Tom Ford vs Saville Row vs Brioni
Jancik
Posts: 87MI6 Agent
Hello there,
as I aware there are quite some members who can compare these (kinds/brands) of suits.
I would like to ask, what really sets Tom Ford apart from Saville Row suits? Are they really the best ones out there? Especially when someones are referring to them as more expensive Zegna suits.They aren't even bespoke.
So really I am interested in the key features of these 3 suits (although being from SR doesn't really qualify as a single brand) and what sets apart?
When to buy a TF, when a SR and when a Brioni one?
Many thanks
as I aware there are quite some members who can compare these (kinds/brands) of suits.
I would like to ask, what really sets Tom Ford apart from Saville Row suits? Are they really the best ones out there? Especially when someones are referring to them as more expensive Zegna suits.They aren't even bespoke.
So really I am interested in the key features of these 3 suits (although being from SR doesn't really qualify as a single brand) and what sets apart?
When to buy a TF, when a SR and when a Brioni one?
Many thanks
Comments
If you are bored you can search his past posts as he's talked about this in bits and pieces before. But maybe never such a direct comparison
Tom Ford and Brioni clothes are ready-to-wear and offer made-to-measure. The quality and handwork on both is exceptional, but you are limited to their styles. Made-to-measure can offer a better fit within those brands styles, but it cannot give the kind of fit a bespoke Savile Row suit can. For some people, the ready-to-wear suits from Tom Ford or Brioni with alterations can offer an excellent fit.
A Tom Ford suit is not a more expensive Zegna suit. Just because they are made in the same factory does not mean they are made the same way. They are actually made quite differently from each other, with more effort put into Tom Ford suits in most areas. Different methods of construction are used on Tom Ford suits than on Zegna suits. Tom Ford's cuts are unique to them and very different from anything you'll find from Zegna. Tom Ford have their own cloths.
The handwork on Brioni and Tom Ford suits may be better than on many Savile Row suits. Savile Row tailors have been paying more attention to finer points of quality in recent years to compete with the type of craftsmanship found in Italy, but the British were never known for that like the Italian are. With a bespoke Savile Row suit you'll get a kind of fit you won't get from any ready-to-wear of made-to-measure suit. Only with a bespoke suit does the cutter draft a unique pattern for you. They shape the suit with an iron in ways that are only done in bespoke tailoring. Tom Ford suits have more shape than any other ready-to-wear suit I've seen and are closer to a Savile Row suit than a Brioni suit is.
Though with Tom Ford and Brioni you can choose from different models, Savile Row is different. With some tailors, they have a house style that they stick to and only make small deviations from. A house style is the overall silhouette of the suit and may also refer to small details like the shape of the lapels. It's not about how many buttons or vents you'll find of the jacket, or how wide the lapels are. Other tailors deviate more from their house style, though tailors always have their own innate ways of doing things. That's just the nature of being an artist.
For the most part, you cannot go to any Savile Row tailor and as for a suit that looks like a Tom Ford or Brioni suit. However, Tom Ford is very much inspired by the Savile Row tailors who specialise in more structured cuts. You could go to Maurice Sedwell or Gieves & Hawkes on Savile Row and get something very reminiscent of a Tom Ford suit. Edward Sexton and Chittleborough & Morgan off Savile Row can really give you the Tom Ford Windsor look, which Tom Ford stole from them. I would sooner go to any of these tailors before paying a similar amount for a Tom Ford suit. The finishing on a Tom Ford suit may in fact be marginally better, but nothing beats a suit made especially and uniquely for you.
I may write a post on my blog about this and expand further on some of these ideas.
http://www.bondsuits.com/is-the-casino-royale-three-piece-suit-a-copy-of-the-goldfinger-suit/
http://www.bondsuits.com/comparing-daniel-craigs-navy-pinstripe-suits/
Thanks. These two articles talk about the difference in a much different way: purely stylistic differences. Style is another big difference between these, though, as I mentioned above, Tom Ford suits are stylistically similar to many Savile Row suits. The four English bespoke tailors who made suits for Bond, however, all cut their suits with a softer look.
The king of sartorial elegance, he's good..... He's very good -{
Ps love Matt's new look blog
It's incredibly informative and very comprehensive. I highly recommend it for a good read and future reference tool.
Every post about a suit on Matt's blog contains information about the fabric. Most of Bond's suits are made from wool, but within that broad category there are many variations.
I don't understand that. Here's Matt's description of Bonds anthracite suit from the closing scenes of SP. It's just one of many.
Thanks Chriscoop. You can also go back to the descriptions of the Quantum of Solace suits to learn about the cloths of the first Tom Ford suits in the Bond series. I wrote a lot about the suiting of the brown suit in Bolivia: http://www.bondsuits.com/brown-suit-in-bolivia-in-quantum-of-solace/
This, ultimately, is why Tom Ford can command such high prices and continue to sell (or perhaps even outsell) other luxury brands like Brioni. TF's suits have a distinctive "look" that have become recognizable in the main stream. While engorged lapels, ticket pockets and waist adjusters have been common suiting staples for decades, TF has popularized them with the public visa vie celebs, films, print and his advertising. I remember a quote said a while back by a former creative director at Brioni who remarked one could not tell a Brioni suit by merely looking at it, that they had to "feel" the difference in terms of fabric and construction. That's where TF sets himself apart. He has a distinctive stylistic "look" that the majority of the public finds appealing and that true ardent fans (like myself) absolutely love.
In the end, Brioni and certain Saville Row brands belong in a higher tier than TF in terms of handwork and construction but if you like/want the TF look, there is truly only one place to get it.
But I said "mostly". There's not only one place to get the "Tom Ford" look. As I said in my post above, there are British tailors that make the look Tom Ford was inspired by. For example, Chittleborough & Morgan:
It's essentially where Tom Ford took his Windsor style from. Strong shoulders with a lot of roping, a full chest and medium-wide peaked lapels with belly. It's a less extreme version of Tommy Nutter's designs from the 1960s, though Chittleborough & Morgan will also do a more dramatic look. See here for more: http://www.styleforum.net/t/350970/adventures-in-bespoke-chittleborough-morgan/60
Or look at these photos of Gieves & Hawkes' Davide Taube in a double-breasted suit that looks just like the double-breasted suits Tom Ford makes: http://therake.com/our-world/craftsmanship/the-cutting-edge-davide-taub-gieves-hawkes/
What's odd is how you mention "the majority of the public finds appealing", yet other designers are not inspired by Ford. No high street shops copy him! His style cannot be cheaply made because of all the structure required to get the look, but nobody even comes close.
True you can get something "similar" but any of the above Saville Row styles seen being worn would be mistaken for Tom Ford and not the other way around (by most). My friends who work at Brioni and Ralph Lauren all attest that TF is "whats hot" right now so and his brand attracts all sorts of clients from different demographics (young, old, yuppies, whatever). Brioni is currently trying to do the same thing with their "metallica"collection helmed by O'Shea.
Just because people (qualify this term as people with high disposable income/suit tastes) find his brands appealing doesn't mean every designer is going to copy his specific styles. In fact they probably know better. But that doesn't mean they are not looking at them. I think we can all agree The Windsor is the definitive TF distinctive look and that is what is mostly associated with his suiting. Brioni is attempting to create their own exclusive "look" with the Continental suit. Essentially, brands love to have a signature suit that, when seen, acutely reminds the viewer of its make.
In my personal opinion, people going to Saville Row asking for a similar Tom Ford look are missing the point, just go into TF and get a TF.
We've had debates like this on SF. Most think TF outfitted Craig poorly in the last couple of films. Some don't. Some like his styling, some don't. In the end, you are the one wearing the suit.
Best way to answer the question, go try on suits from each of the 3 makes and then report back.
I could argue exactly the opposite, since Savile Row is where Tom Ford took his designs from. If you want the real thing, you should be going to one of the London tailors I mentioned above.
Isn't it the point of bespoken suits that they can be made however the client wants?
Bespoke means that the suit is made from an individual pattern crafted especially for the client. It does not mean that the client can specify whatever he wants. When it comes to Savile Row bespoke suits, different tailors will take different amount of input from the customer. Most English tailors have a house style. That refers to the silhouette, not the number of buttons on the front, the number of vents in the back or the style of the pockets. You can tell any tailor you want a suit with two buttons on the front, peaked lapels, two vents in back, a ticket pocket, no pleats on the trousers, side adjusters on the trousers, and so on. But how those things are done are up to the tailor. The house style determines where the buttons are placed, how the pockets are crafted. The tailor will suggest how wide the lapels should be, but you can usually have input there. It's an insult to a tailor on Savile Row to ask them to replicate someone else's suit. That's what Asian tailors are for. But also, different tailors cannot make the same styles. Pagoda shoulders with roped sleeve heads are made much different from soft shoulders with natural sleeve heads, and Savile Row tailors usually specialise in one style or the other and will only make small changes from that. Does this make sense?
http://www.bondsuits.com/choosing-tom-ford-vs-brioni-vs-english-bespoke/
Today, I've just picked up 2 made-to-measure suits from Anthony Sinclair. By far the best fitting suits I've ever had. Excellent quality, great value and absolutely amazing one-one customer experience. :007)
Cool which ones did you go for?
A 3-piece sharkskin (of course! :007))
And a charcoal glen plaid.
Also got the new light blue shirt.
Really amazing deal. Almost tempted to order a navy glen plaid too but it's not actually very often that I wear a suit.
Brilliant selection! Perhaps one day Bond will wear a sharkskin suit in a three-piece. It's one of the most Bondian things he has never worn.
As an aside, I stopped by Crockett & Jones in Jermyn St afterwards and there young man there saw my Anthony Sinclair carriers and was well aware of the Bond connection and correctly pointed out the earlier Connery Bond use before moving on to the Crockett & Jones connection.