G. Bruce Boyer voor Cigar Aficionado

[Daedalus]

Published Winter 1996

Tying the Knot
Return of a Classic: The Seven-Fold Tie
By G. Bruce Boyer


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Well, I can tell you," says John Haller, vice president at Robert Talbott Inc., the most renowned U.S. tiemaker, "that our more expensive lines of neckwear are selling better than our starting lines."

Which just goes to confirm what I've been thinking lately, namely, that ties are coming back. I base my theory on the ironically commonplace observation that fewer men are forced to wear them. All this business about casual wear at the office has left men with the choice to tie or not to tie, and so neckwear has finally come full circle to where it was some three centuries earlier: an object of pure ornamentation and aesthetic delight.

Since ties need no longer be the symbols of conformity and regimentation, men are free to take real pride in their selections, rather than grumbling and muttering as they sling any old piece of tattered cloth around their necks because it's part of the uniform. Ties become part of that array of little gifts, those affordable luxuries if you will, that bring a satisfaction and repose often denied to the deeper moments of life: a wonderful cigar or fine glass of Port, a handsome pair of cashmere socks, or that wonderful little antique leather photo frame we saw in the shop window the other day. Just the thing to celebrate making it through another frenzied week.

But the surest proof I can muster as evidence that neckwear is gaining in popularity is the recent return of the seven-fold tie. Never heard of it? It is the stuff of legend, the consummation of craftsmanship, the dream of dandies and the pride of collectors of fine menswear everywhere. Let me fill you in a bit on that.

The Edwardian years, from the 1880s to the First World War, were the salad days for bespoke accoutrement: a gentleman would even have his raincoat and umbrella custom-made. Spats and silk top hats were still in vogue, as were walking sticks and boutonnieres. Tailors sewed a loop of thread behind the left lapel buttonhole to hold the stem of the flower securely in place. There were even tiny glass bottles that were filled with water and secured by the loop, to keep the boutonniere fresh. These boutonniere bottles are collector's items today, relics of a lost time.

The matter of neckwear was of particular concern. Had not Oscar Wilde written in The Importance of Being Earnest that "a well-tied tie is the first serious step in life"? There was much more variety and individualism to neckwear then than there is today. There were, of course, cravats (the famous Ascot being only one of a dozen popular styles), bow ties (tied symmetrically and asymmetrically), and literally dozens of ways of knotting a long tie besides the four-in-hand style that is de rigeur today. It was this fertile period that laid the groundwork for the renowned seven-fold.

As early as 1828, the prolific French writer Honoré de Balzac had written, under a nom de plume, a treatise entitled "The Art of Tying the Cravat," which contained lessons on making 32 different knots. Instructive volumes of that type acted as something of a sartorial bridge between the great Regency dandies of the 1810s and '20s and their Edwardian grandsons.

Neckwear, as the earlier nineteenth century had understood it, was a large muslin scarf, folded over several times to form the shape of a band anywhere from four to eight inches high and perhaps three feet long. It was wrapped several times around the neck and knotted in some fashion over the throat. Over the succeeding decades, however, neckwear began to evolve from this thickly folded scarf to a narrow band easily knotted under the smaller, stiff collars that became standard for businessmen's shirting.

To avoid damage due to the inevitable wrinkling as the tie was knotted and unknotted again and again, superior tiemakers relied on the finest silks, turning the fabric in on itself several times to provide stability and resiliency. Experimentation led to the discovery that, if the finest silks were used, folding the fabric in on itself seven times proved the perfect tie: body without bulk, resiliency without stiffness. That meant using a whole square yard of fabric for each tie! The seven-fold became the epitome of the tiemaker's art, fashionable with the celebrated haberdashers of London, Paris and New York in the early years of this century. It wasn't until later, in the 1920s, that tiemakers found a cheaper way to make ties by using smaller strips of material cut on the bias, stitching them together in several sections, and using wool linings to give some added body to flimsier silks.

As cheaper, mechanized methods of producing these section-sewn ties quickly replaced the artisans, and as the price of superior silk increased dramatically over the decades, the seven-fold tie slowly disappeared, vanishing by the late 1940s. Up until a few years ago, it seemed all but forgotten, one of those fashion dinosaurs doomed by an age of McEverything.

But now for the good news: two species of the rara avis, this crown jewel of neck ties, have been found alive and well--one in the United States, the other in Italy.

In the mid-1980s, Robert Talbott Inc. of Carmel, California, decided to revive the seven-fold. It began as a labor of love. Robert Talbott, the company's founder, had been familiar with the seven-fold, and even had a pattern. It had been shown to him back in the 1950s by one of his employees, a woman named Lydia Grayson, who had learned the prestigious seven-fold technique as a teenager working in a Chicago neckwear factory during the late 1920s.

But the project lay dormant as other concerns occupied Talbott. "Then, as I recall," muses company executive John Haller, "back in 1984 Mr. Talbott phoned Mrs. Grayson, who had since retired, and asked her if she remembered how to make the seven-fold. She did indeed, and he convinced her to come out of retirement to train a small staff specifically to hand-craft seven-folds. He had apparently kept this idea about making the world's finest tie in his mind all those years." Talbott, who died in June 1986, lived long enough to see that dream come true.

In Naples, Italy, the acclaimed tailoring firm of Kiton decided several years ago to set aside a section of its factory to hand-production of the seven-fold. "Kiton has a reputation for artisanship in tailoring," says Andrew Tanner, spokesman for the company, "and the firm was interested in reviving this tradition in neckwear, especially since we had a business association with the famed Neapolitan shirtmaking firm of Luigi Borrelli. This area of Italy is renowned for artisans of all sorts, and we were able to find people who knew how to make the tie."

The great irony of making the handsome seven-fold--whether by Robert Talbott or Kiton--is that it is a skill-intensive business, yet utter simplicity itself. The cutter starts with a square yard of finest silk. Talbott favors exclusive silks from a small mill in northern Italy. Unlike other ties, the seven-fold's architecture is devoid of extraneous linings. Instead, the fabric, roughly the equivalent of what would be needed for a woman's blouse, is meticulously hand-folded in on itself--three times on one side, four on the other--the silk creating its own lining as the creases are gently pressed into rolling folds. The back seam is hand-sewn together, and that's it. Simple, of course, as long as you know how to control the folds, how to hand-press them into shape and how to meticulously hand-sew them with invisible stitches so the silhouette will drape and tie perfectly. Piece of cake if you know how to do that.

"At Kiton, we prefer the heavier 40-ounce English twill-printed silks," says Tanner. "This is a special silk purchased from the David Evans Company in Suffolk, the only firm left that does the real 'ancient madder' dyeing process. They use an indigo over-dye that imparts a muted, subtle coloration, which goes well with the slightly chalky hand of the fabric." Whether Italian or English, the silk used in one tie can cost as much as $50.

The other real distinction between the two tiemakers is the way the ends of the ties are finished. Called the large and small aprons, these ends are either hand-rolled and edge-sewn (the Talbott method), or faced with the same material as the tie itself (called "tipping"--Kiton's preferred technique). Talbott aficionados will argue that hand-rolling has a classic simplicity, while fans of Kiton consider tipping a more finished look. This remains purely a matter of taste.

In either case, we are talking about a collectible item in every sense of the word. Only a handful of these beauties are made every year. Talbott restricts its output to a mere 40 ties in each pattern it makes, and produces several dozen patterns per year (ties priced at $175). Kiton's production is slightly larger, with the silks woven and dyed to exclusive designs (priced at $155).

Interestingly, both firms say they are selling more and more ties to younger men, a sure sign that ties are making a comeback. What could be a more golden portent in a tarnished age of dress than that! While Robert Talbott and Kiton stand guard over a nearly bygone era of sophisticated elegance, it's impossible to resist thinking that prodigal taste may be returning to the fold.

A frequent contributor to Cigar Aficionado, G. Bruce Boyer is the author of Eminently Suitable (W.W. Norton, 1990).

For information on where to find the seven-fold tie, call Kiton at (212) 702-0136, extension 12, or Robert Talbott at (800) 747-8778.

[Daedalus]

Published Summer 1995

A Cut Above
High-Tech Manufacturing has Transformed Modern Fabrics into Lightweight Cloth for Everyday Wear
by G. Bruce Boyer


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"Well, when it comes to cloth, you can talk about the fineness of the weave, the feel, the weight or a dozen other things, but the main questions are how will it be worn and how will it wear."

Forget about the trendy suit made out of 100 percent recycled-polyester beverage bottles. We're talking about the real thing. Tony Holland, chairman of Holland & Sherry of Savile Row, London, the British woolen merchant that sells a goodly portion of the world's top-quality cloths, is expounding on what to look for in fine fabrics. "The essential consideration is what type of clothing is going to be made from it. Are you looking for a new business suit, something to wear regularly to the office? Or is it to be an eye-stopping sports jacket that you'll put on once or twice a season to go to the country club? It's not unlike buying a car: there's a big difference between a Land Rover and a Rolls and a Volkswagen. They're all wonderful cars in their way, but with decidedly different uses. What's your objective? That's the question to ask."

Exactly. "In England we say it's like 'horses for courses,'" offers James Sheed, North American manager for the prestigious Anglo-French fabric house of Dormeuil. "Meaning that you pick the horse depending on the race: jumpers are for the steeplechase, and flat runners are for the track. Performance is based on character. It's the same with cloth. Linen is totally different from superfine woolen. You never want a cloth with loose construction or a rough hand, but beyond that you've got to know what kind of race you want it to run."

With fashions returning to decidedly classic styling, the real excitement is coming from fabrics, especially those constructed to allow for the newer, "softer" dressing. Men have realized today that they can be elegant and still be comfortable, that dignity and ease are not as mutually exclusive as they were for our Victorian forebears. And living in climate-controlled environments, we don't need all that heavy, stiffly padded, dark clothing. "Our Sportex line, which we invented in 1922, was considered the cloth of sports champions," says Sheed. "It was wonderful Scottish cheviot cloth, worn by all the great golfers and tennis stars of that era. It weighed 20 ounces. Today we make the same weave and similar patterns in a cloth that weighs a mere 12 ounces. That's the real story behind the fashion news." Fabrics are becoming softer to the touch and lighter in weight, which makes for a decidedly comfortable approach to dressing. If a man goes from his air-conditioned home to his air-conditioned car to his air-conditioned office and back again, the notion of summer and winter wardrobes loses some of its relevance.

Yet if you're going to invest in some new gear you hope to hold on to for more than a season or two--and with the price of clothing today, you certainly should want to--how do you know you're getting good cloth?

Everyone in the clothing business today, from CEOs of fabric houses and cloth merchants to tailors and manufacturers, agrees that the technology of making cloth has improved so much in the past quarter century that clothing is a whole new story.

"Up until World War II, men's tailored clothing was still a pretty bulky, unyielding affair," explains Ken Bates, president of the textile firm of Roger La Viale. "There were a few lightweight summer suitings, such as cotton seersucker, but most suiting was still in the 14-ounce-and-heavier range. Even the linens and silks were much heavier and stiffer than we would consider comfortable today, and many men simply wore light-colored flannels, as opposed to lightweight ones. Winter suiting was absolutely bulletproof: thick tweeds and worsteds customarily weighing 16 to 18 ounces per yard. A man would be wearing 10 pounds or so of unyielding wool on his back. Things have changed considerably."

Thank the gods. Today we tend to forget that men sweltered away in un-air-conditioned offices, encased in pounds of scratchy wool, not to mention the layers of fabric in the collars and ties tightly wrapped around their necks. Men were forbidden to remove their jackets in many offices. That was considered a sign of moral depravity.

Then came the invention of tropical worsteds, in which finer threads were woven to produce lighter weights that were as resistant to wrinkles as heavier cloth was. It was the harbinger of today's advances.

"Technology has made the difference," says Neal Boyarsky, president of Beckenstein Men's Fabrics, a leading cloth merchant in New York City. "The looms that do the weaving, for example, are much more sophisticated than they were even a decade ago. They can weave finer yarns at a higher density; computers allow for more intricate use of color and pattern, and new techniques for twisting the yarns and finishing the cloth have emerged." Beckenstein's mainstay is the line of fine British and Italian cloth from the woolen houses of Scabal and Wain Shiell. "While we carry traditional-weight tweeds, worsteds and flannels," acknowledges Boyarsky, "our emphasis is on the newer luxury lightweights: nine-ounce wool crepes, Super 130s worsteds and very lightweight blends of Super 120s worsted and cashmere."

Everyone agrees that woolen cloth is the best thing that ever happened to tailored clothing. The first revolution in men's dress occurred at the end of the eighteenth century, when heavily embroidered silks and satins (along with silver-buckled shoes and powdered wigs) were given up for the more utilitarian, more flexible wool. Historians called it the "Great Renunciation," as men turned their sartorial backs on gorgeousness in favor of somber utility. Wool has indeed proved itself. It can be produced in a variety of weights, takes color well, resists wrinkling, breathes and generally cleans up better than other natural fabrics. It also tailors well because woolen cloth has natural draping qualities.

The biggest advance in woolens today is the story of the "Supers." Over the 6,000 years or so that wool has been woven into fabric, there have been several main systems of categorization: the "blood system," is based on the bloodline, or breed of sheep; the "count system," based on the number of yards of yarn that can be spun from a pound of wool; and the newest, the "micron system," which separates wool into 16 grades according to the average fiber diameter as measured by a micrometer. This method is the most scientifically sophisticated, particularly when you consider that a micron (the basic measurement) is .00004 of an inch.

Well, we don't need a lot of statistics, do we? Not among friends. The point of the micron system is that the fineness of the cloth can actually be categorized and labeled, a job that has been done by the National Wool Textile Export Corporation of Britain. The quality designation "Super" refers to a micron count of fewer than 20 (the number refers to the diameter of the wool fiber itself). The finer the fibers, the smaller the micron count, and thus the more expensive the cloth. Super 80s have a micron count of 19.5, while Super 150s have a count of 15.5, which is as fine as it comes at the moment.

"Actually, you wouldn't really want to go much lighter than that," explains Stanley Cohen, president of Isles Textile Group, merchant for an array of fine British woolens. "Only the finest tailors can work with the superlight cloths, ones under eight ounces or so. Weight, after all, isn't the only issue. The cloth should have good drape, resiliency and a luxurious hand."

A standard-sized suit needs four yards of cloth. If it's made from Supers, you can expect to pay more, certainly upward of $200 per yard and upward of $500 for Super 150s. But you can expect to get considerably more. The fibers are finer and lighter in weight, as well as stronger: a pound of Super 100s can be spun into a thread of wool 31 miles long. This means that when the cloth is actually woven, more threads can be packed into the weave without increasing the weight and bulkiness of the cloth. The results are said to be "high performance": wonderful drape and wrinkle resistance without additional heft.

"I'd say that a full 60 percent of our business is in Super 150s cloth," says Andrew Tanner, spokesman for the Italian clothing firm of Kiton, often regarded as the world's top manufacturer of luxury tailored clothing (suits retail for $2,500 and up). "We like to use an eight-and-a-half-ounce merino wool, which in today's environment is really a year-round cloth."

There are other luxury cloths, of course. Woolen houses like Scabal, Wain Shiell, Loro Piana, Dormeuil, Holland & Sherry and Ermenegildo Zegna all produce superb cashmeres, high-twist worsteds, flannel and cashmere blends. This is actually the second point to remember about cloths: always trust the name on the label and selvage (the strip of tape that runs along the edge of the cloth). Top woolen firms and fabric houses are the best guarantee of quality there is.

"As the largest weavers of cashmere in the world, I can tell you with confidence that name is a guarantee of top quality," states Aldo Moschini of Loro Piana. "There are so many different qualities in the marketplace today. Top-quality cashmere has certain characteristics: it has a hand that is soft yet substantially firm, and the nap of the cloth should run in one direction and recover instantly when it is brushed against the grain. This is called a beaver finish, but it's really more like the sensation of stroking a cat." Good cashmere won't pull, and with a little care and consideration, a quality cashmere sports jacket will age extremely gracefully.

The latest development along these rather sybaritic lines is worsted cashmere. Up until just a few short years ago, cashmere, like flannel, was always woven with a napped surface. But in the past decade or so there have been successful experiments with worsted-woven cashmere, in which the yarn is combed flat before being woven. This process gives it a smooth, silky hand while retaining all the wonderful properties of supple softness and the ability to take deep, rich colors as well as infinitely subtle ones. In the words of Linda Richman--the Mike Myers character from "Saturday Night Live" who adores Barbra Streisand--the cloth is "like buttah" and in fact can be woven in weights comfortable enough for warm weather.

In luxury cloths, though, the big news is the return of vicuña--the smallest of the South American llamas--whose undercoat is considered unequaled for softness and beauty. The ungulate lives in flocks in the higher reaches of the Andes of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. In the past, because it was undomesticated, it was commonly killed for shearing. Herds became so small that the animal was put on the endangered species list, and the production and sale of vicuña cloth was made illegal throughout the world in the early 1970s.

Then the Peruvian government set about to restore the population and find a way to shear the beasts without harming them. This has now been accomplished, and it is a great success story in the fabric industry. The Peruvian government has awarded the worldwide distribution rights to Loro Piana. Through a joint arrangement, the Peruvians will control the processing and weaving and Loro Piana will handle the finishing and distribution. As a result, one of the true luxury cloths will be available once again. In case you're interested, vicuña cloth--whether woolen- or worsted-woven--will retail for more than $1,000 per yard.

Each cloth has its own character. Each is like a child with his own personality. Crepes have a "pebbly" hand (and a granular appearance) and are virtually impervious to wrinkles. Tweeds are often called "lofty" because of their spongy hand and have incomparable depth of color and texture. Many high twists have a "dry" and "crisp" hand, which produces a lively, springy impression. Cashmere takes the most subtle coloration and lays with a calm luster.

These finer, lighter-weight fabrics are specifically constructed to accommodate a softer approach to tailored clothing. If the 1980s were characterized by the power suit, the '90s have eased us into less construction and more supple fabrics. The softer suit is part of the trend toward a more relaxed, understated approach to business wear: Armani's designs, sweater coats, casual Fridays, mélange dressing, all point in that direction. If we're comfortable inside our homes, offices and cars, why not in our clothes?

G. Bruce Boyer is the author of Eminently Suitable (1990), 206 pages, W.W. Norton, $19.95.


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A Glossary of Cloth Terms Worth Knowing
Cashmere: Knit or woven cloth from the downy undercoat of the cashmere goat, found mainly in Kashmir, Tibet and Mongolia. The hair is characterized by an exceptional silkiness and strength, so the cloth produced from it is both soft and warm without being either heavy or coarse. The supply of raw cashmere is stable and limited, while demand continues to grow. As a result, cashmere cloth is decidedly expensive.

Cheviot: The name of the sheep (from the Cheviot Hills that mark the boundary between England and Scotland), the wool, and the cloth that comes from them. Characterized as sturdy and rugged, the cloth has a slightly harsh and crisp hand. It is used mainly for cold-weather suiting, sports jackets and overcoats.

Crepe (wool): Used first for women's suiting and now for men's as well, the cloth is woven of highly twisted yarn, giving it a pebbly hand and grainy appearance. It is very wrinkle resistant and, when produced with fine woolen yarn, makes good warm-weather suiting.

Drape: The characteristic of flexibility and suppleness in a fabric. Cloth that follows the bodily configurations nicely is said to have good drape.

Flannel: From the Welsh word for wool, gwlanen, a soft, loosely woven woolen with a napped surface on both sides. Today, flannel comes in a variety of weights--from eight to 15 ounces--and is considered ideal for all suiting except summer wear; it is less formal in appearance and more easily wrinkled than worsteds.

Hand: Short for "handle" (meaning to feel), the quality or characteristic of fabric perceived by the sense of touch; hand covers the tactile qualities of cloth.

High Twist: Wool cloth in which the yarn has been lightly twisted before being woven. This produces a springy, crisp, wrinkle-resistant cloth that has a dry, pebbly hand. It drapes well and has been taken up these past few years as lightweight men's suiting. Sometimes called "cool wool" and "high-performance" worsted.

Micron System: The current and most scientific method of grading wool. A micron is one millionth of a meter (.00004 of an inch), and micron counts refer to the actual diameter of the wool's fibers. The two important points to remember are 1) the smaller the micron count, the finer the fiber, and 2) in the "Super" labeling system, the higher the number, the finer the cloth. Thus, Super 80s cloth has a micron count of 19.5, while Super 150s has a count of 15.5.

Selvage: The narrow border or edge of the cloth, attached when weaving to prevent unraveling. The trade name is usually woven into the selvage and is a guarantee of the cloth's quality.

Super Wools: Finer-worsted cloth resulting from the weaving of fibers with a micron count of fewer than 20. At the moment, Super 150s are the finest quality, but the clear direction of technology is to make finer, lighter cloths all the time.

Tweed: Rough and hairy, tweeds (the most famous being Donegal, Harris and Shetland, from their places of origin), were usually heavier cloth (from 14 to 24 ounces) and used for cold-weather suiting, sports jackets and topcoats. More recently, fabric houses such as Holland & Sherry and Dormeuil have produced tweeds that have all the beautiful characteristics of the traditional cloth but with less than one-third the weight. Dormeuil's Sportex tweed, originally woven at 20 ounces, is now produced at 12 ounces; Holland & Sherry, whose original Shetlands weighed in at 14 ounces and more, now produce a line at 11 ounces.

Vicuña: The smallest of a triumvirate of South American llamas (llama, alpaca and vicuña, in order of size), vicuñas grow what is considered the world's most precious animal fiber. Each adult yields only about eight ounces of usable undercoat in a fleece of amazing resilience, strength, beauty and softness. Traditionally the vicuña was killed when sheared; herds became so depopulated that the animal was put on the endangered species list in the 1970s. Now a method has been found to shear the animal without harm, and its numbers are growing. The vicuña is expected to prosper and be removed from the list, and production of its beautiful cloth will soon resume.

Worsteds and Woolens: The two basic types of cloth woven from woolen yarns. Generally speaking (and there are always exceptions), worsteds are smooth finished, tightly woven, strong and wrinkle resistant (examples are serge, gabardine, tropicals and high twists). Woolens are more loosely woven, softer and have an unfinished, napped surface (such as most flannels and tweeds).


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Resources for Fine Cloth
Beckenstein Men's Fabrics, Inc
121 Orchard Street
New York, New York 10002
Telephone: (212) 475-6666

Dormeuil Ltd.
40 Central Park South, Ste. 2
New York, New York 10019
Telephone: (800) 506-4400

Herbert Gladson
200 South Newman Street
Hackensack, New Jersey 07601
Telephone: (800) 227-1724

G.R.M. International
6600 West Rogers Circle, No. 8
Boca Raton, Florida 33487
Telephone: (800) 223-5095

Holland & Sherry
400 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10017
Telephone: (800) 223-6385

Isles Textile Group
917 Broadway
North Massapequa, New York 11758
Telephone: (800) 447-7682

Jodek International
222 North Canon Drive, No. 204
Beverly Hills, California 90210
Telephone: (800) 325-4668

Roger La Viale
135 West 50th Street
New York, New York 10020
Telephone: (800) 223-7186

Loro Piana
46 East 61st Street
New York, New York 10021
Telephone: (800) 637-3774

Rosenthal, Inc.
706 South Fifth Street
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19147
Telephone: (215) 925-1149

Swanson & Frear
Box 31
Mendon, Massachusetts 01756
Telephone: (508) 478-6972

Other inquiries concerning cloth merchants and fabric houses can be made to the Custom Tailors and Designers Association of America, Inc., 17 East 45th Street, New York, New York 10017; Telephone: (212) 661-1960.

[Daedalus]

Published Autumn 1995

The Best Off-the-Rack Wardrobe
by G. Bruce Boyer

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The Duke of Windsor was a stickler for detail. Fanatical when it came to his clothing, he was precise about the number of buttons on his jacket sleeve and the height of his trouser cuff. He had special linings sewn into his custom-made ties to produce the exact thickness of knot he desired, and when he decided that he really preferred American-style trousers with an English-style coat, he simply had his suit jackets made in Savile Row and the trousers made in New York City. It was something of an international compromise, which his wife referred to as "Pants across the Sea." But then, that is not quite as precise as the inclinations of George "Beau" Brummell, the great Regency dandy who reputedly had a different glove maker for each hand.

There are those men who wallow in the very "process" of custom-made clothing,

studiously pouring over the swatch books, luxuriating in the endless discussions of details and the numerous fittings over weeks and months. There is a great deal of pampering as fitters take the corporeal measure of a man, and there is no denying its arcane charm--if you've got the time and the inclination, not to mention a decent tailor and boot maker.

But many of us don't, and we merely want to look well turned-out without all the fuss and bother. We want a well-made suit that fits with minor alterations, one that we can examine and try on, rather than just imagine how it may look.

The problem traditionally has been that the gulf between custom-made and ready-made business wear--tailored clothing, shirts, ties and shoes--was both broad and deep. Selection, in terms of styling and silhouette, has always been rather narrow with ready-to-wear; and assembly-line work cannot begin to duplicate handmade quality. The designer movement in menswear these past two or three decades has only made more men aware of these disparities. There are some designer clothes that have a sense of style but no real quality to them; and then there are one or two quality manufacturers whose idea of brio is someone with all the dash and élan of Henry Kissinger. So the question remains: Where can a man get some stylish-looking quality gear without a lot of endless bother?

Do not despair. There is, as it happens, an international handful of ready-to-wear firms that are every bit the equal of custom quality and styling, firms that employ the finest craftsmen, use only the best materials and have a sense of classic taste.

At a time when hand-tailoring has been in steady decline, a few firms have created an innovative concept as a commercial basis for manufacture: a "factory" of craftsmen. Whether in the United States or Europe, the recipe for producing exemplary ready-to-wear is virtually the same: Success depends upon a happy marriage between technology and craftsmanship.

Success calls for the ability to use technology where it can do a better job and the foresight to keep the craftsmanship where handwork cannot be surpassed. That means using technologically advanced machinery and computers where they can do the most good--recording orders, keeping track of inventories, filing patterns, mailing correspondence and other clerical duties--while also bringing craftsmen together and organizing a workplace for the manufacture of handwork: hand-stitching, hand-cutting, hand-pol-ishing and whatever else cannot be duplicated by machinery.

Let's be clear what we're talking about here. When you have talented craftsmen working with the finest materials--the best woolens, cottons, leathers, horn buttons and the rest of it--the only difference in custom work is the use of individual patterns. With handmade

ready-to-wear, quality is assured, styling is superb and fit depends upon the silhouette a man prefers. And the results at this level of competence must be judged on styling: We are discussing the relative merits of a Rolls versus a Bentley. Prices, needless to say, are as comparable to custom work as is quality.

"There's an almost mystical relationship between mind and hand when it comes to the work of real craftsmen," muses Joseph Barrato, CEO in the United States for the Italian firm of Brioni, tailors extraordinaire for 50 years. In the famous workshops and apprentice school in Penne, in the Abruzzi region of Italy, 200 tailors handcraft suits of impeccable subtlety. "In Italy, they talk about how long it takes to make something, not how quickly it can be pumped out," says Barrato. "The measure of craftsmanship is quality, which means aesthetics married to function. There is still the tradition of taking pride in doing things the best way, rather than the quickest way."

And how long does it take to make a fine suit?

"A single tailor working in a custom tailoring shop can make no more than three jackets a week--and that's the standard," Barrato says. "In Italy, they talk about garments in terms of hours: 'It's a 10-hour suit,' 'a 15-hour coat' and so forth. The artisans at Brioni make an 18-hour coat, which means as much handiwork as in any custom shop."

And it shows: Each jacket is completely hand-cut with scissors; the chest, lapels, collar, armholes, buttonholes, lining, pockets and sleeves are all sewn by hand. Everything is hand-pressed. It is virtually the same way at Kiton, a firm that employs 170 tailors in Naples to make clothing the old-fashioned way. Both Brioni and Kiton limit the number of garments they make to a few thousand per year--or about as many suits as the large clothing factories churn out in a week using laser knives, conveyor belts, a bit of glue and some pressing machines.

Brioni, in fact, has continued the time-honored artisan tradition of apprenticeship by establishing its own senior tailors school to train young people in the craft, the technical aspects of which have a heritage that dates back more than 100 years. And a visit to the Kiton plant in a Naples suburb shows tailors sitting in small groups, doing the work in their laps, one stitching a buttonhole, another a sleeve head. At a worktable across the aisle, a man hand-presses a lining. Many of the tailors have tape measures slung around their necks; it is very much the Old World in a modern setting of space and light.

That experience holds true with the great shoemakers. At the French firm of J.M. Weston, "production moved into a high-tech factory in 1990, but the old cobblers' benches are still used, and the construction methods haven't changed in half a century," says John Ryan, United States sales director. At least 80 percent of each Weston shoe is made by hand, from cutting the leather pattern to final polishing. The firm, which began making shoes and boots at Limoges in 1865, still has its own tannery, to ensure the proper aging of the leathers. Across the Channel--or through the Chunnel, if you will--in the English town of Northampton, Edward Green & Company has been making shoes since 1890, with the skills of the craft handed down from one generation to the next. The firm continues to make the knee-high boots for the Queen's own Household Guard, a tradition begun with Queen Victoria.

"We simply wouldn't think of using glue," says managing director John Hlustik, in a voice that makes you think he would probably thrash you if you mentioned Velcro fasteners. "In fact, we use wild boar bristles for stitching, instead of steel needles, and we make our own twine because it's both thinner and stronger." That's the kind of dedication to craft I'm talking about!

Neither firm, of course, mistakes the frighteningly trendy for style, choosing instead the tried-and-true cap toes and tassel slip-ons, a classic monk strap here, a calfskin-and-linen spectator there. The tremendous variety they offer comes in the form of leathers, finishes and fittings. Sizes and half-sizes in five widths are the norm, and traditional styles usually are available in several different shadings and finishes.

"We are concerned with welted shoes," Hlustik says, "because they are the only ones that can adequately be repaired." Too true, and while we are on the subject, quality shoe manufacturers will, for a modest charge, rehabilitate and rejuvenate your purchase so that you can be well-shod for years and years. That is value for the money.

Shirtmakers have their own set of rules for perfection. Single-needle construction is a must, so that seams don't pucker, and collars must be sewn in layers, rather than be fused (a polite term for gluing). Only the finest long-staple and lustrous cottons and mother-of-pearl buttons are used.

Tie-making is a special art. Some, such as the famous French firm of Hermes, founded in 1837, print their own silk twill in an extremely ornate and complicated silk-screen process. The British firm of Charles Hill produces handmade jacquard-woven silk ties in a variety of weights, from 24 to 50 ounces, the traditional patterns of which are drawn from the archives of historic English silk mills.

The crown jewel of neckwear is the legendary seven-fold tie. The concept of the seven-fold is simplicity itself: A square yard of finest silk is folded in on itself seven times until the tie shape is formed; then it is hand-stitched and pressed. That is all there is to it. No lining is needed to maintain its shape or to tie a perfect knot.

The seven-fold's salad days were the early decades of this century, but as cheaper mechanized production replaced artisan tie makers, and as the price of quality silk rose after the Second World War, the seven-fold all but vanished. Today, there are only two companies that still make the seven-fold: Robert Talbott in the United States and Kiton in Italy.

"The truth is," says famed Biella designer Luciano Barbera, whose family has produced incredibly refined clothing for three generations, "that to make anything well it must be more than a business: It must be a passion." Exactly.


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[Daedalus]

[deel 2]

WHERE TO FIND QUALITY READY-MADE CLOTHING
TAILORED CLOTHING

Baldessarini/Hugo Boss
645 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10022
(212) 940-0600

Founded in 1923 in Metzingen, Germany, Hugo Boss today produces three lines of menswear: a main-stream brand (BOSS), a trendier line (HUGO) and a more expensive group (Baldessarini/Hugo Boss). The Baldessarini line is handmade and uses exclusive fabrics, with a particularly large range of tweed-woven cashmeres in unusual colors. Suits from $1,150 to $1,500, sport jackets from $900 to $1,200 ($1,600 for Super* cashmeres), topcoats from $800 to $2,000.

Luciano Barbera
730 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10019
(212) 315-9500

"To make fine clothing, it's necessary to start with the best fabrics," Luciano Barbera says. And he should know; his father, Carlo, makes some of the world's most exquisite. The superfine merino woolens and cashmeres are all exclusive to the firm, which epitomizes the Milanese school of tailoring: English-style shaping but with that fine Italian hand, creating understated and unobtrusive elegance. Suits at $2,500, sport jackets at $1,900.

Brioni
610 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10020
(212) 956-4155

Since its beginning in 1945, Brioni has specialized in the fashionable "Roman style" of tailoring--the first to define the international approach to contemporary elegance for men: slimming silhouette, luxury fabrics and lightweight construction. The workmanship is impeccable, with everything extremely well thought out, from the shape of a lapel to luxury silk linings and the finest horn buttons. Suits from $2,500, sport jackets from $1,700, topcoats from $2,500.

Kiton
730 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10019
(212) 265-1995

Kiton represents the best of the Neapolitan school of tailoring: closer to the English, but a bit more sensuous and fluid, without all the stiffness and heaviness. A Kiton suit is soft and subtle in shaping. Most of the fabrics are the Super worsteds, cashmeres and silks--lightweight but with excellent drape. Suits and sport jackets from $2,500. Their renowned seven-fold tie is priced at $140.

Oxxford
1220 West Van Buren Street, Chicago, Illinois 60607
(312) 829-3600

Long having the reputation of the best suits (below) made in the United States (some say anywhere), Oxxford is the great traditionalist. With as much handwork as in any custom suit, Oxxford prefers moderation in styling, as best befits the American businessman: moderate shoulder and discriminating waist suppression on the jacket. Super 150 Worsteds, Loro Piana cashmeres, Duppioni silks. Suits from $1,500.

Polo/Ralph Lauren
867 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10021
(212) 606-2100

New for Fall is the Ralph Lauren Collection. Handmade in England, the silhouette is classic Savile Row: broad shoulders, nipped waist, high armhole, and side vents give suits a strong architectural look. Done with all the custom details--handmade sleeve buttonholes, custom linings, extension waistbands on trousers--and the finest chalk-striped flannels, glen plaids and bankers Worsteds. Suits from $2,000. Shirts and ties designed for the tailored clothing available as part of the collection.

Mariano Rubinacci: at Bergdorf Goodman
745 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10022
(212) 339-3342

Rubinacci has a tailoring shop and haberdashery in Naples, but he also makes a complete line of ready-to-wear that is characterized by an easy elegance and softness unsurpassed in tailored clothing. He crafts his pared-down classics using only the most sybaritic of fabrics: unconstructed silk blazers that are absolutely whisper-weight, buttery flannel trousers in smoky hues, unlined cashmere jackets that are a poem. Suits from $1,450, sport jackets from $1,100, flannel trousers at $295.

There are two other names that should be included in our list: Both Canali and Zegna produce well-made garments of the most fashionable cut, using fine fabrics. And they are more widely available in the marketplace.

*A category of cloth made from extremely fine fibers.

SHIRTS AND TIES

Ike Behar
39 West 55th StreetNew York, New York 10019
(212) 315-2626

Behar doesn't make the most expensive shirt, just one of the best. It offers a variety of collar styles--its medium-point button-down, button-tab and moderate spread collars are models of styling--in traditional oxford cloths and broadcloths. Average price about $110.

Luigi Borrelli
730 Fifth AvenueNew York, New York 10019
(212) 265-1995

At the turn of the century, the Borrellis were custom shirtmakers in Naples with a reputation for shirts of superior comfort and elegance. Today, they make their shirts the same way--completely by hand. A Borrelli shirt is found at that point where beauty and comfort meet. Only the finest 200-count Egyptian cottons and double-thick shell buttons are used. Priced from $195 to $275.

Charvet: at Bergdorf Goodman
745 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10022
(212) 339-3342

Some consider the seven-floor building in Paris' place Vendôme to be the mecca of shirts, and Charvet is reputed to have the largest selection of shirting fabrics in the world. The ready-to-wear line is characterized by exceptionally fine workmanship, trimmer-cut body and very clean-cut, city-smart collars. Charvet shirts are known for their subtle colors and delicate stripes. Priced from $200 to $425. Their ties have a cult following; particularly prized are the jewel-toned basketweaves (at $105).

Hermes
11 East 57th Street
New York, New York 10022
(212) 751-3181

Only the best two-ply cottons are acceptable for Hermes. A moderate body shape is combined with a fairly bold collar (cut on the bias) to produce a youthful-looking shirt. Color also plays a strong role here, with bold stripes and checks making up a sizable portion of the collection. Priced from $275 to $450.

Charles Hill: The British Apparel Collection
745 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10151
(212) 582-9834

Handsome English silk ties handmade in London is what Charles Hill is all about. The firm does all the classic patterns, but specializes in jacquard-woven styles in a variety of weights to suit every taste. Silk neckwear from $65 to $100.

Robert Talbott
680 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10021
(212) 751-1200

Made in the United States with an international flair, the Robert Talbott shirt boasts solid quality and exceptional fabrics. With half a dozen collar styles (their cutaway has an unmatched sophistication), this collection presents real style: classic taste with a streak of jauntiness. Talbott is the only maker of the seven-fold tie in the United States. Completely handmade from finest silk, each one is numbered as befits a work of art (currently priced at $150). Talbott also produces one of the largest selections of quality ties in the United States (priced at $45 to $85). Shirts from $90 to $150.

Turnbull & Asser: at Bergdorf Goodman
745 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10022
(212) 339-3342

This is the ready-to-wear line from London's famed Jermyn Street shirtmakers. The body is full-cut and has the distinctive signature three-button cuff. The preferred collar style is an English spread with real Duke of Windsor presence. Colors and patterns here are bolder than those found elsewhere, with Bengal stripes in bright primary colors and checks and plaids in bold and unusual combinations. Priced from $155 to $250. There is also a good selection of silk neckwear with the same urbane sense of style, priced from $85.

Other tiemakers of repute that make our list because of high quality workmanship and silks are Ferragamo, Richel, Tino Cosma and Countess Mara.

SHOES

Alden Shoe Company
Middleborough, Massachusetts 02346
(508) 947-3926

Alden has been a New England shoemaker since 1884. The firm crafts a good variety of business and casual shoes, but one of its shoes stands out as an absolute model of the genre: the Alden original penny loafer. Handsewn on a last, with true welting, in black and burgundy genuine-shell cordovan leather (at $360), it is the real thing.

Tanino Crisci
795 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10021
(212) 535-1014

Gaetano Crisci began making custom shoes in a small workshop in Milan 100 years ago. Today, the Criscis are still there, albeit in a larger workshop outside the city. But there is still the meticulous care for detail and soft leathers that characterize their elegant footwear. Crisci is particularly good for a variety of slip-on models--the "Emerson" model driving shoe in honey-colored pebble-grained calfskin is a marvel, priced at $410. Other styles from $350.

Edward Green & Company: at Paul Stuart
Madison Avenue at 45th Street, New York, New York 10017
(212) 682-0320

"We are English master shoemakers to the few," is how John Hlustik, manager of Edward Green, likes to put it. "The few" include the Queen's own Household Cavalry, for whom the firm makes those handsome knee-high, glossy black riding boots. Other customers are merely aristocracy, statesmen, celebrities and gentlemen. Only the most stately brogues, monk straps and slip-ons will be found here, although they are known to do an exceptional snuff suede chukka boot and a marvelous antique green velvet Albert slipper as well. Prices begin at $455.

John Lobb: at Hermes
11 East 57th Street, New York, New York 10019
(212) 751-3181

Lobb is the world's most famous shoemaker. The firm opened its London shop in 1850 and a Paris branch in 1902. In 1976, Lobb introduced its ready-to-wear line in Paris at Hermes. It takes 15 skilled craftsmen, using only the best box calf (as well as a few exotic leathers), to produce the 35 styles offered in sizes 6 1/2 to 11 1/2 (in widths B to EE). Priced from $450 to $725.

Sutor Mantellassi
730 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10019
(212) 265-1995

Each pair of bench-made Mantellassi shoes receives 22 hours of handwork. The uppers are shaped on a last over an open flame, left to settle, then hand-welted to the soles, creating what many consider to be a perfect fit. The firm makes an extensive range of styles, but it is known for a distinctive square-toed design derived from seventeenth-century Italian styles. Priced from $350.

J. M. Weston
42 East 57th Street, New York, New York 10022
(212) 308-5655

This 130-year-old French firm makes handmade shoes of great panache and durability. J.M. Weston presents the classic town cap-toed oxfords and slip-ons in the finest German and French box calf, but also produce a number of original styles, such as its wonderfully stout country blucher. For a modest additional cost, it will endeavor to create any of its models in any of its large range of leathers (including special colorations and topstitching). Priced from $375 (for slip-ons) to $805 (for a handsome split-toe blucher).

The Italian firm of Testoni is also a shoe crafter of distinction, and can be trusted to produce elegant, classic shoes of quality leathers.

* * *

There are just a handful of superb men's stores who will stock these names of distinction. Louis', Boston, on the East Coast and Wilkes Bashford, San Francisco, on the West come instantly to mind as repositories of sublime gear. Barneys, especially in New York, may have these clothes, too. And then of course, because their own private label clothing is of such high quality and stylishness, the firms Davide Cenci, on Manhattan's Madison Avenue, Sulka and Dunhill must be included on any list of fine clothiers.

G. Bruce Boyer is the author of Eminently Suitable (W.W. Norton, 1990).

[Daedalus]

Published Winter 1995

Tailors in the Office
How to Buy a Wardrobe without Leaving the Workplace
by G. Bruce Boyer


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"When it comes to the fittings, I usually end up standing on the coffee table," he said.

Perhaps I should explain.

When you are a busy executive, and don't have the time to go shopping for your wardrobe, you have the wardrobe come to you.

Which is what Jack Simpson, the very cosmopolitan president of Bespoke Enterprises Inc., does for Stone Phillips, the very cultivated NBC News journalist.

"I just don't have the time anymore to make the rounds of the men's stores," Phillips says. "Being in the public eye, I need a large wardrobe, and my schedule is such that it all must be done efficiently and in good taste. Jack brings the cloth swatches for the suits, shirts and ties, and we discuss what I like--basically conservative with a touch of fashion--and then he comes back with the clothes for a fitting. Usually I end up standing on the coffee table, so he can mark the proper trouser length."

Phillips couldn't be happier that all the fuss and bother is taken out of his hands. "Actually, my wife often sits in on these meetings because she and Jack speak the same language. She used to be in the fashion business and knows the correct fabric terms and how clothes should fit. I find myself just nodding and going along. And it all gets done quickly, I end up looking well-attired, and I can get on with my job."

Simpson is based in New York City, but flies to Los Angeles every other month for his West Coast clients. "I usually send along a photo package explaining our service to a prospective client, and then meet with him in his home or office." Ready access is what this business is about. Simpson can offer a client custom-made tailored garments, shirts, shoes, ties and a whole array of the most tasteful furnishings.

This business of one-on-one personal tailoring is, of course, one of the older ways of outfitting the customer. In the nineteenth-century heyday of Savile Row tailoring, a gentleman would pop by his tailor one morning, sit in the back room with a glass of sherry and a digestive biscuit, and gossip and discuss the latest stripings in worsted or width of a lapel before ordering a half dozen new suits for the season. It was all very civilized, particularly in those days when gentlemen had more time for leisurely discourse. But the principle was the same: a confident and confidential personal selection of one's wardrobe with an expert in private. It wasn't so much shopping as it was a graceful interchange of ideas.

Today, lest you think the world has gone all to hell and there is no such thing as progress, a number of made-to-measure firms have taken that idea one step further by bringing the tailor to the customer.

Most men have no great charisma as shoppers anyway, never mind the ever-increasing demands on our time these days. "What, in fact, could be a better respite from a hectic business day for an embattled executive than one's tailor coming round to the office with a fitting?" asks Nancy Hilton, director of the Dormeuil Personal Tailor Service in New York City. "The fact is that discriminating CEOs consider a private tailoring service something of an exclusive perk in a highly competitive world."

True enough. "I used to go to Brooks Brothers and other men's stores," says Brewster Ellis, executive vice president of Kansas City, Missouri-based Robert Thomas Securities and a big fan of the Dormeuil service. "The problem was that the clothes never felt that good, so I kept looking around.

"When I came to New York on business a while ago, someone told me about Nancy Hilton, so I had suits made by her [company]. There was no comparison; the Dormeuil suits just feel better, the way clothes ought to feel. So now when I come to New York--about six times a year--I always make an appointment. Sometimes I get new suits, sometimes just a few ties. But I'd never go back to buying my clothes any other way."

These personal tailors meet with you when and where you want, ascertain your wardrobe needs, provide expert advice on cloth and styling, take your measurements and in a matter of weeks show up with the clothes. It's the answer to a harried executive's prayers.

There are two considerable advantages of having the clothier come to the customer: convenience and comfort. The customer doesn't have to interrupt his busy schedule, which saves considerable time. "I'll arrange an appointment for any time that's convenient for the customer," says Atlanta-based clothier Tom Street. "I'll come to his office during business hours or meet him at his home in the evening or even on weekends. We take our customer's busy schedules seriously. I've even brought swatch books to the golf course, to show a customer between holes."

"Our clients have compressed time schedules and want us to be as efficient as possible," says partner James Egan of Allen-Petrie Clothiers in Strafford, Pennsylvania, a Philadelphia suburb. "When they're not working, they'd rather be practicing their tennis serve or out on their boats than shopping."

Since the customer is on his own turf, he can be more at ease in the one-to-one relationship with an expert, which means a decided lack of intimidation and plenty of helpful advice. "We usually spend some time on what I call a fact-finding mission," notes David Shockley, proprietor of St. Louis' Savile Row Custom Clothiers. "Consulting with the customer about what he wants and needs in his wardrobe, and keeping a detailed record, is a big part of our service. We're able to manage a busy executive's clothing needs for him. And that includes the maintenance aspects--cleaning, pressing, repairing--as well."

This is what is called in contemporary parlance a support system. There's no running around, trying to get the attention of some ill-informed clerk in a crowded shop. Then there is the high quality of the clothing itself: made-to-measure tailored garments and shirting. "If a man shops in a store, he'll see perhaps 10 or 20 suits, at most, in his size," says Michael Renzi, custom clothier in Newport Beach, California. "But why should he have to settle for a style he's not completely happy with? Or a different color or pattern? Or a two-button front instead of three? Or missing some detailing he likes? I can show him literally thousands of fabrics from the world's finest mills, and he can have a suit in any fabric he wants--and he can have that suit in virtually any style and detailing he wants." With made-to-measure, selection is not limited, because there is no inventory.

There is a basic process to the in-office service. The clothier will bring suiting and shirt swatches, measuring forms and perhaps a form for profiling the customer's current wardrobe and needs, to the customer's office, home or club (or yacht, as has been known to happen). Most in-office services can provide the customer with a complete range of accessories (hosiery, ties, underwear, belts and braces, cuff links) in addition to any clothing requirements from business suits to casual attire.

Cloth selections from the better services (such as those listed below) are of the finest British and Italian woolens and best cotton shirtings. Expect to pay roughly $1,000 for a suit and $100 for a shirt.

After the customer's needs are discussed, cloth selections made and measurements taken, the clothier won't return for a month or two (allow an average of six weeks, although rush orders can usually be accommodated), at which time he will bring the garments for a final fitting. An intermediary fitting--what tailors call a basted fitting--can be arranged if the customer or clothier thinks it necessary.

Those are the basics. Some firms might have a superior selection of cloth, while others may favor a particularly fashionable silhouette or be willing to go that extra step in the realm of service. "As one of the few women in the business," says Nancy Hilton, "I feel we take a more nurturing attitude toward our clients. I've met clients at the airport to deliver a suit." Manuel Martinez, a custom clothier in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who has made clothes for several Southern governors, recalls meeting a man in a restaurant one day. "When he found out I was a tailor, he asked me to measure him right there, and placed an order for several suits on the spot." Martinez takes that sort of thing in stride.

And then, of course, there are those clothing requests that cannot be adequately accommodated by your local mall menswear retailer. "About a year ago," recalls Allen-Petrie's James Egan, "one of our customers stopped by with a handsome pair of blue velvet Prince Albert slippers he'd had made by John Lobb in London. He wanted to know if we could make him a dinner suit--a tuxedo without the ornate facings--in velvet the same shade as the shoes.

"It took us almost half a year to track down the right cloth--a beautiful royal blue velvet from Germany--and we made him a wonderful dinner suit, even down to finding the perfect buttons and silk lining. There's a great deal of satisfaction in being able to do something like that."

There was a time--in those innocent days before malls and fast-food shops overgrew us--when every decent-sized town had a reliable tailor, haberdashery, or campus shop. Most of them are now video stores and pizzerias, the consequence of which is that men think they're either thrown to the cold comfort of the mall department stores--where the fellow behind the shirt counter today will be selling portable CD players on the third floor tomorrow--or that they must travel to one of the better clothing stores in a major city.

"But that's not true," emphatically states Bo Hussung, a custom clothier in Nashville. "There's really a revolution going on in men's clothing today. There are a number of 'direct sellers' around the country who offer incredible selection, top quality fabrics and expert tailoring. This approach to providing men with quality clothing has stepped into the vacuum left by the disappearance of the local men's quality clothing store."



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A Brief Guide To In-Office Clothiers
Allen-Petrie Clothiers
687 West Lancaster Avenue
Strafford, Pennsylvania 19087
(610) 687-2330

The Philadelphia Main Line has always been a bastion of conservative good taste, and at least 75 percent of Allen-Petrie's suits are ordered in an updated traditional silhouette. ("But we do get an order now and again for a more Milanese approach," notes manager James Egan.) The firm prides itself on exceptional service--even to the point of refurbishing umbrellas for clients--and on helping a man to develop his own sense of style. Suits and topcoats from $900; sport coats, $600; shirts from $100.

Bespoke Enterprises, Inc.
150 West 56th Street, Suite 4207
New York, New York 10019
(212) 581-9003

While the majority of Jack Simpson's clients are executives, a good number are celebrities in the entertainment business, which is why he makes regular trips to Los Angeles. It is understandable, then, that he should favor a highly sophisticated silhouette: single-breasted suits with peak lapels and postboy waistcoats (with either a natural, international, or 1940s English-styled shoulder). "Even the question of buttons is an important issue," he says. Bespoke boasts many exclusive fabrics. Suits are priced from $1,150 to $2,500; shirts from $185 to $250; shoes at $1,500; Super 100s midnight blue tuxedos with grosgrain lapels, $1,680.

Dormeuil Personal Tailor Service
40 Central Park South, Suite 2
New York, New York 10019
(800) 506-4400

This service combines the sybaritic fabrics of Dormeuil (European cloth merchants since 1842) with the tailoring firm of Nancy Hilton. The team has garnered a reputation for uncompromising concern and peerless craftsmanship. It has an elite establishment clientele, most of whom prefer a basically traditional look, eschewing the trendy in favor of the timeless, such as jackets with subtle cashmere blazers at $1,800; other sport coats from $800.

Bo Hussung Clothier
913 Battery Lane
Nashville, Tennessee 37220
(615) 269-6705

Bo Hussung's clientele is mainly of the professional ilk--brokers, attorneys, that sort of thing. This being Nashville, though, Hussung has more than his share of men in the music business, "mostly on the management side," he says. Which makes sense, since the preferred house style is updated classic, with perhaps just a slightly extended, but soft, shoulder line, and just a tad lower button stance for a more sophisticated line. Suits range from $850 to $2,500; sport coats from $650; shirts around $100; and individual trousers from $250.

Martinez Custom Clothier
1669 Lobdell Avenue at Jefferson Highway
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70806
(504) 928-9107

"I usually spend as much time discussing what the client wants as I do taking the measurements and styling details," says Manuel Martinez. And with good reason, since he is fanatical about getting things right. "We try to minimize the less flattering features and accent the favorable ones," he says. The firm prefers an elegant English silhouette with medium-square shoulders, and either side of ventless back. Double-breasted suits in tropical-weight Super 100s are very dressy, while silk-and-wool, cashmere and linen sport coats offer an elegant alternative. Suits from $900; sport coats in Loro Piana cashmere at $1,950; shirts from $85.

Nathan's Custom Tailors
828 East Main Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219
(800) 343-0508

Barry and Michael Zell are the owners of the custom-tailoring business their father started 60 years ago. Their clientele consists of upper-echelon businessmen--more than 20 are on the Fortune 500 list of CEOs--and not a few Washington politicians. ("When I visit the Senate Office Building to do a fitting, the Senate police always find a good parking space for me," says Barry.) Everything the firm provides is custom-made except for ties and cuff links. The preferred style here is decidedly international. "We like a shouldered coat," says Michael, "because it's more flattering to the line of the body." Close to 500 cloths are always in stock, and thousands more are found in the swatch books. Suits from $895; sport coats from $595; shirts (of which there are over 700 fabrics from which to choose), $75 to $200.

Renzi Custom Gallery
220 Newport Center Drive, Suite 22
Newport Beach, California 92660
(714) 729-4445

"Good clothing is expensive, and men shouldn't settle for a suit they're not totally happy with," says Michael Renzi, the firm's owner. "We give our customers infinitely greater selection than the stores do with their limited inventory. And we don't ask them to interrupt their schedules to shop." The Southern California clientele, which includes entertainment celebrities and high-profile athletes, prefers a more wedge-shaped silhouette, with wide shoulders and trim hip. High twist crepes, serges and failles are the fabrics of choice. Suits from $1,295; sport coats, $995; trousers at $395; shirts, $125.

Savile Row Custom Clothiers
9773 Clayton Road
St. Louis, Missouri 63124
(314) 567-8500

"We think of ourselves as a personal wardrobe management service," says proprietor David Shockley. "From first consultation to cleaning and repairs, we are there for our customers." These pampered gentlemen favor the firm's easy Italian silhouette and extended shoulder stance, with some drape in the chest and blade for a more relaxed elegance. Suits from $995; sports coats start at $750; shirts at $95.

Michael Smith Custom Clothier
8110 West Central, P.O. Box 352108
Toledo, Ohio 43617
(419) 841-6112

Michael Smith endeavors to provide anything a man needs for his business wardrobe. "Our styling is traditional, but several clients want something a little more individual," says Smith. "One longtime customer is an attorney who likes 1940s-styled clothes, and we make all his things in that style, right down to the black-and-white spectator wingtip shoes. He's dapper as hell, and we find those sort of fellows inspiring." Suits start at $600; shirts from $70 to $150.

Tom Street Custom Clothing
5 Bohler Mews N.W.
Atlanta, Georgia 30327
(404) 351-9093

"My customers like their traditionally cut clothes with a bit of flair," says owner Tom Street. "We pride ourselves on our fancy silk linings and unusual fabrics. We carry what's called in the cloth trade 'millionaire's cashmere'--exceptionally fine. It would cost about $4,500 to run up a sport coat, so we don't get many orders, but we like to keep it around for those special occasions." Other sport coats from $595; suits start at $750; shirts at $85.

G. Bruce Boyer is the author of Eminently Suitable (W.W. Norton, 1990).



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An In-Office Original
In many ways, the real pioneer in the in-office clothing field is Spencer Hayes. In the mid-1960s, Hayes was president of Southwestern Co., a thriving firm that published and sold door-to-door Bibles, dictionaries and cookbooks. But books weren't his only passion. Always having a fondness for, and belief in the value of, a good suit of clothes, Hayes hired a consultant to determine the best type of clothing to sell to busy executives--and the best method of selling. In 1966, Tom James Co. was born.

"The results of that study," says CEO Jim McEachern, who, along with Tom James and Mack Isbill, was hired by Hayes to run the company, "showed that personally tailored clothing was the best avenue, because you could offer the customer a much better selection and do it with a smaller inventory. In addition, it was discovered that there were a tremendous number of businessmen who would appreciate someone coming to their office to serve them." That was all McEachern needed to hear: He saw a niche, jumped into it with both feet, and, according to Hayes, he has been the driving force of the firm. Hayes, for his part, financed the venture and has provided much of the direction.

Tom James is now the country's largest manufacturer and retailer of personally tailored men's clothing sold directly to customers in their offices and homes. The company, whose clientele exceeds 75,000, has manufacturing facilities for both tailored garments and shirts and 384 sales representatives in 121 locations around the country. The firm reported sales of $150 million last year and it has maintained a growth rate of over 30 percent a year.

The firm's slogan is "We Come to You," and many of you are very well turned out indeed. Suits $650 and up; shirts, $65 to $200.

Tom James Co.
990 North Walnut Creek Dr., Suite 1001
Mansfield, Texas 76063
(800) 237-2140

[Daedalus]

Published March/April 1997

One Stop Shopping
Busy Professionals Can Turn to These Department Stores for a Broad Range of Fine Men's Fashions
by G. Bruce Boyer


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"Can the magic of 59th and Lexington play in Peoria?" was the pregnant question the Daily News Record--the newspaper of the menswear industry--asked last fall when Bloomingdale's opened five new stores, not in Peoria, as it happens, but in California. * Department stores are aggressively on the march. Bloomingdale's, for example, now has 21 far-flung branches and, according to the report in the industry paper, the new California stores are expected "to do between $50 million and $70 million each" in sales this year. They are facing stiff competition: in the Los Angeles area, for example, Neiman Marcus, Saks, Nordstrom and a host of spirited specialty shops are all within several miles of the Bloomingdale's in Century City. Nordstrom, which has 83 stores in 17 states across the United States, plans to open another three full-line stores this year.

Achieving success in new locations is certainly challenging, and preparations for doing business in the twenty-first century go on apace. Of course, department stores have had well over a century's history to hone their skills.

Shortly after the American Civil War ended, the two engines that most promoted the selling of consumer goods--the mail-order catalog and the department store--came into being. As far back as the late 1860s, dry goods stores were using catalogs to sell their wares by mail. By the turn of the century, about 1,200 mail-order businesses were competing for the more than six million customers available to them.

Department stores had arisen at the same time in the major East Coast cities of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, as well as the Midwest metropolis of Chicago. They developed so rapidly in Chicago, as a result of commercial restructuring after the great fire of 1871, that Theodore Dreiser wrote a chapter about them in his 1900 novel Sister Carrie:

"The nature of these vast retail combinations, should they ever permanently disappear, will form an interesting chapter in the commercial history of our nation. Such a flowering out of a modest trade principle the world had never witnessed up to that time. They were along the line of the most effective retail organization, with hundreds of stores coordinated into one and laid out upon the most imposing and economic basis. They were handsome, bustling, successful affairs, with a host of clerks and a swarm of patrons."

Fashion had always been an aspect of the department store's wares. Fashion merchandising, in the words of William Leach (author of Land of Desire, a history of merchant culture in the United States), "democratized desire." For women, department store fashion quickly introduced a world of aristocratic glamour and exotic allure. For men, it took a while longer. The displays of menswear, as well as the actual clothes themselves, were less glamorous and assuming. Neckwear was the only category of menswear in which some color and dash were seen.

All that has changed, of course. The introduction of sportswear--which gained momentum between the world wars, as the time for and interest in sports increased--altered the look of displays with a greater variety of clothes and colors. This was followed by the designer movement, which came to menswear at the end of the 1950s. Soon there were men's runway fashion shows, colorful displays of everything from athletic shoes and flowery waistcoats to patterned underwear, crayon-colored polo shirts and polypropylene parkas. Perhaps menswear still doesn't vie equally with women's clothes in store displays, but it's close. Men's clothing is still slightly more subtle.

"Actually, I'd call stores like ours specialty stores, rather than department stores," says Derrill Osborn, director of men's clothingat Neiman Marcus. "Not just any department store can sell quality men's clothing, you know. It takes expertise on the part of the sales staff, who must be knowledgeable in cut, fit, fabric, styling. Quality clothing is a personal investment."

Today, if there is one observation to emerge from strolling the menswear departments of these sizable stores, it's that we are living in a fashionably global economy. Manufacturing and designer labels are from everywhere. At the lower end of the clothing manufacturing spectrum, third world countries seem to predominate, while the Italians by and large rule the high end. Prices for suits run the gamut from around $450 for a private-label Metropolitan View at Bloomingdale's to $2,775 for a Brioni at Neiman Marcus. Some designer names such as Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss and Armani are omnipresent, although tailored clothing collections may well be completely different from one store to another. The reason is that stores want agreements of exclusivity regarding fabrics that buyers have selected from these resources. In this sense, it can be said that the store's fashion collections are a cooperative effort between producers and sellers.

Similarities in sportswear are more usual--Ralph Lauren polo shirts and Calvin Klein khakis seem to be ubiquitous, for example--but even there one may find differences in the collection holdings, which can be put down to the "flavor" of the fashion approach, whether it is more heavily traditional or more forward. Here too there is private-label merchandise.

What is perhaps not as well known but should be noted, the prestige department stores offer what is generally called a personalized shopping service, i.e., a professional adviser who helps customers plan their purchases.

It seems to be a rule that American businessmen don't have the time or inclination to shop for their clothes. These stores know that service is important and time is precious. Department store shopping for menswear has also increased in the past two decades proportionately as local haberdasheries have declined and disappeared. Local haberdasheries provided, however, friendly, personal guidance, and many men felt cast adrift, sartorially speaking, in the wide aisles. Thus enter the professional shopping service department.

Nordstrom, for example, has a service called "Personal Touch," which aims to make shopping easier by helping you, the customer (and I quote here from their brochure on the subject): update your present wardrobe; coordinate an entirely new wardrobe for business, travel or casual wear; select items from any department in the store; save time by having items ready for you to try on when you arrive in the store; select just the right gift items and have them gift-wrapped, at no extra charge.

The Personal Touch staff will even conduct group seminars on wardrobe planning, travel packing, fashion updates and the rest. This is considerably beyond the why-don't-we-find-a-nice-tie-to-go-with-that-suit type of thing. There is even an e-mail shopping service, called Nordstrom Personal Touch America.

As the amount of retail space has doubled in the past 20 years and competition has increased as well, there has been pressure to strengthen the service aspect of the shopping experience. More and more, sales clerks (often now called by the more honorific title of "associates") are being trained to understand the products they are selling. These days sales staffs at these stores continuously seem to receive current product information through training sessions, seminars conducted by buyers and vendors, and other experts, and even information sessions via video.

"At Saks," says fashion director Stanley Tucker, "we're very much aware of service. We do educational seminars for our sales force with every collection in every city. And that includes videotapes of fashion trends, and interactive live broadcasts as well. We feel it's essential that our salesmen understand how the clothing is made, worn and accessorized. They wear the clothing of the particular collection they're selling--that way they'll know it intimately."

Saks has its "Fifth Avenue Club," which operates not only as a fashion consultant, but somewhat like a European-style concierge, adept at getting theater tickets as well as the latest Armanisports jacket.

We've considered the four leading national department stores that devote most of their space to fashion. All have branches across the United States, either in downtowns or suburban malls. While there must be some quarter given to climate and lifestyle--a large stock of tweed suits in Houston would be wrong--the stores strive to maintain a consistent style and image that will work in all branches.

A department store will endeavor to outfit a man cap-a-pie (from head to foot), with jewelry, umbrellas, small leather goods and toiletries thrown in for good measure. It is impossible here to note it all, so discussion is limited to listing representative items of clothing. Addresses for flagship stores are given. Telephone for information about other venues.

Bloomingdale's
1000 Third Avenue, New York, New York 10022
(800) 555-SHOP


The most fashion-driven of stores, Bloomingdale's sets its sights on the young and the trendy--and does so with considerable glitter and dazzle. There seems to be an audible buzz in Bloomingdale's stores, the result no doubt of the quick movement of ideas and styles. Taking chances on bright new designers is a tradition here (and virtually every established designer today was first given prominence by Bloomingdale's). A good reason for a browse is simply to see what's new and where fashion is going. Bloomingdale's has a reputation for having it fast and first.

Menswear prices are generally moderate: suits range from $450 to $1,000. In addition to Bloomingdale's own private-label Metropolitan View line, tailored clothing labels represented include Joseph Abboud, Ralph Lauren, Andrew Fezza, Hugo Boss, Ferre, Canali and Armani. Shirts and ties complement these labels, as well as the store's own sizable "Peterborough Row" collection.

The extensive range of sportswear--often a designer will have his own in-store boutique built to his style specifications to showcase a collection--is particularly strong on the American labels: Donna Karan, Perry Ellis, Jhane Barnes, Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren. Additional offerings by Guess, Mossimo, Versace and Mondo, among others.

Neiman Marcus
Main and Ervay streets, Dallas, Texas 75201
(214) 573-5676

With 30 stores across the United States, Neiman's prides itself on having the finest tailored clothing available. It caters to the affluent customer, and, inasmuch as most of the men who shop here are CEO types who wear suits most of the time, sportswear is not the overriding concern it is at other stores. Suits start at around $1,000, the average price of its private "Marcus" label. At the other, sybaritic, end is Neiman's extensive range of handmade Italian suits by Brioni, Kiton and Luciano Barbera (average price: $2,500). In between are the very tasteful and stylish names of Giorgio Armani and Donna Karan in the more courant mode, the elegant European silhouettes of Zegna and Valentino, the Savile Row-oriented approach of Ralph Lauren's "Purple Label" and the more traditional Hickey Freeman. Especially noteworthy, Neiman's has the world's largest collection of Oxxford clothing, American-made quality comparable to custom tailoring.

Ties and shirts are also available with these labels, as well as Versace, Ferragamo, Ike Behar, Stephano Ricci, Gucci, Calvin Klein and Lorenzini, and a particularly good selection by a trio of the finest European shirtmakers: Borrelli (Italy), Charvet (France) and Turnbull & Asser (England). All of which makes Neiman's one of the best places in the world to buy shirts and ties.

Sportswear here, more properly described as elegantly casual clothing, turns up exclusive collections by Iceberg, Coogi, Wilke-Rodriguez and Loro Piana. If there are any sweatshirts or sweatpants around, it's a good bet that they're cashmere.

"We have a personal shopping service, of course," says Derrill Osborn, "but most of our customers have a sense of loyalty to their salesperson, who, at Neiman's, will accompany a customer from department to department and act as a knowledgeable and trustworthy guide."

Nordstrom
1321 2nd Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98111
(800) 695-8000


Begun as a family business in Seattle, Nordstrom now has 83 branches and is firmly in the middle of our spectrum: the modus operandi here is to be inclusive, rather than exclusive, by providing a broad range of clothing, which means that the ratio between sportswear and businesswear is fairly even. Suits are priced from around $695 to $1,200, with an emphasis on modern traditional styling by such names as Hickey Freeman; Hart, Schaffner & Marx; and Nordstrom's private label. But there are also the designer offerings of Joseph Abboud and Mickey Spatz, among others.

Nordstrom is the only department store in the United States that carries Faconnable, the French designer label famous throughout Europe for urbane tailoring and colorful sportswear. A complete range of Faconnable styles are available for men, from worsted suits and cashmere jackets to outerwear and toiletries. The brightly patterned dress shirts and neckwear are of particular interest. Additional shirts and ties from the John W. Nordstrom furnishings line, Ferrell Reed and Robert Talbott make this a strong category.

Nordstrom offers a munificent selection of sportswear: collections from Nautica, Mondo di Marco, Pronto-Uomo, Robert Comstock leathers, Callaway Golf Apparel and Footwear (exclusive to Nordstrom) and private-label Evergreen sportswear predominate. Also of note is the extensive shoe department, with more than 20 name brands, including town shoes by Allen-Edmonds, Cole-Haan, Ferragamo, Kenneth Cole and Cable & Co.; casuals from Hush Puppy, Industrial, Dr. Martens, Rockport and Sebago; and sports shoes by Ecco, New Balance, Mephisto and Nike. Nordstrom shoe departments offer shoe shine booths as well.

Saks Fifth Avenue
611 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10022
(800) 347-9177


A name that has been synonymous with the carriage trade since it moved to Fifth Avenue in 1924, Saks has increased its emphasis--and floor space--on menswear over the past several years. With a vibrant mix of nouveau design and high-quality traditional gear, Saks remains at the forefront of fashion, as well as the top echelon of quality.

Sixty-five percent of the menswear here is tailored clothing and furnishings; suits are priced from $650 to $3,000, with Armani, Donna Karan, Zegna, Valentino, Hugo Boss, Chester Barry, Hickey Freeman, Ralph Lauren's "Purple Label," Calvin Klein and Oxxford the key labels. Ralph Lauren, Prada, Lanvin, Ike Behar, Dolce & Gabbana, Calvin Klein, Gucci and Saks' private label make up the list of furnishings, with feature space given to Charvet and Hilditch & Key for their decidedly upscale haberdashery. There is an exclusive tailored clothing collection, with shirts and ties by award-winning designer Alan Flusser (who has a most handsome custom shop in the flagship New York store).

Inventive and tasteful sportswear includes lines by Barry Bricken, Gucci, Abboud, John Bartlett, Armani, DKNY, Versace, Polo, Wilke-Rodriguez, Ferragamo, Mondo di Marco and Jhane Barnes. Saks can also be counted on for a superb selection of better men's shoes: J. Weston, Paraboot, J.P. Tod's and Cole-Haan among them.

The Fifth Avenue Club, Saks' comprehensive shopping service, is available in its New York, Beverly Hills and San Francisco stores.

A frequent contributor to Cigar Aficionado, G. Bruce Boyer is the author of Eminently Suitable (W.W. Norton, 1990).

[Daedalus]

Published Winter 1994

Stepping Out
Custom-Made Shoes Pamper Your Feet in Style
 by G. Bruce Boyer


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I can never bring you to realize the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of thumbnails, or the great issues that may hang from a bootlace," Sherlock Holmes admonished Dr. Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic story, "Case of Identity." But then, he was speaking in a decidedly Victorian tone. In this day and age, of course, there don't seem to be many great issues hanging from the laces of all those hyperdesigned athletic shoes, apart from how quickly another million or so of them can be churned out. How we can all be individuals in an age of lockstep mass consumption is one of the more endearing illusions we live with.

In Doyle's day there were still thousands of bootmakers in London, hand-lasting commendable shoes for gentlemen. Cobblers would sit cross-legged on their benches and work by the light of a candle, with a bottle of water beside it acting as a lens to focus the light upon the work. Those days are longgone--as are most of the firms that gave the English shoe its legendary status. But a few firms have been able to carry on--for those who appreciate the luxury and comfort of fitted handmade shoes and can afford them--and keep the craftsmen in business.

Not all of the modern shoemakers are in England. Lobb is, of course, and Edward Green and Cleverly. Edward Green is about as English as shoemaking gets. The firm made the officers' boots worn in the trenches of France in the Great War and makes the thigh-high, shiny, black dress boots of the Household Cavalry (paid for by Queen Elizabeth). But their true metier is their superb hand-lasted, hand-sewn, welted gentleman's shoes.

"Prince Charles has at least 14 pair that I know of, because we sold them to him," says John Hlustik, Edward Green's managing director. "He's rather fond of what we call our house shoe--an unlined, lightweight slip-on--very comfortable for puttering 'round the royal estates, you see. The style was in fact commissioned by the prince's grandfather, George VI. They're quite popular."

And then of course there's Lobb, in London since 1866. The original St. James' Street shop was destroyed by bombs during the Second World War, after which Lobb moved up the stylish thoroughfare to No. 9. He has made shoes for everyone from Queen Victoria to Frank Sinatra. Caruso would regale the staff with arias as he waited for his shoes to be fitted. The infamous spy Guy Burgess defected to Russia without paying his bill. Such is the stuff of legend.

Perhaps the most renowned of London shoemakers was George Cleverley. He worked as a child selling bootlaces and shoe polish and apprenticed to the famous firm of Tuczek (now long gone) before starting out on his own in the 1950s. His signature design was an exceptionally graceful, chiseled toe (aficionados will tell you they can pick out a Cleverley toe at 30 paces), prized by the likes of Rudolph Valentino and Winston Churchill, Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable. He made beautiful shoes until 1993, the year he died at age 93. The wooden models he designed (on which custom shoes are built; called "lasts" in the trade) became the property of his two pupils, John Carnera and George Glasgow, who carry on his art and retain his name for the firm.

On this side of the Atlantic there are two makers of distinction whose skills compare to anything the English have to offer. In New York, the firm of Vincent & Edgar is under the leadership of Roman Vaingauz, a man with the soul of a poet and the skill of a surgeon. The other American shoemaker, Perry Ercolino, whose shop is just outside of Philadelphia, was born into the shoemaking craft. Ercolino studied design in Milan, but the classic English shoe has always been his interest.

Regardless of which of these fine shoemakers is given the nod, the initial outlay is considerable: prices are in the $1,200 to $2,400 range for traditional calfskin (double those prices for exotic skins). What do you get for the money?

For starters, you get a hand-cut, hand-stitched, totally hand-built pair of shoes, which are uniquely made with your feet in mind. "Actually, the profit on handmade shoes is considerably less than on mass-produced shoes," explains Vaingauz. "People don't realize that, even with better ready-made shoes, cheap leathers are used, and most interior parts of the shoes are simply cardboard stiffeners. From cutting to stitching to polishing it takes 40 hours or more to make a pair of custom shoes. The hand-carved last alone is a work of art, a sculpture."

To explain the devotion that accrues from wearing handmade shoes, let's start at the beginning. Once you've decided to make the investments in time (about three to six months in the making) and money, the initial visit to the shop is a unique experience. You'll be there about an hour, and your feet will be more carefully examined than by a podiatrist. Before you actually get to the point of discussing the kind of shoes you want, measurements must be taken. As you stand on a piece of white paper, each foot will be traced. Then you'll sit, and differences in the feet "at rest" will be noted. Each foot will be measured with the tape: complete length, breadth at ball and heel, height and position of arch, and a half dozen other exacting notions. Finally, the personal idiosyncrasies are studied. "What we look for here are the true individualities," says Ercolino. "Any bunions, calcifications, unusual toe joints, bone spurs, crooked toes, fleshiness. That sort of thing."

Then comes the choices of the shoes' style. A plain, cap-toe, town oxford, perhaps, or a wing tip with medallion toe? A russet suede slip-on, double-backed monk strap, or split-toe, Norwegian lace-up? Perhaps Uncle Harold had this wonderful pair of brogues that he bought in Paris in the '30s, which you've always admired. Why not have them copied? Or perhaps something truly unique like a formal Albert slipper in green suede with a toe monogrammed in gold thread?

Leather selection seems endless. Something in a sleekly burnished, antique calf? A sturdy Scotch-grain in a Cognac hue? Or would a tobacco-toned "writing" suede fit the bill? "We find suede is rather popular in the States at the moment," says George Glasgow of Cleverley, "and we generally have half a dozen shades in brown alone--from light buff to dark cocoa."

And if, let's say, brown calf is chosen, what sort of finish should it have? Dark walnut stain, antique chestnut patina, burnt pine polish? Good shoes are stained by hand, a process that can take a week in itself. "The finish is very important," notes Ercolino. "There are all sorts of stains, antiquing and polishing techniques. When you look at the shoe, it should draw you in. A dead-looking finish doesn't bode well." The lengths a custom shoemaker will go to regarding finishes are limitless. "We sun-bleach some of our shoes," says Hlustik. "It's a real job, because you've got to turn them every day, like fine wine, so the finish comes out evenly."

When style, leather, finish and detailing have all been settled on, the shoemaker can get down to the work of building your shoes. First he calls upon one of his own experts: the last maker. In a world of leather, the last maker works in wood. From the meticulous examination notes, diagrams and measurements, the last maker hand-carves a wooden sculpture--the "last"--of each foot from a solid block of birch or maple. The last maker is a true artist, and the models he makes of the customer's feet are intended to be exact to the tiniest fraction of an inch.

The shoes are built on these lasts. Depending on the firm, a "trial" pair of shoes will be made first for try-on purposes: a roughly stitched pair in negligible leather, used to make any corrections, which will be meticulously noted at the first fitting. "We chalk the inside of the trial shoes," says Hlustik, "to better see where it rubs on the foot." After any corrections have been noted, the shoes themselves are built. Progress is slow and deliberate; unlike suits and shirts that are more easily correctable, shoes are difficult to change once they are completed.

What actually goes into the building of a really good pair of shoes?

The finest shoes have the finest leathers everywhere: inside, outside and in between. The highest-quality English (sturdy), French (supple) and Italian (buttery, small-pored calfskin) is what we're talking about. "A good shoemaker," says Ercolino, "will pay as much attention to the inside of the shoe as the outside. Personally, I prefer a coordinated lining; I like a black shoe to have a dark lining, rather than the usual light-tan one. A dark lining gives the shoe an aesthetic wholeness somehow." An idiosyncrasy perhaps, but one you can easily indulge.

Even the soles and heels must be of the best leather. "Most ready-made shoes have chrome-tanned soles," explains Hlustik. "Cheaper split leather is soaked in a chrome solution, which initially gives it a sleek look, but isn't very porous and tends to readily crack. Good soles are tanned with oak bark for as much as a full year. It makes the leather strong and pliable." It's not difficult to know which shoe is chrome-tanned and which bark-tanned: the superior bark-tanned one smells something awful. The natural tannin is actually where that strong leather smell comes from.

Whether a half-sock or full-sock inner, the insoles must also be the finest, aged and molded to the bed of the shoe to be anatomically correct. Every component of the shoe must be of the best leather because these natural materials allow for the transfer of heat and moisture. As you wear the shoe, it will conform to your foot, creating the final step in the custom process.

When all the pieces of the shoe are cut (the man who does this is called a "clicker"), they are stitched around the last. This calls for hand-sewing, using waxed twine and a boar's bristle (regular steel needles make holes that are too large). The stitching alone takes several hours of intensive, precise work.

Once the upper parts of the shoe are stitched together on the last, the sole is attached: the top and bottom of the shoe are sewn together (with 12 hand-stitches per inch) with an intermediary piece of leather called the "welt." Good shoes are always welt constructed, never glued together like many ready-made shoes.

In the end, after the initiation of measurements, the ceremony of selection and the ritual of fittings, you will have a pair of shoes made by an artist. The fit will be a poem, and your feet will somehow look smaller, more elegant. If you take care of the shoes, they can last a lifetime. Clean and polish them properly; always use shoe trees; give them a day's rest between each day or two of wearing. Every year or two, return them to the maker for rejuvenation; for a modest sum, they'll come back looking brand new. Anyone who's had a pair maintained in this fashion will tell you, the older the shoes become the better they look. Also, you can wear a pair for 50 years, then sell it for perhaps 20 times what you originally paid--not a bad investment.

"Just the other week," says Hlustik, "a gentleman came into the shop for some new shoes. He was wearing a pair made by Tuczek in the early 1940s. They were so marvelous, I asked him if he would sell them to me...offered him $3,500. He refused, and I can't say I blame him. After 50 years, they had an absolutely vintage classicism about them."

G. Bruce Boyer is the author of Eminently Suitable (1990), 206 pages, W. W. Norton, $19.95.


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Shoemakers
G.J. Cleverley & Co.
28 Royal Arcade, Old Bond Street, London W1X 3HB
Phone: (44) 71 493-0443

Prices range from $1,100 to $1,200, and shoes take two to four months to complete. Classic, calf town shoes in brown and black are the most popular. "We are not really a fashion house," sniffs George Glasgow. "We prefer to do the traditional things."

Vincent & Edgar
972 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10021
Phone: (212) 753-3461

Prices start at $1,200, and shoes take 12 weeks to complete. "I prefer the classics," says Roman Vaingauz. "We have a very good variety of leathers in which to do the traditional styles."

Edward Green
90 Jermyn Street, London SW1 Y6JD
Phone: (44) 71 930-7691

Calf town shoes start at $600 and take approximately three months to complete. "A well-antiqued, plain-toed chestnut-brown oxford is the usually ordered shoe from us," says John Hlustik. "We do a very elegant shoe. Neither heavy and clunky nor slick. I'd say it's an understated gentleman's shoe."

P.S. Ercolino
51 East Oakland Avenue, Doylestown, Pennsylvania 18901-4643
Phone: (215) 348-5885

Calf shoes from $1,250, with 10 to 12 weeks to make. "The cap-toed oxford, with or without a medallion, is a popular classic with us," says Ercolino. "But I also like many of the styles that harken back to the 1940s--like the two-toned spectators."

John Lobb
9 St. James's Street, London SW1 A1EF
Phone: (44) 71 930-3664

Prices start at $2,400 for basic shoes, which take four to six months to complete. Lobb, however, is happy to do calf and crocodile saddle shoes, brogues with elastic side panels or blue calf Norwegian slippers as well.

[Daedalus]

Published Autumn 1994

Suiting Up
Personal Tailors Fashion Custom-Made Products that Fit Beautifully and Precisely
by G. Bruce Boyer


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By nature, tailors are not gloomy men. No, indeed. Optimistic if anything. How else could they take all the time and trouble to make us look our best? You couldn't blame them, though, if they were a bit on the dour side. When it comes to excessively demanding customers, tailors have seen them all.

The most exasperating-customer-story award must go to Leonard Logsdail of New York. "When I had my shop in London, there was one customer who was never happy with the length of his trousers," explains Logsdail. "He would complain about the unevenness of the carpet, or the height of the heels on his shoes, or that the fabric had stretched. He was obsessive, and there seemed no way of convincing him that the measurements were accurate. Finally, in desperation, I rigged up two tape measures from the top of the door jamb, made him stand in the door frame and marked the measurements with ink on the side of the jamb to satisfy him. He was actually one of my best customers, but absolutely bonkers about the length of his trousers."

There's something endearing and satisfying about the level of service a tailor is willing to provide. More and more men seem to be disenchanted with the service and quality provided by the consumer marketplace. What ever happened to personal attention, to quality, to style? Well, it's still out there.

A man used to have two choices when buying a suit: he either got it off the rack or he had it custom-tailored. Today there are several other choices, even as the distinction between off-the-rack and custom tailoring has blurred considerably. The confusion makes entering the waters beyond the safe shores of department-store racks a tad dangerous. But once you wade in, you will undoubtedly find that it's worth the effort. Men who have their clothes tailored for them have seen that the level of quality, service, selection, convenience and individuality simply cannot be found in off-the-rack garments. And, of course, these lucky individuals receive the physical comfort and self-esteem that accrues from wearing something made especially and exclusively for them.

And the price? Ah, yes, the price. A suit made expressly for you is most assuredly expensive in initial outlay, but as an investment, it's unbeatable. Why? Simple. We shouldn't merely think in terms of initial outlay, but of maintenance and longevity as well. If you buy a suit for $200 and it lasts a year, and you buy another suit for $1,000 and it lasts 10 years, which is the less expensive suit? The truth is that a cheap suit looks cheap even when it's new, while a good suit can look great (if you take care of it) even when it's old.

To help make the sartorial choices facing a man today a bit clearer, let's start with ready-made suits. An off-the-rack suit is just that: you pick from what's in stock and an alterations tailor will try to make it conform to your body in a few obvious places: sleeve and trouser length and perhaps an inch in or out at the waist. Some stores offer "special order" for a percentage more in price (usually 10 percent to 20 percent above stock). Special-order offers a selection of fabrics (from a swatch box) and a choice of style models (usually two or three), but the suit will still be cut from the factory-standard pattern.

The higher forms of the art--"made-to-measure" and "custom-tailoring"--both mean personalized, individually tailored clothing. The difference between the two is in the pattern from which the garment is made. The most expensive, time-consuming and exacting work is found in true custom-tailoring (also referred to as "bench-made" and "bespoke") because an individual paper pattern is constructed for that customer. At its best, there is no better garment for fit, styling, quality and durability.

With made-to-measure, a standard pattern is modified to account for the many ways in which the customer may differ from the norm: a high shoulder, perhaps, or a forward-sitting head, a lower left hip or a pigeon chest. Choices of fabric are the same as for custom, and styling is usually open to all but the most idiosyncratic requests.

Made-to-measure is, in a very real sense, an attempt to bridge the wide gap between a ready-made garment (which, because it is constructed to fit everyone, usually fits no one very well) and custom-made (which is expensive and in many cases unnecessarily fastidious). It should be noted that while custom-tailored and made-to-measure employ a high amount of skilled handiwork and the finest fabrics and findings (those parts such as linings, pads, threads or buttons), they are not always evidence of quality, depending on execution. The best made-to-measure suit is considerably superior to mediocre custom work. Names such as Brioni and Oxxford bring top-notch quality to that category.

The real problem with personalized clothing is finding the tailor who's right for you. This is usually done in a variety of ways. A man may seek the tailor who dresses certain celebrities or his boss or someone his wife hears about from a friend. There are better ways.

First, the right tailor for you is the one who, stylistically, speaks your language--someone you can communicate with. It's important to find a tailor who makes the kind of clothing you want, rather than trying to persuade him to your way of thinking. Good tailors are experts: they know what they do and they do it well. But that doesn't mean they do everything well. Brooks Brothers' style is not Savile Row, and Savile Row is not Milan. Ask the tailor to discuss his "house style" with you. You should both have the same picture--the same ideal--of what a man should look like in a suit.

This isn't a question of fit, because fit is ultimately a subjective idea. If our clothes indeed closely conformed to the actual shape of our bodies, any tailor would be good enough. But the expert tailor is interested in improving us. He's part reconstructive surgeon, part psychiatrist. Can he give us the view of ourselves that we have in our minds? The silhouette (what tailors often refer to as "line") is ultimately the most important consideration. Does the tailor have a very formal, highly structured view of things? Or does he believe in a more casual elegance, for example?

For some tailors the ideal is the Continental Boulevardier: the dashing young man with expressive shoulders, narrow waist and hips, trim sleeves and trousers. For another, it may be the English gentleman, with that studied balance of ease and elegance produced by waist suppression and flared skirting (the tailor's term for the jacket part beneath the waist). Or perhaps it is the American look of classic casualness with its soft natural shoulders and chest that emphasizes comfort and a nonchalant approach.

Second, a good tailoring firm will have access to the finest fabrics. Cloth merchants such as Dormeuil, Holland & Cherry, Loro Piana, Isles Textiles, GRM International and Scabal should be represented. Their names on swatch books are a guarantee of superior cloth. Good tailors are reluctant to waste their skills on inferior material. The materials one looks for are the natural ones: woolens, cottons, linens and luxurious cashmeres and silks. Today's fabrics are infinitely more comfortable than those of even 25 years ago. The Super 100s woolens (weaves of the finest Merino wool available--one pound of yarn can be spun thin enough to stretch 31 miles) can weigh a mere eight ounces per yard, producing a suit weighing about two pounds; a half century ago, a year-round suit weighed twice that. Modern woolens outperform heavier cloth due to a combination of softness and superior strength. Fabric technology has also produced "high twist" worsteds and silk-and-wool blends that are marvels of lightweight beauty and comfort for warm weather. Look for cloth that has a soft feel (the technical term is "hand") but isn't flimsy. It should drape well without wrinkling.

Third, a good fitter takes careful, methodical measurements. A good tailor tends to think in half inches and quarter inches. He will measure each arm and leg separately, because each of us is different (with athletes these differences may be more pronounced). The chest should be measured under the arms, then over the arms (this is, after all, usually the widest part of the body and crucial to understanding the line); inseams and outseams of trousers will be noted to determine the correct "rise" (the tailor's term for the distance between waistband and crotch, which determines how high on your hips your trousers will sit--important for comfort and to determine the fullness in the leg). The height of each shoulder must be considered (a competent tailor will tell you that no one has two perfectly square shoulders or a perfectly straight neck set perfectly between them) as well as both waist and hipline (to note any slight curvature in the small of the back, which produces a "hollow" in the rear of the coat). Even the size of the shoe is an important consideration in the width and height of the trouser cuff. This is not a small, medium and large operation: if he doesn't take these dozen or so measurements for both coat and trousers, something is wrong--with him.

Finally, there should be several fittings--especially early on, to get the pattern right. If the tailor has measured properly, the pattern he constructs will be an accurate blueprint of your body. The first try-on will be a basted fitting: the trousers will be half finished (no waistband, zipper and perhaps no pockets at this stage). The coat will be a mere shell of outer fabric covered with white lines of basting thread (sleeves may be loosely attached, making it easier to rip them off and realign them). The emphasis should be on proportion and a balanced torso shape in the coat. Because the shoulders and chest are the most important parts to get right, the emphasis is on them at the beginning (they cannot be easily altered once they are set).

The second fitting will take into account the correct length of sleeves and legs in relation to the stance of the shoulders and drape of the chest. Is the collar sitting close on the neck without pulling? Do the sleeves hang straight down from the shoulder without bunching around the armhole? Is the back flat? Is the front wide enough so that the lapels do not "break" or the skirt pull apart? Trousers must be comfortable even when sitting with legs crossed. Don't just stand ramrod stiff in front of the mirror; walk around, sit down, fill your pockets with all the paraphernalia you normally would. Maybe you shouldn't carry your reading glasses in your chest pocket, but if you do, the pocket should be deep enough to hold them. The tailor must take into consideration your habits; that's what individually made clothing is all about. The suit must fit you, not the other way around. You must insist on getting what you want and need.

The suit may now be completed with buttonholes, cuffs and all the finishing touches. All the while the pattern will be corrected as the adjustments are made. Perhaps there will be just one more fitting so you and the tailor can marvel at how handsome you look. The second time that you buy a custom suit (and each suit thereafter) will be easier because your pattern will have been adjusted, corrected and stored; you can move directly to a final fitting. And, resplendent in your new togs, when someone at the office asks whether you've taken up an exercise program, you can merely smile.

G. Bruce Boyer is the author of Eminently Suitable (1990), 206 pages, W.W. Norton, $19.95.


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U.S. Tailors
Paul Becker
424 Ward Parkway
Kansas City, Missouri 64112
(816) 531-6200

Suits: $1,400; sport coats: $1,000. The style here is clean and crisp; jackets have ample shoulder, some "give" at chest, trim seat. Wool crepes and lightweight reverse twists are popular for suits, silk-and-wool blends for sport coats.

Bergdorf Goodman Men
745 Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10022
(212) 339-3393

Suits: $1,400; sport coats: $995. Classic Anglo-American look with seminatural shoulder, some drape and waist suppression.

Berardi Brothers
802 Walnut Street
Des Moines, Iowa 50309
(515) 288-8362

Suits: $1,750; topcoats: $3,000; sport coats: $1,250. Medium-shoulder, two-button, American traditional silhouette, nine-to-10-ounce, year-round worsteds preferred.

Cheo Tailors
30 East 60th Street
New York, New York 10022
(212) 980-9838

Suits: $2,000; sport coats: $1,500; topcoats: $2,000. Old Savile Row tradition of 1930s London styling: soft chest and shoulder, nipped waist and full-cut trousers.

Gian DeCaro
2025 First Avenue, Suite D
Seattle, Washington 98121
(206) 448-2812

Suits: $1,295; cashmere worsted sport coats: $2,000. Easy silhouette with high armhole, slightly longer coat, broader lapels and lower button stance. Clear-finished, 11-to-12-ounce gabardines and venetians are favored.

Despos Tailors
500 Crescent Court, Suite 152
Dallas, Texas 75201
(214) 871-3707

Suits: $2,000; sport coats: $1,500. Straight, clean lines with square shoulder, higher waist and trim hip. Favors double-breasted and single-breasted with vests ($350 extra).

Dormeuil Private Tailor Service
Phone: (800) 506-4400 or (908) 486-1900

Suits: $1,450; sport coats: $1,100; tuxedos: $1,500. A private tailoring service that comes to the customer's home or office (New York area). International business silhouette, standard four to eight weeks for completion with fittings on location; all work done by master tailors.

Dunhill
450 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10022
(800) 541-0738

Suits: $2,000; sport coats: $1,300. Updated traditional with trimmer, youthful silhouette.

William Fioravanti
45 West 57th Street
New York, New York 10019
(212) 355-1540

Suits: $3,850; sport coats: $3,150; tuxedos: $4,250. The international-businessman approach, elegant and trim with straight shoulders, subtle waist and slimming hipline. Customers often prefer luxury fabrics.

Alan Flusser at Saks
49th Street & Fifth Avenue
New York, New York 10020
(212) 888-7100

Suits: $1,350; sport coats: $1,150. Two styles here: (1) Anglo-American silhouette with elegant drape, and (2) a youthful, more wedge-shaped line with ultrasoft construction. Traditional fabrics as well as exclusively designed ones.

Giliberto Designs
142 West 36th Street
New York, New York 10018
(212) 695-4925

Suits: $1,000 (in-stock fabrics, higher on ordered cloth); topcoats and tuxedos: $1,195. Does both natural shoulder, soft-chested, traditional styling and slightly more European design with more shoulder expression and fuller-cut trouser.

Leonard Logsdail
510 Madison Avenue, Suite 200
New York, New York 10022
(212) 752-5030

Suits: $2,500; sport coats: $1,700; trousers: $700. Savile Row-trained, Logsdail espouses the contemporary London styling of moderation in business dress; also expert in a variety of country looks.

Edgar Pommeroy
2985 Piedmont Road, NE
Atlanta, Georgia 30305
(404) 365-0405

Suits: $1,000; sport coats: $800. Decidedly hour-glass silhouette and very British with fitted waist and flare and full-cut trouser. Cloths that have good drape are admired.

Michael Renzi
610 Newport Center Drive, #250
Newport Beach, California 92660
(714) 729-4445

Suits: $1,200; sport coats: $900; trousers: $300. Euro-British look reminiscent of 1930s international approach with higher waist, square shoulder and side vents; full-cut, higher-waisted trousers. High-twist, super-100s worsteds are popular as well as silk sports coats.

Savile Row New York
18 East 53rd Street
New York, New York 10022
(212) 532-7935

Suits: $2,000, sport coats: $1,700. Anglo-American styling with good shaping and an easy fit. Super-150s worsteds are in demand as well as a range of exclusively designed flannels.

Sulka
430 Park Avenue
New York, New York 10022
(212) 980-5200

Suits: $3,200; sport coats: $2,750. Gentleman's mid-Atlantic cut with slightly wider shoulder, higher armhole and straight hipline. Cashmere sport coats are very popular here.

Giacomo Trabalza
723 North La Cienega Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90069
(310) 652-6396

Suits: $2,200; sport coats: $1,800; tuxedos: $3,000. A slimming silhouette, fairly close to the body. Higher waistline, shoulder and gorge and slightly longer coat.

Ventresca
315 Old York RoadJenkintown, Pennsylvania 19046
(215) 576-1178

Suits: $1,150; sport coats: $850; trousers: $325. A contemporary version of 1930s Hollywood with soft drape in the chest and blade and structured shoulders; a good look with gabardines and soft flannels.

[Mikey Fuoco]

Onderhoudend stukje, dat laatste, D. thanks. 

[TimMureau]

Edgar Pomeroy Ltd.
2985 Piedmont Road N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30305
(404/365-0405)

One hesitates to include these two fine shops only because they specialize in very refined, custom-tailored clothing. Both designers, in fact, have a penchant for very urbane suits with lots of drape and distinction. Pomeroy is perhaps the more dandyish and brash, Flusser the more concerned with soft construction and classic flair. But both are noted for their fine ready-to-wear collections of dress shirts (in the high-count 120s two-ply cottons), Italian and English woven silk neckwear and one-of-a-kind accessories. At any particular moment, it's possible to find at the Flusser Shop a wonderful selection of Swiss linen pocket handkerchiefs, a dozen or so beautifully hued Italian cashmere ties or a selection of exquisite French lisle hosiery. Pomeroy may be showing his latest collection of English silk braces, hand-embroidered velvet slippers or imported Macclesfield neckwear. Both designers seek out those unique, tasty, Old World items of clothing craftsmanship that are harder and harder to come by.

G. Bruce Boyer is the author of Eminently Suitable (W.W. Norton, 1990).

http://www.edgarpomeroy.com/

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