The first time a politician is sighted in something non-navy/charcoal: Georgia's President Michail Saakaschwili in royal blue.

God wears Church's; the Devil wears Prada.

Yup, how many pairs do you have?

You should buy this pair the Singaporean is selling. I wanted to myself once, but backed out of the auction. If only they fit me.

Can't really comment of the fit of the jacket, but it looks like it fits well enough. You've made all the right choices: navy cloth, light blue shirt, PS, etc. Very SF-conform. One thing which is obviously off is the trousers. The next time you're back in Malaysia on holiday, bring them along and have them altered to fit you better in the seat.

Gshen, do you know where I can source sew-in collar interfacing for collars and cuffs? I bought some from Minerva Fabrics in eBay, but I believe they do not understand the product -- the canvas has horsehair in it, and I think it is for suit collars, not shirts.

I bought some Gueterman button thread with what was supposed to be collar canvas (but which really is hymo). They arrived this morning, and I inspected the goods at home just now and found the button thread to be excellent. I bought white, light blue and light pink. AL initially refused to hand-sew buttons for me because they are very labour-intensive, but when he found out I removed his buttons at home and sewed on MOPs by myself (poor me) he started doing them for me by hand.

I do not want to deal with HST. I am unimpressed with their business practices and their exaggerated pricing. Gshen and others, would you happen to know of yet another source for Swiss cotton interlining?

Here's a link to the thread I bought:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...e=STRK:MEWNX:IT

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 23 2010, 02:23 PM

Gshen, I bought 2 sets of buttons and paid RM30+ for postage. When the envelope arrived, it had a stamp value of about RM3. I asked them about the discrepancy, and they said "Oh, that's because our website assumes that the weight is 1kg at least." They offered no refund of the extra postage I paid.

On one set of buttons, the cuff buttons were one grade darker than larger ones. That's because they sell more cuff buttons than the large ones, and hence ran out of the lighter shade. They did not ask me beforehand if that was OK.

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Added on July 23, 2010, 2:51 pmAlso, everything is more expensive at HST. They are the highest-cost provider.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 23 2010, 02:51 PM

Thanks gshen, I'l keep your offer in mind.

What were you doing ordering 100 buttons from RJW?! All for your own consumption? I didn't know their postage was that cheap.

About pre-laundering your shirting lengths, kabbaz says the problem is with the ironing later. It's apparently difficult to keep the stripes straight.

After my last pair of bespoke trousers shrunk considerably after the first dry clean, I plan to have to have even my suiting lengths dry cleaned prior to being tailored. At exactly the same dry cleaners who caused my trousers to shrink.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 23 2010, 04:37 PM

The problem with the Tan Sri is he always uses his title.

Are the buttons any good?

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Added on July 23, 2010, 9:28 pmWhy didn't you go for the local source I mentioned to you?

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 23 2010, 09:28 PM

I am very seriously wanting to get him to make my next suit fully canvassed. I'm trying to hatch a Cunning Plan to make that possible at a low cost.

I really like this concept, but do not know of an observer of caliber...

http://www.thelondonlounge.net/forum/viewt...php?f=32&t=9210

I just came back from AL. He said he will give my next suit to a sifu who does full canvassing. I asked him if he has seen his work, and if it was up to scratch.

"In the KL area there is only one sifu who does it. There are a few others, but they are small timers and not many tailors give them jobs. They are not that good. Only that one sifu does it well enough. Everyone uses him."

I asked him if the collar was padded as well, but he didn't know.

The premium I have to pay is exorbitant, and I will have to eat Cintan mee for the next half year to pay for it. Also, my landlady will have to agree to deferring some rent, but I think that's a small sacrifice for her to make for the sake of furthering the sartorial arts of this meritocratic nation.

I also warned AL that a friend of mine will be coming to see him in the next few weeks.

I: Hui chong yim chiem ko ngo ah.
AL: Oiyo, kam yeong kui huei hui Bespoked lah! Em ta han fuk si ah!

There was immediate stirring in the galleys, by which I mean his younger sister and brother, both of whom started making noises I cannot quite decipher.

AL: Kiew huei hui tai si lah.

But I said he really liked what he saw, and that he wanted to try him out with a shirt and trousers first. If he's happy, I said, he plans to have a suit made -- but also fully canvassed.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 24 2010, 05:36 PM

I'm sure he's in the pink of health. He sounds like someone formidable, as least by Malaysian standards.

Actually we talked about a lot more. About the hymo I received from the UK, about soaking the finished canvas+chest pad in water overnight, about the lead time, and of course haggling over the premium. He kept warning me that the chest will not be as clean as on a fused jacket.

We talked about the Tan Sri and his one-suit-every-three-weeks habit. We talked about collar canvas. Etc.

That there will be pulls and puckering.

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Added on July 24, 2010, 10:09 pmHere you see director Chris Nolan with a jacket which has all this corrugated look at the chest. A fused suit wouldn't look like this.



A fused jacket would never look this crinkly and unpressed.



Look at the puckering at the lapels and collar and below the breast pocket.



Look at DiCaprio's collapsed chest

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Added on July 24, 2010, 10:15 pmAnd finally, look at this blazer by Poole. Damn chau.

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Added on July 24, 2010, 10:29 pmHere, you see even the great Will with a pull in the shoulder.



I can't believe I'm paying so much to have pulls and puckers.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 24 2010, 10:29 PM

It's a 2-piece. Not enough cloth for a 3.

But I heard waistcoats are canvassed with linen.

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Added on July 25, 2010, 3:18 pmI put on my first AL suit last night to check the fit, and wow, I've really grown. It's so tight now, and there are divots on the sleeveheads because my deltoids have grown. My deltoids were sticking out from the sleeveheads. Haih. All that protein powder and gymming have really done something.

The navy DB will have to be much looser. Not just because I plan to put on another 3 kg of lean mass, but because I need to be able to wear a wool jumper under it.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 25 2010, 03:18 PM

The 3pc was for the mohair cloth, of which I have 4m. What I need now is a warm suit, and there is not enough cloth:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NAVY-100-PURE-NEW-WO...=item3a5a8b2f1e

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Added on July 25, 2010, 6:04 pmYou can come and pick up the suit if you wish...

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 25 2010, 06:04 PM

You could have been my twin.

You've commissioned that or is that merely in the planning stage?

I wanted an unstructured jacket, but AL has no experience making one. He just wasn't up to it, from my conversation with him. He knew less than me about it. I went for a structured linen jacket because of this and because shapeliness is what I want from a jacket anyway.

However, I have since found a RTW unstructured jacket, and it certainly is constructed very cleverly. It would be easy for him to copy. Once you have a sample, it's no big deal.

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Added on July 25, 2010, 11:45 pmI was forbidden by AL to reveal the prices he charges me.

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Added on July 25, 2010, 11:47 pmI'm going for a double-vented 6X2 fully-canvassed DB with the most natural shoulder he has done to date and with swappable buttons.

I would never go for S150 myself, but I think infrequent wear is OK since their chief problem is the wrinkling. They would have 2 weeks to hang out between wear, so it's OK.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Jul 25 2010, 11:51 PM