Custom Suits for Westchester

Mr James is the nearest bespoke tailoring house to Westchester, ten minutes down the hill at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey. Two-piece suits from $1,795, every one fully canvassed, cut to a pattern that exists only for you and made by hand at our atelier in Southern Brittany.

Westchester sits inland from Playa del Rey, above the airport, with Sepulveda and Manchester running through the middle of it. From anywhere in 90045 the bespoke tailor in Playa del Rey is a short drive west, which makes this less a tailor near Westchester than Westchester's own tailor, a few streets over the bluff.

Three neighbourhoods either side of Westchester keep us as busy. Playa Vista is immediately north across Jefferson, and the people commissioning custom suits in Playa Vista work in the same offices as a good share of our Westchester clients. South of the runways, custom suits in El Segundo go largely to the aerospace corridor. Inland and north, custom suits in Culver City go to the studios and production companies along Washington. The pattern, the canvas and the prices are the same in all four.

A suit that has to travel

Westchester lives next to LAX, and a great deal of the tailoring we make for 90045 spends its life in a carry-on. That changes the brief. Cut still matters, but cloth matters more.

A high-twist worsted in the 300 to 340 gram range shakes out of a suitcase overnight on a hanger and holds its crease through a day of meetings. A soft super-150s, a flannel or a linen will not, however handsome they look on the bolt. If you fly weekly we will steer you firmly towards the former, and we will say so at the consultation rather than after delivery. There is more in what the super numbers and the weight on a suit cloth mean.

The same thinking applies to how a wardrobe is built. For someone who travels, one jacket with two pairs of odd trousers often does more work than two suits, and a dinner suit that packs flat is worth more than one that needs a day to recover.

Getting here from Westchester

Down Manchester to Lincoln, or along Sepulveda and across, ten minutes to 221 Culver Blvd. It is a storefront, not a suite, with free parking in front and behind, so a consultation before work or in a lunch hour is realistic rather than theoretical.

Who comes to us from Westchester

Three sorts of client, broadly. People who work at the airport or in the airline and aerospace offices along the corridor, who need clothes that survive being moved around. People at Loyola Marymount, on the bluff above the neighbourhood, where a suit comes out for a job interview, a conference, a graduation or a hooding and has to be right on the day. And residents of the neighbourhood itself, who have a wedding or a funeral or a board dinner in the diary and no intention of buying something off a rack for it.

We dress women as well as men, by the same method, at the same prices, on the same patterns. It is one house, one standard.

What it costs

A two-piece starts at $1,795, a three-piece at $2,045, a tuxedo at $1,795 and an overcoat at $1,200. Odd trousers are $450 and a custom shirt is $295. Cloth from the better mills costs more: Drago from $2,995, Zegna and Holland & Sherry from $3,495, Loro Piana from $3,995. The making is identical at every one of those prices, full canvas throughout, so what you are choosing is cloth, not quality. Unlimited fittings and a year of complimentary alterations are included, and half is paid at cloth selection with the balance on delivery. The cost page sets out every figure, and how much a bespoke suit costs in Los Angeles explains where the money actually goes.

What bespoke means here

It means a pattern drafted for you from about thirty measurements and three photographs, a canvas built into the chest by hand, and a garment sewn by Max, our French atelier, who has made every Mr James garment since the house was founded in 2010. We do not offer made to measure. There is one service and it is the whole thing. The bespoke page walks through the stages, and what a tailor actually does is the plainest explanation we have written of the work itself.

Weddings

Six months before the date is comfortable, three is workable and six weeks is a rush. Wedding parties and groups are twenty per cent off, which covers groomsmen, fathers and brothers commissioned alongside the groom. Our wedding suits page has the detail.

We can come to you

A visit to a home or office anywhere in Los Angeles is $300, including travel and the full cloth selection. For a Westchester office that is a sensible way to do it, particularly for a group commissioning together or anyone whose hours make a trip out awkward.

Questions we are often asked

Is there a bespoke tailor in Westchester?

Mr James is ten minutes away at 221 Culver Blvd in Playa del Rey, which is the nearest bespoke house to 90045. Full canvas suits start at $1,795.

How far is the shop from Westchester?

Ten minutes. Down Manchester to Lincoln, or along Sepulveda and across. The storefront is at number 221 with free parking in front and behind, so there is no garage to find.

What cloth survives flying best?

A high-twist worsted in the 300 to 340 gram range. It shakes out of a suitcase and holds a crease, which a soft super-150s will not. If you fly often, tell us and we will choose for that.

Can you come to an office near the airport?

Yes. A visit to a home or office is $300, including travel and the full cloth selection, with finished garments brought to you for fitting.

How long does a commission take?

Four to six weeks in domestic cloth, six to eight if the cloth comes from Italy or England. Shirts are two to four weeks and alterations about a week. A rush at twenty-five per cent more can bring a suit in at six weeks, though we would rather not hurry it.

Do you cut for women?

Yes, by the same method and at the same prices. Every garment is fully bespoke and full canvas, whoever it is for.

Who will I actually meet?

Robb or Ben. There are two of us, and whichever one you see at the consultation sees the garment through to delivery. You will not be handed round.

Is the first appointment free?

Yes. One hour, no charge, around thirty measurements and three photographs, and a long look at cloth. You are under no obligation to commission anything at the end of it.

Come and see us

Ten minutes from Westchester at 221 Culver Blvd, Playa del Rey, CA 90293, open every day by appointment with forty-eight hours' notice. Reserve a time or telephone 310-503-3592.

Nearby: Playa del Rey · Playa Vista · Marina del Rey · El Segundo · Culver City. More: custom suits in Los Angeles · about the house.