Article
Fashion : A Cut Above

By: Nick Kolakowski
June/July 2007 , Page 104

You’re unique. Like a snowflake. They broke the mold and all that. So why would you settle for a suit straight off the rack? Behold the sartorial splendor that resulted when we paired two Wall Street traders with one of Manhattan’s top bespoke tailors.

A custom-made suit says three things about the person wearing it: You’re a well-funded player, you have impeccable taste and you’re comfortable letting another person wield sharp pins near your nether regions. With a custom suit, everything is fit to your body. How it lies, the comfort, style and fit — you don’t get that in a ready-to-wear.

AFTER ONE TOO MANY sirloins at Del Frisco’s (or, alternately, one too many bottles of good red), your off-the-rack shirts might begin to resemble the Incredible Hulk’s. Fortunately, Erika Chloe Grundland and Mark Lingley, owner of Mark Christopher, specialize in tailoring shirts for more, er, manly frames — allowing you to customize everything from cuff style to collar to color.

Young, for one, appreciates the two-ply sea/isle Egyptian cotton fabric (hand-cut from an individual pattern) and single-needle tailoring so much that he recently ordered six. “I like to walk into a room,” Young says, “and have my suit or shirt stand out.”

A bespoke tailor (besides cutting your suit their selves) should also work with your needs. They pay close attention to detail, from the buttons on the shirt and jacket to the stitching on the pants..