The Armoury Lightbox

Cooper Fredrickson lives!

Thank you for the kind comments, glad to hear we brightened up someone’s day. Your blog is missed.

Thank you! Much as I would like to be able to, I do not make any of the garments. Credit is due to the fine people at WW Chan, Liverano, Ring Jacket or Orazio Luciano.

autumnatstlawrence, thank you for the kind comments!

Seeing as we, The Armoury team, spend more time at the store than at home, it is very much our second home and we try and make it feel as such (sometimes with the accompanying mess as well). It just so happens we are clothes-people so we do sell clothes as well.

Frankly, we could do with a lot more quiet places rather than flashing, noisy, thumping, sensory overloads. I suppose a library that serves alcohol is probably what I am looking for. Why don’t we have that yet???

Sorry it took an age to reply this, Alex. I wrote a response then lost it to the depths of the internet. 

Thank you very much for your kind comments about the CNN piece, it was nice to be noticed by them. 

I do love my navy pinstripe Liverano, really a great suit for most occasions and goes to show how far something simple and well suited to your body and your style can go. I am in the odd position of wanting to promote the virtues of a well put together wardrobe that can stand the test of time and yet as a proprietor of a men’s store, the myriad of things I bring into the store each season are all things I love and would wear myself. I would like to wear more of my suits to disintegration but I also have to wear the new items coming into the store to show people how great they are. The garments we sell are generally not eye-catching or flash but that’s the way we like it. They just require a bit more presentation than usual to display their virtues. 

It is always a pleasant and slightly nostalgic feeling for me to go back to my earliest WW Chans (which have had to be let out!) and my father’s ties every once in a while as well. Also, my nephews get some great hand-me-downs.

As far as I know, neither RJ or Hyperion are available in Europe and they are no plans for the time being. European body shapes are significantly different from Asian body shapes which is often a big stumbling block for Japanese brands.

Rotate your suits and trousers and try to wear things no more than twice a week. Typically we dry clean twice during a season and one more time at the end of the season before things go into storage.

We usually use Sunshine or Miami Dry Cleaners but the pressing can occasionally be a bit iffy so sometimes we touch up a little ourselves. If you have a two roll three jacket, it is usually worth mentioning it. 

Thank you onthecut, very kind of you to say so. I am glad our little images and commentary are useful to someone out there!

I am always surprised (and a bit disappointed) when people do not fully appreciate the things grown in their homeland. Japanese people often don’t want to buy Japanese made goods. Spanish people often write off Carmina as a mediocre shoe. Great things are made by your fellow countrymen, respect their work for what it is!

Do you mean loafer socks? I am not crazy about bare ankles in the first place though I’ve seen it done well enough not to completely write it off. It’s nice in casual situations with odd trousers or jeans but I am not a fan of the look with a suit. 

I have a no “no socks” policy. You should always wear socks. It’s very unappealing to imagine what your shoes would be like with you sweating straight into the leather. Whether you choose to wear over the calf socks or loafer socks is open for debate. 

Just remember … over the calf navy socks for ever and ever and ever.

Where else would you put a logo if you wanted it prominently visible???

:)

Thanks, it’s because we drink a lot of coffee.

Yes we do, contact info@thearmoury.com and they will show you some photos. We do a shorter simple, silver bar for our 7cm ties and a slightly longer, larger one for our 9cm ties.

I would also like to add that the tie bar high up the tie, visible far above the buttoning point and in line with the breast pocket or above is NOT the way I advise people to wear it. A tie bar is a functional item that should be worn to keep your tie out of soup and roughly in place, not as a prominent decoration. I always wear mine at the jacket’s buttoning point, nearly invisible for the most part save for a small flash of silver. 

I have no issue with suede shoes at any time of the year. It is a wonderfully addictive material for shoes, always looking imperfectly perfect for almost every occasion as well as being very comfortable to wear.

Michael Hill, Drakes head of design, wears his suede shoes to the bone. They have been through so much wear that they have turned  from a deep rust into a chalky cinnamon colour. A natural, lived in, look that is most appealing.

I think as a man matures, he should indulge himself as he sees fit for his style. He probably has a better idea of what that should be by then.

(and I don’t even like bracelets)

Unfortunately I have never experienced the magic of sock garters and have never come across a pair for sale. Nonetheless, they are something for me to try someday. Perhaps they are an anachronism but if they work for you, then by all means stick to them. 

Our non-ribbed socks are not elasticated in the calf, only the top which makes them a lot more comfortable, especially in hot weather. 

I dreamt while napping on The Armoury couch that Ethan and I helped a customer find a suit that he could do great things in. He put it on and solved Japan’s nuclear crisis, eliminated ugly shoes from the planet and then called his mother to wish her well.

See you in HK soon!

Socks, like great underwear, bed linen and the like, are a great luxury you don’t have to show. It’s not something that everybody gets or needs, so for some the socks at Uniqlo are as good as it can get.

We wear, and consequently sell, Sorley - by Sozzi Calze. An Italian maker that produces the socks for some other high end brands, the Sorley sock has a nice weight - we don’t carry anything too heavy - great uptake of colour and is available in both mid calf and over the calf lengths. The colour is so beutifully vivid, that when we were last in Italy, Antonio Liverano pulled Mark aside to say “Tell Ethan not to wear those orange socks with a Navy suit - He needs Navy socks”.

Needless to say, I have bought a few more pairs of Navy socks.

desu

Many thanks for your business.

To be honest, I’ve never seen a cheap, long sock. Short socks, yes, but not long ones. You may have some luck with places like Sierra Trading Post but it’s not a reliable supply in the long term since they are like an outlet. 

Cover face because:

1. Silly branding reasons.

2. Smiling is hard!

Hi A, there’s a shoe repair store on the 1st floor of Worldwide House in Central that sells it, try there. Otherwise, Groom, another shoe repair place, in Central MTR station also sells it.

Unfortunately we are out of the Carmina chelsea in my size but see post below for what a chelsea looks like with a suit.