Pictured at the MTBA party last week, this is the finished jacket from Neapolitan tailor Elia Caliendo. Readers of The Rake online will have read previous posts on Elia, looking at both the man himself and an analysis of the inside of the jacket.
Although not as well as known as some of the Neapolitans, he is up there with the best in my relatively limited experience (visited perhaps a dozen, jackets from three). The fit is spot on, the experience was easy and the work inside is sumptuous. Although much of this is a matter of taste (and how much you want to spend on impractical details), it is always interesting to see how impressed English cutters are with internal finishing. The Cifonelli double breasted was another example.
The Caliendo jacket is quarter lined, with the jacket cloth at the front and a little silk across the back. I like the double stitching around the edges, but only because it is subtle, being an almost identical colour to the cloth. Contrast stitching I don’t like.
Elia, the son of founder Biagi Caliendo, is a little cheaper than other Neapolitans at £2800, but there are certainly cheaper tailors there too. My favourite shot from the visit is below – of one of the tailors working on a basted jacket outside a side door at the atelier. If only I could find an excuse to go back.
Photography: Luke Carbyhttp://www.sartoriacaliendo.com/
