Tweed Pig Pin-Up - Francis Bown

Francis Bown reviews bespoke outfitters, restaurants and hotels through his websites: Bown's Bespoke and Bown's Best. He offers advice, through personal experience, on where to find the best place to have your suit made and the best hotel or restaurant to enjoy wearing it.

Gentleman, writer & bespoke hardliner

Francis writes with charm and genuine affection about his subject matter. You may or may not agree wholeheartedly with his ten commandments or his reviews, but he presents an alternative position to the pervading culture of fast fashion and fast food. In so doing, it might be said that his championing of the artisan possesses a hint of rebelliousness even.

When did Francis first become interested in bespoke clothing? Let's find out...

About the Photo

Francis explains:

"I think I must have been born with an interest in good clothes, for I have no recollection of a time when sartorial matters did not fascinate me. I like order, discipline, ‘correctness’ and fine workmanship. All these come together in a beautiful bespoke suit or a pair of bespoke shoes.

Glimpse of heaven

"I spent many years as a clergyman of the Church of England. (I resigned my parish and converted to Roman Catholicism, because I believed that the creation of women ‘priests’ was an act of apostasy.) When I was a parish priest (of an inner-city parish which was far from affluent), it was my constant endeavour in public worship to offer to God only the best. Part of that endeavour involved the use of the most beautiful liturgical vestments I could obtain. This I viewed as an imperative – both because it reflected the dignity of what was happening and because it assisted in that “glimpse of Heaven” which is a part of every Mass.

Seemliness

"Now that I dress in secular clothes, smartness is a requirement which reflects my own desire for seemliness and – more importantly – which speaks of my respect for all the people with whom I have to do, whatever their function or social rank. It is therefore a question of morality. The prevailing cult of scruffiness degrades its practitioners and indicates an unpleasant indifference to the dignity and worth of others. When I go to a restaurant, for example, it is deeply depressing to see those who consider it acceptable to arrive as a slovenly shambles and who then expect to be treated with the utmost respect by waiters for whom they clearly care not a jot.

Bown's Bespoke

"I began to write about sartorial matters for the news agency, Reuters. I was already producing restaurant reviews for the agency’s website, and it was suggested to me that I should also broadcast my thoughts on sartorial matters to the site’s readers. When the site eventually closed, I decided that Bown’s Bespoke and Bown’s Best should be born.

Sartorial greatness

"I love true bespoke, but, of course, I understand that for many gentlemen – particularly younger gentlemen – true bespoke is simply too expensive for their current circumstances. But remember that a ready-to-wear cotton tunic shirt can be obtained relatively cheaply from one of the lawyers’ shops on or near Chancery Lane in London and a separate white, starched collar from the same shops will not cost more than £12. To wear such a shirt with a stiff collar has been the first step to sartorial greatness for many a young fellow.

The Commandments

"I urge everyone who cares about his appearance to study my Ten Commandments. There I counsel perfection – of course, I do – and some will find this annoying. But, if a thing is truly desired, it is strange how often life has a pleasing habit of fulfilling one’s dream, sometimes in the least expected way.

Respect and courtesy

"I am by nature conservative, and my taste in clothes is conservative. And I want the best. It is fortunate, therefore, that I live in London – for the best means what I am wearing in the photograph: a bespoke suite from Henry Poole in Savile Row, bespoke shoes from Cleverley & Co. in the Royal Arcade and a bespoke shirt from Harvie & Hudson in Jermyn Street. Dressed thus, a gentleman is ready to encounter the high and the low and – with the good manners which go with sartorial propriety – to treat both with respect and courtesy."

Photography by Jack Hill.