I recently cut myself a suit out of a length of escorial wool, never having worked with the cloth before. From the Escorial Group’s website- Escorial is a rare and luxurious wool from a small sheep originating from the Spanish Royal flocks of El Escorial, today only to be found in small numbers in Australia and New Zealand. The Escorial difference is in the heart of the fibre, performing as a naturally coiled spring. ThisRead More
A story, translated (and slightly condensed) from the website of the tailor who made the suit we most recently dissected. If i recall correctly, about ten or fifteen years ago I was visited by a client who was not particularly elegant but who was wearing a suit from a very famous and expensive brand. Despite the expensive suit, he seemed to me to be a mannequin in grey chalk stripes. The client, who was givenRead More
I received an email from a reader and I thought it sufficiently interesting to pass on in its full, unadulterated format, while I collect my thoughts for the conclusion to the series of posts on that coat. Thanks go out to Seth for sending this! (Links inserted were mine) Since I have profited, as an obsessive hobbyist who attempts significant alterations, from your knowledge and instruction, I thought I would take the opportunity to offerRead More
If you missed the previous post about the mystery disaster suit, go back and start there. This week we look a bit at the cut and the inside of the coat. First impression? This is very reminiscent of old Anderson and Sheppard cutting. Either the original owner had a very tiny waist, or, more likely, this was cut for a normal person but a liberal amount of drape was cut in the chest and blades,Read More
I struggle to understand this garment. I truly do. Voxsartoria sent me a suit that he had acquired from the original owner. The coat was made in Naples by a fairly well-known and sought-after tailor, and the trousers were made by an even more well-known trouser maker, also in Naples. It is fairly common practice to farm out work like this. First, a look at some of the external, cosmetic things. There is so muchRead More
Wikipedia defines Sprezzatura as follows: an Italian word originating from Baldassare Castiglione’s The Book of the Courtier, where it is defined by the author as “a certain nonchalance, so as to conceal all art and make whatever one does or says appear to be without effort and almost without any thought about it”. I find it somewhat amusing that the writer should use a foreign (French) word, nonchalance, to help define another foreign word, butRead More
Francesco Smalto, pictured above, passed away last month.I once had the opportunity to examine one of the coats made in his Paris atelier, and posted a video showing some of the work being done. Those who fetishize hand work should absolutely love his stuff, though the styling may not be for everybody. Kirby recently reached out to me to offer another, more recent example of their work, Kirby of the Hanger Project, whose website sellsRead More
Carpu65 posted a page from an issue of the Tailor and Cutter magazine from 1954. It is an article by J. King Wilson on his recollection of the drafts of Frederick Scholte, the “inventor” of the Drape cut. He admits that his memory may be a bit fuzzy, but this draft is interesting nonetheless, for several reasons. He gives the size as a 40″ chest. The half waist is approximately 21″, one can’t say forRead More
The shears I ordered in the fall finally came! Handmade in a limited number, these things are beautiful! Now to decide what I’m going to cut first with them… Thanks to Isaac for organizing this!
Zegna has closed its Padova factory, the one that was producing the Zegna Couture and Tom Ford products, both of which I thought were superbly made. 230 people were to be put out of work, with an offer of a transfer to other locations (production is being transferred to a plant in Novarra). On the bright side, that means there will be highly-skilled technicians available to be scooped up by manufacturers around the world whoRead More
