WhnayThis thread makes me understand why bespoke has become such a dinosaur. Techocrats combine one off pictures and wild assumptions to develop a hypothesis that is a far stretch from reality.
I just finished filming a three part show with Huntsman, working with their GM and head cutter. It was a lot of fun. They have their own vision of style, it has its own identity and is very appealing. I didn’t feel any dogma from them, as I did not from Mr. Hitchcock, rather a sort of easy going pride in what they do, something that makes sense to the degree it pleases their clients.
Like A&S, Huntsman’s business is way up and heading further up. Maybe SR is a kind of “Jurassic Park” where the animals are reborn. And increasingly, young men are coming to visit the park in a reaction against the vagaries of modern fashion and its annoying marketing. I think today and in the future, the biggest problem with bespoke will not be creating the demand, but fulfilling the demand. And in this regards, I am secure in my prediction that the cost of bespoke in the near future will surpass that of high end RTW fashion and surpass it by a very wide margin. So get your clothes made now.
I found the visit very positive and upbeat. My next stop is Edward Sexton and I am curious to see what they are about. I also plan on trying to contact Tom Ford when I visit New York. Word is he is a charming man and if so, he should grant an interview. We shall see.
I agree that a technocratic approach to tailoring (that I rarely tolerate) leads a client nowhere. It might be fun for “real” tailors amongst themselves but it fails to deliver palpable content to many of us, and nothing that would lead one to choose bespoke. And you are very right, pictures are traitors and if used out of context for other than instructive purposes, they will be removed from the LL(case in point.)
Cheers
Michael