Update: Sleevehead’s Guide to Sicilian Tailors

The paperback version of my guide to Sicilian tailors is now available, as well as the original e-book. The guide has been reviewed by noted style author Bruce Boyer and Hugo Jacomet of Parisian Gentleman. Both versions of the book now include additional photos for one of the Messina tailors, a few minor typographic corrections and more information on shopping and restaurants.

At the moment, the paperback edition ($49) can be ordered below through Lulu and will be available through Amazon.com in a few weeks. The e-book ($49) can be ordered through the buy now link on my blog. If you are an iPad user, the e-book is definitely the way to go for reasons I lay out in the FAQ. Otherwise, the paperback works very well too.

In particular, in this new update I provide further editorial commentary and information on one of the cities, Messina. There, within a three block radius, you’ll find a fully stocked fabric shop featuring well-known Italian cloths such as Drapers, Vitale Barberis Canonico, Cacciapoli and others, as well as a trimmings/linings shop and a button shop. Once you add a few tailors located nearby, all you need to do is mix and stir and you’re all set for a complete tailoring experience. All within a few minutes walking distance of each other.

This miniature, walkable ecosystem of tailors and suppliers used to be commonplace in small towns and cities across Italy but now is very rare. It’s actually difficult to find this configuration anywhere else in the world (in the West especially) with the exception of Savile Row. Mentioning Messina and Savile Row in the same breath is certainly not something I would have imagined before I had written this book.

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