For the historically minded, I came across a couple of informative posts by Italian fashion blogger Irenebrination on the history of Neapolitan and Florentine tailors and tailoring.
Below is a scan from the Japanese magazine Men's Ex comparing the "typical" Neapolitan, Roman, Florentine and Milanese cuts or silhouettes. Keep in mind individual variations exist by tailor within each grouping.
It seems she has gone back to the original archival sources in Italy to dig up some interesting background, names and photos associated with these two tailoring traditions. For instance, she identifies by name (Peppino Miniello) the Neapolitan tailor who first invented the idea of extending the front dart on a jacket all the way to the edge.
In her article on Florentine tailors, she mentions Armando di Preta, whom I wanted to visit in Florence but was unable to schedule successfully (described in my 2008 entry on Florentine tailors).
Additional links
- Styleforum thread on the different regional Italian cutting styles
