Suits You, Sir!

Day 58: Hoi An (VN) – Qui Nhon (VN). You know, I have always fancied the idea of owning my own tailor made suit, but somehow never seemed able to justify the indulgence. But with Hoi An being Vietnam's Saville Row at Camden Market prices, it was going to be now or never.

Awash with boutiques offering bespoke tailoring services using the finest materials and the highest quality workmanship, Hoi An's trader's can make anything for anybody in a fraction of the time.

Wandering into Indochine Silk with the sun beginning to set behind the old Japanese Bridge, Karen and I were presented with over 1,000 fabrics to choose from and as many styles for our apparel as the catalogues on the large wooden table and our own imagination and creativity could muster. Two or three attentive staff crowded around us taking every conceivable measurement you could think of and within an hour, they were ready to start work on their overnight marathon in preparation for our first fitting at 11am the next day.

For the equivalent of about £90 we were the Belles of the Ball (if only we had a ball to go to!). For Karen; a little hand made chiffon and silk number ($35) and a hand made flared cotton summer skirt ($18). For me a hand made suit in cashmere and wool, lined with local silk ($62); a hand made cotton shirt ($12); a hand made silk tie with matching cuff links ($3).

End to end; a truly memorable experience, although I was a little disappointed not to be asked that archetypal tailors question “On which side do you dress, sir”. Perhaps my large frame had made the answer to that question patently obvious to my female attendants, I pondered to Karen. “You wish!”; the response I received.