Interview with Simon Crompton

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February 20, 2013 by Ville Raivio

“[I’m] 30, journalist. I have spent my career running and editing several business-to-business magazines, all multimillion-pound titles in revenue. I am currently editor of Managing Intellectual Property, which is the world’s biggest magazine on patents, trade marks and copyright.  I was educated at Trinity College, Oxford, where I studied PPE (philosophy, politics and economics). I’m married with two young daughters. Fortunately my wife isn’t a big fan of clothes. I think we can only afford one in the family. My parents also live in London and are retired. My father was a management consultant. I have a brother and a sister, who work in advertising and asset management respectively.

Products from Pukimo Raivio

Kiton, grey sports jacket, size 50EU
Ralph Lauren, Black Label suit, size 52EU

[I became interested in clothes] when I first started being paid enough to spend money on suits, I think. I wanted to know why designer, made to measure and bespoke suits were more expensive. A geeky side to my personality took over and began burrowing into the detail. It hasn’t stopped. Books and websites are great, but far better are personal contacts. I am fortunate to know most of the master tailors in London now, as well as shoemakers, shirtmakers, tie makers etc. And I have watched every aspect of them being made, including visiting factories around the UK and Europe. There’s nothing like a factory visit. You see rather than being told; there’s none of the PR bullshit of shops and branding – you can’t hide anything in a factory.

[My personal style is] English style sold to the Italians. A phrase I unashamedly steal from Michael Drake. When Italians try to dress like the English, they strip away all the gimmicks or ‘eccentricities’ and reveal what we do best – simple, classic clothing for every walk of life. The English look has dominated the world of tailoring and high-end menswear ever since Marie Antoinette took to country living. And rightly so. [My tailors are] many, these days. It’s frustrating going to a new tailor and trying to get your pattern just right, but the curiosity in me always overcomes that. The tailors I go back to time and again are Anderson & Sheppard, Cifonelli, Rubinacci and Graham Browne. For different things and different values, but they are all superb.

[I founded Permanent Style] to stop boring my friends. That was how it started five years ago. Men may want to know the geeky details of how a suit is made – and practical advice on how to wear a sports jacket with jeans – but they rarely want to ask and the answers can be long and a little tiresome. So I started writing down my findings. I also like to think Permanent Style features better writing – more rigour, more detail, more practical advice and less PR – than any men’s magazine out there.

[My site’s popularity] funds my buying habits, which my wife appreciates, and has enabled those to grow. I also get recognised in some odd places. Like Peckham Rye high street, or law firm elevators. Probably most importantly, it has enabled me to help lots of companies I love with online strategy, write for them, and encouraged publishers to back me in writing books. My first of these is out now (Le Snob: Tailoring), my second based on factory visits will be completed next year and we are in talks on a third. That has been very satisfying. As easy as it may be to self-publish these days, there’s something very substantial about having written a book.

[Interests beyond style are] none. I don’t have the time or the money. No, seriously, fiction, films and road cycling are the only ones I’ve been able to hang on to after the blog and the kids.”

Mr Crompton’s advice for those seeking wardrobe changes:

“1 Invest in quality. It’s very frustrating when you start but as good things last longer, your wardrobe accelerates as you get older rather than standing still. It’s also satisfying to know you are pushing against the global greed of replacement and waste.

2 Try to have suits, at least jackets, cut for you. Don’t worry too much about the quality of the make, but hand cutting makes the biggest difference. And spend more on shoes.

3 Start by dressing simply. As personal as style might be, every style icon in history has agreed on several things. And one of them is that dressing with well-informed discretion is the base to any personal aesthetic.

4 You have to wear clothes to feel comfortable in them. Hats are a classic example. No one feels comfortable the first time they wear one, because nobody else is doing so. But the third day you wear it, it will feel natural. And practical.”

www.permanentstyle.co.uk

 

Simon_Crompton_interview_at_Keikari_dot_com_picture_by_Tommy_Ton

Picture: © Tommy Ton for GQ, featuring Luca Rubinacci (left) and Simon Crompton (right)

Mr Crompton’s unique site can be found at http://www.permanentstyle.co.uk/

~ Originally published in Finnish on the 9th of October 2011


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Pukimo Raivio.

Only a beautiful life is worth living.


"If John Bull turns around to look at you, you are not well dressed; but either too stiff, too tight, or too fashionable".

Pukimo Raivio.
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