London Shopping - Jermyn Street

Once upon a time a few years ago, I bought Mr. EWP a Thomas Pink shirt for a gift.  And that day a love of English tailors was born.  The man has been obsessed with the Jermyn street shirtmakers ever since.  So after my day of shopping in Paris, Mr. EWP got his very own day of shopping in London.  We headed to Jermyn Street and went from old shirtmaker to old shirtmaker. You could see the tradition of tailoring dripping from the shelves and bolts of cloth.  It really was interesting to see.  We even went to the royal family official shirtmaker, not surprisingly they didn't have anything off the rack for Mr. EWP to purchase, but some other shirt stores did - Harvie & Hudson, T. M. Lewin, and Charles Tyrwhitt.

But what Mr. EWP was most excited about, the place he has been talking about one day going to for years, was Edward Green.  Think of them as the Louboutins of men's shoes.  Or so Mr. EWP says. I choose to just take his word for it. They were rather pretty, I'll admit. For men's shoes that is.

There really is nothing like them. And you can only get them in London or Paris, they're not available online and they only have 3 stores -the ones in London and Paris.  
 While Mr. EWP tried on boring fine shoe after fine shoe, BabyWP and I decided we'd annoy the snooty sales staff by playing on the floor.  I have a policy that if I'm ponying up the money for your expensive items, then I get to do whatever I want in your store, and what I wanted to do was play with my baby and do a photoshoot. 

After buying a lifetime's supply of dress shirts, ties, and cufflinks, we took a break from Mr. EWP Shopping Day to make one little stop for me - to a fancy milliner.  I've been a little this side of obsessed with fancy hats since the Royal Wedding.

 And these ones were positively works of art.  I drooled my little heart out, but I had made my indulgent purchase the day before, so no hat for me.  And, let's be honest, I'll use that bag WAY more than I ever would a fancy fascinator.

But it sure was fun to try one on!  It was seriously SO GORGEOUS.  Absolutely a showpiece.  And only $1000.  To her credit, the saleswoman didn't scream when I grabbed it and tried it on and took a bunch of pictures of myself. 

Coming up - my London purchases.  And to make it to purchases, I'm including Mr. EWP's shoes.  I, myself, only bought one thing in London. Can you believe it?

EWP Gift Guide: For Him - Magnetic Collar Stays & Cuff Links

I asked Mr. EWP "Since you're a boy, what would you want for Christmas?" His response: Wurkin collar stays. They're apparently awesome and the only brand he says you should buy. So listen to Mr. EWP and get these for the guys in your life.

Wurkin, $20-$35

And since I think collar stays may be a little on the boring side of gifts, why not add in some cuff links too?

Thomas Pink, $210

Thomas Pink, $50 @

@ Available in more colors

Reader Question: Men's Dress Shoes (with a little help from Mr. EWP)

Dear Esquire Wears Prada,

I need some help picking out a brown dress shoe. I'd like to be able to wear the shoe both at work and out to dinner or the bar. I'd like it to be a tie - most of my pants have cuffs and loafers look bad with them. I'm looking to spend under $200, but if there is a good argument to be made for spending more, I'm willing to listen. Can you please help?

Thank you for your assistance,

Clueless Shoe Shopper

Oh, yay, a menswear question! We've never had one of those before! This is an EWP first!

While I am a shoe officianado of the highest order, I will admit that while I do have strong feelings about men's shoes, I may not have the ins and outs totally down. So, dear Clueless, I'll have you know that all my choices have been approved by Mr. EWP who considers himself quite the men's footwear expert. So between the two of us, we've got you covered.

I totally understand your desire for a lace-up shoe, and am thinking you'll need an oxford, but not a cap-toe. Cap-toes are too formal for jeans and what you're looking for.

While women can get away with $100 dress shoes, men's shoes really show poor quality at that price point and you have to spend more to get a good quality shoe. No, I'm not saying to spend $1,000 on Mr. EWP's dream shoes (Edward Greene shoes which are only available in England. Yes, he's a weirdo), but I think $180-$350 is about an appropriate price point for the shoes you're looking for. In that price range, you are looking at retailers like Johnston & Murphy or Allen Edmonds -- both are reputable shoemakers, and have storefronts in many cities like Chicago.

Another point -- not all lace-ups are created equal. Stay away from shiny shoes. Often poor quality leather is shined up to hide its imperfections. Plus, let's be honest, shiny looks stupid with jeans.

Regarding color -- Dark brown is probably the most suitable with jeans. Further, a light brown is hard to wear with dress clothes unless you are pretty fashionable or, in the words of Glee's Jesse St. James, "fastidiously groomed." Sorry, I have a compulsive need to reference Glee.

Finally, rubber soles though not usually advisable are typically cheaper than leather soles, more durable, and perhaps may be more appropriate with jeans.

I have some suggestions for you below, but, as always, would recommend trying them on in person and looking at them in real life to make sure they're not too shiny. Hard to tell shininess from online pics.

Johnston & Murphy, $225 @

Johnston & Murphy, $185 @

Johnston & Murphy, $140 @

ae by Allen Edmonds, $199 @

Allen Edmonds, $285 @

@ Available in more colors