IIRC, Kiton's sloped-shoulder jacket is RTW.  AFAIK, Kiton doesn't offer a bespoke option.  I do agree with your aversion to sloped shoulders to the extent that some examples of exaggerated sloped shoulders I've seen are executed horrendously.  That's just the consequence of bad tailoring.

http://thelondonlounge.net/gl/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8781

Last edited by mafoofan (2009-02-18 09:52:32)

The Drape suit is a perfect illustration of what clothes should and should not be to the wearer. I both approve of and suspect that circles of exclusivity develop with clothes which ultimately become their own level of approval. It's the classic case of everyone at a company copying the men at the top.

I think that these circles (Tribes) form venn diagrams and within each item's or style's circle there exist concentric circles of different levels of the item or genre/style for different reasons. They spread out broadly enough and they create a culture or, at a minimum, a school.

This is a natural development for clothes. Two problems here. First, the idea that someone would need validation for their own tribal choices is deeply disturbing. Second, Internet tribes are worthless because the circle is too dispersed.

You can derive a form of moral energy knowing that you are a member of some iGroup somewhere vs a circle of one but ironically, tribalism is one of the few visually literal areas for clothes. Maybe because people complain that they are the only ones at an office who wear tailored clothes, we are seeing the dawning of a new sort of tribalism but the strongest for the moment is still the real life sort. I notice when I get together with friends or acquaintances, the tribal markings are quite strikingly  similar. I notice similar details or absence of them, even shirt fabrics from Acorn or Thomas Mason books, ties from the same places I get mine etc...

I have warned about the severe quirkiness that results from being a circle of one for clothing choices unless you have done it within a well defined venn-circle. A dapper dresser even a "dandy" as I see it is someone who dresses better than everyone else within a circle, not someone who chooses clothes randomly (even if those items are intrinsically elegant); even his apparent breaks from what everyone else wears are still related in some way to what others wear, whether he realizes it or not.

Thus, whether it is "Drape" or the "smoke and prosciutto" that is Neapolitan "soft" tailoring, they are best left to the circles where they are appreciated. I think the greatest sartorial calamity was the closing of so many American suit companies at the turn of the century. The next phase for the Italian tailoring industry is to make the American suit for the Americans.

Drape is just the way a fabric flows over something, or it 'fluidic' character if you like. How I think it pertains to the term 'drape cut' is that the use of a softer canvas and chest construction (fewer stitches in the canvas) allows the cloth to retain more of it's natural character, more of it's natural 'drape' and softness as opposed to a firmer construction which will have a 'stiffening' effect on the cloth. The type of internal structure obviously has an effect on the outside structure as they are effectively bonded together.