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 make fully canvassed, fully bespoke suits from $1,795, cut from a pattern drawn for one man and made by our own atelier in Southern Brittany, France.
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.
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.
What it costs
| Two-piece suit | from $1,795 |
| Three-piece suit | from $2,045 |
| Tuxedo | from $1,795 |
| Custom shirt | $295 |
| Odd trousers | $450 |
| Overcoat | from $1,200 |
Finer mills from Drago at $2,995, Zegna and Holland & Sherry at $3,495, Loro Piana at $3,995. The price is set by the cloth; the making does not change. Unlimited fittings and one year of complimentary alterations are included. More on the cost page.
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.
A fused jacket that has begun to bubble across the chest cannot be saved. 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 tuxedo page sets it out.
For weddings, six months ahead is perfect and three is comfortable. Wedding parties are discounted twenty per cent. See the wedding suits page.
How a commission runs
The first meeting is an hour and free. You meet Robb or Ben; one of them is at every fitting. Around thirty measurements and three photographs, which record posture. Four to six weeks in domestic cloth, six to eight in imported.
If the drive is inconvenient, a home or office visit anywhere in Los Angeles is $300, including travel and a full selection of cloth and finished garments.
Come and see us
221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey. Monday to Sunday by appointment, roughly nine until six, forty-eight hours' notice. Free parking front and back.
Book a private consultation — or telephone 310-503-3592, or write to mrjames@bespokemrjames.com.
More: bespoke suits · made to measure vs bespoke · about the house.