London bespoke shoemaker - Sebastian Tarek

I first came across Mr. Tarek in Timothy Clements' Made in London portraiture series of London craftsmen and women. Clements also does a little write-up on each craftsman. For Tarek, he wrote:

"Years later after completing his formal training at Cordwainers Technical College, he went home to see his family and celebrate. On hearing Sebastian’s news his Polish grandmother told him: “Your great grandfather would have been so proud”. Why my great grandfather? he thought. To Sebastian’s complete astonishment, she told him that his great grandfather had made shoes for the Czar of Russia and was the last in line of eighteen generations of shoemakers."

Now that's what I call a true heritage brand!

Portraits of London trades and crafts

Thanks to a tip by our friends at Foster & Son, photographer Timothy Clements has assembled portraits of London trades- and craftsmen and women including shoemakers, lastmakers, tailors, gunsmiths and violinmakers.

Tailor Timothy Everest

Tailor's apprentice Annika Caswell

Shoemaker Sebastian Tarek

Apprentice and lastmaker Jon Spencer & Terry Moore

London Collections Men: SS13 livestream

LCM started yesterday and ends tomorrow. As I wrote earlier, the schedule has some very interesting events including a Savile Row open house.

Below is a video feed of the event:



I enjoyed watching highlights of the spring/summer collections of the more classically minded RTW designers such as Hackett, Joseph Abboud and Oliver Spencer. Almost as good as being there in person!

Below is the Hackett SS13 collection:



And Prince Charles' reception:

Timothy Everest coats

Haspel 2012

I recently had the pleasure of attending a Haspel event in NYC this spring. Founded in 1909, Haspel is an American brand and most men know the label for its RTW seersucker suits.

What I saw at the show were hefty washed wools made into casual sports jackets and very vintage looking suits. The common denominator to all of the garments is a very soft shoulder, with either a very light pad or no padding. In an interesting reversal of fortune, the fabrics are woven and made in Asia, while the garments are made in the USA. This keeps the price point low starting from $395 going up to $695.

If you like soft natural shoulders and need to keep the wardrobe budget within reason, Haspel's offering is certainly worth a first and second look.