After Michel's behind-the-scenes presentation of this costume , it's time to get into the details!
The three-piece suit, you asked us a lot, from the start of our first suits, in 2015.
It took us a while to work on it because we didn't want to offer a formal/solemn piece.
We had to make a "pleasure" oriented costume , with a fabric that we want to wear in several atmospheres, without going for improbable patterns or colors.
Moreover, the goal with this three-piece suit is that each piece taken separately can constitute a beautiful outfit, whether it is the jacket, the vest or the pants, in order to create numerous combinations.
We imagined an ecru shirt to go with this suit and we are going to present it to you. It is there as a solid neutral base, the difficulty being to offer a fabric that is both very versatile, but with personality. You will see what we chose…
This photo represents the balance we wanted: a contemporary silhouette, with a beautiful fabric, while still being relaxed. It’s “soft tailoring”! Suit, shirt (launching this Saturday, February 15) and BonneGueule brogues .
Just the jacket for a drink, the vest alone for layering, or the mismatched pants to wear with sneakers: you'll have plenty to do!
There was an essential pattern in men's wardrobe that we had never explored: the chalk stripe.
I would also like to warmly thank Ferla, it is the first time that I have seen an Italian draper so open and flexible in the face of our desire to create our "custom" stripe, and without them I don't think we would have could have had such a result.
A striped fabric specially developed for us
Like our kimono costume , I recall Ferla's strong points:
- Creativity always in good taste and well measured
- An unparalleled sense of texture and mottled effects
- A specialty in baby alpaca .
Jacket, denim shirt and BonneGueule turtleneck sweater .
And that’s where… the first problem arises!
Usually, Italian suppliers have very “explanatory” communication. Watch all content from Vitale Barberis Canonico, Albini or Candiani.
They quickly understood that the market was demanding explanations, workshop images, and education. And the biggest have invested heavily in this direction .
The only aerial photo of the workshop! I mainly deduce from this that Ferla is located in a haven of greenery… #inspectorcolombo (photo credit: Ferla)
On the other hand, at Ferla, none of that
It's all the more surprising for such an old company, with world-famous archives, which must have a ton of stuff to tell, and whose creativity is unrivaled (I'll come back to this point in a moment).
A glimmer of hope remains: they told us that they would agree to open their doors to our cameras if our collaboration were to establish itself over the long term... We very much hope to come back with a beautiful video report for next year !
Despite everything, let's investigate and see what relevant information we can recover...
A SMALL FAMILY BUSINESS WITH A CENTURY OF EXISTENCE
Ferla employs 40 people, which is very few for an Italian draper! Besides, when I talk about Ferla to other Italian suppliers to say that I like its creativity, I am told each time " yes but you know, Ferla are artisans, that's why they are so expensive .
One of the very rare interior photos of the factory, with this curious parquet floor. (photo credit: Ferla)
While Italian drapers try to push prices down to remain competitive, Ferla has made the opposite choice, namely to remain very clearly at the high end, with a unique and creative offer.
This is how this very small company was able to carve out a place of choice among all the luxury brands .
Here too, a photo without explanation, where the fabric is obviously being washed, and where the machine seems to be very modern. (photo credit: Ferla)
For the record, they only have two French clients: a very large luxury house and… us! Finally, a surprising thing for an Italian manufacturer: due to their unique know-how, they are quite secret, and little information circulates about them .
In my opinion, there are three points that make Ferla's positioning unique:
THE FERLA TOUCH #1: A CHARACTERISTIC CREATIVITY 
An inimitable touch! (photo credit: Ferla) They are creative, but it always remains very tasteful, and elegant, it doesn't go all over the place with WTF and unwearable things. In short, they have really specific fabrics, very easily recognizable.
To see for yourself, take a look at this page from their website , which gives a good overview of the variety of colors and textures they work with.
This color mix is magnificent. (photo credit: Ferla)
THE FERLA TOUCH #2: AN UNPARALLELED SENSE OF TEXTURE
They are all about loop and texture, which gives their fabric a “signature” hand, very difficult to find elsewhere. And believe me, having searched for such textured and creative equivalents for a long time, I know what I'm talking about!
Ferla, given its small size, offers a surprising variety of textures. (photo credit: Ferla)
For this, they do not hesitate to try numerous blends with wool, silk, linen, mohair, alpaca, and when necessary, polyamide to provide strength.
THE FERLA TOUCH #3: BABY ALPACA SPECIALISTS… BUT NOT ONLY
Remember that these three fabrics are among the most sober that you can find at Ferla. I'll let you imagine the rest! (photo credit: Ferla)
They are specialists in baby alpaca, they have entire fabric collections on this theme. It's a material that is not easy to work with creatively and they always come up with super cool designs. Moreover, very, very few Italian drapers venture out.
They also use mohair extensively, as they are very fond of these luxurious and fluffy wools.
And here, we have much stronger fabrics! (photo credit: Ferla)
Ferla is my little pleasure when I'm in a professional salon. I absolutely want to stop by their stand (much too small and discreet compared to their added value, you don't come across it by chance) because you'll be amazed by their new fabrics.
A long development to have the perfect chalk stripe
We had a very precise idea of the chalk stripe we wanted, it certainly didn't have to look "Wall Street financial".
On the contrary, we wanted to relax it completely, while putting our DNA made of textures and heather...
But that’s a story that Michel has already told you here .
We wanted a fabric that was very rich in heather and texture.
A BLEND OF BABY ALPACA, COTTON, AND POLYAMIDE
Here is the exact composition, it is the same as that of our two Ferla costumes
- 38% baby alpaca (Peru origin)
- 33% cotton (origin: USA and spun in Italy)
- 29% polyamide
You are probably wondering why there is almost 30% polyamide: it is to solidify the whole. If there were none, the material would disintegrate too easily, because it is the polyamide which gives structure and robustness.
Do you feel the polyamide when worn? Short answer: no.
I wore our Ferla suit quite a bit last year, from fall to spring, and honestly I didn't feel anything awkward. No excessive sweating or itching, nothing at all.
Polyamide also gives this very slight curl effect on the fabric.
For the more technical among you, the weight of the material is 290g per linear meter
It's a beautiful fabric, whether on a jacket or pants.
A well-known blend here
As I said, I wore our Prince of Wales suit and our kimono suit quite a bit, this fabric composition is starting to feel very familiar to me.
Looking back, it's as if it were a "+++" flannel, thanks to the alpaca and the polyamide which gives this inimitable texture , which I can't find elsewhere.
It's a fabric that I really like, because it is very balanced between roughness, robustness and a pleasant hand.
A “fake three button” jacket
This is the main feature of this jacket!
To put it simply, it is a jacket with two functional buttons on the front (like the vast majority of suit jackets) but if you look closely, you will see that a third button is hidden in the "roll" of the lapel (with its slightly visible buttonhole).
A third button is hidden in this photo, can you find it? Jacket, denim shirt, BonneGueule turtleneck sweater .
We can see the buttonhole of the third button, which nicely matches the lapel roll.
The story of the fake three buttons in 2 minutes flat
The origin of this “feature” is quite obscure…
According to Julien Scavini and Hugo Jacomet, two hypotheses confront each other and ultimately complement each other:
1. The “Hollywood” explanation
There was a time when the 3-button blazer reigned supreme. But Hollywood actors, around the Second World War, got into the habit of not buttoning the last button at the top, probably out of a desire for a certain nonchalance, a spontaneity in the same vein as the Ivy style.
And if you wear a 3-button jacket in “two-button” mode, something will happen.
After a while, the fold of the lapel "descends" little by little towards the second button, and the third button, initially used, begins to be hidden under the lapel, while the buttonhole follows the curve of the lapel very nicely .
It is this effect which is visually very pleasant that we wanted to find.
2. The “student” explanation
At the beginning of the 20th century, students found that the 3-button blazer was becoming out of fashion, but since they couldn't afford a two-button blazer, they decided to put a little iron on it. the reverse to transform a stylistically dated 3-button into a trendy 2-button.
As Hugo Jacomet points out, it is curious to see that this fashion was born from a very economic consideration.
This is a point that he develops at length in a dedicated article in Parisian Gentleman (in English unfortunately).
Casually, a “fake three button” is quite technical , and its construction is different from a classic 2-button blazer. I warmly invite you to read this article by Julien Scavini where he dives into the assembly of a fake three button.
Like all our other blazers, it is half-lined and has American facings (the exterior fabric "comes back" inside, replacing a lining fabric). Jacket, cardigan and neppy BonneGueule pants .
For us, we chose this construction because we liked this bridge between the three buttons of yesteryear and the two current buttons, it's a detail that gives a lot of personality to the jacket.
Obviously, with a jacket in gray tones, you can easily wear your blue wool pants. Jacket, denim shirt, turtleneck sweater and BonneGueule boots .
A light, lightweight construction…
We stole a relaxed "vibe" on this jacket, so in addition to having put patch pockets
The shoulder is thus flexible, to have a natural line, which definitely distances this jacket from an “armor suit”.
As for the assembly at chest level, it is one of the lightest we have done. We can't really talk about semi-canvassing, because there isn't really any, there is just a very thin iron-on applied to the fabric, the same that would be applied if the jacket was semi-canvassed.
The result ?
A soft fit but with structure, just enough to avoid having a jacket that would hang like a shirt.
Our very first vest
BonneGueule vest, shirt and pants, released February 15.
It was a piece that had been requested for a long time.
And we did something that will give the sartorial ayatollahs a cold sweat: we put patch pockets on this vest.
It is certainly a patch pocket, but it is very discreet thanks to the well-respected “matching stripe”. This is our cardigan with camel wool that is visible.
For what ?
Well because it's a micro nod to workwear influences, it allows you to relax it to wear it with a casual shirt, like a Japanese fabric shirt for example.
Denim shirt , t-shirt , vest, chinos and BonneGueule brogues .
You can make very interesting combinations with a denim shirt for example. Denim shirt , t-shirt , BonneGueule vest.
But that's not all ! Back stitch mounted with lining fabric or tightening tabs, we found that it was too formal, too "ceremony", when the goal was really to create a piece that can be worn mismatched in a casual outfit.
The back is therefore in the same fabric as the front of the vest:
The back is also in Ferla fabric.
Comfortable carrot cut pants
This is a cut that you really appreciate here, because of its ease on the pelvis and thighs .
And with the “soft tailoring” spirit of this suit, it’s a perfect silhouette for our pants.
With such a fabric, we thought it would be particularly suitable for making very versatile pants. Yes, its gray base allows it to go with many shades, and the mottled background brings just the right amount of relaxation.
As usual, there are tightening tabs on the side, and in terms of fit, it is exactly the same as our kimono suit pants .
The tightening tabs will allow you to finely adjust the size of these pants.
This fabric on these pants looks fantastic, I encourage you to have fun with it in your outfits.
How to wear these pants?
A knit and a t-shirt for comfort, a pair of boots with a rubber sole, and you have the perfect outfit for walking on the weekend:
BonneGueule jacket, shirt, pants and boots. BonneGueule jacket, t-shirt, pants and boots .
Here is the same outfit, but where we replaced the boots with sneakers to go further in casual:
We keep the sneakers and the pants, but we add color with our brown cardigan and a white t-shirt to bring light:
In the effective genre, you can wear a shirt or a jacket in a nice material and it makes a nice daily outfit:
Here too, this makes three textures which coexist harmoniously:
BonneGueule jacket , shirt, and pants.
Our new ecru shirt
And to go with the suit, we needed a shirt with an ecru background, because we definitely didn't want a purely business shirt.
We therefore chose this fabric from Kuwaruma, with this universal ecru color, but with the irregularity we like. The ecru color is particularly successful, it's really the color of the "raw" cotton that you see there.
It's a selvedge fabric, so we have this beautiful visible border:
And it's a stand collar, because we want to make sure you're not tempted to wear this shirt with a tie!
The essential size guides
| Europe | US |
|---|---|
| 44 | XS |
| 46 | S |
| 48 | M |
| 50 | L |
| 52 | XL |
| 54 | XXL |
| Measure (in cm) |
has. Shoulder to shoulder |
b. Chest |
vs. Sleeve length |
d. Middle back height |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44 | 42.1 | 49.2 | 62 | 70.5 |
| 46 | 43.3 | 51.2 | 63 | 71.5 |
| 48 | 44.4 | 53.2 | 64 | 72.5 |
| 50 | 45.7 | 55.2 | 65 | 73.5 |
| 52 | 46.9 | 57.2 | 66 | 74.5 |
| 54 | 48.1 | 59.2 | 67 | 76.5 |
| 56 | 49.3 | 61.2 | 68 | 76.5 |
| Europe | US |
|---|---|
| 44 | XS |
| 46 | S |
| 48 | M |
| 50 | L |
| 52 | XL |
| 54 | XXL |
| Measure (in cm) |
has. Shoulder to shoulder |
b. Chest |
vs. Back length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 44 | 34.5 | 45.5 | 57 |
| 46 | 35.5 | 47.5 | 57.5 |
| 48 | 36.5 | 49.5 | 58 |
| 50 | 37.5 | 51.5 | 58.5 |
| 52 | 38.5 | 53.5 | 59 |
| 54 | 39.5 | 55.5 | 59.5 |
| Measure (in cm) |
has. Size |
b. Half thigh |
vs. Leg length below waistband |
d. Leg opening |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 42 | 37 | 30 | 109 | 16.6 |
| 44 | 39 | 31 | 109.5 | 16.8 |
| 46 | 41 | 32 | 110 | 17 |
| 48 | 43 | 33 | 110.5 | 17.2 |
| 50 | 45 | 34 | 111 | 17.4 |
| 52 | 47 | 35 | 111.5 | 17.6 |
| 54 | 49 | 36 | 112 | 17.8 |
How to get our new "complete" suit and the Japanese ecru shirt?
Appointment on our e-shop and also in our stores in Paris 3rd , Paris 6th , Lyon and Bordeaux .
