Thanks - small adjustments to be made to fit due to shrinkage, but overall I am very pleased. I am going to prewash all my lengths of cloth before sending them to the tailor in future.

1. Unfortunately the scene here for shirtmaking is not great. kotmj's pics of AL's  shirts seem very decent - and a local option is always favorable. Maybe because they know you will forever be on their ass if they screwup!

2. I've given up on that - Richard James Weldon serves all my needs and shipping is cheap as chips for small quantities. I have probably a lifetime supply of 3.5mm MOP shirt buttons that I am selling, so that's one less worry as well!

Thanks - small adjustments to be made to fit due to shrinkage, but overall I am very pleased. I am going to prewash all my lengths of cloth before sending them to the tailor in future.

1. Unfortunately the scene here for shirtmaking is not great. kotmj's pics of AL's  shirts seem very decent - and a local option is always favorable. Maybe because they know you will forever be on their ass if they screwup!

2. I've given up on that - Richard James Weldon serves all my needs and shipping is cheap as chips for small quantities. I have probably a lifetime supply of 3.5mm MOP shirt buttons that I am selling, so that's one less worry as well!

LOL - well yeah basically for my own consumption.. and for a coat my GF commissioned.

Hmm.. I think you will only notice if you are super OCD and scrutinize every inch of your shirt. I just washed a few lengths of striped seersucker and did not notice such an occurrence.

I would change a dry cleaner rather than pre-dryclean your suitings as that is obviously not supposed to happen! Dry clean as little as possible because the harsh chemicals used negatively affect the hand and performance of the natural fibres/oils in your suitings.

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 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.

Hi Sir Kotmj, so r u going for peaked lapel, 6 buttons, ventless and full canvass DB...

Read in the SF forum, that the button positioning and lapel configuration is vital for an average height person... like me...

By the way, how hard to mantain a Super 150's wool if I'm going to wear it twice in a month...FOR a year....

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 pm
I'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.

Any thoughts of having roped shoulders as well? They're not the most common thing but it might look good on a double breasted suit by giving it a slight military look. I have a black, single buttoned, peak lapel suit with slightly roped shoulders. It looks nice but I'm not too sure if I can actually pull it of. Bought it on impulse. Will post pics at some point.

My structured linen jacket, in case anyone has forgotten about it 

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.

AL utters profanities that reference one's mother's reproductive parts. But he didn't do so when I was discussing unstructured jackets with him. Instead, he said such jackets weren't nice, and that the only reason they exist is because the Europeans like to wash everything in the washing machine. I've since come to take his objections with a large pinch of salt.

That jacket seems to suffer from severe sagging. Even the buttonhole is gaping open. The UJ I have seen uses strips of fusing in strategic parts to prevent just that.

You should try getting him to send the jacket to a different finisher. I will ask him to use the FC sifu's finisher for my navy DB.

The linen you see above is an 11oz number. Italian. I bought it at Harrison's Jln TAR.

Beau, how about posting a pic of you in your favourite jacket?

I downloaded a book titled "Sex and Suits". You can safely ignore the title: It was chosen by the publisher to help it sell. Here are some extracts:

"Innovations in armor mark the first real modernity in Western fashion, showing ways to redesign all the separate parts of the male body and put them back together into a newly created shape, one that replaced the naked human frame with another one that made a close three-dimensional, line-for-line commentary on it in another medium. Male clothing lost the unfitted character it had had since antiquity and began to suggest interesting lines for the torso, and to consider the whole shape of legs and arms in its tailoring scheme. Plate armor moreover required an undergarment made by a linen-armorer, a close-fitting padded suit that outlined the whole man and protected him from his metal casing, of which it followed the shape. Male fashion quickly aped the shapes created by the linen-armorers, who can really count as the first tailors of Europe."

Before the suit, men's dress was very ornate.

"But how did the look of modern man in his modern tailoring emerge from all this wrinkled fabric laden with rows of buttons, and covering pear-shaped male bodies down to the knee? To reform, to “modernize” the whole shape of the ideal man (not just to change the fabrics and accessories that clothed him) required an imaginative force more immediate than the uncertain work of technological and social change. Clothes had certainly begun to look different in keeping with the earlier change in belief about the sexes; but it was under the influence of a new radical shift in visual style that the collective eye for the figure was abruptly retrained. Ever since, in contrast to the early versions we have so far described, all modern suits have been cut to suggest a male body that tapers from broad shoulders and muscular chest, has a flat stomach and small waist, lean flanks and long legs. Modern development of the elegant coat, waistcoat, shirt and pants since 1800 required not only new materials, but a new anatomical foundation. The one offering itself at the time, then present on the esthetic scene with fresh power, was the heroic male nude of Classical antiquity."

She kept pushing her thesis of the suit as an echo of classical Greek marble sculptures of the nude male.

"But by the turn of the century, elegance had shifted entirely away from wrought surfaces to fundamental form, and away from courtly refinement to natural simplicity. And so tailors elevated the unfitted rough country coat into a triumph of art, whereby crude natural man became noble natural man, with references to ancient sculpture built into the structure of his clothes. With the help of nearly imperceptible padding, curved seams, discreet darts and steam pressing, the rough coat of dull cloth was gradually refined into an exquisitely balanced garment that fitted smoothly without wrinkles and buttoned without strain, to clothe what appeared to be the torso of a Greek athlete."

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Added on July 26, 2010, 6:11 pmBTW, I think AL's CMT price for a fully canvassed 2-piece is RM1.2k for most customers (unless you reek of big-timerism). This is not far away from Iris Tailor's charges for CMT.

Become clueless when I face an old person like AL.....whereas others at his age r spending their time....vacationing with 18+ mistress 

AL utters profanities that reference one's mother's reproductive parts. But he didn't do so when I was discussing unstructured jackets with him. Instead, he said such jackets weren't nice, and that the only reason they exist is because the Europeans like to wash everything in the washing machine. I've since come to take his objections with a large pinch of salt.

That jacket seems to suffer from severe sagging. Even the buttonhole is gaping open. The UJ I have seen uses strips of fusing in strategic parts to prevent just that.

You should try getting him to send the jacket to a different finisher. I will ask him to use the FC sifu's finisher for my navy DB.

The linen you see above is an 11oz number. Italian. I bought it at Harrison's Jln TAR.

Beau, how about posting a pic of you in your favourite jacket?

I downloaded a book titled "Sex and Suits". You can safely ignore the title: It was chosen by the publisher to help it sell. Here are some extracts:

"Innovations in armor mark the first real modernity in Western fashion, showing ways to redesign all the separate parts of the male body and put them back together into a newly created shape, one that replaced the naked human frame with another one that made a close three-dimensional, line-for-line commentary on it in another medium. Male clothing lost the unfitted character it had had since antiquity and began to suggest interesting lines for the torso, and to consider the whole shape of legs and arms in its tailoring scheme. Plate armor moreover required an undergarment made by a linen-armorer, a close-fitting padded suit that outlined the whole man and protected him from his metal casing, of which it followed the shape. Male fashion quickly aped the shapes created by the linen-armorers, who can really count as the first tailors of Europe."

Before the suit, men's dress was very ornate.

"But how did the look of modern man in his modern tailoring emerge from all this wrinkled fabric laden with rows of buttons, and covering pear-shaped male bodies down to the knee? To reform, to “modernize” the whole shape of the ideal man (not just to change the fabrics and accessories that clothed him) required an imaginative force more immediate than the uncertain work of technological and social change. Clothes had certainly begun to look different in keeping with the earlier change in belief about the sexes; but it was under the influence of a new radical shift in visual style that the collective eye for the figure was abruptly retrained. Ever since, in contrast to the early versions we have so far described, all modern suits have been cut to suggest a male body that tapers from broad shoulders and muscular chest, has a flat stomach and small waist, lean flanks and long legs. Modern development of the elegant coat, waistcoat, shirt and pants since 1800 required not only new materials, but a new anatomical foundation. The one offering itself at the time, then present on the esthetic scene with fresh power, was the heroic male nude of Classical antiquity."

She kept pushing her thesis of the suit as an echo of classical Greek marble sculptures of the nude male.

"But by the turn of the century, elegance had shifted entirely away from wrought surfaces to fundamental form, and away from courtly refinement to natural simplicity. And so tailors elevated the unfitted rough country coat into a triumph of art, whereby crude natural man became noble natural man, with references to ancient sculpture built into the structure of his clothes. With the help of nearly imperceptible padding, curved seams, discreet darts and steam pressing, the rough coat of dull cloth was gradually refined into an exquisitely balanced garment that fitted smoothly without wrinkles and buttoned without strain, to clothe what appeared to be the torso of a Greek athlete."

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Added on July 26, 2010, 6:11 pmBTW, I think AL's CMT price for a fully canvassed 2-piece is RM1.2k for most customers (unless you reek of big-timerism). This is not far away from Iris Tailor's charges for CMT.

The craftsmanship on that jacket is magnificent, I don't think anyone else foes it that way, not in HK, on the Row, or anywhere. I am seriously interested in the fit now.

No, I haven't seen linen with the reverse side printed.

I like my trousers with a button fly and hooks on tabs. It's a bit of a PITA when rushing to the toilet after a long meeting in a cold room, but a button fly has charm a zip doesn't.

Well, your suits are different now. They actually make you look good, instead of bad.

Just get a navy blazer. No trousers. Brown or metal buttons. I suspect you might like it more than you think you would. Wear it with anything: chinos, grey trousers, jeans, anything.

1.7 meters of fabric is all you need for a jacket.

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Added on July 28, 2010, 12:07 amBTW you are right. It's Bali. This weekend.

I am hesitant to reveal the maker for various reasons, but I have some pictures to show if you scroll further.

Have not seen AC's stuff, but I hear good things about them. I've had quite a few Jantzen shirts - fabric quality is hit & miss as they are mostly unbranded stuff probably from China. Customer service is shite though, and they are good at missing/changing details on your shirts. Can't expect much from guys doing such large internet volume.. Try Lee Baron in HK if you visit again. He has ex-AC cutters working for him and does very nice non-fused collars.

I don't ever intend to pay so much for a shirt, so Charvet is obviously out of the question..

Pics as promised - one of my earlier experiments, fabric by Acorn:

I am certain the poor pictures are doing no justice to the jacket's fit.. or hope so at least.
Shirts as you mentioned - unimpressive & factory made like everyone else.. I dislike tailors who make sweeping statements about everyone else simply based on their incapability. There are a few -rare, but they exist - tailors that will make you a non-fused collar if you know where to look.

Apparently they are the only ones who do their suits in house from start to end, or used to anyway. Supposed to be amongst the best quality in town (buttonholes in particular), but I have yet to see one to judge for myself. I had a chat with them once, and their attitude was quite off putting - your typical old inflexible, know-it-all tailor who was reluctant to take instructions. I already had a good pattern with my current tailor at that point in time, so saw no point in spending time and energy to build another r/s.

Full canvas suits are the standard at my tailor FWIW..definitely not exceedingly rare like non-fused shirt collars by any chance.

My tailor even gives you a 'muslin' fitting where the jacket is first cut on scrap cloth and fitted first, to ensure there are no major errors before cutting your cloth. Very strange procedure these guys follow..perhaps because they are doing everything in house and want to cut down on extra work as much as possible.

Thanks for your report anyway - I am sure i do not want to try these guys now.

BTW - Iris' 'house style' so to speak is a structured cut with zero drape and very lean overall. The best I have got her to do is a quarter lined jacket for a friend, but because of the canvas weight she uses, it is still not extremely soft. She has done an unlined and uncanvassed heavy linen jacket for another friend though, and it turned out very nicely. More like a shirt jacket though, if that is what he is looking for.

In any case, your friend should bear in mind that he will be asking for something out of the norm from them and tweak his expectations accordingly..

Hi, I'm pretty new in the art of tailoring a suit but frankly I'm quite interested in getting tailor-made.
Firstly, do I have to bring my own material? lining etc? I've been reading links on gq, askmen and even forums here on lyn and some website say contrasting things. What i do know is the thread count, 120s, 130s, 150s correspond to the breathing/luxury/delicateness of the suit.
And so, does anyone recommend me a tailor/places i can get my material?
Tailors - Bespoke? ALT? Binwanis? As for the material, I'm pretty much clueless.
Could someone help me please? Or redirect me to the correct thread if I'm in the wrong one.

Thank you!

Sounds good. Recently there's been an influx of Big Timers bringing expensive jackets from A&S, Tom Ford etc for alterations at Iris. Great for small timers like me as my tailor picks up all the little tricks and applies them to future commissions!

1) Well, for functions. Balls, weddings, launchings, social events in general i'd say. The frequency of the functions, i'd say about once in a couple of months?
2) Mm, with the material and workmanship, assuming I purchase the material myself, 1.5k to 2k? Is that too much? The bottom line is that I dont want to stinge on the suit
3) I guess by the next event which is about in less than 60 days, give or take. Is that long enough?
4) haha, this part is tricky.. I'm about 173cm, pretty lanky if you ask me. 173cm @ 61kg so you can imagine.
5) Mm, probably a single breasted 3-piece as for the colour, i need some help w/ this. I'm not sure as to pick a brighter colour or to opt for a more traditional, dark colour
6) I went through some styles and I think british-type suits would fit me? not too bold yet chic.

Again, if there is further reading i could do cuz I'm honestly pretty interested in the topic. any redirection would be gladly appreciated.
If there is extra information I could supply please do ask! haha

Thanks again.

The jacket certainly is very distinctive visually. The roped sleeveheads are something you will never find here; while I don't find myself actively lusting after them, I do find them very nice. Because of their rarity in these parts of the world, I can imagine most people noticing them.

The shoulders appear to be extended, something I want AL to do on my next jacket. However, I get the feeling they can only be extended if they are soft and droop a bit at the seam. AL's shoulders are still too stiff and built-up to allow any drooping.

The drape behind the armscye is generous, so arm mobility is guaranteed. The sleeves themselves are quite full, further aiding mobility. Few tailors understand the need for this over here.

The chest looks soft. The lapels have this typical Neapolitan concave belly.

I would say the jacket needs a good professional pressing.

Altogether a distinctive jacket will would make any good tailor here very curious.

Well, the cloth has been bought, the hymo, silk threads, braces and buttons are all at home. Just waiting for the cloth to arrive. To my dismay, 2 days after buying the cloth the seller listed some really, really nice cloth -- among them a navy serge I would have bought instead if it was listed earlier.

Gentlemen,

Allow me to say hello and join the party. I've been doing my rounds on the net and researching into getting some suits made in the next few months.
I read through the whole thread last night, so I've got a decent idea of what to expect. I plan on sourcing cloth myself and simply outsourcing the labor to one the threads "Favourite 3".

AH Loke seems to be the tailor of choice, yet hit or miss and contingent on getting your ideas and points thoroughly across the language barrier. Bespoked seems to be the safer choice, but will cost you vital organs. Where do you boys generally get your cloth from? And what can I expect to pay Bespoked for labor on a fully canvased 3-piece suit with all the trimmings (pick stitching/hand sewn buttons/etc)

Excellent, I'm familiar with that area, since I've been down there to buy shirting material/silks for linings. Never been looking for suiting material though, although I remember Euro Moda being quite pricey. I'm trying to find a large windowpane plaid like this suit below, any idea on pricing per meter?

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Added on August 4, 2010, 10:49 pm

Gosh, over 100 pages +    Better get started. BTW e-mail sent

Pics or it never happened!!

Anyway, pics as promised from yesterday's fitting. Unfortunately the trousers (single forward pleat, fishtail back) were not ready for fitting, but here is the top half of the suit. Please proceed to hack and slash away with your critiques!

1. Minnis Rangoon in light gray (well, more like mid) - 8oz tropical worsted, very nice stuff.

2. The breast pocket is already slightly curved.

3. Double, if you look hard in the reflection you can see it.

4. Good point on length, will consider adding a little! Waist is being shaped more (about 1/2" on each side), and I'm leaving the chest as is.

Trousers are not exactly full cut, but they have a clean line and shape is in harmony with the jacket.

Iris tailor, yes, and no 3 way mirror but I usually have a buddy along to help look. The husband and wife team already provide 2 pair of eyes I trust though.

Long, long time ago (maybe 2 years) when they were clearing the stock online. Only black is left unfortunately.

You have a good eye. Jacket is a bit tight over the upper shoulders, as my shoulder blades are very prominent and stick out a lot - they have already noted this adjustment though. 

I may add a wee bit in length, maybe 1/2". There is canvas already.

I think back balance is a bit short, also my right shoulder has a drop not fully accommodated for, which is causing some diagonal ripples.

Also thinking of taming the lapels a wee bit - a little narrower and pointing lower.

Good points you raised though, thank you!

Yup, excellent cloth with great performance and drape. A real pity it's been discontinued..

Thanks for that, but it would be a bit strange to approach a relative stranger for his Brioni jacket! Also, I imagine the canvas weight will need to be heavy to achieve that structure.. I like my stuff lightly canvassed and would not in hell go for heavier. Those few threads aren't a deal breaker to me anyway, so no biggie there.

Absolute beauties. Shall be staring at them at work to decipher their secrets.

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Added on August 8, 2010, 10:52 pmquite nice these. they have no drape. it is drape that gives the old man look to dbs.

I chanced upon a tailoring shop today. It's just a half shop, but it's in an upscale part of KL. I walk past many tailoring shops whenever I go shopping and such, but never bother to go in because most have awful display suits. It's not worth the time. Also, these shops have clueless proprietors. Their stupidity irk me too much. I once showed such a "tailor" GDT's suit jacket, and he had no idea how to determine if it was fully canvassed. Worse, he insisted the buttonholes were machine-made.

But this shop is special. One of the display suits was a plain cream with a dark windowpane over it. There was Shape, sleeves were graceful, lapels too. All very nice. Very obviously above average. The tailor was digging his nose. I stepped in.

Some banter. He asked me who made me my shirt. I told him.

"Oh, Loke Something Something is it? Is he still alive?"

I said, "No, mine is a different Loke. Here's his card."

"Ah this is the son. I dunno if the father is dead or not. His father is the one who makes horse trousers. My father and his father were friends. His father is famous, I saw him once when I was small. But I think the son is in semi-retirement."

I said, "He's very busy of late."

Talked about fully-canvassed stuff, he said nobody ever asked for one. He said you got them to avoid bubbling in the fusing. I said modern fusings never bubble. He said they did, even Sparkmanshop's did. I asked him if he sent his suits to Wardrobe to be made up. He denied any association with Wardrobe.

"Are you a tailor?" he asked.

More banter.

"Come by someday, I'll make you something. I'll make it nice."

Heh, he has no idea what torture it is to be my tailor.