Jose Reillo suit bespoke

 
This suit is from Jose Maria Reilo, the second of the three Spanish tailors I commissioned from in 2014. The make is good, although there are one or two issues with the fit that I’ll come to in a moment.

The suit is green cotton gabardine – an interesting option for summer, and of course now is when bespoke customers should start thinking about summer styles. Guys buying ready-to-wear have a few more months to think about it.
 

Jose Reillo suit side fastener detail

 
Jose Maria is a lovely, self-effacing man, who founded his tailoring house in 1974. He doesn’t speak any English, but fortunately both times I visited a friend was able to translate. He works with his wife in a small atelier on Calle del Monte Esquinza, just off Plaza de Colon – new premises since I first, visited, back in 2012.

The three Spanish tailors took three different approaches to the fact that I was only visiting Madrid twice to have these pieces made. Langa cut a fitting straight out of the cloth, in order to have a fitting the same day as taking measurements; Calvo de Mora visited London in order to conduct one fitting; and Reillo took the more standard approach of cutting a first fitting out of waste cloth.

Those three approaches didn’t seem to have any bearing on the fit, with Calvo de Mora perhaps the best. I’ll cover the jacket and waistcoat I had made there next week.
 

Jose Reillo suit madrid

 
As with all the Spanish tailors, the level of handwork on Reillo’s suit was very good: hand felling all around the lining; nice finishing on the change pocket on the trousers; smartly finished side-straps.  

In common with Langa, however, there were also one or two places where the lines weren’t that accurate. In the image of the in-breast pocket above, for example, the corners of the lining where they turn to follow the pocket aren’t quite the same. The bottom is much smoother than the top. This may seem like a small thing, but it’s the kind of detail you get used to being bang-on with most Savile Row tailoring, to the point where you take it for granted.
 

Jose Reillo suit cotton

 
The fit is good almost everywhere, as the images show to some extent. Cotton is not an easy cloth to work with, and Jose Maria has done very well.

The issue with cotton is not that it’s hard to tailor, but that the finished results rarely look as good as wool. You get big, hard folds, as you can see around the elbow here, for example. And although the fit through the waist on this suit is very good, the tiniest move in the body makes the whole side buckle. 

I would praise Reillo’s cutting in almost every other respect, therefore – except along the shoulder seam. Here, for lightweight suits as this, he uses absolutely no padding – just a little wadding at the sleeve head. This is obviously light and comfortable, but there are wrinkles along the seam on both sides. It is characteristic of the difficulties of photographing these things that those wrinkles appear almost invisible in the image above, yet are more significant than any of the other creases. 

I noticed this wrinkling on one or two other summer jackets, so it’s not just mine. It doesn’t seem to happen on heavier constructions (still light by English standards) however, so it is also just associated with this construction. 

I’d like to repeat that elsewhere the fit was top-notch, with the trousers so good that I considered ordering more separate ones in the same cut. Elements of the style such as the lapel width and line were also really nice. 

I’ll write a separate post on cotton suits in general, and this one as a summer option, later in the week. 
 

Jose Reillo suit trouser

 

 Photography: Jack Lawson

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Nick Inkster

Happy new year Simon.

The cuff opening looks extremely wide. Is it the picture, the fact that your shirt appears to be button cuff, or simply the way it turned out?

Nick B

With a cotton suit?

Néstor

It looks superb Simon, classical yet uncommon. I specially like the shape of the side strap on the trousers. However (and being spanish), I find curved patch pockets from italian tailors nicer.

btw, what is the cloth?

I think it will works also as separates very well. As I can see, you have comissioned very summery stuff from spanish tailors, good pieces for our climate, yet very rare to see them.

Best regards,

John

Hi Simon,
This suit looks great indeed as a Summer outfit.

TC

It is, of course, difficult to really assess a suit from a few photos, but I must say (in the parlance of our times) that the cut looks sick. Not keen on cotton, though. I prefer a mohair mix fresco – not shiney, tough as a rusty nail, drapes well. You cannot lose.

FedeU

Did you change your mind about silk knits? I could be mistaken but I was under the impresión that you didn’t wear them and preferred grenadines, instead.

FedeU

Sorry about my english. Sometimes I make mistakes that a native speaker could consider painful to read.

Jerrell

Hello Simon,

Recalling your mantra of ‘wear heavier suits’, do you think lightweight summer suits, be they linen, cotton, or some fabric mixture, will always look less elegant than garments for fall/winter?

Additionally, how’d you rate a summer wardrobe consisting of just Neapolitan style odd jackets, paired with an assortment of lightweight trousers (linen or fresco)?

Mac

Is that canvassed, Simon?

Freddy

Happy New Year!!
Unrelated question but how does one get hold of the Rake magazine?

John

Hi Simon,
Now that I know the jacket is canvassed and apparently fully lined too, I wonder whether it wouldn’t be too warm in the Summer. Unless you have in mind spending your time in the UK – which could be great. But elsewhere southwards, it could be really less practical.
John

Anonymous

Hi Simon

Great looking suit. Was curious about what if anything informed the choice of colour for the cotton gabardine. I like it, but can imagine myself standing at the tailors with the swatch in my hand thinking I should choose it but then bottling out of it at the last moment and trying to go for navy/grey as it would be more practical. Perhaps making a definite decision about colours comes with more experiance.

Jesper Ek

Dear Simon,

Which stores (besides your mentioned tailors in the posts) should I not miss when in Madrid? Shoes? Accessories?
Best regards
Jesper

Lorenzo Villa

Dear Simon,

a quite past post…
You write about a “level of handwork very well” but all the pockets on trousers have machine stitching and also the back pocket was made entirely by machine.
Not just a bespoke level, for example in Italy or England…
What do you think ?

Nice day !

Lorenzo Villa

Simon thanks for the clarification. Actually are details that I look, important to define the class and the authentic craftsmanship. On the other hand I am aware that they are details that do not affect the line, the cut and fit. Let’s say that as “Italian” are details that I love and expect in a piece of tailoring.