best for autumn wear
Lutays

Jean-Baptiste Rosseeuw established Lutays in 2020 after spotting that the menswear fashion landscape was missing a French touch. “The image of the Parisienne is well known around the world,” says the Belgian-born designer, who is based there. “We want to introduce French style to men’s wardrobes so that it can achieve the same recognition that it has in womenswear.” 

Named after Lutèce, the historic word for Paris, the brand is informed by the country’s fashion history: 19th-century riding attire, for example, inspired its straight-cut Saumur trousers, while belle-époque casualwear informed many knitwear designs. Rosseeuw’s aim is to offer a full look – hence his collections’ elegant berets and fine leather gloves – but his speciality lies in jackets. “We want to become the go-to brand in this field, giving men an alternative that’s less formal than a blazer and more structured than a shirt,” says Rosseeuw.

All items are crafted in France, using artisanal techniques: jackets are made in a family-run atelier in Normandy and trousers in Vendée, while jumpers are hand-knitted and springwater-washed in the south of France. Rosseeuw likes to play with textured fabrics, be it denim, linen or wool. “You’ll never see us using something like Harris Tweed from Scotland,” he says. “In all that we do, we want to stay true to our French heritage.”
lutays.com

best for flair
Derrick

“In this country you’re in Soho or Savile Row – either a punk or attached to heritage,” says London-based Luke Derrick, who founded his eponymous menswear label in 2022 to find a happy medium. He created signatures such as collarless jackets and sporty cargo trousers paired with smart blazers, reworked with waterproof Japanese jackets. “You can now wear tailoring without losing yourself or compromising comfort,” he adds.
derrick.store

best for jackets
Ssstein

Self-taught designer Kiichiro Asakawa learnt his craft through years of deconstructing vintage garments and running Carol, his multibrand boutique in Tokyo’s Shibuya neighbourhood. More recently, he has been enjoying the success of Ssstein, which he founded in 2016. Japanese customers are well versed in its collections of classics elevated by expert cutting techniques. Now, the rest of the world seems to be catching up: the label was on many international buyers’ lists at the latest edition of Paris Fashion Week Men’s.

Highlights from his new collection include oversized flight jackets made from military khaki Olmetex and track jackets featuring a cotton-nylon knitted fabric sourced in Japan, as with all of the label’s materials. “The level of craftsmanship is high here,” he says. Asakawa works with understated colour palettes and silhouettes that look good on both men and women. “I’m always thinking about cuts and fabrics that will feel comfortable,” he says. “We want to create a relaxed elegance that isn’t flashy. It’s about beauty and quality for the everyday.”
ssstein.com

best for vision
Torishéju Dumi

London-based fashion designer Torishéju Dumi became the breakout name of Paris Fashion Week last year. Her debut show stood out thanks to Dumi’s confident designs: a mix of deconstructed blazers, billowing shirts and intricate cocktail dresses referencing UK tailoring traditions, the designer’s Brazilian and Nigerian heritage, and her Catholic upbringing in the English countryside. “It’s all about world-building and creating stories,” says Dumi. 

Despite growing demand, Dumi is committed to using deadstock fabrics and working with manufacturers in London, so she can only produce collections in limited quantities. She also favours monochromatic colour palettes, which help to emphasise the sculptural and textural qualities of her designs. 

Sticking to a niche is a radical move for a young designer. “You need to feel something real, especially in a crowded world that’s obsessed with technology,” she says. “It’s like asking, ‘Why do you need to dream?’ Because if you don’t, what do you have left?”

best for unisex
Yali Milano

Housed in a garret apartment-turned-studio, Yali Milano’s headquarters in Milan are as intimate and personal as designer Pia Zanardi’s vision for her brand. Garment designs are pinned straight to the wall next to paintings by friends, while stacks of typed notes detailing the colours, textures and shapes of future collections are scattered next to piles of books. Clothing racks feature rows of Yali’s signature design: unisex jackets inspired by Tang suits, a traditional Chinese style with a mandarin collar and knotted frog closures, rendered for autumn in plush jewel-toned corduroys and silk velvets with contrast piping. Zanardi sees herself “more like an artist than a fashion designer”. Yet fashion has always offered the easiest form of self-expression for the peripatetic Italian, who spent years in China, as well as the UK, New Zealand and the US. Inspired by her many travels, she launched Yali in 2017. “After all,” she says, “when you arrive in a new country, your first impressions come from how people are dressed in the streets, not from visiting museums.”

While she has adjusted the fits and created personal colour palettes and combinations for the jackets, the styles remain true to the traditional Tang silhouette. “I haven’t invented anything,” she readily admits. Today the brand is rapidly growing – it staged one of Pitti Uomo’s most popular events over the summer – and plotting partnerships with the likes of Belmond hotels and Casa Cipriani.
yalimilano.com

best for office wear
Miu Miu

Miu Miu is one of the world’s fastest-growing luxury brands, thanks to creative director Miuccia Prada’s ability to twist traditional dress codes and present collections that blend intellectual ideas with a sense of fun. We have our eye on the knitted coats, paired with brightly hued leather gloves and a ladylike top-handle bag.
miumiu.com

best for bags
Wanze

“For a little too long, I was known as the bag lady,” Wanze Song tells monocle. After working as a pattern maker in the UK and Shanghai, Song returned to her hometown of Toronto in 2020 and launched a product that captivated the city’s creatives: the Dumpling Bag. It was an instant hit. Inspired by her family’s weekend tradition of making and devouring dumplings, the handbag caused a stir with its pleats and crescent shape. Four years on, her brand has maintained its cult appeal, crossed borders and broadened its range to both womenswear and menswear. “I wanted to know what fashion could look like when you don’t create new fabrics or [invest in] marketing,” says Song, who has made a name for herself with her sharp, elegantly tailored silhouettes. 

Most of the brand’s sales come through its e-commerce platform and Toronto showroom but Wanze also works with Canadian boutiques such as Lost & Found and Neighbour. “I’ve declined offers from the big online retailers,” she says. “First, I want to land my 10 dream boutiques across the world.”
wanzesong.com

best for classics
JM Weston Sacai

French footwear label JM Weston’s latest collaboration with Japanese brand Sacai offers a new take on the former’s classics, including its Golf Derby shoes and lace-up ankle Worker boots. Sacai’s creative director, Chitose Abe, who has a flair for mixing and matching contrasting fabrics and styles, added dramatic, extra-large soles on her designs. The result? Head-turning shoes that marry Abe’s experimental spirit with the French shoe label’s heritage. We’re opting for the classic derbies, rendered in smooth black calfskin.
jmweston.com; sacai.jp

best for craft
Kartik Research

The latest collection from Kartik Kumra, the New Delhi-based creative director of Kartik Research, explores the dichotomy of the “two Indias”, Delhi and Jodhpur. “I have translated the differences into my designs in a very visual, literal way, through texture and embroidery,” says Kumra.

For a young business – the now 24-year-old founder established it in 2021 – Kartik Kumra has a mature sensibility. Its signature linen and jacquard tailoring, woven jackets and cotton vests are impressively smart. Every collection is produced in limited quantities and the pieces all feel unique. “Each yarn varies in coarseness and natural dyes can be absorbed differently. These imperfections make our designs human.”
kartikresearch.com

best for innovation
Massimo Osti Studio

This year, Massimo Osti Studio made its debut, paying homage to the legacy of Massimo Osti, a pioneer in the world of performance wear. Demand for hard-wearing technical garments is high and the brand wants to become a market leader, developing innovative new fabrics with several partners. We recommend one of the regenerated nylon jackets from the autumn range.
massimoosti.com

jacket and trousers by Massimo Osti Studio, shirt by Salvatore Piccolo

best for materials
Evan Kinori

In 2015, San Francisco-based Evan Kinori started making shirts for his friends, then moved on to designing fully-fledged collections. A retail shop opened in 2021 and his workwear became sought-after among the international fashion community. Yet the most impressive part of Kinori’s story is how he has set a new bar when it comes to sourcing the finest materials. “I design to stay out of the way and let the materials sit front and centre,” he tells monocle.
evankinori.com

best for jewellery
Joelle Kharrat

Two years ago, Joelle Kharrat, a former beauty veteran, decided to move from Paris back to her home of Beirut and launch her namesake jewellery label, with a line of sculptural charm necklaces manufactured in Lebanon. “Think art meets fine jewellery,” says Kharrat of her signature Totem necklaces. They are made from a series of modular, hand-carved pieces featuring 18-carat yellow gold, natural wood, mother of pearl and opal, referencing the four elements of earth, fire, water and air. The interlocking elements can be combined in different ways to create a fully customised finished product. 

jumper by Denobiliary Particle, pendant and chain by Joelle Kharrat

 Kharrat’s affinity for her Lebanese heritage is imbued in every design. She often takes her cues from abstract Lebanese painter and sculptor Saloua Raouda Choucair, the old craft techniques that artisans specialise in and fellow Lebanese women’s flair for dressing up. “These women express their femininity and personality through jewellery from youth,” she says. It’s a philosophy that she shares with the rest of the world.
joellekharrat.com

best for feet
John Lobb

English shoemaker John Lobb has long found an eager audience in Japan. And where better to express its commitment to craftsmanship than the ancient city of Kyoto? Earlier this year, the brand invested further in its Japanese business, opening a new shop in a wooden machiya townhouse on the city’s Shinmonzen street. The cosy space, which was given a refresh by Japanese designer Teruhiro Yanagihara, features John Lobb classics such as the Lopez loafer (on sale since 1950), as well as new Kyoto-exclusives, including the traditional zoori sandals made with hand-crafted woven bamboo insoles. Also on offer are styles that can be customised using a range of materials, colours, soles and buckles or the ultimate luxury: fully bespoke shoes built around the customer’s foot.
johnlobb.com

best for originality
Oliver Church

In a fashion landscape defined by uniformity, Oliver Church is an outlier. The New Zealand-born, Paris-based designer hand-cuts, hand-dyes and hand-finishes all of his signature shirts. “This is a human activity and as long as the hand is involved, there will be certain elements that can’t be controlled,” says Church, who designed the first pieces for his namesake label in 2020 from his spare room. He only used his sewing machine to complement his handwork and opted for vintage fabrics. “I’ve spent so much of my career trying to recreate age in fabrics,” he adds. Every Saturday, on his walk to his studio in Montrouge, he visits the Puces des Vanves to hunt down antique cotton, linen and rare regional weaves, which he then transforms into his label’s open-collar shirts, oversized coats and patchwork jackets.
oliver-church.com

best for prestige
Auralee

When Tokyo’s Auralee released the first pieces from its autumn-winter 2025 collection, queues at its Aoyama shop stretched out of the door. The brown leather blouson, one of the season’s star turns, immediately sold out. It’s been busy for designer Ryota Iwai: this summer he was part of the official Paris Fashion Week schedule for the first time. There’s a new press showroom in Aoyama, while the nearby flagship has been expanded and refreshed.

Auralee is an easy brand to love: elegant and understated, known for the best fabrics and its commitment to Japanese manufacturing. “We’ve worked with the same factories in Japan from the beginning,” says Iwai. “The scale is different now and it’s important to support the people who’ve been there with us.” This season, the brand has a strong line-up of winter coats in cashmere and tweed, as well as puffer jackets covered in the softest brushed alpaca. “I want people to feel [like] themselves in my clothes,” adds Iwai.

Accessories are equally sought-after: canvas suit bags made by Japanese brand Aeta, a selection of soft suede shoes made with a Kobe shoemaker and trainers made with New Balance. Iwai also has another collaboration up his sleeve: he has been working with Copenhagen-based Tekla on a line of sleepwear, outerwear and bath products – a perfect marriage of Japanese and Scandinavian design. “I put the same effort into designing a T-shirt as a coat,” he says. “For me, it’s about great fabrics and meticulous tailoring.”
auralee.jp

best for cashmere
Linnea Lund

On a leafy square in Paris’s St-Germain district, Linnea Lund’s red shopfront stands out among the area’s residential buildings. Designer Charlotte Björklund has been building her business from this minuscule yet charming spot, becoming a go-to for the finest-quality cashmere, which is made to order. Björklund offers a taste of Sweden by serving frukost (breakfast) every Thursday. Stop by for tea, a pastry and a new oatmeal-hued polo jumper.
linnealund.com

best for comfort
Margaux

Sarah Pierson and Alexa Buckley started their business when they were younger than most. The Harvard graduates were only 22 and still in university when they chose to forgo opportunities in venture capital and consulting to found Margaux, a footwear brand whose designs are as handsome as they are comfortable. Think sleek sandals, whimsical ballet flats and bold leather loafers, all handmade in Spain’s Alicante region. “You often have to choose between style and comfort,” says Buckley. “In the corporate environments that we worked in, we saw colleagues wear a pair of shoes to get themselves somewhere, then change into something else in the office. It felt outdated and inconvenient.” Their desire to offer hand-crafted, practical footwear is rooted in the belief that women shouldn’t have to compromise. From the start high-quality, “Made in Spain” manufacturing was a priority. 

They also make time to connect with customers through their popular book club. “The meetings have been a success from a business perspective but they have also been enriching on a personal level,” says Buckley, referring to a recent event with journalist Carol Kino, who talked to customers about her biography of fashion photographers Frances and Kathryn McLaughlin. 

Their next target? Opening a shop in their home city of New York. “We haven’t committed to a neighbourhood yet,” Buckley adds. “Finding the right space comes first.”
margauxny.com

best for collecting
Dries van Noten

Antwerp-based Dries van Noten made headlines this year when he announced his decision to step down from his namesake label. Since the early 1990s, the beloved designer built a loyal following for his immaculate tailoring, sculptural accessories and ability to experiment with pattern and colour like no other. The last womenswear collection that he designed for autumn-winter 2024 is now making its way to shop floors around the world – and is brimming with elegant, collectible pieces, from pastel-hued outerwear to embroidered blazers and beautifully draped evening dresses. Invest in one of the new-season coats and treasure it in your wardrobe for years to come.
driesvannoten.com

best for timekeeping
Wrist assessment

The watch market is becoming increasingly playful. Nomos Glashütte’s popular Tangente 38 design is now available in a rainbow of fetching candy colours, while the latest iteration of Bvlgari’s Serpenti Tubogas watch, which is part of a collaboration with Japanese architect Tadao Ando, features a striking green aventurine dial. Over at Chanel, measuring tapes have wittily been turned into straps, while Van Cleef & Arpels’ new designs reference the celestial world. There has never been a better time to add a touch of whimsy to your look.

best for tailoring
Dunhill

This year, fashion designer Simon Holloway made his debut as Dunhill’s creative director with an autumn-winter collection fit for the modern gentleman that quickly reignited excitement around the heritage UK brand. monocle meets Holloway to talk about how the fashion pendulum is swinging back in favour of tailoring.

What are your priorities as creative director?
To re-establish Dunhill as the quintessential British menswear luxury house. I think of the role as being the conductor of an orchestra and the key is to find synchronicity. On a surface level, it’s about image-making but the heart of what we do is product. It starts with the fabric and moves to the craft of the cut, proportion, detail and finish. Everything has to be humming together.

What inspired your new autumn-winter collection?
Threading together the 130-year history of Dunhill. In the early 20th century the house developed the original car coat. Then there was the high-deco period of the 1920s before the more refined, late 20th-century era that is synonymous with the tuxedo, like the one that Dunhill made for Truman Capote’s Black and White Ball. That legacy will inspire every season. My intention is to bore people with consistency while delighting them with newness. 

Have men’s attitudes towards tailoring shifted?
Everything is cyclical. The casualisation of menswear affected brands that specialised in tailoring. But I believe that the pendulum has swung back and it’s a responsibility to make Dunhill part of that conversation. For a generation that grew up starved of anything resembling a dress code, [tailoring] has become a choice and a badge of discerning, individualistic style.
dunhill.com

best for bespoke
Blazé

For its first shop opening, Blazé Milano chose the elegant Via Santo Spirito, part of Milan’s famous quadrilatero d’Oro district. The prime spot is testament to how far the label has come since its 2013 inception. “It was time to consolidate what we’ve established,” says Corrada Rodriguez d’Acri, a co-founder of the brand alongside Maria Sole Torlonia and Delfina Pinardi. “We needed to create our own little corner of paradise.” As well as its signature blazers, Blazé’s offering now extends to sunglasses, a denim line and a range of jackets in fabrics such as bouclé, velvet and camel hair. An atelier corner is prepped with books of cloth samples, lining fabrics and buttons for clients seeking to commission a bespoke blazer. There’s no better way to spend a Milanese afternoon.
blaze-milano.com

best for workwear
Henry’s

Patternmaker and tailor Keith Henry runs his men’s workwear label, Henry’s, on his own. You’ll usually find him in his Toronto studio, cutting curved lines of dark selvage denim, stitching pockets on deadstock Japanese corduroy and contorting military shapes. Given his limited stock runs, securing one of Henry’s pieces feels like going on a scavenger hunt. “I don’t want to dilute my work by flooding the market,” he tells monocle. “Seasonal calendars are driven by manufacturing cycles but I work alone, which frees me to release these as I please.”
wearhenrys.com

best for fragrance
Fendi

As it approaches its centenary, Fendi delves into the world of fragrance for the first time. Its new collection consists of seven perfumes, each inspired by different figures from the family. The scents evoke the Fendis’ hometown of Rome using ingredients such as Madagascan vanilla, Calabrian bergamot and Moroccan orange blossom. And the brand has named them after some of their most frequently used phrases, from Ciao Amore to Perché No (Italian for “why not”).
fendi.com

best for spice
Morjas

“Our philosophy is to do a few things really well,” says Henrik Berg of Morjas. The shoe and accessories brand that he launched in 2017 reflects his Spanish-Swedish heritage, with its Scandinavian-inclined “less is more” design ethos and “passionate and warm” Spanish spirit.

 Berg describes this blend as his way of adding spice to a more classic menu. It’s visible in the brand’s products but also in the design of its flagship shop in Stockholm: against a backdrop of wood panelling and exposed beams are red marble tables and art deco lamps. “[These are] little spices,” says Berg, “things that are more futuristic, a little bit chic and a little bit sexy.”

Recently Berg worked with Chris Black and Jason Stewart, the duo behind hit podcast How Long Gone, to launch a limited-edition boat shoe. It came about after Morjas created custom wedding shoes for Stewart to accommodate his larger feet. 

Morjas’s Stockholm flagship has its own café. On offer is the traditional Spanish breakfast pan con tomate. It’s the only thing on the menu but, just like Morjas’s signature loafers, it’s executed to perfection.
morjas.com

best for accessorising
Hermès

It was in the 1830s that Hermès made a name for itself by perfecting harnesses and saddles for horses. The brand is now a leader in all things leather and its signature Birkin and Kelly bags increase in value so much that they are said to make better investments than gold.

The brand has been expanding into other segments, fine jewellery and watches in particular. These autumn-winter pieces, including a sturdy cuff, leather choker and charm necklaces and bracelets (pictured), will provide the perfect finish to any look.
hermes.com