You can tell quite a bit from a walk through the workshop of a tailoring firm. The best firms have well lit spaces, a good proportion of younger staff in training so that there is the possibility that they will be able to maintain standards when the last of the post-war generation of tailors retires, and interesting work in progress. The Neapolitan version of Rubinacci qualifies on all three counts. The rooms are bright, the staff is a mixture of young and old, and, most interesting of all, there is a wide variety of clothing underway.
On the rack next to Mariano Rubinacci in the photograph is a camel hair polo coat made properly, with mailbox patch pockets. There is a blazer with solid - not plated - gold buttons in progress in the next room, and and a navy jacket being lined with silk scarves in a third. Perhaps most impressively, the room full of trousermakers has no sewing machines, something that I have seen only once before.
The quality is obvious.
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4 comments:
Will -- A thousand thanks for sharing your time in Italy with us.
Wonderful seeing Mr. Barbera well.
Excepting a bit much PS, I like the clothing choices of the substantial gentleman in the top photo. Nice glen check cloth, lovely soft shoulders. The fullness of cloth at the shoulder reminds of descriptions and renderings of the original “British Blade.” I like the soft look of this Italian tailoring.
Will, could you be so kind as to share a photo of "mailbox patch pockets" for those of us who are not familiar with them?
Horatio, there is a photo on the ASW FaceBook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/A-Suitable-Wardrobe/105481244058
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