"Is Japan the new international center for bespoke suits, shirts and shoes?"
This was the arresting proposition put forward on May 22 at the "Japanese Bespoke Menswear: Thomas Mason and Permanent Style" symposium held at the Quartz Gallery in Shibuya, Tokyo, where some of Japan's most celebrated menswear ambassadors gathered to outline their views and tell their individual stories.
The event, part of an international series sponsored by the textile manufacturers Albini Group, drew around 200 industry heavyweights, style journalists, and an assortment of Tokyo's most style-conscious men for a panel discussion, chaired by influential London-based author and journalist Simon Crompton of Permanent Style, a world leading menswear blog.