The extensive measurements are taken on the third floor where you’re escorted by one of the very reserved and courteous staff. The tape measure held in the seasoned hands of the tailor has mapped many a torso’s dimensions and inevitable asymmetries. Who knew there would be at a minimum twenty-five to thirty individual numbers of calibration? And all this…for a shirt?
When in Paris, most visitors think in terms of monuments, museums, fashion and of course food and wine. But what is not readily apparent is that Paris, and indeed France, is home to some of the most talented artisans producing goods and services of the highest quality in almost every conceivable category.
There are the well-known houses of Cartier/jewelry, Baccarat/crystal, Christolfe/silver, Hermes/leather, and Bernardaud/fine china, but these are only a few among a cadre of others that are experts at their specialty. Producing exquisite wallpapers, rare book bindings, as well as all the haute couture support industries of finishing techniques such as embroidery, lace-making and jewel appliqué. In France, there is a fierce pride in craftsmanship and in the intricate and passed-down knowledge that is revered to be part of the patrimony of France. It is considered a national treasure.
Which brings me back to shirts. Every year as I invariably make my way back to the City of Light…and Love, I always look forward to my visit to Charvet; a store considered to be the finest tailor of shirts in the world and reputed to be the world’s first retail shirt maker. As a matter of fact, Charvet holds so many firsts in the bespoke shirt category that there is no second place. Charvet was the first to cut cloth in shapes to fit the body rather than in random squares, first to cut the shoulder yoke, first with the folded down collar, and the list goes on and on.
Located in Paris at 28, place Vendome, the beautiful square that is midway between the Tuleries Gardens and the Opera. This storied square is also home to some of the world’s most important jewelers like Cartier, Boucheron, Van Cleef, and Mauboussin. And the famed Ritz Hotel stands across the square strategically located for Charvet’s customers. The firm dates to 1838 and even prior to that the family and founder had a connection to Napoleon Bonaparte as the keeper of the “linens” which included bedding, shirting and underwear. Since Napoleonic times through wars and worse, Charvet has continued to make shirts for luminaries of each period including Edward VII, and many other royals, Charles Baudelaire, the French poet, Marcel Proust, Charles De Gaulle, Nelson Rockefeller, Baron de Rothschild, John F. Kennedy; the list is endless.
My own experience with bespoke shirts started in London back in the mid 1960’s. At that time, Carnaby Street was fashion-forward central, and I had a few shirts made by John Stephen, the King of Mod, as he was known, who also made shirts for The Beatles and the Rolling Stones. I can’t say I would wear them today, but I wish I had saved at least one of them because they have become quite valuable as collectibles of the period. Then in Florence, Italy, I had handmade shirts, a gift from my father-in-law of the time. He was obsessed over his shirts to the point that he had the tailor make his shirts and boxers in one piece. This unusual architecture prevented the shirt from gradually creeping out of the trousers and the result was a kind of day-long smoothness to the shirt. In Florence, real Florentines had everything handmade, suits, shirts, belts, shoes, ties, gloves. After these early experiences, finally, about fifteen years ago, I got up enough nerve to enter those revered halls at Charvet, aka the Mecca for shirts.
While Charvet sells ready-to-wear shirts in the Paris store and across the world in exclusive stores like Bergdorf Goodman in New York, the inner sanctum is the third floor in their signature building on the place Vendome in Paris. Here there are 6,000 bolts of cloth displayed. Organized by color, stacks of cloth are piled on tables and stuffed in shelves, filling the entire floor. Moreover, each color way encompasses a complete spectrum of the color in solids, stripes of varying widths, dots of graded diameter, and checks in various sizes. Then there is “the wall of whites”, hundreds of shades of cream to white to bright white, white on white, cream on white, white with stripes, ad infinitum. As Jean Cocteau once mused, “it’s where the rainbow gets ideas.”
The Charvet experience begins with the measurements, but then a barrage of other questions come up; like what cloth? Most of the shirts are made from the finest Egyptian cotton from the Nile Valley, but there is silk as well and all kinds of weights of cloth dependent on season and geography. Buttons are important, too. Only Australian mother-of pearl from the top surface of inside the shell will do for the elegant buttons of a Charvet shirt. Then there is the choice of collar style, and whether French cuffs or regular buttoned sleeves. Meticulously, they tailor the left sleeve with a greater circumference to allow free passage of the cuff over a large wrist watch accommodating the current fashion. Finally, the style, size, and location of the embroidered initials are determined. I take mine plain, no initials. But before any shirts are made, a sample is prepared for a “fitting.” Only after everything is verified for appearance and comfort will the shirts be made. And each shirt is made by a single artisan. No assembly line efficiences here.
Over the years, I have built up quite a collection, and my inventory allows me to wear each shirt sparingly. And it is important how they are cared for because rough machine laundering and pressing can do more harm than any wearing can. I have also discovered that there is a side health benefit to owning these lovely shirts. I call it the Charvet scale. When any of my shirts start to get a little tight, I cut back on the calories to make sure that the shirts don’t become obsolete.
Most years, I’ll fill in where I think I’m short a color or trend. Charvet is constantly designing new shirt fabrics with new designs and colors and combinations, some 1000 annually, all of which are registered. Now when I go in—I make an appointment– I’m always greeted by the same person, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of what is new, what I have, and when I bought it.
And there was a year when I didn’t make the pilgrimage, but not to worry, a selection of swatches was sent to me. I made my choice and voila, four weeks later the shirts miraculously appeared. And Charvet has clients all over the world who routinely use this personalized service.
Once and awhile, I will buy other shirts that I like, but I always continue to patronize the artisans on the place Vendome, because I respect and treasure their devotion to their craft, plus there is hardly anything more luxurious than having something made specifically for yourself.
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