To satisfy their O.G.s, Doppiaa, which they launched in 2015, embraces certain classic Italian sartorial principles. Their clothes are refined and have a proper sense of proportion. They are made out of some of the finest fabrics available. And perhaps most important, 100 percent of the manufacturing happens in Italy—no easy task in today’s globalized world.
Though every Doppiaa garment is made in Italy, when it comes to fabrics Alain Fracassi goes wherever the best is found: Japan for indigo textiles, Britain for wool.
Courtesy of DoppiaaBeyond that, Fracassi and Carreras don’t look back much at their parents’ generation. In fact, Doppiaa (which, in a nod to the founders’ first names, means “double a” in Italian) might be the only Milanese menswear brand that isn’t above styling plaid double-breasted blazers with hoodies. Those blazers are designed to fit seamlessly within a modern lifestyle: Soft and unlined, a Doppiaa jacket—available off-the-rack at the likes of SSENSE—moves with the wearer and won’t complain if you have to throw it in a tote bag.
“We do mono-breast suits, of course, but the double-breasted is our favorite one,” says Carreras. “It’s a little bit more sporty, more relaxed. It’s not so square.” The idea is to allow the wearer the ultimate freedom to style their suit however they like, a simple idea with almost universal appeal: The brand’s customers range in age from 20-somethings to septuagenarians. (Their parents, it turns out, approve.) “The same suit, you can wear it in different scenarios depending on how you combine it,” Carreras says. “You can wear it with a polo, you can wear it with knitwear or with a shirt, or even”—gasp!—“with a tie.”
Right across from J. Mueser’s Christopher Street showroom is his store, which stocks Italian-made shirts and ties.
Zeph ColombattoJ. Mueser
New York City
On a recent visit to the headquarters of tailoring brand J. Mueser, I found something I wasn’t expecting: a watermelon-flavored sartorial explosion. There, I was greeted by 26-year-old Mueser employee Chase Winfrey, who was wearing a bright green silk matka blazer and electric pink linen trousers. He looked garish, like a Masters winner who’d rummaged through a rich grandmother’s boudoir.
I loved it. Winfrey’s ensemble reminded me of the opulence and fluidity of a Gucci collection. Though the drape of his jacket and cut of his trousers screamed tradition, the overall look broadcast a radical attitude that felt brand-new. And Mueser’s work has taken off with a generation fluent in hard-core personal style, as evidenced by Winfrey and his friends, who can often be spotted chasing the night in dinner jackets and cowboy boots, treating New York’s dive bars like Studio 54.
Jake Mueser founded his brand in 2008 and has since established what might be the closest thing NYC has to a signature style of tailoring. His suits are a “melting pot,” as he calls it, of influences: There’s the American natural shoulder, the English ticket pocket, the generous Italian lapel. Custom suits start at $2,450 and take five weeks to make in a small workshop in Naples. “We’re, I think, exceptionally good at the nerdier side of tailoring,” says Mueser.
