SMALTO REDUX

Francesco Smalto, pictured above, passed away last month.
I once had the opportunity to examine one of the coats made in his Paris atelier, and posted a video showing some of the work being done. Those who fetishize hand work should absolutely love his stuff, though the styling may not be for everybody.

Kirby recently reached out to me to offer another, more recent example of their work, Kirby of the Hanger Project, whose website sells luxury wooden hangers and Saphir shoe polish. Yes, I am willing to trade links for bespoke clothing.

This example was made for a member of the royal family of the country in which Smalto was residing when he passed away, and whose taste in clothing can be said to be somewhat flamboyant. A 3 on 3 double-breasted model with a huge amount of padding in the shoulders, and a rather firm chest, cut out of a stripe which we might normally associate with trousers to be paired with a morning coat. The photo below is of me modeling the coat.



Their house label set in their trademark teardrop pocket, one of the little touches that at once speak of uncommon attention to detail and an attempt at "luxury branding". The back of the pocket is also shown.





The bottom of the center vent is tacked by hand with the trademark S for Smalto, a little touch that I like.



Other details which are unusual to see in bespoke clothing but are typical of luxury houses are branded jacquard linings, and corozo buttons with FRANCESCO SMALTO etched in the back.



The client's initials are hand embroidered on the lining, in addition to the usual label inside the pocket with the client's name, order number and date of order (not shown).




The buttonholes, as expected, are good, but I have seen better examples of the boutonnière milanaise







The lining has been entirely inserted by hand with a semi-decorative stitch. Here is shown the inside of the vent.



Now for the more nerdy stuff.

As we saw on the last example, the top collar is done in two pieces, a bit of engineering not commonly found in bespoke tailoring.



All the seams have been overcast by hand, which is somewhat unusual as one might expect to find them either pinked or serged which would be much faster than doing it by hand. But I respect their choice. The lapel and collar, on the other hand, have been padded by machine, then the edges taped rather carefully by hand.




The chest, however, has been very thoroughly padded by hand on both sides.



An absolutely enormous amount of wadding in the shoulder but a light, single-ply piece of canvas in the cap of the sleeve-





And a very liberal amount of haircloth in the chest.



Students of tailoring should take note of the split, or vee, in the smaller piece of haircloth along the roll line- the fullness created by doing this is carried over the shoulder point, though this split is normally applied neck to the neck and not quite so far down the chest.

To avoid the vees we usually see in the shoulder part, the canvas has been seamed along the hollow part, not only to create the necessary length over the shoulder point, but to rotate the hairline in that part on to a semi bias. This creates some give over the shoulder but also some support- it is common to turn the haircloth piece in the shoulder on a similar angle. What is not clear to me is the purpose of the cross-cut piece of inch-wide haircloth running straight up the hollow part of the front shoulder. This may be due to a particular shape on the client's anatomy.



Very wide outlets have been left on the shoulder seam-


The back neck and armhole have been stayed with lining instead of silesia (or, as we will soon see from a Neapolitan tailor, canvas)





The vents are reinforced with wiggan, which has been felled, along with all the hems, with an extremely fine thread and a very delicate stitch. Someone in their shop has very good hands.


Overall the workmanship is excellent, with an inordinate amount of attention to detail overall, something which should lend Paris' tailors a much higher level of esteem on the world stage- by comparison, many of the better-known Italian houses are over-rated. But that will be the subject of another discussion, coming very soon, thanks to a long-awaited donation by voxsartoria...

J.K. Wilson on Drape

Carpu65 posted a page from an issue of the Tailor and Cutter magazine from 1954. It is an article by J. King Wilson on his recollection of the drafts of Frederick Scholte, the "inventor" of the Drape cut.



He admits that his memory may be a bit fuzzy, but this draft is interesting nonetheless, for several reasons. He gives the size as a 40" chest.

The half waist is approximately 21", one can't say for sure since the dart and overlap measures are missing; it's generous but still within the realm of an ample size 40. The neck point is located 4 1/2" from the scye, which is roughly an inch of drape by my calculations. No surprise there. The point-to-point is a whopping 20", which is not surprising given the purpose of the drape was to give the appearance of broad shoulders and full chest above a trim waist, and there is 3/4" fullness in the shoulder compared to the 3/8" that was commonly given in Wilson's but I'm curious that there appears to be little to no drape in the blade. I would have expected some here , given what other drafts and certainly what other tailors who make some version or other of the drape cut, but it is possible that Scholte, whose purpose in cutting was aesthetic and not functional, may not have given much drape to the blade. I don't remember having seen a decent back view of any of his coats. The drape in the blade may have been a later addition, or else it is a mistake on the part of Mr. Wilson as the article was written about seven years after Scholte's death, and perhaps 20 years after the height of the drape cut's popularity.

My shears came!

The shears I ordered in the fall finally came! Handmade in a limited number, these things are beautiful! Now to decide what I'm going to cut first with them...



Thanks to Isaac for organizing this!

The End of an Era in Padova

Zegna has closed its Padova factory, the one that was producing the Zegna Couture and Tom Ford products, both of which I thought were superbly made. 230 people were to be put out of work, with an offer of a transfer to other locations (production is being transferred to a plant in Novarra). On the bright side, that means there will be highly-skilled technicians available to be scooped up by manufacturers around the world who might need help.


Full article at

http://corrieredelveneto.corriere.it/veneto/notizie/economia/2015/28-marzo-2015/sartoria-padovana-finisce-un-era-zegna-chiude-l-azienda-rubano-2301175696311.shtml




Sartoria padovana, finisce un’era
In.Co chiude l’azienda di Rubano
A casa 230 persone. I sindacati sul piede di guerra: «Lunedì assemblea»

RUBANO (PADOVA) Narrano che tra gli anni Cinquanta e Sessanta ci fossero vere e proprie gare tra i sarti del Padovano per entrare in quelle sacre mura. La Gival era la bottega trasformatasi in azienda professionista nell’alta classe, nelle giacche e nei pantaloni eleganti. Ago, stoffa e filo di altissimo livello, il sogno di un’Italia che usciva dalla guerra e si faceva bella non solo nel giorno di festa. Ebbene, a più di sessant’anni dall’inizio dell’avventura, adesso tutto finisce. Claudio Ronco, responsabile della supply chain della divisione abbigliamento del gruppo Ermenegildo Zegna (che dal 1996 è subentrato con la Spa In.Co alla Gival) ieri mattina ha annunciato la cassa integrazione guadagni ordinaria per quattro giorni la settimana fino al 9 maggio. «Di fatto, chiudono lo stabilimento di Sarmeola», taglia corto Angelo Levorato, che segue la vertenza per la sigla di reparto della Cisl, la Femca. Resteranno senza lavoro poco meno di 230 persone, la maggioranza sono donne di mezza età. A tutti, è stato offerto il trasferimento in altri poli produttivi italiani.

«Ma è impossibile spostare donne con famiglia», tuona Levorato. Il gruppo infatti adesso vuole spostare l’alta sartoria del capospalla maschile nel nuovo centro di San Pietro Mosezzo (in provincia di Novara), costato 20 milioni di euro con obiettivo 600 occupati grazie a 200 assunzioni. Le motivazioni addotte dall’azienda per l’addio a Padova sono legate alla contrazione dei mercati russo e cinese, dove il modo di vestire maschile è sempre meno formale. Tradotto in numeri: servono 300 capi al giorno per mandare avanti lo stabilimento , che oggi è ridotto a 120 e l’ultima campagna di vendite (chiusa nella prima settimana di marzo) non ha dato gli esiti sperati. Così, i dipendenti da lunedì affronteranno la cassa integrazione, che durerà fino al prossimo 9 maggio.

Poi si vedrà. Sul piatto, per tutti, sono stati promessi posti di lavoro a Novara, ma anche a Biella e Parma, negli stabilimenti che si occupano di outwear, abbigliamento in pelle e accessori. Lunedì è programmata una nuova assemblea sindacale a partire dalle nove del mattino, che si annuncia infuocata dopo lo choc di quella di giovedì mattina. «Ma a meno di un miracolo, la proprietà non torna indietro », taglia corto Levorato. Si chiuderà così nei prossimi giorni una pagina storica della sartoria veneta. La Gival infatti era arrivata ad avere fin quasi 500 dipendenti e nel segmento alto dell’eleganza classica, quella amata dall’uomo d’affari, aveva pochi competitors nel Nordest. Una storia che, invero, aveva già avuto una sua prima «morte» nel 1996, con quel concordato preventivo che permise al gruppo Zegna di comperare anche lo stabile. Al tempo c’erano 400 dipendenti, che vennero ridotti a 150 per poi tornare a salire, nell’ultimo ventennio, anche fino a 300

Classic Tailoring Techniques for Menswear

The long-awaited revision of what is perhaps the definitive English-language textbook on traditional tailoring techniques (at least of those currently being published) has been released.



Classic Tailoring Techniques for Menswear is a textbook published by Bloomsbury Publishing, and has been revised by Denis Antoine, a teacher of menswear at the Savannah College of Art and Design. While other publications may be more thorough treatments of the subject, books like those written by the late Stanley Hostek are not as clearly presented for the novice, and the coveted Modern Tailor, Outfitter and Clothier have been out of print since the 1950's so complete, three-volume sets are comparatively rare and expensive. Then there is R. Doyle's The Art of the Tailor, which seems not much more than a copy-and-paste job by an enthusiastic but misguided amateur who may be waltzing very near the edges, if not trampling directly upon the Berne Convention. The bibliography lists a number of other titles which may be useful to the student, as well as a few supply sources.

I have often said that learning tailoring from a book is somewhat akin to learning to play piano from a book, but for those who have no access to a teacher this is as good a place to start as any, and it is certainly a very good accompaniment to any formal course of study.

Chapters include the following:

1- Tailoring (history, supplies and basic techniques)
2- The pattern (measurements, patterns, preliminary adjustments)
3- The fit (toile or muslin fittings and pattern adjustments or "blue pencil")
4- Fabric (weights, patterns, etc.)
5- Layout and Cutting (matching stripes and plaids etc.)
6- The Jacket-
Darts and Seams
Ironwork
Pockets
The canvas
The facing
The lining
Shoulders
The collar
The sleeve
Buttons and buttonholes
7- The Pants
Ironwork
The crotch
Pockets
Fly
Side seams
Waistband
Hem
8- The Vest
9- Alterations

700 new photos and illustrations are included in this revision and one of the most helpful aspects is the addition of color to the diagrams which help enormously with the clarity of the instructions. Some of the photos are somewhat dark and slightly fuzzy, but I am well aware of the difficulty of photographing this type of thing and am not sure how it could be done better. On the whole, though, the graphic representations of the steps involved are one of the great strengths of this book and are of enormous value to the student or beginner



New to this edition is a discussion of ironwork. The photos illustrating the technique are not super clear, but I happen to think that this is something best learned at the hands of a teacher and at least the book broaches the subject so that students are aware of the principle and the need for it so it is an improvement on the previous edition.

The methods presented are probably one of the better systems for the beginner, avoiding many of the personal quirks and regional variations that tend to plague other forms of instruction, whether in print or in newer video format. There are as many ways of constructing a coat as there are tailors, but I feel the book presents methods that would be easily adapted to most workshops rather than idiosyncrasies that lend personal flavor to a garment but are best left to experimentation and discovery once the student has a firm grasp of the basics.

I am somewhat perplexed, however, by the treatment of collars. The text discusses the use of the collar pattern that may have been provided with whatever commercial jacket pattern was being used, and has good instructions for drafting a collar pattern, save for one error in the final steps of the draft. Though useful for advanced tailors and certainly for people working in the RTW industry, I think that the more traditional method of shaping the under collar would be more in keeping with the overall subject of the book. Rather than using a pre-shaped pattern for a collar, a blocked under collar is typically attached to the coat with a fair amount of extra width on it once the facing has been attached. The collar is then shaped either freehand, or better yet, using a paper shaper, and the excess is trimmed away; using a pre-shaped under collar requires a very great deal of precision when attaching it in order to have a perfectly even and symmetrical shape from one side to the other. Helpful patterns for parts like pocket and fly pieces are included at the back of the book, and I feel that shapers would have been a very good addition to these, especially since they were often included in earlier books aimed at the professional, whether for use in traditional tailoring methods or for drafting paper patterns for wholesale. A sample of these shapers can be found near the back of the Modern Mitchell System of Men's Designing-



Space, time, or other restrictions may have dictated this, as well as the one-page treatment of final pressing, something which I feel deserves and entire chapter, if not an entire book. Again, the author may have felt that these were things best learnt in their entirety at the hands of an experienced practitioner rather than trying to explain them poorly in print.

The book is not exactly cheap, though textbooks never are, so if you own a previous edition of it I don't think I would upgrade to this latest one. It's a book, after all, not an iPhone. But if you don't have a copy and are learning, or trying to learn, the complex craft of tailoring, I consider this new edition of the text to be a must-have in your library.