Saturday, December 13, 2014

Movie Night: Men of the Cloth

Months ago, long after I'd first started hearing about this film, I pre-ordered a DVD of Men of the Cloth.  It wasn't supposed to ship until sometime this fall, and I pretty much forgot about it.

Well, on Thursday it arrived in my mailbox, and I couldn't wait to watch.  Problem was: I had a huge order of Christmas stockings to finish off, two holiday parties to attend, and worst of all, the cupboards were bare (or at least what passes for bare in my house, which meant there were plenty of staples but we were out of Trader Joe's double roasted salsa and guacamole).

After we got home, Mario picked up the DVD and asked if I wanted to see it.  One of his grandfathers was a tailor and his dad worked as a cutter in a clothing factory, so even if he can't sew himself, he has a lot of familiarity with it -- and he's had to listen to me for the better part of 10 years.

Folks, this movie is absolutely fascinating.  It's pure porn for the sewing/tailoring enthusiast, it's a wonderful story of there older, traditional master tailors and one young man who turns away from his industrial design degree to apprentice as a tailor.  It shifts from New York to Italy to Philadelphia and back again, following the construction of one suit from the customer selecting the fabric to the same happy customer striding through NYC wearing his brand new suit (haven't we all wanted to leave a store wearing our new shoes or whatever?).

If you haven't seen this movie, you need to.  You can order the DVD here.

3 comments:

Threadlover said...

Have you seen the YouTube series, "The Making of a Coat," by Rory Duffy it features something similar.

It's nice to see that this video is now available. I'll definitely make the purchase since this is something that I've been wanting to watch.

Anonymous said...

I recently rec'd my copy of Men of the Cloth also. I so enjoyed it. My father was a tailor - apprenticed in Italy, was a sleeve fitter when he came to US. He had a workshop in our basement and this DVD brought back memories of everything in his workshop. He was old school like the men in film - wearing a vest and tie down in his workshop. Loved hearing Italian language. Suits, coats for men + woman - he did it all.

jillnjosh said...

Rhonda Buss and I met upand saw it when they premiered it in Chicago. It's incredible, and being able to participate in the Q&A session afterward was icing on the cake. I highly encourage everyone who has an interest in sewing, let alone tailoring, to purchase this (it should be out on Netflix, etc in the coming year, from what I understand).