments in terms of our tailoring offering to customers. Since the move to the VQ, we've started doing bespoke shirts and so far I've delivered just under seventy of them. One customer, a Mr. Geoff Shepherd, likened them to "high-end business pyjamas." I only wish I'd started selling them sooner.

But as far as our threads go, the big news is yet to come and will be revealed in my next blog. In the meantime, it's back to my box of tissues and book on Quantum Physics. Sniff.

Trip to Shanghai

It's four hours before my flight home and I'm closeted in the cigar bar of the JC Mandarin Hotel, a bottle of Tsing Tao beer in my left hand, a knock off Montblanc pen in my right, trying to find words that do justice to the incredible city that is Shanghai.



Here for a mixture of business and pleasure, it's blown my mind. Whilst Europe shivers from an ill wind of debt, China sunbathes confidently in a Gucci G-string.

What a city. It's bold, brassy, bristles with energy, has the swagger of John Wayne and more grunt than Monica Seles. I was staying just off the Nanjing Road, their equivalent of Bond Street.

Perched by the fountains opposite Plaza 66 (home to some of the flashiest frock and clock shops on the planet) I watched the world go by. It's bonkers. Utter Madness. Taxis terrorise bag laden shoppers like angry wasps and the highway code boils down to survival of the fittest.

Cash registers are going chicken oriental. Paris Hilton couldn't stand the pace. It's the Wild West meets Beverley Hills. The streets smell of lead, duck pancakes and money.

I was told I had to visit the Alfred Dunhill store on the Huai Hai Road. Owned by the Richemont group it's one of the coolest set-ups I've come across. You wander down a discreet little path to arrive in front of two 1920s neoclassical style villas. The one on the left is Dunhill, the right, Vacheron Constantin, with a private members club above.



There's a covered walkway between the two, a quaint little garden, rattan chairs and parasols. It's like being blasted back to the days of the British Raj, a place for sipping a Gin & Tonic and then heading out to bag a tiger after lunch.

I shopped till I dropped, ate duck's tongue and hairy crab, hit 'The Bund' and gawped at the Skyline, partied at the Mint Club with the Editor of Twist Magazine who was over for 'Intertextile', and had a cracking night out with the Sales Director of John Fosters, who was visiting customers in Asia.

It wasn't all picnics and lashings of Ginger beer. I visited a trade show and hooked up with some London based tailors who are at the top of their game offering truly outstanding garments. Without being too melodramatic (not like me at all) they were pretty inspirational and have made me even more determined to keep driving and get better at what we do. A plan is beginning to form in my mind but I'm going to keep my powder dry for now... ;-)

I checked out the Shiliu Puhong Qixiang Cloth Fabric Markets, where the quality was variable, and popped in to see a couple of tailors who've been recommended to me. One, The Humsuit Company, the other, Dave's Custom Tailoring. Here I am below with one of his coat makers.



Now I know the latter sounds a bit like one of Del boy's mates but the quality seemed excellent. The lapels and interlinings (canvas, silesia, domette) are hand-padded, meaning they are rolled, shaped and sewn into place by hand, and the button holes made by hand.



It's been a full on month. As well as the day job and my trip, I've been doing the preparations for the Michelsberg Debating Competition which kicks off again at the end of November. All the big legal firms in Yorkshire have signed up with the final on the 5th December.

So it's foot down now until the end of the year. No more jollies, no more trips to foreign shores, just cracking on with the daily grind and putting things in place for the next chapter in my company's development.

Wishing you all the best in the run up to Christmas and remember, a Michelsberg brolly, silk tie or bespoke shirt would make someone a lovely prezzie :-)

Stormy weather

Summer has scoffed her deep-fried peanut butter sandwich and left the building.

This morning my foot winced a little as it vacated the warmth of the duvet, leaving me reaching for a weighty double breasted number to brave a slight chill in the air that I'd forgotten existed.

The rain lashed down as I left the car park. Cowering under my umbrella I scuttled off to work, passing non-brollied people pulling epic rain-faces, gurning away like Blake Fielder-Civil after a big weekend in Ibiza.

I've already delivered quite a few overcoats in preparation for the onslaught of Winter. Classic covert coats with velvet collars and bright linings are always popular and I'm currently making a couple of things that are a bit different.

Today I'm doing a first fitting on 'The Swashbuckler.' It's very long and heavily skirted, inspired by the caped character in the Sandeman Port adverts with a pinch of Pirates of the Caribbean and Withnail & I (one of my favourite films) thrown in for good measure.



Something that won't have escaped your sartorial radar is the popularity of Tweed at the moment. I've blogged about it in a previous post and have recently got some bunches in that would knock the balls off a mighty elephant.



Bold over-checks and LSD inspired designs are the name of the game here, vastly removed from the dour browns and greens favoured by damp Scottish gamekeepers as they grumble into their Whiskeys.

That said, you don't need colour to make Tweed look stylish. Check out this little baby we made for a recent customer. It's a very fitted three button coat and I'm loving the patch pockets and flap on the out-breast welt.



I'm also a big fan of the Storm Collar, particularly when it's worn with the collars up, à la Eric Cantona. It's tough, confident, full of swagger and says don't call me names or I'll kick you dans la tête.

But the French man, like myself, would snort in disgust at an 'ooh ahh' collar worn on a lounge suit, like the one I spotted on Peter Jones whilst watching Dragons Den last night.



Utterly, teeth-clenchingly, balls-rising-upwardly grim. A storm-collar was designed to fight the wind and keep out the cold and should only be found on overcoats and garments of substance.

What on earth was he thinking? Maybe the air conditioning gets a bit full on in the back of his Maybach but that is still no excuse for placing what is tantamount to a penis extension above the lapel. It's a veritable carbuncle and ultimately sacrilegious towards a silky Super 150's cloth. Shameful.

Now it's just possible that I'm getting my knickers in a twist over nothing. To paraphrase Withnail, the fact that the best tailoring Peter Jones has ever seen is above his appendix doesn't mean anything.

Perhaps I need to chill out a little, and that, my friends, is the plan for next week.

I will be heading to Croyde Bay with my family to indulge my passion and love for surfing. Yes, if Mother Nature is kind to me, by Saturday lunchtime I'll be top-to-toe in rubber and up to my nipples in the healing waters of the Atlantic ocean.

And later that night, as I flounce into The Thatch Inn and demand the finest wines available to humanity, I will politely inform the landlord, that I'm not from London you know.

The Church of Good Taste

What's the deal with blokes who insist on getting their kit off in the City centre?



I crossed paths with this chap yesterday morning, his nipple rings flashing at me in the glorious sunshine. Brave as ever, my grip tightened on the handle of my Whangee Umbrella as I prepared to defend myself against this unsavoury character.

Luckily, he had no designs on my wallet, nor waistcoat, the latter which I would have gladly provided in a bid get some of that pasty skin off the streets.

One place you can rest assured of no superfluous papillae is the calm, genteel, wood panelled sanctum of English shoe making that is Church's store in the Victoria Quarter, Leeds.

It's just a soda-syphon and secret handshake short of a gentleman's club and here are Paul and Patrick who are it's guardians.



I am of the firm opinion that every man should have at least one pair of Church's in his wardrobe. I've currently got my beady eyes on the pair on the left in the photo below.

Perfect with a pair of straight-leg jeans, open neck shirt, charity bracelet and a glass of Champers, for 'dancing' the night away in Mahiki with Wills and Kate. Yah?



The chaps at Church's are lovely guys, incredibly helpful and very knowledgeable about the craftsmanship that goes into making a pair of Northampton's finest. They truly understand the importance of customer service and that is something to be applauded.

Patrick has even treated me to some of his personal stash of shoe polish and is one of the few people on Earth who can actually out-talk me. On my last visit he was kind enough to provide me with a guide on How To Look After You Shoes which includes "Grandma's shoe polish recipe" and how to get rid of shoe odor.

I've also set up a discussion about shoes on our Facebook Page and would love to get your comments on other makers and your favourite styles.

As the humidity and heat ramp up as we move through August, it can be a tough time for men when it comes to dressing correctly. The danger of short-sleeve shirts, cargo shorts and exhibitionists flashing their nipples at all and sundry is never far away.

Shoes are also potentially dangerous ground. Most men's feet are an abomination and Prada sandals can be the kiss of death to an unruly toe-nail. Getting it right isn't easy. Boat shoes - a bit rah? Crocks - god no. Which, I suppose leaves loafers.

I like the suede pair of Church's below. I can just see them dismounting a dusty Vespa Scooter and settling down for an espresso and grappa in a shady cafe in Tuscany.



Or there are these babies from Jefferey West, which you might find tucked under a kingsize day-bed in Ibiza, awash with empty bottles of Grey Goose, Cristal and sleeping super-models.



I can't stress enough how important it is to wear quality footwear. It say's more about you than than any other accessory and is worth the investment in getting it right.

So here's wising you, your feet and yes, even your damn nipples, a thoroughly enjoyable Summer.

Fancy a poke?

Damn that Zuckerberg bloke. I've resisted Facebook for years, but I've had yet another customer extolling the virtues of 'social networking' and how it could benefit my business, so I've decided to take a shaky step towards the dark-side and start a Facebook page for Michelsberg Tailoring.

I'm still not entirely convinced. I've always thought it a virtual slobberfest for American adolescents, techo-geeks and paedos to oggle pictures of Katie Price wannabes, driven to tell the world when they've waxed and what they've just eaten at McDonalds.

As my opening party proved, you can't beat getting together in the flesh with like-minded people, but I do think this Facebook malarkey has legs. My customers come from a variety of backgrounds with very different tastes but we all appreciate the finer things in life, particularly when it comes to fine threads.

That said, I want to use it as a platform not just to discuss matters of dress, although that is it's primary motive, but perhaps to help point each other in the direction of things that might bring us pleasure. Perhaps a great barber you use, or fabulous shoe shop, cloth company, restaurant, art exhibition, gentleman's club, the list is endless..

To get the ball rolling, I've started a number of discussions and will be posting pictures of 'things' and people I come across which I think are worthy of debate.

Take this chap for example:



I was on my way to the office and clocked this guy waiting to cross the road. After introducing myself and commenting on the splendour of his attire, he agreed to strike a pose.

Absolutely loving the leather gloves, cane, pocket hanky and check out the pink feather in his hat! Now that's what I call a character.

Twitter, Myspace, Bebo, Linked-in: it's a Brave New World out there and I only hope we can use it to bring some fun and merriment into our inboxes.

So if you dance with the devil and are on Facebook, here's hoping you'll keep your eyes open for things that might tickle our collective fancy and share it with the rest of us.

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu

It's Monday morning and there is a spring in the Michelsberg step. On Thursday night I downed tools and headed off with my family for a long weekend in Runswick Bay on the East Coast.

What a spot. Gobsmackingly beautiful. It's straight out of an Enid Blyton book where kids with beautiful manners eat picnics, take walks and uncover an international smuggling operation run by the lighthouse keeper. I relaxed, ate chips with everything, managed some surfing at Saltburn and even changed a few nappies.

Taking time off to suck the marrow out of life is essential and one person who now has plenty of this ahead of him is Jon Fairweather who retired last Thursday.



A lover of decent brandy, the horses and three piece suits, he is going to be seriously missed by many of us in the tailoring trade throughout the country. He's an incredible coat maker who takes real pride in his work and has taught me a great deal over the last four years. Another tailor at the 'farewell' summed it up when he simply said about his skills, "you won't find one finer."

As Jon hangs up his shears and heads to the South of France and the West Country for some well earned R&R, may I introduce to you all Miss Jules Middlebrook who is chomping at the bit to get started in the world of tailoring.



Here she is, sporting a fabulous skirt made by her own fair hands using Dormeuil offcuts and is about to start a degree in Bespoke Tailoring at the London College of Fashion.

It's very rare I come across somebody who is so passionate and enthusiastic about the trade itself and she is determined to become a cutter. Many young gals, understandably attracted by the perceived glamour of the fashion industry, want to become designers and are often less interested in the craft itself.

Not so in her case and I'm going to do everything I can to help and support her. She's heading down South soon, so, if you are on the Row (or do things the 'old school' way) and think you can offer her some experience, please do get in touch.

Yes, as far as Monday's go, I'm in excellent spirits, made even better by a text from a customer of mine who hit the red carpet last Friday for the Harry Potter Film Premiere.



He has just been featured in the 'Most Stylish Men of the Week' by GQ magazine and I think his Michelsberg three piece looks spot on, particularly with the tie-pin and pocket watch. Nice shoes as well, courtesy of my fellow Victoria Quarter tenant, Churches. Good work Mr. Lewis, you've done Leeds proud :-)