In late summer 2023, we spent a week in Milan. We also visited the bespoke tailoring house of Musella Dembech. Compared to other bespoke ateliers in Milan, this two-man business is still little known in German-speaking countries.
In the English-speaking world, Musella Dembech is known to many interested parties, as Simon Crompton, for example, has been writing about the atelier and reviewing suits for over 10 years.
Musella Dembech is a small business. The two main people, who are supported by assistants when necessary, are Francesco Musella and his son Gianfrancesco. The father, born in 1941, began his apprenticeship as a tailor at the age of 9 in Caserta in the south of Italy.
Like many other tailors from the poor south of Italy, Francesco went to Milan, Italy’s most important industrial and financial metropolis, in search of better work. There he worked as a cutter at the prestigious Baratta, Giuseppe Colovito and Donnini & Caraceni ateliers.
Francesco Musella doesn’t mention any of this when we visit them. He stays in the background and presents himself as an unassuming master cutter. It is his son Gianfrancesco who repeatedly emphasizes the importance of his father.
Gianfrancesco was trained as a tailor by his father. Just as his father combines the lightness and softness of southern Italian workmanship with the lines of Milanese elegance, Gianfrancesco also likes to mix different styles.
When we met, Gianfrancesco was wearing a double-breasted suit, as we know it from Gianni Agnelli. But he also appreciates other silhouettes. He likes to experiment because he believes that a man can wear more than one type of suit. The office of a CEO requires something different than a summer suit worn by an art dealer in Florence.
The two of them welcomed us into their home studio. They have since moved, which was already planned at the time of our visit.
As is so often the case when we visit tailors, we were also enchanted by this atelier. The charm of the father-son duo – the elder gentleman who quickly changed for the photos in order to cut the best possible figure. The son, who enthusiastically shows off the Milanese workmanship details on a half-lined suit jacket.
Above all, however, we were impressed by the cut of the suits worn by the two of them.
Many tailors, especially outside Italy, do not understand that they give new customers the first and best impression of what is on offer in the atelier through their own appearance.
The excuse that successful tailors don’t have time to make things for themselves is heard time and time again. Strangely enough, it implies that the older pieces from the tailor’s wardrobe are not presentable.
Some of the most elegant tailors we met were wearing very old suits – 10, 20 or even 30 years old. But that didn’t detract from the elegance of their appearance. Antonio Liverano, Rudolf Niedersüß, Lorenzo – it would be unthinkable to find them in the atelier in ill-fitting clothes.
Milanese elegance has many facets. And only a few of the many ateliers working there today offer what we know from Agnelli’s Caraceni suits. Musella Dembech has mastered this look, more authentically than almost anyone else. But also more. The elegant line and meticulous craftsmanship are guaranteed in every case.
