The Tamesis
Welcome to The Scoop: a weekly email series in which we ask fashion insiders about the week’s stories. This will be a way for the Vogue business community to synthesize and reflect on the latest headlines every Friday and get a little inside scoop.
This week’s guest is Jian DeLeon, Nordstrom’s men’s fashion director. After holding editorial positions at nearly every magazine responsible for the past decade’s menswear renaissance (and the frenzy of hype that came with it), Jian pivoted to retail in 2020. This is an interesting move. I worked at Selfridges for a while after the pandemic, which I loved but found the pace to be very different from the media.
I could talk to Jian endlessly about this, but it’s menswear season, so we’re focusing on the latest looks from Nordstrom and Pitti, two brands he’s been with since the beginning of the week.
Hi Jian, any scoop?
I was in Florence for Pitti and there was a lot going on aperitif Hour. So after this call, I’m going to go to an event in New York for the tailoring company J. Mueser. Founder Jack has built a very strong business over the past few years, gaining a very diverse audience. We are launching the brand at Nordstrom soon. We are their first major retailer and I’m really looking forward to celebrating this partnership. Especially since J. Mueser is about to appoint a new creative director, who is also a good friend of mine.
How did the partnership come about?
Menswear is like a big community. So Jack and I have a lot of mutual friends. I’ve been following how he built his business. we went to meet him [menswear trade show] Collective in Chicago and then back to New York. In the end, it’s just a matter of figuring out the best way and timing to work together.
He brings a younger approach to tailoring, and his audience includes a wide range of everyday people, all the way up to industry insiders. He makes suits for the guys in “Throwing Fits”; Q Global journalist Sam Hines’s brother’s wedding. To me, this is a great brand because it feels exactly like what a modern custom suit maker in New York should look and feel like. This is a great suit to follow up on your first suit.
What are the characteristics of modern suits?
I like Jake’s design because it’s a classic fitted suit, not too tight, but not too big either. Like a snap-button western shirt and tencel instead of a super serious wide collar shirt underneath. It encourages men to have fun with tailoring, or at least dress less frumpy. As you know, the best way to make a man wear anything is to make them feel comfortable. How do you style a suit so that it feels like something you actually want to wear, rather than something you have to wear?
This Pitti features a catwalk suit. Our generation dresses very casually, even at events or in the office. But will men start dressing like my father? He wore a suit to work every day in the 90s?
I feel like men are rediscovering and enjoying the art of dressing up. You can see this on the red carpet too – this sense of classic elegance is expressed in different ways, whether it’s accessories like brooches or different textures and patterns like velvet and plaid. Or simply be open to different color combinations.
