"Ho messo i punti" ("I laid my stitches down") this is what Mario Di Tanna, 94, will answer if you ask him what he did in his life. Mr Di Tanna was indeed a menswear tailor, who, hailing from the village of Capracotta in Molise also known as "il paese dei sarti" (the tailors' village), first worked for Ciro Giuliano in Rome and then moved to Paris where he spent 47 years working for many prestigious bespoke tailoring houses and for the tailors collectively known as the "Groupe des Cinq" - André Bardot, José Camps, Max Evzeline, with the fourth and fifth members including Gaston Waltener, Socrate, Charles Austen, Gilbert Feruch or Mario de Luca (depending on the sources you ask to).
The Group of Five ambitiously presented their collections of Menswear Haute Couture twice a year until 1968. Mr Di Tanna had a close working relation with Austen who trusted his skills and hands so much that he would throw a tantrum if he saw him working on somebody else's pieces.
Believe it or not, Mr Di Tanna laid his stiches on 10,000 garments (he took notes of each of them, that's how he got to this number...), made suits for former French President Jacques Chirac, Italian politician Alcide De Gasperi and Italian actor Paolo Stoppa, just to mention a few, and has typed down his life in a thick volume he plans to self-publish.
His memoir actually sheds light on the work of many Italian immigrants who anonymously worked for prestigious tailoring houses, proving that, in fashion not everything that glitters is gold.
Mr Di Tanna is probably the only menswear tailor left from Capracotta with such an extensive experience and knowledge. Yet his story doesn't end here: inspired by his grand-nephew Angelo (portrayed here next to his grandfather as he plays jokes at my camera), he is currently working on restoring a building in Capracotta (the salmon pink one behind Mario and Angelo) that he plans to open up to associations of children and young people with intellectual or physical disabilities who want to spend their holidays in the mountains.
There is a lot of talk about "advanced style" as a trend celebrating senior fashion looks, but for Mr Di Tanna style is also in the way we relate to, collaborate and cooperate with our fellow human beings. Now, that's what I really call "advanced style".
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