Tailoring In Paris

Paris is a place that rewards a deeper, longer look. A slower pace. It’s the natural home of flaneur, after all. A city built on the idea that all those everyday parts of urban life should be beautiful; a doorway, a cafe terrace, a bookshop window, the rows of Hausmannian buildings, the wide scope of the avenues and boulevards.

For centuries, artists, writers and anyone in search of a good time have been drawn here. They came for the museums and the galleries, to sit and argue and fall in love in cafes and museums. Paris remains one of those rare cities, one where time has stopped a little, the pace a strange mix of slowness and intensity.

And so we couldn’t think of a better place to photograph our latest tailoring collection, across a backdrop of the city's grand interiors, quiet corners and familiar streets.

The collection continues our long-standing approach to tailoring, drawing on the traditions of British and Italian dress while keeping things unmistakably Drake’s. The construction is soft and easy, with natural shoulders and a relaxed silhouette, tailoring designed to be lived in, rather than saved only for special occasions.

The fabrics bring together a mixture of British and Italian cloths, with rich textures and weightier qualities suited to the season. There are classic wools, flannels and frescos, a silk tussah for evening, tweed for the country, alongside softer, more tactile cloths, all chosen for the way they feel and wear as much as for how they look.

The result is classic Drake’s: relaxed, elegant and a little louche, with enough structure to make you feel properly dressed and enough ease to forget you are wearing a suit at all.

Paris seemed the natural place to put it through its paces. A few cafés, a few glasses of wine and a good deal of walking later, we were reminded that the best tailoring has always had somewhere to go.