A bespoke suit from Tommy & Giulio Caraceni

Why it is on the list

Domenico Caraceni opened his tailoring house in Rome in 1926, on Via Boncompagni, and cut for Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Tyrone Power and the Prince of Wales.¹ His brother Galliano opened this workshop in 1963 with his sons Tommy and Giulio, who had trained with their uncle in Paris, with Evangelista in Genoa and in London at Kilgour, Davies & Son and French & Stanbury. Once the Domenico Caraceni name was sold, this Rome workshop and Augusto Caraceni's in Milan are where the family's cut carried on.¹ The pattern is chalked from nothing for each client. The cloth is wetted and pressed before it is cut, and the chest is built on shaped hemp canvas. The work is done almost entirely by hand, some of the pressing with cast-iron irons of up to five kilos, and a jacket alone can take more than thirty hours. Buttonholes are sewn by hand.² Cloth comes from Italian and English mills: cashmere, vicuña, camel and fine wools for coats, Irish linen and Scottish cashmere for women's suits.³

It is the wrong call for a suit needed within days: a first suit goes through a first and a second fitting before it is finished.²

How to get it

Call the atelier on +39 06 4274 4023 or +39 06 4288 2594, or write to caraceni@tommygiulio.191.it; the contact page also takes a written request.⁴⁵ Ask for a bespoke suit, jacket or coat; women ask for a tailleur or a coat.³ The first meeting settles the garment and the cloth, and the measurements are taken. The first fitting is a basted jacket, the second checks the corrections, and only then is the suit finished.² The atelier is at Via Aureliana 32, 00187 Roma.⁴

Discretion

The paper pattern drawn from the first suit is kept, so later orders skip the first fitting and need fewer visits.² Requests can go by telephone or email before anyone comes to the atelier.⁴