Custom Suits for Burbank

Mr James is a European house, and the shop is at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey. Burbank is the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains from us, and the garments we make for it are cut the same way as everything else that leaves the house: one pattern per person, a chest built by hand over horsehair canvas, and the sewing done in Southern Brittany, France. A two-piece begins at $1,795.

Burbank is a working town. Warner Bros. and Disney both keep their studios inside the city limits, Universal sits just over the line in Universal City, and the blocks between them hold the edit bays, sound stages, post houses and agency offices that keep those lots running. The streets reflect it: the Media District in the south, Magnolia Park and the shops along Magnolia Boulevard, the quiet grid of the Rancho, and San Fernando Boulevard running the length of the old downtown, with the Verdugos behind and Glendale next door.

A suit that reads in a room and on a screen

The brief we are given most often from 91502 or 91505 is unusual, and it is a pleasure to cut for. A jacket has to hold up in a meeting at eye level and then hold up again on a monitor, in a panel, on a stage with a camera on it. Those are not the same test.

What survives both is a cloth with a dry, even surface and a clean mid tone, a shoulder that is built but not announced, and a collar that stays shut against the back of the neck when you lean forward to speak. Fine stripes and tight checks shimmer under a lens, so we steer towards a solid, a soft herringbone or a muted birdseye, in navy, slate and the darker greys. A notch lapel of ordinary width photographs better than a fashionable one, which is a sentence we would write about Burbank and almost nowhere else.

Weight matters more here than along the coast, because a stage is warm and a lot of the day is spent standing. A high twist worsted in the nine to eleven ounce range breathes, resists a crease across the lap and comes back into shape on the hanger overnight.

Coming down to the coast

The 134 west to the 101 south, then the 405 over the Sepulveda Pass and out to the ocean, and down Lincoln to Playa del Rey. Call it fifty minutes when the freeways behave and a good deal more at either end of the working day. The shop is a plain street front, number 221, without a suite number after it, and parking is free both outside the door and round the back, so nothing needs circling and there is no lobby desk to sign.

We work by appointment only, Monday to Sunday, roughly nine until six, and we ask for forty-eight hours' notice. The hour costs nothing and nothing is asked of you at the end of it.

Or we come to Burbank

For most people working on a lot or in a post house, the sensible answer is the second one, which is that we travel. Any address in Los Angeles is $300, travel included, and we arrive with the whole of the cloth table: suitings, shirtings, linings and buttons, with the mill books, and the prices sit on the page as you choose from them. We take something close to thirty measurements, three photographs record how you actually stand, and the finished garments are brought back the same way for the fittings.

An hour in your own office beats two round trips over the hill, and it can be dropped into a gap between sessions rather than built around the traffic. The whole of it, including what we bring and how a visit is arranged, sits on tailor home and office visits Los Angeles. Further west along the 101, where the drive is longer again, custom suits Calabasas sets out the same two options.

What it costs

Two-piece suits begin at $1,795 and so does a tuxedo. A three-piece is $2,045. An overcoat is $1,200, a custom shirt $295, odd trousers $450, and alterations run at $80 an hour. A visit to a home or an office is $300.

Beyond that it is the cloth that moves the figure and never the making. Loro Piana begins at $3,995, Holland & Sherry and Zegna at $3,495, Drago at $2,995. Half is paid when the cloth is chosen and the balance on delivery. Unlimited fittings come with the commission, as does a year of complimentary alterations afterwards. A rush is twenty-five per cent more. Each mill is priced out line by line on bespoke suit cost Los Angeles.

One service, and it is the whole thing

Everything that leaves this house is full canvas and fully bespoke. There is no second tier and no shortened version, so the decision at the cloth table concerns weight, hand and mill rather than how the garment will be built. We do not offer made to measure at all, and the difference between the two is laid out plainly on made to measure Los Angeles.

Every garment the house has ever sent out was sewn by hand by Max, who is the house's French atelier and who works in Southern Brittany. Robb Pollard started Mr James in 2010 and Max has been there from the beginning. We came to Los Angeles in 2015, opened first in Playa Vista in 2017 and have been on Culver Blvd since 2021. Sixteen years in, the method has not changed. As far as we know we are the only genuinely European suitmaker in this city, and there are several very good tailors here we would happily send you to.

Four to six weeks is the usual wait in domestic cloth and six to eight when it travels from Italy or England. A shirt is two to four weeks. Alterations take roughly a week. For the stages of a commission read bespoke tailor Los Angeles; for the range of what we make, including the women's side of the house, see custom suits Los Angeles; and if you are weighing up who to go to, custom tailor Los Angeles sets out what to ask.

Weddings, premieres and black tie

Six months ahead of the date is ideal, three months works comfortably, and six weeks we will still take as a rush. Twelve months we would rather you did not, because a body does not stay still for a year. Groups and wedding parties come down by twenty per cent, fathers and brothers counted in, and when a party is spread between the Valley and the Westside, a single evening in one living room will measure the lot of them. The planning side is on wedding suits Los Angeles.

Black tie is its own discipline and Burbank asks for it more than most parts of the city, between screenings, award evenings and the charity calendar. A dinner suit also starts at $1,795, no more than a plain two-piece, and the detail of shawl against peak, braid, barathea and mohair is on custom tuxedo Los Angeles. Clients heading over the hill for those evenings often read our custom suits Hollywood page as well.

Questions we are often asked

Does Burbank have a bespoke tailor?

Not within the city limits. The house keeps its shop in Playa del Rey, on Culver Blvd at number 221, which is over the Santa Monica Mountains from the Valley, and for $300 we will travel to any home or office in Los Angeles. Nothing leaves here that is not full canvas and fully bespoke, and a two-piece starts at $1,795.

Can you come to a studio lot or a post house in Burbank?

Yes, and it is what most of our Burbank clients prefer. A visit is $300 with travel included, takes about an hour, and brings the full cloth selection with it. If a lot needs a name on a list in advance, tell us when you book and we will send whatever the gate asks for.

What cloth looks best on camera?

A solid or a very quiet weave in a dry finish: navy, slate, charcoal, a soft herringbone or a birdseye. Fine stripes and small checks can shimmer under a lens, and a high sheen reads as cheap on a screen even when the cloth is not. A mid weight high twist keeps its shape through a long day under lights.

What is the drive from Burbank?

The 134 west to the 101 south, over the Sepulveda Pass on the 405, then towards the ocean and into Playa del Rey. Around fifty minutes when it is clear. The shop sits on Culver Blvd at number 221, with no suite number to hunt for and parking free at the front and at the rear.

What will a suit cost?

Two-piece and tuxedo both start at $1,795, with a three-piece at $2,045. An overcoat is $1,200, a shirt $295, odd trousers $450, and alterations $80 an hour. Finer cloths cost more: Loro Piana at $3,995, Holland & Sherry and Zegna at $3,495, Drago at $2,995. The construction does not change between them.

How long will I wait?

Domestic cloth runs four to six weeks and imported cloth six to eight. A shirt is two to four weeks. Alterations take roughly a week. We can bring a suit forward for twenty-five per cent more, though a commission is better not hurried.

Do you make for women?

Yes, on the same patterns, by the same method and at the same prices. The house has always dressed women as well as men, and the garment is fully bespoke either way.

Who will I actually meet?

Robb or Ben, and there are only the two of us. Whoever takes your measurements at the consultation is the same person who runs the fittings and hands the garment over at the end. The first hour is free and carries no obligation.

Come and see us, or let us come to you

We are at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey, CA 90293, open Monday to Sunday by appointment, roughly nine until six, with parking free at either end of the building. Reserve an hour, write to mrjames@bespokemrjames.com, or telephone 310-503-3592. If the hill is the obstacle, say so and we will come to Burbank instead.

Nearby: custom suits Sherman Oaks · custom suits Pasadena · custom suits Downtown Los Angeles. Reading: what separates a suit from a blazer · where a trouser should break.