A lot of people refuse to understand the allure of fine fabric, neat work and smooth leather.
It is true that fine fabric may not as rugged as your dear Super 80S wool, your 80/2 x 80/2 Oxford cotton or your selvedge denim. You argue that, since my 170/2 Giza 45 shirt is so fine, it should only be "dry-cleaned" or "handwashed like silk". You also reason that, since my jacket is made from very fine wool, namely something in the Super 210S range, "it will break down within a few wears". You also proclaim, from your extensive StyleForum and Discuss.com.hk reading, that "Zegna wool is just VBC rebranded and one is just wasting money on the brand name".
What if I tell you I have been wearing my 13milmil13 jacket on a daily basis for two years and it hasn't shown the smallest sign of pilling even at the elbow? What if I tell you my first shirt to show frayed edges was my 100/2 pure cotton shirt from Ascot Chang and not my 170/2, 180/2, 200/2 or 300/2 despite a similar number of wears? What if I tell you I wash my handmade shirts (i.e. those made by D'avino Napoli with 25 processes handmade) and Zegna wool trousers in a washing machine and did not even bother to use a delicate cycle, and they are still alive and well?
Let's face it. Go and ask any honest maker - even the 包頭 (BaoTou) who charges HKD 2000 for making a fully-canvassed suit on his darkly-lit worktable in Mirador Mansion - is Fresco or Zegna 15milmil15 a "better" fabric. Go and ask your shirtmaker if an authentic Oxford cotton, made to last but also to pill at your collar and cuffs after around 3.1415 wears, or if a piece of Swiss Alumo Soyella 170/2 is a "better" fabric. I can assure you that they will unequivocally tell you, despite all the influencers and shopkeepers may want you to believe on the contrary, that the (unfortunately) higher-priced and finer options represent a "better" fabric.
I once brought a pair of Fresco 520 trousers to a renowned suitmaker for his comment (on the handwork). After a quick glance, and without even touching the pair of pants, he said,
"Oh this is cheap stuff!"
"Not too expensive I admit..."
"In the past we call it mohair. It's durable."
"No this is not... this is wrinkle-free, best for summer, best for tropical winter, best for men, best for women, best for Sham Shui Po, best for Yau Tsim Mong, best for lawyer, best for doctor, makes-you-handsome, makes-you-tall, indestructible Fresco 520"
"I said we tailors called this mohair. It's durable but by no means a luxury fabric. Let me show you luxury."
Then the tailor pulled out a freshly pressed jacket, fully handmade, from Loro Piana Cashmere Cloud.
"What do you think?"
I was speechless. I felt what he meant.
It is true that there can be certain situations when one can appear overdressed in fine fabric. It is also true that certain rugged fabric (e.g. tweeds, textured cotton and linen blends) can be used to create a relaxed look. But these do not change the fact that there is an objective measure of fineness, based on the cost of production, genuine exclusivity and generally a "soft" skin feel, that is somewhat encapsulated by the taste and requirements of the affluent businessmen. It was the gold standard of modern menswear and should remain the yardstick. A tweed jacket should be valued for its robustness to rain and thorns. A pair of country (corrected) grain leather boots should be valued for its robustness to mud and gravels. A tough person is not synonymous with an elegant man.
The trend of CMT (cut, make and trim) in Hong Kong has led to a revolution in the local tailoring scene. Old, established tailor houses can no longer claim their often exorbitant prices charged for luxury fabric is "due to the high cost of the luxury material" - it was merely because they took advantage of the information disparity between the shop and the client in the past, and tried to convince the client that the material and manufacturing cost of a HKD 40,000 suit is 10 times more than that of a HKD 4,000 suit. The open information helped. On this aspect, @shirtingfantasy also played a small part in promoting "fine shirting every day" - 170/2 cotton is still a robust fabric one can wash in a domestic washer-dryer without special precautions, and a Carlo Riva shirt should not cost HKD 5,000 so as to prevent most people from experiencing quality.
But there is also a worrying trend I have noticed: the unjustified praise of vintage or "deadstock" fabric and leather. Exclusivity due to difficulty in production is one thing, but exclusivity due to poor marketing or lack of entrepreneurship 30 years ago is quite another. To promote so-called "vintage" fabric, whether "vintage silk ties" (unsold stock of silk woven in the Como region, Italy) or "last length jacketings" (unsold stock of fabric in 1970 and 80s designs in Italy, France or locally in the Western Market) is often an act out of pure commercial motives - especially when the coincidental exclusivity is touted as luxury. Or take for example the 1786 Russian Leather - soaking in seawater without tanning agents was not and will not be an accepted way of enhancing the leather property. To claim that the historical archive (by accident) has any mysterious and superior mechanical property compared to leather from a proper, modern tannage is akin to lying; to say that the leather looks better than all modern hatchgrains is a subjective opinion at best.
"...this remarkable material was in immaculate and perfectly usable condition. The hides had been cured in baths of rye or oat flour and yeast, hand embossed with a cross-hatched grain and then soaked in seal oil and birch tan oil – the result of which was to cure the leather, lending it water-resistance, supreme durability and malleability." - G.J. CLEVERLEY FOR THE RAKE: THE RUSSIAN REINDEER HIDE ACCESSORY COLLECTION
Leather requiring this amount of work to resurrect sounds exactly like The Buried Shoes.
"After the extraction from the “fosse” (pits), it began the necessary procedure to make the shoes wearable and give value to the colors achieved. The upper is cleaned, moisturized, and reassembled on a wooden last, where it will remain to dry naturally for at least 2 weeks. At the end of this period, we continue with the application of a new sole, and the final maintenance of the upper."
We live in a modern world. We still love tales. So there are urban legends for the modern man - fabricated on demand - menswear tales included. When elegance and finesse are replaced by Gentlemen with Style, perhaps, one should be prepared to accept white lies and creative journalism.
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| Jacket: Ermenegildo Zegna 13milmil13 by @ascotchang Shirt: Hausammann+Moos "Blevis" Giza 45 170/2 by @wongmanhoi1025 Trousers: Ermenegildo Zegna Trofeo by "Hong Kong Ambrosi" |
It is true that fine fabric may not as rugged as your dear Super 80S wool, your 80/2 x 80/2 Oxford cotton or your selvedge denim. You argue that, since my 170/2 Giza 45 shirt is so fine, it should only be "dry-cleaned" or "handwashed like silk". You also reason that, since my jacket is made from very fine wool, namely something in the Super 210S range, "it will break down within a few wears". You also proclaim, from your extensive StyleForum and Discuss.com.hk reading, that "Zegna wool is just VBC rebranded and one is just wasting money on the brand name".
What if I tell you I have been wearing my 13milmil13 jacket on a daily basis for two years and it hasn't shown the smallest sign of pilling even at the elbow? What if I tell you my first shirt to show frayed edges was my 100/2 pure cotton shirt from Ascot Chang and not my 170/2, 180/2, 200/2 or 300/2 despite a similar number of wears? What if I tell you I wash my handmade shirts (i.e. those made by D'avino Napoli with 25 processes handmade) and Zegna wool trousers in a washing machine and did not even bother to use a delicate cycle, and they are still alive and well?
Let's face it. Go and ask any honest maker - even the 包頭 (BaoTou) who charges HKD 2000 for making a fully-canvassed suit on his darkly-lit worktable in Mirador Mansion - is Fresco or Zegna 15milmil15 a "better" fabric. Go and ask your shirtmaker if an authentic Oxford cotton, made to last but also to pill at your collar and cuffs after around 3.1415 wears, or if a piece of Swiss Alumo Soyella 170/2 is a "better" fabric. I can assure you that they will unequivocally tell you, despite all the influencers and shopkeepers may want you to believe on the contrary, that the (unfortunately) higher-priced and finer options represent a "better" fabric.
I once brought a pair of Fresco 520 trousers to a renowned suitmaker for his comment (on the handwork). After a quick glance, and without even touching the pair of pants, he said,
"Oh this is cheap stuff!"
"Not too expensive I admit..."
"In the past we call it mohair. It's durable."
"No this is not... this is wrinkle-free, best for summer, best for tropical winter, best for men, best for women, best for Sham Shui Po, best for Yau Tsim Mong, best for lawyer, best for doctor, makes-you-handsome, makes-you-tall, indestructible Fresco 520"
"I said we tailors called this mohair. It's durable but by no means a luxury fabric. Let me show you luxury."
Then the tailor pulled out a freshly pressed jacket, fully handmade, from Loro Piana Cashmere Cloud.
"What do you think?"
I was speechless. I felt what he meant.
It is true that there can be certain situations when one can appear overdressed in fine fabric. It is also true that certain rugged fabric (e.g. tweeds, textured cotton and linen blends) can be used to create a relaxed look. But these do not change the fact that there is an objective measure of fineness, based on the cost of production, genuine exclusivity and generally a "soft" skin feel, that is somewhat encapsulated by the taste and requirements of the affluent businessmen. It was the gold standard of modern menswear and should remain the yardstick. A tweed jacket should be valued for its robustness to rain and thorns. A pair of country (corrected) grain leather boots should be valued for its robustness to mud and gravels. A tough person is not synonymous with an elegant man.
The trend of CMT (cut, make and trim) in Hong Kong has led to a revolution in the local tailoring scene. Old, established tailor houses can no longer claim their often exorbitant prices charged for luxury fabric is "due to the high cost of the luxury material" - it was merely because they took advantage of the information disparity between the shop and the client in the past, and tried to convince the client that the material and manufacturing cost of a HKD 40,000 suit is 10 times more than that of a HKD 4,000 suit. The open information helped. On this aspect, @shirtingfantasy also played a small part in promoting "fine shirting every day" - 170/2 cotton is still a robust fabric one can wash in a domestic washer-dryer without special precautions, and a Carlo Riva shirt should not cost HKD 5,000 so as to prevent most people from experiencing quality.
But there is also a worrying trend I have noticed: the unjustified praise of vintage or "deadstock" fabric and leather. Exclusivity due to difficulty in production is one thing, but exclusivity due to poor marketing or lack of entrepreneurship 30 years ago is quite another. To promote so-called "vintage" fabric, whether "vintage silk ties" (unsold stock of silk woven in the Como region, Italy) or "last length jacketings" (unsold stock of fabric in 1970 and 80s designs in Italy, France or locally in the Western Market) is often an act out of pure commercial motives - especially when the coincidental exclusivity is touted as luxury. Or take for example the 1786 Russian Leather - soaking in seawater without tanning agents was not and will not be an accepted way of enhancing the leather property. To claim that the historical archive (by accident) has any mysterious and superior mechanical property compared to leather from a proper, modern tannage is akin to lying; to say that the leather looks better than all modern hatchgrains is a subjective opinion at best.
"...this remarkable material was in immaculate and perfectly usable condition. The hides had been cured in baths of rye or oat flour and yeast, hand embossed with a cross-hatched grain and then soaked in seal oil and birch tan oil – the result of which was to cure the leather, lending it water-resistance, supreme durability and malleability." - G.J. CLEVERLEY FOR THE RAKE: THE RUSSIAN REINDEER HIDE ACCESSORY COLLECTION
Leather requiring this amount of work to resurrect sounds exactly like The Buried Shoes.
"After the extraction from the “fosse” (pits), it began the necessary procedure to make the shoes wearable and give value to the colors achieved. The upper is cleaned, moisturized, and reassembled on a wooden last, where it will remain to dry naturally for at least 2 weeks. At the end of this period, we continue with the application of a new sole, and the final maintenance of the upper."
We live in a modern world. We still love tales. So there are urban legends for the modern man - fabricated on demand - menswear tales included. When elegance and finesse are replaced by Gentlemen with Style, perhaps, one should be prepared to accept white lies and creative journalism.
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