Exclusive interview and chapter: “The Italian Gentleman”, the new book by Hugo Jacomet

Two years ago, we were pleased to announce the release of Hugo Jacomet's book, The Parisian Gentleman, where he presented the most beautiful French houses in a magnificent work.

Two years later, he decided to do it again with an even more unusual work where he rubbed shoulders with Italian houses. Except that he had no idea what sartorial journey he had just embarked on... The result was a beautiful baby named The Italian Gentleman.

And Hugo will tell you behind the scenes of the writing of his book, and God knows he had adventures!

Desperate is the first word that came to mind after his story. He embarked on a desperate enterprise, but with his unshakeable faith and his attachment to the popularization of sartorial, he did not give up, despite the hard blows.

And especially for BonneGueule readers, we are going to publish a chapter of his book!

This article will therefore be divided into two main parts:

• a (tasty) exclusive interview with Hugo where he reveals a whole bunch of anecdotes and adventures, it was really his heart that spoke, and I would like to thank him for really playing the game,

• and the French translation of an entire chapter of his book — which, I remind you, does not yet have a release date in France — offered by Hugo. You will learn the characteristics of the different Italian tailoring schools: the Milanese, Neapolitan, Roman schools, etc.

Before leaving you with Hugo's interview behind the scenes of his book, you should know that he is organizing a big party on November 30, 2017 on the second floor of Printemps de l'homme , in Paris, where he will sign his work .

Hugo tells me that a large delegation of Italian artisans will be present (the Ciardi, Squillace, Ambrosi, Dalcuore, Rubinacci, Vitale Barberis, Zegna, etc.).

It offers 30 places to BonneGueule readers, just send an email without hanging around here: theperfectgentlemanparis@gmail.com

Interview with Hugo Jacomet: How was The Italian Gentleman born?

How do you feel today ?

I feel great. Parisian Gentleman is still in great shape and our new Youtube channel “Les Discussions Sartoriales” is off to a great start. Above all, I am relieved to have finally finished this book which monopolized almost three years of our lives with Sonya (my wife) and which was an unreasonable project in every way.

No one anymore – unless you are a best-selling author selling hundreds of thousands of books, which is not, yet, my case! – doesn't write books like we did with Sonya and Lyle Roblin, my photographer. Realize: we spent almost two full years in residence in Italy, including long months in Milan and Naples. We then made constant trips back and forth between France and Italy to finalize the book and visit more than 100 workshops, boutiques, factories, tailor and bootmaker salons. That's crazy !

Honestly, I wonder today how we managed to carry out such a project. As you can imagine: even if I received a reasonable advance for this book and a few thousand euros for the photography budget, the sum received from my publisher in fact only covered a few weeks of presence in Italy.

Today, most books of this genre are written in a few months from a desk, surfing the Internet and sending a local photographer to take a few shots to complement those provided by the brands or the artisans themselves.

Frankly, I don't know what bug bit me. I decided not to write in this way but, on the contrary, to proceed as we did a few decades ago: by going to "investigate" directly on the ground, by trying to find my own way in the infernal labyrinth (and very complex) of Italian sartorial art, taking only original photos in order to give a soul and aesthetic coherence to the work...

And above all, by spending time with all the artisans, one by one, to try to understand their art, their style, their personality and unravel the mystery of this Italian “hand” which makes all the difference...

So we had to scramble, find solutions, bundle our work for our PG site with the book. We also had to activate a network of friends that we have on the other side of the Alps, so that this completely extraordinary book could see the light of day in good conditions.

We went through all the emotions during these three years: anger when we had our vehicle (loaned by Vitale Barberis Canonico ) robbed twice in a row; discouragement, when we had our wallets stolen twice in Milan in the space of two months , the annoyance when some so-called “houses” had, obviously, staged false workshops especially for our visit...

But also the wonder of discovering master tailors unknown to the general public like Gianni Celeghin in Legnano, Rafaelle Manna or Pino Peluso in Naples, completely astonishing workshops like that of the Attolini Family in Casalnuovo in Napoli, or unforgettable and so generous families . The Bonafè in Bologna , the Dalcuore family in Naples or the Calabrese family , also in Naples...

Can you describe the baby to us?

The “baby” is a very large baby of 304 pages, which weighs almost 3 kilos and whose format is very imposing: 34.5 cm by 27.5 cm. It's even a problem for us because carrying it in our suitcases is almost impossible! Booksellers have the same concern during our signing sessions: a single ten-book box weighs 30 kilos. For certain dedications, including the one in Paris, the stock on site will be one hundred pounds, or 300 kilos!

In fact we chose this format, also somewhat disproportionate and unreasonable, for two main reasons:

• to give thanks to the spectacular beauty of certain photos taken by Lyle, which really deserved to be majestically displayed on a large surface;

• pay tribute in a strong and definitive way to certain Maestros who, being very advanced in age, will undoubtedly have few other opportunities to see their work and their personality photographed in a professional manner. I personally find certain portraits in the book stunning in their beauty and sincerity. I think of the photo of Renato Ciardi, who has since passed away, or that of Riccardo Freccia Bestetti, who also died tragically at the age of 49.

The text is 85,000 words long, which would correspond, in a novel-type format, to a book of approximately 350 pages. I am unable to estimate the number of hours of writing, since I wrote part of the book in French , and the other part directly in English with the help of Sonya, who is of American nationality.

Indeed, my publisher being British (Thames & Hudson in London), I have to deliver my manuscripts in English. So between the solo writing sessions, those with Sonya, the rereadings together, the translations, the re-readings, I think that the writing time for this book is also disproportionate... It should be noted that for the publication of the French edition (planned for next year), I will have to re-translate my own book into… French! What an adventure…

The layout was done by my friend Samuel Clark, with whom I had already produced my book Parisian Gentleman and with whom I love working. To give you an idea of ​​the talent and “flair” of this British designer, Sam was the first art director of The Rake Magazine and is one of the most used ADs at Thames & Hudson. It is also one of the rare publishing houses in the world to work truly “the old-fashioned way” and to produce books of extreme quality.

For example, each photo on each page is individually retouched. Each proofreading page received is placed on several light tables of different intensities, to gauge the quality of the photographic sharpness whatever the reading conditions. . I consider myself extremely lucky that such a publisher took a chance on me for several books. I am also lucky enough to be co-published in the USA by the largest publishing house of “coffee table books” across the Atlantic: Rizzoli.

The paper is obviously of very high quality (glossy glossy) for a high level of touch.

In short, I sincerely think that we have gone all out on this book so that all our readers really get their money's worth. And so that this Italian Gentleman remains a reference work in its field for many years.

Tell us all about the writing process! How did you do ? What time of day and where were you writing? Did you use specific software?

As I explained just before, given the length of the company, I have not put in place a “process”. I wrote the book piecemeal over the course of three years.

At the end of the “journey”, literally, I even had to call on my friend photo-reporter Francesco De Caprariis, to revalidate all the facts, dates, and anecdotes with each house / craftsman. This verification work had to be done in Italian because very few Italians speak English, which considerably lengthened the process of producing the book. In short, once again, it was a completely crazy project, “tutto fatto a mano”. I still wonder how we managed to give birth to him without giving up along the way!

As for using specific software for writing, I might surprise you but I didn't even know it existed. I realize that I am a bit “old fashioned”! I am an instinctive writer, very fast but also very, very poorly organized, which requires me to have an elephant's memory. So maybe I’ll take a look at these software (laughs) !

But the main point is that I tried to write this book as if it were not illustrated. The text had to be able to stand on its own even if, obviously, photography plays a predominant role in such a work. I don't know if I achieved it, but it was my ambition. The Italian Gentleman is therefore as much a book to read as it is to watch.

What did you particularly like about this experience?

Its extreme complexity and the fact that dozens of Italians had predicted that I was not going to make it, because what Italy represents in terms of men's style is simply gigantic and is very difficult to grasp from a point of view. journalistic view. Even more in an “erudite” way.

My big advantage, on the other hand, was my French nationality. NEVER could an Italian have found his way in such a project because he would have had to take sides or justify his belonging to a region. In the world of men's style, as in everyday life, there is not one but many Italys. There's nothing more different than a Milanese and a Neapolitan, a Florentine and a Bolognese or a Roman and a Sicilian.

Italians are complex, talented, brilliant, extremely generous beings, but also extremely jealous, very impulsive and very emotional. Certain sartorial “conflicts” cannot be understood without having taken the time to study the subject in depth, so as not to make any mistakes in front of a Maestro .

Did you know that there are many controversies on the other side of the Alps regarding the “invention” of certain jacket models or local styles? For example, that the Attolini and Rubinacci families have been openly arguing over the invention of the “Neapolitan jacket” for a good decade?

Because if it was indeed Vincenzo Attolini who designed (and cut) the first Neapolitan jacket in the 1930s , history also proves that he was then first cutter at Gennaro Rubinacci, who was also very renowned for his “eye” and his very sure taste. So which is the chicken or the egg? Or, to put it differently, would Attolini have invented this jacket if he hadn't worked for Rubinacci?

In France, such a story would be resolved quite simply, by writing that this jacket was invented jointly. But not in Italy.

In the transalpine peninsula, men's style is a subject taken seriously. Very. Italy is in fact the only country in the world where when you contact renowned master tailors , we say “ Maestro ” with respect and deference.

The success of such a project therefore required gaining the respect of these Maestros , so that they would give themselves sufficiently to overcome the clichés about their work and their talent. And this, while being very careful not to offend (if I dare say) anyone, as the egos are enormous and on edge in this community.

This book is therefore much more than a “simple” editorial project. It is an astonishing human adventure, moving, trying at times, but extremely significant in the life of a man.

I hope that we have succeeded in delivering a work worthy of this extraordinary adventure in every way. Only the public will be able to say, even if the first reactions we have received since the book was released (around two weeks ago) are all rave and enthusiastic.

What made this experience so special?

Having completely immersed ourselves in Italian culture for two years full-time. It may not seem like much, but the transalpine lifestyle is completely different from the Parisian and even more so American lifestyle. .

We thus experienced unforgettable moments throughout Italy.

In Milan, when the legendary Mario Caraceni , 92 years old, comes to greet me personally even though he hardly leaves his home anymore. He asks me, in impeccable French, to sing the Marseillaise with him in the very select salon on Via Fatebenefratelli. I understand that he does this in memory of the tailor salon that his father had opened a few years before the war on Avenue d'Iéna in Paris. The Second War caused them to close quickly despite their overwhelming success with the beautiful Parisian clientele. To their great regret, they will never find the opportunity to return.

In Legnano, near Milan, when amazed by the workshop of Gianni Celeghin , I discover in a jacket casually placed on a mannequin the name of Lionel Messi, the greatest footballer of our time . What incredible humility for a man who creates some of the most beautiful costumes on Earth and yet remains, to this day, completely unknown to the general public.

In Bologna, when Enzo Bonafè, a man who is the very definition of humility, begins to cry when he tells us about his beginnings with the great Italian shoemaker Amedeo Testoni in the 1950s, and the day he made a pair of shoes for Ronald Reagan…

In Naples, when I meet Maestro Antonio Panico for the first time and the interview goes poorly... I am in fact wearing a Cifonelli cashmere overcoat and make the mistake of showing it to him. He then grabs a pair of scissors and pretends to open the shoulder of my coat (in cashmere!!!) to remove the padding which he finds exaggerated for his taste. I protest, and we both end the meeting on a sour note.

I understand, for my part, that I still have a lot to learn about the Neapolitan mentality, while for his part, he understands that I try to do my job with sincerity and tenacity. The second meeting, which he will provoke a few days later thanks to an invitation to dinner with our wives, will take place at the table of an excellent restaurant and will be one of the most delicious and intense stages of our Neapolitan journey. Since then, we have become good friends.

In Naples again, when with Sonya and Lyle, we are invited for the first time to the Dalcuore family's table on the family terrace in the heights of Posillipo. Sofia, Luigi's wife, serves us a nine-course meal (!!!!) washed down with great wines, closed with artisanal Limoncello and great Cuban cigars.

What lessons did you learn from it?

Passion and perseverance will always trump a strategy or business plan.

I learned it by studying the history of the Paone ( Kiton ) family and the incredible intuitions of Ciro Paone, who managed to build one of the most beautiful men's fashion houses in the world — at a time when the vast majority tailors were closing up shop in Italy.

I also learned it with the fabulous story of the Marinella family which became the most famous tie maker in the world, with simple ideas like friendliness and kindness.

Do you know a luxury boutique that has for over a century welcomed all its customers from 6:30 a.m. with a coffee and a pastry? Every Christmas Eve in front of the 28m2 store, a queue sometimes 300 meters long forms to go buy a Marinella tie.

Unique and moving for a family who refused, in the 1980s, an offer from a certain Donald Trump who offered them a free store in the Trump Tower in New York. Eugenio Marinella then politely declined the offer, explaining that he was not interested in selling his ties outside of Naples!

Are you a different man after this book? If so, what has changed in you?

Such an adventure changes you as a man, obviously. In addition, I had the incredible chance to experience it with the woman I love and with a photographer who is like a brother to me.

It's difficult to explain, but I think I first gained in generosity. In Italy, at the end of a meal at a restaurant, and regardless of the number of guests, everyone fights to pay the bill . In New York, when the bill comes, everyone puts their credit card on the table and pays their share. In London, when the waiter brings the bill, we go to make a phone call or smoke a cigarette... Generosity is cultural in Italy. And even if the Neapolitans will tell you the opposite, this generosity, this incredible hospitality, you find it everywhere in Italy. From Biella to Florence, from Rome to Palermo.

I then think that I gained in humility, because we saw things that were difficult to explain. Like filthy basements, in which entire families work very hard for little money, for big brands making indecent margins on their backs.

In the south of Italy, in order to make ends meet, in the vast majority of houses there is someone who sews for the local tailor, for the local blouse maker or for the shoemaker in the next town. It's beautiful, but it's also hard. This gives food for thought about the structure of the luxury market and its glaring imbalances. But that's another debate...

Were there any moments of discouragement? How did you overcome them?

I have never been discouraged. It's not in my nature.

On the other hand, Sonya and I sometimes felt a certain confusion. Especially when we had the impression that we had finally succeeded in piecing together the very complicated puzzle of the origins of the Italian style and that, the very next day, an old Maestro came and destroyed everything by telling us a story completely different from the one we were beginning to develop. .

We have therefore failed in our attempt to draw a perfect family tree of Italian tailoring and bootmaking. But I hope that we have succeeded in compiling a volume which will be a landmark, and which gives sufficient thanks to Italy's incredible contribution to the world of classic masculine elegance.

No one had tackled this almost impossible task. We did it. And even though with Sonya, we are aware that this book is not the perfect book on the subject , we have the impression of having delivered work that is honest, precise, sincere and masterfully illustrated by the photographs of Lyle Roblin.

What are your next writing projects?

I will first dedicate myself to promoting this book with a book signing tour which started in Spain , which will continue in Paris on November 30, then in Milan on December 5. Then, we will begin a world tour which will take us to Asia in February , then to Europe again , before the USA in March.

Then, I am delighted to announce that the rights to this book have already been sold in France and Germany, for publication of these two versions in the fall of 2018. We are also working on an edition in Italian, obviously.

For the rest, I'm thinking about my next book and I haven't yet decided on its subject.

With my French editor Armand de Saint Sauveur , we are also thinking about creating a Parisian Gentleman collection of books on sartorial art. Written by myself, but also by members of the team .

Our biggest project being, for the moment, to promote our YouTube channel “Discussions Sartoriales” at higher speed, and progress towards a so-called “broadcast” quality level . We will undoubtedly go through the “crowdfunding” box very soon for this large-scale project, but I will tell you more very soon!

Cheers!

The art of tailoring, unpublished extract from The Italian Gentleman

There are so many different “schools” of tailoring in Italy (Milan, Florence, Venice, Rome, Puglia, Naples, Calabria, Sicily) that attempting to describe and decode them all in detail would require at least two or three volumes like this.

However, here are some points of reference to help you better understand this subject, which is both complex and absolutely fascinating.

To simplify it without distorting it, we will look at the two most important schools in the field : the Roman school (under the leadership of Domenico Caraceni) and the Neapolitan school.

However, and for the sake of historical integrity, it is useful to also cite some illustrious names from the so-called "Milanese" school.

The Milanese school

The master tailor who is considered by many to be the founding father of what would later be called “the Milanese style” is Giuliano Prandoni. His approach to the art of tailoring would enjoy a great reputation in the Lombard city, but also throughout Italy, for his sobriety, his structured shoulders, his very "clear" lines, his jackets very fitted at the waist and its very high placement of the armholes. Prandoni's style is extremely sober, almost severe.

Most of the Maestros who would later succeed in building a reputation and clientele in the 1920s and 1930s were all disciples of Prandoni: Martinenghi, Castellini, Rossetti, Giovan Battista Rosti , Colombo and, decades later, Cesare Tosi who became famous for his quasi-surgical approach to cutting and fitting.

After the Second World War, although many tailors came from the south of the country would bring flexibility and lightness to the discipline, the “true” Milanese style would still reign supreme in the region and among the rich local clientele. Talented master tailors like Cattaneo, Belloli and Giorcelli who, after 30 years working in Prandoni's workshop, became one of the most prominent names in Milan.

Most of these glorious names will not survive the ready-to-wear revolution of the 60s and 70s and will have to lower their curtain. Only one name would survive all the crises: Caraceni.

The Roman school

One of the leading figures of the Roman school is undeniably Domenico Caraceni. It is thanks to maestros like him that Italy gradually emancipated itself from the overwhelming British influence before the Second World War.

Domenico Caraceni comes from the small town of Ortona a Mare in Abruzzo, a region famous for having given birth to many illustrious tailors like Facciolini , Tritapepe , Marinucci and, of course, Nazareno Fonticoli who, in 1945, would found the famous Brioni workshop in Rome with Gaetano Savini.

It was in the workshop that his father had opened at the end of the 19th century that the young Domenico Caraceni would have the incredible chance to lay his hands on jackets from the famous Savile Row house Henry Poole , and to dissect them in order to to reveal all the manufacturing secrets.

The fact that a young man — the thirteenth child of a modest family settled in the Italian countryside at the very beginning of the twentieth century — can have access to this type of clothing from London during his apprenticeship in the family workshop is a real small miracle.

According to family legend, it was the famous composer Francesco Paolo Tosti, himself from Ortona a Mare, who made this miracle happen. The latter in fact lived in London and dressed at Henry Poole's house. As he had too many suits, from time to time he would send his most worn suits as gifts to certain members of his family back home. Obviously, when they received these clothes, the lucky recipients of these precious gifts from London rushed to take them to the local tailor, Tommaso Caraceni (Domenico's father) to have them altered.

This is how, in 1910, Domenico Caraceni became one of the very first Italian tailors to dare to inject a little bit of Italian soul into British rigor...

After a long apprenticeship with important tailors in Rome like Giuseppe Scolaro , Camandona and Ottolenghi, Domenico opened the Caraceni workshop in Rome in 1926. Success was achieved and Caraceni very quickly became the tailor of the elites in Italy, but also that of certain royal courts in Europe.

It was from this workshop that the Caraceni name would begin to shine in Europe and around the world. His brother Galliano would take over, after the war and Domenico's premature death, the Rome workshop, while his second brother would create the A. Caraceni house. .

The Caraceni style is the emblematic style of the Roman and Milanese schools.

In order to be completely complete, we must also cite the great Enrico Cucci, who was one of Caraceni's most serious competitors and who practiced his art in Rome between the two wars.

While respecting British cutting techniques, Roman tailoring offered a more graceful and fluid vision of jacket construction. The fabrics used were generally lighter and the shoulders had significantly less padding.

The shoulder line of a Roman school jacket, however, does not exactly follow the natural line of the human shoulder, but creates a more geometric line. This type of tailoring is more flexible than British or French tailoring, but remains very structured with a V-shaped silhouette: wide shoulders and a fitted waist.

It was the Neapolitan tailors who would trigger the second revolution in contemporary tailoring art, going even further in the 1930s, then in the 1950s.

The Neapolitan school

There is probably no objective or chronological connection between the Caraceni style of the 1920s and 1930s, and the Neapolitan style of the late 1930s and late 1940s.

However, everything happened as if the Neapolitan master tailors had decided to go a little further than their Roman colleagues, by completely freeing themselves from the British stylistic yoke and inventing a radically new approach to masculine elegance.

However, it would be incorrect to date the advent of the Neapolitan tailoring art in the 1930s, since the profession was already very rich in talents and local personalities from the beginning of the twentieth century and between the two wars.

Let us mention glorious names like those of Giacchino Trifari, Raffaele Sardanelli and Filippo De Nicola whose son, Adolfo, was long considered one of the founding fathers of this sober and furiously elegant style which was called "the modern Neapolitan school ".

We must also cite, later, the leading role of personalities like Salvatore Morziello, Antonio Caggiula and Peppino Miniello who, according to local legend, was the first tailor to decide to extend the front darts on the front of the jackets all the way to the bottom, in order to give them more volume and to ensure that they fit better.

We must also pay tribute to Antonio Schiraldi, Luigi Piemontese, Antonio Gallo and Giorgio Costantino, famous for his daring color combinations. Without forgetting the (very) underestimated genius Roberto Combonglet who, according to many renowned tailors , created pieces that were models of style and simplicity. We must also mention Enrico Corduas, Giacomo Bruno and the great Angelo Blasi, who trained many current master tailors and who had the extreme merit of transmitting his immense know-how to numerous students and disciples.

But the master tailor who will be at the origin of the final revolution , the one who remains, to this day, unanimously praised by his peers (something rare enough in Naples to be highlighted) and who is recognized as the inventor of the Neapolitan jacket as we know it today is the great Vincenzo Attolini.

At the time, Attolini was first cutter at the famous Gennaro Rubinacci - another essential figure of Neapolitan masculine elegance, famous for his very sure taste, his "flair" and above all for his considerable success with the beautiful clientele who contributed undeniably to the advent of Neapolitan tailoring art in Italy, then throughout the world.

Together, they would cut the umbilical cord that still linked Naples to British cutting and construction methods (a shame for a store called “The London House”!) and would create a masterpiece of tailoring art : a jacket completely free of all padding and lining.

Vincenzo Attolini thus completely got rid of anything that weighed down a jacket and concealed its structural imperfections. He would definitively bury the old methods and give birth to a new type of jacket: simple, elegant, sophisticated but so light that it could fold up to ten times on itself!

Today, Neapolitan tailoring art is famous throughout the world for its charm and very particular style.

The fabric, unlike the Roman school, follows the natural line of the shoulder and uses no padding. The most famous shoulder construction is the spalla camicia , which could be translated as “shirt shoulder”. The sleeve head is slightly wider than the armhole (the mappina) which has the effect of creating small gathers at the shoulder and providing greater freedom of movement.

The chest pocket is slightly curved, in the shape of a boat , while little or no lining is used to give the jacket a natural fluidity. The pockets are generally so-called “patch” pockets. and the buttons on the sleeves overlap slightly . All these details have become the emblems of the Neapolitan school and have made it international success...

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The Italian Gentleman by Hugo Jacomet, Editions Thames & Hudson