Philipo
Member
- Joined
- Oct 9, 2014
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 7
Given that we all appear to have the same interest in high end tailoring; I thought it would be interesting to see how each of us arrived at this destination?
As this is my, probably daft, idea, it falls to me to start the ball-rolling, so here goes………………..
Two of my great interests in life are music and clothes, the formative point for this was probably seeing David Bowie perform “Starman” on “Top of the Pops” (UK, BBC TV program) in July 1972. A brilliant summation of this is “"All my other mates at school would say, 'Did you see that bloke on Top Of The Pops?' He's a right ******, him!' And I remember thinking, 'You pillocks'...It made me feel cooler." Not my quote, it’s from Ian McCulloch, though it brilliantly sums up how me, and others felt.
From there, I listened to others bands such as The Stooges, Velvet Underground, N Y Dolls, before punk happened in 1976.
For those that don’t know, or can’t remember, London and the rest of the UK was a grey mess, still recovering from WW2. Unlike today’s cosmopolitan metropolis, outside of Savile Row, which I was too young to appreciate, it was tired looking hippies and look alikes in flares with dubious haircuts!
My first experience of seeing clothes and thinking wow, was around 1975, I saw a shirt in the window of the YSL Rive Gauche shop; from what I could see of the ticket it cost £12.50. Now this was a lot of money then, but I had a paper round and pocket money, and after a few weeks saving up I was there. In I went, grasping my hard earned cash to discover that I was missing a nought – it was £125. There didn’t seem in any need to enquire further, but I do remember they were very nice to me!
Unlike other punks I didn’t feel the need to look like everyone else – wasn’t that the point! Be different, be yourself. Following is the synchronicity, based on what I can remember, of what I was buying, and when…………
· 1976-1982; I ran a news delivery business for a local paper shop before school, and would look through Vogue magazine where they sometimes has menswear featured.
- There were three shops that were stocking these great Italian brands; Browns, Uomo Regine , and Piero di Monzi.
- The brands were Giorgio Armani, Versace (plus 3 other labels he designed for), Missoni, Cerruti 1881, Basile, Rossetti, etc. My favourites were Armani (his tailoring was so different), and Missoni knitwear.
- During this time I bought from all of these brands (I was at school but had several w/e jobs, etc.)
· 1983 – 1990; the early 80s were very creative in London, punk stimulated the whole music/ fashion/arts scene, and we saw newer, more unusual, designers come to the fore;
- the three I most wore were Comme des Garcons, Yohji, and some Gaultier. I still wore Armani, and Cerruti suits for work
· 1990 – 1998: this was stealth wealth time – Prada, Helmut Lang, Jil Sander, Margiela, with a brief detour into Gucci around 1994-5.
- I remember the only two Gucci suits I bought; they have the dubious distinction of the best worst made suits I ever owned!
· 1999 – 2007: After the Gucci debacle I decided to explore Savile Row, after walking up and down several times, I decided on Kilgour, which at the time was Kilgour French and Stanbury.
- I had a number of suits made by them as well as buying Carlo Brandellis RTW
- The other change during this time was Yoox, I had always used sales, and as I bought classics I was happy buying last seasons and saving £££s
· 2007 was a watershed, I bought, for £250, a RLPL suit; on closer inspection it was one of the best made suits I had owned. Researching who might have made it (I think it was St Andrews) I rediscovered Italian tailoring, and more importantly Neapolitan tailors.
- The reality check was my son growing up and finding his own style, transpired we both like Margiela, Jil Sander, Raf Simons, Dior Homme.
- Now, even though they are minimalist labels, there was shades of the ‘oldest swinger in town’ for me, and I left him to it.
· 2007 – to present day: the real issue was that much of what I liked wasn’t sold in London, and what was such as Kiton were insanely expensive.
- Via Google, it was off to eHaberdasher, Shop the Finest, and Yoox.
- There was some trial and error, mercifully few mistakes, other than a RLPL jacket that my wife won’t be seen with me in!
- Over time I have evolved what works, and what I can afford, or justify paying, such as -
- Suits / Sports coats: RLPL, Caruso, Borrelli (I have 1 jkt), Sartoria Partenopea, LBM 1911 (bought my first Jkt recently, unlined navy 100% cashmere herring-bone, sub-£400 from Yoox, for the money its good value)
- Trousers: Donnanna, PT01, Incotex (occasionally)
- Knitwear: I don’t where jumpers often, some RLPL cashmere that was all sub-£100, bits from Borrelli, Drumohr
- Shirts: Finamore, Borrelli, one Attolini (would like more but they are few and far between)
- Ties : a real mix; Hober, Borrelli, Bigi, Drakes, Marinella, Panta, etc.
- Shoes: Mantellassi (if I’m feeling rich), Meermin, and Loding – style over substance but at the price………
Two more things-
· To anyone who finds this boring sorry.
· Although I might sound like someone from a rich family, or just overpaid, I’m, not.
Fascinated top heat everyone else’s thoughts
As this is my, probably daft, idea, it falls to me to start the ball-rolling, so here goes………………..
Two of my great interests in life are music and clothes, the formative point for this was probably seeing David Bowie perform “Starman” on “Top of the Pops” (UK, BBC TV program) in July 1972. A brilliant summation of this is “"All my other mates at school would say, 'Did you see that bloke on Top Of The Pops?' He's a right ******, him!' And I remember thinking, 'You pillocks'...It made me feel cooler." Not my quote, it’s from Ian McCulloch, though it brilliantly sums up how me, and others felt.
From there, I listened to others bands such as The Stooges, Velvet Underground, N Y Dolls, before punk happened in 1976.
For those that don’t know, or can’t remember, London and the rest of the UK was a grey mess, still recovering from WW2. Unlike today’s cosmopolitan metropolis, outside of Savile Row, which I was too young to appreciate, it was tired looking hippies and look alikes in flares with dubious haircuts!
My first experience of seeing clothes and thinking wow, was around 1975, I saw a shirt in the window of the YSL Rive Gauche shop; from what I could see of the ticket it cost £12.50. Now this was a lot of money then, but I had a paper round and pocket money, and after a few weeks saving up I was there. In I went, grasping my hard earned cash to discover that I was missing a nought – it was £125. There didn’t seem in any need to enquire further, but I do remember they were very nice to me!
Unlike other punks I didn’t feel the need to look like everyone else – wasn’t that the point! Be different, be yourself. Following is the synchronicity, based on what I can remember, of what I was buying, and when…………
· 1976-1982; I ran a news delivery business for a local paper shop before school, and would look through Vogue magazine where they sometimes has menswear featured.
- There were three shops that were stocking these great Italian brands; Browns, Uomo Regine , and Piero di Monzi.
- The brands were Giorgio Armani, Versace (plus 3 other labels he designed for), Missoni, Cerruti 1881, Basile, Rossetti, etc. My favourites were Armani (his tailoring was so different), and Missoni knitwear.
- During this time I bought from all of these brands (I was at school but had several w/e jobs, etc.)
· 1983 – 1990; the early 80s were very creative in London, punk stimulated the whole music/ fashion/arts scene, and we saw newer, more unusual, designers come to the fore;
- the three I most wore were Comme des Garcons, Yohji, and some Gaultier. I still wore Armani, and Cerruti suits for work
· 1990 – 1998: this was stealth wealth time – Prada, Helmut Lang, Jil Sander, Margiela, with a brief detour into Gucci around 1994-5.
- I remember the only two Gucci suits I bought; they have the dubious distinction of the best worst made suits I ever owned!
· 1999 – 2007: After the Gucci debacle I decided to explore Savile Row, after walking up and down several times, I decided on Kilgour, which at the time was Kilgour French and Stanbury.
- I had a number of suits made by them as well as buying Carlo Brandellis RTW
- The other change during this time was Yoox, I had always used sales, and as I bought classics I was happy buying last seasons and saving £££s
· 2007 was a watershed, I bought, for £250, a RLPL suit; on closer inspection it was one of the best made suits I had owned. Researching who might have made it (I think it was St Andrews) I rediscovered Italian tailoring, and more importantly Neapolitan tailors.
- The reality check was my son growing up and finding his own style, transpired we both like Margiela, Jil Sander, Raf Simons, Dior Homme.
- Now, even though they are minimalist labels, there was shades of the ‘oldest swinger in town’ for me, and I left him to it.
· 2007 – to present day: the real issue was that much of what I liked wasn’t sold in London, and what was such as Kiton were insanely expensive.
- Via Google, it was off to eHaberdasher, Shop the Finest, and Yoox.
- There was some trial and error, mercifully few mistakes, other than a RLPL jacket that my wife won’t be seen with me in!
- Over time I have evolved what works, and what I can afford, or justify paying, such as -
- Suits / Sports coats: RLPL, Caruso, Borrelli (I have 1 jkt), Sartoria Partenopea, LBM 1911 (bought my first Jkt recently, unlined navy 100% cashmere herring-bone, sub-£400 from Yoox, for the money its good value)
- Trousers: Donnanna, PT01, Incotex (occasionally)
- Knitwear: I don’t where jumpers often, some RLPL cashmere that was all sub-£100, bits from Borrelli, Drumohr
- Shirts: Finamore, Borrelli, one Attolini (would like more but they are few and far between)
- Ties : a real mix; Hober, Borrelli, Bigi, Drakes, Marinella, Panta, etc.
- Shoes: Mantellassi (if I’m feeling rich), Meermin, and Loding – style over substance but at the price………
Two more things-
· To anyone who finds this boring sorry.
· Although I might sound like someone from a rich family, or just overpaid, I’m, not.
Fascinated top heat everyone else’s thoughts
