Imagine walking into a bespoke tailor and finding clothes on long racks, inspiration pieces on mannequins, and unusual mid-century furniture. A tailor, in other words, that makes it immediately clear that they have just as much of an aesthetic vision as they do a craft one.
Luca Museo in Seoul, South Korea is this kind of atelier and the more you think about it, the more odd it seems that other tailors aren’t similar. In my experience most don’t care much about the design side – it’s just the work and a set of cloth books – or their taste level is, in my view at least, not the highest.
There are, of course, some very attractive bespoke shops. One of my favourites is Anderson & Sheppard on Old Burlington Street, which manages to somehow feel both traditional and up to date at the same time. It’s beautiful.
But it doesn’t feel like a clothing shop; there’s very little to look at. Most tailors have a handful of mannequins at most, nothing to inspire from season to season in the way the retail brands around them do. It’s just not how bespoke is set up.
The Korean tailors I visited in Seoul last year were markedly different, and Luca Museo most of all. The atelier is just behind a main shopping thoroughfare, with a lovely coffee shop opposite. The inside is all beige and blond wood, with two big sofas around an intricate coffee table. It feels a lot more like Loro Piana than Savile Row.
Korean tailoring is a small world, and two of the team at Luca Museo worked previously at B&Tailor, which was the forerunner for a lot of bespoke in the country. But they also trained abroad, with Ivano working at Saroria Pirozzi in Naples before moving back to Korea.
Their house style is a full cut, with wider shoulders and high-waisted trousers. They commented that they have quite a few domestic clients who are big gym-goers, and the wider shoulders and large sleeve help accommodate that physique.
They’re more influenced by 1930s and 1940s tailoring than by recent trends, and you can see that in those fits, in the wider-leg trousers and in some of the bolder materials. It should be said that in the richer areas of Seoul, it’s easier to wear this kind of tailoring than it would be in New York or London.
Luca Museo also have a tendency towards obvious finishing details, like prominent pick stitching around the edges and seams – often two rows of it.
This is something that appeals to me less, and I think they guys will forgive me for saying it’s something I associate with men who get bespoke for the first time – it’s that urge to make it obvious the suit is bespoke, to add more bells and whistles than probably sensible. Over time, they tend to realise that elegance is quieter than that.
The polo coat, below, is a good example of Luca Museo having something on display that is bespoke but made to be picked up and tried on. I did, and the cut was beautiful. But it’s also an example of going a little overboard on the details, like those big rows of pick stitching on the lapels.
Luca Museo were keen to make me something, to demonstrate their work, and I agreed to a three-piece navy suit. I doubt I’ll wear the waistcoat much, but they wanted to demonstrate the full range.
It was fitted twice during the trip, a third time in January at Pitti, and a fourth at Pitti again this past June. I’ll cover and review the suit soon.
At the fittings I found there were one or two things I wouldn’t have gone with design-wise, like a purple lining, but I learnt early on that hospitality dictated some of these decisions being made by the host. That also included a coat, pictured below, which we ended up changing.
Of course, this was just because they saw me as being someone they were hosting in the country – it wouldn’t be the case with a regular tailoring appointment or trunk show. (They currently travel to New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Taiwan.)
I was already impressed with the set-up of the shop before the guys took me downstairs to the bar they had in the basement, which also had a small selection of RTW knitwear and a try-on space.
It’s always been a bugbear of mine that new shops create a ‘VIP area’ where they hope customers will hang out and pass the time. No one really wants to hang out in a shop unless they’re actually friends with the owners, and the spaces are usually quite sterile.
But the Luca Museo bar was impressive (as indeed most bars in Korea are). Small but beautiful, I actually did want to spend the hour I had before my next appointment there.
The knitwear, meanwhile, was almost treated as an afterthought, yet I found it as well executed as pieces we feature from Rubato or Colhays. There were fine-merino knits with a good stand collar, and cardigans too, both designed to work under tailoring.
It set the seal for me on an experience that felt like it showed how well bespoke tailoring and luxury retail could sit together.
Luca Museo offer three levels of make: Blue, White and Black label.
– Black is the full bespoke, which I am covering
– White is bespoke cut and fitted, but with some work (eg chest padding) done by machine
– Blue is made to measure, largely machine made and outsourced
Starting prices for each level (for a two-piece suit) are: $2,000, $2,500 and $3,800. Trunk shows are currently held in New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Taiwan. All Asian trunk shows are hosted by Coller (prices might vary there slightly).
lucamuseo.com
@lucamuseo
More on the Luca Museo tailoring itself soon
