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470 entries across tailoring, shoemaking, cloth and craft Reference publication: we sell nothing and rank nobody for payment Every figure carries its source and the date it was checked

10 entries

Tailoring styles

A tailoring style is the way a city's tailors tend to cut a jacket: how much padding goes in the shoulder, how structured the chest is, how closely it follows the body. Once you know the styles you can tell a Naples jacket from a London one across a room, and you know which one to ask for. These pages put them side by side.

France

1 entries
  1. A sculpted Parisian roped shoulder Parisian tailoring Paris

    The most sculptural shoulder in tailoring, over the cleanest possible chest.

Italy

4 entries
A soft Neapolitan-cut jacket on a dummy 01

Neapolitan tailoring

Neapolitan jackets are as light and soft as possible, with little shoulder padding, gathered sleeves and a high armhole, and are the world's most copied style.

 A clean Milanese-cut jacket on a dummy 02

Milanese tailoring

Milanese jackets are the most English of Italian styles, with defined shoulders, a nipped waist, a full inner layer and a clean, understated finish.

 A round, wide-lapelled Florentine-cut jacket 03

Florentine tailoring

Florentine jackets look rounded, with wide curved lapels, a full chest and soft shoulders, shaped by the cut of the fabric panels rather than extra seams.

 A long lean Roman-cut jacket 04

Roman tailoring

A long lean line, lightly built: the middle position, argued for with Roman confidence.

Japan

1 entries
  1. A precisely finished grey suit on a stand Japanese bespoke Tokyo

    European method treated as discipline: frequently more orthodox than the tradition it came from.

South Korea

1 entries
  1. A soft-shouldered jacket on a modern stand Contemporary Korean tailoring Seoul

    A Neapolitan method re-cut for a different body, by a trade that is barely fifteen years old.

United Kingdom

1 entries
  1. A structured English-cut coat on a dummy Savile Row London

    Savile Row jackets are shaped by hand around a horsehair and wool inner layer, giving defined shoulders, a nipped waist and an upright look for decades.

United States

2 entries
  1. A natural-shoulder sack jacket The American sack suit

    Straight, soft and undarted: a coat designed to fit many bodies acceptably rather than one perfectly.
  2. Oxford shirt, repp tie, shetland and loafers Ivy style

    A campus uniform that became a national one, and is now better preserved in Tokyo than in Boston.
Picture credits 10
  1. A sculpted Parisian roped shoulder: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  2. A soft Neapolitan-cut jacket on a dummy: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  3. A clean Milanese-cut jacket on a dummy: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  4. A round, wide-lapelled Florentine-cut jacket: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  5. A long lean Roman-cut jacket: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  6. A precisely finished grey suit on a stand: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  7. A soft-shouldered jacket on a modern stand: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  8. A structured English-cut coat on a dummy: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  9. A natural-shoulder sack jacket: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art
  10. Oxford shirt, repp tie, shetland and loafers: Original art · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale · Il Sartoriale original art

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