S2E5: Elegance

Benjamin Harrison talks to G. Bruce Boyer about the menswear of the 1930s. Boyer curated the male half of the Fashion Institute of Technology Museum's show Fashion in an Age of Crisis: Fashion in the 1930s.

Gucci Gucci Louis Louis Fendi Fendi Prada… what happens when a hundred artisans’ shops become a few global megacompanies? We went to Milan, Italy, to talk to small-scale makers who work in the shadow of fashion conglomerates like Prada. It’s one of our most ambitious episodes and the grand finale of our season. Take Antonio Pio Mele, a cobbler who makes shoes by hand in a small shop in central Milan. He’s grateful that huge brands occasionally hire him to make samples, but he’s angry they rarely pay him on time and that their “bespoke” operations are rarely genuinely bespoke. Scholar Alex Pietrogiacomi provides some philosophical context, and photographer Simone Falcetta explains how consolidation has changed the fashion world. We also talk to Milanese dandy Pino Pipoli, Dave Hill offers a rudiment about black suits, and the beautiful Valentina Galbiati gives us a guided tour of Milan’s most influential and beautiful boutique, 10 Corso Como.

Put This On is in Milan, one of the world's fashion capitals. We visit Carlo Barbera mill and Luciano Barbera, its legendary leader. We talk with the owner of the world's most remarkable men's accessory store, G. Lorenzi, and a Milanese dandy, Salvatore Battello of W-D Man. Then we show you which shoes go with which color suit, and Dave Hill offers a rudiment.

Put This On, a web series about dressing like a grownup, visits London, where we visit with a few of the distinctive personalities that help make London a special place.

Put This On visits London to look at the ways it has been shaped by (and has reinvented) its menswear traditions. We visit W. Bill, the legendary tweed vendor in a basement just off Savile Row. We talk with the painter and musician Ian Bruce about how he's reshaped the legacy of the SoHo dandy. We visit the Drake's factory to see how a tie is made. Then we go to Savile Row, and chat with tailor-owner Richard Anderson and owner-designer Patrick Grant about the tension between old and new in the world's original tailoring street. Plus Dave Hill offers his thoughts on sport sunglasses in Rudiments.

In New York, Jesse goes thrifting with the guys from Street Etiquette, plus what's inside a suit coat, Rudiments with Dave Hill, Lewis Lapham, Jay Kos and more.

In New York City, we learn about 'Lo Heads, meet Jason Marshal, visit Worth and Worth hat shop and learn how to pack a suit.

Sean Crowley is a neckwear designer who lives in Brooklyn with his collection of thousands of vintage neckties.

Dave Hill hits the Ralph Lauren show at Fashion Week to make some friends and do some blow.

Author Bruce Boyer says that there's nothing wrong with being rumpled.