Taille This on for Size Paris Taille, the French word for "size" or "waist" also means "cut with precision;" it is the most accurate name this menswear line could possibly be blessed with. It's no secret that men have a slightly different method of shopping than women. Fantasy is cast aside to make room for decisions based on structure, form, and engineering; this is where designer Wim Neels excels with Taille. Such is the precision of the cut that a customer can call in and ask, "What's new in size 48?" When the list is reeled off, he can say "I'll take the navy pea coat, one of each shirt, and all the jumpers." In Paris the pieces fly off the racks at such speed ? mostly by phone ? that Taille never makes it to the sales. So what men may lack in fantasy, they make up for in obsession. Surprisingly reasonable prices mean that the volume of your Taille wardrobe depends less on the depth of your wallet and more on whether you keep the stockists on speed dial. For those who have the time and prefer to see and touch the fabric before they empty their bank accounts, Wim Neels occasionally makes a few pieces exclusively for l'Éclaireur in Paris, where it is a pleasure to hear the staff wax lyrical as they show off structural details the uneducated eye might miss. They whisper in hushed tones: many of the Taille clients are, in fact, designers themselves. So under the radar is Wim Neels that even Stephen McIlvenna, one of the store's conseillere en mode who has been with l'Éclaireur as long as Neel's line, has never laid eyes on the mysterious designer ? not that he is the first of the Belgians to adopt this tactic. There is no question that this sense of mystery played its part in the cult status acquired by Maison Martin Margiela. Models have been known to spend hours completely unaware that they were undergoing a fitting by Margiela himself (and we can count on our fingers the number of portraits anyone has seen of Ann Demeulemeester and Dries Van Noten.) Very much in contrast is the approach to fashion by Tom Ford. Just as much the perfectionist as Wim Neels, Tom Ford was chosen (instead of Neels) to take over the reins at Gucci back in 1995 when they both worked for the house. Since then, Wim Neels has launched three lines: Vêtements de Travail, a concise collection of basics; Vêtements Wim Neels, which is available only in northern Europe; and Taille, the label of which is simply the size of the article: 46, 48, 50, 52, or 54. -Karina Jeffrey Photos: Wim Neels | |
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Taille by Wim Neels
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Taille by Wim Neels
...I mean the ephemeral, the fugitive, the contingent, the half of art whose other half is the eternal and the immutable.Tags: None
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Re: Taille by Wim Neels
Yep, I'm going to check it out. Wim Neels is an interesting figure - he ALMOST went the way of Margiela, but somehow stopped short, maybe couldn't find funding. His stuf is basic, but well made. Basically, he's done everything someone like Stephen Schneider, and now Patrick Ervell are doing. I used to have a cool coat by him, which I lost in the Paris airport. I haven't seen his stuff in over a year, so naturally curious to see what he is up to.
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde
StyleZeitgeist Magazine
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Re: Taille by Wim Neels
[quote user="merz"]I'm quite taken with that overcoat in the foreground bottom photograph, but the article brings yet another letdown - the bastard does not make anything in 44. Screw this, i'm moving to japan.
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What if you start eating a lot and go to the gym? [:D]Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde
StyleZeitgeist Magazine
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Re: Taille by Wim Neels
I have a few items of his from the Taille line (two pants, one shirt) that I bought at MAC in San Francisco. I hadn't heard of him, but bought them because they fit me so well. Since then, MAC has not carried him, and I've been curious to see more. As the article states, he's not easy to find; nor is his clothing. It'd be great to find a stockist in the US.
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Re: Taille by Wim Neels
I know Barneys Co-Op at the flagship on Madison carried his line for a while, but I they have dropped it.
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde
StyleZeitgeist Magazine
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Re: Taille by Wim Neels
I've always found it fascinating to learn about who was chosen to head what line over whom.
If Neels had been chosen for Gucci, I wonder a) where Gucci would be today and b) where Tom Ford would be today.
Neels' line from the photos isn't amazing, but is still conceptually interesting. It's definitely hard to find designers/lines these days that offer both a custom fit to their clothes and extremely innovative styles.
That being said, there will forever be a market for sharp fitting classic pieces such as those that Neels' offers. Wish there were more photos that were less..... artistic so you can see the cut and silhouette!www.AlbertHuangMD.com - Digital Portfolio Of Projects & Designs
Merz (5/22/09):"i'm a firm believer that the ultimate prevailing logic in design is 'does shit look sick as fuck' "
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Re: Taille by Wim Neels
/\ In addition, I would like to see his store open on Monday. I know it's a novel concept, but something he should try.
Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde
StyleZeitgeist Magazine
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