Brioni Master Tailor Angelo Petrucci Talks James Bond, Kubrick, and Made-to-Measure
Angelo Petrucci
Angelo Petrucci, Chief Master Tailor of Brioni, is as smooth a talker as he is a tailor. From the moment he walks into the room, he oozes with a special brand of charm refined over twenty-five years working with the company, beginning in 1985 as a student in the Brioni Tailor School, “Nazareno Fonticoli.” Petrucci, along with his exceptionally tailored suit, (gray on this particular day, though we’re sure his closet offers much by way of variety), brims with an infectious enthusiasm at the mere mention of the art of tailoring. He’s a sharp-witted ambassador to the company, trained on every detail from the history to the two hundred and twenty steps it takes to create a made-to-measure suit. With little nudge, however, the formality quickly fades and Petrucci’s a total ham, talking about President’s he’s skyped with or sharing details of how he won over the James Bond franchise many years ago. We sat down with Petrucci to learn more about Brioni’s ultra-exclusive Made-to-Measure program, but what transpired was a much more expansive conversation with a man whose perfect day involves waking up and going… to work. The suits might be expertly crafted, but it’s this classic, not to mention highly refined, salesman that makes Brioni a place where, as Petrucci puts it, “everything is possible.” (Interview after the jump)
Essential Homme: Looking back, what was the initial spark that ignited your interest in tailoring?
Angelo Petrucci: I started at fifteen-years-old in Penne. When I finished regular school, I read in the newspapers that Brioni opened the first school for tailors. I went for two or three days just to see Brioni from the inside and after the first day I decided to stay.
EH: What are some of the things you study during the four-year apprenticeship a tailor must go through?
AP: The training school is forty hours a week for eleven months of the year. The tailoring system itself is two hundred years old. Before, in the 1950’s, for example, the master tailor would be jealous and give only bits of information for training, but Brioni is a very intensive school, giving all the information to its students.
EH: To a not-so-savvy gentleman, what’s the easiest way you’ve found to express the importance of a well-tailored garment?
AP: A tailor doesn’t work with the eyes, but works the sensibility of the fingers and hands. It’s important [as a tailor] to go to the fitness center, for example, use gloves and wash the hands with good soap. If the hands and fingers are too strong, you’ve lost a little bit of the sensitivity to the touch because every fabric is different; every typology of the material is different.
EH: So, what do you think it is that makes Brioni stand out?
AP: It’s very easy. Brioni has only one competitor: The best tailor in the tailor shop. A normal suit has two hundred and twenty steps. In the tailor shop, one tailor performs each of these steps. Maybe it’s fantastic for one hundred seventy steps, but the other fifty steps, so-so. In Brioni, two hundred and twenty people work on a single suit. Every person, for six hours and thirty minutes every day, six days a week, works on a single step.
EH: What are some of your duties as Ambassador for Brioni?
AP: I travel all around the world. It’s a big responsibility. In 1993, for instance, I met my first president. And when the president arrived he asked right away where the tailor was. When you are sure in your work, when you’ve taken a hundred measurements every year, it becomes easy. I never am embarrassed or afraid when I meet a president. Only one person, a little bit, because he was a little bit mysterious.
EH: And which person might that be?
AP: The director of The Shining. Stanley Kubrick. Only a bit. I had the opportunity to meet him during production of Eyes Wide Shut. I arrived at his Villa in London and recall the garden being over a kilometer in length. His home was very mysterious inside, all dark, like The Shining. But, I thought, if a person is assured in their job, they’re afraid of nothing.
EH: I’m sure Kubrick would agree. What prompted the idea for Brioni’s Made-to-Measure program and when did it begin?
AP: Brioni is really all about Made-to-Measure. The “Su Misura” (Made-to-Measure Program) has existed since Brioni’s founding in 1945. We create perfect measurements with all the proportions of the body because we study the anatomy, the morphology, and also the psychology of the customer. Because in front of the mirror, all people are erect in position or similar, so it’s important to see the movement of the body so that the suit can accommodate this. What we’re really doing is creating a second skin.
EH: So, I imagine in this process the inside of the jacket must be just as important as what we see on the outside.
AP: Eighty-three percent of the end work is inside the jacket, between the lining and fabric. Inside we have one canvas, the soul of the jacket, and you see outside only seventeen percent of the end stitches. In a regular jacket we have between five thousand and seven thousand stitches. You might not appreciate it fully when you see it, but only once you try it on. Two hours after later, because of the heat of the body, it begins to mold itself.
EH: Like a second skin. So isn’t it difficult when a customer comes in with, how shall we say, bad style?
AP: A certain president contacted me one time, and told me he wanted a suit with a particular pocket. I suggested against it, giving him other options. I didn’t say no to a president, but also didn’t want to send a president out in the world looking like a clown. Sometimes they send picture or they skype to ask if this looks good with that. It’s nice because those people are on television and a million people are looking at them. The tailor is very important to make them feel their best otherwise people take notice. So, I try my best to advise by presenting more options.
EH: What sorts of things should guys get tailored?
AP: Depends on the occasion. Normally, if you have an important meeting, yes. For the weekend, you don’t need a tailor. But, ninety-three percent of people have one shoulder lower and one hip higher. Ready-to-wear trousers, for instance, do not address this.
EH: Are there certain questions one should always ask their tailor?
AP: Normally, I start to have a conversation in an effort to better understand the client. And if the customer comes in with the wife, it’s her I work with. Take it in, taper it, much taller, if he’s smaller, much slimmer, if he’s fat. We have many secrets to hide the body’s imperfections.
EH: Looking back, from James Bond to Donald Trump to John Gotti, who’s been your most memorable client to dress?
AP: I love James Bond. In 1995, for the movie GoldenEye, we first met with the producers. Up until then, for all the movies they’d used an English tailor. But with the last film in the franchise being not as successful, EON Productions decided they wanted all the best. They commissioned three Italian brands. I took the measurements for Pierce Brosnan and three weeks later we brought them a finished suit. After the meeting, within five minutes, they called back and selected Brioni.
EH: Lastly, you spend much of the year traveling, what are five items you must have with you at all times?
AP: It’s important that I have my briefcase. I have twenty different briefcases depending on where I’m traveling. Then I need my tape measure, my thimble, my book for tailor measurements, and my iPad. Because on my iPad I have all the sketches. If someone wants a special coat, I have a picture. Brioni, for example, introduced the color to the tuxedo. Because until 1952 all tuxedos were white, off-white, black, navy blue, and dark green. They introduced yellow, orange, mixed together, many colors, and it was Brioni that did the first fashion show for men in the world in 1952 in Sala Bianca in Florence’s Pitti Palace.
But really, Brioni don’t create suits, it creates…
EH: … a second skin.
AP: You remember.
EH: How could I forget?
Related: Brioni Spring/Summer 2013 Presentation
