Felice Anno Nuovo!

33,000ft was once a place filled with great emotion – I remember reading Bon Voyage messages from my niece and nephews on my flight to my new life overseas back in 2004 and reaching for my handkerchief to stem the flow. But that was before I found what I was looking for..

Now, with a boisterous family in tow and a place to finally call home the only emotion I feel boarding this flight to Pisa is one of excitement as I head to my third Pitti Uomo in Florence.

Naturally, I feel a pang as I will miss my family awfully, though I’ll confess that I am looking forward to sleeping in a bed without my entire family in it! And although the lure of a good night’s sleep or even four nights has obviously contributed, it still took me until Friday night to decide whether or not to make the pilgrimage to the first Pitti Uomo of 2019, call me indecisive. But here we are, taxiing down the runway in flight mode.

Though indecisive I may be, I need no encouragement to put pen to paper, in fact, I am elated for it is such a long time since I have and so much has happened since I did.

Now, 2019 does not only mark a milestone in my career in the tailoring trade – 10 years would you believe – but on the 1st January whilst we were recovering from our New Years festivities – nothing too strenuous, Saffron Darby and I stayed home with good friends Martyn Cross the artist and Lara Cross the artist’s wife, played some records and sang along to Level 42’s Running in the Family (there is video evidence) – there was a Birthday..

Brown in Town turned 5yrs old..!

On January 1st 2014 Saffron Darby and I opened the doors of our own tailoring house. Having moved to Bristol exactly 5yrs earlier on January 1st 2010, to open the first of many studios around the country for A Suit That Fits – and when that suit did not fit so well (sic), we decided to cut another one; our own one. And I’m very pleased that we did.

And whilst the auspiciousness of the first day of a new year has motivated some of my decisions in the past, I confess that my motivation this year was one of rest and recuperation.

And just as I must thank my children, not to mention Early Man on dvd for the lie-in, I must also thank you all for your support and patronage over the years, for without you there would be no Brown in Town.

So as the last leg of my journey carries me down the tracks towards the architecturally splendid Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence, I bid you addio and Felice Anno Nuovo!

See you in a week..