Luca Rubinacci, third generation of the Neapolitan house Rubinacci, runs his atelier in Milan. A crumpled Borsalino, 342,000 Instagram followers and an apprenticeship at Kilgour on Savile Row: a portrait of the style icon of bespoke culture.
Ignatious Joseph, one of the world's best-known shirt designers, on the yellow shirt boxes, the multicoloured shirts with their wide high collar, and the red bespoke shoes he tells people, with a straight face, are from Aldi.
During Pitti Uomo in January 2024 Bernhard Roetzel watches Pascal Zimmer of Luxembourg, of the outfitter Basics and Bespoke, try on his bespoke shoes by Vivian Saskia Wittmer. On the fitting as a small ceremony between maker and customer.
Munich-born master tailor Kathrin Emmer has been cutting bespoke suits in Potsdam for twenty years, for clients from across Germany. A visit to her studio in a quiet detached house near Griebnitzsee, the doorbell sign reads simply Emmer.
Bernhard Roetzel reviews a loafer from Simon Wegmann's online bespoke concept Wayman Bespoke: the trial shoe sent by post, the remote measurement process and the fit of the finished pair, ordered without a single physical fitting.
Bernhard Roetzel introduces Mark Francis of Heron's Ghyll in London to Nathan Hellard of Maison Hellard and has a stand-up collar suit built from the 360 g black linen Palais Garnier in the Nuit parisienne collection.
Bernhard Roetzel orders a double-stitched one-piece in the Haferl style from Munich specialist Schuh Bertl. The distinctive feature: the leather insole actively supports the foot, with no removable orthopaedic insert.
Bernhard Roetzel visits Enis Inci and Rovschan Gambarov at Sartoria Napoletana in Istanbul's Nişantaşı district, a classic menswear shop with green wallpaper and an English feel, run by two men with deep Italian connections.
Bernhard Roetzel collects his bespoke suit from Dawid Kukliński in Berlin, cut from a mid-grey Holland & Sherry covert in the now-discontinued Dakota bundle, a cloth he had wanted to wear for more than twenty years.
Berlin-based bespoke shoemaker Korbinian Ludwig Heß has launched a wooden shoe-care box stocked with Saphir products. In conversation he explains why sparing application matters and how cream and wax paste complement each other.
Benedikt Fries founded Berlin tie label Shibumi as an online shop eleven years ago. In our interview he explains the Japanese aesthetic concept of restrained elegance and his personal approach to bespoke.
Does a bespoke suit really fit perfectly and last forever? Bernhard Roetzel addresses the most common myths about custom clothing, from the idea of perfect fit to the timeless look and how long a Savile Row suit really holds up.
