Napoli Style vs Milano Style vs Firenze Style vs Roma Style - A comparison

Following the discussion on the Florentine cut, here:

http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=163699

I thought this would be a helpful article from the Feb 10 issue of Men's Ex for your debating pleasure. It would help if anyone who speaks Japanese could give a rough translation but the pictures are helpful.



I wish there were English style magazines of this calibre.

Gaz

Thanks gazman.

I'm straining to see the differences though. It looks like the napoli shoulder is rounder than the roma but I don't see the differences with the other. Can someone explain?

http://www.styleforum.net/showpost.p...2&postcount=64

Try this...

Originally Posted by oneade

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Thanks gazman. I'm straining to see the differences though. It looks like the napoli shoulder is rounder than the roma but I don't see the differences with the other. Can someone explain?
Lapel shape Lapel buttonhole height Gorge height Gorge 'angle' Coat length Button placement Button spacing Sleevehead 'finishing' Degree of waist suppression Style of waist suppression Degree of chest 'swell' Presence of front dart Pocket placement Angle of opening of quarters Pant pleating etc... TBH, I'm not sure how useful the article is. At the very most, there may be stylistic preferences that a certain percentage of tailors that aggregate in a certain area share. But thank you for the scan anyway, gaz.

The bigger pics in the link are much clearer!

I like the shape of the Napoli jacket the best, but its closely followed by the Roman one. I'm not too keen on the gorge of the lapel on the Florentine jacket...but yes, these are just stylistic preferences.

The lower lapel gorge on the Florentine would probably suit a taller gent, being at 5'9.5" I prefer to look taller through a longer lapel. To me the waist suppression in the Napoli is much cleaner than the Florentine. Milan's seems to have little suppression, and the Roman jacket just a bit roomier than the Napoli...all in all I like the Neapolitan. But that could be my Southern heritage speaking.

Both the Firenze and Milano have lower notch placement, where the Napoli and Roman styles have the notch placed "aimed" at the top of the shoulder. I much prefer that look.
Also the size of the lapels are different.

How much can you really tell from this comparison? Each jacket is just one example from its respective region. Moreover, it's hard to discern the character of a bespoke jacket unless it's on the body it was tailored for, and RTW jackets don't convey much at all about a region's tradition. If these are RTW jackets, they were shaped as much for hanger appeal and to satisfy broad market demands as they were to genuinely represent what's done in the part of Italy they're supposed to come from.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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RTW jackets don't convey much at all about a region's tradition.

Really?

So why do ppl talk about Brioni's strong Roman shoulders and the Neopolitan makers' softer shoulders and what not?

Originally Posted by gazman70k

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I wish there were English style magazines of this calibre.

+1

Originally Posted by TRINI

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Really? So why do ppl talk about Brioni's strong Roman shoulders and the Neopolitan makers' softer shoulders and what not?
I'm not all that familiar with the traditional Roman look, but I don't see much resemblance between most Brioni RTW or MTM jackets and what Caraceni makes today or what we see in old photos of Roman suits. It's not just a matter of shoulders; I don't think Brioni cuts something as soft as what Caraceni does. The Neapolitan issue has been re-hashed here many times: Kiton/Borrelli/Attolini don't look much like Solito/Rubinacci. The shoulder lines of the latter tend to be natural looking, following a gentle 'S' curve; whatever the amount of padding, the mass-produced RTW stuff doesn't have the same feature. Some Borrelii shoulders look like they came straight off of Frankenstein's monster. It's telling that so many people mistake the Neapolitan jacket for one that it necessarily unstructured and unlined--the marketing has strayed from the reality.

Originally Posted by mafoofan

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How much can you really tell from this comparison? Each jacket is just one example from its respective region. Moreover, it's hard to discern the character of a bespoke jacket unless it's on the body it was tailored for, and RTW jackets don't convey much at all about a region's tradition. If these are RTW jackets, they were shaped as much for hanger appeal and to satisfy broad market demands as they were to genuinely represent what's done in the part of Italy they're supposed to come from.

I would think that if this mag is regarded as well as people say then these would probably be pretty distinctive examples from each region rather then something pulled off a rack at random? I would think the "Roman" example is most likely Brioni, the "Napoli" is most likely Attolini or Rubinacci, etc. Obviously not every tailor shares the same distinctive style of a particular region but it could be said that there are certain stylistic features that are most notable in particular regions of Italy.

Brioni has toned down their cut quite a bit. In the '80s and into the mid-'90s it was much closer to the old Roman flashy look from the postwar era. Overall, regional styles have tended to blend together, which is sort of sad from the perspective of "diversity" or whatever.

Caraceni used to be an outlier in Rome, but these days more makers have moved in their direction. I doubt they have changed much.

Everything in Italy is blending together. Food and clothing being the obvious examples.

Cruz Diez on FNB has some pics up that are a pretty good representation of Roman Style, from what I can tell. Search over there.

it would be nice if they were all the same color so it would be easier to spot the differences.