The WineChap Suit: The Making Of...

WineChap has become synonymous with outrageous wine events such as the Altitude Tasting covered by this very site. As you may garner from the nature of this – private jet + vintage champagne – subtlety is not our strong suit; we leave that to the wines. Our logo has a little chap with a top hat, cane and oversize wine glass: the stick keeps him grounded; the glass aloft indicates he is reaching for the heavens; the topper keeps his hair in place and is useful for hailing cabs. But most memorably, he wears a red suit – and it’s become an important calling card at our events in London, New York, Champagne, Bordeaux, Tuscany and South Africa for the red suit to be on display.

The first suit was industrial-grade burgundy corduroy from David Saxby (apparently only furniture upholsterers used it apart from him) with a blue silk lining taken from a distressed Chanel ballgown. The second Chap suit was by Lise Herud, and is single-breasted cherry linen (currently languishing in a hotel in Florence where I forgot it after a couple too many glasses of brunello).

Both are wonderful and unique creations but of limited versatility. So when it came to creating a totally bespoke, all-year round WineChap suit, I turned to tailoring legend Timothy Everest: “For the new Chap suit, we selected a delicious shade of burgundy with a champagne satin lining. The material is a lightweight gabardine for its ability to drape and perform. The jacket is a single breasted Savile Row cut to fit neatly but comfortably in almost every situation.”

I elected for a three-piece suit so that at more formal occasions the full ensemble could be worn but it could be reduced to a more casual two-piece depending on the qualities of wine drunk. The colour and the cut was a perfect canvas – but it still needed ‘WineChapping’.

A matching burgundy velvet collar helped in this department, but the coup de grâce was that the lining of the pocket was specifically designed to carry my corkscrew. “This pocket had to function for those quick-draw moments. Think Bad Boys 2 or the closing scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” Everest clearly understood the demands of my job well. “The addition of the outline of the Dom Perignon crest hand stitched over and around the out breast pocket was the final bespoke touch.”

The trousers tapered yet comfortable to take braces and deep pockets finished off with the same top stitch detailing of crest on the jacket.

The result is a bespoke tour de force, which, Everest assures me, will mature with time like a very fine wine.

Photo credit: Theresa Hedberg