In the heart of Barcelona, just yards from the Plaça de Catalunya on the Passeig de Gràcia, the boulevard that is home to the city’s prime luxury retailers, is a tailor of great distinction and renown. Bel y Cía was established in 1842 as a bespoke outfitter for the best-dressed and most distinguished Catalan gentlemen. A full-service tailor and shirtmaker, the firm is particularly known for their Teba jackets – an unstructured, notchless blazer designed as a shooting jacket and which has become an iconic piece of casual, tailored menswear. The house, commonly known simply as Bel, stocks all manner of accessories and menswear, including the finest quality cashmere and knitwear, ready-to-wear tailored pieces and shirts for both men and women.
Category Archives: WEAR THIS
HAND & LOCK
Hand & Lock has plied its trade as the leading embroiderer in the United Kingdom since its foundation back in 1767. The firm is regularly sought out by the Royal Household, high-ranking military officers, City livery companies and bespoke tailors to undertake intricate embroidery work and is a go-to supplier when commissioning specialist ceremonial or costume pieces. The firm’s celebrated customer list has also included a host of glittering names from Hollywood and high society, with many famous wedding dresses having been embroidered by hand by the Hand & Lock team. The firm sits under the Firmin House group, which includes tailoring, medallier and military outfitter brands.
CAUSSE
Since 1892, Causse has been one of France’s premier glovemakers and remains the oldest glove brand in the country. Hailing from Millau, an area synonymous with high-end leather goods manufacturing and, particularly, the art of handmade gloves, Causse has been supplying the grand couture houses and fashion labels for over one hundred years. Indeed, the firm is part of the Chanel Maisons d’Art initiative celebrating their distinct heritage and close relationship with the iconic fashion house. Causse gloves can be customised to the client’s particular preferences making them a highly coveted marque.
ANDERSON & SHEPPARD
A bastion of British tailoring, Anderson & Sheppard has been one of Savile Row’s pre-eminent houses since it’s establishment in 1906. The firm has been the preferred tailor to many international celebrities throughout its history (names such as Fred Astaire, Charlie Chaplin, Gary Cooper, Noël Coward, Laurence Olivier, Cole Porter, and Rudolph Valentino), in part due to the more relaxed structure championed by Frederick Scholte and Per Anderson, the firm’s founder who trained under Scholte. This style marked the firm as maverick young Turks, a counter to the traditional, heavily structured military style that had long defined the Savile Row suit. Anderson & Sheppard and their contemporaries essentially revolutionised the English-style, with the English cut today being synonymous with the silhouetted and drape espoused by this cadre of tailors. The style would attract a young Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII and latterly, the Duke of Windsor), earning the firm the prestige and honour of being a tailor by appointment to the Court of St James. Many decades later, another Prince of Wales would commission his suits from the house before he too would become King, HM King Charles III. The firm would also become a benchmark reference for the high couture fashion industry, having influenced customers including Tom Ford. No longer on the Row but located off-Row on Burlington Street, today the firm continues the bespoke tradition whilst also supplying a range of ready-to-wear apparel from their nearby haberdashery.
GIEVES & HAWKES
Gieves & Hawkes is one of the grandest of the Savile Row tailoring houses, an institution dating back to 1771. The house is renowned as a military tailor of distinction and a bespoke tailor of choice to many of the world’s best-dressed men. The firm has a long legacy as a tailor by appointment to various members of the British Royal Family and other royals, with the warrants to boot. The brand was formed in 1974 when two established tailoring houses merged, Hawkes & Co and Gieve & Co (pronounced with hard ‘G’). Hawkes & Co was founded in 1771 and had carved out a reputation as a preferred tailor to the most senior British Army officers and members of the Royal Household. Gieve & Co was founded in 1887 when it took over an older studio for whom James Gieve had apprenticed, with a legacy of dressing the most senior officers of the Royal Navy. The military tradition of both houses would come to define the Gieves & Hawkes silhouette and, indeed, the English style of defined shoulders and narrow tapered bodies. Today, the firm continues to offer a bespoke tailoring service together with a wide range of ready-to-wear apparel making them a go-to outfitters for their distinguished clientele.
HERBERT JOHNSON
With a reputation for excellent military and uniform hats, Herbert Johnson has been producing fine hats for soldiers and civilians alike for more than 100 years. Founded in 1889, this renowned hatter has given us many of Hollywood’s most iconic headwear, including the legendary fedora worn by Indiana Jones throughout the franchise’s cinematic series. Herbert Johnson was a renowned milliner who masterfully crafted pieces to the exacting function-first standards of the military and also to the grand statement needs of the theatre and, later, the movie industry. The brand became an institution for London’s best-dressed gentlemen and a must-visit for international jet-setters too. Herbert Johnson often engaged Patey Hats to manufacture some of the house’s designs. Today, the marque sits under the umbrella of brands helmed by Swaine.
KITON
Kiton is a revered brand, well known to the world’s best dressed men. The brand was established in 1968 by Ciro Paone who had already launched a successful apparel company in 1956 in his home city of Naples. He sought to build upon that experience and on the city’s legacy as a global epicentre of fine tailoring and shirtmaking with the launch of his own tailoring house, a house which would use only the finest materials and the most careful and precise craftsmanship. His mission was single-minded: to be the world’s pre-eminent tailoring studio. The brand quickly won over the most discerning Neapolitan gentlemen and grew to become one of the most coveted bespoke suit makers on the planet. Paone expanded his brand to offer a wide range of apparel, accessories and leather goods, with various off-the-rack pieces made to the same exacting standards and high quality as his bespoke options and, as such, Kiton is renowned as a top-tier, quiet luxury brand.
ARTLING
Opened in 2010 as a made-to-measure tailoring establishment, Artling has grown to offer a full bespoke suiting and shirtmaking service to the most dapper of Parisian gentlemen. Famed for their vibrant and quirky flourishes, Artling has developed a reputation as a go-to outfitter in the fashion capital.
MARTHA SU MISURA
Martha su Misura is a full-suite bespoke tailoring house just outside of Modena. Helmed by Martha Naudascher, the firm offers made-to-measure and custom shirtmaking, knitwear, suiting and more for men and women. The atelier also manages a small boutique with a range of ready-to-wear items and accessories to outfit their discerning clientele.
HUNGANT
The glove-making tradition in Transylvania dates back more than 200 years with the area being a global epicentre for the trade. Hungant came into being in 1925 and became part of the state manufacturing apparatus until it was privatised in 1995. The brand uses the finest quality materials and time-honoured craftsmanship to produce some of the world’s most luxurious gloves. Famed for their extremely soft leathers and comfortable linings, Hungant gloves are highly sought after, particularly their classic driving gloves.
FITZGABRIELS 