A Blurry Forward Fitting

Well to his dismay your fearless reporter forgot to charge his camera battery before his fitting with Peter Harvey of Fallan & Harvey last week. The photos in this essay are from an iPhone. They don't show what they should but they are hopefully better than nothing.


I missed Peter when I was in London last July so this was the first chance we'd had to fit the coat since I wrote about his Spring visit to San Francisco. The faults we found in the first fitting were all fixed, leaving an issue with the sleeve length and the buttons and buttonholes as the only tasks remaining. As is too often the case with bespoke, that means my warm weather jacket will be finished just as the weather turns cold.


It's a three roll 2.5 jacket with patch pockets that will have gilt buttons as it's intended to replace a worn navy blazer. I plan to wear it with gray fresco or, when I'm feeling bold, terra cotta linen trousers.

I left Peter a couple yards of gun club tweed (barely visible on the chair in the back of the second photo) for our next project, an odd jacket for Fall. That one will have crescent pockets and a paddock front.

Waiting for the Rain

Today is a day for reading and lunch in the garden of the house I'm using, waiting for the rain that's followed me from England.

Yesterday began with a train to Paris, a taxi to Gare du Nord, and the EuroStar to London. I visited Edward Green, where my intention had been to see if I could get a better fit in a narrower width on the 82 last. But of course, they had no appropriately sized shoe for me to try (Hilary, this is your flagship store - why don't they have fitting shoes?). I did pick up a great pair of dark navy hose with subtle burgundy stripes though.

From there I went to Fallan & Harvey where I couldn't have my fitting as Peter Harvey was in Portugal (more fallout from the delayed start of my trip) but accomplished my other objective, that being some time with the cloth books. I liked Lesser's air force blue 13 ounce mohair and a 14 ounce Saxony tic weave.

After lunch and more shopping I visited W. S. Foster, maker of the pictured bespoke oxfords (about which I'll have more to say later) and finished the visit with a couple hours of backgammon with its managing director, the delightful Sarah Adlam who, I learned shortly before she beat me, sits atop the 13,000 member Royal Automobile Club's backgammon leader board. Then it was two more trains and a taxi before bed. But I am re-stocked with four English-language books and a supply of Monte Cristos.

A Basted Fitting

Peter Harvey of Fallan & Harvey was in San Francisco this week and I had an appointment for a basted fitting. Fallan & Harvey are tailors based on Sackville Street in London, near Savile Row (there is no web site).

I'd come to Peter last year on the recommendation of a friend after I decided to find a second tailor, one who would make me single breasted jackets with a traditional three button front. I commissioned a summer odd jacket of ten ounce fresco that will have a minimum of lining for our hot wine country summers.

The jacket, which at this stage is held together with cotton basting, felt as light and airy as I'd hoped it would be when I ordered it. I'll need to be careful putting it on as the unlined fresco grabs at the shirt sleeves a bit, but I elected to experiment with unlined sleeves in the hope that they will be cooler.

Since this jacket is from a new pattern, I expected it to require adjustments and it did. In the first two photos, Peter is noting that the lapels are a bit off at the top and the quarters are too straight at the bottom.The armholes are also too high and in the third photo Peter is marking the adjustment before he removes the sleeves.

Once we were comfortable with the work that is to be done before my forward fitting in London this coming July, Peter let me know that the gilt buttons I'd requested (there will be two gold buttons on each sleeve) are no longer available from Holland & Sherry. In the fourth photo he's showing me substitutes in the same pattern that he'd found from another source.

I've learned the hard way to limit myself to one jacket or suit at a time until a tailor's pattern is perfected but I'm hoping that the coat will need little more than sleeve buttons at the forward fitting so that it can be delivered no later than this Fall. That will be a year after I ordered it. I'm not traveling to Europe monthly any longer and delayed gratification is the new name of the game. It comes from living in a city without much in the way of local tailors, but that's been true all the time I've been living here.

What's in Your Lapel?

According to the author of The Boutonniere: Style in One's Lapel, wearing a boutonniere, or buttonhole, has never been particularly widespread. We see them today principally at weddings and specific occasions like Remembrance Day in the Commonwealth countries. Our days would be more pleasant if we saw them more often.

Some men probably fear the attention that might come with a buttonhole just as they fear the pocket square. To them I say that there's no need to push the envelope. Think of wearing a buttonhole as a replacement for a silk square, to be worn under the same circumstances. You'll be glad you did.

For day wear, avoid showy flowers in favor of blooms like red and pink carnations. Carnations, and their cousin the Sweet William, gained their popularity because they are among the very few flowers that remain fresh all day without water. Perennials, they are easily grown outdoors and bloom throughout most of the year in California. I have them in a box on my balcony in the City so I can cut one whenever the mood strikes but there's no need to go to that much trouble if you only wear a flower once in a while. The majority of florists I've entered have refused my offer to pay for a single carnation and the rest have been happy with a dollar.

Evening blooms need to remain fresh fewer hours, and that opens up your range of choices. The evening combination of white and black is consistent with white orchids, gardenias, and white or red roses.

At a wedding, the flowers worn by the groom should complement what's in the bride's bouquet. That's often a lily of the valley or a small orchid. The bride's father and the best man wear the same flower as the groom, and the ushers usually wear carnations, sweet peas or small white roses.

Of course, to wear a flower, your lapel must be prepared for it. Never pin a flower to your jacket. The lapel requires a buttonhole that's about an inch and an eighth long, so the base of the flower fits into the space and observers will see the top of the bloom rather than the side. The photo to the left shows the back of the lapel of a Fallan & Harvey suit, with the other necessity - a silk thread to hold the flower stem in place.

If you're one of those men who have open buttonholes on your jacket sleeves, make sure your tailor is also preparing your lapel. It's an inexpensive way to add elegance to your day.