Speciale is an attractive little store within the west of London, making fantastic bespoke tailoring and distinctive shirts and knits. I ought to have coated Bert and George earlier and I have not, and it is completely my fault.
My solely excuse is location. Speciale is on the high finish of the Portobello Street, recognized for its market (made extra well-known just lately by Paddington) however in any other case not on the menswear radar. It is not likely near anything, even in west London.
Nonetheless, my job is to hunt this stuff and I ought to have performed so prior to now. Hopefully immediately’s article will assist make up for it.
First issues first. ‘Speciale’ is not only a reputation picked by two guys that need to say they’re particular in Italian. It was the identify of the Florentine tailor, Lettorio Speciale, whose work impressed George to develop into a tailor.
George (beneath) had been at artwork college in Florence when he was launched to the tailor Lorenzo Albrighi in Santo Spirito. (The sq. the place all the scholars hang around – if you wish to really feel previous whereas in Florence, go there.)
Albrighi was the final tailor to be educated by Speciale, and was carrying a jacket he’d made. George was so taken with it that he dropped out and moved to dwell in Albrighi’s workshop in Milan.
In 2014, George returned to London having completed his apprenticeship. That’s the place he met Bert, and the 2 arrange a tailoring enterprise out of Battersea. George returned to Tuscany three years later, to work below the coatmaker Mauro Fanfani after which with Liverano in Florence.
Bert additionally moved to Italy and labored for a small tailor, Rosario Sagliano. However by 2019, each had been again in London, having discovered it exhausting to earn a dwelling in Italy. As soon as again they determined to arrange on their very own, with Bert (beneath, proper) specializing in the store and model somewhat than tailoring.
“I beloved tailoring however I felt I’d hit a degree the place I had the dangle of it sufficient – paradoxically – to grasp I wasn’t really that good, definitely in comparison with George or the individuals I regarded as much as,” he says.
The method to the store was partly impressed by the Anderson & Sheppard Haberdashery, with its willpower to not promote tailor-made jackets or coats however every thing you’d put on with them – on the similar excessive commonplace.
“There was additionally this uniform you wore as a tailor at your board, of a shirt and sweater every single day,” says Bert. “We wished to duplicate that, although typically with our specific take.”
The store has been gradual to refill, however you’ll be able to see their standpoint in each the shirts and the knitwear. The V-neck knits and vests, for instance, have a very deep neckline that’s accentuated by the brief physique (designed to put on with high-waisted trousers).
The knitwear is generally cotton, with a small(ish) armhole to make them simpler to put on with tailoring, however a beneficiant physique, and an uncommon mixture of ribbing – 2×2 on the collar however 1×1 on the cuffs and hem.
Bert and George have tweaked issues over time – these knits at the moment are 3cm longer than they was – however I might say they’re nonetheless greatest with high-waisted trousers. I purchased a Massive within the navy crewneck above, for instance, and whereas the cotton, the color and the neckline and ideal, the sleeves are somewhat lengthy. With the pale-blue vest, I used to be greatest in an Further Massive (pictured) however that meant a good bit of additional room within the physique.
The knits had been additionally designed to be unisex, with a full vary of sizes that women and men can decide by way of relying on how they just like the match. Emilie Hawtin wears each the vests and the shirts fantastically – as talked about in her piece for us right here.
This implies there aren’t many on the high finish of the dimensions vary for males. Lucas, for instance, [Nicholson, Permanent Style] was too massive for the vary and usually wears a 44-chest jacket.
The shirts are additionally in a strategy of transition, being made now in unique cloths for the primary time – high-count cottons which have a silky really feel, with uncommon uneven stripes.
Sadly after we visited solely two of the colors had arrived, the others being caught in customs. However they confirmed the aesthetic effectively I feel, each being uncommon however refined stripes – cream on blue and the reverse, blue on cream. I attempted a measurement 15.5 and it was a pleasant match, with a degree collar and a beneficiant physique with out being overly huge.
Across the store there are additionally different bits and items, typically with a Florentine theme. The jewelry of Ranfagni, as an example, and show footwear from Saskia Wittmer. “Florence meant a lot to us,” says Bert, “it made sense to have this within the store”.
“Similar goes for the ties from Sevenfold. I do know the embroidered designs are slightly quirky, however we couldn’t imagine there was no different stockist within the UK.”
In fact, the primary curiosity of many PS readers would be the tailoring – so what’s that like?
George’s tailoring is kind of immediately descended from Speciale, a small home that produced Florentine tailoring pretty just like others we’ve coated resembling Liverano and Vestrucci – no entrance dart, straight entrance edge, gentle make and a lot of hand work.
“Usually in Florentine tailoring the block is kind of fundamental,” says Bert. “You’ve solely acquired one dart that will help you, so its actually left to the making to present a jacket its expression and produce it to life. And there’s a distinctive depth of largely unseen hand and iron work that goes into prepping and making every factor of the jacket.
“It’s this that provides it extra form, longevity and cleanliness: how little extra and bulk there’s left in a nook of a lapel, how little lip there’s on the high of the welt pocket, how clear the roll of the lapel or sleeve-head is, how flush the lapel sits on the chest and many others.”
The making actually is spectacular, and one thing I feel I am going to find yourself returning to on PS for extra element.
There’s additionally a performance to Florentine handwork that I all the time admire – however Bert describes higher than me: “The factor is the jacket ought to put on and look higher due to the additional work, that’s the important thing: the philosophy is about practicality, not simply prettification. It may well even be fairly brutal to that finish in locations.”
For example of this brutality, Bert factors out the the hand seam that’s sewn one centimetre in from the sting of the lapel, however which is so tight it appears like machine work. We’re trying on the previous Speciale jacket they’ve (above) and I might by no means have noticed that for the work of hand and needle.
“That locks the lapel perpetually,” he says. “It truly is constructed across the assumption you’re going to dwell in it.”
If anybody desires any extra particulars on the tailoring now, the Speciale story highlights on Instagram have quite a bit, as do the Bespoke images within the Specialeworld part of the web site.
Speciale is at 324 Portobello Street, Notting Hill.
Costs (together with VAT):
- Bespoke fits from £4884
- Bespoke jackets from £3806
- Bespoke coats from £4994
Timelines are usually round six months for a primary buyer, with three fittings. There isn’t any travelling at present, however trunk reveals to Los Angeles are deliberate for subsequent 12 months.
