Life Skills

Bryceland’s made-to-measure jacket: Review – Permanent Style

Sep 20, 2024
0 Comments
2

Hello! This is my made-to-measure jacket from Bryceland’s in London, in the Fox/Permanent Style tweed. It’s rather good – not the absolute best MTM fit I’ve had but solid, with more importantly great style, and significantly, a bespoke level of make.

The importance of the style only occurred to me afterwards. I still remember admiring Bryceland’s tailoring on Ethan Newton when you could only get it in Japan, and the particular combination of that natural shoulder and slightly wider lapel. It looked so different, so easy and also versatile – one of the few easily at home with both tailoring and jeans.

When I had bespoke with WW Chan, again one of the reasons I liked the result was the style, which had been influenced by working with Ethan. It shouldn’t have been surprising that I really liked the style of the MTM therefore, but I think I was more focused on how the tweed was going to look.

The style really is effective. The shoulder is wide, but not too much; the lapel also wide, but not too much. The gorge remains high enough for most that have bought tailoring in recent years, but not extreme.

The shoulder is unpadded and sits very naturally on me, but there is the slightest touch of roping in the sleevehead, to stop it falling straight down. This was my main feeling when I put it on for the first time – how much I liked the style of that top half.

The fit was pretty spot on too. Ben and the team in the London store are relatively new to MTM, but the important things like balance and length were perfect.

I took the photos shown here a week afterwards, having decided it actually needed no alterations. Straight from order to perfect, for MTM, with a first-time customer: that’s pretty impressive. (I had specifically requested that WW Chan not use my existing bespoke pattern to aid with the fit – and they said they didn’t.)

Since then, I think the jacket might need a little tweak here and there. Perhaps some room in the hips, as the vents can open a little too much. Perhaps lifting the shoulders, and there’s a touch more drape on the right than the left.

But these are minor things, and given I’m uncertain it’s best to wear it a few times before making any decision, so I’ll be doing that over the next few weeks. I can post a little video along the way on social too.

The process of making the jacket involved trying on sizes in the Bryceland’s store, by the way, which is always helpful to get a sense of the fit and style. There’s usually a piece or two hanging around the store in a different cloth as well. I know Ben just had a nice DB made in Spring Ram.

Those blocks are also important because the only difference between the Bryceland’s MTM and the WW Chan bespoke is the fit. The make is exactly the same.

There are precious few MTM services that put a bespoke level of handwork into the structure of a jacket. Ones we’ve looked at in the past include Saman Amel (Napoli line) and Jean-Manuel Moreau in Paris (their block with Orazio Luciano). Bryceland’s through WW Chan is one more.

The difference from the bespoke offering is then primarily about having a unique pattern, which is all about fit. Those that are unusual shapes or find it generally hard to get MTM to fit well will likely find bespoke better.

There is also style of course – bespoke gives you far more leeway to change shoulders, lapels, general design and shape. This MTM is the Bryceland’s style and you have to like it. I do, but that doesn’t mean you will too. One more reason it’s good having those examples in the shop.

Based on this experience – and pieces I’ve seen on other people – I can certainly recommend Bryceland’s, particularly given the prices for such a high level of make.

In London, a Bryceland’s MTM jacket starts at £1500, with average prices around £1600. Mine, being Fox cloth, was £1899. Suits start at £2000 and average around £2300.

It also brings us onto a reason I wanted to cover more MTM generally.

Prices of bespoke have gone up a lot in recent years. Everything has become more expensive, but the top tailors are at a point where they feel significantly less affordable to even the PS readership.

Now, good things are always expensive. If you start having furniture handmade, for example, you quickly realise how much the same quality costs elsewhere.

And the kinds of makers we’re talking about have always been the top of the market – there’s a reason their customers used to be film stars and aristocracy. The bigger issue, you could argue, is that there are fewer cheap tailors, doing things like cutting by hand but making by machine.

But perhaps that is what high-end MTM is today – that part of the market. It’s certainly improved a lot in the past 20 years, not just the quality (fit and make) but the consistency of the product and the variety of styles.

As to our collaboration cloth, I’m pleased with how useful it’s proved to be. I was concerned it would be too dark for black jeans or flannels for example – and a couple of readers have asked that very question.

But I’ve shown it here with both these things, and I think it works well. I like the opposite-of-fussy, stripped-back-and-faded look of my vintage chambray shirt, old black jeans and the jacket, shown above. It feels like the polar opposite of the too-fussy windowpane-and-pocket-square look that became so popular 20 years ago.

(And that’s a long time – think about what changed between 1945 and 1965, or 1970 and 1990.)

But you could add a belt to both these looks to create an extra point of contrast, and a sharper shirt, or more tailored trousers, would make the world of difference. The same jacket with sharp cavalry twills and bespoke black oxfords is beautiful.

Any other questions on the Bryceland’s service, the cloth or the style, please let me know.