Francesco Smalto Paris bespoke - question re lapel pattern

[Des Esseintes]

Gentlemen

I posted this question on Ask Andy's forum before but have not received any response so I would like to try my luck around here:

I recently came across two older Francesco Smalto jackets, made to measure or probably even bespoke for a friend of our's about 15 years ago. While the Smalto group are unlikely to get ravishing reviews on this board for their current business, these older jackets are indeed very beautifully crafted and elegantly cut.

One detail that caught my eye is the rather unusual lapel with an exceptionally narrow v-shaped notch. I believe this is a Smalto peculiarity which can also be found in their more recent RTW jackets but was wondering whether this stands in any particular tradition (a French peculiarity?) - any comments and/or background information welcome.

dE
__________________
\"...there is a difference between an urn and a chamber pot...\"

[alden]

Before becoming the Francesco Smalto we know now, Smalto was a cutter at the most famous bespoke tailor in Paris during the 1950s, Camps. So he certainly knows how to craft a bespoke garment.

The notch style you refer to is called a cran Necker. It is typical of Parisian tailoring. If you look carefuly you will see it on the suits of Chirac, and Villepin for example.

On a SR notch the stiching that joins the collar and lapel and the stiching of the lower half of the notch form a continuous line. In the Necker notch the line of the notch ascends at a obtuse angle and as such forms a smaller, and dramatically upward looking notch. It is a bit like old Citroens, either you love them or you wince.

[Leonard Logsdail]

I have a client who used to take the morning Concord to Paris for a suit fitting with Smalto and then take the afternoon flight back to NY. He did this because he had heard that Smalto was a great tailor, but he did not like the lapel shape, and his wife hated both tailor and suits for some reason. Never-the-less, he asked me to copy the lapel shape on the numerous garments I made him because he felt they were distinctive. Byt, as Alden says quite well, like the Citroen, you either love them or hate them. My jacket maker only ever referred to this client as "funny lapel" and never by the man's actual name!!

Leonard

[Ed]

Aha, so this?

[2025899]

In years gone by, a subtler treatment of this kind was a hallmark of Davies & Son.

[Des Esseintes]

Gentlemen

thank you very much for your very helpful responses. The style alden describes is indeed what I was referring to - any idea why this lapel shape is called cran Necker? The only Necker I know is Louis XIV's (in-)famous banker and finance minister who played some role in the build-up to the French revolution. I gues he was not the one who inspired this shape though.

Regarding the photos posted, this is a nice illustration of the pattern yet far less extreme than my Smalto ones in the degree of the upward angle.

dE

[Costi]

That would be Louis XVI, I think. However, Le Roi Soleil did have an even more famous controleur-generale of finance by the name of Etienne de Silhouette, to whose brief appointment we owe the present-day word; a lot more frequently used than Necker’s, wouldn’t you agree?
Apropos the French influence in Romanian tailoring, this “angled” lapel is not unknown around here, although not as dramatically steep as in Chirac’s case:

(sorry for the poor quality of the picture)

[Des Esseintes]

Costi

you are right, of course, Necker was Louis XVI's finance minister.

The point you are bringing up is an interesting one, that of one of the leading (in terms of style) countries' styles (ie, Italian, English, to a lesser extent French) influencing other countries' preferences.

To quote just one example, I happen to know, due to my wife being Iranian, that the style of the "old elite" in Iran was very much influenced by the French, rather than English or Italian - my father in law would always get his suits, jackets etc made in Paris or Cannes and would not care much for Savile Row, Milano, Roma or Napoli.

Interesting how political relations and/or the perception of what is the "leading culture", sometimes established a century or more ago, can continue to influence local or regional styles.

dE

[Jackson]

My fiancee's father, who is quite Parisian, has this style notch on many of his jacket lapels. While it is not to my liking in most examples I had noticed it quite often during my time in Paris. From my novice understanding the Parisian tailoring trade was heavily influenced by Rome, does the cran Necker have it's roots there, or is it an entirely French-inspired notch?