Custom Suits for Studio City

Mr James is a European tailoring house, and the shop is at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey. Studio City is on the other side of the Santa Monica Mountains from us, something under twenty miles by any of the three routes over the hill. A two-piece begins at $1,795, every garment is full canvas, and every one is sewn by hand at the house atelier in Southern Brittany, France.

Studio City is the eastern end of Ventura Boulevard and the point where the 101 turns towards the Cahuenga Pass. The lot that gave the neighbourhood its name still works at that end of it, and the sound stages, cutting rooms and offices around it are the reason a good many people in 91604 and 91602 need a jacket that behaves. Behind the boulevard the streets climb into the hills; in front of it the valley floor runs flat and west towards Sherman Oaks.

Three ways over the hill, which is unusual

Most of the Valley has one route to the Westside and has to take it. Studio City has three, and they sit within a few blocks of each other, which makes the drive here a choice rather than a sentence.

Laurel Canyon Boulevard climbs south out of the boulevard and comes down above the Sunset Strip. Coldwater Canyon Avenue does the same thing a mile west and lands in Beverly Hills. Or the 101 west to the 405 and over the Sepulveda Pass, which is the longer line on a map and often the shorter one on a clock. A canyon is pleasant at ten in the morning and tiresome at six in the evening; the freeway is the reverse. We would simply say that whichever one you take, tell us what time suits you and we will set the hour around the traffic rather than against it.

We are by appointment only, Monday to Sunday, roughly nine until six, and we ask for forty-eight hours' notice. Number 221 is a plain street front with no suite number after it, and the parking is free both outside the door and at the back, so there is nothing to circle and no desk to sign.

A wardrobe for the valley floor and the coast in one day

The brief we hear most often from this part of the Valley is a genuine one, and it comes out of geography rather than taste. The valley floor sits inland and runs hot through the long middle of the year. The coast at Playa del Rey, fifteen miles away, is cooler and damper for most of the same afternoon. A man who starts the day on Ventura Boulevard and finishes it at dinner on the Westside is dressing for two climates and usually owns clothes for only one.

What answers it is weight and weave rather than another suit. A high twist worsted in the nine to eleven ounce range breathes in the heat, keeps a crease across the lap through a day of sitting and comes back on the hanger overnight. An open weave in a mid grey or a soft navy carries a canyon evening without a coat. And a jacket cut with a little more room through the scye moves in warm weather without looking loose in a cool room three hours later. Half-lined or quarter-lined in summer cloth, and the same pattern lined fully for the winter, gives two garments out of one draft.

Along the valley floor to the west the same conditions hold, and the two routes to us are set out side by side on custom suits Sherman Oaks. East of here, past Toluca Lake, the question becomes how a cloth behaves under lights rather than in the heat, and that is the subject of custom suits Burbank.

Or we come to Studio City

We do not keep a Studio City address and have never pretended otherwise. What we do instead is drive. A visit to a home or an office anywhere in Los Angeles is $300, travel included, and we arrive with the whole of the cloth table: suitings, shirtings, linings, buttons and the mill books, with the prices sitting on the page as you choose from them. Around thirty measurements are taken, three photographs record how you actually stand, and the finished garments come back over the hill the same way for the fittings.

For an address off Ventura Boulevard, or on a lot, an hour in your own room usually costs less than two canyon crossings and can be dropped into a gap in the day rather than built around one. What a visit includes and how it is arranged is set out on tailor home and office visits Los Angeles. Where several people are commissioning at once, one evening in a single living room measures all of them.

What it costs

A two-piece starts at $1,795 and so does a dinner suit. A three-piece is $2,045. An overcoat is from $1,200, odd trousers are $450, a custom shirt is $295. A visit to a home or office is $300.

Beyond that the figure follows the cloth and never the making. Drago begins at $2,995, Zegna and Holland & Sherry at $3,495, Loro Piana at $3,995. Half is paid when the cloth is chosen and the balance on delivery. Unlimited fittings come with every commission, as does a year of complimentary alterations afterwards, and 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 of it, 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 is laid out plainly on made to measure Los Angeles.

A pattern is drafted from around thirty measurements and three photographs, so that posture is recorded and not dimensions alone. A canvas of horsehair and wool is built into the chest by hand, which moulds to you over the first months and then holds its shape for years. Every garment the house has sent out since Robb Pollard founded it in 2010 has been sewn by hand by Max, the house's French atelier, in Southern Brittany. We came to Los Angeles in 2015 and have been on Culver Blvd since 2021. 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.

The stages of a commission are described on bespoke suits Los Angeles, and the full range of what the house makes, for women as well as men, is on custom suits Los Angeles. Turnaround is four to six weeks in domestic cloth and six to eight when the cloth travels from Italy or England. A shirt is two to four weeks.

Weddings and black tie

Six months before the date is perfect, three is comfortable, and six weeks we will still take as a rush. Twelve months out we would rather you waited, because a body does not stay still for a year. Wedding parties and groups come down by twenty per cent, fathers and brothers counted in. A party scattered between the Valley and the Westside is the clearest case for a visit, and a dinner suit starts at $1,795, no more than a plain two-piece.

Questions we are often asked

Is there a bespoke tailor in Studio City?

Not in Studio City itself. Mr James is a European tailoring house at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey, on the coast side of the Santa Monica Mountains, and we also come to homes and offices anywhere in Los Angeles for $300. A two-piece starts at $1,795 and every garment is full canvas and fully bespoke.

What is the best route from Studio City to the shop?

There are three and they are all reasonable. Laurel Canyon Boulevard or Coldwater Canyon Avenue south over the hill and then west towards the coast, or the 101 west to the 405 and over the Sepulveda Pass. The canyons are pleasant in the morning and slow in the evening, the freeway is usually the other way round. Number 221 has no suite number and parking is free in front and behind.

Will you come over the hill to Studio City?

Yes. A visit to a home or office anywhere in Los Angeles is $300, which includes travel and the full cloth selection brought with us, suitings, shirtings, linings and the mill books. Finished garments come to you for the fittings the same way. For an address off Ventura Boulevard it is often the simpler of the two arrangements.

What cloth suits a Valley address?

A high twist worsted in the nine to eleven ounce range, or an open weave in a mid grey or a soft navy. The valley floor runs warm and the coast runs cool on the same afternoon, so a cloth that breathes and recovers its shape matters more here than it does fifteen miles west. The same pattern can be made half-lined for summer and fully lined for winter.

What does a bespoke suit cost for a Studio City client?

A two-piece starts at $1,795, a three-piece at $2,045, a tuxedo at $1,795, an overcoat at $1,200, odd trousers $450 and a custom shirt $295. Cloth from the finer mills costs more: Drago from $2,995, Zegna and Holland and Sherry from $3,495, Loro Piana from $3,995. The making is identical at every price, full canvas throughout.

How long does a commission take?

Four to six weeks in domestic cloth and six to eight if the cloth travels from Italy or England. A shirt is two to four weeks. A rush at twenty-five per cent more will bring a suit forward, though we would rather not hurry it.

Do you cut for women?

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

Is the first appointment free, and who will I meet?

The first hour is free: around thirty measurements, three photographs and a long look at cloth, with nothing asked of you at the end of it. You will meet Robb or Ben. There are two of us, and whichever one you see at the consultation sees the garment through to delivery.

Come and see us, or let us come to you

221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey, CA 90293, seven days a week by appointment, roughly nine until six, with free parking at either end of the building. Reserve an hour, read what the first visit involves on the book a fitting page, or telephone 310-503-3592. If the hill is the obstacle, say so when you call and we will come to Studio City instead.

Nearby: custom suits Hollywood · custom suits West Hollywood · custom suits Beverly Hills · custom suits Glendale · custom suits Woodland Hills. Reading: British, Italian or American suit styles · how to wear a custom suit through the Los Angeles year.