The Armoury has introduced a new jacket model (which is made by Ring Jacket who makes their other house jackets), the Model 15.
The new cuts are inspired by Florentine tailoring, whose most famous mastermind is Liverano.
The Armoury’s previous cuts have various inspirations (Model 3 and 6, quasi-Neapolitan via Japan; Model 101, Milanese; Model 11, Ivy League; Model 12, work jackets of the 1930s), with the “default” and most popular (I’d imagine) being model 3 for its soft shoulder, classic length, and overall excellent proportions. I talk about the Model 3 and Model 6 briefly on my review of Ring Jacket here.
The new Florentine-inspired models are very intriguing to me and I am excited to try them out at some point.
I saw the Model 15 on Max Papier at Pitti Uomo 102. Maybe it was the negronis but I was very excited by it, and when I got home I convinced him to send me one on loan to photograph for my Ring Jacket guide. He said he wore that jacket to Liverano for an appointment, and it actually made them do a double take. Once they realized it wasn’t their own make, they appreciated its style as an homage to their own.
I think the Liverano/Florentine style is an excellent specimen that fits right at home in a contemporary context, easy to wear casually with denim. Years ago Antonio Ciongoli took inspiration from Florentine tailoring in developing Eidos’ “Lorenzo” cut which then morphed into its “Ciro” and “NMWA” cut; in my closet are a handful of jackets in all of those cuts (read my breakdown of Eidos tailoring lines on my buying guide).
What makes Florentine tailoring different from Neapolitan, which is another great tailoring tradition I favor in our modern world?
The Armoury’s own product description of the model 15 explains what makes a Florentine jacket unique:
The jacket features a soft unpadded shoulder, with enough canvas and structure to give it added extension. One of the most prominent features of a Florentine style jacket is the lack of a front dart. This is achieved through use of an angled side dart, which hides cleanly behind the arm of the wearer, presenting a more sleek appearance. The round sweep from lapel notch to open quarters adds to the slightly rural, countrified appearance. The jacket is is slightly shorter, with the notch and breast pocket traditionally low.
The Armoury’s Model 3 isn’t exactly a Neapolitan homage as much as Model 15 sounds like it is of Florentine. It’s more of a modification of Ring Jacket’s normal cut to Mark Cho’s and Alan See’s preferences; but Ring Jacket itself is inspired by southern Italian tailoring. So in a roundabout way, the Model 3 is kinda-sorta Neapolitan-inspired.
Anyway, a Neapolitan jacket would differ from Florentine in a couple primary ways. 1. The gorge is higher (the gorge is the seam where the collar attaches to the lapel, creating the notch or peak), with the angle of the notch pointing more upward as opposed to sideways/outward. 2. The shoulders are narrower, more closely sitting at the edge of your natural shoulders, with the very natural shirt-sleeve construction (spalla camicia). 3. There is a front dart that contours the waist (and sometimes it runs all the way to the hem). 4. The shape of the quarters at the bottom are less rounded.
Indeed, look at a model 3 jacket (like this one) and a model 15 jacket (like this one) and you can tell the differences on the same guy posing almost exactly the same (note the sleeves are too long on him). You can see how the Model 3 doesn’t have characteristically narrower shoulders like an actual Neapolitan jacket, and also that the notch’s angle doesn’t point up/outward as much. Check out my Cavour jacket review to see what I’d consider a very good representation of the hallmarks of Neapolitan jacket. But you can see the differences. On patterned jackets, that lack of a front dart would look very clean.
I’m glad to see this jacket come to market. The Armoury has great taste and is easy to buy off the rack online for landlocked folks like me. The prices are more within reach, at least moreso than the Liverano RTW line they created several years ago (which seems like it’s on the way out).
Check out all of The Armoury’s tailored jackets here.
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