Indy Telecom & Industrial Media

The WSJ had an interesting interactive graphic showing the nation’s failed banks.

The size of the circles is based on the value of assets at the time of failure.

Today, I read that Brioni, the makers of suits to Presidents, royalty and James Bond, is starting a casual line of clothing in an uncertain economy.

Reading that made me more than a little sad, because it is akin to hearing that the Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields decided to do a concert with Britney Spears and the Jonas Brothers.

Unlike such bigger rivals as Zegna, Brioni has refused to move any of its manufacturing out of Italy to cheaper locales like Mexico. Nonetheless, the fashion fallout from the global financial crisis has reached even into the rolling hills of the Abruzzo region two-and-half hours east of Rome, where tailors still start their careers as teenage apprentices and pictures of patron saints adorn the walls of the company’s main workshop here.

… … …

Bartering may no longer be in style in Abruzzo, but the old-school habits endure, said Angelo Petrucci, 38, a former pupil of Mr. Morelli who is now Brioni’s chief master tailor. “The fabrics have gotten much lighter, but some of the techniques we use are 200 years old,” Mr. Petrucci said.

Mr. Petrucci, who loves to show pictures of sultans, presidents and princes he has measured for classic suits, is less emotional when it comes to describing the finer points of Brioni’s T-shirts and other casual wear.

They are probably one of the best OTR/MTM makers today (and bespoke, if you can afford them). In a way, Brioni is one of the last big ones to fall by the way side of casual and ill fitting clothing aimed at brand name and brand image, rather than quality.

I grew up in a family where my Dad did not own a single pair of jeans, and instead had an eclectic collection of cuff links and ties (handmade) which I inherited.  I distinctly remember my college days when I grew long hair and wore nothing but jeans and (black) heavy metal t-shirts –and how much my Mom hated it.

In fact, I remember that growing up, polishing my shoes before school was a mandatory routine. And too bad if I missed the bus because I woke up too late to polish them properly. The maids would do the laundering and the ironing, so the least I could do was polish my own damn shoes.

To this day, they remain firm believers in good, old fashioned clothing with bespoke where possible. You were expected to spend money on a few great pieces of clothing as opposed to a closet full of ill-fitting poor quality clothes made of fabrics that wouldn’t pass muster for a place on Mom’s mop.

Fortunately for them, I’m now a French-cuff preferring, wing-tips wearing, jeans hating prude. And sadly, I am among a minority.

Today, people show up at friend’s weddings in outfits that resemble undergarments used to scare little children back in the day. They wear clothes to work that shouldn’t be worn at home on a Saturday night, much less at work. And when asked to wear a suit, folks wear black, fulfilling their life-long ambitions to look like a cross between secret service agents and funeral home directors. And when asked to wear a Tux, they rent one from Men’s Wearhouse which makes them look like an offshoot of one of the many races on Oz (or a bad Tamil action hero — I haven’t quite decided).

I look around, and I am amazed at the mass of ill-fitting mass produced clothes that make the wearer look like a homeless clown, and why someone would spend inordinate amounts of money to look that way.

I can hardly count the number of people who’ve asked me to help them tie a tie — and when I ask them which knot, I’m inevitably asked, “There’s more than one knot?”.

And jeans? They are ubiquitous. When James Dean wore them to make a statement back in the day, it was a sign of rebellion. Today, they have ironically turned into items of conformity — I cannot remember the number of times I’ve been asked why I wouldn’t dress casual, because anything other than jeans and a t-shirt is quite obviously dressed up.

No, sir. Today, wearing a suit in an eerily casual world is making a statement. It is rebellion to wear a tie in a world where half the population has trouble tying their shoe laces (why bother, when you can buy slip-ons and sandals?).

We now live a world where most people mistake Neapolitan for a flavor of ice cream and Savile Row for a really bad fight. The names Fred Astaire and The Duke of Windsor are unheard of, and sprezzatura sounds like a long dead religion.

A friend sent along this comparison of gender breakdown in terms of payrolls and job loss — Mancession! An Illustrated Analysis.