Buttonholes on traditional bespoke

A selection of London Lounge articles
alden
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Thu May 09, 2013 5:19 pm

This is what buttonholes on a traditional bespoke shirt should look like, a real work of art.

Image

Cheers
AndyM
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Wed May 15, 2013 9:02 am

I am surprised by the lack of response to this post. A properly sewn buttonhole is a thing of beauty and usually only found on bespoke, I once watched a tailoress sew a buttonhole on a jacket, she was extremely skilled and fast but it seemed to me to be a complicated procedure! When you see the work that goes into a properly tailored garment the price often becomes very reasonable.
I cannot remember where I heard it but I was told that craftsmanship is about taking care over details.
andreyb
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Wed May 15, 2013 9:18 am

I guess this is just a case of one picture worthing a thousand words... and definitely worthing more than a thousand one-word replies with "great", "super", "subscribed", etc. Fortunately, they are not en vogue on this non-vogue forum! :)

Andrey
Manself
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Wed May 15, 2013 1:00 pm

Perhaps the silence is the (non) sound of jaws dropping, and all the members who have recently defended the quality of London shirt making eating their words!

I write this wearing an industrially produced MTM shirt by Simone Abbarchi, and I feel green with envy when I look at the hand-stitched button hole.
Scot
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Wed May 15, 2013 1:21 pm

and all the members who have recently defended the quality of London shirt making eating their words!
I don't feel the need to eat my words at all. The quality achieved by some London shirtmakers is very good. But this is in a different league and I am delighted to admit it, and to see such craftsmanship still in existence. Is the disctinction between "traditional bespoke" and merely "bespoke" useful in addressing the difference in expectation and outcome? I think it might be.
J.S. Groot
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Wed May 15, 2013 1:30 pm

To me there is not other response than to cherish that rare feeling of being confronted with something of such aesthetic supremacy.

... And, obviously, to be pleased with the fact that I will be spending the entire fall in Paris and thus hopefully increase the occurrence of such confrontations :D
soren
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Wed May 15, 2013 2:32 pm

And here's some buttonholes made by a shirtmaker in Bangkok (sic!). Unfused collar and cuffs and thick MoP buttons...

Image

Image
Miles Messervy
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Thu May 16, 2013 2:51 pm

I had a shirtmaker in Rome who used the same type of thick m-o-p buttons. It's always a pleasure to contemplate their rich, buttery yellow sheen and substantial format. Just this morning, as I put one of his shirts on, I was making a mental note to salvage those buttons once the shirts themselves are no longer wearable.
hsw9001
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Thu May 16, 2013 8:18 pm

alden wrote:This is what buttonholes on a traditional bespoke shirt should look like, a real work of art.

Image

Cheers
Is the shirt by Lanvin? The pleats and button are similar to an old Lanvin shirt I have seen.
Badden
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Thu May 16, 2013 9:06 pm

I'm guessing it's Mary Frittolini, who trained under Pierre Duboin, the former head cutter at Lanvin Paris.
hectorm
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Fri May 17, 2013 6:58 pm

No more guessing here. That´s definitely the hand of Mary Frittolini (present -if not in the direct making of the buttonholes- for sure on the photograph holding the shirt) :D
Oh, come on guys....... well, at least hsw9001 was more subtle.
droy3
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Fri May 17, 2013 10:28 pm

Does anyone know if Mary travels to NA, and if so where abouts? Also, does she speak English?

Thanks in advance.
J.S. Groot
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Fri May 17, 2013 11:14 pm

From corresponding with her, I have the impression that her English is excellent, although she claims to be a novice. She travels to Paris.
ismailalmurtadza
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Sun May 19, 2013 5:15 am

J.S. Groot wrote:From corresponding with her, I have the impression that her English is excellent, although she claims to be a novice. She travels to Paris.

...but her website is in Italian.

murtadza
alden
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Sat May 25, 2013 12:51 pm

My shirts have at least 16 buttonholes so you can imagine the time in handwork involved. :shock:

And yes, this is a classic example of traditional bespoke at its finest. And yes, this clearly differentiates real craftsmanship from industrially produced CAD CAM MTM products made entirely by machine. They really are not the same products. And all the wanting to believe they are will not change the truth.

Image

Cheers

Michael
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