There is also a widespread perception that pleats have no place in trousers. Nobody asks for pleated trousers anymore. Me, I can't get enough of them pleats.

My ideal of the final fitting is I put on the jacket and I look and I peer and I scrutinize myself in the mirror and I can find no fault. Every issue from the previous fitting has been addressed. Then to jack up AL's blood pressure I say I want a 3 button after all, not one button. Then I say I was kidding. Then I leave the shop and have a nice dim sum breakfast.

Dude, I don't even know you. You just crawled out of the woodwork yesterday.

However I will be at ALT this Saturday with someone else. Do join us if you are free. I will PM you the time once it is semi-firm. However, you need to tell him to implement all the changes he intends to before our appointment on Saturday. I will be very disappointed if I see the same jacket.

To avoid all the makciks from stalking him...

This post has been edited by kotmj: Aug 26 2011, 01:36 PM

Wow, AL has been attending night courses in marketing and has engaged a marketing consultant and is now revamping his offering. Customers get to choose from four distinct models of suits, each with unique characteristics: The Oil Trader, The Capitalist, and The Tycoon. The fourth model is currently under development, and from what I was told it is to appeal to the lower income customers and will be fused. It is tentatively called The Project Manager. These models were directly inspired by influential customers at ALT.

The Oil Trader has Malaysia's most unqiue shoulder -- The Single Ply Shoulder ™. A single ply of wadding at the tip of the shoulder is all there is.



Details of The Capitalist and The Tycoon will be revealed soon.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Aug 27 2011, 05:26 PM

Evil capitalist smile

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Added on August 27, 2011, 11:41 pmMore details have emerged about the four model lineup.

The Oil Trader
The most youthful silhouette of the house, the jacket has the most aggressive shaping through the torso and the most stylized shoulders bespoke tailoring techniques can realise. Slim cut sleeves, a high gorge, straight lapels, a low buttoning point, and very open quarters are standard. Choose from four shoulder variants: The Ultra Natural Shoulder featuring a single ply of wadding, The Concave Shoulder, The Pagoda Shoulder and our standard Straight Shoulder. Trousers are flat front and slim fit with belt loops. Constructed with a mix of hand and machine sewing with a well-considered use of fusing at the pocket mouths and welts and front edge. Fully canvassed.

The Capitalist
A conservative business suit with typical English understatement. Wear this to boardroom meetings and for photo sessions for the next annual report. Classic sleeves, a medium gorge, mildly bellied lapels, a neutral buttoning point and slightly open quarters. Shaping is moderate and shoulders are straight. Trousers are double forward pleated and cuffed and choose from either side buckles or suspender options. Available as a single breasted or double breasted. Same construction techniques as The Oil Trader.

The Tycoon
A suit with no compromises. Our most poetic. We offer for your selection a well-curated range of the most exquisite cloths ever woven including vicuna and escorial. Canvassing material is ultra soft and springy wool with mohair. There is no fusing anywhere, and the front edges are reinforced with linen tape felled by hand in silk thread. This is our true 6000 stitches suit, and the hand stitching extends to the trousers. Available in any configuration, we are happy to advise you on the possibilities.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Aug 27 2011, 11:41 PM

They may sound exotic to common folk, but I've actually met these people at alt. In fact just yesterday I met an Oil Trader over there. You were there too -- didn't you see him?

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Added on August 28, 2011, 3:59 pmThe Project Manager model is for those who know they need a suit soon but procrastinates going to the tailor until the last moment then goes in lan si lan yong and asks for full canvassing then suffers from sticker shock and lead time shock then begs al to squeeze in a fused suit in time for his wedding/conference/overseas trip...

This post has been edited by kotmj: Aug 28 2011, 03:59 PM

Poultry farmers wear Pagoda singlets.

Just bought the Wall Street DVD and took a few snapshots.

Perfect fit


Fabulous pattern


Killer ensemble


Inspirational DB

Does the hot chick still work there?

1. The original length of the jacket is better than what you made them pin up. The pinned up side looks comically short. The ideal length would be in between.

2. I can cut better sleeves than those. The sleeves were cut for a very curved arm which is pitched forwards (like some chekai bodybuilder who does lots of bicep curls without tricep extensions, and lots of bench presses without overhead presses). You have straight arms which are pitched backwards.

Unfortunately, I suspect the cutter is not good enough to get the sleeves right. I would be very surprised if he manages to clean it up by the next fitting.

3. The waist is supressed the wrong way.

4. I leave you with pictures of an uncommonly successful first fitting this past Saturday.

that was the kotmj special edition

MeToo, can you describe your cutter at Wardrobe? What kind of a person, the sort of impression he makes, qualifications, etc? I'm interested in these things.

I saw this chekai Chinese guy in his 40s who was proofing a pattern he drafted himself at their concession stand at Pavilion. Except that he seemed to take forever and didn't seem particularly sure of himself. He said sometimes the pattern is relegated to the factory and sometimes he drafts it himself. He did it on tracing paper, which was very thin.

When is your second fitting?

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Added on September 2, 2011, 9:28 pmContrast this to Ron, who drafted a jacket directly on cloth while telling me why he hates Wardrobe! That's the way it should be!

This post has been edited by kotmj: Sep 2 2011, 10:31 PM

Is TG#4's gorge Lokemui-approved?




This post has been edited by kotmj: Sep 4 2011, 01:31 PM

Yes, one shoulder is not cooperating with me. The shoulders "luo yan meng" to make. But the concavity is pretty ephemeral, and the moment I set the sleeves the concavity will change again (because of the weight of the sleeves).

Also, one of the lapels is a tad wider because the bridle on that side was not drawn as much as on the other. I've since found a more quatitative technique for drawing the bridle and will use that for No. 1. Also, generally, Cabrera tapes the front edge and lapels too early; I will reshuffle the steps to delay the taping for as long as possible. The human eye is just too sensitive to lapel widths.

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Added on September 4, 2011, 5:28 pmThat is too radical lah. It's all gorge and no lapel anymore.

BTW the lapels are 4", not the intended 3.5" because I did not take out the 1/2" gorge dart. With No. 1 I will do 3.5". I think 4" is too exaggerated.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Sep 4 2011, 05:35 PM

Huh, I won't be in KL this weekend. Just tell them the pics will bring down the house if they don't do a good job.

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Added on September 6, 2011, 10:23 pmIt looks a lot better than most of the "custom tailored" stuff you find here. However, it has a certain cheap look to it, though few will ever detect it. May have to do with the fabric and the lack of crispness.

When RTW delivers a better product than a custom made garment you know the industry is in trouble. Having met so many tailors, very few of them actually deserve to be called such. Most are just charlatans with very low personal standards.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Sep 6 2011, 10:23 PM

dunhill, canali

Should have gotten myself a mannequin a long time ago.

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Added on September 10, 2011, 6:30 pmHowever, they have only one size and this mannequin is a bit bigger than me and the shoulder slope is wrong and is also a bit more stooped than me.

This post has been edited by kotmj: Sep 10 2011, 06:30 PM

The cloth is obviously for purists. It is pure polyester.

This is a highly unusual jacket. I've never seen an old school tailor cut something this short. The jacket at the back must cover his butt, meaning be at least level with his gluteal fold. The front should be longer than the back by 0.5" when he is wearing the jacket.

I've also never seen a jacket without front darts. Maybe you can ask him why. The darts are necessary for chest and abs articulation.

It is also not wide enough at the hips. The jacket is "binding" (stuck) to the hips.

If you look at the right forepart (in the pics) of the jacket, there is crumpling there in both the jacket and the vest. This is evidence of asymmetry in your friend's torso. His shoulders appear level. I think it is his spinal cord that is not true -- his hips jut out to the right (of the pic). Without looking at literature I wouldn't know how to correct for this.

Sleeves need to be rotated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlX9pcBOqT0