A revelation: I can't stand English suits

[HotToddy]

I'm English and also a fan of Italian fashion. My favourite suit is a RTW Versace. But it was never a work suit - I bought it for parties. My thought process was not 'what will be best for client meetings?' but 'what will chicks dig?' But I could have got a similar suit from an English tailor if I'd asked for it. They'll make whatever you want. Usually they have customers with little imagination who ask for something safe. There are so many men to whom fashion is a terrifying minefield - they want something 'correct' and they don't want to look stupid so they go to a long-established tailor so they can pay an expert to take all the big decisions. That's not the fault of the tailor. He has to make a living so he accommodates the foreigners who fly in and want to look like Sean Connery in Dr. No. There are English tailors who try to exploit a more up to date niche, like Ozwald Boateng. His output is at least as Milanese as anything in Milan, IYSWIM. But there's nothing to stop you going to Anderson and Sheppard with a photo of an Ozwald Boateng suit ripped from GQ and asking for something similar. I expect the tailor would enjoy it.

I actually think you would be mocked by the tailors the second you walked out of the shop.

 

[ShoeWho]

You see, that's your first mistake: fear of tailors. If you lack confidence you'll never get what you want.

 

[HotToddy]

You see, that's your first mistake: fear of tailors. If you lack confidence you'll never get what you want.

I don’t fear them. They would be right to laugh and you would make a great story for them to tell.

 

[gs77]

The question is why would you go to one tailor and ask him to make something characteristic of other tailor?

 

[UNOAIMX]

Aren't all RTW suits actually Chinese?

Yes...yes they are...no escaping it, even Made In Italy (by Chinese Workers)
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-11624801/italy-s-fashion-challenged-by-chinese-factories

 

[dieworkwear]

Yes...yes they are...no escaping it, even Made In Italy (by Chinese Workers)
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-11624801/italy-s-fashion-challenged-by-chinese-factories

More serious note, articles like that, which was repeated in the New York Times, shows that this bias against Chinese manufacturing has little to do with the country, it's about the people. It's crazy to me that people out there really care if Chinese hands -- hands! -- are making the garment. Nothing to do with quality standards or supposedly murky supply chains. People actually care that -- on Italian soil, in Italian factories -- the hands touching their garments are Chinese.

 

[ShoeWho]

The question is why would you go to one tailor and ask him to make something characteristic of other tailor?

Nobody who makes suits has original ideas. Everything has been done. They all have similar training and they all use the same pool of ideas. All the stuff about 'house style' is just marketing. 99% of what you read in the fashion media is flim flam. Most of the posts here are just naive.

 

[gs77]

Nobody who makes suits has original ideas. Everything has been done. They all have similar training and they all use the same pool of ideas. All the stuff about 'house style' is just marketing. 99% of what you read in the fashion media is flim flam. Most of the posts here are just naive.

Ok, let me rephrase. Assuming you are in London, with all the options available, and funds are not a issue, and that any tailor you chose wants to give you an appointment. Why would you go A&S and show him the picture of G&H suit?

 

[Coffandcig]

Aren't all suits English? It's an English garment.

 

[ShoeWho]

Assuming you are in London, with all the options available, and funds are not a issue, and that any tailor you chose wants to give you an appointment. Why would you go A&S and show him the picture of G&H suit?

I've been in London for decades so I don't judge a place by its marketing or its window display. I ask around. I'd never go to Savile Row, but I mentioned A&S for the purposes of this forum - people know what it represents. But if I did go, it might be because I'm already an A&S customer. If they'd made me a City pinstripe which I was happy with, it would be silly to start all over again with a new tailor for a different style of suit. Or I might go because a friend of mine goes and he's recommended his guy. Or I might have formed a view that Mr Boateng has become very celebby and distanced from his business and that if I go to his shop I'll pay through the nose for silly overheads and be served by a junior who doesn't have enough supervision. (I did have a very irritating experience there once.)

 

[dieworkwear]

I've been in London for decades so I don't judge a place by its marketing or its window display. I ask around. I'd never go to Savile Row, but I mentioned A&S for the purposes of this forum - people know what it represents. But if I did go, it might be because I'm already an A&S customer. If they'd made me a City pinstripe which I was happy with, it would be silly to start all over again with a new tailor for a different style of suit. Or I might go because a friend of mine goes and he's recommended his guy. Or I might have formed a view that Mr Boateng has become very celebby and distanced from his business and that if I go to his shop I'll pay through the nose for silly overheads and be served by a junior who doesn't have enough supervision. (I did have a very irritating experience there once.)

You're not going to go to A&S and ask for a non A&S cut. For one, they cut from block patterns and skip to the forward. They're not going to draft an entirely new silhouette for you and give you five fittings. Second, it's just generally unwise to do this at any tailoring company -- it's like going into an Italian restaurant and asking for Mexican food. Third, A&S used to be famous for ignoring customers' regular requests, nevermind asking them to draft you a totally new silhouette. I use them now and can say they're extremely friendly, but this stuff about going into A&S and asking for an OB suit is pretty dumb.

 

[Bromley]

I came to this website looking for style advice. Now I find myself chained to a water heater in a leaky basement, frantically refreshing this thread. I am subsisting on mediocre American espresso, and carnitas tortas I've been special-ordering from Olive Garden. I am unable to reach the handcuff key just beyond my grasp due to the stiff canvas and shoulder padding in my English suit. I am thinking of switching to an Italian tailor. Is Crispaire an appropriate cloth to wear to my stepson's girlfriend's quinceañera?

 

[HotToddy]

I came to this website looking for style advice. Now I find myself chained to a water heater in a leaky basement, furiously refreshing this thread. I am subsisting on mediocre American espresso, and carnitas tortas I've been special-ordering from Olive Garden. I am unable to reach the handcuff key just beyond my grasp due to the stiff canvas and shoulder padding in my English suit. I am thinking of switching to an Italian tailor. Is Crispaire an appropriate cloth to wear to my stepson's girlfriend's quinceañera?

Crispaire should work nicely, maybe in orange? You should take a picture of Oswald Boateng in an orange suit to your new tailor so they know what an orange suit looks like.

 

[ShoeWho]

You're not going to go to A&S and ask for a non A&S cut. For one, they cut from block patterns and skip to the forward. They're not going to draft an entirely new silhouette for you and give you five fittings. Second, it's just generally unwise to do this at any tailoring company -- it's like going into an Italian restaurant and asking for Mexican food. Third, A&S used to be famous for ignoring customers' regular requests, nevermind asking them to draft you a totally new silhouette. I use them now and can say they're extremely friendly, but this stuff about going into A&S and asking for an OB suit is pretty dumb.

Cobblers.

 

[gs77]

I came to this website looking for style advice. Now I find myself chained to a water heater in a leaky basement, frantically refreshing this thread. I am subsisting on mediocre American espresso, and carnitas tortas I've been special-ordering from Olive Garden. I am unable to reach the handcuff key just beyond my grasp due to the stiff canvas and shoulder padding in my English suit. I am thinking of switching to an Italian tailor. Is Crispaire an appropriate cloth to wear to my stepson's girlfriend's quinceañera?

Only hopsack. And navy please.