Sebastian Richard linen sport jacket

While attending Pitti Uomo last month I ran into Guillaume Bo, well-known on Instagram and a “streetstyler and consultant” who also happens to be Canadian. I’d never met him in person and was happy to discover that he is friendly, warm and easy to talk to. We had just started chatting about Pitti when he stopped mid sentence to admire my jacket. I found pride welling up for my hometown as I told him that it was custom made by a young Toronto tailor named Sebastian Richard.

With Guillaume Bo at Pitti Uomo (Photo by Bo Yang).

I featured Sebastian earlier this year. He’s made two bespoke trousers for me that fit well and look excellent. After that experience, and because he is a full tailor and not only a trouser maker, I wanted to see how one of his jackets would turn out. I also wanted something that would allow him to express his skills and creativity as a tailor while fitting into my wardrobe and personal approach to dress. I settled on linen because a light summer jacket was one of the few gaps in my wardrobe.

Details on my new linen jacket, including spaced cuff buttons and swooping breast patch pocket.

After going through some swatch books, I settled on an oatmeal linen from Italy. In all honesty, I was looking to replicate Derek Guy’s “Summer Tweed.” The linen I chose is similar in terms of texture but lighter in colour. And that’s ok with me because I needed something I could wear with off-white as well as brown linen or even blue cotton trousers. In terms of style, I knew that Sebastian prefers a jacket that has some structure, like the traditional English cut (a fair bit of his training was on Savile Row) yet with some softness inspired by Southern Italian tailoring.

I asked for a semi-lined, three patch pocket jacket, something I could wear with a tie or more casually. I also wanted my personal favourite three spaced buttons at the cuff. Beyond that, I left it to Sebastian to design the jacket to his liking. I’m quite pleased with the result.

I think the jacket captures Sebastian’s aesthetic well, being more English than Italian. When I first put it on, in fact, it was as if the jacket already had the shape of my body built in; this isn’t the soft, unstructured jackets of the Neapolitans. On the other hand, the jacket is not thick and heavy. There is little padding in the shoulder and the chest piece is thin and light. Yet the jacket has a strong shape across the chest. I requested that Sebastian include as much drape as possible to allow for comfort while keeping the chest relatively smooth. I think he balanced the two well.

Real life: the jacket at work at Pitti Uomo (photos by Bo Yang).

That said, there are small touches of Italian tailoring. The pockets are all slightly slanted, evoking the classic barchetta or “little boat” and giving the jacket more perceived shape. The front quarters (the lower parts of the jacket opening below the button) swoop out a bit more than they would on a traditional Canadian business suit.

Sebastian also added his own touches. The most obvious and unique one is the single button front. Usually reserved for evening jackets, it is a look Sebastian prefers. It’s also quite tricky because it involves balancing the look and shape of the front of the jacket with the correct positioning of the button. I think Sebastian has done an exemplary job. His hand work is also exceptional. The finishing inside (covered seams and half lined sleeves) and out (hand made button holes and pick stitching) is precise and clean.

Flipped inside out, you can see the careful edge finishing and the half-lined sleeve.

So far, this is a glowing review, which is not always the most helpful thing, for the artisan or the potential customer. But I have to admit, I am hard pressed to find any issues with the jacket. Sebastian put a lot into it and it shows. I hope this jacket serves as a benchmark for him and his work moving forward.

My advice for a prospective client would be, like always, to get to know an artisan’s work and insure it is inline with your own thoughts on style. If you want a completely unstructured Neapolitan jacket, Sebastian is not your man. If you want a fully English approach, with built up shoulders and a flared waist, he’s probably not the guy either. Sebastian’s tailoring is somewhere in between and I think this jacket gives you the best idea of what you can expect.

“Sebastian Richard” operates out of a small atelier near Davenport and Bathurst, by appointment only.

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