The hardest thing about having my bespoke leather jacket made over the past couple of months has been not seeing the raw material. With a bespoke suit, you are fitted in the actual cloth and gradually see it take shape. You can’t fit leather in that way because alterations would mark the hide. So all the fittings have been in waste cloth that Davide has had lying around at Gieves.
The ‘swatch’ of leather that I picked was about an inch square – not really enough to get a sense of the texture and variation in colour. I agonised over the choice, with Davide eventually convincing me not to go for something safer, darker and less characterful.
It was a relief, therefore, to see the leather when it came in. As you can hopefully see from the images, it is a lovely mid-brown nappa with natural texture and tone. It marks easily, which also bodes well for how the jacket will age over time.
The leather worker we are using is more used to making brasher, brighter jackets for the likes of Avi Rossini. Having a natural leather and somber lining (you can see it and the sleeve lining in the bottom of the first picture) was one way I hoped to stop the jacket turning into one of those garish, overpriced pieces.
Below is a photo that Davide took of the pattern for the jacket, which I like. I’m sure tailors will be interested in the way he has translated a traditional coat pattern translate into a shorter-style jacket.
