Bespoke Shirt

http://www.mfanblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/bespoke-shirt-by-anna-matuozzo.html

A Bespoke Shirt by Anna Matuozzo

 

 

It's been a busy ten months (working in Manhattan, 3L at Chicago, wedding planning, etc.) Thanks to a bad cold, I finally got a day off to write this post.

There's a lot of debate about what makes a nice shirt. The shirts made by Anna Matuozzo show that you can't appreciate a truly beautiful shirt by fixating on the correctness of its details. With Anna's shirts, the whole is far greater than the sum of the parts--as nice as those parts are.

This particular shirt is made of cotton poplin by Riva. It has French cuffs, and a two-button, spread collar.




I think the collar is a shirt's most important part; it's certainly my favorite aspect of this one. Anna's collars are handsewn (no fusing), making them incredibly light and soft.



My collar was high enough to require two buttons.



The buttonholes are handsewn. If you only click on one image, it should be one of these. 


They're very pliable.




I picked very substantial mother-of-pearl buttons. Even Borrelli buttons are flimsy in comparison. 


The collar buttons are shanked nicely.



Anna chooses not to shank the other buttons. However, as you can see, they are just as carefully attached.




The shoulders and back are shirred ('grinze'). A pain when ironing, but I like the effect.



Anna embellishes the edge of the yoke with little nubs of thread, indicating the hand-stitching underneath. These nubs also border the collar band.


Some of the finest detailing is on the inside. The handsewn sleeve attachment is immaculate. 


The collar attachment is handsewn. Many of the shirt's long seams are first sewn by machine, then reinforced with hand-stitches. 


This includes the side seams.


I didn't want a button on the sleeve placket. I like the shorter placket and cleaner look. Notice that Anna's machine-stitching is also exceptionally neat. 



My monogram, bottom of the shirt front. 



Still care if the patterns match?


In a future post, I'll show how an older shirt has held up, and how it looks when I'm wearing one--these shirts are best appreciated when worn.