Alessandro Martorana visits Los Angeles

[Michael Ay329]

Update on my meeting with Alessandro Martorana. I am not his current client but am considering it due to the imminent retirement of my current L.A. based tailor This is my interpretation of the man and the type of work he does (it is my subjective opinion only) Speaks fluent English and was easy to communicate with via e-mail (looks like he's got a Blackberry) Makes bespoke suits, shirts and ties in Italy (no where else). All adjustments are currently made there as he does not have a local tailor to do so. Family from Sicily, but bespoke operations are located in Tuscany (forgot to pin him down as to where) Has 25 tailors working for him from Naples and Sicily (in one facility), thus this is not a one man show He does not farm out any of his bespoke work. Its all done in house. He admires the work of Caraceni Roma (he prefers this over the A. Caraceni in Milan) and that of Attolini in Naples. He stated he had a relative who worked at Richard Anderson for around 30 years, thus Alessandro is very familiar with their style and quality of construction and praised the work of Richard Anderson as his favorite English tailor He is a tailor by training but has transitioned to running the business at the young age of 35. He has spent time in England learning the needle work and styles of Savile Row. I checked the Internet and found Lapo Elkann is one of his clients. He confirmed this and noted Lapo came to him with many of his grandfathers Caraceni suits for alterations (in addition to ordering new suits of his own). Thus Alessandro is very familiar with the style and type of construction going into a Caraceni suit He has no set house style and was quite flexible as to what the client desired on the suit and of course noting based on my body type, what would work best for me. But when I asked if he could name any Italian tailor whom his suits traditionally look like, he specifically named Caraceni Rome (unsure if this was the case before he took on Lapo as a client) He was wearing a quarter lined suit made out of berber lining (the quarter lining is similar to the pictures Will at a Suitable Wardrobe had posted on Cifonelli of Paris, France). His jacket was very light and a lot of hand needlework throughout Based on his shoulder shape, he told me he wears Camica Spalla (shirt shoulder?) but he makes a variety of other shoulder styles based on the what works for the client. U.S. prices, based on the top notch fabrics he provides start at $3200 for a 2 piece suit. He can work with a client who brings his own fabric, but I opted to not press him on how much this would lower the price. He did not say when he would open an Atelier in Los Angeles but said he was hoping soon. Claims an Italian tailor would manage the operation here and minor tailoring adjustments could be done in L.A., otherwise he would have his bespoke operation in Italy do the work. He said he comes to Los Angeles every month and stays for about 1 week since he loves the city Said he'll be back in town by the end of September He had no finished products (besides his beautiful suit) and no other suits in the various stages of fittings for me to observe first hand and comment so as to compare with other suits I've commissioned He said he's been coming to L.A. for the past 3 years and he does a lot of business through folks involved in the Ferrari consortium...they are the ones with clients in L.A. who kindled his interest here At least for Angelenos, he might prove to be a new positive addition. First he's young, knowledgeable and is interested in staying in L.A. considering he already has a client base and a 3 year track record in this town. He's been exposed to Savile Row (Richard Anderson especially), Caraceni, various Neopolitan tailoring styles (as I noted earlier he has Sicilian and Neopolitan tailors doing bespoke work for him) thus he's not into a fixed style...but does have his preferences. If finances permit, I might give him a try with a jacket and possibly a matching vest...especially since I can't jet set to Italy on a regular basis.

Very minimalist web page: http://www.alessandromartorana.com/ E-mail: [email protected]