I was waiting to get a few more uses out of the bespoke suit that I had made by the Wong brothers. However, I just took a peek at what I had hanging in the closet and it brought back many emotions about the journey.
I'll save a bunch of details since others have written just as much praise for the fantastic generations of men who have served the Vancouver area for 100yrs and focus on my own experience.
I had made the decision to have a suit custom tailored at Modernize Tailor because it's the place my grandfather had gone decades ago to get his very own suits made. I wanted to own a piece of history that is multiple generations old and that meant ensuring the suit was made by the same hands that would have created the timeless pieces that my grandfather would have worn.
It was not cheap and it was not lightning fast. In fact, I didn't make it any faster by being very particular about the bolt of wool that I would wear with pride. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough material left to make a full jacket and pants for me and I ended up spending more hours digging through the famous "stash" of finely-aged bolts of fabric before finding something from a new collection of British wools that gave me the same level of excitement.
Steven and I spent quite a bit of time talking about what makes a suit and how I will be wearing the single-buttoned, side-vented, and fish-mouth notched and narrow lapelled gem that I had been visualizing for months. Thinking about the all the options I had, I sat on a couch in the foyer of a residential building where Modernize Tailors has returned to their origins after years of being across the street. The results of our conversation and all this time to decide had me re-thinking many elements of the design and fit that I was looking to achieve. Ultimately, I'm so glad that it did.
The result was an instant classic. Little work needed to be done upon pickup of the finished masterpiece which took nearly three months due to vacation time for both them and myself. I was picky about a little bit of neck roll just below the collar and I decided it was necessary to turn it into a two-button jacket to make the overall look more professional and proportional. It was a non-issue for them to take care of and an hour later, I walked out of Modernize Tailor with a giant grin on my face.
No, I wasn't wearing the suit on my way back to my car. In fact, the suit wasn't even put in a special travel bag or anything. It sat on a very plain hanger, but I just felt better about myself holding it. Chinatown has changed quite a bit since my grandfather would have been walking those same streets, but I'm sure he felt the same way after picking up his new apparel from the Wong brothers.
In closing, you don't buy a suit from Modernize Tailors. You are buying a piece of history. read more