HUSBANDS (Paris)

[sabmoll]

Hi there and Bonjour!

I'm a bit surprised that there's not thread for HUSBANDS from Paris yet.

Would love to hear from those that have some experience with the brand. It all looks very chic online and in their editorials - very structured and always draped over very thin models so it would be great to get some pictures from those wearing HUSBANDS in the wild. Don't know whether the pieces can be mixed & match for someone looking for a less conservative outfit. Would be interesting to know who their customer base is - graduates of ENA? ;-)

There's also this very interesting interview with the founder Nicolas Gabard in the FT, available here.

 

[vida]

Hi there and Bonjour!

I'm a bit surprised that there's not thread for HUSBANDS from Paris yet.

Would love to hear from those that have some experience with the brand. It all looks very chic online and in their editorials - very structured and always draped over very thin models so it would be great to get some pictures from those wearing HUSBANDS in the wild. Don't know whether the pieces can be mixed & match for someone looking for a less conservative outfit. Would be interesting to know who their customer base is - graduates of ENA? ;-)

There's also this very interesting interview with the founder Nicolas Gabard in the FT, available here.

I have tried one of their blazers and love it. Completely different silhouette as compared to all of the typical “rounded” Neopolitan style. They have a narrow shoulder, narrow chest and longer length. But I didn’t think it really wore that long. It’s very well-balanced. It certainly has its own style but it looks fantastic. The only problem is that constantly out of stock.

 

[pyunghwa]

I love the cut of their balmacaans.

 

[comrade]

I have tried one of their blazers and love it. Completely different silhouette as compared to all of the typical “rounded” Neopolitan style. They have a narrow shoulder, narrow chest and longer length. But I didn’t think it really wore that long. It’s very well-balanced. It certainly has its own style but it looks fantastic. The only problem is that constantly out of stock.

That would never work for my "Soviet" build

 

['patanoster]

I'm a big fan of their general vibe -- feel like I'd want to try the clothes on in person though, rather than taking a punt over the internet, especially with shipping over the channel.

I really like the weave of a lot of their fabrics, not sure if they do them custom or if they are off the shelf from weavers, but they often have just the right subtle pop of colour to them -- e.g. this PoW

 

[clee1982]

I like it but when I look measurements in my size it’s always a bit too long (EU 46) else would probably give it a try (they do pop up on eBay from time to time)

edit: also the few time I looked they all had functional sleeve? Need to shorten sleeve definitely don’t like to alter from shoulder

 

[dieworkwear]

I'm a big fan of their general vibe -- feel like I'd want to try the clothes on in person though, rather than taking a punt over the internet, especially with shipping over the channel.

I really like the weave of a lot of their fabrics, not sure if they do them custom or if they are off the shelf from weavers, but they often have just the right subtle pop of colour to them -- e.g. this PoW

Fabric looks like its Standeven Heritage Twist.

100% Merino Wool Luxury Suit Cloth - Woven in England 15026

Stock supported,cut lengths supplied for tailoring. Standeven 1885 the tailor's mill,weaving Heritage Twist merino wool business suit cloth in British Mill

www.standevenfabrics.co.uk

100% Merino Wool Luxury Suit Cloth - Woven in England 15028

Stock supported,cut lengths supplied for tailoring. Standeven 1885 the tailor's mill,weaving Heritage Twist merino wool business suit cloth in British Mill

www.standevenfabrics.co.uk

100% Merino Wool Luxury Suit Cloth - Woven in England 15027

Stock supported,cut lengths supplied for tailoring. Standeven 1885 the tailor's mill,weaving Heritage Twist merino wool business suit cloth in British Mill

www.standevenfabrics.co.uk

 

['patanoster]

Fabric looks like its Standeven Heritage Twist.

100% Merino Wool Luxury Suit Cloth - Woven in England 15026

Stock supported,cut lengths supplied for tailoring. Standeven 1885 the tailor's mill,weaving Heritage Twist merino wool business suit cloth in British Mill

www.standevenfabrics.co.uk

100% Merino Wool Luxury Suit Cloth - Woven in England 15028

Stock supported,cut lengths supplied for tailoring. Standeven 1885 the tailor's mill,weaving Heritage Twist merino wool business suit cloth in British Mill

www.standevenfabrics.co.uk

100% Merino Wool Luxury Suit Cloth - Woven in England 15027

Stock supported,cut lengths supplied for tailoring. Standeven 1885 the tailor's mill,weaving Heritage Twist merino wool business suit cloth in British Mill

www.standevenfabrics.co.uk

Thanks for the tip, I'd not seen this book before, a lot of very nice looking fabrics.

 

[Autre Vue]

Haven’t been on this forum for a while but stumbled upon this thread and thought I would share my experiences. I just had a suit made commande spéciale with Husbands just before the holidays after a long time of knowing of the brand and meeting the team (I had photographed their beautiful boutique and a number of other Parisian stores for a magazine feature, pre-pandemic). In the meantime I had become friendly with Nicolas and the product manager Gauthier as they further refined their vision, and had finally decided on getting something specially made for an upcoming trip.

I can confidently say that the experience was very pleasant and totally satisfying, as soon as I took delivery of my suit and put it on for the first time I was already thinking of my second order.

I believe that Husbands straddles the space between classic menswear and prêt-a-porter fashion incredibly well, which in turn makes it uniquely Parisian to me. Not quite British but the silhouette still looks sharp and structured, not quite Italian but the padding is soft and comfortable as they do, so somewhere in between. Very chic, very elegant, very French, but without the high cost of the Paris bespoke houses if you’re after that look. And another thing that sets Husbands apart, they embrace an androgynous 70’s sexiness that many tailoring houses seem to shy away from or ignore completely.

Though I didn’t buy the ready-to-wear, I have spent some time inspecting the collections in-store and trying them on. Fabric selection is impeccable and very directional, leaning towards bold and English. Not exactly corporate wear, but what does that even mean these days anyways. Perfectly at home in creative industries though. Nicolas told me that their goal for this year is to expand their shirting range with even more interesting fabrics, which I'm looking forward to.

Customer base tend towards the creative industries based on my conversations with Nicolas, but that might because I’m a photographer by profession and we ended up speaking about that (he counts quite a few well known fashion photographers as clients, as well as stylists and designers). I remember a very rakish gentleman come in to pick up his finished suit—he was the owner of an independent watch brand here in Paris. I can imagine the more conservative pieces looking not too out of place in an office setting, with the tapered trousers and the only-slightly-wider-than-average notch lapels. But the flared trousers or the all black fresco suits, you wear those because you don’t have to wear a suit to work. I can’t really see HEC or ESSEC graduates coming in unless they worked in luxury marketing or are creatively inclined.

As for sizing and fit, it’s a bit hard to comment as this was a special order and was fit and altered to my size (I’m quite small so buying off the rack is always a pain). All I can say is the process was fantastic, they’re all consummate gentlemen at Husbands and their elegance goes beyond their wardrobes and into their hospitableness as well. The suit turned out exactly as I wanted and wears like a dream. I’ve gotten compliments on it from my colleagues in fashion who appreciate the subtle 70s spirit without going too much into Gucci-esque caricature, but also from non-fashion people who just see it as a chic suit. I should also say that I wore it to the airport on an 11 hour flight, and it’s very comfortable and still kept its clean lines when I got off the plane. Wouldn’t hesitate to do that again too, and I feel like Nicolas would appreciate the sentiment.

Anyway apologies for rambling but I thought people here might appreciate the review. If anyone wants to hear about the special order process I could elaborate more on that too, or have any other specific questions maybe I can answer some.

Tl;dr - Two thumbs up, highly recommend. Slightly more forward on the style spectrum, but not impossible to find more conservative pieces. Special order experience was excellent, but I live in Paris so visiting the boutique was easy and pleasant. Couldn’t speak more highly of the team, a very elegant and welcoming bunch.

-C

 

[clee1982]

How much is their MTM (or if I was to order really just MTO with shorter jacket and sleeve length)

 

[IJReilly]

I love the cut of their balmacaans.

I have known about the brand, but did not know about their overcoats. They look great, thanks, will definitely check this out!

 

[hitthefloor]

 

[Autre Vue]

How much is their MTM (or if I was to order really just MTO with shorter jacket and sleeve length)

They don't really do MTM, just a made to order program. This worked out for me as aside from my height, my body type is pretty standard so all that alterations were the lengths of things such as the sleeves and trouser hems. The measurements are done in the boutique so when the factory makes the garment, the sleeves and trousers are already the measured length, avoiding any major alterations (shortening from the shoulder, etc)

An interesting thing we did though was that I found the overall off-the-rack jacket length to be too long. So Nicolas suggested we take the length of a comparable womenswear jacket that they do (yes, they make women's tailoring as well) but use the shoulder and chest widths of the men's size. So in the end what I got was my normal jacket size but in a length proportionally correct to my height, without having to do any major surgeries to jacket length and risk throwing off the overall balance. Something that was always a pain with RTW brands.

I paid just under €1500, which I found to be very competitive for what you get.

 

[othertravel]

This tag looks very familiar. Anybody recognize it? i.e. which company makes their tailoring?

 

[jazerad]

This tag looks very familiar. Anybody recognize it? i.e. which company makes their tailoring?
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Gabo napoli