Forbes Most Expensive Suits

[@riss]

I think it's funny that we here regularly buy the same brand of suits they mention for nothing close to absurd retail price...

On a tangent, I don't mean any offense, but I highly doubt you are getting the same product through ebay or Filene's Basement, etc... even though the brand may be the same. The 15k Oxxford suit in the picture looked a lot better than anything I'd seen on discount. I imagine its similar to the Helmut Lang you can get heavily discounted at Century 21; I've never seen anything resembling the product he sells in his boutiques at such places.

 

[drizzt3117]

I don't believe that suit in the picture was the $15k model (in super 200s cashmere). I have an Oxxford custom that I've bought on ebay, and it looks the same as the one there, it just means it was originally made bespoke for someone. Most Oxxford suits you will find at FB will be the Manhattan II model, which is still $2-3k from Oxxford when it was made several years ago.

 

[scottmag]

Sad, really.  I imagine that people who read Forbes and take it seriously are the same type of people who consider Donald Trump classy.

I don't understand where that generalization comes from.  A single article with which you disagree?  A little harsh don't you think.  I mean, to toss around the image of Donald Trump like that ... some of us are reading this before dinner.

And what's with the almost universal ridicule of the article and accompanying pictures?  I thought it an excellent introduction to a variety of suit-makers.  The starting prices for custom suits were almost all in the $3500-4500 range and rarely topped $12k for the top of the line.  What's out of line about that?  Sure one guy claimed customers who buy 50-60 suits a year, but that's one line of hyperbole.  Here's the comment about Brioni: "The made-to-measure line starts at $3,500, and spikes all the way up to $25,000 for the most precious fabrics, such as the finest vicuna, which are sold only to Brioni's "elite" customers who order every season."

Some of the comments here made it seem like an article written by and for idiots who think paying $20,000 for an off the rack suit makes one stylistically elite.  Perhaps I'm alone in actually enjoying that article.

Scott

 

[Manton]

scottmag: speaking for myself only, the article struck me as fairly typical of the kind of treatment one finds all too often in high-end "lifestyle" magazines.  There is an emphasis on price and renown over quality; many of the makers treated are not true tailors yet have the sack to charge more than real tailors; deserving, terrific tailors and makers are left out; the pictures are not that helpful.  Also, the authors of these articles too often don't really know much about the field, and it shows.

In this instance, some of the info was good.  I was glad to see them include at least one true tailor-atelier (Logsdail) amidst the other primo brand names.  But the photos were not so useful.  Some of the clothing really did look bad, and would be bad at almost any price.  And I just think that those crazy exotic fabrics are not worth the money.  Most of the people I know who truly love clothes will always pick an H. Lesser or Harrison worsted over a Super 180 or vicuna any day.  And, if going bespoke, they prefer a real, stand-alone tailor to a brand name MTM program that charges more.

The premise of the article was "expensive suits", not necessarily good suits.  That premise was fulfilled in large measure, and that in a nutshell is my complaint.

 

[LA Guy]

scottmag: I agree with Manton entirely.

And on my general condemnation of Forbes on the basis of this one article: lifestyle articles speak volumes about a magazine's readership. This is not the first time Forbes has published an article about "The most expensive X". It is implicit in these articles that the fact that something is the most expensive example of X is somehow a relevant point. It's crass crap. I have very little respect - okay, I have no respect - for anyone who is impressed by a suit specifically because it cost 20 grand.

It's like that apocryphal story about GB Shaw and the woman who would spend the night with him for a million pounds.

 

[Thracozaag]

Agree completely with both Manton and LA Guy.

koji

 

[johnnynorman3]

The Oxxford's at Filene's Basement are the real deal. They are not in Oxxford's best fabrics to be sure, but most are still in what I presume to be Super 110s English fabrics (I rarely see Oxxfords above Super 110s and 120s, actually, even the ones with Bergdorff, Saks, and Neimans tags in them).

Oxxford doesn't make diffusion lines -- simple as that.

 

[scottmag]

Agree completely with both Manton and LA Guy.

Point taken.  That's a fair enough criticism.  The article focused a lot on price to be sure.  I'd say that was more to make it interesting to those with nothing more than a casual interest in bespoke clothing than it was a philosophy that the magazine's readers are shallow and obsessed with high price tags.  And my reading was that it did more to actually dispel the idea that exorbitant prices are better.  I also liked the short blurbs on the various designers.  Consider the alternative.  It could have simply highlighted the top of the line by Ralph Lauren, Armani, and Calvin Klein.  Everyone knows them.  And how about this nugget of advice? "A good rule of thumb for men looking to buy a great suit: Don't buy from someone better known for kick pleats and evening gowns."

My beef is that this thread is an example of something that happens occasionally around here where everyone piles on the criticism with nothing good to say.  With the collective sartorial genius here it would be nice if the positive were pointed out more often.  Isn't it worth all the gee-whiz comments about price in order to parade some great suit makers before an audience that has the money but doesn't know to venture beyond the mall department store?  A little sugar to make the medicine go down in other words.

That's my piece.  I'll let it go now. Good evening, gentlemen.

Scott

 

[scottmag]

OK, this is rich (pun intended). I just flipped on the boob tube while folding laundry and there's some new show highlighting how much money the ultrarich drop on nonsense. $30k for a dog's birthday. Now, this is crass. I doubt I'll change the channel though.

Scott

 

[Manton]

If they buy it one of those dog sweaters, made from vicuna, then I'll really be outraged.

 

[Thracozaag]

If they buy it one of those dog sweaters, made from vicuna, then I'll really be outraged.

Will it be customized to accomodate so that at least a inch of tail to be shown?

koji

 

[Len]

I was once asked to make a 3 piece suit, pair of plus four's and an overcoat all from the same tweed. At the fitting the client asked if I would make a coat for his dog from the same tweed. As the dog only had two inch legs and the brass piece at the end of my tape measure was 3" long it seemed an impossible task. On top of that, judging from the antics of the dog whenever anyone came near it under normal circumstances, I believe the thing would have wanted to marry me if I had got that close to it..