Individual Sentiments

[magic]

S/S10 is the first season to see use of Guidi leather.

Thanks^ how about the A/W09? they have quite afew leather piece as well, jacket, boots and bags..

[Faust]

All those interested in IS/Guidi leather should see Geoffrey B. Small's post made of 11-30-2007, 02:23 PM, in the 'Carpe Diem, August, Guidi Comparison' thread. I'm not going to quote it and take this thread off topic again, or Faust will kick my ass!

Yea, he really laid it on in that one. Tell Geoffrey to come back and post :-)

[Faust]

Peter is most def a great buyer,he has a fantastic eye!
Gio (owner of vertice) is not so bad but still has that italian thing going on. Although Keven at vertice is fucking cool,really nice guy and has some serious steez! ol mr snafu can attest to that.

That Vertice store is fucking schizoid.

[SHYE_POSER]

Just like the owner!

[hobo]

Yea, he really laid it on in that one. Tell Geoffrey to come back and post :-)

I already did! I think he's probably up to his eyes in work right now though. I know his wife is away in the States and he's got looming delivery dates.

That's the downside to keeping complete control over your production (all in house). When you're a man down, there's no one but you to pick up the slack.

He does work like a demon though!

[sshum88]

I thought I would share my impressions of the few pieces of IS that recently dropped at Sydney's here in Toronto. The fabrics are amazing to the touch and the construction is top notch. All pieces are made in Japan. I tried on size 2 in the coats and size 2 & 3 in the pants...for reference, I'm between a 46-48 in coats and waist size of 32".

Coats: tried on the grey 3 layered hooded coat and the black shawl collar. The pictures don't do the layered hooded coat justice. As mentioned previously by David, the coat feels substantial but lightweight. The top knit is tightly woven and is very soft. There are only 2 small hook enclosures which are almost invisible...a great little detail. A little hard to find at first, but if you own the piece, it shouldn't be an issue.

The shawl collar coat is light weight but still suitable for the cold winters here in Toronto. The wool appearts to have been washed (?) which gives the garment a slightly 'crumpled' effect but not like it needs to be ironed. It's a nice little detail which is complemented by the small shawl collar. This coat fit me better than the layered coat but I'll need to confirm this when it's not so hot outside! It will be a hard choice to pick between the two.

Pants: they had 3 pair of pants in stock...one in heavy cotton, one in a smooth wool finish and another in an wooley-knit (bad description). All of the pants were a slim to straight cut. I tried on the first 2...all the pants were fully lined and made them feel very substantial which makes them great for the winters here. The cotton pants in a size 2 fit nicely...these pants have front pockets defined by a vertical slit. The smooth wool finish pants don't have front pockets which was the only thing that I didn't like about them...the size 3 in these were too big. Both pairs would be a great addition to one's wardrobe...if I could only pick one, I would lean towards the smooth wool finish pants.

I didn't get a chance to try on any of the tops...there was a button up shirt and 2 other pullover styles...one was 100% cotton and the other cotton/wool blend I believe. The cuts looked great and the materials felt wonderful.

[Faust]

Thanks, sshum. After seeing it in Paris, I can definitely say it's a winner.

[lowrey]

hmm.. just out of curiousity, what did Sydney's carry a year or two ago? I was under the impression that they were a somewhat more classic menswear store, but it seems like they are suddenly jumping on every label that has even the slightest of buzz.

[sshum88]

I only moved to Toronto about a year ago so I'm not sure of the history. You're probably right in that he might have carried more of the classic labels like BOO in the past. I talked to Sydney a couple of times and he's certainly interested in bringing in some of the more interesting lines like MA+, IS, RO mainline etc. but in very small numbers. It's a good way to test the market. For example, for IS they only purchased 1 of each item in size 2 & 3. They brought in one model of the Augusta boot and derby in the spring but I believe he only purchased sizes 7-8-9-10 and once again only in quantity of one.

I got the sense from our discussions that he's willing to try out a line and based on the sell-through, purchase for the next season or bring in another line. His store is fairly small and they are going to open up the 2nd floor to support the new lines. They want to keep their other lines to ensure they reach more affordable price points.

Oh yeah, they also received some Damir Doma pieces and expecting Boris sometime soon. I didn't realize that Doma had knits until I saw it at Sydneys...they had an interesting toque which I was trying to figure out how to wear due to a single flap on one side.

I'm curious to hear from those who have had the opportunity to handle the IS pants and their impressions based on comparisions to LUC or MA+ pants...like those LUC J cotton pants posted up in the LUC thread.

[Faust]

SZ will take over the world one day.

[lowrey]

Oh yeah, they also received some Damir Doma pieces and expecting Boris sometime soon. I didn't realize that Doma had knits until I saw it at Sydneys...they had an interesting toque which I was trying to figure out how to wear due to a single flap on one side.

I'm curious to hear from those who have had the opportunity to handle the IS pants and their impressions based on comparisions to LUC or MA+ pants...like those LUC J cotton pants posted up in the LUC thread.

Damir has had quite a bit of knitwear, not all stores buy it though. some of the knit pieces are my favourite ones from him, like a simple cashmere crewneck with an distorted hemline and heavily dropped shoulders. the knit cardigans are also quite nice.

regarding the IS trousers, well it really depends on the model as there are various, overall there might be some similarities to m.a+ but the cuts are still a bit different as are the materials. Maurizio uses fabrics that have a more raw feel to them, IS has softer materials mostly, like jerseys, wool etc. I don't recall either label having any trousers that'd be style wise even remotely similar to the LUC ones, as the material is rigid cotton and the cut is very unique.

[sshum88]

Thanks for the info about the Doma knits...I've never seen it before so it was all new to me.

Just remembered...if you appreciate little details on a piece of clothing...the IS pants had these belt loops that were constructed from a single piece of thicker thread/string. This same concept was used for the top (waist) enclosure where one might normally find one of those metal type of hooks.

On the shawl collar coat, she used a string type of system where you had to wind it around a button on the inside flap. Nice little details and for me they are so subtle as if she wants you to focus on the main part of the garment.

[hamham3002]

about Sydney's, they carried BoO, Opening Ceremony, Raf by Raf, and some denim brands the first time I went in. Sydney seems to been interested in denim and have heard he does custom jeans.
Last summer was when they brought in some of the SZ related brands, such as Viridi, KK Attachment, Drkshdw... added Julius, Mihara, Augusta, Nicolo Ceschi Berrini, Dries and raf mainline for the summer.. and as sshum said DD, MA+, BBS, IS and RO mainline and i think LUC too
Sydney's been wearing some of these brands i think already before he got them in stock.. its nice to have a store in toronto to check out these brands locally.

[jamesd]

^ Thank you for the IS review at Sydney's -- I have to go up there and see the pieces in person. It really has been dramatic, how that store has added so many different collections the last year or so. So far, I've liked what they've added as far as lines but haven't been overly impressed with the actual pieces they have selected (though, to be fair, they are only selecting a few pieces from each line and thus it's understandable that the choices are conservative).

[theaddict]

well, since Komakino, which i guess was the institution for SZ approved brands in Canada closed its brick and mortar location in that part of the world, shops like Sidney see their chance to fill a gap...He was here in Berlin a few weeks ago, nice guy. Was on the hunt for CCP...haha