Bespoke - Veston, suits and tuxedos made to your own measurements, a class of their own for grooms and gentlemen
Mon Amie Suits - Bespoke. Whenever the word bespoke comes up, those who have worn it light up with pride. Everyone understands that the arrival of ready-to-wear was a great revolution in fashion worldwide, giving rise to a whole series of famous fashion brands around the world such as Dior, Armani, Gucci, Massimo Dutti, and street fashion labels (streetwear, street style).
But few people realize that nothing in this world is entirely perfect and no two people are 100% alike. Even among the millions of twins around the world, no two are identical as if cast from the same mould, and no one has a body as perfect as a mannequin, not even famous models or famous footballers such as Beckham or Ronaldo. Every person has more than 20 body measurements. If your body has many imperfections, or even if it is relatively perfect, ready-to-wear has never delivered true elegance and distinction. That is why hundreds of thousands, even millions of people believe that the greatest thing in fashion is a Bespoke suit created just for yourself, a one-of-a-kind piece that surpasses even a ready-to-wear designer suit worth a thousand dollars.
When it comes to Bespoke, you may be hearing the word for the first time and still find it rather vague, just as I did a few years ago when I entered the veston, suit and wedding suit business. But that is fine: even the most fashion-savvy people often confuse the concepts of suit tailoring.
There are currently 3 concepts of made-to-measure suits that fashion lovers should understand: Tailoring – Made to measure – Bespoke. First is Tailoring, from "tailor" (loosely understood as made-to-measure), a concept that covers both Made to measure and Bespoke, the 2 higher-end ways of making menswear.
(Made-to-measure is today a trend and a movement, a mark of class, yet it costs relatively little)
To explain the two concepts of Made to measure and Bespoke in more depth, I will describe the usual tailoring process of most tailors in Vietnam.
1- When you visit a tailor, you choose the fabric and the color, and the tailor takes your measurements.
2- Based on your measurements, the tailor uses a paper pattern as the basis for cutting.
3- The fabric is cut according to that pattern, but checked against your measurements.
4- It is sewn up on the pattern and you have your first fitting. The tailor usually spends quite a lot of time at this fitting, because what you are wearing is the pattern-based sample jacket.
5- Adjustments are made following the first fitting, then you come for a second fitting. At this second fitting there may be slightly fewer adjustments, but because the garment is made from the pattern, the second fitting is considered the most important one before completion.
6- The finished product is completed and you try it on one last time before collecting it. Usually the garment is finished by the third fitting; if adjustments are needed, the customer goes back to an earlier step.
The stages above in Vietnam are similar to the concept of Made to measure abroad. The usual difference is that tailors in Vietnam tend to ask whether you are satisfied and adjust according to your requests, whereas in the UK tailors adjust according to their own standards before asking the customer's opinion..
(Skilled suit tailors are true artists)
A step above Made to measure, Bespoke is a class of its own. After being measured, each customer gets a pattern of their own that fits them exactly. These paper patterns are like your fingerprint: they never get mixed up with anyone else's, and there is no second set. In the UK, the patterns are kept like a personal file for each customer, to be used for later orders.
At a renowned Bespoke house such as Gieves and Hawkes, you could not help being amazed to find your pattern stored next to those of famous figures such as President Bill Clinton, the Queen of England, Winston Churchill or Prince William.
(Mon Amie keeps individual customers' measurements on file for 2 years)
In Vietnam, particularly in Ho Chi Minh City, only 2 major tailors keep patterns in the Bespoke style: Cao Minh and Mon Amie. At Mon Amie in particular, a process that is simple for the customer but painstaking in technique saves customers time when having suits made, while delivering an even more precise fit. It is the choice of businesspeople, grooms, the parents of brides and grooms, and customers having veston made.
1- When you come to Mon Amie, besides choosing fabric, you are advised on materials, styles, different ways of wearing a suit, and the newest veston styles to suit your age and needs, across a range of price points.
2- Then our technical director takes your measurements carefully and with great precision.
3- The fabric is then cut exactly to your body's measurements. With more than 25 years of experience cutting to individual measurements, your personal pattern is formed like a personal file with its own distinct fingerprint.
4- Your suit is sewn by skilled tailors with more than 15 years of experience (the standard for Mon Amie tailors).
5- The finished garment is ready for you to try. Usually 95% fit perfectly; the remaining 5% are customers who want a closer fit or a little more room to match their taste and dressing habits. Within 8 hours, your garment will be adjusted as requested.
6- The pattern is finalized for your later orders.
(Suits made individually by hand are always a class of their own)
Unlike the trend of the 2000–2010 years, when grooms, businessmen and successful men choosing a suit usually bought ready-to-wear products at Parkson, Vincom or famous labels such as Boss, Dolce, Valentino, Dior and so on...
In Vietnam since around 2012, at galas or luxurious weddings, you will see that the trend among modern young men is Bespoke suits, veston made to their own measurements, among which stands out the Mon Amie brand, with fabrics and styles strongly British and Italian and a cut following modern Korean men, which is the fashionable and popular trend in Vietnam.
(Beckham or Prince William, devotees of Bespoke: men who choose clothing made to their own measurements)
Bespoke is like that, and so are the people who wear made-to-measure veston. They are not simply people with money or a love of fashion labels. They are true lovers of fashion, they are artists. Tailors and consultants of Bespoke veston likewise carry the style of an artist in the field of fashion. They may ask you about your needs, your personality, your tastes, the place where you live. Based on that, they will advise you on the most appropriate fabrics and designs so that you can confidently climb the next rungs of life…
For only around VND 3,000,000 for a nice made-to-measure suit, or around VND 10,000,000 for something more upscale, or around $700 – $1,500 for suits in fabric imported from the UK and Italy, a suit made in Vietnam, in Ho Chi Minh City, at Mon Amie is a very attractive price range for young men, businesses and gentlemen who need suits and veston.
If you live in Ho Chi Minh City, or you are abroad and visiting, studying or working in Ho Chi Minh City, instead of spending hours looking at suit brands at Parkson, Vincom, Diamond and so on, try Mon Amie, located on the well-known fashion street of Nguyễn Trãi, at number 357, to admire and order fashionable suits, with colors and imported premium materials, in strongly Korean-style or Italian cuts. Formed and developed since 1991, Hoàng Vy Veston Company and its Mon Amie brand are steadily winning customers in veston and veston uniforms in the Bespoke style.
(3 February 2015, per Mon Kevin, Sales Director of Mon Amie)