French Bespoke

[J. Cogburn]

I am preparing my first venture into bespoke suitings and was very impressed by the silhouette of the suits worn by Jean Gabin and Lino Ventura that were highlighted in the wonderful thread a few years ago titled "Parisian style" (available in the Features & Articles section). I was already gravitating toward the Drape style, but the suits worn in Touchez pas au Grisbi speak to me more profoundly than anything else I've seen thus far.

A trip to Paris in on the horizon. Where would be the best place for me to go to commission a suit in this amazing style and is there any cutter in particular that I should ask for when there? Is there anybody in New York who could do something like that?

[alden]

I was already gravitating toward the Drape style, but the suits worn in Touchez pas au Grisbi speak to me more profoundly than anything else I've seen thus far.

That is music to my ears and I agree completely. Gabin had nuclear levels of presence and he made those suits memorable. His style is one we can learn from.

I hate to cut you short in your search, but I have taken pictures all over Paris for years seeing if I could find a tailor who recognized the cut and style. It is very uncharacteristic of Parisian tailoring that tends to be very short shouldered, close to the body, and very tubular in line. Its almost a woman's couture cut.

The Grisbi suits are very A&S like in the width of the shoulder and general ease of the cut. But there seems to be a bit of construction. The suits were made by the Catalan tailor Camps. I went to see many ex Camps cutters and tailors including Francesco Smalto, Urban, Rovito, Gonzalez etc.

I may interview Smalto for DWS, so stay tuned.

Cheers

Michael

[J. Cogburn]

Thanks Michael. You have indeed saved me much time. I will still be going to Paris, but at least I won't waste my time trying to run-down those suits!

I will be in New York later this week and was thinking of stopping by and visiting Alan Flusser's shop. I might try showing them some of these photos to see what they think of this style and whether they could execute it. That is, perhaps I'll try my hand at "customer as designer" as you so often council. Still, this will be my first bespoken suit, so I hesitate to dictate too much beyond "I like this look."

If Flusser can't do it, then I suspect A&S is my next stop.

[TimMureau]

If we speak about Camps, do we mean Camps de Luca or is this tailoring house very different from the Camps we are speaking in this topic about?

Speaking about Gonzalez I heard from a Managing Director of a cloth merchant company who is a very good friend of my that Gonzales is working at Cifonelli now.

All the best,
Tim

[alden]

If we speak about Camps, do we mean Camps de Luca or is this tailoring house very different from the Camps we are speaking in this topic about?

Speaking about Gonzalez I heard from a Managing Director of a cloth merchant company who is a very good friend of my that Gonzales is working at Cifonelli now.

Tim

When Camps retired he moved his business in with Marc de Luca's father, and the firm became Camps DeLuca on the Place de la Madeleine. Marc and his son do a great job but it is not the style we are discussing here.

Gabriel Gonzalez gave up his premises on the Avenue de L'Opera and is sharing quarters with Cifonelli on the Rue Marbeuf. A very good tailor but not the style we are after.

Cheers

Michael

[TimMureau]

Dear Michael,

Thank you very much for the answer.
I am looking forward to the intervieuw with Smalto on DWS.

All the best,
Tim

[HDD]

Have you ever come across a tailor by the name of Jean-Luc Rambure? He's on Rue Stanislas off the Bvld Raspail.

I called in last week after a very credible recommendation: He runs a demi- and grand mesure operation. I had a quick look around his work in progress and on display and I was impressed. The cut is relatively but not oppressively contemporary - this is more pronounced on the (machine worked) demi-measure suits.

I believe he was involved in Hermès' grande mesure.

I liked him a great deal but I haven't been able to discover much about him on the web: No recommendations, criticism, counsel or finished work. Can anyone help?

Thanks in advance.