Fatto-in-Italia: Classic Italian style at Brown in Town
In recent years, there has been a resurgence of ‘deconstructed tailoring’ (ie. jackets with no shoulder pads or sleeve-head and, in some instances, no canvas either) and Brown in Town has been on a sartorial journey to bring this offering to our customers.
The ‘Italian-style’ of tailoring was pioneered by Vincenzo Attolini in the 1930s, then resurrected by Armani in the early 1980s. The Italian master tailors and sartorial houses of repute cut their jackets a little looser in the waist which created a garment with more freedom of movement and, more importantly, increased air-flow, which makes perfect sense when the temperature soars – as it certainly does in Latin latitudes!
They say that a mark of the best tailoring is that you should forget you are wearing it – and this is certainly true of Italian-made (fatto-in-Italia) garments. Trousers seem to glide as you walk, jackets hang from the shoulders without ever trying. Add a few accoutrements - fine cotton/cashmere/silk scarves and colourful linen pochettes, and you have all the elements of sprezzatura – the Italian ‘nonchalant’ way of dressing.
What has revived this recent interest in pieces from the sartoria of Napoli, Milano and Firenze? Maybe it is our increasingly warming summers, or perhaps simply that we have had more exposure to this fine tailoring via Instagram.
What is certain is that the lighter-weight cloths (which Italian mills are reputed for) lend themselves both to sunnier climes and to this particular tailoring style: it is, simply, what the Italians do best. Which is why, historically, you are no more advised to give a tailor in Italy a cloth heavier than 11oz, than you are an English tailor a cloth lighter than 12oz!
It made perfect sense to us to adopt both styles of tailoring, to meet the needs of an increasingly discerning clientele. So the Brown in Town Italian Collection is shaping up nicely for the hot summers ahead – sadly, the only item we don’t have room to stock (yet) is the colour-coordinated Lambretta.