Philipp in Overdrive
Philipp is a man after my own heart, a jovial individual travelling through life with generosity, an open mind, and a desire to explore. Living by the personal mantras; ‘do what you love’, ‘test and try’, ‘fail and adapt’, Philipp is the embodiment of a modern dandy and freethinker. In our increasingly homogeneous age it takes courage and action to follow your own ideas but as Philipp has discovered the voyage has many rewards.
Every journey has a beginning and for Philipp it was being duped by an ersatz tailor. The tailor in question was not a master tailor as he claimed but merely a salesman for a substandard made to measure firm. This confusion is actually quite common as such salesmen deliberately muddy the waters with their terminology.
Being a man of positivity Philipp turned this misadventure to his advantage. Getting his money back he sought a real tailor and was delighted to discover Sandro Dühnforth in Hamburg. As is often a good way to start when working with a new tailor Philipp commissioned a classic cut blue suit, and to help others from falling into the same trap he filmed the whole bespoke process and published it on youtube.
As I know from personal experience, the process of bespeaking a suit and watching its creation is very inspiring. Not only do you appreciate the tremendous skills involved, you also cannot help feeling an indulgent pleasure that many hands are all working towards you looking good. The idea of just wearing a generic item of clothing seems rather miserable after having had something marvellous made. Surely it’s better to get a few fabulous pieces tailored exactly as you wish than to wear the jetsam of an off the peg industry.
Bespeaking clothes is an addictive passion and following the success of his first suit Philipp was fishing around for fresh ideas.
Roger Moore has had an influence on many a young man, as James Bond in the mid seventies he managed to make the fashionable wide lapelled suits seem suitable wear for a British agent and his personal style as tailored by Dougie Hayward was much admired. Roger Moore’s central role in Ffolkes is less well known, but he brought a certain panache to the North Sea Hijack film. In one scene he is travelling by train in a Donegal carrick coat with matching hat and these pieces became the object of Philipp’s desire.
Whilst Philipp was contemplating a Donegal cloth, we fortuitously met the tailor Sandro at the Munich Fabric Start trade show. Upon seeing our Orange Overdrive design in a Donegal spun yarn he instantly thought of Philipp and the trinity of tailor, cloth designer and client was complete.
As you can see the outcome of the collaboration is unique and utterly joyful. I was at Pitti Uomo last month as Philipp was showcasing his new coat, it was without doubt a show stopper. The cloth design is obviously eye catching but it was interesting to see how the fine tailoring was much admired just as much as Philipps evident delight with his spectacularly dashing creation.
