Custom Suits for Brentwood

Mr James is a European tailoring house in Playa del Rey, roughly twenty minutes from Brentwood down the 405 or along Sepulveda. We cut from a pattern drawn for one person, build every jacket on a full canvas, and have each garment made by hand in our own French atelier; suits start at $1,795.

A wardrobe rather than a suit

Brentwood clients tend to come to us differently. Rarely for one garment and an occasion — more often because something in a wardrobe has stopped working. A suit that fitted five years ago no longer does. A jacket that was always slightly wrong has finally become annoying. A son is getting married.

That is a good way to start, and it is worth saying what it means practically. Because we draw a pattern rather than adjust a block, the first commission is the expensive part in time, not the later ones. The pattern is kept on file. A second suit, a jacket, a set of shirts eighteen months later — all of those are built from the same pattern, adjusted for how you have changed. On shirts in particular it is worth reading what to order first before committing to a dozen.

Men who intend to own good clothes for a long time get more out of bespoke than men buying once, which is the opposite of how it is usually sold.

Getting here from Brentwood

From San Vicente or Sunset it is the 405 south to Culver Boulevard, then west to the water, roughly twenty minutes; from the Brentwood Country Mart side, Bundy to Lincoln and down is often quicker. Either way it is a shorter drive than most Brentwood residents make for anything else they have made by hand.

Who comes to us from Brentwood

Brentwood clients tend to be settled men with established wardrobes: partners at firms in Century City, people in the business who dress for premieres twice a year and for board meetings every month, fathers of the bride. They rarely need one suit. They need the wardrobe sorted, and a pattern on file so the next piece is easy.

What it costs

Suits from $1,795, three-piece from $2,045, overcoats from $1,200 and shirts at $295, fittings unlimited and alterations free for a year. Prices by cloth house are set out on bespoke suit cost Los Angeles, and how much a bespoke suit costs in Los Angeles sets out where the money goes.

Alterations and older garments

We also alter, at $80 an hour, and we are happy to look at something made elsewhere. Sometimes the honest answer is that a jacket is worth altering and sometimes it is that the shoulders are wrong and no alteration will fix it. We will tell you which, and we will not use the visit to sell you a replacement. Where the line falls is set out in what can be changed on a suit and what cannot, and the breadth of the trade in what a tailor actually does.

A fused jacket that has begun to bubble across the chest cannot be saved, for the reasons in full canvas, half canvas or fused. A well-made canvassed jacket that no longer fits the waist usually can, and often for very little.

Black tie and weddings

A dinner suit is a different garment from a dark lounge suit — barathea rather than worsted, silk on the lapel, no vent, a covered waistband. Midnight blue photographs blacker than black, which is why it is worth the conversation. Our page for a custom tuxedo Los Angeles sets it out, and if you have been hiring one each winter, the arithmetic of renting a tuxedo or having one made is worth ten minutes.

For weddings, six months ahead is perfect and three is comfortable. Wedding parties are discounted twenty per cent. See the page for wedding suits Los Angeles.

How a commission runs

The first appointment is free and takes an hour; delivery is four to six weeks in domestic cloth and six to eight in imported. How each fitting works is explained on our page for bespoke suits Los Angeles, what to wear and bring to the first hour on booking a fitting, and the schedule week by week in how long it takes to make a bespoke suit.

Questions we are often asked

Can you work around a Century City or Westwood office?

Yes. We do office visits across the Westside for $300, including travel, and many Brentwood clients have their fittings at the office rather than at home. There is a page for custom suits Westwood with the drive and the local brief written out.

What do most Brentwood clients commission first?

A navy or mid-grey two-piece in a four-season worsted, because it works for the office, dinner and a wedding. The second commission is usually a jacket and odd trousers for the weekend.

How far ahead should I book for a Brentwood wedding?

Six months is ideal, three is comfortable, six weeks is possible as a rush. Wedding parties are twenty per cent off.

Come and see us

221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey. By appointment, forty-eight hours ahead. Book online or ring 310-503-3592; parking is free front and back.

More: custom suits Los Angeles · bespoke tailor Los Angeles · made to measure Los Angeles · about the house.

Nearby: custom suits Santa Monica · custom suits Pacific Palisades · custom suits Beverly Hills · custom suits Venice · custom suits Mar Vista.