The Suit that made me love suits: Brioni.
Is Brioni the Best Suit Maker in the World?
Brioni was the suit that made me fall in love with suits
It’s 1995 and after 6 years James Bond is back in theaters. Its kind of a big deal. There’s a new James Bond--Pierce Brosnan-- Theres a new car-- BMW--and a new suit maker-- Brioni.
As a red blooded male, James bond is supposed to be my hero. Hes all the things we want to be right? He gets all the girls, smart, capable, drives the nicest cars, he can kill at will but most of all he is dressed in the best suits money can buy. Ill be the first to admit, prior to Golden Eye, James bond was more of an idea. I never had a connection to past Bonds. The prior Bond--Timothy Dalton-- didnt really grab my attention, to be fair I was like 6 yo, but in 1995, at an age where girls, cars, clothes actually meant something Brosnan as Bond was a big deal to me.
A Departure from Savile Row
A British Icon wearing Roman Tailoring
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For decades James Bond exclusively wore a suit made by a Savile Row tailor - arguably the best custom suit makers in the world. This wasn’t going to be an option for Golden Eye. The tight shooting schedule and amount of action and stunts involved required a luxury tailoring house that could produce a lot of suits. FAST
Savile Row tailoring houses were never meant for mass production, its their biggest weakness: They build suits one at a time for each client. Italian houses like Brioni learned early on Bespoke is about passion but selling ready to wear was how you paid the bills. Brioni was luxury, pedigree, amazing quality and most of all…they could meet the production schedule.
What makes Brioni the Best Ready to Wear Suit Maker?
The suit maker that changed men’s fashion
It is the 1950’s and the world is recovering from WWII. For a hundred years or so the standard of great custom tailoring was English suit making. Savile Row featured heavy fabrics, padded, constructed, structured silhouettes. They were formal and powerful. They were meant to shape the wearer and correct perceived flaws. Italian tailoring was completely different. It was soft, light, supple. The fabrics were buttery and smooth, the jackets felt like it was made so you could move. The suits were a complete departure from the norms of tailoring at the time.
Brioni was the pioneer. They defined Italian tailoring for a generation and completely changed the suit business. Their focus on the hand workmanship of their tailoring, the quality of their materials, AND design, was revolutionary.
The Tailoring
Brioni hand makes everything. literally everything on their suits. Major seams, shoulders, canvas by hand. Even the smallest details…button holes, waistbands, hems…all hand made.
When its all said and done, its a total of about 40 hours of work per suit.
When I first got a hold of a Brioni suit the quality was noticeable. I didn’t understand tailoring, and wasn’t trained but never the less I could feel the quality. Years later after formal training, I examined a Brioni suit in depth. I actually dissected it piece by piece. Then I understood much more about the quality of the best suits. The things that really stood out was their ability to hand stitch at the right tension. Every stitch matched the grain and hand of the ultra light weight super 180’s fabric they used. For a bespoke bench made garment that is still a tough thing for most custom tailors, for an-off-the rack production suit?! That felt like an impossibility. I also noticed how their pattern didn’t have any straight lines. Every thing line had a gentle curve and roll. The jackets lines felt organic, like it was designed by curved rulers. It makes sens because if you think about it the human body doesn’t have straight line either. The cut of the pattern feels like it matches our bodies.
Pierce Brosnan getting custom fitted in a suit for the move Golden Eye by a Brioni master tailor.
Brioni was the company that started men’s high fashion. The trendiest of the trendy. The first men’s street wear.
They were the first “street wear” brand. Their suits were made to be worn day in day out as sports wear. A suit you wore because you liked wearing suits, not because you had to. What they created was such an insult to many suit makers of their time, but the effect was undeniable. In 1952, when fashion was dominated by women’s designers, Brioni was the first Men’s fashion house to present a runway collection. At a time when suit makers focused on tailoring techniques and function, Brioni made menswear into fashion. By the 1960’s the Roman style of tailoring and design they pioneered had made the entire market shift to their style of suit making. 99% of the suits in the market, TODAY, still follow this philosophy.
Even though I make suits for a living, when I got the opportunity (and could afford it) I had a custom Brioni made to measure suit tailored for me in their Rome atelier. The experince was everything I thought it would be, I felt like a celebrity. The attention they paid to the nuances of my body and how the suit fit was beyond my expectations. When I received the suit 12 weeks later it felt like my career in suit making was coming full circle.
12 years later earning the ability to have that Brioni suit made for me is still one of my most prized accomplishments.