A Rakish Evening At Rubinacci

Last night saw the launch of issue five of The Rake magazine at the London branch of Rubinacci on Mount Street. Copies of the issue, with Luca Rubinacci sitting nonchalantly on the cover, were liberally distributed and a blow-up image of Luca adorned a poster in the corner. In the circumstances he was rather modest, as indeed were father Mariano Rubinacci and his twin sister, all anxious to extend their most generous hospitality to the great, good and (most importantly) stylish of London that attended.

After a brief introduction from The Rake’s Editor-in-Chief, Christian Barker, Nick Foulkes gave the keynote address. Nick wrote the cover story for this issue of The Rake, profiling Mariano and Luca, and he was full of bon mots to describe Rubinacci’s tailoring elegance, as well as anecdotes describing occasions where a knowledge of Rubinacci has come in most useful. As each name dropped with a (self-confessed) clang, Nick described his conversations with Luca di Montezemolo and the British Royal Family, both of which were saved by a reference to Rubinacci and his soft, elegant lines. It’s the international language of style, don’t you know.

The guest list was a testament to how far The Rake has come in just under a year (particularly given the sheet rain coming down outside). Most of those present knew and liked the magazine, agreeing it was a breath of fresh air in a magazine market dominated by lad’s mags and fashion quarterlies. Those that didn’t know it were instantly impressed when they picked it up – testament to the photography of Munster (also present) as much as anything else, in my opinion.

The sheer exuberance of colour and texture in the Rubinacci store makes it a perfect backdrop to social occasions, and many of those present remarked what a great idea it was to have such launches in locations like this. Indeed that drew the most comments of the evening – after those referring to the massive block of Parmesan cheese.

As a regular contributor to The Rake, I am of course biased. But it is still true that no magazine or website gives me such a sartorial thrill as reading this magazine. Hopefully my contributions go some way to giving that pleasure to others.

The Rake is still only available outside Asia by subscription, but plans are afoot to change that. In the meantime, Lodger on Clifford Street is selling a limited number of copies of issue 5 at the moment – priced at £10.

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How China Changed The Silk Industry

The British silk-weaving industry has changed immensely over the past 50 years. Some can still claim to be among the biggest and best in the world, but many smaller weavers and artisans have gone out of business.

The biggest reason for this, of course, is China. But it’s interesting talking to someone in the industry, such as Andrew Henry, sales director at Vanners in Suffolk, about exactly how that industrial behemoth has changed the dynamic. Henry was kind enough to talk me through his experiences during a site visit last week.

The companies that suffered most from China were those in the mid-market – neither mass nor niche producers.

When China first began its industrial growth, weavers in Europe found they could source much cheaper product from China and offer it very efficiently to existing clients. But that often meant that clients had a choice between cheaper Chinese product and relatively expensive European alternatives – most took the cheaper option. The weavers then found it harder to sell the premium product, and slipped down quickly down into the mass market.

Selling anything in volume is a numbers game, and one where it is hard to remain consistently competitive. As more weavers entered this part of the market, and China began exporting its own (quickly improving) cloth, margins shrank and many of Europe’s best-known weavers went out of business.

Italian mills often suffered more because their industry is less consolidated, with many aspects like dyeing outsourced. (Italy is still probably the biggest weaver of high-end silk, with the UK second and France a bit further off in third.)

“When I used to go to Como 20 years ago to see weavers, it was almost impossible to get a hotel reservation,” says Henry. “Now relatively speaking it is a ghost town. So many have gone.”

China’s reaction was opportunistic. Some of the managers at Europe’s defunct mills were hired by Chinese operations, to help them improve quality and production processes. As a result, Chinese silk weaving has come on immensely in the last 20 years.

“To be frank, the standard of some of the stuff out of China is OK these days,” says Henry. “They’ve come on a long way.”

The problem that Chinese mills face today is that they often don’t have the experience or market knowledge to produce silks that will appeal to the high-end European, Japanese or American audience. They can’t design a range for a client, or know what will sell in a particular market and why.

“I suppose that’s one way in which outfits like Vanners are unique and will continue to be so,” says Henry.

(By the way, you will see boxes labelled ‘China’ around the Vanners weaving shed. But that’s because the silk itself comes from China and always has. Few other climates in the world can support its production – Brazil is probably the second biggest producer.)

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John Lobb: When You Polish Suede

Store managers see some funny things. For every customer that has saved up for six months to afford his first pair of luxury shoes, there is one that orders three more pairs of the black oxfords he already owns. The first will take half an hour of advice and reassurance. The second wants to be in and out in 10 minutes.

It is fair to say that the second group is also more likely to know less about their shoes, particularly as regards maintenance. Andreas Kuschel, store manager of John Lobb (Paris) on London’s Jermyn Street, has seen quite a few odd requests along these lines. But the best was probably the gentleman that brought in a pair of suede Lobbs that he had tried to polish. He looked bemused. Why wouldn’t you try and polish suede?

Kuschel deals with oily stains that customers get on their shoes all the time – salad dressing, ink, even oil itself. But this was something different. “I took them down to the repairs department and told them to try everything they could,” he says. “There was nothing to lose really, so they could really experiment.”

Eventually, the boffins found a solution. An oil-based eraser, much like the lighter one used to rub away scuffs or stains on Nubuck, was found to do the job. “I was amazed, they were pretty much as good as new,” says Kuschel.

Another discovery I made during a recent conversation with Andreas was that Lobb will insert tongue pads into your shoes for a charge of £30. As regular readers will be aware, I have a particular problem with shoes becoming too big over time as the leather stretches, as my low instep means that after a year or so the shoes completely lace-up and lose grip. Given that Lobb uses “one the best upper-repairers in the country” to unstitch the tongue, insert a pad and sew it back up again – so the addition is almost invisible – I think £30 is pretty good. It’s a much better solution than an insole.

In other Lobb-related developments, the company has just launched its new overshoes or galoshes, referred to as the Balmoral (traditionally a shoe that has that same long, horizontal stitch down the side of the shoe). Although many shops sell overshoes, and similar ones to these were previously available from Swims (which made the Lobb designs), this model is designed to particularly fit the Lobb lasts and comes in an attractive Lobb yellow.

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Go On, Try American Apparel

I tried to get a friend recently to go into American Apparel. He looked at me askance. “That place?” he asked incredulously. “It’s full of leotards, Lycra and hideous colours.” I knew what he meant. But I made him go in anyway. Because if I hadn’t been driven in by recommendations, hype and word-of-mouth, I still wouldn’t have anywhere to buy my t-shirts.

If you walk into American Apparel (now seven stores just in London, and counting) it’s easy to be put off by the body suits, printed leggings and high-waisted shorts. Indeed, the caption to the image above the list of London stores on AA’s website says it all: Cotton Spandex Jersey Tank Thong. I can see the picture and I still don’t know what it is. But it doesn’t sound good.

You have to get past that, ok? Find the menswear section and look at the basics – the t-shirts, the sweatshirts, the hoodies. They’re all well-made, high-grade cotton, fitted and very simple. No gimmicks, no logos. And best of all with the t-shirts, they are long enough to tuck into trousers.

I don’t wear t-shirts very much any more. Gone are the Iron Maiden, Pearl Jam and No Fear t-shirts of my youth (each of those a teenage phase, around two years apart). I still wear t-shirts when it’s hot, in the summer and often at the weekend. But most of all what I need in a t-shirt is something simple that will go under a V-necked sweater. Ideally it should be soft, lightweight and (most of all) have a long enough body that, like a shirt, it will not become untucked.

American Apparel’s The Summer Shirt is all of those things. And not expensive either at just £16. It is a basic item of clothing, like underwear, that I just don’t notice anymore. And as someone once said about bespoke suits, that is one of the greatest hallmarks of good clothes.

I also recommend the hooded sweatshirts. Simple and well-fitted, not ballooning around your mid-riff like American college sweaters. Just like the t-shirts, they are fitted without being tight. In a t-shirt especially, that is pretty hard to find.

Just steer clear of the Shiny Bat Wing Hoody, Velour Raglan Sweater and See Thru T-Shirt.

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The Coat Project 3

Yes, that’s right. It’s a picture of me cutting the cloth for my polo coat. Russell at Graham Browne realised that I just have a natural tailor’s touch and decided I would cut the whole thing better than him. Also, he fancied a cup of tea and a nice sit-down.

Not really. Russell was kind enough to let me cut just a few inches of the back piece for my coat. And even that I managed to mess up slightly, losing the second, lower piece of camel hair half way. It was a very satisfying feeling though. The shears have a reassuring weight and the cloth provides just enough resistance to feel you are working at it. Apparently the most satisfying materials to cut are light coatings and flannels for suits. The texture suits the work. The most irritating are cottons and corduroys, which “are gritty and feel like you’re cutting cardboard”.

The first decision to make when drawing up the pattern was whether to have the pile running down or up. You get a pile on heavier cloths that are woven a certain way, and it has a feeling just like fur – smooth in one direction, rough in the other. It’s the same effect as you see on velvet, just much subtler.

Most coats are cut with the pile going down, so it is smooth if you run your hand down the sleeve. But other tailors prefer to cut it going up, as there is less friction when you sit down and the coat won’t ride up as much. Favourbrook, for example, cuts its velvet jackets this way.

Having decided to cut the cloth with the pile going down, the same pattern pieces as for my double-breasted suit were used to draw onto the camel hair. A range of extra margins were allowed at various parts of the pattern – an extra 3/8 of an inch on the side seam (from shoulders down to the hem), 3/16 on the back of the neck, 3/8 around the sides of the sleeves and around ½ an inch at the shoulder. The waist is ½ an inch bigger across the front, as well as the “buttons apart” being bigger (this is the distance between the buttons; an alternative way to measure is “buttons stand”, which is distance from the side seam.)

Drawing the shoulder seam involves a bit of free hand, as the extra ½ inch is smoothed out at the sides. More free hand is also needed where the jacket pattern ends, drawing a smooth curve down to the hem. That in particular is a lovely long line, and demonstrates the artistry at the heart of tailoring, no matter how many rulers and patterns are used.

The split seam on the sleeves also requires a bit of extra work. Taking the normal sleeve pattern, the half-way point is measured at the cuff and at the bicep and then the other sleeve is used to mimic the curve from one point to the other. The curved ruler (which looks like an abomination to me, but apparently is one of the most useful things a tailor has) also comes in helpful to smooth the curve.

I was a little puzzled as to why Russell asked Dan to cut him three sleeve patterns. I only have two arms, after all. But as the sleeves have split seams, two of these patterns need to be cut in half, so each sleeve has four panels of material. The remaining pattern is kept with my others as the standard coat sleeve.

Russell also suggested putting in a permanent seam down the sides of my full-length pleat in the back. This is done using Clantex Supercrease, a resin that goes down the seam and prevents it ever flattening out. It is often used in the military to retain creases in coats and trousers (both Dan and Russell, now at Graham Browne, used to be military tailors).

Indeed, Dan was the first person to use the Clantex Supercrease when it arrived at their old employers. Having set up the machine and mastered its workings, he was nicknamed Clantex Superman.

So the cloth is all cut – first fitting (importantly, over my most bulky jacket) in two weeks.

One side note: it was interesting talking to Dan about the costs of tailoring. Even those that cut suits for themselves end up paying upwards of £350 for the finished article, assuming the cloth is around £50 a metre (you need three), the jacket maker charges £100 if he’s feeling generous and the trouser maker costs at least £40; plus the cost of linings, buttons and canvassing. Considering the cutter’s work itself, suddenly the sale price of £650 seems like very good value indeed.

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