Before we had Tumblr, WordPress, and Blogspot, some of the best menswear blogs were obscure Japanese sites that looked like they were designed during the heydays of Geocities. Centipede and Cobbler’s Web were among the best, but neither have been updated for a while. Until now, anyway. Cobbler’s Web is apparently posting again – both as a blog and on Instagram – under the name “Not Fashion, but Style.” (It’s admittedly a bit corny, but I’m hardly one to judge bad blog titles).
The blog is unfortunately written in Japanese, so unless you know the language, you’ll have to rely on the rough translations provided by Google Translate. He does write some English captions on his Instagram account though. There, you’ll find photos of bespoke shoes from G.J. Cleverley, Koji Suzuki, and John Lobb of St. James in London; vintage Edward Greens from the early John Hlustik days; and suits from Henry Poole and Liverano & Liverano. There’s also the only known (headless) selfie of the man behind the site, which I’ve included at the end of this post.
