Written in a little handbook for young men entering the tailoring trade, Mr. J. King Wilson of John Morgan and Company (tailors of JFK’s first bespoke suit, and his tailors until his presidency) had this to say about fitters:
“The fitting room is a great leveler. The most bombastic customer seems but insignificant when you have got him with his pants down. They say no man is a hero in the eyes of his valet. The same is true as between a customer and his tailor to whom many of his foibles and petty conceits are exposed.”
I imagine that’s never rung any truer than it did on Monday, when I met Steed for a fitting. It was their last day in San Francisco, but I had already scheduled a trip to be out of town this past weekend. So to catch them before they left, I flew back Monday afternoon, rushed home to grab my garments, and then rushed to their hotel to make my appointment. I didn’t have time to change, so I showed up in what I wore to the airport: a white t-shirt, brown leather A-2 jacket, heavily worn jeans, and a pair of dark brown boots. I couldn’t have looked more out of place, but neither Edwin or Matthew seemed to mind. In any case, I’m sure it’s not as though I could appear to be anything but a clotheshorse, even if I had shown up in a coat and tie.
At our meeting, I wrapped up my first order and put in another. On the list is Russell plaid sport coat that I’m rather excited about. Russell plaid, as I mentioned over a year ago, is like a large-scale glen plaid, but with the horizontal part of the check stripped away. That leaves the vertical check to dominate, which is then accented with a thin stripe – usually in burgundy, dark purple, or burnt orange. I’ve always thought of it as one of the most tasteful of patterns. Unique, but conservative, with a little bit of “Old Money” sensibility to boot. You can see it worn well by men such as Luciano Barbera, Bernhard Roetzel, and George Frazier below.
The “standard” for Russell plaid is a beige ground with a dark brown check and thin beet purple and pumpkin orange stripes. That’s available at the moment in the Minnis Alsport book (pictured below). It’s a handsome pattern, but Edwin and I agreed that that the check might be too big and vivid on my thin frame, so we settled on a subtler version from the Porter & Harding Hartwist range (pictured above). That one has deeper, darker colors, a smaller scale pattern, and a fuzzier weave. It doesn’t have the same “classic” look as your standard Russell plaid, but I suspect it’ll still look great as a fall jacket. I’m having it made into a single breasted sport coat with a 3/2 front, flapped pockets, side vents, and a cheeky three buttons on each sleeve. It’s going to be awesome.
(Pictures from: me, Anderson & Sheppard, Luciano Barbera, Bernhard Roetzel, Tommy Ton, Rubinacci, David Reeves, Rose Callahan, An Affordable Wardrobe, SpooPoker, Leonard Logsdail, The Suit Room, Giant Beard, The Merchant Fox, and a couple of other sources I’ve unfortunately forgotten)
