Opening a bespoke custom tailoring shop in the middle of a recession in 2013 might not have been the sharpest decision, but Declan Mahon of Collar & Cuff, and an experienced tailor who has worked in Ireland and Australia, lived to tell the tale.
"Companies were closing down on every street corner but here I was thinking it was a great idea to open one", he tells me.
"I just felt there was a little bit of a gap in the market for a higher end - as in height and also 'hire', being a rental suit."
Establishing yourself in an industry entrenched in tradition, heritage and rules is no easy task, particularly when the appetite for custom suits and formal men's fashion is not what it used to be in Ireland. This is made even more difficult considering many Irish men struggle when it comes to perfecting their own style.
"If you look back at pictures of Dublin in the 60s, 70s, 80s, early 90s, if you could imagine an overhead image of Grafton or O’Connell St, men would be wearing suits, just out", Declan says.
"Now it’s very different. Now what you have, as well, is people who go to work typically in an office or in a bank, they’re dressing down as well. It used to be known as casual Friday but now it’s casual nearly every day.
"You would get away in an office with a nice pair of chinos, a jumper and shirt. You don’t even have to wear the suit. That obviously means that when you do need to go for a suit it is particularly for an occasion because less people are buying suits for work."
If that wasn't difficult enough, many Irish men have scant knowledge of fashion, be it their own or others. As a nation, we’re at least a few years off unanimously matching our shoes to our belts and mastering trouser lengths.
When I ask for his take on Irish men’s fashion, Declan’s answer is a groan.
"They take a lot of shortcuts", he says. "Every guy thinks he’s a 34" waist - he’s not. You might buy a pair of Diesel jeans or Levi or Wrangler and they’re a 34" waist but jeans are totally different. When it comes to buying a suit, it’s not the same measurements as jeans or chinos. You really do need to try a suit on.
"You would find that Irish guys might buy things online. God forbid - I’m going to say it - their mothers or their wives or girlfriends might buy it for them, and when they get home it doesn’t fit them, but they can’t see that. They don’t know, or they don’t want to go up a size."
This sartorial epidemic is best observed at the Galway Races, which Declan goes to with his family each year. "There are some tragedies there", he laughs.
"In my eyes, a nice tailored finish would be if you can imagine the tip of a pencil. But what guys wear now in terms of jeans and tracksuit bottoms are tight everywhere, so sprayed onto them, as I say."
He says that this usually leads to men casting aside their suit trousers in favour of the skinny trousers or jeans they favour every other day.
While many women will construct and hone their personal style over years, often adopting one or two key elements as part of their "aesthetic" and freely evoking a fashion fantasy with each purchase, by and large, Irish men are unified in one simple sartorial aspiration: they want to look good.
Whether it’s a window pane check suit, a rich navy jacket or a classic black tuxedo, Irish men are just as eager to look slimmer, bigger, more tanned and generally better in a good outfit. Declan mentions that this zeal sometimes leads to a special kind of intervention on his part.
When it comes to Communions or Confirmations, Declan says "My advice is to try not to out-do your son or daughter on the day. The dad might come a few weeks later and say ‘He went for that nice navy suit but I want that grey check’ and I’ll say ‘Maybe you should wear something a little bit pared back’".
Generally speaking, however, Irish men aren’t yet at the point of honing their personal style in ways similar to Irish women.
"It’s a hard one because everyone wants something a little bit different", Declan says. "Everyone wants to look unique, but they all end up looking the same because the majority of them will go a and buy a blue suit, anyway."
Ah, the blue suit. Having unseated the black suit as a key fashion investment, the blue suit is a mainstay for Irish men, and rightly so.
"Believe it or not, it suits Irish people. It suits their skin tone. We’re traditionally more of a paler race than other nationalities on the continent, and the blue really gives Irish skin a lift."
The now-commonplace but formerly scarce mainstay of men’s fashion shot to fame after another famous Irishman wore one.
"The blue that’s most popular at the moment is Kennedy Blue, after President Kennedy wore a blue suit once. It’s a very striking blue, and it’s the most popular blue that we have - we can’t keep enough of it. And that’s going to stay."
It can be difficult to gauge shifting trends in men’s formalwear when on the outside of it and for, many people, the only true showcase of emerging trends in men’s fashion is on the red carpet at awards shows. This year, for instance, offered a heady hodgepodge of innovations, from intricate harnesses to embroidered bibs.
If classic men’s formalwear is being deconstructed and moved along, are we heading into the suit-as-casual-wear?
"Suits have become a little bit more casual, but they’re still dressy", Declan says. "A big trend at the moment are suit separates or two-toned looks, similar to what I have on today. You might be wearing a suit trouser, suit jacket with a contrast waistcoat to dress it down a little bit. The whole t-shirt under a suit thing I’m not really on board with, it might hamper with my sell of shirts and ties."
We’re not far off of more daring trends entering the scene, either. "I go and look at ranges two or three times a year and what I saw in the latest collections from my suppliers just had me in shock. Floral patterned dinner jackets with tuxedo lapels and bright velvets, blue, purple, printed. Stuff that I was looking at thinking, hang on, are we ready for this?
"They looked amazing, and if I look at something and go ‘take away my experience in clothing, does that look good?’ If I can look at it and truly believe that it looks nice, I believe in it."
Aside from the patterns and fits of their clothes, Irishmen naturally have their coterie of stylish men to emulate.
"A couple of times a week somebody will walk in with their mobile phone in their hand with a picture of David Beckham at the Royal Wedding or Conor McGregor in Vegas or Bradley Cooper at the Oscars, whoever is flavour of the month", Declan says.
"But Instagram and Pinterest can be fantastic for ideas, but they can also be the devil because you will see on those social media sites suits that have been handmade or custom made to within an inch of its life for that person. When somebody comes in and finds out how much that costs… You’ve got to find out what their expectations are."
One difficulty is that many Irish men, working on the "it’ll do" mentality and buying a suit for €80, aren’t accustomed to paying more for something exceptional, despite drooling in awe at McGregor’s bespoke suits made using the finest materials. It seems there’s a middle ground needed for Irish men’s fashion, something equally exceptional but something accessible.
As part of their vision for men’s fashion in Ireland, Collar & Cuff introduced Magee suits for hire, something the company had never done before. With rental suits typically going for €120, Declan brought prices up by between €25 and €30 per person.
"We would have lost sales because of that, people would have said ‘Well, sure that navy suit down the road is only €120’ but they didn’t realise it was a Magee suit, nicely tailored, hand-finished, all the bells and whistles, but then they didn’t want to know that. They just wanted the best price."
According to Declan, 70% of the small proportion of Irish men buying suits will not care about quality, focusing instead on fit and colour. "They probably understand that they’ll be wearing it for a day maybe, for their wedding and then be done with it."
"Maybe I’m being a bit harsh on Irish guys", he says, "but if you shop for a suit correctly, it’s hard to get wrong."
But in fashion, you’re never truly "done" with anything. Trends circulate and come back again, and even the ones you thought were too cringe to creep onto the world stage once again.
Box fit suits, pleated trousers with turn-ups and three-button jackets will all be back, he says, though he adds that "Irish people will be the last ones to get on board, and it’s only a percentage of Irish people who will actually get on board".
Whether the tailoring industry itself can come back to the hallowed position it once held in Irish life is more less easy to call.
"It’s not great", Declan says of the industry. "I’m in a bit of a protected area because it’s occasion wear that we specialise in but I have friends in the industry who have shops on Henry St or Grafton St and they would be finding it very difficult because they would be reliant on selling a suit to the average joe."
