Is Paris Burning?
Paris Custom Shirts, Part Deux.
Yes, it is ablaze both with productivity and creativity. Paris Custom Shirts never sits on their laurels, but rather constantly make efforts to improve the craft of custom shirt making. I grabbed a hold of Adam to ask him some questions a potential customer or shirt enthusiast might find informative or even comforting.
Apparently, there is nothing wrong with 100s 2×2 shirting. That was news to me, but the truth is that a quality cotton fiber is in itself more important than the fineness with which it is combed. In fact, it really is the same cotton strand spun more finely that makes the difference between a 100s and a 170s of the same quality of cotton. So, for the experience, an excellent quality 100s cotton is preferable to a questionably pedigreed 180s.
Not to add confusion, but there are times when a high thread count is not only finer and more pleasant to wear but is also an excellent performer (both for the shirt maker and the client). Testa’s (An Italian shirt cotton manufacturer) 170s 2×2 book of shirt fabrics is one such winner. Acorn’s (an English manufacturer) Grassmere 160s 2×2 is another, steady perennial that nevertheless feels like silk on the skin and wears admirably. What else feels comfortable against the skin? Loro Piana makes a large range of fabrics that Paris Custom Shirts approve of.
From the quality of the fabric, to its durability, and finally its delicate construction. Loro Piana makes some twills which are beautiful and some cotton/linen fabrics that are gorgeous. They make a lightweight cashmere (and even a vicuna) in a 6oz suit fabric which makes up perfectly for a shirt. However, at $4- 5,000 per shirt, don’t throw them in the washing machine! The mill of S.I.C. Tess, also makes elegant, personality infused fabrics as only a small cottage scale mill can produce (Like the ones Oltolina used to make before that company sadly started to pander to the mass production market.
What about voile, you ask? Well, what about it? I love it, but many men think it effeminate (of course, even more think regular bathing effeminate), although that is changing along with the current refined attitudes of American men in professional settings. It is so comfortable and so very porous. Because of these qualities, it offers crispness and ease in summer settings.
For a variety of reasons, dark skin color, hirsuteness, pale but with dark nipples, a voile shirt should either be worn with a fine quality undershirt underneath (I wear a zimmerli wife-beater) or with a double bosomed front. In the later case, an extra panel of voile is sewn under the chest of the shirt, adding opaqueness but not reducing airiness by much at all. Batiste, its rougher, less elegant relation, is not recommended. S.I.C Tess makes an amazing voile quality which is soft and sheer but just right for a man who wants to look both prosperous and elegant (I would still double front it, but that’s just prudish me.)
If a customer didn’t ask for any specific style of collar or height or spread, how would Adam approach making a collar for that person? The style of the collar and pattern of collar would have to be chosen from a handful of master patterns that provide a basic framework. Adam will look at the person’s face and build and design a collar according to a pattern and using common sense while adding a myriad of ingredients held only in his mind’s eye. Unfortunately, the secrets of quality shirt making defy memorialization and without new blood to keep the trade going, it may in fact be a dying art. My recommendation would be to stock up while the supply is available, lest you find yourself spoiled then one day need to revert to off the rack selections again (eww).
In any case, Adam draws the collar, and cuts the lining and shirt material himself in a manner that creates that distinctive Paris fell which is so smart and so gentle on the neck and throat. Sometimes he cuts them several deep for a customer, but they are cut by hand and there will be a sort of gourmet differentiation that is the equivalent of enjoying slubs in duppioni silks. Basically, there is no machine age consistency and insipidness that attend the mass market when you engage a Paris Custom Shirt.
Questions abound about what sort of fabrics to choose. It really depends on what the customer does, what he already has and what he wants. For example, if a man has a higher position, he might want to reflect that in the quality of goods selected and never mind the cost. If the man is younger and a bit of neophyte to custom shirtmaking, he may want to select hardier cloths that will last a bit longer and accommodate a more youthful lifestyle.
Some men swear by starch, others swear at the beastly concoction. However, that element will play a role in what type of fabric is better suited to the man’s lifestyle. Some men who travel all day long may simply need to starch their shirts to promote a crisp image in the minds of those they travel for. Some customers want a certain type of collar because they just want it, others feel it is all about the cuff when the most important thing in life might revolve on whether to shake or stir it. Incidentally, Adam believes that any man can wear any collar shape if it is designed properly and specifically for him.
Custom made means (At least at Paris Custom Shirts) that everything is made specifically for the customer and he can have anything he wants, absolutely anything he wants. Truthfully, if the customer doesn’t quite know what he wants, Adam can gently guide him through some of the more mainstream choices, but the customer should have some idea what they are looking for as a baseline, such as either biz or casual shirts, colors and patterns roughly should be in the mind of even the first time customer. Adam recommends that initial customers get medium to light shade, solid shirt colors because they will show everything, stitching fit and any potential corrections that need to be made to the customer’s pattern, and make it easier to ensure a proper fit going forward.
Fit is another area of concern. Although having a fitted shirt is something almost all customers aspire to, it cannot be taken as either a given or a scientific constant. One man’s tapered is another man’s painful corseting. One man’s normal fit may seem a blouson to yet another’s taste. Unless the customer has a specific purpose in mind for the shirt, and assuming he wears it under a conventional suit jacket, a shirt’s fit should have just enough material to make you feel unfettered and not so much as to hinder it working with the cut of your jacket in a completely unimpeded way. There should be no bunching, catching, or extra fullness.
If for some reason, the Billy Buckley school of boyish dishabille is you, then Paris will accommodate; but that is a rather not recommended approach unless that is genuinely your personal style. If you don’t mention fit, Adam will ask you what you like and if you have no preference, he prefers to start off with a shirt that follows the lines of the body without being overly body conscious. Finally, fit comes down to what Adam calls “balance” which are certain ingredient like measurements that he takes without calling attention to them with the customer but help ensure a comfortable and agreeable experience when donning the shirt.
Paris Custom Shirts is located in Manhattan’s “Little Korea” at 38 W. 32nd street on the 6th floor. Telephone number is 212-695-3563. After you order your shirts be sure to head down the block to Mandoo Bar, at 2 West 32nd Street, for some of the best handmade Korean dumplings in NYC. Everything they serve is wholesome and tasty; I like the fried pork ones myself. The place is reasonable, clean and very hip. Good for a lunch time refreshment or, if you appreciate the delicate allure of Korean beauties, is also quite the spot for groups of young ladies rallying for a night at the clubs.
The Plates
A selection of recommended (Both by myself and Paris Shirts) follows, based both on luxuriousness and durability:
Acorn fabrics. Acorn is a staunch English mill and their 100s 2×2 and 110s 2×2 shirt cottons are very nice against the body and yet have a strength. The Grassmere 160s 2×2 range is a selection of patterns and colors which are reserved but worth making up because they feel like a much higher thread count for the money. The Acorn fabric catalog can be found online at www.acornfabrics.com/Fabric_list.html for further perusal.
Loro Piana. Make beautiful shirt fabrics that Adam loves to work with. The cotton/linen combination is an Ode to weaving that would make Lord Byron weep. Above: High count cotton broadcloth, Below: Beautiful cotton/linen blends.
Loro Piana cotton/linen shirt fabric. The business equivalent of a touché, in fencing, in terms of summer shirts.
A finished cotton/linen shirt and some detailing in the photo below.
Testa’s 170s 2×2 range. Fine, gentle to wear, yet hard wearing. It would be hard not to order these by the dozen.
S.I.C. Tess poplins, end on ends and voiles are as sublimely tactile against one’s skin as a Schubert Adagio is to one’s ears. A small, cottage industry firm, turning out piece good amounts of cotton artwork.
Choosing shirts from the large selections of excellent cloths is the sort of toil a professional man can expect to have to endure. After delving through all that cotton and designing shirts that suit you to a tee, do refresh yourself at Mandoo Bar for some dumplings and tea, made by these talented ladies fresh and on the spot. www.mandoobar.com for the menu summary.
History of the Black Suit, Part 1. Suggestions for the serious dresser
I was wondering if you had a contact number for ordering from S.I.C. tess, preferably english speaking!
Thanks so much!
Wonderful article FNB. I am also a big big fan of higher collars. They hide my fleshy neck :>) Great read and photos. Thanks and regards. -Jeff Low