Centurion Magazine : New Worlds of Tailoring

New York City has a small but notable and burgeoning bespoke side. Tailor Paolo Martorano set up his own atelier in 2017 after working as a bespoke specialist at Dunhill. He opened up in a showroom that was once Charlie Chaplin’s apartment. Bookings for his trunk shows across the States are brisk, and there’s a proven market for full-canvassed suits that can take 120 hours to make. “We have clients from different generations within the same family,” Martorano tells me. “The average age of our customers is 45. I call our style ‘New York Refined’ – British-style on the outside, but with a lack of padding in the shoulder and a lightweight canvas that gives a lighter feeling.” Again, a touch of Neapolitan know-how.

Styles in tailoring have developed alongside an increase in men knowledgeable about fabric and construction. The Martorano customer knows what they are paying for, and they are aware that anything off the peg on Fifth Avenue has a mark-up factoring in brand advertising spend and the rent on the footprint of the fancy flagship store itself. As profits in various parts of the luxury market dip, and people become jaded with hikes in price and cheaper, sometimes shoddy manufacturing, many want quality, not a designer label. “When a customer comes to see me, they have often done their research,” says Martorano. “They often know not only the mills they want to see, but the names of the bunches and reference numbers. I don’t imagine that was the case 20 years ago when clients didn’t know anyone other than maybe Loro Piana.

Featured in the fall 2025 edition of Centurion Magazine.