Gresons - available in Australia

As many of you know, we are huge fans of London shoemaker Grenson. Their craftsmanship and quality is superb and they've had some great collaborations of late. We currently hold a sample range of the collection here at The Cloakroom (which you can order from), but in next few weeks we'll begin holding sizes of different styles.

We're very excited that the first Sydney delivery of Grensons is currently enroute to Incu. These will be stocked in the 2 Incu stores - The Galleries in the city (George st) and in their Paddington store at 256 Oxford st.

With Autumn now upon us the suede lace-ups (Kirk) and suede boot (Smith) will be a perfect shoe for the cooler weather.

Drop in and check out the range, or if you're in Sydney make sure you drop in have a look at Incu.

Pistols at Dawn x Snap Magazine

Boasting such sons and daughters as Conrad Black, Naomi Klein, Elisha Cuthbert and the great Leonard Cohen, Montreal is one city that has caught our eye of late. So much so that we're looking at developing a Pistols at Dawn range to be stocked in selected Montreal boutiques later in 09.

As well as some good contacts that we have on the ground, Montreal offers a vibrant atmosphere and interesting scene. Leading street magazine Snap! was our choice for the world premiere of images featuring our good friend and part time Cloakroom model James DuPlessis.
Click here to take a look at www.snapme.ca.
Just click on the cover image on the right for the latest edition.

7 Shirts for Autumn/Winter

Finally some cooler weather has blown in, and that means Winter isn't too far away.
Here at The Cloakroom there's 7 new shirts we've designed to get you through the new season looking sharp.
As well as our new season checks, we have a grey puppytooth shirt with some military styling (epilettes and billowed pockets), a self-stripe black hand pleated pintuck and a classic navy pinpoint.

Coming soon we'll have some lightweight scarves, a new delivery of knitted ties from London and some new jackets we've designed including a Cloakroom 'rain jacket', otherwise known as an overcoat that's actually wearable.

We'll be offering limited numbers on the new shirts so be quick!
(from left - Puppytooth Military, Navy Check w horizontal pintuck & Grey/Pink Check w shallow button-down collar)

Autumn Men's Style - featuring Grensons

The new Men's Style came out last week and we were very excited to see that they'd used a pair of Grensons we sent down for one of their shoots.

Over the next few weeks we'll be speaking to some selected stores about stocking them, so it was great to get some national coverage. Pictured are the Nobles in tan, they also come in a cognac (slightly darker), black, blue patent and black patent.





Thanks again to Kim Payne (Fashion Director at Men's Style) for her support.

AFR Magazine - Pistols at Dawn military jacket

Last week's AFR hit the street on Friday and included another great shoot from Virginia van Heythuysen. As always the production was top notch and the location tied in perfectly with the story.




The shoot featured some great clothes including one of our jackets which has become a signature - the cotton military jacket.
We've done a half-lined version through Summer in a lighter Italian cotton, and for Winter we're looking at updating it in a heavier Cotton/Gabardine with a bit more weight and shape to it.

The International - Clive Owen & Grenson

The International hit screens last week and as well as featuring a great gun fight through the Guggenheim Museum in NY, it was cool to see Clive Owen rocking a pair of the Grenson Balmoral boots.
Although he's pretty scruffy for most of the film, he still finds a way to look sharp.

Grenson x House of Holland

It was great to see some shiny Grensons on the catwalk at the recent House of Holland show during London Fashion Week.
The show had rave reviews for its interesting tailoring and fabrications and the sight of silver (spray painted especially) Grenson Nobles treading the boards was very interesting.



If you're after the look, we suggest the new season Nobles in white spitfire and a spraycan of silver.

New season shirts

Now that the best of the hot weather is done, we've started designing some new looks for the cooler months ahead. Just in, we have a selection of new shirts, including some great new fabrics and a few details we've been working with the tailor on.

As it cools down we're able to use some of the thicker and more luxurious cottons. These feel great on, and are more resistant to creasing because they have a bit more body.

After the success of the vivid blue shirt we first showed at our Mercedes show, we have now retired this fabric to avoid it being overdone. One of our new ones is a similarly striking shade of blue, which comes in a heavy oxford weave.



Also we've sourced a few interesting checks. Now that the plaid trend has died off we thought we'd greenlight a few shirts in some interesting varieties of coloured checks.




One of the new details we've been working with the tailor on is a narrow horizontal pintuck. This is a bit trickier to create than the traditional vertical pintuck as all the pleats are done by hand and there are a lot more when it's done horizontally.
The first shirt we've had done is navy check. Also we've recently done a few one-off shirts for clients in black with a slightly textured black oxford used for the pintuck pleats.




The final additions to the shirt collection include a new soft oxford in black, which we've not been able to get our hands on previously, and a black and white puppytooth cotton (tiny houndstooth patterning).

Our new 'favourite' collar

Over the last year we've played with a number of different collar styles for shirts we've designed. Last Summer it was a lot of the narrow 'mod' shape (we call it a #5) and more recently it has been a mid depth, mid spread shape (#8) that was a collar for all occasions (ie with or without a jacket).

Our latest selection is a mid spread shape which has a taller rise and more height through the back. The result is a really sharp look that works particularly well with a jacket. We call it a #6.

Here at The Cloakroom we offer a choice of 13 different collar shapes for your tailored shirt, but next time you're in make sure you try on a shirt with a #6.

Grenson - making waves

We are both very excited to announce that we've negotiated with the good folks (Joe & co.) at Grenson in London to distribute the brand here in Australia.

As well as the shoes being really well made, they've come up with some classic styles as well as interesting variations on traditional models.

It's been fantastic to see so much international press about the Grenson product recently. They've been featured on sites such as Selectism and Men.Style.Com and in appear in the latest Esquire.

As well as designing some great new season pieces they've been busy collaborating with some very interesting brands and stores. These include expat brits Rag & Bone in the US as well as style icon, NY store Odin.
Also they have done some interesting things with London store Albam as well as Kurt Geiger.

Grenson Drop

Grenson samples have arrived!

On the mannequin today - January 28

One of our Italian suppliers is currently offering us a fantastic wool/cashmere suiting fabric. The fabric is light to wear, but still has some body and thickness (due to the cashmere).
It's a perfect weight for guys wanting a versatile all-year-round suit.

Today we have a sneak at some of the styling for our Winter range. The silhouette is still sharp and tailored. To add interest to a mid-grey we've had the tailor use a slightly darker and textured grey for the lapel and pocket jetting. This is a great way to add an interesting detail without overcooking it.
The jacket is worn with a 5 button waistcoat in a slightly darker herringbone weave (though the same wool/cashmere). And the look is finished with a classic white shirt with mid spread collar and a navy knitted tie.

New editions to the rack

We recently designed some new shirts that have just come back from the tailor.

Navy pinpoint with covered placket.
This super soft pinpoint weave cotton was conceived as a nice alternative to a black shirt and is a colour that could easily be worn formally under a dark suit

Blue heavy oxford cloth 'Utility' shirt
Drawing inspiration from Mr McQueen's casual cool. It's the kind of shirt you could be wearing mowing the lawn in five years from now - it's that tough.

Winter trends

Although we're still sweltering in the middle of another warm Summer, most labels and retailers have begun releasing their Winter stories.
We've planned the pieces we'll be presenting, but we won't have them on offer until the mercury starts to trend down again.

In today's Courier Mail we were fortunate enough to be asked for our thoughts on the coming season.
Take a look at here


Thanks to James once again for making our kit so effortless.

My new favourite

Initially designed for our coming Winter collection, I couldn't resist trying it out. It has since become my current favourite. Chocolate with navy and green check. This shirt will be available as a ready-to-wear piece. Designed with our #8 collar, 2 button round barrel cuff and navy twill internal details.

I was wearing it with my petrol cashmere suit and loafers. I'm looking forward to trying it more casually with our new white denim! I know, white denim but... when worn the right way really works.