The Permanent Style awards are always a fascinating snapshot of where readers are at, whether it’s the new brands they’re into, where they get inspiration, or just which sweater they wear every day.
Some of the results can be added up, and I’ve done that below. For all the other lovely anecdotes and recommendations, see the comments on the first article here. Note that we generally exclude myself and PS products from any results – this is about other people.
The most interesting thing for me, however, was not the numbers but rather a handful of observations that occurred as I read through all the hundreds of responses (on the website and on social). These are four things I learned.
1. This little world is a stable one
Best Brand:
1- Bryceland’s
2- Anglo-Italian
3- Rubato
4- The Real McCoy’s
5- Buck Mason, The Anthology
The same brands regularly top the ‘Best Brand’ category now, particularly Bryceland’s, Anglo-Italian (above), The Real McCoy’s and Rubato (top image). More established brands like Drake’s and Ralph Lauren are in there as well, albeit lower down.
Compared to a decade ago, when most of these outfits started (or started to enter the US and UK) there are few new brands making waves. I think this is because the existing ones have been successful enough to steadily expand into new categories. Anglo now does lots of footwear; Rubato does tailoring; LEJ does leather. The new things we’re seeing are mostly new launches from these existing places, rather than new single-category brands.
Personally I think this is a good thing. I like what all these places do, and I generally like it when they bring their taste to new areas of my wardrobe. As long they remain fresh and self-aware, what they do will also be more consistently delivered than a new name in any area.
2. The new brands there are, are mostly workwear
The big exception to this trend is Buck Mason (above), who have quickly secured a place through a combination of existing scale and solid product design.
They do some good unstructured tailoring, but Buck are rooted in American casual clothing, and this seems to be the biggest growth area – mostly in the mid-range of quality.
Japanese repro brands like Iron Heart, Buzz Rickson, UES and others have regularly come up as brands we should cover on PS. But alongside Buck Mason the other names include people like Fortela and Rivay (below), who are operating at a similar level to Buck – not always the finest materials, not always seeking the most authentic production, but great everyday pieces.
Best non-PS brand: Too many to list, but some repeated names were UES, Poszetka, Rivay, Paynter, Auralee, Iron Heart, Fortela, Kamakura, Kit Blake and Fortela.
3. An increasing number of readers are not on Instagram
Several readers said they couldn’t nominate a stylish person on Instagram, because they don’t use it. This hardly came up at all last time we asked, so it’s an interesting trend and one that actually reflects the world more generally: in the developed world people are generally using social media less, the US being the big exception.
There are I’m sure many entangled reasons for this, but one could be greater interest in long-form content, something the growth of Substack supports. It’s particularly encouraging that the trend is strongest among the young.
Given long-form writing is what we’ve always focused on at PS, it should be good for us – and I don’t think it’s not too much to hope that it will also be good for the kind of brands and makers we cover, who often need a bit more time and attention to understand and fall in love with.
4. The best-dressed people are some of our favourite people
Best dressed:
1- Manish @The_Daily_Mirror
2- Suzan @OutfitNarrative
3- Peter @UrbanComposition
4- Robert @r86234
5- Daniel @DanielZBaraka
OK this sounds a bit trite, but it’s true! The people that were nominated by readers as the most inspiring – Manish, Peter, Suzan and others – are all really lovely. They’re genuine people that cover what they love, rather than number-driven influencers.
We know them, we like spending time with them, and they produce genuinely inspiring outfits. Manish and Suzan are perhaps more wearable, Peter and Robert a little more adventurous, but there’s something there for everyone. And Daniel Baraka (above) is a great addition.
Below are a couple of outfits from each we love, by way of illustration, in the order of the results shown above (so it’s Manish, then Suzan etc).
All results, names and brands can be seen in the comments of the first article here. There are some real gems in there, especially on the ‘most versatile garment’ category, which we haven’t covered today. Let us know if you think there are any categories we should look at next year…
