What We Can Learn From Italian Men About Style
It isn't the labels. Italian tailoring culture dresses for the weather, gets the fit exact, then adds one personal touch. You can copy all three without a tailor.
When I went to Venice, everyone looked good. The boat drivers, the waiters, the men walking to work. None of them looked like they were trying, and I kept wondering why.
It can't be the brands. Nobody wears designer labels to drive a boat or carry plates. Hugo Jacomet's book The Italian Gentleman has a better answer. He spent three years in more than 50 workshops, from the wool mills of Biella to the tailors of Naples. What he found was habit, not money.
Three habits behind the look
They dress for the weather and the way they live. Jacomet's rule of thumb: the further south you go, the softer the jacket. Milan likes structure for its cold winters. Naples cuts jackets with no shoulder padding and little or no lining, so they move like a shirt. The clothes suit the life, so the man looks at ease in them.
It looks effortless because the fit is right. Naples is fond of a little imperfection, but its best tailors are fussy about fit. The jacket looks casual because the shoulders and the length are right. Ease without fit just looks scruffy.
One personal touch. Tie-maker Maurizio Marinella says an Italian craftsman can't copy a pattern without changing something. The best-dressed men work the same way: tortoiseshell sunglasses, a watch on a worn leather strap, a jacket carried rather than worn. One thing, not five. The Neapolitan tailor Antonio Panico puts it well: elegance should be like music, not noise.
How to borrow it
Weekend: brown linen shirt, sleeves rolled, cream pleated trousers, a dark brown belt, brown suede loafers.
Dinner: the same, with the tweed jacket on once the sun goes down.
Autumn in the UK: the tweed jacket over the linen shirt, the cream trousers and suede loafers, with socks.
The shirt and trousers do most of the work. Get the shirt to fit through the shoulders, and the trousers to sit on the waist with a little room in the leg. Then the rest looks easy.
What to leave in Italy
I took what travels: the fit of their linen shirts and the way they accessorise. I didn't copy everything. We don't have their weather, their beaches or their way of life, so some of it just looks wrong on a grey day in the UK.
The book backs this up. Italians dress for their own climate too: Milan's jackets are more structured than Naples'. So borrow the habits, not the outfits. Keep the linen shirt, but carry a tweed jacket for when the sun goes, and save the bare ankles for holiday. And skip the Pitti peacock look: three patterns, a tie bar, a hat and a pocket square at once. That is a costume, not a habit.
Where to buy
The Italian basics
A linen shirt, cream trousers, and a tweed jacket for later.
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The jacket
Carry it for when the sun goes.
Brown tweed jacket
LuxuryThe shirt
Linen, sleeves rolled, two buttons open.
Brown linen shirt
Mid-marketThe trousers
Pleated, with room in the leg.
Cream pleated trousers
Mid-marketThe shoes
Suede penny loafers, soft and easy.
Brown suede loafers
PremiumThe watch
Small dial on a leather strap.
Leather strap watch
Mid-marketThe sunglasses
Tortoiseshell, worn without fuss.
Tortoise sunglasses
Premium
Prices, colours and stock change. Check size, seller and delivery before buying.
Final note
You don't need a tailor in Naples. Buy a shirt and trousers that fit, keep the colours warm and simple, and add one thing that's yours.
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