How did you get to know that tailor?

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Added on October 31, 2010, 5:55 pmJust passed by Lord's here in BSC. I'll never feel comfortable going into a place like that! There are some gyms like that too and I hate them. All glass, any lala passerby can stare at you like you're in an aquarium.

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Added on October 31, 2010, 6:00 pmOnce I finish my coffee here I'll go into Lord's and look at their stuff.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Oct 31 2010, 06:00 PM

The tailor and the big boss' wife stared at me in silence. The big boss himself was oblivious to the immensity of the situation as he sat at his antique Chinese tea table, looking very patriarchal and dignified. The wife looked horrified.

I had one of their suit jackets in my hand. The last time I inspected a jacket, the tailor asked me if I was a tailor.

But before I got to that point, the wife explained one of the finer points of their shirts to me. "The collar will never bubble, it is long-lasting," she told me. I tried to show d'accord with her, but all I could see was the 2 to 3 mm large stitches on the collar leaf. Not only were the stitches coarse, but due to the collar interlining of spring steel, they sat atop the fabric. Spun polyester thread, of course. How long does it take for tailors to realise that Guetermann has come out with core spun technology down to a fineness of #220 which renders the thread all but invisible?

I then looked at the shirt buttons. They were hand tacked in thick polyester thread. Yet, there was no shank. The buttons were tacked tight to the cloth with no play whatsoever. I would not look forward to buttoning such shirts up.

There were two mat sallehs in the shop, and one of them was yelling about wanting something altered.

I moved around to find a suit to inspect. There was one awaiting collection. The good thing about it: The lining was put in by hand. VERY neatly. Better than ALT.

The bad thing(s): Everything else is unremarkable. Buttonholes were machine sewn. Lapels were unpadded. Lapel crease edges were ironed flat. Do I really need mention about shoulder padding? Also looking at the sleeves, I'm willing to bet 1 month's salary that the sleeve pitch is completely, utterly off. Nobody on earth has their arms out like that.

The thing is they charge RM1.2K for CMT. For that price, you can get a fully canvassed handmade suit that takes one tailor 3 days to make.

Want a generous roll to the lapel? Forget about it.


Want hand-sewn buttonholes in silk? Wrong place.


Want hand-padded lapels? Asking too much.

(Hand padding on a suit I paid RM600 for. Half the price of a Lord's, twice as good.)

Or how about this. Same price as a Lord's, but took the tailor 5 days to make.


Verdict: Lord's is for monied people who do not know any better.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Oct 31 2010, 10:21 PM

AL did a suit for a Canadian who was here for 4 days. But he went to the tailor every day he was here. 1 measurement session, 2 fittings, and then the suit was mailed to him 2 weeks after.

All local tailors require copious quantities of instruction by someone who knows his stuff to get it right. Reason: There is no formal training for would-be tailors in this country.

You want to swap jobs with me, huh?

Yeah, let's meet up this Sat.

Just received this in my inbox. Scabal newsletter.

Kim Jong Il's label addiction revealed

Korea's influencial paper since 1920 "Chosun" reports: Kim Jong-il's Mao suit is anything but affordable and utilitarian, according to a defector who used to supply luxury goods to the North Korean leader. "It should be called a luxury suit instead," said the defector, who requested anonymity.

While working for the regime, his job was to tour the country's embassies and consulates overseas and buy goods for Kim. "In the early 1990s, I was ordered to buy fabric for the dear leader and went to France to buy 60 yards of high-quality, cashmere and silk fabric produced by Scabal of London," he said. "I paid US$300 per yard, which came to $18,000."

About four yards of fabric are needed to make a suit, so the price of the cloth alone for Kim's suit amounted to $1,200. The North Korean leader apparently hands out fabric as a gift to his closest aides. "Even in terms of South Korean standards, that would be quite a luxurious product," the defector said. "But for the average North Korean it is unimaginable."


Kim Jong Il likes Scabal

But expensive price tags alone do not guarantee products a spot on Kim's wish list. "Kim Jong-il developed a liking for Scabal, because he heard foreign celebrities enjoy wearing clothes made using the fabric."

Park Je-hyun, who owns a tailor shop in the trendy Cheongdam-dong neighborhood in Seoul, said, "Scabal doesn't wrinkle easily, which is why people on the move like it." Fans include U.S. Presidents and movie stars.

At one time Kim apparently only wore shoes made by Italian cobbler Moreschi. "In early 2000, high-ranking North Korean government officials heard a rumor that the Dear Leader wears only Moreschi shoes, so they scoured Moreschi stores whenever they went on overseas trips," the defector said.

Kim is picky about his luxury brands. According to the defector, he has a penchant for Perrier bottled water, Martell Cognac and imported menthol cigarettes. One foreign diplomat said, "During his visit to China in 2005, Kim Jong-il was delighted to see bottles of Perrier that Chinese officials had prepared for him and asked his aides how the Chinese knew he liked Perrier."

The defector said, "I used to go to Switzerland a lot to buy large numbers of Omega watches. They weren't all for Kim Jong-il, but as rewards for his staff. He added, "Kim Jong-il doesn't need a watch. If he wants to know the time, he can just ask his underlings."

Why don't you just get yourself bespoke for once? You will never go back to these if you do. You can choose any shiny fabric you want.

Yeah, i'll be there this Sat. Will SMS you.

Just asking you to get one single piece for a change. A pity to see all that money go on stuff that fit so poorly.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Nov 6 2010, 12:29 AM

Saying all suits are essentially the same is like saying all cars are the same, and that, if you have to drive daily, it is just another mobility device, be it a Perodua Kancil or a Bugatti Veyron. And that it makes no difference to your experience of going through the motions of life if you drove one or the other.

There is a vast difference between a low end RTW suit and a handmade bespoke.

Suits, in this thread, are never seen in isolation. They are part of something bigger, something more significant -- elegant men's dress. No doubt you have precisely zero idea what that means. Those who do can appear hip at times and conservative at others with a few basic pieces.

You obviously suffer from foot-in-mouth disease. You actually tried dispensing advice about suits, a garment you know exactly nothing about? On this thread?

You are my prototypical provincial lala philistine.

Oooh, my next jacket will have a special feature but I cannot tell what because the material is limited and very old and AL has been hoarding it for decades.

The Tan Sri came in wearing the Albini linen I mentioned in the Tailors thread (USD15/meter). (I welcome all comments about this. Yay or nay?)

He wore white linen Calvin Klein pants. The front balance of his DB is long and that is the only correction to be made, but AL caught that by himself anyway. There is also a project underway for AL to make navy blazers for his staff. AL suggested a midnight blue but I countered with a true navy. He is also looking for a SR tailor because he will bite the bullet soon.

Etc.

Me, I have a pink fine linen shirt in the works. This linen is unusual in that it is really soft and fine. I wanted to have ISTT make it up but the fabric is so special I decided to pay double for AL to do it.

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Added on November 6, 2010, 8:31 pmNobody dress like dat in KL lah

This post has been edited by kotmj: Nov 6 2010, 08:31 PM

If you have naturally horizontal shoulders, you should just let it be. Imposing slanted jacket shoulders on human shoulders with underdeveloped trapezius muscles causes the jacket to be supported from the shoulder tips. This is a bad arrangement. The best you can do if you have horizontal shoulders is to have minimal padding. Not a great solution, but the best one in light of hard constraints.

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Added on November 6, 2010, 10:10 pmThe first time he did me non-fused collars, he tried to charge me extra too, but I brushed it aside.

The second time he did me such shirts, he tried again. I brushed it aside.

Now he just goes, "How much would that be?"

I'd say, "I'm paying you 220* for the lot."

He'd go, "Oh, OK."

*220 is a hypothetical sum. Not to be taken seriously.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Nov 6 2010, 10:10 PM

I've personally used 6 tailors for shirts. ALT is the best by a large and noticeable margin (but also amongst the most expensive of the 6, same price as the worst). Now that he makes non-fused stuff with success, he is essentially the only one I would use for fine shirts. I use a small town tailor for casual shirts at half the price. But there isn't the same satisfaction wearing his stuff.

I have directly inspected the shirts of maybe a dozen other tailors, most recently Lord's in Bangsar Shopping Center. They all suck.

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Added on November 7, 2010, 1:07 amdecatano is not too bad. You might want to try them. Not for me though, as their's are factory-made and the salespeople in the branch near mine have never heard of MOP, have never worn linen, and are generally IQ-challenged.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Nov 7 2010, 01:07 AM

For most people, decatano is just great. They have their own factory, run professionally, so their shirts are all very competitive make-wise. Stitches are close, they use French seams, collars and cuffs will never bubble, etc. They have a vast fabric selection. They take the sort of measurements any online MTM operation would (c.f. Jantzen).

My problem is I have a specific back measure, a specific front panel measure, a certain neckhole geometry, a certain collar leaf height, an exact sleeve length, etc. My yoke is non-symmetrical. I like my buttons hand tacked with a tall shank, etc. Don't tell him, but the only tailor who caters to such obsessiveness is he.

They need directions. They are good at following them. And they aim to delight. Standard make is significantly lower than decatano.

With decatano, they cannot accept directions! They are all made to the same high standard.

Gentlemen, sorry for keeping you waiting so long. I present you FCDB.

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Added on November 8, 2010, 8:33 pmSome cloths from job shop #1.



From left: pale gold cupro, light grey cupro, brown cupro, mid-grey micro herringbone, Loro Piana herringbone, the thickest light grey flannel you have seen.

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Added on November 8, 2010, 8:35 pm...and Zegno No. 1 which I wore to work today.

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Added on November 8, 2010, 8:42 pm(just showing off)


This post has been edited by kotmj: Nov 8 2010, 08:42 PM

Bonus pic...


Gshen's marbles


Some Irish linen and Alumos and white Italian linen atop some wools


Four Italian linens

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Added on November 8, 2010, 11:58 pmFront buttonhole #1


Front buttonhole #2


(I would like to see Chan beat this.)

Cuff buttonholes (more pedestrian)


This post has been edited by kotmj: Nov 8 2010, 11:58 PM

No sarcasm but you have to distinguish between fit and make. Two different things.

If you get the wrong salesperson at decatano your shirt will receive its proportions from an SPM dropout who just 12 months before was motorcyling around on a Honda Cub in the provinces of Terengganu.

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Added on November 9, 2010, 7:39 pmBTW the sleeves are not as long as they look. In the pics I have my elbows somewhat bent so that you can better see the outline of the torso. Bending the elbows causes my arms to retract somewhat into the roomy sleeves, making the cuffs disappear. If I relaxed my elbows the cuffs would peep out by about 1/8th of an inch.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Nov 9 2010, 07:39 PM

My buttonholes are better than yours lah it's so obvious.

Full cut trousers when you're in motion reeks of old money. Slim cut shouts "I'm rempit".

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Added on November 10, 2010, 9:02 pmGetting the button positioning right is so tough on a DB and I think it was done very successfully here. Unlike a SB where there is only one variable (higher or lower), on a DB there are four. The stance, the width, the spread of the upper row and the distance between the first and second rows. We just nailed it here. Thing is, the values for variables 2 & 3 are from an old tailoring textbook.

Also I am very happy with the width of the lapels. 3.5". AL also got the pointing direction of the lapel right. Scholte would have done them this way. One has no way of knowing the pointing direction until the jacket is done up. It is not obvious during the fittings.

The waisting was also difficult. There are three seams that determine the shape of the waist/mid-section. The front darts, the forward seam of the underarm panel and the rear seam of the same panel. If you take too much in through the darts you end up with jackets like Spooker (on SF) which look mighty unnatural to me. If you make the rear underarm seam work too much you end up with something like my beige linen jacket which looks more wiasted in the back than in the front. You must spread the suppression properly.

I think the jacket has this harmonious tension where every element is in place -- but juuuussst so.

The process of creation was fraught with creative tension but the end result really is worth the trouble.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Nov 10 2010, 09:04 PM

14.5".

I have no idea who pick stitched but the buttonsholes are all from the sifu, or less formally the "tai sam lo". I know because his AL's sister told me he did so many buttonholes on my jacket that he "ngan fa".

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Added on November 11, 2010, 8:54 pmMaybe it's 15" I cannot entirely remember.

The pants were not pressed at all. Wore them multiple times then on a 20-hour journey. Never pressed.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Nov 11 2010, 08:54 PM

The pants looked great during the fittings when they have not been worn and are shaprly pressed.

I love pants like these. I'm not going back to tight ones. They have a presence all of their own, these pants, they speak of deep luxury unlike shiny thin GQ-esque stuff.