Rory Duffy: The Unmaking of a Coat

[Gus]



Did Fok pay you something to write this?

Full disclosure. I get a free membership to Styleforum in exchange for my posts.

 

[ter1413]



Exactly. We like our teenage boys. They just need a little tough love now and then.

I differ from you re teenage boys. But whatever floats your boat!

 

[Trompe le Monde]



And handshake deals are still agreements, even if they aren't in writing. A man should always honor his word.

If that agreement is "I'll give you 20 bucks if you backflip off the roof". Not when it involves intellectual property. Way too complicated a barter for it to be done verbally. Rookie mistake.

The pile-on is all wrong, but seems a but misplaced. I mean, Rory should be on the forum and the one getting slagged here too - not just the one guy who posted and takes all the ire.

Well, I guess that Rory guy looks all sorts of greasy.

 

[emptym]

The funny thing is that I originally wrote, "They just need a kind word of correction now and then." But at last minute I figured I'd throw a bone, see who came out. So to speak.

 

[TOstyle]

...

If that agreement is "I'll give you 20 bucks if you backflip off the roof". Not when it involves intellectual property. Way too complicated a barter for it to be done verbally. Rookie mmistake.

I agree, it's poor decision-making not actually getting something in writing for gods sakes. I'm not saying this isn't a mess overall - clearly is. But if it was me, I'd be pissed that I didn't get a coat out of it at the end of the day. That's what I'd care about.

 

[PipersSon]



........So, in summary, you made a bunch of (really good) videos and got $1700 from Rory, some amount of $ from Will and some street cred on Vimeo, though not as much as you might have gotten if Rory hadn't also posted those same videos on Youtube.

You're mad that you didn't get your suit and didn't get to finish the series of videos.

Is that about the size of it?

Sorry it didn't work out the way you wanted but seems like you still came out ahead. And it seems like Rory is gone like a freight train so not too much to worry about re: other people getting duped.

This sums it up.

OP, to you this may feel like a significant event, for most other people it's a minor dispute between two parties made interesting only because it has the potential for a meltdown. I doubt anyone apart from you and your former partner give a hoot. I'm one of those who didn't even know about either of you until you started this thread- I'm sure there are a few like me.

So while I'd love more farce with my popcorn and would't mind seeing a few shenanigans, my advice to OP would be get out while some sanity has returned to this thread over the previous one or two pages.

 

[TOstyle]

Anyone else here actually get a piece from Rory? Was he any good?

I'll admit I enjoy hearing the disputes, but I'm on SF mainly to figure out what's good. How was his product?

 

[carpu65]

Interesting point.
Mountak said that

If I found Duffy’s tailoring to be rather set in its ways (e.g. a somewhat dated Poole house cut), it was clearly the work of skilled hands.

What is mean with "dated",obsolete or old style?
Anyway for what I saw,his single breasted is good,but i don't like his double breasted cut.
His prices were too high; you are Rory Duffy a unknown lone tailor,not Huntsman or Henry Poole (and not even Steed-DeBoise).

 

[TOstyle]

Yeah just wondered if anyone else had experience. Montauk's negative opinion of the quality was obviously influenced by the whole situation.

 

[Montauk]



Interesting point.
Mountak said that
What is mean with "dated",obsolete or old style?

I suppose it's all a matter of taste, but I meant slightly stale by contemporary standards -- not old-fashioned, and certainly not obsolete. Duffy's preferred cut (like many older Poole samples I've seen) tended to have a relatively low two-button stance, slightly bellied lapels, moderately roped shoulders with a clean sleevehead, a clean chest, and trim high-waisted trousers -- all of which (by his own admission) suggested a slight Carnaby Street flair. To be fair, the samples of his work I saw were overwhelming made for himself, and reflected his somewhat piratical personal style and lanky frame. I myself favor a more classic drape cut, and was always pushing Duffy to at least learn how to make it, which to his credit I think he did. (Although not in the coat featured in the series, which I deliberately asked him to make in his preferred style).

 

[Montauk]



Yeah just wondered if anyone else had experience. Montauk's negative opinion of the quality was obviously influenced by the whole situation.

I have never maligned the quality of Rory's tailoring.

 

[TOstyle]

Fair enough. The line quoted above about the style being dated seemed to apply a bit, but certainly it wasn't ranting.

Also, you never actually got the coat - so you couldn't!!

 

[TOstyle]

I'll say I did enjoy the series I saw and it's unfortunate you didn't get to finished.

 

[dopey]

nvm

 

[Montauk]



Possessing a dated, obsolete style, is exactly what I understood you to be saying was among Rory Duffy's virtues when you first were touting him here. I immediately understood why you were so enthusiastic. When you have the opportunity to let people know about something stale and irrelevant, yet dated and obsolete, it is natural to be excited and go in to full-on promotion mode.

Good grief. Read my post again. The styling might not have been exactly what I prefer, but it's what a lot of guys like, and in any case what I was really excited about was showing the craftsmanship inside a coat, whatever its cut. Ultimately, Poole's -- and Duffy's -- philosophy is that the cut needs to serve the client.