Black Pinstripe 3pc SuitEvery suit that we make is unique and made for an individual client.
We don’t have 5 or 10 or even 500 designs.  Prohibition Era Suit
For every suit that we make, we start with the client and his own sense of style.
We ask him where he will wear the piece.
How often he will wear it.  How much he wants to stand out or blend in.
We ask him what kinds of motions he will be making, whether he will be dancing or reaching across a desk or sitting on a barstool with his jacket buttoned.
Wedding Pinstripe SuitCrimson Paisley LiningAnd then we mine the rich history of menswear for details from the past that can be dragged into the present and recreated to fit within the thick context of his individual life.
We do not set out to create something new.
Action Back JacketBut the distinct individuality of each human person gives birth to newness.  1930s Style Pinstripe Suit
But this newness is never merely superficial or contrived.
It is instead filled with meaning; it carries its past within it; it is purposeful.
This post showcases some of our unique recent pieces.
Many of the pictures show a black pinstripe suit that we made recently. 
This suit combines details from many eras to create a suit that is perfect for business, pleasure,—and getting married in.
The fabric is a gorgeous wool twill with bright white stripes.
Mod Navy SuitMany of the details of the piece are borrowed from more sporty and casual suits of earlier eras.  Slim Lapels Suit
The pleats in the back above and below the back belt on the suit give the suit an “action back”.
This keeps the suit feeling slim while allowing for lots of extra movement in the back when driving, operating a mouse, or shuffling papers around on a desk.
The hip pockets are hacking flaps, which make for easy entry and comfortable slouching, but they are further accessorized with buttons which help to contain items of importance when the jacket is tossed upon a bed.
The shapes of the pocket flap and the cuffs are in one of the more interesting and distinct nineteen teens/early 20s styles and give the pieces a slight aura of dandyism despite the business-like orientation of the pieces.
The jacket and the vest are cut with peak lapels and are single breasted.  Like all of our “1909 Bespoke” suits, this jacket is finished with hand pick-stitching and distinctive vintage handwork tacks.
We also made the shirt, tie, and the tropical wool wedding gown shown, and always enjoy the chance to make as many pieces as possible for a special event or performance.
Daytime Formal Wear SuitThe next suit is almost completely different.  This piece, cut from a more finished black and navy basketweave tweed, is an utterly fitted “Mod” piece that has more of a 1960s look to it.Tan Herringbone Suit
This jacket is styled with a wide upper collar but narrow lapels.  It has traditional hacking flap pockets with a ticket pocket and is finished with crowsfoot tacks on the pocket flaps and a simple handworked buttonhole on the lapel in navy.
Double Breasted Herringbone Formal VestThe jacket has 2-button functional cuffs sewn with 30 ligne horn buttons for a more Mod look.
These buttons, like the buttons on the jacket, are a brown, rather than navy horn, all of which adds to the deliberate retro look of the piece.
The pants are slim “boot cut” low-rise pants with L-shaped jean pockets.  This detail gives the suit a sporty look and allows for a highly fitted seat.
L-shape pockets are also excellent for holding your keys versus standard slash pockets should you decide to take a rest on the grass.
The third suit (a tan herringbone flannel) is a unique take on daytime formalwear.  With this piece we wanted to do something that had the formality of a tuxedo but would work for daytime and outdoor events.
Grey Pin Stripe SuitWe wanted something that felt a lot more modern than a morning coat, but still felt pretty traditional. The design combines some Gatsbyesque 1920s details with a “space-age” 1960s look.
The lapels on the vest are made from a silk duppioni in cream, and the handworked boutonnière on the jacket is in a slightly contrasting tan.  The pockets have an angle-cut hacking flap.
The result is what we think of as “Garden Party” formal.
The next suit is in a classic silver pinstripe wool.  It is “tropical weight” with a dry hand.  All of this makes for a piece that is highly breathable.
The customer was looking for a suit for traveling, and a quite matte fabric like this has excellent wrinkle resistance.3pc Pinstripe Suit in Silver
The pants are based on a favorite pair of boot cut jeans that the client mailed to us.  This allowed us to get the ideal fit that he wanted and to make sure that the piece looked good with his cowboy boots.
Although some books on “dress etiquette” prescribe a vest that always covers the pant waistband, we went with a Western cut for this that would prominently display the client’s belt buckle in the notch of the vest hem.  The jacket also has cuffs, which are easily rolled up when feeling hot.
The final suit in this listing is cut from a gorgeous 2-ply wool pinstripe.
Navy Pinstripe 3pc SUitThe client wanted a suit that would work for business but also a suit that didn’t feel stuffy or basic and could be worn for special occasions.
The style that we ended up designing is a classic 2-button business suit, but with a Mod-style angled cutaway hem and pointed flap pockets.
This pocket style was found on many early 20th century sportswear jacket styles and on some Western and 1970s styles.
Incorporating a flap like this into a modern suit creates a piece that utterly resists the look of an “stuffy old man” business suit, while otherwise retaining the classic and traditional look.
If you are considering a suit, please drop me a line via email (aj@denverbespoke.com) and we can talk more.  
All of these suits are “muslin fit.”  Which means that we cut and sew cotton mock-ups of the suit and mail these to you to try on.  You send us your feedback and also digital pics; and we analyze the pictures to achieve a great fit that matches your personal send of style.  We make the majority of our suits for clients that are outside of Colorado and often outside of the US—But we love local clients as well.

The pictures of the wedding with the black pinstripe suit were taken by photographer Kevin Fung.  You can check out more of his amazing work here.

Boardwalk Empire Style SuitOur completely custom line of suits–which are individually handmade to order right here in our studio in Denver, Colorado–often have a vintage flair to them.Wool Peak Lapel Suit
Philosophically, our suits hark back to what we consider to be the most interesting period for men’s dress—the period between 1907 and 1921–when many of the distinctive looks of modern dress had been established, but before everything became entirely normalized by the advent of mass production in menswear.
At this point, suits were still meant to convey individuality and to express tastes, habits, and activities.
Although pocket styles have always been as much about conveying to others what one might put in such pockets as they are about functionality, one could, as it were, express more things which such details than one can today.
Our latest generation of suits strives to be distinctively contemporary in its look and functionality, while, at the same time, drawing upon the richest period of our history.
We also incorporate a vocabulary of vintage handwork into these pieces.  The corners of pockets are tacked with crowsfoot and D-tacks.
one button  suitVintage style handwork buttonholes appear on the lapels.
Hand pick-stitching and lapel treatments add an aura of the handmade to the pieces.
Cuffs can be functional or highly decorative.

Our signature cutaway style is perfect for those times when you need to roll up your sleeves because of the heat or because a piece of machinery is in need of repair.
In this posting, I have put up pictures of many of our favorite recent suits.
The army green suit with brown vest is the outfit that I made for my own wedding this summer.
The fabric is a wool sateen with tons of sheen, and the details are drawn from a host of amazing vintage pieces.
This suit (like the navy suit with 3 buttons and the bold plaid cotton summer suit) are “One Button Suits”.
Although each of these suits has 3 buttons on the front, only the top button functions.  The other 2 buttons are left undone so that the vest shows below the cutaway shape.
“One Button” suits are by far the slimmest, most elongating silhouette around, but are impossible to find in shops.
The navy 2 button suit (made from basketweave tweed) pictures illustrate our signature shoulder style.
Here the shoulder seam is pushed back to form a distinctive look with more visual interest in the back panels.  The fronts have hacking flaps with crowsfoot tacks and a handmade lapel buttonhole.
The pictures of the white suit show a distinctive turn of the 20th century take on the summer suit, with narrow cuffs, patch pockets and peak lapels.
The light grey plaid suit shows a look with hacking flaps and our cutaway style in a two button look.  This suit also featured contrast coral collar melton.
Also note the wide contour waistbands on many of these suits.  This detail allows us to shape the waist as much as necessary for comfort and a perfect fit.
We can currently make fewer than 50 of our completely custom “1909 Bespoke” suits per year (although we can make many more pants and vests).
2 Button 3 PC SuitSo if you are thinking of ordering a suit for a wedding or time-sensitive event, let us know as soon as possible.
We muslin fit each of these suits.  For non-local customers, this means that we will mail you a cotton mock-up of the suit to try on.
You send us pictures of yourself wearing it, and we will alter the pattern to fit you.
Contact AJ@denverbespoke.com for more info, and so that we can get started working on a custom design for you.

The initial set of engagement photographs is by amazing Denver and Fort Collins Colorado area photographer Sarah Christine Photography (www.sarahchristinephotography.com/) be sure to check out her work and to choose her to photograph your wedding.

Classic Gabardine SuitWe are proud to be one of the few tailors in the US that makes garments from scratch in our workshop.
Most places that offer “tailoring” merely alter existing ready made garments.
Others offer made-to-measure suits by brands such as Tom James that are produced in centralized factories.
But we run a tailoring house on a different model.
If you wanted to understand the single biggest reason that men’s business attire has remained relatively frozen in time since the 1920s and 1930s, you need look no further than the gradual eclipse of the tailoring house by ready-made fashions.
At one point in time, everyone dressed differently.  Individuality and personality were bywords.
Pockets were shaped and placed to store the exact items that a given individual carried every day.
Pants and jackets were styled not by a mystical set of rules, but rather to flatter and to express.
But with mass produced suits, every style suddenly needed to appeal to 100,000 customers. A programmer was supposed to wear the same suit as an executive and the executive was suppose to wear the same suit as the programmer.
We make unique suits for unique people.
Because we can make every style of pocket, every style of waistcoat, can cut pants with an immeasurable number of fits.
Because we don’t have any standard rules or molds.  Because we make suits from any number of novel fabrics, we can offer a virtually infinite amount of choices.

Many of the projects that we take are those that have been turned down by other tailors because  the factories that they contract with are unable to handle anything that deviates more than a hair from the mass model.

Unlike most tailors, we understand the needs of creative professionals.
We will work with you to design a suit from the ground up that expresses what you need to express at the events that you attend.
The navy suit pictured in this posting is a recent suit that we made for a local customer who had been unable to find a pant style that he liked at the shops.  He wanted a suit that was traditional, but not in the way that “traditional” suits tend to be.

He very graciously allowed me to snap a few pictures for our site.
The suit is made from a 10.5 oz gabardine that is extremely durable and perfect for travel.  With hand pick-stitching on the lapels and handmade buttonholes on the jacket and the waistcoat.

The grey flannel suit is another recent business suit project.  This piece was made from a gorgeous pinstripe flannel fabric.
All of our suits are made using a couture muslin technique.  For this process we make the suit first in a rough cotton muslin.
Then we either mail this to you and have you send us pictures of yourself trying it on, or fit it on you in person if you can make it to Denver.  We analyze the way that the muslin hangs and create a new pattern based on what we learn.
This allows us to get a perfect fit in person or long distance.
Contact A.J. (aj@denverbespoke.com) to get started designing a custom suit.

Chocolate Peak Lapel Suit

We make all sorts of suits.
Wedding suits, business suits, sportswear.Windowpane Vest
A windowpane is a simple plaid pattern that is less sporty than many plaids.
Some plaids only work as a sports jacket or stand alone piece.  Make a whole suit from the plaid and it quickly becomes too much.

But many windowpanes look incredible when make in to a two or three piece suit and are just as dressy as a pinstripe or a solid.
The pictures show a few different pieces we have made recently.  A retro brown suit with peak lapels and a wide back collar cut from superfine wool gabardine is complimented by a windowpane vest in a lightweight tweed with olive and peach in the weave.

Silver Windowpane Suit

The three piece suit with hacking pockets on the jacket and vest has a particularly brilliant weave.  Up close the fabric has an almost optic effect with a mini-houndstooth check pattern and light blue windowpane.  From a certain distance, the suit reads as light grey.  
But when you pay attention to the weave of the fabric, the whole suit becomes brilliant and distinctive.
The third piece is a stand alone sports jacket that is perfect for the business casual look.  Here again, the fabric is amazing and fine and pairs up beautifully with many colors of slacks.  The rich corozo nut buttons give the piece an additional touch.
If you are thinking about a suit or other piece, contact me and I can get together some swatches for you.  We can get some of the most amazing fabrics out there, whether you want something minimal and classic, something funky, or something that will stand out in a business environment.

We can get a great fit locally or long distance by using our muslin fitting method.  We first make a cotton mock-up of the pieces and send these to you for feedback and digital pics, then we correct the patterns to fit your body perfectly.
We can make suits with any set of details (pockets, lapel shape, body shape, buttons) imaginable.  Contact me (aj@denverbespoke.com) to get started on a custom project.

Seersucker Leisure Suit

Photo by Erin Wallis (www.erinwallis.com)

The groom wears black. The bride wears white.
But what if the wedding is in Mexico…?
Seersucker Suit
The pictures show two suits that we recently made for tropical weddings. One is a 70s inspired suit cut from an off-white cotton seersucker.
The other, a completely modern suit cut from a linen/rayon blend that is lighter, softer, and less prone to wrinkles than 100 percent linen.
Back Seersucker Suit
Both suits are unstructured and lined in light cotton with shell buttons.
Our process for making custom suits takes place over about 2 months. Once you contact us, we gather swatches and begin sketching some ideas for you.
White Linen SuitWe can make pretty much anything… with any set of details…. in any type of fabric. Ivory Linen Suit
After finding the fabric and determining the style, we ask for measurements which you can take at home. Then we make the initial patterns and a cotton prototype of the suit (the “muslins”).
White Linen SuitYou try the muslin on and send us pictures of you wearing it. Then we adjust the pattern and cut and sew the final suit.
The result is a suit that is completely unique and tailored to fit your body and style.
Contact AJ for more information and to get started on a custom project: aj@denverbespoke.com

Be sure to check out the photographer’s website (erinwallis.com) for more pictures of the 1970s style seersucker suit (and some pictures of the child’s suit that we made to match the groom’s.