Jean-Claude Colban

[Cantabrigian]

Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to meet Colban (owner? president?) of Charvet at the trunk show at Bergdorf.

He was extremely pleasant to work with. As we discussed the few design details that you can choose on the MTM shirts, he took the time to very cordially – almost apologetically - explain what he recommended and why.

Now I am anxious to take a trip to Place Vendome to try their bespoke service. I don’t know if Jean-Claude is personally involved in the bespoke process but I was very impressed with the Charvet shirts I saw – beautiful buttons (shanked, of course) and a selection of fabrics that was rather unique – at least compared with my experience with Anglo-American shirtings (though I have not yet seen the collection at either CEGO or Kabbaz-Kelly). I finally settled on a red royal oxford and limited myself to a single shirt as the price was quite high for the fit I expect to get from the MTM. Those fabrics with the quality I observed with a bespoke fit could well be a winning combination for me.

Daniel Hirsch, the manager of the Charvet section at BG, is an unmitigated disaster as a fitter. He had me try on a stock shirt whose yoke was a full 1” – 1.5” too large but concluded that it was perfect. When I asked to see two sizes smaller and to have the waist tapered, he gladly agreed.

The MTM can be rather flexible but that is only if you ask the right questions. Yes, the waist can be taken in quite a bit. Yes, the collar stance can be raised. Yes, you can get cuff styles other than the dozen or so pictured in the guidebook but you have to ask for any of these things as they are not a natural part of the ordering process. No mentioned was made of back pleats, gauntlet buttons or length without my instigation.

I certainly didn’t reach the peak of Mt. Dress Shirt on Saturday but it was enough to get me interested.

I’d love to hear from anyone who has ordered the full bespoke – particularly how the fit is and how thorough the sample-making system is.