Prada Suits -- recent styles

[GoldenTribe]



I believe you, but I have certainly owned a few Dolce mainline suits in my time, and they have all been canvassed. I will admit it has been quite a while since I last purchased one though, so perhaps standards have dropped? If that is the case, I retract my comments that they were decent suits. Perhaps they have become like Prada and Gucci, who clearly offer two levels of suits, one level very good, other level borderline garbage. I am surprised though that a major clothing brand would have the audacity to ask $2K for trash.

The one i have from 5 years ago is canvassed, and the ones i checked out at saks were canvassed as well. But it might be different lines cuz they have some "Martini" line and "golden something" or w/e. In my experience with Gucci and Prada their uncanvassed suits/jackets are at the 1.5k price point and their higher level ones are 2-3k sometimes around 4.

I don't think I've ever seen a Gucci/Prada suit over $2.5K, but I'm sure I haven't seen them all.

I have never heard that Dolce (mainline) has more than one line of suits, but that too is possible, or there maybe (lots of) different versions depending how many manufacturers they've switched between.

I think the Dolce suit I had would have been made in 2008-9, so earlier than that (or in the same period but from different manufacturers, as above) they may well have been canvassed.

What is c21? I would love to know!

Century 21, discount store.

 

[jeff13007]



What is c21? I would love to know!
More hatred for Hugo Boss..... Oh well........
That would be great. I'm looking forward to it.

Its a discount store we have here in NYC and i think Jersey too. They usually sell stuff from like 5 seasons ago. Dont really have hatred towards Hugo Boss my first suit was from there, sure it probably wasnt worth the money but it got the job done.

 

[ultramantaro]

After researching numerous posts on buying a suit there's a consensual oral on some of the typical brands like Kiton/Brioni/RLBL. There's a tremendous amount of Hugo Boss, Dolce, Versace and Armani bashing going on around here.

Here's what I concluded on my own:

- As a 34 year old, 5 9.5 165 pounder, all the Brioni suits I tried on at Neiman made me felt older than my great grandpa lying in his grave. Sure the fabric quality is impeccable but I even laughed when I put it on, let alone the salesman. Nevermind the sale at 40 - 50% even if I pay 2.5K it's just not worth it buying a nice piece of fabric that doesn't suit my age/body type.
- Checked out Zegna - very conservative look but I at least look as old as my grandpa in the grave, not *great* grandpa. I prefer the "fused crap" that's called Z Zegna as it's a slimmer cut
- Went over to GA on post st in San Francisco and pretty much the same exp as Zegna. Everything is either flat gray, some shade of gray, dark blue, or just black and I felt like we are in some sort of emo event. A couple of striped and a couple of houndstooth but otherwise very bland colors/combo
- Checked out RLBL and I loved the aggressively slim cut. The only problem is the exp was worse than GA as they only had 2 colors: black and slightly off black ....., and if you are slightly athletic the fit will be *very* slim
- Members who are complaining about Banana Republic/J Crew suits compared to RLBL or Isaia are like comparing an Accord to a Benz S class

Quote:

Hey if you go against SF groupthink, you're done here. "newbies" that talk about hugo boss on here are crucified, but thats

Hell there were posts when I first joined about suits literally falling apart when it touched a few drops of rain, and apparently it was common, or others complaining of quality difference in a $600 boss suit to a purple label suit etc etc. But i hope most people can use common sense. Anyways my only experience with prada was a few years ago, i dont even know what happened to it after moving from place to place. I liked it and the fabric felt nice. Only issue was the cut seemed very fashion forward and didn't feel that there were many opportunities to wear it, but for those times I did I got compliments.

 

[Klobber]



After researching numerous posts on buying a suit there's a consensual oral on some of the typical brands like Kiton/Brioni/RLBL.  There's a tremendous amount of Hugo Boss, Dolce, Versace and Armani bashing going on around here.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

Here's what I concluded on my own:
- As a 34 year old, 5 9.5 165 pounder, all the Brioni suits I tried on at Neiman made me felt older than my great grandpa lying in his grave.  Sure the fabric quality is impeccable but I even laughed when I put it on, let alone the salesman.  Nevermind the sale at 40 - 50% even if I pay 2.5K it's just not worth it buying a nice piece of fabric that doesn't suit my age/body type.
- Checked out Zegna - very conservative look but I at least look as old as my grandpa in the grave, not *great* grandpa.  I prefer the "fused crap" that's called Z Zegna as it's a slimmer cut
- Went over to GA on post st in San Francisco and pretty much the same exp as Zegna.  Everything is either flat gray, some shade of gray, dark blue, or just black and I felt like we are in some sort of emo event.  A couple of striped and a couple of houndstooth but otherwise very bland colors/combo
- Checked out RLBL and I loved the aggressively slim cut.  The only problem is the exp was worse than GA as they only had 2 colors: black and slightly off black ....., and if you are slightly athletic the fit will be *very* slim
- Members who are complaining about Banana Republic/J Crew suits compared to RLBL or Isaia are like comparing an Accord to a Benz S class

Some of the brand bashing is based on generic information associated with the brand. Generally Hugo Boss suits are crap, Versace suits are crap etc... However all brands offer an upper tier and that tier is usually at least passable and in some cases are very very good. If you judge Armani based on Emporio Armani or Armani Collezioni, it is natural to form an assumption that all Armani is crap.

Not unlike doing a census of dogs in a hamlet of 10 and concluding that all dogs in the world must be brown. Adopting a wider field of study though, it is unquestionable that dogs come in a variety of colors, just like a wider field of view would conclude Giorgio Armani Black Label and "some" Armani Collezioni suits are very decent.

Brand names are open to bashing purely because they all are guilty as charged with flooding the market with lower end merchandise but commanding wallet busting prices. But a little research shows that all these brand names, including the lower tier ones like Faconnable (Tailleur), Hugo Boss (Selection) and Versace (Couture) do have decent stuff - albeit unlikely to be the space fillers on the suit racks of many a Saks Outlet or NM Outlet.

As for Brioni, Zegna etc, sure if it dont work for you, dont buy and move onto something that does work. Sartorial excellence does not come with a prerequisite that requires one to jump all over the popular brands. Figure something out that works for you.

Welcome to the forum BTW.

 

[jeff13007]



After researching numerous posts on buying a suit there's a consensual oral on some of the typical brands like Kiton/Brioni/RLBL.  There's a tremendous amount of Hugo Boss, Dolce, Versace and Armani bashing going on around here.

Here's what I concluded on my own:

- As a 34 year old, 5 9.5 165 pounder, all the Brioni suits I tried on at Neiman made me felt older than my great grandpa lying in his grave.  Sure the fabric quality is impeccable but I even laughed when I put it on, let alone the salesman.  Nevermind the sale at 40 - 50% even if I pay 2.5K it's just not worth it buying a nice piece of fabric that doesn't suit my age/body type.
- Checked out Zegna - very conservative look but I at least look as old as my grandpa in the grave, not *great* grandpa.  I prefer the "fused crap" that's called Z Zegna as it's a slimmer cut
- Went over to GA on post st in San Francisco and pretty much the same exp as Zegna.  Everything is either flat gray, some shade of gray, dark blue, or just black and I felt like we are in some sort of emo event.  A couple of striped and a couple of houndstooth but otherwise very bland colors/combo
- Checked out RLBL and I loved the aggressively slim cut.  The only problem is the exp was worse than GA as they only had 2 colors: black and slightly off black ....., and if you are slightly athletic the fit will be *very* slim
- Members who are complaining about Banana Republic/J Crew suits compared to RLBL or Isaia are like comparing an Accord to a Benz S class

Quote:

if you think Brioni and Zegna make you look like your great great grandfather and your grandfather, try Tom Ford, same price range but a more athletic cut. I really dont get why people say Brioni is an "old man suit" the ones i have do not make me look like a character from a 1950's movie.

 

[Fuuma]



I believe you, but I have certainly owned a few Dolce mainline suits in my time, and they have all been canvassed. I will admit it has been quite a while since I last purchased one though, so perhaps standards have dropped? If that is the case, I retract my comments that they were decent suits. Perhaps they have become like Prada and Gucci, who clearly offer two levels of suits, one level very good, other level borderline garbage. I am surprised though that a major clothing brand would have the audacity to ask $2K for trash.

I have one D&G mainline (black ) suit and it is canvassed as far as I can remember or care. Nice cut and good fashion suit.

 

[SirGrotius]



After researching numerous posts on buying a suit there's a consensual oral on some of the typical brands like Kiton/Brioni/RLBL.  There's a tremendous amount of Hugo Boss, Dolce, Versace and Armani bashing going on around here.

Here's what I concluded on my own:

- As a 34 year old, 5 9.5 165 pounder, all the Brioni suits I tried on at Neiman made me felt older than my great grandpa lying in his grave.  Sure the fabric quality is impeccable but I even laughed when I put it on, let alone the salesman.  Nevermind the sale at 40 - 50% even if I pay 2.5K it's just not worth it buying a nice piece of fabric that doesn't suit my age/body type.
- Checked out Zegna - very conservative look but I at least look as old as my grandpa in the grave, not *great* grandpa.  I prefer the "fused crap" that's called Z Zegna as it's a slimmer cut
- Went over to GA on post st in San Francisco and pretty much the same exp as Zegna.  Everything is either flat gray, some shade of gray, dark blue, or just black and I felt like we are in some sort of emo event.  A couple of striped and a couple of houndstooth but otherwise very bland colors/combo
- Checked out RLBL and I loved the aggressively slim cut.  The only problem is the exp was worse than GA as they only had 2 colors: black and slightly off black ....., and if you are slightly athletic the fit will be *very* slim
- Members who are complaining about Banana Republic/J Crew suits compared to RLBL or Isaia are like comparing an Accord to a Benz S class

Quote:

I'd say a solid 85% of the MC crowd are attorneys, so they're going to trend to the more conservative (and very nice) suits. Also, typical waist size is 34 but in SW&D it's 29.

 

[ultramantaro]

Probably depends on what styles are stocked, but I do prefer a more fashion forward look with skinnier lapels and lower buttons. Will check out Tom Ford at the next sale

if you think Brioni and Zegna make you look like your great great grandfather and your grandfather, try Tom Ford, same price range but a more athletic cut. I really dont get why people say Brioni is an "old man suit" the ones i have do not make me look like a character from a 1950's movie.

 

[Klobber]



I have one D&G mainline (black ) suit and it is canvassed as far as I can remember or care. Nice cut and good fashion suit.

Interesting, in that most my Dolce and Gabbana suits I owned in the past have been black as well.

 

[JubeiSpiegel]

 

[arun21]

do you mind if i ask how much your prada suit was? I was looking at one much like this one:
http://www.bluefly.com/Prada-navy-w...-flat-front-pants/SEARCH/313296101/detail.fly

in the description it says it's fused, but fully lined jacket. might be a listing mistake. retail price it says is $2295. I would assume this is the nicer line/belvest made? Or is this one still the cheap crap?

 

[ultramantaro]

do you mind if i ask how much your prada suit was? I was looking at one much like this one:
http://www.bluefly.com/Prada-navy-w...-flat-front-pants/SEARCH/313296101/detail.fly
in the description it says it's fused, but fully lined jacket. might be a listing mistake. retail price it says is $2295. I would assume this is the nicer line/belvest made? Or is this one still the cheap crap?

Wow a $1600 cheap crap. I'm certainly feeling below the poverty line these days.

If it's fused it's likely not Belvest.

 

[ultramantaro]

Funny, browsed around bluefly's related results and a number of Gucci suits are described as fused.

Here's a Hugo Boss POS that's actually canvassed: http://www.bluefly.com/Hugo-Boss-Hu...ont-pants/PDP_CROSS_SELL/315705101/detail.fly

I guess that makes the Prada suit crap ...

 

[arun21]

let me rephrase.. i didnt mean it's a bad suit, but rather the "crap" that everyone talks about on these forums are usually fused. i think this one is half-canvassed.

But at $2200 retail it seems like it's at a higher price point than some of the lower end prada's. i might take a gander on it and if it's not worth the money i'll just send it back.

 

[JohnGalt]

bluefly makes up their retail prices. i've seen items on bluefly with MSRPs 30%+ higher than the actual MSRP (that is, comparing to a purchase made directly from neiman marcus). i've also seen, at times, that their "discounted" price may be actual MSRP.

by fully lined, they mean that the interior is lined. so yes, it is fused and fully lined.

don't purchase that for $1600.