It’s not often that a cartoon chicken head completes an outfit... but then no one does Instagram style like Manish Puri.
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There are many people in menswear who take themselves too seriously. Manish Puri is not one of them. Puri, a columnist for Permanent Style, has made a name for himself in sartorial circles. His Instagram account, The Daily Mirror, documents his day-to-day fits, ranging from Cuban-collared shirts and pleated shorts by Scott Fraser Collection to razor-sharp Anthology suits. But you won’t see any thousand-yard stares or ‘candid’ smiles. Instead, Puri edits each photo with a cartoon chicken head replacing his own. “It signifies that I’m not taking myself very seriously”, he says. “I try to keep things pretty light. I think that’s why it’s got a little bit of a following. It was just like, ‘Yeah, you made me laugh, you’re relatable’, and that’s kind of all I want to be described as, really.”
Puri’s loafers are John Lobb’s Lopez model, worn with London Sock Company socks. “I only got these shoes a few days prior [to the photoshoot]. My friend from Australia bought them but they didn’t fit, so he kindly gifted them to me.”
Puri doesn’t tend to carry much when on the move, but this bag from Peplor holds most of his essentials. A Ricoh GR3 camera accompanies him on his travels.
Generous peak lapels are combined with an expertly tied four-in-hand knot. For his pocket-square (opposite), Puri improvised, revisiting Hindu white handkerchiefs.
Another gift from his girlfriend is this key chain. It reads, ‘Round and round, and back home again’, a quote from ‘The Wheel’ episode of Mad Men.
A selection of jewellery, from pins to bracelets. “There’s a badge from when I was a school prefect, which I haven’t thrown away, as well as a pin of a horseshoe crab, which was a gift from my girlfriend, Gemma.”
One of Puri’s favourite watches is this Russian-made Raketa, with its square case, silver dial, and matching metal bracelet.
His wider watch collection, made up of mostly vintage Soviet pieces, paired with a mixture of Nato and leather straps. Puri’s sunglasses are made by Tejesta, acquired from Astrologo Ottica in Rome.
Puri has had a 20-year career in financial services, but menswear has always been a part of his life. “As the son of an immigrant, growing up, there was often a lot of caution and conservatism,” he says. “But because he’s from a textile town in India, and his family made knitwear, the one thing my dad enjoyed was clothes. If you said, ‘Oh, Dad, I want a leather jacket’, he’d be like, ‘Yeah, cool’. It was the one thing where he would say yes to everything.”
Jacket and trousers are from The Anthology; the jacket is a heavy linen and the bottoms are high-twist wool. His shirt is by 100Hands, who manufacture close to where his family lives in northern India. The tie is by Sevenfold in Florence.
Read the full Pocket Guide in Issue 90, available now.
