For ten days in February, a fairly confidential but fascinating exhibition was held in a new art gallery in Paris, Made in town .
The idea was very simple and very interesting: bring a Zara shirt with white and blue stripes (THE generic shirt) to around thirty tailors specializing in shirts (and only in made-to-measure shirts) in Rome and ask to copy said Zara shirt, but with all their know-how .
Important clarification: the fabric of each shirt comes from the selection (and suggestion) of the tailor, who is supposed to be visually as close as possible to the Zara shirt. So for each shirt we have a fabric with blue and white stripes, but different each time in its feel, the size of the stripes, the blue of the stripes, etc.
30 blue and white shirts, but all different!
In the end, we have around thirty striped shirts, but each one is unique! I was frankly amazed to be able to touch and see so many such luxurious shirts , some of which come from the most beautiful houses in the world (I am thinking in particular of Borelli). It was fascinating to see that each great Roman blouse has its own tailoring details, revealing unique craftsmanship . What was also interesting was that there were all price ranges: prices ranged from €80 to €500, which allows you to have a real variety in the confections.
Here are photos of these famous details which testify to a quality shirt. Don't expect to find the same details in ready-to-wear, for the most part they are very little present...
Note: Explanations in italics refer to the image above .
Just in the way of sewing buttons, there are several schools.
Note here the quality of the mother-of-pearl, uniform and thick.
A button sewn "zampa di gallina" style or also in the "fleur de Lys" style. This proves that it was sewn by hand. You will never experience a button that comes off on its own with this type of sewing. Next to the button, we see that the buttonhole has a thick, dense thread, which avoids the fraying characteristic of bad buttonholes.
A more classic way of sewing the button, but the quality of the mother-of-pearl remains impressive, because even on high-end products, you very rarely find such thick (and therefore resistant) mother-of-pearl buttons.
On this shirt, there was this curious tailoring detail in the form of
reinforcement next to the last button. Don't ask me this
what it is and what it is for, I don't have the answer...
In the same type of extremely rare detail, there is the famous travetto : it is a reinforcement in the form of a crochet stitch, made by hand, at the level of the capuchin leg (but yes, you know it: it is this paw which starts from the wrist and generally ends in the middle of the forearm). Concerning the travetto (=the strengthening of the capuchin leg), don't look for it in ready-to-wear, it is completely absent , even at the high end. Maxim from SoDandy also talks about it in one of his articles .
The famous travetto! A detail that has a lot of charm.
What also surprised me was the variety of armholes. While most are actually offset at the armpit, each blouse has ITS own way of raising the sleeve to shoulder level.
Two relatively "classic" shoulder mountings, which are not out of place compared to what can be found in high-end PAP. The two seam lines are clearly visible here. Let's move up...
A high-end shoulder. The stitching on the top horizontal line is very tight, a sign of quality and technical mastery. Likewise, these barely visible stitching points spaced and isolated from each other on the vertical line (the one that goes around the arm) are characteristic of assembly by hand.
The best of the best: almost no visible seams, stripes aligned between the shoulder and the collarbone and super dense and almost invisible stitching. But we can do even better...
The Holy Grail: no more visible seams! Incredible but true ! A true work of art. Here's what we see if we look at the montage inside:
You can clearly see the offset armhole here (the place where the four seams meet). Compare this photo with the shirts you own ;))
Another photo of the inside of a shoulder, where we see very clean finishes, and the famous hand assembly visible on the left seam.
Let's move on to the collar, where a characteristic detail of a large-measure shirt is visible:
We notice that the collar is very thick. On all the shirts, the collar is of a rigidity that I had never felt before. It’s reinforced concrete! This flared collar is classic Italian style.
No tailor wanted to make the collar smaller because they thought it looked too feminine.
See that type of groove on the collar seam?
This is typical of a great Italian blouse!
But there are even more high-end:
This is probably the best finished shirt I've seen since I started getting interested in men's fashion. The collar seams are amazing: they are so fine that it is frankly difficult to distinguish the stitches!
Impossible to be more refined...
Regarding the seams, if the shirts are all French seams, it is fascinating to see the different ways of doing it:
A true English seam, with the incredibly fine visible seam.
I have never seen so many points per centimeter.
This can only be done by hand!
Another impressive English seam,
this time with an almost invisible seam.
Also note the hyper-tightened stitching on the edge of the shirt.
Among the essential details of a high-end shirt, there is the famous reinforcement swallow, available here in multiple ways.
A very elegant reinforcement in the form of a handmade crochet stitch.
A classic reinforcement swallow.
Another type of reinforcement swallow, which I did not know.
It's really an excellent idea for an exhibition and we can imagine extending the concept, with for example prestigious jeans brands who would make the "same" jeans in their own way, or tailors who would demonstrate their know-how. on a suit jacket. This could be truly exciting!
A few words also about this new Made in Town gallery (26 rue du Vertbois in Paris): the aim is to highlight artisanal know-how in several fields such as fashion, design or gastronomy. I'm not the most erudite person when it comes to art galleries, but I welcome such an initiative! Thanks to Maxim, always humble and educational in his explanations.
An embroidery of great finesse! Sorry for the quality of the photo...
Not forgetting our own shirts...
If you're looking for shirts cut from fabrics that tell a story, then we'll get along just fine...
Because we went to find traditional chambrays in Japan, flannel in the Vosges, Oxford in Alsace, and seersucker in Italy. Smooth and sad fabrics like rain, no thank you.
