#nervesa

Suit Anniversary.

I bought this suit 20 years ago. I had recently got a decent and steady job and for the first time in my life I had money enough to at least start thinking about some of my sartorial interests. I was on a business trip in Montreal when I stumbled over a shop called L’Uomo (or Via Uomo at that time). They had a sale so I went in and was greeted by very friendly and competent staff who didn’t mind explaining things to the young man with an interest but very little knowledge. After a lot of fitting, discussing and matching, I finally bought this suit, a few shirts and a couple of ties. Even if it was a sale I spent what I felt then was a fortune (so did my wife btw). The shirts are long gone, but I still have the suit and the ties.

The suit is from Nervesa. They are still around as a brand but I haven’t tested any of their stuff for many years so I don’t know their current standard, but this suit is amazing quality. Plenty of handmade details, a lovely wool and cashmere fabric, superb craftmanship in every way. It’s fully canvassed of course but in the old-fashioned way with horsehair. It makes it a little heavier than most suits today, but it moulds after your body in a way that modern canvassing rarely achieve.

During the years when fashion dictated that suits should be slim, jackets short, pants flatfront, tapered and short, I rarely wore this suit. But I didn’t want to make alterations. The only change I’ve made is that I had a tailor fashion the jacket as a 3-button with a 2 button roll instead of a hard 3-button. Nothing else is changed.

Thankfully men’s fashion is now changing. We no longer have to look like young men who tries to fit in their way too small prom suits anymore. Both jackets and pants are now often fuller cut, more traditional lengths are coming back and pants can be pleated again. This change is slower in the Nordic countries where men for some reason still try to squeeze into suits that are at least one size too small, but change is coming here as well.

This suit was made when pants where expected to have a big break and rest on the shoes. I’m considering changing that. Otherwise I think I will keep it as it is. Maybe I will still have it twenty years from now.

Suit from Nervesa, Inglese shirt, Sartoria Ripense tie, ps from Shibumi and shoes from Edward Green. Scent: Tauer L’air des Alpes Suisses.