French Tailoring Thread (e.g. Camps de Luca, Cifonelli, Smalto and etc.)

[gambit50]



alternatively you can have Chinese making them in Italy...

Go all the way, made by Chinese in China.

Caruso making garments in China is not something one should be excited about.

 

[Kuro]



I wear my fathers suits from Smalto and Feruch.
if you saw them in person, you would understand why NSM turns me off.
strong shoulders, fully padded canvas, but with a high armhole.
needle work is sublime.

i will take some photos of my father's shirts from Lanvin. these date back to the 70's/80s
the finest shirts i have ever seen. they put charvet to shame..
RJman sent me a recent version(last 5 years) shirt from lanvin.
not even close in work man-ship

.

can you also repost the picture of the silk db?

 

[dirnelli]



You just can't beat the Italians for mass-producing quality menswear -- even Huntsman RTW and the old Chester Barrie Handmade RTW were Made in Italy, among many many others.

The ever-astute RJMan PM's this correct from beyond the SF grave:

"The old Chester Barrie handmade RTW was made in England.

Chester Barrie now is made in Italy and half-canvassed. Has been for the last two or three years or so."

Thanks RJ, I stand corrected.

 

[mmkn]



Be careful, the blue is a copy, the gray is the real deal.

Good thing you clarified. Would go to CdL based on gray but not blue.

- M

 

[poorsod]



Be careful, the blue is a copy, the gray is the real deal.

Thanks. Correction added.

 

[mack11211]



The ever-astute RJMan PM's this correct from beyond the SF grave:

"The old Chester Barrie handmade RTW was made in England.

Chester Barrie now is made in Italy and half-canvassed. Has been for the last two or three years or so."

Thanks RJ, I stand corrected.

Without going too far off-topic, let me correct this correction.

The last good Huntsman RTW was sometimes made for them in England by the old Chester Barrie, and sometimes made for them in Italy by someone else.

Current Chester Barrie, as RJMan notes, has little in common with the old except some intellectual property.

Some of the old Chester Barrie staff & skill survives under the deliberately CB-sounding name of Cheshire Bespoke, still made in Crewe, England.

Back on topic: I am searching my photo archive for other Cifonelli and Smalto bespoke I have sold in the past, So far, all I can find is this rear shot of a very bold plaid Smalto made in 1979:

That's some color for you! But the colorway and the coat itself were all very well balanced.

 

[andreyb2]

Here is how Arnys' windows look right now:

You can still see traces of "Arnys" name up there.

Andrey

 

[ThinkDerm]



Here is how Arnys' windows look right now:

You can still see traces of "Arnys" name up there.

Andrey

damn shame.

berluti clothing is coming to Mad Ave also.

 

[dirnelli]



Dirnelli:

When you say you've had the lapels "recut" to resemble the CdL shape on your other suits, do you mean that you ordered it that way when you had them made, or are they somehow altered from a peak lapel into that Parisian shape?

Great tumblr, BTW. I've followed you.

 

Thanks!

Obsessed as I was by the CdL notch lapel, but equally deterred by the price, I undertook to commission several made-to-measure copies of that lapel, on the cheap. These somewhat unsucessful experiments, and their intermediate stages, are all documented on my Tumblr if you look closely.

In one instance, I found an MTM tailor whose standard notch lapel was somewhat similar to CdL, but his fishmouth was too closed -- I had him open up the notch by a few milimeters, and it came out looking pretty close to the original (Di Castri blue suit). Another time I asked him to copy my CdL suit from scratch, but that was such a disaster that I quasi-gifted the result to a friend, just to get it out of my sight (Di Castri blue pinstripe suit).

I also asked my tailor in Hong Kong to make a CdL copy, but it too ended up pretty far off the mark, so I had to buy extra fabric and have my alterations tailor in Paris redo the collar from scratch -- it did come out looking pretty close to the original in the end (New Kingston Fashion medium gray suit.)

I'm currently in the process of another such copy/alteration on a Handson MTM suit, we'll see what comes of it.

Lastly, I had asked Scavini to make a copy of the CdL notch lapel, but his attempt looked more like Guilson's notch lapel, which was to be expected since Guilson is his teacher and mentor at the Paris Tailor's School. Although Guilson's notch lapel is in line with the historical 'cran parisien', it still doesn't look like CdL's lapel and, the way it's cut, I won't be able to alter Sacavini's suit to make it more similar to CdL unfortunately.

BTW -- I also attempted a Smalto copy by my Hong Kong tailor, but it's not satisfactory either. Not such a big deal as that particular cut is readily available in Smalto RTW.

 

[andreyb2]



damn shame.

You haven't seen real shame yet... *This* is the shame (and as I understand, used to house a bespoke department many years ago as well).

Andrey

 

[SeamasterLux]

You haven't seen real shame yet... *This* is the shame (and as I understand, used to house a bespoke department many years ago as well).



Andrey

Ah... Old England... Sigh...

 

[YRR92]

Wow, thank you for all the information. That cut is a little outside of my (very American) wheelhouse, but it's really got something to it. I notice all of your single-breasted coats seem to be two-button. Do the Parisian tailors almost always cut 2-button jackets as sort of a "house style" thing, or are there three-button coats with those distinctive lapels, too? I could imagine that looking very cool.

 

[dirnelli]



Wow, thank you for all the information. That cut is a little outside of my (very American) wheelhouse, but it's really got something to it. I notice all of your single-breasted coats seem to be two-button. Do the Parisian tailors almost always cut 2-button jackets as sort of a "house style" thing, or are there three-button coats with those distinctive lapels, too? I could imagine that looking very cool.

1, 2 or 3 button, whatever you like.

 

[clee1982]



Go all the way, made by Chinese in China.

Caruso making garments in China is not something one should be excited about.

well how is the quality, that's always the ultimate question

 

[Shirtmaven]

sorry for the cellphone photos
Feruch DB no vents 1983 slightly lower gorge line on the lapels Dupioi silk.
if I wear it today, I will take a photo

Burgundy Smalto side vents 1976 sadly does not fit me.. about a size 42 if anyone is interested.