The Show-Off, Milan

This is Gianpaolo Alliata, he is the type of salesperson a Sartorialist dreams about. (wait, I'm not sure that reads the way I meant but hear me out)

The first time I went into Al Bazar , my new favorite store in Milan, I was overwhelmed by the selection of beautiful shirts.
Guy Rover shirts sold at Al Bazar come with an extra set of collar and cuffs and are available in only spread collar (below) and extreme cutaway collar (as Gianpaolo wears above) or button-down. ( Point-collar shirts do not exist in the best menswear shops of Milan)
Gianpaolo ,with an actors flair for the dramatic, showed me the variety of fabrics that were available in my size.
He had a very particular and graceful way off pulling out each box from the wall, flipping over the lid and peeling back the tissue paper to reveal the woven treasure inside.
Once I decided on which shirts I was going to buy I started toward the dressing room to try the shirt on for the sleeve alteration - this is where he really got me.
He just looks at me and says "what are you doing?"
"I'm trying the shirt on so you can shorten the sleeves" I said.
"It's ok, I have it" he said
"I'm really particular" I warned. To this point I had not said anything about my blog or anything about my background.
"I have it " he said with a with a slight arrogance that comes from years of experience.
"Well, understand I want the length to be right here" I said pointing to the base of my wrist.
"I have it" he repeated.
"Ok, but if it is wrong you won't have time to fix it before I leave Milan." I warned again.
"No problem" he assured me.

To be honest, I could not decide to be pleased or pissed.

I loved the fact that he felt so confident in his ability to offer a perfect fitting shirt (which is rare for a salesperson these days) but I was also a little put off at the idea I was so easy to visually measure up.
A small part of me wanted to sleeve length to be a little off just to show I was more complex than he thought (if that makes sense?)

I went back to the store two days later and damn! if the sleeve length wasn't perfect!

Mr. Show-Off!

Needless to say since then I have bought about six shirts at Al Bazar and several pairs of pants (which I did try on).

When I got the pants back from alteration, twill tape had been sewn in the hem of the pants to protect the fabric from being stepped on by your shoes(this is a very high-end detail). I asked if this was something that they always did and Gianpaolo looked at me like "of course, dork, this is Milan."

The Guy Rover Shirts are about $105Euro and the pants are about $195Euro.
To me they are just about the best menswear deals in Milan.

Tonight I will post the photo I took of Al Bazar owner ,and Japanese fashion icon, Lino Ieluzzi with a few more photos from the store and a link to their website.