‘At least make sure the damn thing fits.’ Any jacket, handmade or bargain basement, must pass the ‘collar test.’ Put on the jacket and raise your arms. The back of the jacket collar should hug the back of the shirt collar like Velcro. A particularly ill-fitting jacket will show a gap between collars even with the arms lowered. The key is a high armhole. You may have to try on 50 jackets before you find the right one. Shattuck advises customers to watch Robert De Niro in Goodfellas, specifically the scene in which Bobby D. kicks a rival’s head like a soccer ball. Arms flailing overhead, the collar doesn’t budge. That’s tailoring.
Rene Chun on bespoke tailor Frank Shattuck. You can see the Goodfellas scene that Mr. Shattuck references here. The violence is disturbing, but the tailoring is admittedly pretty impressive.
